Good Practices Brochure: Adolescent Girls

Approximately 329 million adolescents reside in the East Asia and the Pacific, and they constitute a quarter of the world’s adolescent population. Coupled with this, South Asia is home to more adolescents—around 340 million—than any other region. Never before has the global population had such a large share of young people, presenting an important opportunity to tap into their enormous potential to improve humanitarian action and build back better. Adolescents and youth are a vital positive force in emergency preparedness and response. While they have wide-ranging capacities they also have unique needs, and too often adolescents are lost between programming for children and programming for older adults.

In particular, adolescent girls are disproportionately affected by crises. They are the group most likely to drop out of school in times of crisis and economic hardship, leaving them at high risk of child labour, forced recruitment and child marriage. The current COVID-19 crisis heightens their vulnerability to gender-based violence (GBV), unwanted pregnancy, HIV infection, maternal death and disability, rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse. Adolescent girls lack freedom of movement and have limited access to education and health-care services. Many girls have taken on greater responsibilities in the household, yet they have little control over economic resources and limited knowledge and ability to participate in decisions affecting their lives. Therefore, compared to boys, girls are less likely to be able to meet their basic needs.

This brochure provides practical guidance on including adolescent girls in humanitarian programming and coordination by highlighting four case studies that illustrate good practices and examples in humanitarian settings in Asia and the Pacific