Initial findings and recommendations from the Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE) Program

Research Brief

Gender-based violence programming for adolescent girls in humanitarian settings often seeks to mitigate risks and build protective assets at the individual level. However, it is also well known that adolescent girls’ lives are strongly influenced by those around them, including family members.

The Sibling Support for Adolescent Girls in Emergencies (SSAGE) Program was designed to challenge intergenerational cycles of violence and prevent future violence against adolescent girls through a novel gender-transformative, whole-family support approach. The SSAGE Program has been implemented with conflict-affected communities in Nigeria, Niger, and Jordan.

Preliminary findings from this research suggest several key areas in which donors, policymakers, and humanitarian actors can harness the positive influence of household members to build adolescent girls’ protective assets.

This report contains key findings and recommendations.