Anyaka Makwiri: USAID’s YouthPower Action Mentoring Program for AGYW
When adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) are healthy, educated, and safely included; they have the power to transform their communities. Ensuring this possibility requires a holistic approach to programming. FHI 360, on behalf of USAID’s YouthPower Action, recently developed a multi-component, group-based mentoring intervention for AGYW grounded in the principles of positive youth development. The intervention consists of curricula covering sexual and reproductive health, financial capabilities, soft skills, and gender content; activities designed to improve participants’ social connectedness; optional onsite STI, HIV, and pregnancy testing along with STI treatment; group-based savings; and links to SRH services, including contraceptive and gender-based violence services. The intervention was initially piloted and assessed in Uganda, and subsequently adapted for implementation in Burundi and Ethiopia.