Adolescents worldwide face significant challenges in achieving their sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR), with those in West Africa among the most disadvantaged. Progress is urgently needed to meet SDG 5 on Gender Equality by 2030, including eliminating harmful practices like child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM).  

ODI Global/ GAGE is part of a consortium coordinated by Save the Children Canada involved in the Foundations Project (2022-2027)  focused on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)  and girls’ empowerment in Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone. Funded by Global Affairs Canada, Foundations is a multi-level, multi-component intervention that combines support to ministries of education to strengthen comprehensive sexuality education curricula, capacity strengthening for health providers to deliver adolescent friendly health services and community conversations to help reduce stigma surrounding SRHR issues, including child marriage and FGM/C.  

ODI Global/ GAGE is responsible together with national research partners for carrying out a multi-year qualitative longitudinal study examining barriers and enablers to ASRHR outcomes, and the extent to which the Foundations project is contributing to positive change in the focal countries. The baseline data collection with adolescents, caregivers, service providers and programme implementers was carried out in 2024 and a follow up round will be rolled out in 2026 using interactive qualitative research.  The study involved 330 adolescent girls, 115 boys, 170 caregivers, and 164 service providers across Mali, Niger, and Sierra Leone, covering two programming and one non-programming sites per country. Participants varied in education, marital status, and disability. Using qualitative research tools—such as in-depth interviews, service mapping, body mapping and vignettes, the research is examining adolescent knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours around ASRHR. Key informant interviews with community and district service providers is used to enrich the analysis, highlighting both progress and gaps in ASRHR service provision, notably for adolescent girls.

Complementing this approach, the team is also working with local facilitators and 30 adolescent girls and boys from programme implementation communities in each country to carry out audio diaries at quarterly intervals for a year so as to be able to track young people’s perceptions and experiences in real time.