Adolescent Girls Initiative – Kenya (AGI-K): research design and baseline findings from a randomized controlled trial testing multi-sectoral packages of interventions for vulnerable girls ages 11 to 14 in Kenya

Eunice N. Muthengi, Population Council Kenya
Karen Austrian, Population Council
Taylor Riley, Columbia University

Many adolescent girls in Kenya face considerable risks and vulnerabilities that affect their education status, health and general wellbeing - including early marriage, teenage pregnancy, early, unprotected and/or unwanted sexual activity, violence, social isolation and HIV/STIs. For the most part, younger adolescent girls who live in environments laden with these vulnerabilities have not yet experienced critical negative outcomes – school dropout, first sex, unwanted pregnancy, sexual violence or early marriage. Therefore, it is critical to intervene at a time when girls are experiencing a myriad of challenges, but before those challenges have resulted in outcomes that may be irreversible. This paper will describe the research design and baseline results from a Randomized Controlled Trial testing four packages of multi-sectoral interventions to determine which combination(s) produce(s) the greatest change in the wellbeing of adolescent girls and what is the most cost-effective way to achieve the greatest impact for adolescent girls.