The Girls Empowerment through Education and Health Activity (ASPIRE)

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The Girls’ Empowerment through Education and Health Activity (ASPIRE) will improve reading skills for girls in upper primary school so they have the foundation of reading to be able to succeed in secondary school. ASPIRE’s focus on reading is a continuation of what the Early Grade Reading Activity is already doing in lower primary school. ASPIRE will focus on all primary and secondary schools in Balaka and Machinga districts which are two of USAID/Malawi’s focus districts under its Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). Interventions will achieve the following outputs: Output 1: Reading skills for girls in upper primary school improved; Output 2: Adoption of positive sexual and health-care seeking behaviors, and social norms among youth ages 10-19 increased; and Output 3: Key structural and cultural barriers for girls’ access to schooling decreased. Implemented together, the three Outputs [improved reading skills (Output 1) supported by increased sexual and health seeking behaviors (Output 2) and decreased structural and cultural barriers to girls’ education through community support and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions at schools (Output 3)] will lead to improved achievement of girls in upper primary and secondary school.

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