Midline Evaluation of Pathways to Wellbeing, Empowerment, and Resilience for Adolescents and Youth (POWER 4 AY) project, Nepal

The POWER4AY project is a long-term project implementing for five years from 2021 to 2026. The main objective of the project is to improve the well-being of adolescents and youths (AYs) most impacted by inequality and discrimination in 4 districts in Nepal. In May-June 2024 SC Nepal conducted the midline evaluation study to assess the program impacts and collected the project indicators and outcomes data to measure the change and the progress against the baseline data. This study applied a mixed methods approach. The midline quantitative survey included 972 Adolescents and Youth (AY) participants, and 372 parents. The qualitative survey was participated by nine groups of respondents, complementing the findings and results from the quantitative survey.
The study found that the POWER 4AY project has been effective in building interest in education, creating financial independence, increasing knowledge, changing maladaptive behaviour patterns, and increasing the capacity of AYs. The project was successful in impacting stakeholders through a change in attitude, improvement of skills, and increasing awareness of the needs of AYs in the community. Cultural beliefs, illiteracy, poverty, poor parenting, peer influence, government failure, and school negligence were seen as causes of the problems faced by youths. To enhance the POWER4AY effectiveness, the project should continue establishing communication with the main stakeholders of the project, particularly on the involvement of parents and community to encourage AYs participation. Participation of AYs can also be further improved by modifying the content of interventions to suit the participants’ background and needs as well as introducing more flexible and convenient time as well as accessible locations for AYs.