Evaluating the Impact of a Community-Based Empowerment Initiative on Women’s Development in Angola

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Dombaxe, Nelma Trindade, Allison Kwon, Irina L.G.M.G Dias dos Santos, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7603839/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Educational programs are key drivers of gender equity in resource-limited contexts. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the EducateHer initiative by the STEAMpact Foundation, which integrated targeted financial literacy and women's reproductive health workshops into an educational curriculum for women in Cacuaco, Luanda, Angola. Using qualitative methods, we surveyed 53 female participants aged 10–45 at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up. Post-workshop results showed a 76% increase in financial knowledge and a 78% uptake in improved hygiene practices. One-month follow-up assessments confirmed sustained behavior change and a community-wide knowledge multiplier effect reaching over 360 individuals. These results suggest concise, community-driven educational interventions can have lasting individual and social impacts on empowerment, health, and economic decision-making. The study offers a scalable model for development programs operating in similar low-resource environments. Social science/Education Health sciences/Health care Humanities/Health humanities Social science/Social policy Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Introduction Women are confronted with many obstacles to empowerment in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the acquisition of education, health services, and earnings. Such inhibitors are supplemented by the local social and cultural norms that restrict the access of women to the processes of decision making at the family and community levels (UNESCO, 2018 ). It has also been established that as women access resources and education, they play an instrumental role in influencing the development of the community and their social welfare (Guillame, 2025 ; Kiani et al., 2021 ). In Sub-Saharan Africa however, rural women are usually not included in such opportunities despite these advantages. It has been identified that the empowerment of women is one of the core determinants of broader objectives of social as well as economic development (World Bank, 2024 ). Even in the rural environment, education and health facilities can bring dramatic changes in the lives of the women affecting them on both personal levels and in the society (World Bank, 2024 ). Although public sentiment of gender equity issues are increasing, there is still a lack of research on the effectiveness of community-based empowerment programs in underserved communities (Fordjour et al., 2025 ). Pre-existing research has concentrated primarily on the cities and ignored rural communities as women in rural settings tend to be more isolated and experience greater structural obstacles during empowerment development (Fordjour et al., 2025 ). This research is aimed at filling this gap by reviewing the results of a community empowerment program in Cacuaco, Luanda, of Angola. In particular, the study will evaluate the outcomes of the workshops on women´s reproductive health and financial literacy. Recording the results of this initiative, the study makes a meaningful contribution to this field of research and offers insights that could inform the effective implementation of similar projects in rural settings. The current study responds to this gap by evaluating an integrated intervention that simultaneously targets two critical but often siloed areas of empowerment: financial literacy and personal hygiene education. The EducateHer initiative, developed by the STEAMpact Foundation, provides culturally adapted, short-format workshops to adolescent and adult women in underserved Angolan communities. By embedding these workshops into a one-day curriculum delivered by field-experts, the program aims to provide women with actionable knowledge and skills that can be implemented immediately and shared socially. The effectiveness of this initiative is reflected in student testimonies: “after the health and hygiene workshop, I began paying more attention to my menstrual cycle and started changing my sanitary pad more frequently. I shared everything I learned with friends, classmates, and family. Financially, I’m not the same person I was before I no longer spend all my money. Now I manage it better and save” (Student). Methods and Materials Demographics and Workshops This report addresses the issue of knowledge exposure on the development of females or women's particular interests in women's health and financial literacy. The experiment was carried out in Cacuaco, Luanda, Angola where 53 female members received two 2-hour workshops in May 2024: Financial Literacy and Women Health and Hygiene. Workshop evaluations were also to gauge the level of change in knowledge, attitude and practices of the participants by using a series of assessments conducted before, immediately after, and 1 month after the workshops (World Bank, 2024 ; MicroLoan Foundation, 2022 ). They lived in the Vidrul community in the Cacuaco area, and the respondents were aged between 10–45 years. A sample size of 53 women was used in the pre-workshop and post-workshop assessments (the sample users were classified in five age groups including: 10–15 years (n = 9), 16–19 years (n = 13), 20–25 years (n = 13), 26–35 years (n = 15) and 36–45 years (n = 3)). Besides their age, the level of the participants ranged professionally with the students (n = 29), teachers (n = 14), housekeepers (n = 1), accountants (n = 4), and other professionals (n = 5). One-month follow-up survey was answered by thirty-two participants (participants were divided into five age groups: 10–15 years (n = 8), 16–19 years (n = 10), 20–25 years (n = 7), 26–35 years (n = 6), and 36–45 years (n = 1)). Along with the age difference, the professional background of the participants was diverse and contained students (n = 23) and teachers (n = 9) (Table 1 ). This heterogeneity allowed for meaningful cross-group comparisons and insights into how women in different roles and age groups internalized and acted upon the workshop content. Table 1 Participant Demographics. Age groups and corresponding percentage participation are presented, along with participants´ professions reported in the pre-survey, post-survey, and one-month follow-up survey. Demographic Table – Combined Survey Results Category Subcategory Pre-Survey Post-Survey One-Month Follow- up Survey Age Group 10–15 years 19.00% 17.00% 25.00% 16–19 years 25.50% 27.70% 31.30% 20–25 years 27.70% 27.70% 21.90% 26–35 years 23.40% 23.40% 18.80% 36–45 years 4.40% 4.20% — Profession Students 54.70% 54.70% 71.90% Teachers 26.40% 26.40% 28.10% Housekeeper 1.90% 1.90% — Accountants 7.50% 7.50% — Other Professions 9.40% 9.40% — People under 25 years old comprise 66% of Angola’s population (International Trade Administration, 2024 ), and this study’s participants reflect the country’s young demographic as 70% of the participants are under 25. It is important to note, however, that 22% of children in Angola are not in the education system due to factors including overcrowding in schools, lack of access to secondary education, and gender disparities (World Bank, 2024 ). In 2009, women held approximately 27.5% of the formal employment in Angola, with 40% of them being in commercial services like accounting and commerce, 26% of them in agriculture, and 36% of them in jobs in education (Van Klaveren et al., 2009 ).The informal employment rate in Angola as of 2021 was 80.4%, whereas the rate in Luanda was 62.2% (UNDP, 2023). Women have a significantly higher rate (89.5%) of informal employment compared to that of men (71.2%) (International Monetary Fund, 2024; UNDP, 2023). In this study, only 6% of the participants identified as working informal professions. Furthermore, the majority of Luanda and Angola’s population are employed in the informal sector, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating the demographics of this study. Before the intervention, baseline assessments revealed critical gaps in both financial and health-related knowledge. Only 28% of participants reported having received any form of prior financial education. Similarly, while general hygiene practices such as handwashing were widely recognized, more specific and sensitive topics like menstrual hygiene and reproductive health remained underexplored and underdiscussed in their prior educational experiences. A majority of participants (65%) admitted that they had never received comprehensive guidance or formal instruction on these topics. Supporting this observation, one study examining young women (ages 18–24) who had given birth in Luanda, Huambo, and Lunda Sul found that although a lack of knowledge in fundamental sexual health and reproductive rights was evident across all provinces, it was significantly more pronounced among women who had not given birth in a healthcare institution (Dos Reis et al., 2025 ). This shows that insufficient education in sexual health and reproductive rights, and more broadly, a lack of health literacy, can lead to harmful consequences for women in particular. This demographic and baseline context sets the stage for understanding the extent and significance of the knowledge shifts documented in the subsequent sections. The empirical research took the form of a non-randomized, observational study as 53 participants were subjected to the educational workshops, and were evaluated immediately prior and after based on the workshop's content matter. The sample size calculation was not conducted because this study will be using a limited number of participants that is targeting a group of 53 people, where the researcher hopes to receive comprehensive feedback regarding the interventions used (World Bank, 2024 ; Stoeterau, 2018 ). The two workshops, Financial Management, and Women's Health and Hygiene, have been carried out on the same day as the part of the educational event called EducateHer. The Financial Management workshop was expected to enhance their knowledge on the elementary financial concepts like budgeting, saving, and domestic finance management, which the World Bank ( 2024 ) identifies as valuable for economic growth and gender equality. Women's workshop, in its turn, focused on discussing the vital elements of personal hygiene, menstrual health, and general health of women (MicroLoan Foundation, 2022 ). The structure of the workshops was made in the form of interaction and Q&A. Smaller groups were formed with six women forming a small group and they kept each representation seated in the same table all day. Such a seating pattern enhanced the group work and provided an opportunity to interact with others during the meeting, which further motivated the participants to become more interested and invested in the learning process (Ashraf & Shamsuddin, 2024 ). Data Collection In this study, the data was gathered in the form of a combination of three measurements, which were: pre-workshop, post-workshop and a follow-up survey of one month post-workshop. All these evaluations were to measure various knowledge and interaction levels of the participants with the contents of the workshop (Stoeterau, 2018 ). Pre-Workshop Assessment A pre-workshop assessment was performed in the beginning of the day before the two workshop sessions to understand the baseline knowledge on the topic of financial management and women's health and hygiene. The ideas were presented in the pre-workshop survey and included a mix of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions, to help assess the current knowledge the participants had over the topics. The tests were aimed at assessing the knowledge of the basic concepts and the attitude of the participants towards these topics (Aterido et al., 2011 ). Assessments were administered as pen-and-paper questionnaires. Each participant received a printed survey and completed it individually, with an average completion time of approximately 45 minutes. To protect privacy, surveys did not include names or contact details; responses were recorded using study ID codes and analyzed in de-identified form. Trained volunteers were available to clarify wording when asked and were instructed not to prompt or suggest answers, ensuring participants experienced no pressure and selected the options that best reflected their views. Post-Workshop Assessment The post assessment was administered immediately upon completion of the workshops. Just as in the pre-assessment, the post-workshop survey assumed multiple-choice