In the general case, with some exceptions, we have found that two types of interventions stand above all others in terms of long term positive economic impact:

1. Infrastructure projects - like building roads

2. Gender projects - projects furthering women's rights in some way

These projects are long-term sticky and do not rely on continuous funding. A paved road will remain paved even after the funding is gone, and will have a positive impact on the community for many decades. Roads allow children to go to school in neighbouring villages, and people to sell their goods in a market, use a bike or other vehicle where they otherwise would not be able to.

Working with local governments to improving the attitudes towards girls and women often has a major impact on the economic output of a community both because more people can contribute, but also because the types of products and services become more diverse. This type of project is also sticky, once attitudes or structural barriers disappear they don't tend to come back.

Education or sanitation initiatives can be hit or miss, where, once funding dries up, all that is left is a non functioning latrine or empty school building.

It seems less specifically about the school and more about the support system and the safe place that this program gave to the girls.

It sounds like this was a program specifically built to target the reasons they were not staying in school in the first place. Which obviously is a good thing but just simply stating "stayed in school" feels like an oversimplification of what was done here.

That is an important distinction since the question to me remains if the numbers would continue without the program specifically in place.

Am I misunderstanding something here?

That's not to say that there's nothing of value being discussed here without the last two resources, but a URL swap may be helpful. The brief has a list of freely available references for further consideration.

[0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00720-8

[0a] (PDF): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00720-8.pdf

¹ https://www.gapminder.org/

² https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/technology/replacement-th...

[2] https://tolonews.com/node/198993

[3] https://forward.com/life/326299/putting-academic-study-for-o...

Key Aspects of Education Costs in NigeriaPrimary & Junior Secondary:

Officially free in public schools, but hidden fees (development levies, PTA) are common.

Federal Technical Colleges: These are tuition-free, with the government covering costs for uniforms and books.

Senior Secondary & Tertiary: Not generally free. State-owned schools, while cheaper than private, still charge fees, and federal universities charge significant "acceptance" or facility fees.

Regional Differences: Free education initiatives can vary significantly by state.

In other words how long the girl stays in school is directly correlated to how much money the family has.

Is usually true. Bravo.

In the West, education and then career advancement (and perhaps a pointless desire to "play the field") are reasons for postponing marriage...which has only produced demographic decline. (We ought to recognize human biology and take that as an immutable given, and then structure social practices around it instead of willfully engaging in Procrustean hacks and customs. This would counter demographic decline, because the fix is in essence simple: start having children at a younger age. Everything else should be built around this.)

Don't have any links though.

"Act to Prevent Child Marriages is incompatible with the Basic Law due to the failure to address the legal consequences of the invalidation of child marriages concluded abroad"

There needs to be a very high elementary school flunk rate, banned from school on failure, for girls that slowly decreases over time