To improve nutritional knowledge and attitudes of girls and young women, Nutrition International (NI) partnered with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to pilot the Girl-Powered Nutrition (GPN) program from 2018 to 2020 in 4 countries .The aim was to share adolescent girls’ and programmers’ experiences with co-designing and implementing the GPN program in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).A formative evaluation of the GPN program was commissioned by NI and undertaken by Universalia Management Group . The evaluation was largely qualitative . Based on the results of the formative evaluation, themes related to working with adolescent girls were identified.The involvement of adolescents in the design, implementation, and evaluation of nutrition programming that targets them is essential for meaningful uptake. Sufficient time and respect must be given to the co-design process, including clearly defining adolescents’ roles, ensuring transparency and clear communication, and managing adolescents’ expectations. Ensuring adequate exposure and suitable timing for adolescent nutrition programming from adequately trained staff were identified as good practices from the evaluation. Program curriculum and activities must be appropriately tailored to adolescent age and stage, target adolescents and their gatekeepers and duty-bearers, and address the underlying issues of poverty, gender inequality, and structural norms that negatively impact adolescents’ agency and nutrition.This research supports and elaborates on several documented and accepted good practices for working with adolescents to improve nutrition knowledge and attitudes. Similar programs with key features such as co-design, suitable timing, curriculum, and exposure of programs by age group, addressing underlying structural issues, the involvement of gatekeepers and duty-bearers, and confidence-building can increase adolescent girls’ nutrition knowledge and attitudes. A nutrition program co-designed, implemented, and monitored by adolescent girls demonstrates high potential for increasing girls’ knowledge and their self-confidence and capacity to improve nutrition knowledge of peers and community influencers. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage, the second-largest period of growth, and when lifelong healthy habits can be formed , 2. AdolEvidence-based interventions for improving adolescent nutrition include micronutrient supplementation and food fortification; school- or curriculum-based nutrition education; prevention of adolescent pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes for adolescents who do become pregnant; and social and behavior change campaigns to improve health behaviors such as increasing physical activity and limiting processed-food intake . While eNutrition International (NI), an organization that works worldwide to alleviate malnutrition among vulnerable populations, developed a program model in collaboration with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in early 2017 to improve adolescent nutrition. The Girl-Powered Nutrition (GPN) program was designed to influence the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescent girls and their communities through a nutrition badge curriculum and advocacy activities in 4 target countries.The program was structured around 2 components of awareness-raising/knowledge building through a nutrition badge activity pack and community mobilization/advocacy through community action initiatives and national/global campaigns. The activity pack was rolled out to leaders through a cascade model of training. The community mobilization and advocacy component was divided between 5 levels: at the individual level , at the community level (“Community Action Fund”), at the wider community level involving Girl Guide and Girl Scout units/troops/companies specifically identified to lead action groups (referred to as “Action Hubs”), at the national level , and at the global level .The 4 pilot countries—Madagascar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania—were selected mainly due to their high anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age, as well as due to logistical considerations. This paper aims to illustrate adolescent girls’ experiences with the co-design and implementation of the pilot GPN program using the findings of an external formative evaluation. Additionally, it explores the potential for achieving program objectives of improving knowledge and attitudes on nutrition by providing nutrition messages to adolescent girls using a nontraditional platform.This study qualitatively assessed the results of a formative evaluation of the GPN pilot program commissioned by NI and undertaken by Universalia Management Group . This evaluation followed the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans  and, forBelow, we briefly describe the GPN program and the methods for conducting this study, including data collection via interviews, focus groups, and document analysis, and a thematic analysis.Briefly, the GPN 2-y pilot program was launched in early 2018 with the eventual aim of providing at-scale nutrition support to WAGGGS’ 10 million members worldwide. The evaluation focused on 3 of the 4 pilot program countries . Due to bombings and the volatile security situation in Sri Lanka in 2019, it was decided not to complete that arm of the study. For the evaluation site selection, several criteria were considered: representation in each region, language diversity, large girl guide (GG) or girl scout (GS) population, and participation in advocacy campaigns. Sites within each country were selected based on the criteria of ensuring rural/urban representation, having a range of age groups, a mix of WAGGGS’ member organizations (MOs) (if applicable), and geographical representation.1) nutrition education (curriculum) through a nutrition badge activity pack and 2) community mobilization/advocacy through community action initiatives. In the early stages of the program, co-creation teams (CCTs) composed of girls from each age group were created in every target country. Two CCT workshops were conducted in each country. The first was on the curriculum itself and to select activities to be tested with units at the local level, and the second was primarily focused on community action activities and allowed time to discuss the logo, badge, and name of the program.The GPN program was structured around 2 components: 1) at the individual level with a target of 320,000 community members to be reached with each girl targeting 2 people in order to earn the badge; 2) at the community level through small grants given to girls wanting to take further action (“Community Action Fund”); 3) at the community level involving GG and GS units/troops/companies specifically identified and funded to lead action groups; 4) at the national level with advocacy campaigns in the Philippines, Tanzania, and Madagascar; and 5) at the global level with a global online campaign and selected GG/GS (advocacy champions) invited to attend global events on nutrition.For the pilot program, the target for the first component was that 160,000 girls between the ages of 6 and 19 y would earn the badge. The activity pack was rolled out to leaders through a cascade model of training. The second component included access to funding for advocacy activities. The community mobilization and advocacy component was delivered in 5 ways: This study was a secondary analysis of the data collected as part of a formative evaluation of the GPN program. Universalia used a nonexperimental design and developed the evaluation methodology in consultation with NI. Universalia developed an evaluation matrix, including evaluation questions following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee  standardcheftaines or guides), and community members . During KIIs and FGDs, respondents were asked about their role in the program, the CCT members’ involvement in the design of activities, and the relevance of the program considering local contexts. They were also asked about GPN's strengths and weaknesses, its unintended positive or negative impacts, the adequacy of resources versus expected outputs and outcomes, and their recommendations to ensure sustainability of results. A mix of census, criterion, and purposeful sampling . Everyone involved in data collection and analysis  was trained in research ethics, including privacy and confidentiality, and signed confidentiality agreements.Several strategies were used to ensure data quality, including ongoing meetings with WAGGGS and NI throughout the evaluation; in-depth training of local facilitators and consultants in the methods, ethics, and data collection; oversight of initial data collection in each country; and review of transcripts  to ensure accuracy and clarity. Social desirability bias was mitigated with peer facilitators for data collection where possible , thorough training of data collectors, and emphasizing to participants that there were no right or wrong answers.Data were triangulated from different sources, thereby ensuring the validity of findings, conclusions, and recommendations presented. QSR International NVivo 12 for Mac  or Microsoft Excel (Madagascar) was used to organize, methodically code, aggregate, and triangulate qualitative data from interviews and focus groups, identifying recurrent conceptual themes by country and participant category. Authors ED  and SP (Madagascar) coded all the data. Data were first coded to nodes by question for each source. Following this, nodes were examined to identify patterns and common themes across sources and differences in responses between groups and to compare themes with the document review findings . The lea1) experiences with the co-design process; 2) implementation fidelity and adequate time and intensity of program exposure for changes in knowledge and attitudes on nutrition; 3) the effect of underlying structural issues, including poverty, societal norms, and gender inequality, on adolescents; 4) suitable times for adolescent nutrition programming; 5) relevant curriculum by age group; and 6) self-confidence and skills, and adolescent engagement for influencing gatekeepers and duty-bearers  on nutrition.The findings of the formative evaluation were organized into 6 themes: CCT members were viewed as playing a critical role in the first stages of the GPN program, from badge design to activities testing.The analysis showed that key contributions from CCTs were to simplify wording and adapt curriculum guides to the local context, translate resources, test activities, provide examples of activities that could work well, share ideas, have moments of reflection on specific needs for each period of a woman's life , and provide feedback and proposed adjustments on design and branding of the badge (form and colors) and the GPN program name.“We risked it being a bit lip service, or a bit just using them to get ideas—which is something that often happens with young people—but we did work to keep them involved—we did loads of best practice after—we had to be careful, and we were, in terms of the participation of young people—they weren't necessarily involved in decision making. It could have been a lot more decision making—we collected and respected their info and kept [them] up to date on decisions—but we made the decisions, instead of them making decisions.” —WAGGGS staff“[It was a] learning process for us— co-creation doesn't mean doing exactly what they come up with. Us coming in as experts and professionals—[we know] this works and doesn't work, a number of names for the programs, some wouldn't work from branding or didn't sound right or were not in line with what WAGGGS would want.” —WAGGGS staffWAGGGS and NI respondents noted that it was a new experience for NI to have a more bottom-up approach to empower girls to be involved from the start and that it was a relatively new experience for WAGGGS to have this level of girls’ involvement in the development of the program resources. The experience was felt to be generally participatory, although some WAGGGS staff reportedly felt that the girls could have been more involved in decision making for the curriculum development. Co-design was an essential process that the program sought to use throughout the design phase, and it did result in desirable outcomes both for the quality of the design and the girls' self-esteem. However, program staff did concede there was initially little know-how or experience around the co-design process and its parameters..