Girl Hub: a DFID and Nike Foundation initiative

Review

Our review concluded that, whilst in the early stages, Girl Hub’s measurable impact on girls to date was limited and there had been shortcomings in planning and governance. We made four recommendations. As a result of our findings, this review is marked amber-red.

Findings

Girl Hub was widely seen as playing a useful role in getting adolescent girls more firmly onto the development agenda. Whilst in its early stages, we found a lack of clarity about what Girl Hub should focus on and how it was going to achieve its big picture goals. We also found a lack of clarity around accountability, financial management and planning, governance and how impact should be achieved including how lessons are going to be learned. Girl Hub had begun to address some of these issues. This was a good time for DFID to re-evaluate whether and, if so, how this model should be continued and made sustainable.

Recommendations

1. Girl Hub should be reconfigured to focus more sharply on how it will make a difference to girls, with detailed country and programme plans. It needs to measure both the success of each programme and how effectively programmes are linked to each other and to wider initiatives.
2. Girl Hub should implement comprehensive and robust risk, governance, financial and performance management policies and processes. Girl Hub, DFID and Nike Foundation should ensure that their messaging is clear and consistent and that the roles and influences of each organisation are transparent and accountable.
3. DFID should assess the options for Girl Hub’s future in the light of the evidence to date.
4. DFID should reflect on the Girl Hub experience and the findings of this report in order to learn how it can promote innovation internally in a way that manages risk, including how partnerships with the private sector and private foundations should be implemented. DFID should implement more thorough pre-grant due diligence for all potential partners.