questions and open-ended ones, yet it was specially designed to capture the immediate effect of the workshop deliverables. Besides measuring how much knowledge was retained, the post-assessment was also designed to help in measuring whether there were any changes in the attitude and perceptions of the participants concerning financial management and health practices (World Bank, 2024 ). Follow-Up Survey A post-workshops survey was introduced one month later at the local school, to measure the recollection and use of acquired knowledge during the workshops. The sequel survey was aimed at surveying the participants in regard to the capacity to remember and use the information received at the workshops. The survey involved the combination of closed-ended queries, assessing retention, and open-ended ones, that gave its participants the freedom to explain how they had applied the teachings of the workshop in their day-to-day actions (Stoeterau, 2018 ). The follow-up evaluation was even set to investigate possible implementation barriers that were experienced by participants (United Nations Development Programme, 2019 ). Out of the 53 women that took part in pre-assessment and post assessment, 32 women underwent the follow-up survey. The follow-up survey was carried out the same day on all the participants and it was scheduled to be simple to accomplish, and the questions posed were similar to those used during the pre- and post-assessment. The assumed causes of attrition among the follow-up were mainly personal or logistical and no one was left out of the study on the basis of the demographic characteristics and first time participation (World Bank, 2024 ). Study Limitations There are a number of limitations to be mentioned despite the promising outcomes. The study findings have limited external validity because only 53 women participated. Furthermore, the non-randomized design prevents establishing conclusive causal relationships between the intervention and observed behavioral changes. Another limitation is that only 32 participants completed the follow-up survey, resulting in an attrition rate of nearly 40%. This loss of data from 21 participants may have introduced bias into the findings. Future research would be able to enhance follow-up attendance to reduce the loss. The study was also based on data that was self-reported, and this is susceptible to the influence of social desirability bias. There is a possibility that the respondents would have been eager to describe the beneficial effects, especially at school. Based on the positive findings of this study, future initiatives may seek to recruit bigger and more exhaustive samples, and take into consideration randomized controlled trials to develop more solid causal relationships involving the intervention and results. Additionally, a longer follow up study should be conducted to evaluate whether the behavior switch that has been observed remains in the long-term scale. The increase in the effectiveness of the program and provision of supportive networks among the participants can also be attained by examining elementary peer-to-peer mentoring. The programs could also be expanded in the future to cover the fields of mental health and entrepreneurship because these are the topics that many women have shown interest in during the post-workshop surveys. This would assist in developing more comprehensive programs of empowerment of women that touches on many aspects of women's lives. To boost 1-month follow-up completion, we suggest pre-scheduling the check-in at baseline, collecting multiple contact methods (incl. WhatsApp), and recording preferred times/modes with consent to re-contact. The follow-up should be shortened to ~ 10–15 minutes and offered via mixed modalities (WhatsApp text/voice, phone, or brief in-person), with oral administration available to eliminate possible literacy barriers. Data Analysis GraphPad Prism was used to analyze and plot data. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data, which means the interview answers were coded and provided the patterns and themes regarding the implementation of learned skills, the complications faced during it, and the assumption that the workshops had left. Coding and theme identification was done using Excel (Saunders et al., 2023 ; McLeod, 2024 ) by a native Portuguese speaker, and themes were translated into English to plot the data. The analysis in this case played a special role in unveiling the existing discrepancies between the age categories and professional experiences in terms of the knowledge acquisition process, and the existence of difficulties experienced by the participants during the application of the acquired knowledge (Braun & Clarke, 2019 ; Campbell et al., 2021 ). Consequently, the research has acquired 53 participants initially, whereas 32 participants contributed to the 1-month follow-up questionnaire. The rate of attrition was assumed to be majorly due to personal/logistical factors such as a family, or work constraints, as shown in a similar study (McLeod, 2024 ). Frequency data was plotted using stacked bar graphs. Results Impacts of Female Hygiene Workshop The workshops made considerable positive changes in the hygiene practices of the participants as indicated in Fig. 1 . The majority of self-reports showed rather serious or middle-scale shifts in the hygiene routine after the seminar (Fig. 1 a). Most of them changed the behaviors, meaning that the workshop was effective in affecting the behavior. The number of participants having increased confidence to discuss hygiene got improved with 80 percent of participants showing major or moderate ease (Fig. 1 b). Such results imply that schools can improve individual hygiene behaviors and the willingness to discuss a range of health-related topics, as well as promoting a system of sharing knowledge to take place throughout the community (Saunders et al., 2023 ). Of all the participatory factors, 70 percent of the participants used at least one hygiene practice taught during the workshop in the one-month follow-up, with half of them widely applying the learned practices (Fig. 1 c). “The seminars helped me overcome the taboo around talking about menstruation. I also learned the proper way to wash intimately something I had been doing incorrectly without knowing. There’s been a big improvement in my hygiene since the workshop”(Teacher). More so, they taught other people the acquired knowledge (Fig. 1 d), which proves the sweeping impact of the intervention. These observations stress the importance of education workshops to achieve sustainable behavioral change and community knowledge distribution in society (Campbell et al., 2021 ). Impacts of Financial Literacy Workshop The participants of the financial literacy workshops improved their financial knowledge by a great level. Figure 2 illustrates the growth of financial awareness (Fig. 2 a), where 80% of respondents managed to improve their knowledge on budgeting, saving, and investing significantly (Campbell et al., 2021 ). Most of the participants shared a promise of taking significant actions to implement these strategies at the daily level as well (Fig. 2 b). Upon the follow-up survey, 60% of the respondents claimed to have already made significant improvements in mitigating their finances in a more productive manner (Fig. 2 c). Discussing particular measures one was going to undertake, nothing specific was observed, nonetheless, budgeting and the savings (Fig. 2 d) were most frequently mentioned. It was especially effective in providing the participants with essential skills in the way of financial planning, in order to build a solid foundation toward financial wellbeing in the future (Saunders et al., 2023 ). Furthermore, not all students were interested in the most basic strategy, yet some of them were open to more complex ones, like investment and entrepreneurship (Fig. 2 d), which opens up the opportunity of enabling financial literacy learning to address various levels of readiness (McLeod, 2024 ). Financial Follow-Up The one-month follow-up survey provided a critical lens into the longer-term impact of the financial education intervention. Of the original 53 participants, 32 completed the follow-up, allowing for a comparison between immediate post-workshop intentions and actual behavioral implementation. The findings revealed that 69% of respondents had begun to apply the financial strategies introduced during the workshop (Fig. 3 a). Of these, 34% had made significant lifestyle changes, while 35% reported more moderate adoption. Although slightly lower than the 80% who initially expressed intent to act, this figure remains notable given the well-documented intention-behavior gap, which describes the common discrepancy between setting intentions and enacting behavior (Koole et al., 2023 ). Studies on this phenomenon show intention predicts only 30–40% when it comes to changes in health behavior (Faries, 2016 ). Knowledge retention also appeared to be strong, with 81% of respondents maintaining a clear understanding of key saving principles (Fig. 3 b). Moreover, 72% reported perceivable improvements in their overall financial management ability, with 34% characterizing these improvements as substantial (Fig. 3 c). These outcomes suggest that the workshop was not only effective in imparting knowledge but also in instilling a sense of confidence and capability in managing finances. A deeper analysis revealed differences in implementation patterns by occupational status. Teachers, who generally had greater control over household income and financial decisions, demonstrated a higher rate of strategy adoption (78%) compared to students (65%). Qualitative interviews shed further light on these challenges, with students often citing familial obligations and limited allowances as barriers to applying saving or budgeting strategies (Campbell et al., 2021 ; McLeod, 2024 ). Nevertheless, the enthusiasm for financial empowerment remained high, with many participants expressing interest in receiving further training. At the one-month follow-up, many participants reported an ongoing interest in expanding their knowledge of financial strategies, reflecting a desire to further strengthen their skills and understanding in this area. Notably, the majority indicated that they already felt confident in the level of financial education gained through the program, suggesting that the training provided both a strong foundational knowledge and practical tools they could apply in their daily lives. This combination of confidence and continued curiosity highlights the program’s success in fostering both immediate competence and a sustained motivation to engage with financial learning (Fig. 3 d). “The workshop brought significant changes in both my personal hygiene and financial habits. “Before, I couldn’t save I’d spend all my money, even small amounts, without thinking. I didn’t know I needed to make a list and consider my goals. Now, I’m able to use my money, even when it’s not much, toward meaningful objectives. I’ve learned to distinguish between priorities and wants” (Student). Rate the Seminar When asked to evaluate their experience, 94% rated the workshop as either “Good” (45%) or “Excellent” (49%) (Fig. 4 a). This overwhelmingly positive response highlights the seminar’s effectiveness in delivering valuable and engaging content for the participants. The vast majority (92%) expressed a strong desire for additional sessions, and participants articulated a wide range of future topic interests (Fig. 4 b) indicating that participants want further education on issues like mental health (24%), entrepreneurship (22%), reproductive health (20%), and advanced financial education (18%). These responses not only reflect the program’s credibility among participants but also provide a roadmap for future curriculum development. When asked for feedback on future programming during their one-month follow up, participants expressed interest in additional topics such as sexual and reproductive health, other medical topics, and entrepreneurship (Fig. 4 c). These interests indicate a desire for a well-rounded curriculum that balances practical life skills and broader health and social awareness. These findings suggest that future programs might benefit from a holistic approach, integrating financial literacy, health education, societal awareness, and personal well-being to meet the diverse needs of participants. The interest in such subjects signals designing a program adaptable to differing economic status and personal well-being. Community Impact & Interest The influence of the seminar extended far beyond its individual participants. Most