INFO:

The Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE) program aims to ensure adolescent girls living in humanitarian settings are safer from violence and the threat of violence by engaging their male siblings and caregivers with behavior change communication. Mercy Corps Nigeria led the implementation of the pilot phase of the Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE) program that was designed based on the Mercy Corps ‘Hadin Kai’ program, along with new evidence and practice from adolescents and youth development. The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) serves as the lead researcher and learning agency on the SSAGE program with support from Washington University in St Louis USA to learn from participants about how to improve the program and have it replicated in future adolescent programming. The program engaged 480 adolescent girls, their older male siblings, and caregivers to participate in a three months safe space program. The safe spaces which were facilitated using a unique curriculum that was designed by an independent consultant - Patrick Welsh with support from Mercy Corps and WRC had different sessions that centered on inter-familial gender norms that put adolescent girls at risk of GBV. The 480 adolescent girls, their male siblings and their caregivers met weekly in safe spaces to discuss these issues.