Impacts of an Education Cash Transfer and a Girls Empowerment Program on Adolescent Girls’ Education, Health and Economic Outcomes in Kenya

Karen Austrian, Population Council - Kenya
Erica Soler-Hampejsek
Beth Kangwana, Population Council
Yohannes Dibaba Wado, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Benta A. Abuya, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
John A. Maluccio, Middlebury College

Early adolescence is a critical window for intervention prior to negative outcomes occurring and for laying a foundation for a healthy future in later adolescence and early adulthood. Given the role of poverty as a hindrance to development, cash transfers have become a more common intervention, including those aiming to improve adolescent outcomes. The Adolescent Girls Initiative – Kenya (AGI-K) is a randomized trial testing the effects of a conditional education cash transfer alone and combined with a group-based girls empowerment program for young adolescent girls in the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi and rural Wajir County. Respondents in the study arm with the combined intervention had positive results across the widest range of indicators and the effect size of the education results were stronger for those who received the cash transfer and actively participated in the girls empowerment programs as compared to those who received only the cash transfer.