“We are so happy because most of our inputs were included in the activity pack and even with other countries.” —CCT member, the Philippines“It was full of participation because they [facilitators] were with us, they would hear our contributions, it was participatory.” — CCT member, TanzaniaWhile NI staff felt the role for the CCTs was more one of validation of the curriculum than of participation in the development of the curriculum per se, some CCT members felt their ideas, feedback, and inputs were taken into account, incorporated, and valued by WAGGGS during finalization of the activity pack, and that the workshops were participatory. WAGGGS staff also mentioned that they made decisions based on inputs from the girls, as shown in the following:“We gave a lot of suggestions as CCT members. While we cannot distinguish them in the final version [of the curriculum], they were integrated in the whole process.” —CCT member, MadagascarDespite these testimonies, the evaluation team did not find any concrete evidence to show that CCTs’ feedback and inputs were adequately incorporated in the curriculum, and some CCT members themselves were unable to link the final changes in the curriculum with what they had discussed. Some also noted that they never really knew if their contributions had been taken into account in the final version of the badge and curriculum.However, WAGGGS provided documents in which the curriculum writer collated feedback from all CCT workshops and pilot testing. These documents include evidence of WAGGGS’ effort to include the girls’ feedback and inputs in the program's design.Among challenges mentioned by respondents, the issue of getting girls comfortable to speak during workshops, and to have the confidence to offer their opinions, was raised, especially in the context of gathering adults with young girls . Some girls felt that there was a lot of new information provided during the workshops, and they did not feel adequately prepared to be part of the CCT as limited information was provided to them ahead of time.In a few cases, the CCT members did not know the name of the program and said they were still waiting for feedback from WAGGGS headquarters, despite the program already having been named. WAGGGS mentioned a contract for CCT members; however, this document was not provided to the evaluation team and some CCT members explained there was no documentation to formalize the existence of the CCT. These examples likely reveal challenges with the communication loop and feedback mechanism. Finally, some CCT members could not remember much of what happened during these workshops, which occurred almost 2 y before.“The curriculum for the GPN (program) is country-specific. The CCT was vital to make it more relevant for the context. Binalot is a Filipino term. The CCT was kind of vital to make it reliable. The Program Manager said something about a sandwich—we had to change some terms from English to our dialect—this was localization.” — CCT member, the PhilippinesThe CCT helped with ensuring the adaptation to the local context.“The module information was developed from the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) girls themselves—they know about the cultural sensitivities of different regions, and the food preferences of teenagers, and peer to peer influences.” — GPN staff/senior volunteer, the PhilippinesAttempts were made to ensure that the curriculum addressed local nutrition myths and included common foods in each country. During testing of the curriculum with CCT members, issues with country-specific contexts  were mentioned as having been addressed.However, Malagasy CCT members explained that they flagged elements not adapted to their region, but their inputs were not considered in the curriculum final version due to lack of time. Some words were changed to reflect food habits; however, various examples from the Philippines and Sri Lanka were kept to inform the girls about different cultures. Ensuring sufficient time to incorporate feedback from adolescents was a key learning from the evaluation.Binalot Surprise.”Binalot Surprise and Unwrap the Surprise—are in the global curriculum, but they came from the Philippines.” — GPN staff/senior volunteer, the Philippines“Two activities in the pack—In the Philippines, respondents generally felt the curriculum had been localized . It also seemed that the global curriculum used a few examples from the Philippines, such as the ““I think the guideline is normal and it considers our environment because people can plant vegetables like spinach and get nutrients. This shows that it is not for rich people. It fits everyone.” —Adult leader, TanzaniaIn the Philippines and Tanzania, it was felt the curriculum aligned with each country's realities in terms of what food types are available and what is affordable.However, in Tanzania, some examples in the curriculum were also considered too “European”; therefore, adaptations were made.“It is not that we did not like it, but it was difficult to transfer knowledge. All examples given [in the curriculum] were examples from abroad, and it was not possible to relate to what is here. The best would have been to give examples from here. It would have been easier for participants to understand.” —Girl, older age group, MadagascarIn Madagascar, opinions were also mixed, as several respondents explained that the country's diversity, in terms of local cultural, social, and economic specificities, was not sufficiently considered before implementation.Last, some CCT members reported that aligning activities with age categories during the curriculum development was a challenge. The testing phase for the curriculum development helped to adjust this.While GG and GS (girls) seem to have understood many of the key messages on nutrition and improved their knowledge and attitudes to make healthy choices, misconceptions about nutrition messages remain.Girls identified messaging that they had learned to date on nutrition, including planning meals, adequate nutrition such as eating more vegetables and fruit, having colorful plates, looking at food packaging or food labels (Philippines and Madagascar), and the importance of iron, carbohydrates, calcium, vitamins, and protein. They also appeared to be more conscious about the importance of avoiding industrial or processed food and reducing sugar, salt, and oil for a healthy diet, particularly in Madagascar and the Philippines.“We should eat healthy foods for the bones, we should exercise, drink more water, we should sleep 8–10 hours a day.” —Girls, younger age group, the Philippines“Before eating, I will think first if it is healthy and its effects on me,” —Girl, middle age group, the PhilippinesMany girls explained that being healthy is not only about how much you eat but about the quality of your diet and your lifestyle as a whole: drinking water, exercising, consulting medical services when needed, applying basic hygiene measures , and getting adequate sleep.“For example, a mother that is pregnant but not healthy—as a result her baby is not healthy. Also that's why a girl needs specific nutrition.” — Girl, older age group, the PhilippinesMany girls noted that they now better understand girl-specific needs and what type of food they need depending on their age and life stage.“A girl is supposed to eat food that has iron because when you start [your] period, you lose a lot of blood, so you need to eat fish and leafy greens to help recover it.” — Girl, middle age group, TanzaniaGirls mentioned iron as an important nutrient for adolescent girls once menstruation begins and for women in general.“I have learned how to make a rainbow plate in an affordable way without using too much money.” —Girl, older age group, TanzaniaCalcium was also mentioned for women in general, and in some cases, for older women specifically. Girls also mentioned that they learned how to make healthy meals that do not cost too much.“A sick person cannot eat what you are eating. For example, you are eating dairy products like yogurts, milk, cheese, and the sick person cannot eat these.” —Girl, younger age group, Madagascar“If my mother cooks a hotdog, she should add eggs so at least there will be protein.” —Girl, middle age group, the PhilippinesHowever, there were girls in the FGDs who could not identify any key messages. FGDs also confirmed some misunderstanding of nutrition messages, although many had not yet completed the activity pack. Girls sometimes gave incorrect information or were confused about nutrition messages—for example, confusing the micronutrients iron and iodine, not being able to list foods containing protein, or believing myths about nutrition.“Maybe more seminars to be aware of recent statistics on nutrition and the Philippines. I am not very knowledgeable—[on] what to eat or what to advise on healthy standards.” —Advocacy champion, the Philippines“You are being led through very fast because you only have two days, after that, you have already studied [been through the training], after that you start thinking what was this again, or maybe you are not doing much practice, you find that you are trained more with words, but you don't practice, it becomes like, it's not enough, you find it's as if you have too many words but no practice, it becomes something like that.” —Advocacy champion, Tanzania“But they [CCT] didn't have background information—some felt that it was like being put in the deep end—they were hearing information for the first time. This was a lot of information for those girls—and they are really young—and they were hearing this for the first time.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, Tanzania“The training itself was sufficient, however more supervisory support would be useful. Gaining confidence through practice to manage our stress and dare to speak to decision-makers.” —Advocacy champion, MadagascarMoreover, the advocacy champions and CCT members asked for additional nutrition information and education to help them with their role in the communities. This included the wish for more time for training and more general knowledge on nutrition, statistics, and practical applications.While some barriers were addressed through the GPN program, many challenges remain, including cultural norms, poverty, and patriarchy.“I have a friend who gets sick a lot, so I always ask them ‘Do you eat proper nutrition?’ She says ‘I try, but money isn't enough,’ so I tell her how to create a complete meal with a little money.” —Girl, middle age group, TanzaniaWhile respondents felt that they learned how to prepare low-cost, nutritious meals, poverty remains an obstacle to implementing the learnings and reaching others.The activity pack focused on individual dietary behavior change and not as much on broader determinants of nutrition, such as poverty and gender.“Some community members believe that if you eat leafy greens or ‘dagaa’ [type of sardines], then you are living a low life [it is a sign that you are struggling financially]. Because they don't know these foods contain special nutrients that are really important.” —Adult leader, TanzaniaCultural norms and myths related to nutrition remain and should be addressed.