The USAID/Mali Girls Leadership and Empowerment through Education (GLEE) project aims to increase education access for adolescent girls by decreasing barriers to quality education, improving the safety of girls in school and their communities, and increasing the knowledge and adoption of positive health behaviors of adolescent girls. This is a complex project with a variety of goals, requiring a careful evaluation design.

This convergent parallel mixed-methods mid-term evaluation will use appreciative evaluation and participatory approaches to meet programming needs by leveraging what has been achieved, building on strengths, and enhancing trust of the evaluation process. This is particularly important in a sensitive programming environment, particularly for adolescent girls living in social- and security-restrictive contexts. The evaluation approaches will empower partners and community members to advocate for evidence-based positive change in support of systemic and sustainable transformations. Our team combines EnCompass staff, skilled national and international consultants, and Mali-based evaluation firm CEPROCIDE​​​​​​​.

The evaluation of GLEE will use both quantitative and qualitative data to measure GLEE’s effectiveness and sustainability. Data will be collected from surveys, monitoring data, focus groups, and key informant interviews. These data will provide the information needed to help the GLEE team identify ways to continue to strengthen the projects’ immediate and long-term impact. The results of this mid-term evaluation will also be used to plan future projects.

GLEE is an exciting project working to increase access to education for adolescent girls in a volatile region. This mid-term evaluation will discover what is working well, so that this positive effort can bring about further important change.

Photo c/o USAID in Africa on Flickr