Let's talk about adolescent girls and social norms

 "100s of millions of girls are missing because of female foeticide 
- 66 million girls do not have access to primary education and to the
 first cycle of secondary education
- 50% of the victims of sexual abuses are girls under 15
- In developing countries, 1 girl out of 7 is married before she reaches 15
." Lucille Terré (Consultation Participant).

Wikichild and Wikigender are currently running an online discussion on the impact of discriminatory social norms on adolescent girls* that will close on Friday 11 April 2013.

There is compelling evidence that adolescent girls are an untapped segment of society and are essential if we are to achieve future development goals. Young women across the world suffer from a plethora of gender based inequalities created by imbedded social institutions such as: early marriage, domestic violence, the division of labour in the household, restricted physical integrity, limited fertility preferences and unequal inheritance rights (See more at www.genderindex.org). With these discriminatory social norms in mind, we have asked our partners and members of the public to firstly express their views on how such norms shape the lives of adolescent girls by influencing their access to opportunities, resources and power, and secondly, which interventions are the most effective in transforming and in some cases removing them.    

This online consultation has brought to light a fascinating and diverse array of comments, ranging from personal experiences to research based observations from organisations such as OECD Development Centre, Plan UK and ProRights Consulting. We have also enjoyed a strong following on social media with over 450 tweets about the consultation including mentions from the OECD, UNDP and the Girl Effect. Over the course of the discussion, many topics have been addressed and this blog will look at two particular subjects that have drawn attention from groups and individuals.  

Education

A particular focus on the forum is education and our contributors have been discussing how discriminatory norms impede girls across the world from gaining the vital skills needed to enter the working world. ASCD and HBSC who both specialize in the area of adolescent education have added interesting examples, with the latter stipulating that adolescent girls' well-being is linked to the place of women in the societies in which they are growing up. Since education is such a focal point of early development, HBSC cites good schooling as a central component of a decent upbringing. Similarly, the Primary Edu Project argues that educating young girls is a necessity. The project refers to the specific case of Pakistan, where teenagers are encouraged not to waste their time going to school because ‘they are only going to get married, have babies and stay in the house’. Primary Edu stipulates that this ideology must be removed if young women are to have an equal chance of succeeding in life and suggests that change must begin with the parents, who need to be convinced of the benefits that an education can provide. This comment ran nicely with a contribution from Sultana Razia, who uses her experience of growing up in a Bangladeshi village where female illiteracy was more than 90%, to encourage the need to change multiple social norms that discriminate girls, such as treatment in school and the work place, in a bid to achieve gender equality in that area of the world.

Female Genital Mutilation

Another topic that has drawn particular attention is female genital mutilation, and the desire shown by our contributors to have this practice eradicated is emblematic of a consensual desire among them to see imbedded practices, that encourage violence against women, to be removed from societies worldwide. According to one contributor Ousmane, widespread female genital mutilation is still practiced in Senegal, with a higher prevalence in rural areas, and he believes that it will take great dedication to remove this deeply entrenched tradition from local communities. However, he is encouraged by the activities of Tostan, an NGO that is making steady progress towards its abolition through its focus on a community-based approach now being implemented in surrounding villages. According to Laura Young-Sing’Oei, who works for ProRights Consulting, there are many community-based organizations like Tostan, that are finding creative and innovative ways to work with traditional structures to begin to confront norms that harm girls such as FMG. By empowering women, and educating them on the dangers of such practices, it is hopeful that they will go on to protect their own adolescent daughters and in turn set a trend for future generations.  

These are just two examples of the topics being discussed on the consultation, and the really interesting assortment of responses we are receiving. Following the conclusion of the discussion, we will present a paper on its findings at a workshop on "Empowering adolescent girls by tackling social norms" that takes place on 26 April in London! The event will be co-organised by the OECD Development Centre, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the Department for International Development (DFID UK) and The Girl Hub. There are only 3 days left to make your voice heard, so don’t hesitate!