“Also, the decision of foods—in most regional areas . . . the father decides what to eat—so he buys what he wants, not what others want.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, the Philippines“Certain communities still don't want girls to eat certain meats or parts of animals such as liver, but this can impact the girl, because she might not get enough protein, and won't be able to grow properly.” —Girl, middle age group, TanzaniaThis includes involving men and boys in the program to achieve broader, longer-lasting change, given their household decision-making roles.“Some of the children are missed here, those who don't attend schools. And there are a lot of them.” —Community member, TanzaniaWhile the GPN program was aligned with NI's gender equality focus and was designed to be inclusive, in practice, the GG and GS movement might not always be inclusive of the most vulnerable girls . It was revealed that GG and GS participants might be more representative of the middle class, given the costs of registration, uniforms, and the opportunity cost of participating (less time to work or help at home). Staff generally felt that this was not an issue for the GPN work, stating that the movement is inclusive. Others  mentioned that cost  was an issue. The GPN program may have reached those with more money and girls in school .“Gap in financial support, how do we reduce inequalities so GSP is more inclusive and accessible, and not just middle class.” —Advocacy champion, the PhilippinesWays to improve access to GSP for more vulnerable girls were being considered.“It is not very expensive to be a scout in Madagascar.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, MadagascarIn Madagascar, some stakeholders perceived that the scouting movement reaches all social classes: girls from rural and urban areas and with more or less resources.“Things that stop me from eating healthy food is poverty.” —Girl, younger age group, TanzaniaIn Tanzania, it was noted that the curriculum provided opportunities to teach people to eat nutritiously even with low income; however, poverty was still noted as a significant barrier to healthy eating.Similar issues were identified in the Philippines.“But in terms of child marriage, poverty, gender allocation of food—we probably haven't looked at these determinants—we do address some in the advocacy campaigns—but really it was focused on individual behavior change.” —WAGGGS staffGender considerations are covered in the program documentation, and there was a strong focus on the inclusion and participation of girls in the curriculum development and addressing girls’ specific nutrition needs and risks, in alignment with NI's priorities. NI also provided guidance on the inclusion of gender mainstreaming in the curriculum. However, gaps in the curriculum were noted in terms of systematic upstream determinants of health-related gender and poverty issues, such as child marriage and how food is distributed.“Boys also should learn, because they are also the fathers of tomorrow. If it happens, they end up with a woman who doesn't know about this nutrition stuff, he can step in and educate his family.” —Community member, the PhilippinesThere was a high level of interest in involving boys in the GPN program. Many respondents regretted that boys were not involved in the program, particularly given the role males play in many countries in terms of household decision making, including nutrition.Leaders also noted that boys wanted to learn about nutrition in the schools.“I also remembered during the training that it was discussed because as they are still young, their mind should be more open when it comes to nutrition. They will be mothers soon, so, at their young age, it not just for themselves. Because it will come from them to the extent that they will be the ones cooking for their family and other girls”; “And they will prepare the food in the future.” —Adult leaders, the Philippines“It will also prepare them for their future life as mothers.” —Girl, older age group, Madagascar“When girls eat properly and are healthy, then even during labor there are less complications. They are also strong enough to push during labor. It's easier for them to give birth.” —Community member, Tanzania“Our curriculum goes much deeper, at the end of the training, by the time the girl gets her badge, she has become a great mother, and not just an average mother.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, the Philippines“From my point of view, I think it is better that [she learns] now that she is still a young girl and single, that she already has knowledge on nutrition because she is going to have a family and run a family later.” —Community member, MadagascarThe program may inadvertently be reinforcing traditional roles of women and girls in society instead of conveying a message of empowerment. KIIs and FGDs in all countries revealed some lack of clarity around the concept of “girls’ sex- and gender-specific needs” and what NI's and WAGGGS’ expectations were in terms of girls’ empowerment. While one of the main program objectives was to “promote girl-led change” “by providing knowledge to girls and young women in communities” , on the “I'd educate the members to let go of beliefs that prioritize boys over girls because you will find when serving food some say give him the meat you know he is a man, so I was trying to educate them that the girl is first then everyone else after. That this girl needs good nutrition from when she is growing to later when she becomes a mother herself. If she doesn't get this, then her offspring will also be affected. So, in providing for the girl, we are providing for the entire society.” —Adult leaderEven discussions on the need to shift away from boys eating more (or better) foods than girls are framed in the context of girls’ role as mothers.“They will also be able to balance their diet to not be too big for their age”; “They have to know what a healthy diet is to not be too tall or too small, too big or too thin, for their age.” —Girls, older age group, MadagascarAnother issue in Madagascar was related to the popular beliefs around women's bodies and girls internalizing that healthy nutrition will help attain specific beauty standards around size.Overall, evidence demonstrates that GPN activities were not consistently implemented at suitable times for the girls, sometimes interfering with the school calendar, schoolwork, household chores, and other GG and GS activities. This situation is likely due to a time-consuming program, which required girls to be available in a short period, and ambitious reach targets given the limited time frame for implementing the GPN program.“That age group 6–19, it's an age group that the child is at school, so it has become easier for us, because we are with them all day, from morning to evening, it's an age group that the girls are studying in school, so it easier for us to get to them.” —Adult leader, TanzaniaTime slots allocated to GPN activities were inconsistent from one country and group to another because they were based on when the GGs and GSs typically met in each locality. In most groups in Madagascar, GPN program activities were organized twice a month. In general, groups devoted 1 h out of their 2-h meetings to the program, with meetings taking place mostly on Sunday afternoons. GPN activities were also implemented during camps, especially the practical activities. In the Philippines and Tanzania, where GG and GS programs are school-based, reaching girls at school appeared to be effective. Generally, girls interviewed in Tanzania found they had time to participate, as it was typically 1 h per week, after school, on weekends, or at a set time.“In our case ma'am, every Friday, I excuse them from their classes. So sometimes they leave their classes just to attend my GPN activities. And even Saturdays just so that I can continue with it [GPN activity] for at least 2 days.” —Adult leaders, the PhilippinesIn the Philippines, adult leaders mentioned that they instructed the girls after class, including during lunch breaks, and excused them from class to participate . The leaders fit these sessions in where they could to implement the badge curriculum and were finding this a challenge to maintain.In all countries, adult leaders had to compete with the girls’ school curriculum and calendar. In Madagascar, for example, the GPN program started in the middle of the school year (March/April for most groups) and most respondents mentioned that it would have been easier to implement the program's time-consuming activities during school holidays. For others, especially with school-based GG and GS activities, implementation during school holidays was very difficult because many girls (and boys) live in remote areas, far from their schools, and cannot attend activities outside of school time.Many adult leaders reported that attendance at GPN activities was more a question of availability than motivation for acquiring the badge. Causes of absenteeism were related to parents’ priorities, the distance between home and the meeting place, school holidays, family events, and exam periods . As GPN implementation began midyear, adult leaders in Madagascar were not ready to integrate GPN activities in their yearly program. In some cases, this resulted in prioritizing GPN activities over other badges or delaying GPN activities to finalize other badges already started, especially other badges funded by WAGGGS.“To improve students’ performance [in school], they came up with the plan that the children need to stay late after school, up to 6 p.m. in the evening. And the parent should contribute so the children can get food. That creates a challenge because we do not get the time to do guide activities. But the guiders try their level [very] best during breaks for twenty or forty minutes to conduct nutrition activities because these activities are outside the school system. At the same time, our goals are to make sure that the girls reach their dreams, and we want them to attend normal school activities. So, it is challenging sometimes.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, TanzaniaThe mitigation strategy adopted by adult leaders was to tailor the program to girls’ availabilities, divide groups between the ones attending regularly and the others, encourage girls to share information with those who missed activities, and fit in GPN sessions where possible.“Sometimes I become irritable when I have projects that need to be rushed for submission, and then I have to attend some activity as part of my obligation since it's my responsibility and obligation to attend the activity then I have no choice but to attend to it.” —Girl, older age group, the Philippines“Facilitator: What problems, if any, do you face in taking part during these times? Respondent D: We panicked what to do first. Respondent H: Same, because sometimes it has the same schedule as our academics. Facilitator: Then what do you do? Respondent E: If it is academics, we are excused from the class. I weigh things which are more important.” —Girls, middle age group, the PhilippinesIn the Philippines, the girls mentioned that they had to self-study and catch up on their own time for any school days they missed working on the badge curriculum. Some GSs noted it took much effort on their part. In some cases, it was worth it because they were learning and enjoyed the activities. However, it caused some stress on the girls at the junior and senior levels as they had to make decisions based on their priorities.In Tanzania, a similar observation emerged, as some girls noted they had schoolwork and chores and that it was sometimes challenging to balance this work, including finding time to reach the community with messages during their spare time.