This book offers practical approaches to improve and empower the lives of at-risk, low-income, urban-based girls and young women. It does this by presenting successful projects from around the world which clearly demonstrate what can be done on a broad range of fronts, and answers the two key questions: what do at-risk urban girls and young women need?; what kind of programmes have been successful in meeting those needs? The book begins with a comprehensive overview of the plight of young disadvantaged women, and defines who they are, why they need special attention and most importantly, the four main contributing factors working against these women: poverty, age, gender and ethnicity. In the rest of the book, the authors use real case studies and models based on projects from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the USA, and illustrate how they have been successful in combating these four factors and empowering young women against them. These examples include income generation and vocational training schemes, formal and non-formal education programmes and health and mental well-being programmes. The book concludes with important and authoritative recommendations for both advocacy and service delivery work which will be essential reading for all agencies working with young women.

Foreword
About this publication
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
Ch. 1 Especially Difficult Circumstances 7
Street girls 8
Urban girls at work 12
Commercial sexual exploitation 17
Teenage mothers 21
Identifying needs and programme responses 25
Ch. 2 Income Generation and Vocational Training 29
Case study: Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative (YSEI), Street Kids International (SKI); Zambia 30
Case history: Profile of three participants of the Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative 34
Model programme: Servol Life Centres: Education for life and work; Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies 36
Model programme: Child Welfare Society of Kenya: Empowering domestic workers 38
Model programme: The SIMMA Vocational Training Institute and the WACAR Foundation: Empowerment of women for better prospects and sustainable development; The Gambia 40
Elements of success: Income generation and vocational training 42
Ch. 3 Formal and Non-formal Education 45
Cause study: Adolescent Mothers Programme of the Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation: A second change for education 46
Case history: Ellorine, from teen mother to nurse: Jamaica 49
Model programme: Enda: Literacy for domestic workers; Dakar, Senegal 50
Model programme: Paaralang Pantao; Children's Laboratory for Drama in Education and The People's School; Manila, The Philippines 51
Elements of success: Formal and non-formal education 54
Ch. 4 Health and Mental Wellbeing 57
Case study: Casa de Passagem: Health outreach by and for girls; Recife, Brazil 58
Case history: Betania, form street girl to mother; Brazil 61
Model programme: Kabalikat, Philippines: Health education for street children and bar workers; Manila, the Philippines 62
Model programme: Undugu Society of Kenya: 'Outward bound' for street girls; Nairobi, Kenya 64
Elements of success: Health and mental wellbeing 65
Ch. 5 Culture 67
Case study: Sasha Bruce Teen Mothers Programme: Rites of passage for African-American girls; Washington, DC, USA 68
Model programme: FACT: AIDS education through art; Bangkok, Thailand 72
Model programme: African Culture International: Theatre of change, theatre of tradition; Dakar, Senegal 74
Model programme: Kapatiran-Kaunlaran Foundation: Linking the elderly and youth; Manila, the Philippines 75
Elements of success: Culture 76
Ch. 6 Advocacy and Protecting Girls' and Young Women's Rights 79
Model programme: The Kamla Project: Preventing sexual exploitation of girls; Thailand 81
Model programme: ECPAT: Legislation against cross-border sexual exploitation of children; Worldwide network 83
Model programme: Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children: Confronting harmful traditions 85
Model programme: Heart-to-Heart: Preventing sexual abuse among adolescent mothers and their children; Chicago, USA 86
Elements of success: Advocacy and rights 88
Ch. 7 Involving Boys and Men in Efforts to Improve Young Women's Lives 91
Reflections on working with adolescent boys in the reproductive-health field 92
Reflections on involving men in the prevention of domestic violence 94
Programme examples in working with adolescent boys 95
Case study: The experience of SIDH in India 95
Case study: ECOS's experience in Brazil 95
Case study: The experience of the Ounce of Prevention Fund in the USA 96
Lessons learned from work with adolescent males in gender equity 97
Ch. 8 Conclusions 101
Advocacy recommendations 101
Service recommendations 103
Looking to the future 106
References and Bibliography 107
Consortium for Street Children-Profile 119
CSC members working with at-risk girls and young women 120

Gary Barker

Felicia Knaul