1. Introduction
Unequal opportunities and constricting sociocultural norms are inimical to gender equity and development. Curbs and controls at household and community level often disallow women to pursuit their goals for a healthy and dignified living [Boosting investments in social sector (mainly health and education) and physical infrastructure such as roads, information technology, water and sanitation etc. are important for increasing female participation in economic activities [In view of such intricacies, various national and international organizations are piloting alternative strategies to promote gender equity and empowerment across socio-economically diverse and resource-poor settings [Notable is the case of the Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) curriculum designed by Gap Inc. in 2007 –a widely referred PYD model across settings [The PACE curriculum, however, offers considerable scope for adaptations to meet the wide range of skill development requirements for youth and adolescents in developing countries [The intervention was piloted during 2019–21. As part of the initiative, adolescent girls were mobilized in small groups and were trained on various life skills in domains related to women empowerment, employability skills, and adolescent health and nutrition. The pilot focused on strengthening self-reliance of vulnerable adolescent girls so as to enable them to enter the workforce with strong life skills. Against this background, this paper specifically evaluates the impact of the TARA initiative on improving indicators related to self-efficacy and empowerment of adolescent girls for realizing their goals and aspirations. The analyses are based on data from a two-arm cluster randomized controlled design. Before proceeding with the analysis, a brief note on the TARA initiative is in order.