“There are challenges, for example, feeling hungry during the time for Girl Guides, you might really want to go but you can't, so you end up going home.” —Girls, younger age group, TanzaniaIt was also mentioned that because GPN sessions were held after class, some girls were hungry when attending scouting activities, and some would instead go home and miss the session to eat.“Also when it comes to chores at home, it's another challenge, because for those who have understood the importance we can understand that is why we are even here, but for some parents who don't know better they think that in Girl Guides they think the girls are going to waste time, so they'd rather the child remain home to wash dishes instead of going to a meeting.” —Community member, TanzaniaFinally, a few community members also mentioned the potential challenge of interfering with girls’ chores at home.“The activity guide for obtaining the badge is developed taking into account the absorption capacity of each age category as well as the specific nutritional needs of each age.” —Adult leader, Madagascar“If you look at the books [curriculum], the first is very small, the second one is a little bit bigger, and the last one is the biggest, but the key messages of the books are the same. So, the difference is in the depth of what they are learning. For example, the first group is taught how to mention food, and the other group is trained how to prepare [food].” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, TanzaniaActivities were considered to be designed according to age groups  and considered to be appropriately adapted to GGs and GSs. For example, in Tanzania, it was felt that activities were specific to each age group's capabilities, less in-depth for the younger groups and more in-depth for older groups. No major concerns were raised in terms of applicability by age group.“If the guider is very good, it is a lot of activities and a few words, and a few games to make sure the child is active, and when they go to reach the community, it won't be a very hard job for her.” —GPN staff/senior volunteer, Tanzania“We try to be recreational in order to arouse their interest and to carry out outdoor activities.” —Adult leader, MadagascarSince girls could relate to the badge curriculum appropriate for their age group, they retained the information. The activities that the girls participated in from the activity pack were delivered by a trained leader and conducted in a fun and playful way through games and songs to teach the messages. This was viewed as helpful to keep the girls’ focus , their interest, and enhance their understanding.While it was felt that the messages were easier to understand for older girls (16–19 y), most girls enrolled in GG and GS activities were in younger or middle age groups. For example, there were no older groups in some Madagascar regions as adolescents reportedly do not have time or interest in GG and GS activities. The same observation was made in the Philippines, where there were limited numbers of girls in GSP who were 16–19 y of age. Targets were consequently challenging to meet for these age groups in these regions.The reach to communities was not as high as had been planned. Community members (including parents) reported that they were not sufficiently informed of the GPN program, what their daughters were trained on, or the objectives. Some community leaders in Tanzania felt that, given the bottom-up approach used for the GPN program, they, as leaders, were not adequately involved.Several respondents also mentioned that they would have liked to have seen parents more involved in the program, given their interest and the necessity of their involvement to ensure buy-in and sustainability. Respondents felt that knowledge would be more effectively maintained if parents were more involved in the program and communication was stronger between those implementing the GPN program and parents themselves.“The children are now advising parents that they should not cook or prepare the food without vegetables and fruits.” —Adult leader, Tanzania“Yes, I educated girls my age about what happens during menstruation, and the importance of the mineral iron.” —Girl, older age group, TanzaniaTo obtain the badge, each girl had to share nutrition messages based on what they learned with 2 non-GG or non-GS people. Messages mainly included very general statements on the importance of eating a balanced and diverse diet and growing and eating leafy green vegetables, food groups, and other generic messages on “proper nutrition.” A few girls also mentioned having provided more specific information to peers, such as the importance of iron intake and menstruation.Various comments regarding influencing community members were made during interviews and FGDs. Activity packs for middle and older girls gave examples of community members that the girls could reach out to. Despite this, it appears that community members reached were primarily people close to them. The main reason given was that it was easier for young girls to talk to and influence women and girls within their close circles than to reach “influencers” or “authorities.” Respondents mainly mentioned girls and women close to them , but less often girl peers at school. Fathers and brothers were rarely mentioned , raising the question of men's inclusion in the discussion on nutrition.Adult leaders during KIIs and FGDs raised the issue that it was unclear how to verify the extent to which the girls had reached community members and to measure the quality of their messages .“I have learned that proper nutrition is important. Also it has given me confidence to teach other people because in the beginning, I was afraid to talk to people about it, but now that I know more, I am more confident.” —Girl, middle age group, TanzaniaMany respondents mentioned that girls were more self-confident and had acquired skills to influence their family, especially sisters and mothers, and friends, with many participating in nutrition discussions. Respondents mentioned behavior changes observed during camps, and parents attested to changes at home. During camps, girls who attended GPN activities were proud to share their new knowledge with other girls. They demonstrated creativity in cooking healthy with limited quantities of food or budgets. Further, the girls were curious to find out more; they queried food packaging, checked ingredient lists, and questioned what was said on TV and radio, especially advertisements.“In terms of building confidence, to all the girls, first of all, once you are involved in Girl Guides, they help us build self-confidence, if you just pass through Girl Guides, 2–3 years, it is must that you will be confident enough to speak, to stand and speak, also even in those events that we are telling you about like thinking day, this past week we had Nutrition Bonanza, the girls were giving a demonstration. There was a small child explaining to the guests of honour, she was like speaking that this is what we should eat, and they were showing a play that this is our reality, but this is what we should do, and the people who were given a chance to talk, spoke, so confidence is there.” —Advocacy champion, TanzaniaAdvocacy champions and those working on a badge noted that the girls had started to influence others who were not GGs and GSs, including their family members or peers.“I think the coordinators from the project need to have a good connection with community leaders and not leave the responsibility to the children to talk to the community, because the children have a lot of responsibilities, and also people in the community might not listen to children. Instead, using community leaders, they could have talked directly with the community.” —Community member, Tanzania“Facilitator: why do you think you can't influence your barangay [smallest administrative division in the Philippines]? Respondent A: Because I'm still young.” —Girl, middle age group, the PhilippinesSome girls were quite frustrated, explaining that they did not always feel they were taken seriously by adults in their communities, particularly those outside of their families. It was questionable whether girls had enough influence to convince other community members  about nutrition and whether community members would be willing to listen.“The last time we did an awareness activity for the GPN, people tend to take what we were saying for a joke.” —Girl, older age group, MadagascarSeveral girls also emphasized that local and national authorities should disseminate nutrition messages to the population.Despite this context, a few girls mentioned positive changes in their close circles. Some explained their families were making some changes, such as adding vegetables to meals.Overall, it appears that GGs and GSs had many ideas and were motivated, but limited messaging to communities had been done at the time of the evaluation and community members may not have been responsive to the girls’ initiatives without further support due to the perceived lack of credibility of adolescents.“And the end of the weekend they were doing presentations, public speaking, speaking in front of regional commissioners—it is just amazing—and after they did their presentations—did off the cuff and said thank you—and they said I found my voice, can't wait to get started—evidence that confidence increased during a short time.” —WAGGGS staffWAGGGS staff reported that they found the advocacy champions had increased their confidence, including in public speaking following training.The global advocacy activities that were planned were carried out, including advocacy champions attending Women Deliver 2019, the Commission on the Status of Women conference in 2019, and a Washington, DC, meeting in 2018 on creating campaigns in nutrition. This resulted in girls being confident to speak and provide leadership in nutrition. One success story was mentioned explicitly during interviews: in December 2018, a Malagasy advocacy champion took part in the Global Citizen Festival in South Africa, during which she met with World Food Programme and FAO representatives, as well as the Madagascar Secretary-General. She promoted a petition to increase the Malagasy government's budget dedicated to nutrition. According to several respondents, her advocacy action largely contributed to increasing the national nutrition budget from 1% to 3% in the following months. In addition, through their active presence on social media, advocacy champions successfully reached their peers, whether or not they were part of the GGs or GSs.