Six out of ten of the world's poorest people are women who, as the primary family caretakers, shoulder much of the burden of raising children and producing food. This is no easy task, yet close to 75% of the world's women are unable to get bank loans because their jobs are unpaid or informal and because they lack the necessary financial knowledge. Empowering women through education and financial literacy training may help women achieve a greater degree of financial independence. When afforded more educational opportunities in adolescence, women go on to receive more education, increasing the overall human capital of the country and potentially helping to break the cycle of poverty. Women in both Uganda and Tanzania bear the primary responsibility for both subsistence agriculture, especially food production, and domestic work, yet decision-making at the household level continues to be male-dominated. In Tanzania women are legally protected against gender discrimination, but only a very small percentage of decision-making positions in ministries and government bodies are held by women. Women in Uganda are also disadvantaged socially-a power imbalance within the community tends to marginalize women, making them even poorer than men. The Adolescent Development Programme (ADP) aims to increase the economic empowerment of adolescent girls in rural Uganda and Tanzania by working to change social patterns such as early marriage and the practice of dowry-giving. By focusing on providing adolescents with continued education and training, girls are enabled to make informed economic decisions and link their new capabilities, expectations, aspirations and opportunities to achieve economic empowerment. The project will evaluate the impacts of the ADP in roughly 300 villages dispersed throughout Uganda and Tanzania. The program will be implemented at the village level, and aims to reach all girls between the ages of 14-20 in a given village.