women aptly reported visible changes to their respective communities as they shared their acquired information (Fig. 5 a). This exchange of knowledge fostered a sense of community empowerment that helped in the improvement of not only health practices but also financial knowledge. The interest in participating in future seminars (Fig. 5 b), as well as the popularity of the peer-to-peer mentorship (Fig. 5 c), means that the program did not only empower its individuals but built a supportive environment within the community. For example, one participant reported, “I shared the financial knowledge I gained with my cousin, who, like me, didn’t understand how to manage or save money. The information really helped us both” (Teacher). Both the satisfaction of learning new information and the empowerment to share the knowledge with others in their community shows a positive feedback loop, continuously bringing more members of the community into the cycle of empowerment. During the one-month follow-up, participants reported they became mentors themselves to other people by sharing the information (Fig. 5 c), indicating that the ripple effect of the seminar was expanding beyond the direct participants and more people in the community were being empowered Another participant reported, “after the workshop, I started to view money differently not just as something to spend without purpose, but as a tool to use intentionally and for specific goals that benefit me. For example, I now save all the money I receive to use in case I need school resources or materials” (Student). Discussion The results of the current study prove that community-based educational programs can bring considerable changes to either health outcomes or financial ones in rural communities. The successes of the seminar in facilitating hygiene practices and confidence of talking about hygiene issues denotes how good this seminar was in encouraging personal health. The effectiveness noted in the follow-up implies that once they are equipped with the necessary tools and confidence to change and enhance their hygienic routines, the participants do not only adopt these routines by themselves but also share the learned information with their families and communities. The positive change in financial literacy and financial behaviors corresponds to prior research findings that financial literacy has the potential to support the people in making educated financial decisions, especially in low-income communities. The finding of a high scale of the intent to apply the knowledge and the reported adoption of some basic monetary techniques as budgeting and saving imply that the intervention was effective in the motivation of the behavioral change. The study provides support to an existing conceptual framework on women empowerment and the success of community-based intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa countryside. The program helped to overcome the key obstacles to empowerment by educating women about their physical health, personal financial management and leadership techniques to make them feel more confident in their ability to transfer the skills they have acquired in the programs to the real world application. The results can imply that these types of educational interventions could be scaled up and transferred to other rural areas having similar obstacles. Furthermore, the fact that the community has noticed positive change and fellow participants are willing to share knowledge with others, supports the notion that empowerment can be applied to cover an entire community to make it better. “After the workshops, I noticed a major improvement in both my hygiene and financial habits. I’ve been able to set clear financial goals and I’m working steadily to achieve them.” (Teacher). This paper has considered the effects of community-based power intervention that can be used to replicate positive attitudes and behaviors towards improving the health, financial literacy, and leadership capabilities of the women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that there have been large improvements in the three areas and participants are more knowledgeable and there is a positive change in behaviors. In hygiene, more than 70 percent of participants stated that they experienced a big change in their daily lifestyles, and most of them were more comfortable with speaking about hygiene matters. “Thanks to the EducateHer workshop, I understood the importance of scheduling a gynecology appointment, so I booked my first ever consultation” (Teacher). These advances persisted until a month following the seminar, showing the relevance of health education on enhancing well-being, as has also been shown in a study by Guillame ( 2025 ). Concerning financial empowerment, there was a significant rise in the knowledge on finance related to budgeting, saving, and investing that the participants had gained. 80 percent of participants indicated that they were planning to put the acquired financial knowledge of budgeting, saving, and investing into practice, and 60 percent had indeed done so by the time of follow-up survey. This corresponds to the earlier findings of research on the effectiveness of financial literacy programs among rural women (Kiani et al., 2021 . The component of leadership growth was also successful as a lot of women demonstrated their greater confidence in becoming leaders and mentoring others to be more empowered in the community. This shows how leadership programs contribute to the empowerment of communities in villages, which is also shown in the study by Moyo & Dhliwayo ( 2019 ). The results of the study support the fact that interventions must fit the needs of rural women of Sub-Saharan Africa specifically. Combined health education, financial literacy and leadership empowering programs are the comprehensive approach to empowerment. They respond to the immediate needs and prepare participants to become successful in the long term perspective (UNESCO, 2018 ). The participants became less afraid and more independent, and the result was numerous change agents in their families and communities who enhanced collective well-being, particularly in the hygiene and financial spheres– a finding similar to that of other studies in this field (World Bank, 2024 ). This implies that community initiatives are useful when it comes to solving the struggles of women living in smaller communities since the community programs are beneficial to sustainable growth on the ground (Fordjour et al., 2025 ). The findings of this study highlight the impact of short, community-based interventions on improving financial and hygiene knowledge and effecting subsequent financial and health behavior changes among women of Angola. Much of existing research on women’s health knowledge in rural sub-Saharan Africa has focused on antenatal and maternal care (Shibre et al., 2020 ). Consistent with this research, previous studies have examined workshops and other methods of education in improving maternal, newborn, and child health care behaviors. As opposed to this study’s use of an educational workshop intervention, previous studies have reported the use of a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook developed and implemented by the Government of Angola from 2011 to 2022 (Kuramata et al., 2022 ). Evaluations of the MCH handbook showed higher utilization and retention compared to earlier alternatives such as the prenatal handbook and child health card. Of note, Angola DHS data indicate that just 35% of children aged 24–35 months had child health cards, with lower ownership rates among rural households and mothers of lower socioeconomic status (​​Instituto Nacional de Estatística, 2017). According to Kuramata et al. ( 2022 ), a program was implemented to provide group and individual mothers’ classes at health facilities and community outreach programs to promote the use of the MCH handbook as well as increase maternal and child healthcare utilization among women. Challenges with implementation included discrepancy in basic knowledge of healthcare providers in urban areas and rural areas and inconsistencies with training quality. These issues were addressed via pre-test and post-test evaluations for participants and implementation of a standardized e-learning platform, respectively (Kuramata et al., 2022 ). Collectively, these studies demonstrate the importance of accessible and structured education tools for improving health outcomes, which is similarly important in community-based hygiene education for women. Other research focuses on educational interventions to promote sexual health awareness among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. An experimental study in Huambo, Angola demonstrated that an educational program intervention on human biology and sex education significantly improved students’ knowledge compared to a control group, measured through a questionnaire pre- and post-intervention (Almeida et al., 2019 ). Though this study does not directly address women’s hygiene or financial education, it highlights the effectiveness of targeted educational interventions in improving adolescents’ knowledge on critical topics, reinforcing the importance of structured education programs in shaping health-related behaviors from an earlier age, particularly for young women. Current research on financial knowledge and literacy among women in Angola highlights the role of education in fostering empowerment. Much of this work focuses on financial literacy initiatives and broader financial education programs developed across Africa (Messy & Monticone, 2012 ). Many of the programs’ target populations include vulnerable populations such as women, low-income individuals, children/youth, and individuals living in rural areas. While most of these programs found improvements in financial literacy and increased financial awareness, researchers emphasized that limited research is available in the field and further research must be conducted to examine the programs on a larger scale and with other target groups (Messy & Monticone, 2012 ). Studies have shown that financial literacy is critical in positively influencing financial behavior, while financial inclusion does not have an effect on financial behavior (Canguende-Valentim et al., 2024 ). It has been well established that financial literacy and financial self-efficacy positively affect feelings of empowerment, and financial knowledge positively impacts the judgement of financial decisions in women of sub-Saharan Africa (Mindra & Moya, 2017 ). These findings show the powerful impact of financial education, and furthermore, how both financial and hygiene educational interventions can improve women’s overall well-being. Conclusion The results from this study supports the proposal that establishing empowerment programs for Sub-Saharan African women substantially increases literacy in women's health and finance, and encourages women to partake in leadership roles. There were considerable rises in hygiene practices, financial knowledge, and leader confidence of the participants. More than 70 percent of the participants claimed that their hygiene behaviors have been maintained, and eight out of every 10 participants had a desire to use the financial plans they have acquired during the workshops. The program was also boosted since many women transferred their knowledge to families and communities. The positive results stemming from the leadership aspect demonstrated that women felt more confident in mentorship and becoming leaders of their communities. This shows the transformative quality of education because it does not only enable a person to live a better life but to transform the lives of those living in their community as well. The effectiveness of this project indicates that community-based initiatives relating to education can be replicated and adapted to other rural regions with certain analogous complications. Through women´s hygiene and financial literacy workshops, this program could contribute to ending the poverty cycle and increase the well-being of communities. This success in rural Angola suggests this kind of program can be transferred to Sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the world where women are burdened by socio-economic and cultural factors to empowerment. The community-based comprehensive approach can be a sustainable approach of promoting gender equality as well as enhancing the quality of living life by and with women and their communities. Although the outcomes of this research demonstrate the success of the program, it is necessary to continue investment in this kind of program. Transformation of society needs the empowerment of women in the rural places. