Life Skills in Non-Formal Contexts for Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries

Based on the findings from this study, we recommend a number of steps in research and practice to improve knowledge about non-formal life skills programs for vulnerable adolescent girls.

• First, further research on this topic is needed to better understand how and why programs have an impact on beneficiaries.
• Second, process-based longitudinal evaluation is needed to see how and whether girls are learning specific types of skills and how they apply them in their lives.
• Third, many life skills programs appear to teach several skills in combination, and further research is required to understand whether the successful acquisition of skills, as well as translation of skills into change, is a function of skill inter-dependency.
• Fourth, programs should alter their recruitment methods so as to ensure they benefit the most vulnerable girls. Doing so requires more investigation to know what funding incentives program administrators are responding to in designing and delivering programs.
• Finally, more investigation into—and connection between—formal schooling and non-formal life skills programs is required to understand how the two may better work in tandem to strengthen life skills development for vulnerable girls.