The discussion will close on 11 April 2013 at 17h (GMT+1), click here to read and participate. 

*The online discussion is organised in partnership with the Health Behaviour in School-aged ChildrenResearch Network (HBSC), the Department for International Development (DFID UK), ASCD – The Whole Child, the Girl Hub, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Plan (UK).

Robbie Lawrence, Wikichild Coordinator

The Wikiprogress Team 

Opening the Black Box of Governance: Alleviating Poverty With Data

This ProgBlog, by Rayna St  of Global Voices is part of the Global Forum on Development 2013, that took place  on 4 and 5 April 2013 at the OECD in Paris. The blog discusses how new and innovative forms of data collection can be used to alleviate poverty. 

The constant rise of Internet and mobile phone use is an opportunity to enable more citizens to engage with governance. Technology can help improve citizen participation in decision-making and can re-energise participation in public life. Transparency and accountability is becoming a diverse and dynamic field for exploration worldwide. Opening the data produced by public administrations is part of an effective approach to poverty alleviation. Incredible amounts of data are produced every day, by a wide range of stakeholders: governments, media, mobile operators, citizens themselves. Despite the huge potential for using data about a society or government for the public good, it is rarely released and shared for public use. Additionally, reliable statistics can be hard to come by or are still the exclusive property of government or corporate officials.

The benefits of citizen engagement are numerous, wide-ranging and significant for all stakeholders, as Striking Poverty, a World Bank initiative, illustrates:

"For the marginalized poor, participation mechanisms can provide channels for shaping solutions and holding governments accountable for policies and services delivered. For organizations, governments, and funders, engagement with communities is beneficial in that citizens will support, adopt, champion, and eventually share in the ownership and success of programs."

Does Open Data work in developing countries?

Open Data endeavours in both rich and poor countries often come up against a shortage of technical and political skills that prevent citizens from actively engaging with them. There can easily be a gap between the goals of data advocates and citizens’ understanding of the data. Still, a huge number of creative approaches to collect and make sense of data related to public life show promise that this is the most straightforward way into civic engagement. The Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI), the first national Open Data project in Sub-Saharan Africa, was launched in 2011. The released data sets (over 400) provide data for socially-relevant domains from education to sanitation. Kenya is in fact the first developing country to have an Open Data portal. In greater Africa, Morocco was first to launch anOpen Data platform. Tunisia followed in 2011 with Open Data Tunisia. Seizing the potential of Open Data for developing countries and the growing number of national ventures, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched the Open Data for Africa portal, as a part of the Africa Information Highway initiative.

It encompasses Open Data platforms for the following 20 African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Although the challenges are numerous, multiple success stories show that the key to using technology for transparency and accountability efforts is to employ a collaborative approach and ensure that tools are user-friendly and quick to offer results. A report by the Global Voices ‘Technology for Transparency’ initiative looking at citizen initiatives for transparency and accountability across the globe found that: Data visualization and navigation tools are a key feature in more than half of the projects we documented, as are diverse forms of data collection from citizens. Approximately one third of the projects use mobile phones in some way, most commonly by allowing citizens to submit or receive information via text messages. These observations illustrate that citizen initiatives are not only directed towards gathering data but also towards making sense of it for the wider community. The projects show great opportunity for well-managed data and related statistics released through open government data programs. The next milestone for governments in developing countries is to solve the problems of data quality and availability, as well as the technical and statistical capacity of staff and institutions.

