Ruth Foster of TIWA, LLC in the U.S. will develop a finance application tool using money pictures to enable illiterate users to make accurate transactions. They will design and test a tablet with touch screen and build associated software for consumers that can be used to scan barcodes, or manually add products and prices. The final cost of the purchases will be automatically displayed using images of real money, which the consumer can then use to pay the correct amount.

Saiqa Mullick of Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Research Institute (RHI) in South Africa, along with Grass Root Soccer (GRS), Sonke Gender Justice, and the Population Council, will empower adolescent girls in South African townships as they progress in education by increasing their educational, health, social, and economic assets, while at the same time shifting gender attitudes and encouraging positive behavior among adolescent boys. The “Girls Achieve Power” (GAP) Year Program will work with schools and communities to encourage a culture of health and safety, and promote school retention among adolescent girls. Using soccer as a program platform, and enlisting local coaches as facilitators, the program will enable a healthy and productive progression for adolescent girls through secondary school. Aside from these direct benefits, the program will also expand the evidence base around the impact of asset-building approaches for adolescent girls.

Fatima Adamu from the Federal University Birnin Kebbi in Nigeria will support the transition of adolescent girls from secondary school into heath-related careers such as medicine, midwifery, and nursing to address the shortage of female health workers specifically in rural northern Nigeria. Social norms dictate that women only receive reproductive care from females, so a shortage means that many, particularly in the North, do not receive any health care during pregnancy. Additionally, women who pursue careers are more likely to have children later, which is associated with a healthier life. They will integrate existing and new education strategies, including coaching particularly female teachers in student-centered learning methods, to improve core academic and vocational training, and enhance life skills for girls. Their approach will be tested using a controlled trial.

Maria do Carmo Leal from Fiocruz in Brazil will undertake a pilot “Parto Adequado” (Adequate Birth) project to evaluate whether different health care models offered by medical institutions during pregnancy and childbirth can promote healthier births, particularly by reducing the rate of unnecessary medical procedures. These include caesarean section without clinical indication, which occur frequently in Brazil and can have negative consequences. They have selected 23 geographically dispersed hospitals for the pilot study, which will involve around 16,000 mothers. To promote good practices, they have developed three health care models that combine different numbers and types of medical staff (i.e., Doctors and nurses-midwives) to be involved at specific stages from pregnancy to birth. These will be offered to hospitals for implementation over 18 months. They will then analyse the degree of implementation of the models, and their effects on the type of birth, adoption of good practices, and hospital costs after two and three years. They will also interview the mothers and health care workers to evaluate acceptability of the different models.