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations should keep up such initiatives so that women in underserved areas have access to tools, knowledge, and resources they require to achieve success. To sustain the momentum, scaling of such programs to reach more women and maintain long-term sustainability will be critical to success. This may include provision of post follow up, peer-peer networking, and local leaders in program design being an integral part. These initiatives can only bring a long-lasting change through current support and be used to meet global goals of sustainable development. Declarations Competing Interest Statement The authors declare no known competing financial or personal interests. Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate This study was approved by the Cornell University Institutional Review Board (IRB) under protocol number IRB0148464. Community consent was obtained through consultations with local stakeholders. Written informed consent was obtained from all adult participants, and written assent alongside parental or guardian consent was obtained for participants under the age of 18. All data were stored securely on password-protected devices, and participants’ identities were anonymized by assigning unique codes to ensure confidentiality. Author Contribution Writing – original draft: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS. Writing – review & editing: CPD, NT, AK, JCK. Methodology: CPD, NT, DAQM, TNEP. Data curation: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS, JCK. Formal analysis: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS, JCK. Visualization: CPD, NT, AK, JCK. Project administration: CPD, NT. Investigation: CPD, NT, AK. Conceptualization: CPD, NT. Validation: CPD. Supervision: CPD. Funding acquisition: CPD. Acknowledgement We thank all the girls and women for generously giving their time and motivation for participating. We are grateful to the Complexo Escolar Nº 4057 São Francisco de Assis and Centro de Acolhimento Lar Nazaré Generosa´s collaboration in assisting in the recruitment of participants. Additionally, we would like to thank our volunteers who without their help we would not be able to run this project: Ana Tona, Carlos César, Esmeralda Silva, Henriqueta Lopes, Jussenia Dombaxi Rebelo, Kwame Nogueira, and Sueli Carlos. This project was partly funded by the National Geographic Society Grant Level I (#EC-106637E-24) and our generous private donors of STEAMpact Foundation. Data Availability All data is available upon request to the corresponding author via email. References Almeida N, Teixeira A, Garcia J, Martins N, Ramalho C (2019) Effects of an educational intervention on Angolan adolescents’ knowledge of human reproduction: a quasi-experimental study. 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Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center. https://gflec.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Stoeterau-CB-2018.pdf UNESCO (2018) : Gender Review – Meeting our commitments to gender equality in education (Available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261593/PDF/261593eng.pdf.multi) (2018) United Nations Development Programme (2019) Promoting Angolan Women's Empowerment Through Civil Society Organizations: Terminal Evaluation Report. UNDP. https://erc.undp.org/evaluation/documents/download/12353 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2023) Survey of professional organizations representing the informal economy actors (IOPREI) in Luanda, Angola. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-07/ioprei_en_0.pdf United Nations Women (2024) Facts and figures: Economic empowerment. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures Van Klaveren M, Tijdens K, Williams M, Ramos Martín N (2009) An overview of women’s work and employment in Angola. AIAS Working Pap. https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Country_Report_No2-Angola_EN.pdf World Bank (2024) Angola: gender data portal. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/economies/angola World Bank (2024) Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Angola: Second Chance Education Program. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/03/29/advancing-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment-in-afe-angola-through-second-chance-education World Bank (2024) Transforming the lives of women and girls in Eastern and Southern Africa. https://projects.worldbank.org/en/results/2024/01/04/transforming-the-lives-of-women-and-girls-in-afe-eastern-and-southern-africa World Bank (2024) Women, Business and the Law 2024. https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/reports Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. 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post-intervention, ranging from decreased comfort to significant improvement. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003eApplication of hygiene practices introduced during the sessions, as reported during the one-month follow-up, including no adoption, partial use, or extensive integration of new skills. \u003cstrong\u003e(d)\u003c/strong\u003eFrequency with which participants shared hygiene-related information with others at the one-month follow-up, categorized as not at all, occasionally, or often. This figure is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © [STEAMpact Foundation].\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/f40b9191acd4b9c316d8004f.png"},{"id":92251834,"identity":"dbfda60f-8024-4b40-ad6c-accfe69cf6c2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-26 10:47:47","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":131868,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFinancial literacy outcomes following the educational intervention. (a)\u003c/strong\u003e Change in knowledge of financial education assessed pre- and post-intervention. Responses shifted notably from limited awareness to high awareness after the session. \u003cstrong\u003e(b)\u003c/strong\u003eParticipants’ intentions to change their financial situation post-intervention. A majority reported plans to take significant actions, while fewer indicated minor actions or no action yet. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003eSelf-reported change in understanding of financial concepts post-intervention. Most participants indicated moderate or significant improvement. \u003cstrong\u003e(d)\u003c/strong\u003e Financial strategies participants planned to implement post-intervention. The responses included savings, budgeting, investment, and business creation. This figure is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © [STEAMpact Foundation].\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/276a7f2c5aef4a17b0733865.png"},{"id":92252766,"identity":"8265b215-0203-4046-a20f-ab9c42f04409","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-26 10:55:47","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":95806,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFollow-up outcomes on financial behaviors and attitudes. (a)\u003c/strong\u003eExtent of participants’ use of financial strategies at the one-month follow-up after the intervention, with a notable portion reporting extensive application. \u003cstrong\u003e(b)\u003c/strong\u003e Self-reported understanding of saving at the one-month follow-up, with the majority indicating clear understanding, and few unsure or unaware. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003eChanges in financial management practices at the one-month follow-up, showing that most participants reported moderate or significant improvement. \u003cstrong\u003e(d)\u003c/strong\u003e Interest in learning more about financial strategies, with the majority expressing that they are currently confident in the level of financial education they have received at the one-month follow-up. This figure is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © [STEAMpact Foundation].\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/b7009a9dc62ca346c0ebc3a1.png"},{"id":92251836,"identity":"3a049b0f-dac4-4577-a460-041dfb0595fb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-26 10:47:47","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":95796,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eParticipant feedback on seminar quality and future programming. (a)\u003c/strong\u003e Post-intervention ratings of the seminar, with most participants rating it as excellent, followed by good, and a few as fair. \u003cstrong\u003e(b)\u003c/strong\u003e Post-intervention interest in attending future seminars, where the vast majority responded positively, indicating high enthusiasm for continued engagement. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003e Additional topics of future interest that participants listed at the one-month follow-up. Sexual \u0026amp; reproductive health, other medical topics including mental health, and financial topics were the most frequently mentioned. This figure is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © [STEAMpact Foundation].\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/5ed8bd445219570701039acd.png"},{"id":92251838,"identity":"2bf02f38-743f-4730-852d-9cd3c30be323","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-26 10:47:47","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":93777,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCommunity impact and extended interest following the seminar. (a)\u003c/strong\u003e Perceived changes in the broader community as a result of the seminar at the one-month follow-up, with many participants reporting some or significant positive change. \u003cstrong\u003e(b)\u003c/strong\u003eParticipant perceptions of interest among other women in their community at the one-month follow-up, with a large majority indicating that many women would be interested in attending similar seminars. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003eAt the one-month follow-up, participants state that they mentor others on the seminar topics. Most participants reported they mentor occasionally or often, highlighting the seminar’s ripple effect beyond direct participants. This figure is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. © [STEAMpact Foundation].\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/125502674de767be6a7d94ea.png"},{"id":101754115,"identity":"944b31ba-94f0-46e9-9fe3-e2e258634cac","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-03 10:41:39","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1431904,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/a0183817-1f78-4af3-b957-960af6083bb7.pdf"},{"id":92251830,"identity":"9c9dbbe4-36c3-4707-afd9-10fa90124405","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-26 10:47:47","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":48077,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EducateHerSISurveysDombaxeFinalNatureHSSC.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7603839/v1/65742b5883b11e5e0c6e06c3.