Opening the governance

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) was launched back in September 2011 when the governments of Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States took stance in favour of more transparent governance by signing the Open Government Declaration: The Open Government Partnership is a global effort to make governments better. We all want more transparent, effective and accountable governments -- with institutions that empower citizens and are responsive to their aspirations. But this work is never easy. It takes political leadership. It takes technical knowledge. It takes sustained effort and investment. It takes collaboration between governments and civil society. Shortly after, the World Bank recognized the importance of the foundational principles of the Partnership and declared its support to the initiative “by facilitating knowledge exchanges and helping to build the capacity of OGP member countries to elaborate and implement their plans to become more open and responsive.” The OGP already has 50 members. Although several African countries have presented their action plans and three of them -- South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya -- have already delivered their commitments, Africa is still trailing in involvement. The most recent OGP Africa meeting indicates that slow progress is being made, with Ghana and Liberia developing their respective ‘Action Plans’ in order to apply for membership at the Open Government Partnership.

New approaches, new challenges ahead

Is technology the panacea for developing countries? Definitely not. But it definitely paves the way for addressing open, socially and politically relevant questions. Even though the Kenya's ODI has not had much impact on Kenyans, and very few African states rush to join the OGP, these dynamics are irreversible. The very existence of the endeavours described above is a solid step in the right direction.

UN-led meetings on the development agenda that will follow the Millennium Development Goals are recommending a focus on eliminating poverty, reducing inequalities, and addressing the needs of poor people – based on their perspectives. At the same time, they are stressing the need to stimulate economic growth and better manage the environment.  Above all, there is a sense that one can not afford to focus on one goal without addressing the others.  

Rayna St

Watch the video broadcast of the 2013 Global Forum on Development, here.

You can still follow discussions at #OECDgfd and on the Wikiprogress, Wikigenderand Wikichild twitter feeds.

What Happened at the Global Forum on Development 2013?

The Wikiprogress team covered the OECD’s Global Forum on Development on 4-5 April 2013 in Paris. The GFD was the first in a series of three annual forums in preparation for the post-2015 world. It hosted a number of globally renowned speakers including Olusegun Obasanjo (Former President of Nigeria), Sabina Alkire (Director, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative [OPHI]) and Duncan Green, author of the Poverty to Power Blog and Oxfam’s Senior Strategic Adviser. This blog will provide a brief synopsis of the forum and a run down of the different sessions that will take place. See the full list of speakers here.

Watch the video broadcast of the 2013!

The emerging middle class is increasingly comparing itself to the living standards in the more affluent part of the world.  Many remain vulnerable, however, to a range of economic factors, such as unemployment, sickness and old age that could move them back to destitution. There also are still large numbers of people in poverty in middle-income countries.  In light of the new economic world we live in, the 2013 Global Forum on Development (GFD) is designed to promote a better understanding of what the shifting dynamics of poverty mean for the poverty reduction policies to be pursued by governments, international organisations and others in the post-2015 world.

Here is a summary of the different sessions of the two days.

Day 1 – Thursday 4 April

13:00 - Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speeches

The GFD opened with keynote speeches on the importance of and challenges to developing a set of policies based on a holistic approach to poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth.

See the background paper on poverty reduction, here.

14:15  - Session 1: The Poverty Challenge – Global Trends, Uncertainties, and National Policy Frameworks

Two high-level panels of policy makers and experts from different countries, regions and organisations presented their views on the key changes and trends that will influence their future efforts to reduce poverty.

See the background paper on "The Next Global Development Agenda - Ending Poverty, Promoting Sustainability", here.

Day 2 – Friday April

9:15 Session 2: Beyond poverty reduction: The challenge of social cohesion in developing countries

Members of the panel discussed what should be the priorities of a renewed social cohesion agenda.

See the background paper on the discussion, here.

11:45 - Lunch Time Presentation: Post 2015: Effective Partnerships for Development in a Changing World

The authors of the European Report on Development 2013 (ERD 2013) offered a preview of some of the findings of the report, which aims to contribute to the debate on the post-2015 development agenda.

14:00 - Session 3: Innovative approaches to measuring poverty, well-being and progress, and implications for statistical capacity development

The session addressed measuring well-being and progress in developing countries and statistical capacity development in an emerging post-2015 development agenda – see background paper here.

