External Evaluation of the In Their Hands Programme (Kenya)., Round 1

Adolescent girls in Kenya are disproportionately affected by early and unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion and HIV infection. The In Their Hands (ITH) programme in Kenya aims to increase adolescents' use of high-quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services through targeted interventions. ITH Programme aims to promote use of contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV or pregnancy, for sexually active adolescent girls, 2) provide information, products and services on the adolescent girl's terms; and 3) promote communities support for girls and boys to access SRH services.

Objectives:
The objectives of the evaluation are to assess: a) to what extent and how the new Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) partnership model and integrated system of delivery is working to meet its intended objectives and the needs of adolescents; b) adolescent user experiences across key quality dimensions and outcomes; c) how ITH programme has influenced adolescent voice, decision-making autonomy, power dynamics and provider accountability; d) how community support for adolescent reproductive and sexual health initiatives has changed as a result of this programme.

Methodology
ITH programme is being implemented in two phases, a formative planning and experimentation in the first year from April 2017 to March 2018, and a national roll out and implementation from April 2018 to March 2020. This second phase is informed by an Annual Programme Review and thorough benchmarking and assessment which informed critical changes to performance and capacity so that ITH is fit for scale. It is expected that ITH will cover approximately 250,000 adolescent girls aged 15-19 in Kenya by April 2020. The programme is implemented by a consortium of Marie Stopes Kenya (MSK), Well Told Story, and Triggerise. ITH's key implementation strategies seek to increase adolescent motivation for service use, create a user-defined ecosystem and platform to provide girls with a network of accessible subsidized and discreet SRH services; and launch and sustain a national discourse campaign around adolescent sexuality and rights. The 3-year study will employ a mixed-methods approach with multiple data sources including secondary data, and qualitative and quantitative primary data with various stakeholders to explore their perceptions and attitudes towards adolescents SRH services. Quantitative data analysis will be done using STATA to provide descriptive statistics and statistical associations / correlations on key variables. All qualitative data will be analyzed using NVIVO software.