Economic and social empowerment of adolescents and young people (10-24 years old)

Investing in girls’ empowerment is essential to achieving gender equality; hence, it is core in Plan’s work and scope. The gender analysis and design process identified that, despite some favorable progress in addressing girls’ and women’s issues, they still experience violence, lack protective legal frameworks, face limited access to resources and services that tend to prioritize boys and men, and lack meaningful participation in decision-making processes. As a result, young women have limited agency, skills and opportunities for sustainable employment. This is linked to deeply rooted gender norms and expectations, limiting girls’ and women’s ability to speak up, take informed decisions, defy expectations about domestic chores and marital life. Plan’s response will be holistic, rights-based, inclusive and gender-transformative: the project will address root causes of gender inequality while providing thriving opportunities for target groups’ empowerment. Expected results will focus on the promotion of a gender-equal, inclusive and conducive school environment, development of skills and opportunities for young women’s employment and entrepreneurship, promotion of protective duty-bearers preventing and responding to GBV affecting children through provision of quality services, and partners’ capacity strengthening. The project will also empower adolescents and young people as active drivers of change, while working with duty-bearers and stakeholders. Plan and its partners will rely on tested strategies: leadership capacity-building, networking and mentorship of youth, youth-led sensitization, influencing duty-bearers (teachers, leaders, caregivers, protection service providers), material support and trainings to excluded youth to access secondary education and TVET opportunities, and creating links between youth and employment stakeholders (training centers, private sector, savings and loans groups). Adolescents and young people, especially adolescent girls and young women, are empowered to thrive in a protective and gender-equal environment, transition successfully through primary and lower secondary levels and pursue decent work opportunities in Mwanza region They will be actively involved in youth-led initiatives for gender equality, have an increased sense of safety and well-being, and remain in school. Young women will have opportunity to start businesses or get sustainable jobs.