Understanding adolescent vulnerabilities in LMICs through an intersectional lens: launch of a new European Journal of Development Research Special Issue Background and objectives This event will showcase a new EJDR special issue that explores adolescent experiences across diverse LMICs, including conflict-affected contexts, drawing on unique mixed-methods data from the GAGE longitudinal study. It will highlight why an intersectional approach is critical to capture adolescents’ diverse and dynamic capabilities, and what the policy and programming implications are to ensure no adolescent is left behind.

1. Understanding adolescent vulnerabilities in LMICs
through an intersectional lens
Launch of a new European Journal of Development Research Special Issue
5th October 2021

2. Agenda
1
• Introductions and setting the scene
2
•Panel session – 30 mins
3
• Q & A – 10 mins
4
• Breakout room sessions – 30 mins
5
• Wrap up and conclusions – 15 mins

3. Panellists
Prof Rebecca
Tiessen
Chair
School of International
Development and
Global Studies,
University of Ottawa
Member of the
European Journal of
Development Research
editorial board
Twitter:
@rebeccatiessen
Prof Laura Camfield
Panel 1 and 2
School of International
Development
Former member of the
European Journal of
Development Research
editorial board
Twiter:
@camfield_laura
@developmentuea
Dr Khadija Mitu
Panel 1
GAGE Qualitative
Research Lead
Associate professor of
anthropology, the
university of
Chittagong, Bangladesh
Twitter:
@KhadijaMitu3
@GAGE_programme
@UChittagong
Dr Sarah Baird
Panel 2
Professor of Global
Health and Economics,
George Washington
University
GAGE Quantitative
Lead
Twitter:
@Gwpublichealth
@GAGE_programme
Prof Tassew
Woldehanna
Panel 2 and 3
President of Addis
Ababa University
GAGE quantitative
Principal Investigator
for Ethiopia and Early
Learning Partnership
(ELP) Research
Programs
Twitter: @Tassew18
Roberte Isimbi
Panel 3
Gender Equality and
Social Inclusion (GESI)
Specialist, FATE
Consulting
Research Uptake and
Impact Coordinator
(RUIC) for GAGE in
Rwanda
Twitter:
@Rob_Isimbi
@GAGE_programme
@FateConsulting

4. Panel discussion
Adolescent boy in Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

5. Prof Laura Camfield
Dr Khadija Mitu
1. What does an intersectional lens
bring to our understanding of
adolescent experiences in LMICs?

6. Adolescent experiences in LMICs through an intersectional lens
Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) - experiences of multiple overlapping disadvantage -
came from US legal/social policy, with obvious parallels to ‘multidimensional poverty’
Shows how different social identities - age, race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality -
intersect and inform each other in “interlocking systems of oppression” (Hill Collins,
1993:28) that are structural, political and representational
GAGE approach links adolescent experiences to a “social, economic, political and legal
environment that contributes to discrimination and structures experiences of oppression
and privilege” (AWID, 2004:5)
• How do the most marginalised adolescents experience and navigate structurally
embedded disadvantage?
• What shapes their individual and collective capabilities?
• How can this support or inhibit their voice and agency?
• What do they experience as an enabling environment?
• How can policies and programmes contribute to this?
It asks specifically:
Source: Miriam Dobson

7. What are the implications of intersectionality for GAGE research?
 ‘Bottom-up’ approach
 Methodological breadth and flexibility + explicit
reflection on theoretical and methodological choices
 Moving beyond the ‘trinity of race, class, and gender’ to
look at experiences emerging from intersecting
frameworks of religion, disability, culture, geography,
place, and age (Hankivsky, 2012:1717)
 Linking individuals and structures
 Disaggregating data
 ‘Studying up’
 Documenting agency, resiliency, and resistance to
domination (Hankivsky et al., 2010)
• ‘Writing from within’ (Andalzua) (standpoint
epistemology)
• Inductive
• Ethical - who is the research for? How does it
advance the needs of those studied?

8. Prof Sarah Baird
Prof Laura Camfield
Prof Tassew Woldehanna
2. How does a mixed-methods
approach help us to unpack
questions around the
intersections that shape
adolescent lives and capabilities?

9. GAGE longitudinal research design

10. How does a mixed-methods approach help us to unpack questions
around the intersections that shape adolescent lives and capabilities?
Quantitative research
can highlight puzzles
that qualitative can dive
deeper on; and vice
versa;
Mixed methods
research allows for
deeper exploration of
sensitive topics,
including experiences of
discrimination and
stigma, mental ill-
health, age- and gender-
based violence
Quantitative data
provides generalizability
that is often key to
engaging policy makers,
whilst qualitative
research can bring the
urgency of action to life
through human stories
and voices

11. Roberte Isimbi
Prof Tassew Woldehanna
3. How does this special issue help
to advance discussions on policy
and programming priorities for
adolescents in LMICs?