Panel 3.1: Measuring well-being and progress in developing countries

The notion of well-being figures prominently in recent OECD work on measuring progress “Beyond GDP”.  It is understood as a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon, encompassing a range of economic and non-economic outcomes that impact people’s lives. The OECD’s Better Life Initiative, launched in 2011, is based on a framework involving 11 dimensions and featuring both average achievements and inequalities, both objective conditions and people’s own aspirations, both conditions today and tomorrow (i.e. sustainability).  This framework is made operational through a set of indicators to benchmark countries’ performance and monitor progress.

 Moderator:

• Ms. Martine Durand, Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics Directorate, OECD

See the background paper, here.

Panellists:

• Mr. Khalid Soudi, Observatoire des Conditions de Vie de la Population, Haut Commissariat au Plan, Morocco (Download PPT)
• Mr. Allister McGregor, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), United Kingdom
• Mr. Gerardo Leyva Parra, Deputy Director General for Research, National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), Mexico  

15:15 - Final Session: Taking the Agenda Forward: Topics for further action and Forum conclusion

This session provided a summary of the forum and the key steps that need to be taken over the coming years.

Perhaps the most important insight about poverty over the past twenty years is the confirmation that the vision of the UN Millennium Declaration – of creating an environment conducive to the elimination of poverty – is achievable. These global forums, held from 2013 through 2015, will focus on what this will mean, for all those working toward this vision, in the context of the post-2015 world.

You can still follow discussions at  ‪#OECDgfd and on the Wikiprogress, Wikigender and Wikichild twitter feeds.

Watch the video broadcast of the Forum, here.

The Wikiprogress Team

Exploring New Approaches For Poverty Reduction

As the Global Forum on Development (GFD) 2013 draws closer, Cameroonian blogger Julia Owono of Global Voices has written about recent online exchanges on poverty reduction, including a TEDx talk in Mongolia and the ongoing online discussion in preparation for the GFD.

The quest is on for solutions to poverty reduction with the approach of the 2015 deadline for the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDG). Many organizations are exploring new avenues for answers, hoping it can lead to fresh ideas. Among the goals agreed to by the international community more than a decade ago was to halve the number of people suffering from hunger, and for the world's poorest citizens to gain productive employment. Most of the targets are far from being met in most countries, but progress has been made, for instance in Sub Saharan Africa where the proportion of people living on less than USD 1.25 a day declined from 58% to 51% between 1990 and 2005.

Ideas exchange on the internet

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will hold their annual Global Forum on Development in Paris on April 4-5, 2013. This year, the OECD is exploring more inclusive approaches to tackle the poverty issue by inviting to anopen pre-forum discussion online with OECD scholars. All the main conversation topics on the agenda are laid out for everyone to see and contribute.

Another interesting approach to online ideas exchange is hosted by Concerned African Scholars, an organization of scholars and students of Africa. Among the many issues explored is the impact of the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing illicitly out of Africa on the slow progress of poverty reduction. The author, Janvier D. Nkurunziza, suggests one key to bringing down poverty would be "the repatriation of the resources which are currently held abroad and not benefiting the continent."

Had Africa had not lost so much resources in the form of illicit financial transfers, it is likely that poverty would have been less acute. The logic is that keeping these resources in Africa would have produced higher rates of investment, allowing African countries to invest in productivity enhancing sectors such as infrastructure, creating jobs, and raising incomes, resulting in lower levels of poverty.

In a TEDx talk in UlaanBataar, Mongolia on "Social Media and Poverty Reduction" in September 2012, Robert Reid, the Resident Country Director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Mongolia, highlighted the necessity of a broad public participation in poverty reduction projects, stressing the importance of private sector involvement for sustainable development. "It's important that the involvment of the private sector be considered at the beginning of discussions on how to reduce poverty," he says.