“Maybe they can conduct more training for girl facilitators—we were not given proper training, just webinars—although we believe that launch was successful.” —Advocacy champion, the PhilippinesIn interviews and FGDs, the advocacy champions revealed that they generally would have liked more support from the MOs in implementing the work and more support from global-level WAGGGS on understanding advocacy generally.Limited global evidence on effectively engaging adolescents in nutrition programming through existing platforms is currently available. Earlier research looked specifically at health promotion programs in Scouting and suggested that health and nutrition knowledge can be improved through Scout-level messaging, but little is known about applying this messaging into practice at home, school, or in community settings . The GPNAddressing the underlying ecological and psychosocial barriers to nutrition is essential for, but not unique to, working with adolescents , and ourAddressing underlying barriers to nutrition with an adolescent lens means, at least in part, drawing on policies, strategies, and curricula with adolescents as a specific demographic with unique health needs , 15. EviGlobal Standards for Quality Health Care Services for Adolescents. The Standards recommend that adolescents be involved in the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of health services and decisions regarding their care, as well as in appropriate aspects of service provision. The GPN evaluation results support these principles when utilizing a community platform; the girl-led co-design, cascade model of implementation, and even involving girls in the evaluation process positively contributed to program uptake and perceived effectiveness.It is well accepted that, to engage adolescents effectively, they must take an active role in their programming. Adolescents’ participation is 1 of 8 key standards outlined in the WHO's  Global SImportant considerations around the co-design process were identified through the evaluation. Clearly defining roles and expectations around adolescents’ input and how it will be used is important for both the adolescents and the program staff. It appears important for the adolescents to see how their inputs are used, so a plan to deliver this feedback should be set and communicated early in the co-design process. It also appears necessary for program staff to ensure the co-design process is truly collaborative and transparent. Program staff should be clear and intentional about the meaningful inclusion of adolescents’ input while managing expectations around the extent to which input may be incorporated into the final design and the mechanisms through which the co-design process will result in final decisions. Finally, ensuring adequate time for the co-design process is essential.Based on our review of existing literature, 2 themes from this evaluation may offer new ideas or lessons learned for good practice in working with adolescents on nutrition and health programming. First, implementation fidelity should be monitored and adequate program dose for changes in knowledge and attitudes on nutrition should be ensured. The evaluation also identified some remaining misconceptions about nutrition, which may indicate insufficient program dose, inadequate exposure time to date, or lack of fidelity in transferring knowledge during the cascade model of training from international to national to regional levels. It was beyond the scope of the evaluation to assess the training curriculum  against program objectives and results or the effectiveness of training.The evaluation also found that engaging adolescents in reaching community members with nutrition messages and increasing self-confidence and skills to influence others on nutrition were important good practices in working with adolescents in nutrition and health programming. Results from the evaluation suggest that, despite reported increases in curiosity, confidence, and acquired skills in influence and advocacy, girls were only comfortable or able to reach other girls or women already included in their close social or family circles. Expectations around adolescents’ ability to influence community members will need to be adjusted by programmers based on age and life stage of the adolescent. Good practices for programmers for developing contextually appropriate and realistic expectations, as well as potentially legitimate and necessary limitations, for adolescent influence require additional research and guidance. Further opportunity exists to explore how girls’ influence, access , and confidence to reach others outside their immediate social and family circles with nutrition messaging differ by age group and geography. Age- and stage-appropriate actions to help build girls’ confidence for advocacy activities around nutrition could be identified. As some evidence suggests that adolescents prefer nutrition messaging delivered by experts , ensurinIt is hoped that this research will contribute to the knowledge base around effectively working with adolescents to improve their nutrition and health. Adolescence (10–19 y) is when lifelong healthy habits can be developed and when nutritional demands are greater than at any other stage of life. Nutrition has a profound impact on the current and future health of adolescents, so it is critical to get programming right. Integrated programs that aim to improve adolescent agency and involve multiple stakeholders including gatekeepers and duty-bearers can lead to sustainable health and well-being improvements. Sustainability is further enhanced by challenging often harmful norms and behaviors related to gender at an early age and the gendered systems, all of which can ultimately impact nutrition. Reaching adolescent girls is important to support their agency as individuals and avoid girls’ demarcation as solely being future mothers. More research needs to be done on effectively tailoring nutrition programs to support adolescents’ unique needs, including how best to ensure adolescent participation in all stages of health programming.This study had limitations related to design, implementation, and transferability. With regard to the design and implementation of the evaluation, choosing an ideal time for a formative evaluation to ensure that enough activities have been implemented while still ensuring that people can accurately recount their experiences was a challenge. Each country and region were at different implementation stages when data were collected (see The evaluation was initially designed to qualify the fidelity and implementation of the GPN program, identify any breach in the fidelity and suggest course correction, identify the frequency of participation and qualify target populations’ level of engagement, understand the perspective and experiences of participating girls and community members, and make program recommendations. The generalizability and transferability of the results may be limited when considering applications to other programs. Finally, WAGGGS groups girls into age categories that fall outside of the WHO's adolescent definition ; thus, sThe results of this research may support and elaborate on several documented and accepted good practices for working with adolescents to improve nutrition through programming. The involvement of adolescents in the design, implementation, and evaluation of nutrition programming that targets them is essential for meaningful uptake. Sufficient time and respect must be given to the co-design process, including clearly defining adolescents’ roles, ensuring transparency and clear communication, and managing adolescents’ expectations. Ensuring adequate exposure and suitable timing for adolescent nutrition programming from adequately trained staff were identified as good practices from the evaluation. Program curriculum and activities must be appropriately tailored to adolescent age and stage, target adolescents and their gatekeepers and duty-bearers, and address the underlying issues of poverty, gender inequality, and structural norms, which negatively impact adolescents’ agency and nutrition. The results may also offer emerging good practices, such as increasing adolescent self-confidence and skills and engaging adolescents in influencing others on nutrition. More research is needed to tailor nutrition programs to support adolescents’ unique needs, including how best to ensure adolescent participation in all stages of nutrition programming.


We then measured outcomes in a controlled manner, by systematically comparing perceived knowledge and growth as indicators of awareness and confidence in participants against that of non-participants as the control group. You3 participants self-rated greater growth in targeted competencies compared to non-participants independent of the number of years of training. This growth was shown by multiple criteria including self-reporting and associative analysis. Correspondingly, You3 participants reported greater knowledge in 75% of the modules when compared to controls. These data indicate that structured learning, where postdocs commit to a curriculum via a cohort-structure, leads to positive outcomes and provides a framework for programs to assess outcomes in a rigorous manner.Postdoctoral training enables research independence and professional readiness. National reports have emphasized professional development as a critical component of this training period. In response, many institutions are establishing transferable skills training workshops for postdocs; however, the lack of structured programs and an absence of methods to assess outcomes beyond participant satisfaction surveys are critical gaps in postdoctoral training. To address these shortcomings, we took the approach of structured programming and developed a method for controlled assessment of outcomes. Our program You To be successful in their next career step, postdoctoral fellows (referred to as ‘postdocs’ for the remainder of this article) need to develop a wide variety of skills, including technical and non-technical skills. Although the importance of technical skills has been recognized for many years, growing evidence shows non-technical skills, also known as transferable skills, are similarly vital to succeeding as a professional during and beyond training [Postdoctoral training is a unique period that is defined by the National Postdoctoral Association  of focus. They interviewed 36 hiring recruiters and analyzed 192 PhD entry level job postings from these sectors. miLEAD identified the top four professional skills based on the frequency mentioned and essentiality of each skill. These skills were then organized by perceived strengths and weaknesses hiring managers described of Ph.D. holding candidates for these skills. miLEAD also identified the training needs of postdocs through a series of focus groups (n = 18) and surveys (n = 237) sent to University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) postdocs. The postdoc needs data are represented via a summary of miLEAD group’s key findings.Before program planning, we sent an anonymous needs assessment survey to faculty at the University of Michigan Medical School. The survey asked faculty to select all skills that applied to the question “Which transferable skills do you wish you had developed further prior to becoming a faculty member?”. Of the 266 respondents, 32.7% were Professors, 26.6% were Assistant Professors, 21.4% were Associate Professors, 5.2% were Clinical Instructional Faculty, 3% were Lecturers, 1.5% were Instructors, and 9.3% were Other. Faculty were able to select more than one skill in their response, and we counted the total number of times each topic was selected across each faculty category.3 program was widely distributed to all UMMS postdoctoral fellows via emails and flyers. Prospective applicants were asked to reflect on their professional experience and goals in order to assess their intentions and commitment to the You3 program. To avoid attracting postdoctoral fellows that were interested in a specific career trajectory, the questions were intentionally broad. Applicants were also asked their career interest and were able to select as many options as were applicable. 3 steering committee. For reviewing, we utilized a scale of 1–5 with 5 being excellent alignment between the applicant’s goals and the learning goals of You3 and 1 being low alignment. Applicants with an average score of 4 or higher were automatically accepted; applicants with a score between 3 and 4 were discussed by the committee, and a select few were requested to interview to better gauge their overall understanding of, interest in, and commitment to the program. By this process, 33 of 35 applications were sent an acceptance letter into the program. 