12. Adolescents and their heterogeneous experiences are too often invisible
on the policy stage – nationally and internationally…
53 of 232 SDG indicators are gender-specific and, of these, only 18 are disaggregated by
"adolescent" or "youth" age.
The 18 gender and adolescent / youth indicators are located in just 6 of 15 SDGs - that is
Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 11.

13. How does this special issue help to advance discussions on policy and
programming priorities for adolescents in LMICs?
It highlights the importance of:
Going beyond an
instrumentalist focus on
youth e.g. ‘harnessing youth
for economic growth’ and
developing policies and
programmes that can
respond to the complex
experiences, needs and
aspirations of heterogeneous
adolescents
Systematically integrating a
recognition of the ways in
which young people’s
economic and social
disadvantages can intersect,
including in the commissioning
and generation of
disaggregated data and
research that can make these
patterns of vulnerability visible
- including within the SDGs...
Paying attention to
adolescents’ evolving needs
over the course of the
second decade of life and
investing in interventions
that provide long-term age-
tailored services and
support

14. Q & A

15. Breakout room sessions
Boy at school in Jordan© Ingrid Gercama / GAGE 2017

16. Breakout room hosts
Dr Bassam Abu Hamad
Breakout room 1
Child Marriage
General Coordinator and Associate
Professor, School of Public Health Al-
Quds University (Jerusalem)
Associate Regional Director for MENA
for the GAGE research programme
Twitter: @GAGE_programme
@AlQudsU
Dr Ola Abu Al Ghaib
Breakout room 2
Adolescents with
disabilities
Manager in UN Partnership on
Persons with Disabilities Fund
Twitter: @AlghaibOla
@unprpd
Dr Kate Pincock
Breakout room 3
Refugees and IDPs
GAGE Qualitative Researcher
Research Associate, University of
Oxford
Twitter: @interarma
@GAGE_programme

17. Launch of a new European Journal of Development Research Special Issue
Room number 1
Dr Bassam Abu Hamad,
GAGE Associate Director
Child marriage drivers in diverse
LMIC contexts including the
experiences of girls and boys
• Please stay muted when not speaking.
• When speaking, please identify yourself by name
and work area to help others recognize you.

18. SGD 5.3
Eliminate all
harmful
practices, such
as child, early
and forced
marriage
Child marriage has declined by 15% in the last decade, however each year 12 million girls around the
world are still married before the age of 18 (UNICEF, 2018).
The global challenge of child marriage

19. Areas of focus during the group discussion
Intersecting complex drivers for
child marriage in LMIC and conflict
affected contexts, particularly,
debate between economic vs gender
norms drivers of child marriage, and
also the dimension of citizenship
(refugees/IDP versus non-refugees)
Comparing and contrasting drivers
for child marriage in different
settings, to explore whether these
are universal or can be quite context-
specific?
Underlying reasons behind these
drivers for child marriage? How
these drivers are changing overtime,
and what contributes to that change?
Caveats in current policies and
programmes, what can be done to
fulfil SDGs and LNOB commitments
related to ending child marriage?
Including availability and use of
evidence that reflects the voices of
the girls/boys married as children.

20. Launch of a new European Journal of Development Research Special Issue
Room number 2
Dr Ola Abu Alghaib,
Manager in UN Partnership on
the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities
Experiences of adolescents with disabilities
including differences based on context and
type of impairment
• Please stay muted when not speaking.
• When speaking, please identify yourself by name
and work area to help others recognize you.

21. • Adolescents with a sensory, physical or cognitive disability are 2.5 times more likely to have
never been in school than their peers without disabilities (UNESCO, 2020)
• Up to 68% of adolescent girls with disabilities will experience sexual violence before the
age of 18 (UNFPA, 2018).
Adolescents with disabilities in LMICs
Only 2 of the
232 SDG
indicators
disaggregate by
gender, age and
disability status

22. Areas of focus during the group discussion
What are the key challenges
that adolescents with
(dis)abilities face in terms of
education, psychosocial
wellbeing, bodily integrity and
economic empowerment in
LMICs?
How does (dis)ability intersect
with other social disadvantages
– e.g. gender, poverty, refugee
status?
What are the specific
challenges facing adolescents
with different types of
impairments (hearing, visual,
physical,
learning/communication)
How can an intersectional lens
advance policy and
programming effectiveness?