This multistakeholder approach is also a key tenet of the open data movement, which is progressively penetrating the development sphere. The Uganda Open Development Partnership Platform, a civil society organization-led public initiative, is an example of what open data could bring to the debate on poverty reduction:

Open development is where organisations are using information technologies, among other information sharing channels, to provide and share information. Open development enhances transparency and accountability about resources that are available to be invested in development, how those resources are invested and what results they achieve. In the end, all the stakeholders involved in this information sharing chain; the data owners and users benefit from this mutually reinforcing ecosystem‌

By Julie Owono

This blog first appeared on the OECD Global Forum on Development 2013 site, here.

Discussion questions

The past two decades has seen decreases in both the number of people living in absolute poverty and the rate of poverty in the developing world. This has resulted in part from rapid economic growth, but also from the adoption of active poverty reduction policies, in particular in the framework of the MDGs.

Even though the objective of reducing poverty remains a priority, other social goals need to be tackled today. In this respect, by focusing on three complementary dimensions – social inclusion, social capital and social mobility – social cohesion represents an important challenge for policy makers. While the adoption and rapid propagation of institutional innovations – such as conditional cash transfers, employment guarantee schemes and social savings accounts – have helped to alleviate poverty in many developing countries, they have also contributed to creating fragmented social systems, which can deepen divisions in society.

Questions

1.  What should be the priorities of a renewed social cohesion agenda?
2. What policy mix best addresses the multi-dimensional nature of social cohesion?
3. What institutional innovations have enhanced the social inclusion and mobility of vulnerable and discriminated populations?
4. Is the implementation of universal social programmes achievable in developing countries?

The OECD Global Forum would like to hear your opinions the above. Click here to discuss

The impact of discriminatory social norms on adolescent girls

Wikigender and Wikichild and partners would like to hear your views, lessons learned and best practices or policies on empowering adolescent girls. From 2-11 April 2013, we invite you to participate in an online discussion on “The impact of discriminatory social norms on adolescent girls” and to be heard at a seminar on “Empowering adolescent girls by tackling social norms” that takes place on 26 April in London!

The event will be co-organised by the OECD Development Centre, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the Department for International Development (DFID UK) and The Girl Hub. The inputs from the Wikigender and Wikichild communities in this discussion will be presented via a summary report at the event. 

This online discussion is organised in partnership with the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Research Network (HBSC), the Department for International Development (DFID UK), ASCD – The Whole Child, the Girl Hub, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Plan (UK).

There is compelling evidence that adolescent girls are an under-invested segment of the society that could significantly help us reach the development goals. Numerous reports and campaigns highlight the link between discriminatory social norms affecting adolescent girls to development outcomes, such as ODI’s background note on “Adolescent girls, capabilities and gender justice: review of theliterature for East Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia”. Many reports point out to the challenges experienced by adolescent girls along with solutions, such as: Plan’s Because I am a Girl 2012 report; "Grow: A Vital Force In Rural Economies - A Girls Count Report On Adolescent Girls” by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Plan’s “Adolescent Girls’ Views on Safety in Cities” report; Plan’s “Adolescent voices: experiences in implementing youth sexual and reproductive health and rightsprogrammes” report; resources by ‘The Girl hub’, a partnership between DFID and the Nike Foundation; and many more. Despite some progress, for example on gender parity in primary education, girls throughout the developing world continue to be constrained by the intergenerational transmission of poverty and gender inequality. The OECD Development Centre’s 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) also finds that discriminatory social norms have significant and enduring consequences for adolescent girls in terms of their health, access to economic resources and opportunities both in and outside the household.

This online discussion will be a unique opportunity to gather your views on:

1. How discriminatory social norms shape the lives of adolescent girls by influencing their access to opportunities, resources and power 
2. Which interventions are the most effective in transforming such discriminatory social norms and practices
   

Participants will be invited to share their examples of successful approaches, recommendations and actions needed with the gender and development community. 

We count on your participation in this important discussion and look forward to reading your comments.

You can post a comment in a few clicks by going to the “Contribute!” section of the online discussion page. The hashtag for Twitter is #adolescentgirls