The Impact of Teaching Girls Negotiation Skills on Health and Educational Outcomes in ZambiaPDF version
When young girls struggle to stay in school, they often do not develop the skills necessary to support themselves and are subsequently forced to rely on male partners for resources who often demand sex in return. Such relationships are prevalent across sub-Saharan Africa, leaving young girls highly vulnerable to HIV infection and unwanted pregnancy, evidenced by the two-to-one ratio of HIV rates among young women versus their male counterparts.[1] The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified negotiation skills for women and expanded efforts to keep girls in school as critical tools for reducing HIV rates among women in Sub-Saharan Africa.[2] Designing the school curriculum to provide girls with a stronger education and new skill sets has the potential to change gender dynamics and improve health outcomes for this vulnerable population.
School data for Zambia shows a dramatic decline in female enrollment from primary to secondary school years.[3] While this drop is normally attributed to the commencement of school fees in the eighth grade, a closer look reveals that the increase in school dropout rate starts prior to the fee increase. In grade five, the drop-out rate is three times higher for girls than for boys.[4]
This project tests the impact of negotiation training, in addition to the current school curriculum, on health (specifically HIV/AIDS) and education outcomes among Zambian girls. This study analyzes whether negotiation skills that allow a girl to reshape her understanding of a conflict and her communications with others, can ultimately result in more favorable resource allocations. The study isolates the impact of teaching information versus teaching negotiation by layering the two interventions on top of a “social capital” program, including time with other girls in a safe space.
- Social capital: girls meet after school to play games; receive a snack notebooks, and pens
- Information: girls meet after school to learn about HIV and the importance of schooling, and to play games; also receive a snack, notebooks, and pens
- Negotiation plus information: girls receive negotiation training in addition to information program
- “Me” - identifying one’s own interests and options in conflict situations
- “You” - identifying the other person’s interests, needs, and perspective
- “Together” - identifying shared interests and small trades
- “Build” - developing win-win solutions
- Survey data: Self-perception, outcomes of arguments and discussion, intra-household allocations, and sexual risk exposure. Impact on the family measured through parent and sibling surveys to see if gains in participant well-being come at the expense of other family members.
- Real outcomes (administrative data from schools): Rates of pregnancy, school attendance and advancement, and potentially STI/HIV rates
- Behavioral measures: Take-up of an additional opportunity that requires child-parent negotiation, altered willingness to pay for schooling by parents, responses to negotiation scenario or partner game.
