A Review of the Ishraq Program's Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation

Abstract

The Ishraq Program for adolescent girls assesses outcomes that aim to increase their agency within an environment that does not fully recognize them. Does creating a safe space intervention program provide rural adolescent Egyptian girls with empowerment to make informed decisions about life issues? Girls in rural Upper Egypt face risks of poverty, illiteracy, early marriage, high fertility, genital cutting, poor health and domestic violence. When adolescent girls lack general awareness of their well being, they fail to have decision-making skills that could alleviate future poverty cycles. Being left out of formal education or a public space to socialize isolates girls. Social norms in rural Upper Egypt create this isolation among girls who are no longer involved in education and therefore have become invisible within their communities and their households. Coordinators of the Ishraq program –an effort in rural Upper Egypt designed to empower adolescent girls--are aware of the importance of evaluative research and have designed their program to include research and impact analysis components. The following review assesses the impact evaluation that was conducted for the pilot phase of the Ishraq program in rural Upper Egypt. Through background information and review of the program’s intervention and design, that this analysis critiques the Ishraq Program Full Report (2007), unless otherwise noted (Brady et al 2007). It is worth mentioning that since the pilot phase, Ishraq has begun its expansion phase. However, the results from this next phase are not yet available. The review makes several recommendations to be considered for the on-going Ishraq Program.