32 accepted the offer and committed to participation. Relevant data sets are provided in supporting files.Advertisement material of the You3 program, participants were surveyed on their training history in the core competencies of the program. Their responses were categorized into formal training , informal training , and no training prior to enrollment.Prior to starting the You3 program (3 program. The following distribution of survey participants completed the questionnaire: You3 participants (n = 23); control group who participated in some kind of professional development programming at UM (n = 18); and control group that did not participate in relevant programming (n = 35).All UMMS postdoctoral fellows received an online Qualtrics survey (IRB Exempt #HUM00172637) to anonymously assess their self-reported knowledge and growth in the eight topics covered by the You program . We follFor knowledge metric analysis, confidence score values were compared using Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s posthoc test, and Pearson correlation coefficients and P values were calculated for each category and metric. For growth metric analysis, text-based respondent data was converted into numerical data, wherein 4 categories  were converted to numerical values . Odds ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals (Bland-Altman method) , as well3 participants’ self-reported knowledge and perceived value calibrated by growth in You3 topic areas compared to non-participant controls.To establish a comprehensive program, we focused on four achievable goals: (a) addressing specific needs of postdocs immediately transitioning into the workforce, (b) using a holistic view of professional development to deliver training over eight consecutive weeks, (c) developing a cohort model toward fostering community, and (d) enabling management and leadership skills applicable across diverse career pathways. At the end of the program, we developed an instrument to measure the impact of our program in a controlled manner by comparing YouWe used evidence-based data to determine the core topic list. We factored in needs assessments and workforce requirements from the perspective of three key stakeholder groups: a) employers hiring PhD holders, b) UM Medical School (UMMS) faculty, and c) postdocs at our school during the time of survey.First, we focused on the needs of employers by identifying deficiencies in professional skills for PhD job applicants based on interviews with 36 industry professionals and analysis of 192 non-academic job postings .The needs assessment above identified points for discussion and led to the development of the program methodology . This wa Project   and a seasoned career consultant (led two sessions). The internal experts included an organizational learning specialist, who led the time management session, and two different unit-level senior administrative leaders, who co-facilitated the session on budgets and finances. The sessions, as such, were a mix of didactic instruction, group activities to enact or respond to scenarios, reflect on, and discuss pertinent topics. Pre-work, outside of class, included short readings and occasional self-assessment material. To further instill structure and weekly learning objectives of the You3 participants had significantly higher attendance percentages overall compared to other workshops held by our unit, the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Specifically, ad hoc professional development workshops during the same period had a postdoc attendance of 45% of those who submitted an RSVP, and themed professional development workshops was at 71%. Conversely, the You3 program consistently had an attendance record of 95%  current knowledge and b) growth during the program time period on each of the eight program topics (refer to 3 program was held.To measure the impact of the Youn biases  and inadn biases  or on coWe used two sets of questions from our survey instrument to measure self-perceptions of a) end-of-program knowledge and b) growth in each module during the duration of the program. This instrument was administered immediately after the program completion to compare knowledge and growth of participants as compared to nonparticipants. The Cronbach’s alpha score was determined for the two primary question blocks stratified by cases and controls . These d3 participants self-reported greater knowledge at the end of the program on the topics of Hiring and Interviewing, Implicit Bias, Building Your Team, and Budget Management as compared to control groups that had received other professional development programming  and self-reported growth (outcome). This contrasts with a binary “Growth/No growth” stratification of the data, which may mask this association by aggregation of “Low growth” and “High growth” responses. These data indicate that individuals that participated in the You3 program were more likely to report growth than non-participants in all You3 modules except Conflict resolution; therefore, participation in the You3 program was highly associated with perceived growth in the topics covered by the You3 program. This highlights the value of the You3 program as participants feel they have developed greater growth and knowledge in the surveyed topics compared to the control groups.To determine if the relationship between comparatively independent, higher self-reported knowledge is associated with participation in the Youl skills . Associa metrics . These d3 participants and previous programming controls. However, we did consistently find statistically significant correlations between all of the eight-knowledge metrics in the no previous programming control group , we also performed Pearson’s correlation analyses. We did not find consistent patterns from this analysis when measuring self-reported knowledge correlations for Youol group . These col group . These dOur study describes a novel program that implements a cohort-based structured curriculum and measures confidence via self-perceived knowledge and growth in key transferable skills in this cohort compared to a control cohort of non-participants. We show that participation in our program resulted in a measurable increase in the participants’ self-reported knowledge and growth in multiple non-technical areas, compared to control non-participants. Interestingly, the increase was independent of time spent as a postdoc, indicating that experience and time alone was not enough to develop skills, and that active programming was necessary.A cohort-based structured program, which is uncommon for professional skill development activities for postdocs, likely contributed to the success of the program in several ways. First, it clearly improved attendance. We saw an unprecedented 95%) continuous attendance in our program, which was substantially higher than the ~45% attendance we have seen in the ad hoc programs we have offered. Second, the 8-week, structured program could have mitigated a key hurdle in postdoc engagement in professional skill building activities. The short time frame and sporadic offerings of traditional ad hoc workshops, makes it difficult for postdocs to identify, determine value, and attend relevant programs that productively assist them in transitioning to their next stage , 9, 17. 5% contin3 and most previous programs. In addition to providing boots-on-the-ground perspectives, the postdocs who helped develop the program had the added benefit of growing as leaders and strategic thinkers. These benefits are consistent with previous reports where engaging college students early has been valuable in developing teaching methods and planning curricula [Another key innovation that helped spur engagement was the extent of input from and involvement of four current postdocs, representatives of the target population, in designing the program. This is a notable difference between Youurricula .The self-reported confidence and growth we used to assess outcomes, based on the scientific method, requires careful consideration. Traditionally, educational and professional development programs rely on satisfaction surveys and/or instructor ratings. While these assessment methods are useful to provide general overviews of course effectiveness, they are limited by issues such as potential biases and lack of depth , 22. Att3 non-participants that participated in alternative career development programming over the same time frame. These data show that You3 participants exhibited more self-reported growth than non-participants that had participated in alternative career development programming. Furthermore, this latter control group reported more growth in several You3-specific modules compared to non-participants that did not engage in career development programming. This suggests that self-reported growth reflects awareness rather than mere terminological understanding, as it is unlikely that the specific terminology used in the You3 program was exactly reflected in alternative career development programming. This inference is especially likely given that You3 program instructors and content differed from that of alternative career development programming. Therefore, the growth reported by these individuals likely reflects higher awareness of You3-specific competencies. Nonetheless, continued interrogation of acquisition and application of transferrable competencies is valuable in longitudinal analyses of such programs.Because self-assessment and awareness form a significant part of the assessments, it is possible that the assessments were influenced by participants’ awareness of what they did not know earlier. Additionally, there is a possibility that participants self-reported growth reflects familiarity with program terminology rather than growth in understanding. The case-control design of the evaluation of this program had the added benefit of including You3 participants, because the control group’s previous participation in relevant training and the intensity of training was unpredictable, while the You3 participants, as a cohort, uniformly went through the same set of workshops meant to increase awareness and confidence. Therefore, the responses of the control group could be less calibrated and uniform than that of the You3 participants. This variability was partly mitigated by having twice the number of respondents in the control group. This further enabled stratification of the control population into groups: those that have participated in any professional development programming (regardless of subject matter) at the University of Michigan and those that did not participate in relevant programming during the same months. Compared to both control groups, You3 participants reported higher growth in relevant competencies. In any case, a Dunning-Kruger effect driven by decreased self-awareness in control groups would lead to erroneously increased confidence in the control groups, therefore biasing our results to a null finding. The fact that we are seeing the opposite—an increased confidence in You3 participants—despite this potential confounding effect, underscores the effectiveness of the program.We also considered whether erroneous superiority or the Dunning-Kruger effect  could af3. However, we observed a difference in growth in our participant group even compared with this broad group, indicating that overall, the You3 format improves awareness and confidence in these topic areas over time.The self-assessment method of measuring outcomes, while it has clear strengths as outlined above, also has limitations that need to be considered while interpreting the data. Although the self-perceived growth in knowledge that we measure is correlated with learning, we do not directly evaluate competence by external objective measurements such as mentor interviews. Within the scope of our study, we opted not to interview postdoc mentors because of the variability in the extent of mentor buy-in for participation in such programs and the disparities in levels of interactions between mentors and postdocs, neither of which we could control for. Further, our participants opted to apply to this program, and therefore could have been more interested or aware than our