Adolescent girls are one of the hardest groups to reach in societies. The challenges they face are often under-reported or described on their behalf. Without the inclusion of their perspective, solutions designed to support them aren’t as effective as they could be.

Co-created with girls and young women aged 18-24, TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) is Girl Effect's mobile based research tool, enabling girls to collect real-time insights into the lives of their peers. This unique approach unlocks the open and honest conversations that might otherwise be lost or not included in traditional research.

TEGA uncovers what makes girls tick: what they love, how they understand the world around them, their motivations and how they see themselves. Co-created with and delivered by girls, TEGA provides Girl Effect and partner organisations with unique insight into the reality of girls’ lives, helping to ensure that our content, products, programmes and experiences are designed from a girls’ perspective.

Recruited and supported by local partners, TEGAs are trained and paid as market researchers to conduct interviews with girls, boys, adults and community leaders via mobile phones.

TEGAs have gathered data from girls and communities on topics including nutrition, economic empowerment, health and wellbeing, vaccines, mobile access, social media and education. This girl-talk method is essential for researching sensitive topics like sexual health, HIV and teen pregnancy.

Girl Effect runs live TEGA networks in India, Rwanda and Tanzania and associate networks in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nigeria and the USA.