Evaluating Girls Invest: A Mobile-Enabled Economic Empowerment Intervention for Girls to Reduce Risk for Partner Violence

Overview

The research aims to refine and evaluate Girls Invest, a newly developed economic empowerment intervention, to reduce economic and social risks associated with high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among adolescent girls in Ibadan, Nigeria. Girls Invest, initially developed and tested in the US, has been adapted for use in Nigeria via Phase I Wellspring support. Girls Invest participants complete gender equity and financial skills training modules via a mobile "app." Upon completion, each participant receives a financial resource of supporting girls' education/vocation (e.g., sewing machine, baking oven and pans, or funds to cover educational exams).

Adolescent girls residing in low-income communities in Nigeria experience high rates of IPV. Economic vulnerability contributes to these high rates of IPV in two major ways: 1) Economic vulnerability increases financial reliance on male partners; IPV is common in these partnerships with males and financial reliance on males decreases girls' ability to leave abusive partnerships. 2) Economic vulnerability can intersect with gender-based constraints (e.g. low prioritization of limited household resources for girls' education) and create low expectations of educational/career opportunities, which can shift girls' priorities away from the participants future training/education and increase intentions to find a male partner and start a family - thereby, increasing girls' risk for relying financially on male partners and risk for IPV. By promoting young females' financial knowledge as well as social/economic expectations and opportunities, Girls Invest seeks to decrease economic vulnerability, reduce girls' financial reliance on male partnerships, and reduce girls' risk for IPV. First, the investigators aim to pilot Girls Invest with 20 adolescent females ages 15-19; assessments will include quantitative app-based surveys and focus group discussions to assess initial feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of implementation. The investigators will refine Girls Invest with consultation from a community advisory board. Second, to determine preliminary efficacy, the investigators will implement a 2-armed randomized-controlled trial, randomizing 240 adolescent girls ages 15-19 to the Girls Invest intervention or a wait-list control condition. Girls Invest expands previous work on economic interventions for reducing IPV, and also employs innovative mobile technology methodologies. The proposed research has potential for high impact, particularly given the increase in economic vulnerability as a result of COVID-19, especially among girls who were already living in poverty prior to the pandemic, as well as the coinciding reports of increased IPV.