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Evaluating the Impact of a Community-Based Empowerment Initiative on Women’s Development in Angola","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eWomen are confronted with many obstacles to empowerment in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the acquisition of education, health services, and earnings. Such inhibitors are supplemented by the local social and cultural norms that restrict the access of women to the processes of decision making at the family and community levels (UNESCO, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). It has also been established that as women access resources and education, they play an instrumental role in influencing the development of the community and their social welfare (Guillame, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e; Kiani et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In Sub-Saharan Africa however, rural women are usually not included in such opportunities despite these advantages. It has been identified that the empowerment of women is one of the core determinants of broader objectives of social as well as economic development (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Even in the rural environment, education and health facilities can bring dramatic changes in the lives of the women affecting them on both personal levels and in the society (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Although public sentiment of gender equity issues are increasing, there is still a lack of research on the effectiveness of community-based empowerment programs in underserved communities (Fordjour et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). Pre-existing research has concentrated primarily on the cities and ignored rural communities as women in rural settings tend to be more isolated and experience greater structural obstacles during empowerment development (Fordjour et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). This research is aimed at filling this gap by reviewing the results of a community empowerment program in Cacuaco, Luanda, of Angola. In particular, the study will evaluate the outcomes of the workshops on women\u0026acute;s reproductive health and financial literacy. Recording the results of this initiative, the study makes a meaningful contribution to this field of research and offers insights that could inform the effective implementation of similar projects in rural settings. The current study responds to this gap by evaluating an integrated intervention that simultaneously targets two critical but often siloed areas of empowerment: financial literacy and personal hygiene education. The EducateHer initiative, developed by the STEAMpact Foundation, provides culturally adapted, short-format workshops to adolescent and adult women in underserved Angolan communities. By embedding these workshops into a one-day curriculum delivered by field-experts, the program aims to provide women with actionable knowledge and skills that can be implemented immediately and shared socially. The effectiveness of this initiative is reflected in student testimonies: \u0026ldquo;after the health and hygiene workshop, I began paying more attention to my menstrual cycle and started changing my sanitary pad more frequently. I shared everything I learned with friends, classmates, and family. Financially, I\u0026rsquo;m not the same person I was before I no longer spend all my money. Now I manage it better and save\u0026rdquo; (Student).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods and Materials","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eDemographics and Workshops\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis report addresses the issue of knowledge exposure on the development of females or women's particular interests in women's health and financial literacy. The experiment was carried out in Cacuaco, Luanda, Angola where 53 female members received two 2-hour workshops in May 2024: Financial Literacy and Women Health and Hygiene. Workshop evaluations were also to gauge the level of change in knowledge, attitude and practices of the participants by using a series of assessments conducted before, immediately after, and 1 month after the workshops (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e; MicroLoan Foundation, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey lived in the Vidrul community in the Cacuaco area, and the respondents were aged between 10\u0026ndash;45 years. A sample size of 53 women was used in the pre-workshop and post-workshop assessments (the sample users were classified in five age groups including: 10\u0026ndash;15 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;9), 16\u0026ndash;19 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;13), 20\u0026ndash;25 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;13), 26\u0026ndash;35 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;15) and 36\u0026ndash;45 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;3)). Besides their age, the level of the participants ranged professionally with the students (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;29), teachers (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;14), housekeepers (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1), accountants (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4), and other professionals (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;5). One-month follow-up survey was answered by thirty-two participants (participants were divided into five age groups: 10\u0026ndash;15 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;8), 16\u0026ndash;19 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10), 20\u0026ndash;25 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;7), 26\u0026ndash;35 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6), and 36\u0026ndash;45 years (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1)). Along with the age difference, the professional background of the participants was diverse and contained students (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;23) and teachers (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;9) (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). This heterogeneity allowed for meaningful cross-group comparisons and insights into how women in different roles and age groups internalized and acted upon the workshop content.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eParticipant Demographics.\u003c/b\u003e Age groups and corresponding percentage participation are presented, along with participants\u0026acute; professions reported in the pre-survey, post-survey, and one-month follow-up survey.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"5\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDemographic Table \u0026ndash; Combined Survey Results\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCategory\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSubcategory\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePre-Survey\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePost-Survey\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne-Month Follow- up Survey\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAge Group\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10\u0026ndash;15 years\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19.00%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e17.00%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e25.00%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e16\u0026ndash;19 years\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e25.50%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e27.70%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e31.30%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20\u0026ndash;25 years\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e27.70%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e27.70%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e21.90%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26\u0026ndash;35 years\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e23.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e23.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e18.80%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e36\u0026ndash;45 years\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.20%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eProfession\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eStudents\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e54.70%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e54.70%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e71.90%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeachers\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e28.10%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHousekeeper\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.90%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.90%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAccountants\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7.50%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7.50%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eOther Professions\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9.40%\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeople under 25 years old comprise 66% of Angola\u0026rsquo;s population (International Trade Administration, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e), and this study\u0026rsquo;s participants reflect the country\u0026rsquo;s young demographic as 70% of the participants are under 25. It is important to note, however, that 22% of children in Angola are not in the education system due to factors including overcrowding in schools, lack of access to secondary education, and gender disparities (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2009, women held approximately 27.5% of the formal employment in Angola, with 40% of them being in commercial services like accounting and commerce, 26% of them in agriculture, and 36% of them in jobs in education (Van Klaveren et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).The informal employment rate in Angola as of 2021 was 80.4%, whereas the rate in Luanda was 62.2% (UNDP, 2023). Women have a significantly higher rate (89.5%) of informal employment compared to that of men (71.2%) (International Monetary Fund, 2024; UNDP, 2023). In this study, only 6% of the participants identified as working informal professions. Furthermore, the majority of Luanda and Angola\u0026rsquo;s population are employed in the informal sector, which should be taken into consideration when evaluating the demographics of this study.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore the intervention, baseline assessments revealed critical gaps in both financial and health-related knowledge. Only 28% of participants reported having received any form of prior financial education. Similarly, while general hygiene practices such as handwashing were widely recognized, more specific and sensitive topics like menstrual hygiene and reproductive health remained underexplored and underdiscussed in their prior educational experiences. A majority of participants (65%) admitted that they had never received comprehensive guidance or formal instruction on these topics. Supporting this observation, one study examining young women (ages 18\u0026ndash;24) who had given birth in Luanda, Huambo, and Lunda Sul found that although a lack of knowledge in fundamental sexual health and reproductive rights was evident across all provinces, it was significantly more pronounced among women who had not given birth in a healthcare institution (Dos Reis et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). This shows that insufficient education in sexual health and reproductive rights, and more broadly, a lack of health literacy, can lead to harmful consequences for women in particular. This demographic and baseline context sets the stage for understanding the extent and significance of the knowledge shifts documented in the subsequent sections.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe empirical research took the form of a non-randomized, observational study as 53 participants were subjected to the educational workshops, and were evaluated immediately prior and after based on the workshop's content matter. The sample size calculation was not conducted because this study will be using a limited number of participants that is targeting a group of 53 people, where the researcher hopes to receive comprehensive feedback regarding the interventions used (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e; Stoeterau, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe two workshops, Financial Management, and Women's Health and Hygiene, have been carried out on the same day as the part of the educational event called EducateHer. The Financial Management workshop was expected to enhance their knowledge on the elementary financial concepts like budgeting, saving, and domestic finance management, which the World Bank (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) identifies as valuable for economic growth and gender equality. Women's workshop, in its turn, focused on discussing the vital elements of personal hygiene, menstrual health, and general health of women (MicroLoan Foundation, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe structure of the workshops was made in the form of interaction and Q\u0026amp;A. Smaller groups were formed with six women forming a small group and they kept each representation seated in the same table all day. Such a seating pattern enhanced the group work and provided an opportunity to interact with others during the meeting, which further motivated the participants to become more interested and invested in the learning process (Ashraf \u0026amp; Shamsuddin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eData Collection\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this study, the data was gathered in the form of a combination of three measurements, which were: pre-workshop, post-workshop and a follow-up survey of one month post-workshop. All these evaluations were to measure various knowledge and interaction levels of the participants with the contents of the workshop (Stoeterau, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePre-Workshop Assessment\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eA pre-workshop assessment was performed in the beginning of the day before the two workshop sessions to understand the baseline knowledge on the topic of financial management and women's health and hygiene. The ideas were presented in the pre-workshop survey and included a mix of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions, to help assess the current knowledge the participants had over the topics. The tests were aimed at assessing the knowledge of the basic concepts and the attitude of the participants towards these topics (Aterido et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e). Assessments were administered as pen-and-paper questionnaires. Each participant received a printed survey and completed it individually, with an average completion time of approximately 45 minutes. To protect privacy, surveys did not include names or contact details; responses were recorded using study ID codes and analyzed in de-identified form. Trained volunteers were available to clarify wording when asked and were instructed not to prompt or suggest answers, ensuring participants experienced no pressure and selected the options that best reflected their views.