Testing the impact of family-based intervention to improve developmental and health outcomes for female adolescents

Active Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R01HD116780
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$2,186,525

Award facts

Completion date 23% complete
Place of performance
University City, MO 63130, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
The proposed study seeks to address the urgent need for theoretically and empirically informed interventions that would address the increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors migrating from rural to urban centers in developing countries for better economic opportunities. This process often results in hazardous child labor defined as work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful; interfering with schooling and health and mental health functioning, and leading to several other disproportionate risks. Unaccompanied migrant child laborers' vulnerability is further intensified by the lack of parental protection and community belonging in the host urban center. The international labor organization (ILO) estimates that 9.6% of children (ages 5 to 17) across the globe are child laborers and draws attention to migrant child laborers as an underreported and highly vulnerable group, a significant portion of which are female with no education. Poverty has been identified as the main driver of child labor, with family context also being a critical contributing factor. Sub-saharan africa (SSA) has the highest rates of child labor (24%), with ghana -the focus of this study- registering one of the highest child labor prevalence at 22%, including unaccompanied child migrant laborers. In ghana, unaccompanied adolescent girls migrate from the northern region to urban centers in the south to work in the informal economy. Load carrying is the most common type of labor for this population and exposes migrant girls to multiple developmental and health risks. Building on the recently concluded R21 study (with 97 adolescent girls aged 11 to 14 years and their caregivers) that showed high feasibility and acceptability, and promising preliminary impact of the anzansi (resilience in dagbani -local language) combination intervention in the same region, we propose to test its effectiveness in a larger two-arm cluster randomized clinical trial among 960 adolescent girls (age 11 to 14 years) at risk of school dropout nested within 32 public junior high schools in the northern region of ghana and their caregivers. The schools will be randomly assigned to one of two study conditions: 1) anzansi (fee+MFG) and 2) bolstered usual care. The intervention will be delivered for 12 months, with assessments conducted at baseline and at 12-, 24-, and 36-month follow-UPS post-intervention initiation. The study specific aims are: aim 1: examine the short- and medium-term impacts of anzansi intervention on the incidence of unaccompanied migration for child labor (primary outcome), and academic progress and psychosocial outcomes (SECONDARY); aim 2: examine the impact of the anzansi intervention on potential mechanisms of change at the individual, family, and community levels; aim 3: evaluate the cost and cost-effectiveness of each intervention condition; and aim 4: qualitatively examine participants, facilitators, and school leadership's experiences with the intervention. Our results will inform approaches to prevent poverty- impacted african female youth's unaccompanied rural-to-urban migration to engage in child labor.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $265,827
Amendment $336,471
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Amendment $272,829
Amendment $272,829
Amendment $351,049
Original award $351,049

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
College Of Health Sciences, University Of Ghana Under the leadership of Drs. Addo-Lartey and Boateng as in-country PIs, together with coinvestigator Dr. Ibrahim, University of Ghana will be in charge of the… $538,656
The Washington University Mary McKay, Co-Investigator: Dr. Mary McKay (Co-I) developed and tested the multiple family group intervention proposed in this study among poverty-impacted… $18,863

Quick answers

Who received award R01HD116780?

R01HD116780 was awarded to New York University by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (National Institutes of Health) on September 1, 2025.

How much is award R01HD116780 worth?

$2,186,525 has been obligated on R01HD116780.

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