control group to start with. However, the participants’ initial levels of awareness or confidence are unlikely to bias our results. That is, even if we started with a group of individuals that had a higher level of awareness in the beginning, their self-perceived knowledge grew more than that of the control group, which could only widen the difference at the end. Another consideration is that our control group included individuals who participated in other professional development programing. The structure and content of these programs, which we could not record for individual responders, could have differed by varying degrees compared to the respective sessions in YouThe outcomes and the success of the inaugural offering as described in this manuscript has informed us to continue this program, while making it stronger for future offerings. But due to the sudden changes to in-person gatherings and due to significant budget cuts, our emphasis for the next cohort was to optimize the program for virtual and hybrid formats during the COVID-19 pandemic. Albeit virtual, based on feedback from the 2019 cohort, we implemented a greater number of activities and assignments to be completed during and outside of the session. While we are still collecting feedback from these changes, our goal was to increase experiential learning and build community among postdocs who often suffer from isolation and loneliness , 28. Our3 program in their professional journey so far. Data from this quick survey indicate that 57% of responding alumni have transitioned to a new a position or have started a leadership role in their current position and 26% will soon be transitioning into a new career or leadership role. While we cannot directly attribute any career transitions to participation in our program, the respondents pointed to several of the skills covered in the You3 modules as being important in their career preparation. This indicated that since the program completion, they have continued to actively improve their skills covered in the You3 program. The skills that the alumni respondents are continuing to improve include, but not limited to, self-awareness, conflict-resolution, implicit-bias, time management, and team management. These preliminary data inform us in the building of a longitudinal tracking survey instrument. Such long-term data, along with information on how other institutions are implementing similar programs, will strengthen our overall assessment. Using this iterative approach, we aim to optimize the program to its most effective format in the coming years.An aspect of the program that we plan to develop and build on is long-term tracking of the postdocs who have participated in the program. We anticipate gathering data on not only their professional paths but also intend to set up mechanisms to best understand how this program set the foundation for lifelong learning in critical areas such as emotional intelligence , 31 and 3 program is a novel, scalable, and rigorous framework that can be adapted by any institution to expand the foundation of postdoctoral training. Our structured program and scientific assessment of outcomes helps minimize the variabilities and inequities in experiences and consequences prevalent in the current apprenticeship-based training models. For example, postdocs don’t have equitable time or guidance to access professional skill building and career development, despite recommendations from national bodies like the National Postdoc Association and relevant studies [3, developed via postdoc-centric guiding principles, mitigate such inequities by providing access to professional development in a structured manner to all postdocs regardless of funding status. Our program is an important benefit for international postdocs, who often don’t get the opportunity to craft plans via funding proposals, as they are often ineligible for independent funding.The You studies , 32. A s3 can be adapted easily to institutional needs, including hybrid training models combining in-person and virtual formats. We anticipate that newly funded initiatives from the NIH, such as The Postdoc Academy (postdocacademy.org), will provide complementary and supplementary resources to make broad implementation feasible within the budgets of most institutions.Finally, based on our experience, we believe YouS1 FigThis application via Google forms was sent to all UMMS Postdocs to solicit participants.(TIF)Click here for additional data file.S2 Fig3 participants, controls who had participated in any career development programming, and controls who had not participated in any career development programming. (B) Growth scores for each module were correlated to all other modules, and Pearson correlation r and P values were calculated for You3 Participants, controls who had participated in any career development programming, and controls who had not participated in any career development programming. R values are displayed, and P values are summarized in red .(A) Current knowledge scores for each module were correlated to all other modules and the number of years prior to 2019 in their postdoctoral fellowship, and Pearson correlation r and P values were calculated for You(TIF)Click here for additional data file.S1 Appendix3 participants to measure their self-reported knowledge and growth around the eight modules after completing the program. Survey questions for You3 non- participating UMMS postdoctoral fellows. All were asked to report their knowledge and growth on the same metrics and time frame of the You3 program.Survey questions for You(PDF)Click here for additional data file.S1 Dataset(XLSX)Click here for additional data file.S2 Dataset(XLSX)Click here for additional data file.


In a social environment that requires young people to adapt to increasingly demanding situations, emotional education and creativity training may be key for both personal development and academic performance. Given that there are currently no known interventions that develop emotional and creative skills simultaneously in a youth population, the main objective of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate the Emotional Divergent–Convergent Thinking Program (EDICOP). The study design was quasi-experimental with a non-equivalent control group and pretest–posttest measures. The participants included 196 students between 16 and 24 years of age belonging to two centers of higher education. Our results showed that the EDICOP contributed to the improvement of the participants’ divergent-proactive style, positive affectivity, emotional predisposition, and attention, as well as to their preference for cognition. Overall, the EDICOP is, therefore, both relevant and useful, and further research on the mood–creativity link is merited to generate new contexts in higher education for the promotion of both the emotional and creativity dispositions and self-awareness, by combining three basic psychological processes . Handbook of Vocational Education and Training [The mood–creativity relationship is becoming increasingly recognized in a wide range of domains, especially due to its link to innovation in higher education students. In fact, the key to improving the efficiency of students and employees in education and work could rely on cultivating their emotional awareness, optimism, creative self-efficacy, critical thinking, social creativity, and emotional creativity ,2,3. FolTraining  considerTraining ,9. In thTraining  concludeTraining ,12 or thTraining . MoreoveTraining , game thTraining , and strTraining .On the other hand, the results obtained in a multilevel meta-analysis suggest that emotional intelligence training should be considered an effective intervention in young adults . In factDespite the relevance of creativity training and emotional education among higher education students, we have found no intervention programs that combine both aspects in the same initiative. Thus, the main goal of this study is to design, implement, and evaluate experimentally the effects on higher education students of the Emotional Divergent–Convergent Thinking Program (EDICOP), which aims to promote both the emotional and creativity dispositions as well as self-awareness. This intervention program includes assumptions from mood–creativity research ,27 and tThe EDICOP intervention program consists of 16 activities divided into two areas  and five modules: (1) emotional damage to creativity, (2) emotional facilitation of creativity, (3) creating ideas, (4) evaluating and selecting ideas, and (5) presenting and defending ideas. All activities included in the intervention program and their specific goals are presented in The final goal of EDICOP training is to promote the emotional divergent and convergent thinking of the participants, specifically, by improving their emotional knowledge of creativity in the personal area (first part) and by applying affective-creative styles to the professional area (second part). The techniques used to develop emotional self-awareness in the first part  were reflexive role-taking, class debates, and changes in self-concept and self-image. The procedures selected to develop creative thinking in the second part  were (1) identification of each idea’s strengths and weaknesses; (2) making analogies by comparing different ideas and examining their similarities ; (3) imagination, lighting, and visualization; (4) checklisting, ideation, and brainstorming ; and (5) expressive actions like “ideart” (representing ideas in a work of art), storyboarding (writing a short script with the help of images), and moodboards . A quasi-experimental design with pretest–posttest measures and a non-equivalent control group was used. The criterion variables were the affective-creative styles (convergent-preventive style and divergent-proactive style), emotional creativity , emotional intelligence , positive affective disposition, and preference for cognition.The sample consisted of 196 subjects (40% women and 60% men) aged between 16 and 24 years . The participants were students at two vocational training centers in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (northern Spain). The sampling design employed was a non-probability convenience sampling, but we attempted to balance gender, age, and academic domain. In terms of the students’ academic domain, 38% had chosen to specialize in education sciences, 44% in scientific-technical sciences, and 18% in health sciences. Eighty percent of the participants had no work experience, while the rest gave private lessons to children, worked as servers in restaurants, or were dedicated to sports training. Regarding socioeconomic level, most participants (53.8%) had a medium-high level, 39.2% had a medium-low level, and 7% were from a low socioeconomic level. The participants were divided into two groups: 113 students were assigned to the experimental condition , and 83 students were assigned to the control condition . To evaluate the program’s effect on the variables studied, the following instruments were administered before and after the program: the Emotion/Motivation-Related Divergent and Convergent Thinking Styles Scale (EDICOS) , the shoThe EDICOS  is a 30-The ECI-S  is a 17-α = 0.82 . Using three subscales, the TMMS-24  is a selα = 0.85; NA, α = 0.81) and in the present research .The Spanish PANAS  is a selThe reduced Spanish NC  measuresA letter explaining the research project was sent to higher education centers. The directors of the centers were contacted, and interviews were held with those who agreed to participate. During the interview, the characteristics of the program were explained, and the directors were provided with the center’s authorization form and informed consent forms for participants in the experimental and control groups. Members of the research team administered a battery of assessment instruments to both groups as a pretest. The intervention program was implemented in the experimental group. The program consisted of 16 activities  divided At the end of the program, as a posttest, the same battery of assessment instruments used in the pretest phase was administered to both the experimental and control groups in order to measure changes in the study’s variables. Additionally, a qualitative questionnaire was added in the posttest phase to examine subjective perceptions of possible changes in both samples . In accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and following the ethical guidelines of the Ethics Committee for Human Research of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), we selected only students who wanted to participate in this study voluntarily. Informed consent was collected from the students themselves and the corresponding school authorities. t-statistic for related samples. The effect sizes associated with each comparison of means were calculated using the Hedges’ g statistic. The same analyses were performed when comparing the results yielded by the experimental and control groups, as well as when analyzing the effects of the program on males and females. Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS software (version 22). With the aim of examining the impact of the program on the variables studied, comparisons between the first (pretest) scores and the later (posttest) scores obtained after the implementation of the program were performed in the experimental group, using the Student’s t-statistic and Hedges’ g statistic for comparison between the pretest and the posttest. The mean scores and standard deviations yielded by the participants in the experimental group are shown in g = 0.53, 0.67, and 0.37, respectively). Moreover, values in the divergent-proactive dimension measured by the EDICOS also improved significantly after the program’s implementation, together with other ECI-S variables. Finally, it should be noted that the program also had a certain effect on emotional attention as measured by the TMMS-24, with a moderate effect size even though the results did not reach statistical significance. As can be seen in F values obtained for the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Hedges’ g statistic for the comparison between the two groups.g = 0.48 and 0.46, respectively). Moreover, the experimental group showed differences that were statistically significant and of a moderate magnitude with respect to the control group in the divergent-proactive dimension measured by the EDICOS. The program had a lower impact on positive affect as measured by the PANAS, which had a big effect size (Hedges’ g = 0.65), and also on emotional attention (TMMS-24) and novelty (ECI-S), with moderate effect sizes.ANOVA revealed that the experimental group’s scores were significantly higher than those of the control group, especially in emotional preparedness (ECI-S), followed by preference for cognition (NC), with notable magnitudes of both differences  = 1.50, p > 0.05, showed that before the intervention, both sexes had similar levels of creative-affective styles, positive–negative affectivity, emotional creativity, emotional intelligence, and disposition toward cognition. To assess whether the program had a different effect based on sex, that is, to analyze whether the program stimulated a higher level of change in males or in females, or whether both sexes were affected similarly, we carried out a pretest–posttest MANOVA, the results of which (p > 0.05) were non-significant, with a medium effect size in all variables, and pointed in the same direction (p > 0.05). Therefore, these results indicate that the changes stimulated by the intervention were similar in both sexes. In fact, there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental males and females on any of the indicators, nor were any statistically significant differences found in the changes they experienced as an effect of the program. Therefore, the intervention did not have an impact that was differential as a function of sex.To explore possible sex differences in the EDICOP, we carried out a pretest Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) with the set of variables assessed, the results of which, Individuals’ emotional skills and self-knowledge are considered to be key elements for well-being, learning processes, social relationships, and prevention of risk factors. Creativity abilities are considered relevant for students of employment age to adapt to the ever-changing work context. However, many students in higher education tend to pay more attention to their social and academic self-concept than to their emotional self-concept, and they tend to need additional information related to the influence of emotions on the cognitive process (including creative thinking). Nevertheless, there are few educational programs that include training in creativity skills together with personal-affective factors. Thus, in the present study, we designed, implemented, and evaluated the Emotional Divergent–Convergent Thinking Program (EDICOP). The EDICOP aims to incorporate two central concepts found in the literature to be relevant in higher education ,33,34,35From the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that the program’s application improved the students’ positive affectivity, divergent-proactive style, preference for cognition, and emotional preparedness. These results are consistent with those of other studies that have found an association between positive emotions and divergent thinking ,35. The In addition, the program had a certain influence on the students’ emotional intelligence, especially with regard to the emotional attention dimension. This result is in line with the approach based on the emotional intelligence model presented by Goleman and colleagues , in whicBased on affective information processing theory, emotional intelligence allows an individual to maintain a more positive affect when facing a complex problem situation, while emotion attention  and emotion preparedness  enable one to utilize a positive affect to promote creativity . The aboIt is necessary to reach a more profound comprehension about the mood–creativity relationship in teenagers and young adults, which should involve more interdisciplinary research, based on a systematic view of emotional education together with emotional creativity that acknowledges a series of interrelated strengths that could operate at different levels. Within this multidisciplinary research context, the following future lines of research are proposed: (1) the implementation and assessment of the EDICOP in other domains, such as the artistic and dramatic sciences, (2) the adaptation of the contents of the EDICOP to other age groups, such as students in secondary education, (3) a comparison of the effects of EDICOP cooperative activities by adapting the program to include competitive activities, (4) the exploration of the maintenance of long-term effects of the program , (5) the effect of contextual factors as mediator variables such as the group emotional climate, and (6) the evaluation of specific techniques used along with the intervention program: brainstorming, de Bono’s Thinking Hats, the SCAMPER technique , Osborn creative problem-solving process , SWOT analysis , and storyboarding. Moreover, to prevent possible mono-method bias caused by the use of self-report instruments in this study, it may be useful to include performance tests in the evaluation system of the EDICOP, such as the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking  ,50 —whicThe present results indicate that the design, implementation, and assessment of the EDICOP is useful for both educational practice and research. Educators may find the study data useful for designing other training materials and intervention programs in the educational context to improve emotional awareness applied to creativity processes. Finally, these results may help to advance our understanding of the dynamic interplay of cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors in developing and improving human creativity.


Science diplomacy could be broadly defined as scientific interactions to tackle common concerns (science in diplomacy). These collaborations could result in positive interaction between countries (science for diplomacy) or use diplomatic interactions to increase scientific knowledge and collaboration between countries (diplomacy for science). Besides their diversity, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries have some general features that could facilitate the use of science diplomacy to strengthen their interactions for the technological development of the region FECYT, . For thaECRs are broadly defined as researchers under 35 years old who obtained their highest degree within the last 5–10 years and or do not yet have a permanent position Bazeley, . In the Some LAC countries  have their own renowned doctoral programs, allowing many ECRs to pursue their professional development at home (mobility group 1)  2030 sustainable development goalsGlobally, ECRs represent a more vulnerable group in the field of research, facing specific challenges, which may also vary between regions. The overall increase in doctorate graduates and deficient creation of new professional opportunities are resulting in increased ECR job insecurity, jeopardizing the continuity of ECRs in academia or allied industries  in LAC contribute to the isolation of issues that stem, for example, from international mobility. A trend in some LAC countries to assign more value to professionals who have international training may cause bias in job prospects, hiring processes, salaries, performance evaluation , and funding adjudication (Cantini et al., Motivations for home country return are broad and hard to assess as isolated entities. These include scientific trends, national funding guidelines, personal circumstances, instability in host countries, or a combination of many. They have been analyzed in some LAC countries Rivero, . Often, Irrespective of location, the scientific diaspora can actively contribute to knowledge development and exchange with their home country (Barré et al., Identification of ECRs-LAC concerns can be instrumental in the development of supportive policies for national scientific agendas. ECR networks and international organizations that include ECRs-LAC living in the region and the diaspora should work together in designing studies to understand their particular challenges and to communicate them to relevant national and regional institutions. The diaspora can directly contribute to locally based ECRs on scientific collaboration and science diplomacy strategies that have a direct impact on the scientific progress in their home country.While there have been efforts made to assess the status of ECRs-LAC, such as focusing on specific countries, disciplines, and aspects of their careers, a more holistic and systematic assessment is required. The GYA, in collaboration with other scientific academies like TWAS-TYAN, is undertaking this task as an ECR organization that is able to provide a voice to the diverse young researchers in the region. The study targets countries with different research profiles as a proxy of diverse LAC systems. Such evaluation in a regional and integrative approach will enable a combination of science diplomacy strategies and policies for a harmonized advancement of research in the region that could allow science-based sustainable development. This opinion article is based on currently available information on the topic and is an invitation to dialogue about ECRs in general and ECRs-LAC.All authors contributed to the bibliographical search, discussion, writing, and editing of the article.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.