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePost-Workshop Assessment\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe post assessment was administered immediately upon completion of the workshops. Just as in the pre-assessment, the post-workshop survey assumed multiple-choice questions and open-ended ones, yet it was specially designed to capture the immediate effect of the workshop deliverables. Besides measuring how much knowledge was retained, the post-assessment was also designed to help in measuring whether there were any changes in the attitude and perceptions of the participants concerning financial management and health practices (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFollow-Up Survey\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003eA post-workshops survey was introduced one month later at the local school, to measure the recollection and use of acquired knowledge during the workshops. The sequel survey was aimed at surveying the participants in regard to the capacity to remember and use the information received at the workshops. The survey involved the combination of closed-ended queries, assessing retention, and open-ended ones, that gave its participants the freedom to explain how they had applied the teachings of the workshop in their day-to-day actions (Stoeterau, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). The follow-up evaluation was even set to investigate possible implementation barriers that were experienced by participants (United Nations Development Programme, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOut of the 53 women that took part in pre-assessment and post assessment, 32 women underwent the follow-up survey. The follow-up survey was carried out the same day on all the participants and it was scheduled to be simple to accomplish, and the questions posed were similar to those used during the pre- and post-assessment. The assumed causes of attrition among the follow-up were mainly personal or logistical and no one was left out of the study on the basis of the demographic characteristics and first time participation (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStudy Limitations\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are a number of limitations to be mentioned despite the promising outcomes. The study findings have limited external validity because only 53 women participated. Furthermore, the non-randomized design prevents establishing conclusive causal relationships between the intervention and observed behavioral changes. Another limitation is that only 32 participants completed the follow-up survey, resulting in an attrition rate of nearly 40%. This loss of data from 21 participants may have introduced bias into the findings. Future research would be able to enhance follow-up attendance to reduce the loss. The study was also based on data that was self-reported, and this is susceptible to the influence of social desirability bias. There is a possibility that the respondents would have been eager to describe the beneficial effects, especially at school. Based on the positive findings of this study, future initiatives may seek to recruit bigger and more exhaustive samples, and take into consideration randomized controlled trials to develop more solid causal relationships involving the intervention and results. Additionally, a longer follow up study should be conducted to evaluate whether the behavior switch that has been observed remains in the long-term scale. The increase in the effectiveness of the program and provision of supportive networks among the participants can also be attained by examining elementary peer-to-peer mentoring. The programs could also be expanded in the future to cover the fields of mental health and entrepreneurship because these are the topics that many women have shown interest in during the post-workshop surveys. This would assist in developing more comprehensive programs of empowerment of women that touches on many aspects of women's lives. To boost 1-month follow-up completion, we suggest pre-scheduling the check-in at baseline, collecting multiple contact methods (incl. WhatsApp), and recording preferred times/modes with consent to re-contact. The follow-up should be shortened to ~\u0026thinsp;10\u0026ndash;15 minutes and offered via mixed modalities (WhatsApp text/voice, phone, or brief in-person), with oral administration available to eliminate possible literacy barriers.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eGraphPad Prism was used to analyze and plot data. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data, which means the interview answers were coded and provided the patterns and themes regarding the implementation of learned skills, the complications faced during it, and the assumption that the workshops had left. Coding and theme identification was done using Excel (Saunders et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; McLeod, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) by a native Portuguese speaker, and themes were translated into English to plot the data. The analysis in this case played a special role in unveiling the existing discrepancies between the age categories and professional experiences in terms of the knowledge acquisition process, and the existence of difficulties experienced by the participants during the application of the acquired knowledge (Braun \u0026amp; Clarke, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Campbell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Consequently, the research has acquired 53 participants initially, whereas 32 participants contributed to the 1-month follow-up questionnaire. The rate of attrition was assumed to be majorly due to personal/logistical factors such as a family, or work constraints, as shown in a similar study (McLeod, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Frequency data was plotted using stacked bar graphs.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eImpacts of Female Hygiene Workshop\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe workshops made considerable positive changes in the hygiene practices of the participants as indicated in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e. The majority of self-reports showed rather serious or middle-scale shifts in the hygiene routine after the seminar (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003ea). Most of them changed the behaviors, meaning that the workshop was effective in affecting the behavior. The number of participants having increased confidence to discuss hygiene got improved with 80 percent of participants showing major or moderate ease (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003eb). Such results imply that schools can improve individual hygiene behaviors and the willingness to discuss a range of health-related topics, as well as promoting a system of sharing knowledge to take place throughout the community (Saunders et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Of all the participatory factors, 70 percent of the participants used at least one hygiene practice taught during the workshop in the one-month follow-up, with half of them widely applying the learned practices (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003ec). \u0026ldquo;The seminars helped me overcome the taboo around talking about menstruation. I also learned the proper way to wash intimately something I had been doing incorrectly without knowing. There\u0026rsquo;s been a big improvement in my hygiene since the workshop\u0026rdquo;(Teacher). More so, they taught other people the acquired knowledge (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003ed), which proves the sweeping impact of the intervention. These observations stress the importance of education workshops to achieve sustainable behavioral change and community knowledge distribution in society (Campbell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eImpacts of Financial Literacy Workshop\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe participants of the financial literacy workshops improved their financial knowledge by a great level. Figure\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e illustrates the growth of financial awareness (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ea), where 80% of respondents managed to improve their knowledge on budgeting, saving, and investing significantly (Campbell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Most of the participants shared a promise of taking significant actions to implement these strategies at the daily level as well (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003eb). Upon the follow-up survey, 60% of the respondents claimed to have already made significant improvements in mitigating their finances in a more productive manner (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ec). Discussing particular measures one was going to undertake, nothing specific was observed, nonetheless, budgeting and the savings (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ed) were most frequently mentioned. It was especially effective in providing the participants with essential skills in the way of financial planning, in order to build a solid foundation toward financial wellbeing in the future (Saunders et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Furthermore, not all students were interested in the most basic strategy, yet some of them were open to more complex ones, like investment and entrepreneurship (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003ed), which opens up the opportunity of enabling financial literacy learning to address various levels of readiness (McLeod, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFinancial Follow-Up\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe one-month follow-up survey provided a critical lens into the longer-term impact of the financial education intervention. Of the original 53 participants, 32 completed the follow-up, allowing for a comparison between immediate post-workshop intentions and actual behavioral implementation. The findings revealed that 69% of respondents had begun to apply the financial strategies introduced during the workshop (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ea). Of these, 34% had made significant lifestyle changes, while 35% reported more moderate adoption. Although slightly lower than the 80% who initially expressed intent to act, this figure remains notable given the well-documented intention-behavior gap, which describes the common discrepancy between setting intentions and enacting behavior (Koole et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Studies on this phenomenon show intention predicts only 30\u0026ndash;40% when it comes to changes in health behavior (Faries, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Knowledge retention also appeared to be strong, with 81% of respondents maintaining a clear understanding of key saving principles (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003eb). Moreover, 72% reported perceivable improvements in their overall financial management ability, with 34% characterizing these improvements as substantial (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ec). These outcomes suggest that the workshop was not only effective in imparting knowledge but also in instilling a sense of confidence and capability in managing finances. A deeper analysis revealed differences in implementation patterns by occupational status. Teachers, who generally had greater control over household income and financial decisions, demonstrated a higher rate of strategy adoption (78%) compared to students (65%). Qualitative interviews shed further light on these challenges, with students often citing familial obligations and limited allowances as barriers to applying saving or budgeting strategies (Campbell et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; McLeod, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Nevertheless, the enthusiasm for financial empowerment remained high, with many participants expressing interest in receiving further training. At the one-month follow-up, many participants reported an ongoing interest in expanding their knowledge of financial strategies, reflecting a desire to further strengthen their skills and understanding in this area. Notably, the majority indicated that they already felt confident in the level of financial education gained through the program, suggesting that the training provided both a strong foundational knowledge and practical tools they could apply in their daily lives. This combination of confidence and continued curiosity highlights the program\u0026rsquo;s success in fostering both immediate competence and a sustained motivation to engage with financial learning (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003ed). \u0026ldquo;The workshop brought significant changes in both my personal hygiene and financial habits. \u0026ldquo;Before, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t save I\u0026rsquo;d spend all my money, even small amounts, without thinking. