Creating a Gender-Equitable Environment for Very Young Adolescents: Messages and Evidence to Persuade Decision Makers

"While gender equality among VYAs is a critical outcome on its own, it is also an important social determinant of health that can support improvements in a broad array of health outcomes, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH), violence prevention, mental health, and more."

According to Breakthrough ACTION, to truly create a supportive environment for gender equality among very young adolescents (VYAs), programmes must reach the people, systems, and organisations that influence adolescents' lives. These social and structural determinants of gender inequality influence how gender norms, roles, and systems take shape during adolescence and how VYAs navigate power relations and their emerging gender identities. To that end, this message framework is designed for advocates working to increase funding for, and improve the implementation of, programmes that seek to create a gender-equitable environment for VYAs (aged 10-14).

To develop the resource, in 2022, Breakthrough ACTION conducted informal interviews with subject matter experts and youth-led and youth-serving organisations in order to understand facilitators and barriers that influence support for gender-related policies and programmes for VYAs. The project also conducted a narrative review, focusing on reports and results from the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), a multi-country longitudinal study exploring gender socialisation and its implications for adolescent health and wellbeing. All information was synthesised and transferred into an operational message framework and validated with experts in SRH, gender, and youth.

The framework is designed to be used as part of a strategic advocacy process, such as SMART Advocacy, particularly during the process of developing key "asks" and compiling supporting evidence. The core argument for supporting a gender-equitable environment for VYAs is based on five key messages - e.g., "it is essential to meaningfully partner with and engage VYAs and young people more broadly in all policy and program efforts related to youth". Supporting points for each key message are provided, along with links to supportive tools, with a focus on those that demonstrate global evidence and ethical arguments.

These messages can be used to develop advocacy materials, such as briefs, presentations, or videos, as well as talking points for meetings with decision makers. Advocates are encouraged to select and tailor the messages and supporting points based on each decision maker's knowledge, needs, priorities, and values. Advocates should supplement the evidence provided with local-level data, as relevant.