The Ishraq program for out-of-school girls: from pilot to scale-up

In this report, Population Council charts the evolution of Ishraq - a programme for out of school girls in Upper Egypt - from its pilot phase through to a scaled up sustainable programme with support from the government.

Ten years later, the programme continues to run and is seeing positive outcomes for girls and their communities including increased literacy rates, reintegration into formal schooling and participants wanting to delay marriage and limit childbearing. 

This paper provides a detailed overview of the programme, its achievements and lessons learnt from a decade of implementation.