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know I needed to make a list and consider my goals. Now, I\u0026rsquo;m able to use my money, even when it\u0026rsquo;s not much, toward meaningful objectives. I\u0026rsquo;ve learned to distinguish between priorities and wants\u0026rdquo; (Student).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eRate the Seminar\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen asked to evaluate their experience, 94% rated the workshop as either \u0026ldquo;Good\u0026rdquo; (45%) or \u0026ldquo;Excellent\u0026rdquo; (49%) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ea). This overwhelmingly positive response highlights the seminar\u0026rsquo;s effectiveness in delivering valuable and engaging content for the participants. The vast majority (92%) expressed a strong desire for additional sessions, and participants articulated a wide range of future topic interests (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003eb) indicating that participants want further education on issues like mental health (24%), entrepreneurship (22%), reproductive health (20%), and advanced financial education (18%). These responses not only reflect the program\u0026rsquo;s credibility among participants but also provide a roadmap for future curriculum development. When asked for feedback on future programming during their one-month follow up, participants expressed interest in additional topics such as sexual and reproductive health, other medical topics, and entrepreneurship (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ec). These interests indicate a desire for a well-rounded curriculum that balances practical life skills and broader health and social awareness. These findings suggest that future programs might benefit from a holistic approach, integrating financial literacy, health education, societal awareness, and personal well-being to meet the diverse needs of participants. The interest in such subjects signals designing a program adaptable to differing economic status and personal well-being.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCommunity Impact \u0026amp; Interest\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe influence of the seminar extended far beyond its individual participants. Most women aptly reported visible changes to their respective communities as they shared their acquired information (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003ea). This exchange of knowledge fostered a sense of community empowerment that helped in the improvement of not only health practices but also financial knowledge. The interest in participating in future seminars (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003eb), as well as the popularity of the peer-to-peer mentorship (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003ec), means that the program did not only empower its individuals but built a supportive environment within the community. For example, one participant reported, \u0026ldquo;I shared the financial knowledge I gained with my cousin, who, like me, didn\u0026rsquo;t understand how to manage or save money. The information really helped us both\u0026rdquo; (Teacher). Both the satisfaction of learning new information and the empowerment to share the knowledge with others in their community shows a positive feedback loop, continuously bringing more members of the community into the cycle of empowerment. During the one-month follow-up, participants reported they became mentors themselves to other people by sharing the information (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003ec), indicating that the ripple effect of the seminar was expanding beyond the direct participants and more people in the community were being empowered Another participant reported, \u0026ldquo;after the workshop, I started to view money differently not just as something to spend without purpose, but as a tool to use intentionally and for specific goals that benefit me. For example, I now save all the money I receive to use in case I need school resources or materials\u0026rdquo; (Student).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe results of the current study prove that community-based educational programs can bring considerable changes to either health outcomes or financial ones in rural communities. The successes of the seminar in facilitating hygiene practices and confidence of talking about hygiene issues denotes how good this seminar was in encouraging personal health. The effectiveness noted in the follow-up implies that once they are equipped with the necessary tools and confidence to change and enhance their hygienic routines, the participants do not only adopt these routines by themselves but also share the learned information with their families and communities. The positive change in financial literacy and financial behaviors corresponds to prior research findings that financial literacy has the potential to support the people in making educated financial decisions, especially in low-income communities. The finding of a high scale of the intent to apply the knowledge and the reported adoption of some basic monetary techniques as budgeting and saving imply that the intervention was effective in the motivation of the behavioral change. The study provides support to an existing conceptual framework on women empowerment and the success of community-based intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa countryside. The program helped to overcome the key obstacles to empowerment by educating women about their physical health, personal financial management and leadership techniques to make them feel more confident in their ability to transfer the skills they have acquired in the programs to the real world application. The results can imply that these types of educational interventions could be scaled up and transferred to other rural areas having similar obstacles. Furthermore, the fact that the community has noticed positive change and fellow participants are willing to share knowledge with others, supports the notion that empowerment can be applied to cover an entire community to make it better. \u0026ldquo;After the workshops, I noticed a major improvement in both my hygiene and financial habits. I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to set clear financial goals and I\u0026rsquo;m working steadily to achieve them.\u0026rdquo; (Teacher).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis paper has considered the effects of community-based power intervention that can be used to replicate positive attitudes and behaviors towards improving the health, financial literacy, and leadership capabilities of the women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that there have been large improvements in the three areas and participants are more knowledgeable and there is a positive change in behaviors. In hygiene, more than 70 percent of participants stated that they experienced a big change in their daily lifestyles, and most of them were more comfortable with speaking about hygiene matters. \u0026ldquo;Thanks to the EducateHer workshop, I understood the importance of scheduling a gynecology appointment, so I booked my first ever consultation\u0026rdquo; (Teacher). These advances persisted until a month following the seminar, showing the relevance of health education on enhancing well-being, as has also been shown in a study by Guillame (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). Concerning financial empowerment, there was a significant rise in the knowledge on finance related to budgeting, saving, and investing that the participants had gained. 80 percent of participants indicated that they were planning to put the acquired financial knowledge of budgeting, saving, and investing into practice, and 60 percent had indeed done so by the time of follow-up survey. This corresponds to the earlier findings of research on the effectiveness of financial literacy programs among rural women (Kiani et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e. The component of leadership growth was also successful as a lot of women demonstrated their greater confidence in becoming leaders and mentoring others to be more empowered in the community. This shows how leadership programs contribute to the empowerment of communities in villages, which is also shown in the study by Moyo \u0026amp; Dhliwayo (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe results of the study support the fact that interventions must fit the needs of rural women of Sub-Saharan Africa specifically. Combined health education, financial literacy and leadership empowering programs are the comprehensive approach to empowerment. They respond to the immediate needs and prepare participants to become successful in the long term perspective (UNESCO, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). The participants became less afraid and more independent, and the result was numerous change agents in their families and communities who enhanced collective well-being, particularly in the hygiene and financial spheres\u0026ndash; a finding similar to that of other studies in this field (World Bank, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). This implies that community initiatives are useful when it comes to solving the struggles of women living in smaller communities since the community programs are beneficial to sustainable growth on the ground (Fordjour et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe findings of this study highlight the impact of short, community-based interventions on improving financial and hygiene knowledge and effecting subsequent financial and health behavior changes among women of Angola. Much of existing research on women\u0026rsquo;s health knowledge in rural sub-Saharan Africa has focused on antenatal and maternal care (Shibre et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Consistent with this research, previous studies have examined workshops and other methods of education in improving maternal, newborn, and child health care behaviors. As opposed to this study\u0026rsquo;s use of an educational workshop intervention, previous studies have reported the use of a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook developed and implemented by the Government of Angola from 2011 to 2022 (Kuramata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Evaluations of the MCH handbook showed higher utilization and retention compared to earlier alternatives such as the prenatal handbook and child health card. Of note, Angola DHS data indicate that just 35% of children aged 24\u0026ndash;35 months had child health cards, with lower ownership rates among rural households and mothers of lower socioeconomic status (​​Instituto Nacional de Estat\u0026iacute;stica, 2017). According to Kuramata et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), a program was implemented to provide group and individual mothers\u0026rsquo; classes at health facilities and community outreach programs to promote the use of the MCH handbook as well as increase maternal and child healthcare utilization among women. Challenges with implementation included discrepancy in basic knowledge of healthcare providers in urban areas and rural areas and inconsistencies with training quality. These issues were addressed via pre-test and post-test evaluations for participants and implementation of a standardized e-learning platform, respectively (Kuramata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Collectively, these studies demonstrate the importance of accessible and structured education tools for improving health outcomes, which is similarly important in community-based hygiene education for women.