23. Launch of a new European Journal of Development Research Special Issue
Room number 3
Dr Kate Pincock, GAGE researcher,
Research Associate at the
University of Oxford
Adolescent refugees and IDPs
• Please stay muted when not speaking.
• When speaking, please identify yourself by name
and work area to help others recognize you.

24. Only 1 of the 232
SDG indicators
disaggregate by
refugee status
• There are an estimated 26 million refugees and over 45 million IDPs globally, of whom over half are
under the age of 18 (UNHCR, 2020).
• Refugee girls at secondary level are only half as likely to enroll in learning as male peers (UNHCR,
2018).
• 1 in 5 refugee women experiences SGBV, and due to intersecting factors of gender and age, adolescent
girls are the cohort most at risk (WRC, 2016)
Adolescent refugees and IDPs

25. Discussion points
In what ways does displacement
affect adolescents’ access to
health and nutrition, education,
psychosocial wellbeing,
economic empowerment, and
bodily integrity?
How do ‘gender’ and ‘age’
intersect with displacement to
produce particular forms of
marginalisation? And what
other social identities shape the
experience of displacement?
How might an intersectional
approach inform interventions
to support adolescent
capabilities across these
domains?
What barriers exist to
operationalizing an
intersectional approach in policy
and practice with adolescents?

26. Highlights from breakout rooms

27. Highlights from discussion on child marriage in LMICs
Intersecting drivers:
- economic
-limited access to quality education
- gender norms
- lack of girls' voice, choice, agency
- displacement
Delaying marriage without also
building girls’ broader human
capital has limitations
The importance of the strength of
sanctions on the girl if she doesn't
marry early
No 1 key driver – importance of
context specificity to weigh up
what works most

28. Highlights from discussion on adolescents with disabilities
AwD are often
overlooked in research
due to the additional
burdens on data
collection.
Geography intersects
with other
vulnerabilities as
remoteness can impede
access to services.
Disabilities often go
undiagnosed in LMIC
contexts, or emphasis is
placed on observable
disabilities.
Girls with disabilities
can face greater degrees
of stigma when it comes
to SRH services.

29. Highlights from discussion on Adolescent refugees and IDPs
Lack of access to key
services (education,
psychosocial, health) due
to legal barriers, lack of
communication and
language barriers
Legal status, gender norms
and age can results in
marginalisation of
adolescents from accessing
their opportunities and
aspirations.
Allows for complexity and
the need to account for a lot
of nuance, challenges of
adolescents change as they
get older.
Challenges of translating
complex lived realities that
focus on small groups into
policies that focus on large
groups

30. EJDR Special Issue articles
Intersectionality as a
Framework for
Understanding Adolescent
Vulnerabilities in Low and
Middle Income Countries:
Expanding Our
Commitment to Leave No
One Behind
No One Left Behind: Using
Mixed-Methods Research
to Identify and Learn from
Socially Marginalised
Adolescents in Low- and
Middle-Income Countries
Absenteeism, Dropout, and
On-Time School
Completion of Vulnerable
Primary School Students in
Ethiopia: Exploring the Role
of Adolescent Decision-
Making Power in the
Household, Exposure to
Violence, and Paid and
Unpaid Work
‘I Wish Someone Would
Ask Me Questions’: The
Unheard Voices of
Adolescents with
Disabilities in Jordan
‘I Dream of Going Home’:
Gendered Experiences of
Adolescent Syrian Refugees
in Jordan’s Azraq Camp
Changing Patterns of
Commercial Sex Work
Amongst Adolescent Girls
in Nepal: The Role of
Technology

31. EJDR Special Issue articles
‘I Just Keep Quiet’:
Addressing the Challenges
of Married Rohingya Girls
and Creating Opportunities
for Change
‘If She’s Pregnant, then that
Means that Her Dreams
Fade Away’: Exploring
Experiences of Adolescent
Pregnancy and
Motherhood in Rwanda
‘Do Poor People’s Dreams
Ever Come True?’
Educational Aspirations and
Lived Realities in Urban
Slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh
‘No One Should Be Terrified
Like I Was!’ Exploring
Drivers and Impacts of
Child Marriage in
Protracted Crises Among
Palestinian and Syrian
Refugees
‘People consider us devils’:
exploring patterns of
exclusion facing
adolescents with
disabilities in Ethiopia
‘The School Was Closed, So
When They Brought Me A
Husband I Couldn’t Say No’:
Exploring the Gendered
Experiences of Child
Marriage Amongst
Adolescent Girls and Boys
in Ethiopia