Growing up GREAT! Girls’ and Boys’ Puberty Books

These puberty books can be used by very young adolescent (VYA) boys and girls, and it equips them with knowledge and information on their changing bodies. It is part of the Growing Up GREAT! program toolkit, which uses a socio-ecological approach with an age-appropriate, gender transformative intervention package to provide in- and out-of-school VYA girls and boys with accurate information about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and foster discussion about related social norms. For VYAs, a suite of materials provides information and prompts discussion about puberty, gender equality, healthy relationships, violence, and other related themes during weekly club sessions. For parents, group sessions featuring six testimonial videos foster discussion around non-violent parenting, equal sharing of household tasks, and girls’ education. Other materials for teachers, health workers and community members complement the core toolkit materials. Growing Up GREAT! was adapted from the GREAT Project toolkit and incorporates elements of Choices, Voices, Promises and GrowUp Smart, a sexuality education curriculum for VYAs. It was piloted in Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017-2018 under the Passages Project and is now being scaled up in Kinshasa (2019). These puberty books can serve as a resource for program implementers.