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOther research focuses on educational interventions to promote sexual health awareness among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. An experimental study in Huambo, Angola demonstrated that an educational program intervention on human biology and sex education significantly improved students\u0026rsquo; knowledge compared to a control group, measured through a questionnaire pre- and post-intervention (Almeida et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Though this study does not directly address women\u0026rsquo;s hygiene or financial education, it highlights the effectiveness of targeted educational interventions in improving adolescents\u0026rsquo; knowledge on critical topics, reinforcing the importance of structured education programs in shaping health-related behaviors from an earlier age, particularly for young women.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCurrent research on financial knowledge and literacy among women in Angola highlights the role of education in fostering empowerment. Much of this work focuses on financial literacy initiatives and broader financial education programs developed across Africa (Messy \u0026amp; Monticone, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Many of the programs\u0026rsquo; target populations include vulnerable populations such as women, low-income individuals, children/youth, and individuals living in rural areas. While most of these programs found improvements in financial literacy and increased financial awareness, researchers emphasized that limited research is available in the field and further research must be conducted to examine the programs on a larger scale and with other target groups (Messy \u0026amp; Monticone, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Studies have shown that financial literacy is critical in positively influencing financial behavior, while financial inclusion does not have an effect on financial behavior (Canguende-Valentim et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). It has been well established that financial literacy and financial self-efficacy positively affect feelings of empowerment, and financial knowledge positively impacts the judgement of financial decisions in women of sub-Saharan Africa (Mindra \u0026amp; Moya, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). These findings show the powerful impact of financial education, and furthermore, how both financial and hygiene educational interventions can improve women\u0026rsquo;s overall well-being.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe results from this study supports the proposal that establishing empowerment programs for Sub-Saharan African women substantially increases literacy in women's health and finance, and encourages women to partake in leadership roles. There were considerable rises in hygiene practices, financial knowledge, and leader confidence of the participants. More than 70 percent of the participants claimed that their hygiene behaviors have been maintained, and eight out of every 10 participants had a desire to use the financial plans they have acquired during the workshops. The program was also boosted since many women transferred their knowledge to families and communities. The positive results stemming from the leadership aspect demonstrated that women felt more confident in mentorship and becoming leaders of their communities. This shows the transformative quality of education because it does not only enable a person to live a better life but to transform the lives of those living in their community as well. The effectiveness of this project indicates that community-based initiatives relating to education can be replicated and adapted to other rural regions with certain analogous complications. Through women\u0026acute;s hygiene and financial literacy workshops, this program could contribute to ending the poverty cycle and increase the well-being of communities. This success in rural Angola suggests this kind of program can be transferred to Sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the world where women are burdened by socio-economic and cultural factors to empowerment. The community-based comprehensive approach can be a sustainable approach of promoting gender equality as well as enhancing the quality of living life by and with women and their communities. Although the outcomes of this research demonstrate the success of the program, it is necessary to continue investment in this kind of program. Transformation of society needs the empowerment of women in the rural places. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations should keep up such initiatives so that women in underserved areas have access to tools, knowledge, and resources they require to achieve success. To sustain the momentum, scaling of such programs to reach more women and maintain long-term sustainability will be critical to success. This may include provision of post follow up, peer-peer networking, and local leaders in program design being an integral part. These initiatives can only bring a long-lasting change through current support and be used to meet global goals of sustainable development.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCompeting Interest Statement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no known competing financial or personal interests.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthical Approval and Consent to Participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e This study was approved by the Cornell University Institutional Review Board (IRB) under protocol number IRB0148464. Community consent was obtained through consultations with local stakeholders. Written informed consent was obtained from all adult participants, and written assent alongside parental or guardian consent was obtained for participants under the age of 18. All data were stored securely on password-protected devices, and participants\u0026rsquo; identities were anonymized by assigning unique codes to ensure confidentiality.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWriting \u0026ndash; original draft: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS. Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing: CPD, NT, AK, JCK. Methodology: CPD, NT, DAQM, TNEP. Data curation: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS, JCK. Formal analysis: CPD, NT, ILGMGDS, JCK. Visualization: CPD, NT, AK, JCK. Project administration: CPD, NT. Investigation: CPD, NT, AK. Conceptualization: CPD, NT. Validation: CPD. Supervision: CPD. Funding acquisition: CPD.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe thank all the girls and women for generously giving their time and motivation for participating. We are grateful to the Complexo Escolar N\u0026ordm; 4057 S\u0026atilde;o Francisco de Assis and Centro de Acolhimento Lar Nazar\u0026eacute; Generosa\u0026acute;s collaboration in assisting in the recruitment of participants. Additionally, we would like to thank our volunteers who without their help we would not be able to run this project: Ana Tona, Carlos C\u0026eacute;sar, Esmeralda Silva, Henriqueta Lopes, Jussenia Dombaxi Rebelo, Kwame Nogueira, and Sueli Carlos. This project was partly funded by the National Geographic Society Grant Level I (#EC-106637E-24) and our generous private donors of STEAMpact Foundation.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll data is available upon request to the corresponding author via email.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlmeida N, Teixeira A, Garcia J, Martins N, Ramalho C (2019) Effects of an educational intervention on Angolan adolescents\u0026rsquo; knowledge of human reproduction: a quasi-experimental study. 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AIAS Working Pap. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Country_Report_No2-Angola_EN.pdf\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Country_Report_No2-Angola_EN.pdf\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorld Bank (2024) Angola: gender data portal. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/economies/angola\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://genderdata.worldbank.org/en/economies/angola\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorld Bank (2024) Advancing Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Angola: Second Chance Education Program. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/03/29/advancing-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment-in-afe-angola-through-second-chance-education\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/03/29/advancing-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment-in-afe-angola-through-second-chance-education\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorld Bank (2024) Transforming the lives of women and girls in Eastern and Southern Africa. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://projects.worldbank.org/en/results/2024/01/04/transforming-the-lives-of-women-and-girls-in-afe-eastern-and-southern-africa\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://projects.worldbank.org/en/results/2024/01/04/transforming-the-lives-of-women-and-girls-in-afe-eastern-and-southern-africa\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorld Bank (2024) Women, Business and the Law 2024. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://wbl.worldbank.org/en/reports\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/reports\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7603839/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7603839/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eEducational programs are key drivers of gender equity in resource-limited contexts. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the EducateHer initiative by the STEAMpact Foundation, which integrated targeted financial literacy and women's reproductive health workshops into an educational curriculum for women in Cacuaco, Luanda, Angola. Using qualitative methods, we surveyed 53 female participants aged 10\u0026ndash;45 at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up. Post-workshop results showed a 76% increase in financial knowledge and a 78% uptake in improved hygiene practices. One-month follow-up assessments confirmed sustained behavior change and a community-wide knowledge multiplier effect reaching over 360 individuals. These results suggest concise, community-driven educational interventions can have lasting individual and social impacts on empowerment, health, and economic decision-making. The study offers a scalable model for development programs operating in similar low-resource environments.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Evaluating the Impact of a Community-Based Empowerment Initiative on Women’s Development in Angola","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-26 10:47:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7603839/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f4a4e8b4-5d05-472b-9437-952d6bafa8ba","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 26th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":55053514,"name":"Social science/Education"},{"id":55053515,"name":"Health sciences/Health care"},{"id":55053516,"name":"Humanities/Health humanities"},{"id":55053517,"name":"Social science/Social policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-03T07:27:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-26 10:47:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7603839","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7603839","identity":"rs-7603839","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}