Improving students' knowledge of puberty and menstruation in rural Zimbabwe: an evaluation of Sesame Workshop's Girl Talk program

Abstract

Abstract The Girl Talk initiative, a collaboration of Sesame Workshop, World Vision International and World Vision Zimbabwe, is an innovative project to address gaps in pubertal health and menstrual hygiene education among pre-adolescent and adolescent girls and boys in rural Zimbabwe. Girl Talk uses short animated videos, with accompanying print materials, that use stories about a Zimbabwean school girl, Didi, and her female and male friends growing up and helping each other deal with the challenges they face as they enter puberty. Girl Talk materials are all in the local language, Shona, and are designed to foster conversations among the students and teachers about the experiences of puberty and menstruation that are based on science. The Education Development Center (EDC) and the Zimbabwean firm, NGO Consultancy Africa, were contracted by Sesame Workshop to evaluate Girl Talk. Using a quasi-experimental control-group design with repeated measures to assess the impact of Girl Talk on participating students, the research found a significant impact on participating students’ knowledge about puberty and menstruation compared with the control sample.