Clinical Research Directory

Impact Evaluation of Türkiye's Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment Programme for Elimination of Child Marriage

Low income, refugee, displaced and disaster affected populations face a variety of protection risks, including higher risk of child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU). This is the case in Türkiye, where low income, refugee populations and those affected by the 2023 earthquake in Southern and Central Türkiye face elevated risk of child marriage. As part of the UNICEF Türkiye Country Office (TCO) commitment to implement comprehensive interventions that aim to contribute to a change in social norms and attitudes towards gender equality, the CO and partners have developed the "Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Empowerment for Elimination of Child Marriage" program (hereafter "the program"). The program is an 8-week group-based empowerment and life skills training for adolescent girls aged 12 - 18 years old, a 4-session adolescent boys awareness training, and a one-time awareness raising seminar for caregivers. The current trial has the overall objective of evaluating the short-term causal impact of the program with respect to CEFMU and related outcomes for adolescent girls. The trial design is an individual randomized control trial, allocating 820 households with adolescent girls to either treatment or control on a 1:1 basis. The primary data collection includes a pre- and post-intervention caregiver and adolescent face-to-face survey, as well as a one-time qualitative data collection. The trial results will inform the future operation and scale-up of the program, as well as contribute to the broader evidence base on what works to increase the empowerment of adolescent girls and reduce CEFMU.

Youth Outlook on Life Opportunities Study

Singapore's fertility rate is currently below 1.2, raising concerns about population ageing and long-term sustainability. The fertility decline is characterized by falling birth rates among women in their 20s with almost no recuperation among women in their 30s. This project explores a) whether informational imperfections help to account for high intended ages at childbearing in Singapore, b) whether informational interventions significantly affect ideal and expected ages at marriage and childbearing, and expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, and c) whether informational interventions significantly affect expected and actual educational outcomes and labor market outcomes. Our hypotheses are: 1. University students have knowledge gaps about age-related onset of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies and local policy initiatives related to age at marriage and childbearing, especially among male students. 2. Being exposed to accurate information in these domains leads to significantly lower ideal/expected ages at marriage and childbearing, and higher expected probability of undergoing social egg freezing, immediately after the intervention. 3. Being exposed to accurate information in these domains does not lead to lower educational and labor market expectations immediately after the intervention among either male or female students, or to significant differences in module choices, Cumulative Average Point (CAP), starting salary and employment status of university students in the following academic semester and six months after graduation, among either male or female students.