Shifting towards the South: Presentation of the Girls’ Education Challenge endline results and changes being introduced to optimise South-North dialogue

• In Event: Opportunities and Barriers for Gender in Education

Proposal

The Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) was launched by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) in 2012 to improve the learning outcomes of over a million marginalized girls across 18 countries in Africa and Asia. To date 37 organisations and consortia have received funding and implemented a diverse range of projects, all aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy, improving attendance and retention, and influencing the educational environment so that many other children benefit in the future. Lead organisations have ranged from local CBO networks to international NGOs to multinational companies.
Projects have worked in both the formal and non-formal sectors and have included a broad range of interventions for girls at primary and secondary levels including teacher training and support, community engagement, development of text books and other resources, educational technology, role models, financial support, entrepreneur schemes, distance learning and work with school management and governance. Target groups of girls generally face a wide and complex set of marginalisation factors stemming from prevailing social norms, adverse personal circumstances and unfavourable environmental conditions. Gender analysis undertaken through the GEC has highlighted the particular barriers faced by girls both inside and outside the classroom. Project contexts have at times presented extreme additional challenges such as the effects of conflict, drought, Ebola and earthquakes which have necessitated flexible and resourceful management by implementing organisations.
In this session we will present a summary of the endline findings of the first phase of the GEC Fund and discuss what has been achieved and learned about girls’ education over the past four years. Girls’ literacy and numeracy skills have been rigorously assessed at baseline, midline and endline and data from the externally conducted evaluations of each project will be drawn on to explore the effects and impact of different interventions in the specific contexts in which they have been applied.
The GEC Fund Manager (an alliance led by PwC) will share lessons learnt during the programme including strategies which can support projects to maximize their results. Comparative and meta- analysis of the results has enabled us to look at emerging themes, for example, links between aspects of teaching quality and girls’ learning, the influence of attitudinal and behavioural change, and the role of technology. We will explore what it takes for a project to engage with government and build local capacity as it delivers better outcomes for girls. We have also learned about the combinations and complementarity of interventions; during the session we will introduce representatives from three different projects and prompt discussion about how change happens at the level of the girl and her family, the school, the community and the broader education system.
At the start of the second phase, the Fund Manager has introduced some key changes in order to deepen learning about successful initiatives, get to the heart of what works in girls’ education, and situate the locus of learning in the South, where the projects take place. This paper will describe how the model has been adapted and enhanced as it enters the second phase.
A key addition has been the introduction of ‘intermediate outcomes’. Each of the 27 projects continuing into phase 2 has been invited to select between three and five ‘critical path’ changes which they have identified as prerequisites in their context in order for girls to both learn and transition to the next stage in their education journey. The selected intermediate outcomes fall into seven categories:
1. Improving the quality of teaching
2. Increased attendance at school
3. Increased self-esteem of girls
4. Better School Governance
5. Changed attitudes in the community about girls’ education
6. Economic Empowerment
7. Acquisition of life skills
Portfolio Management has been shifted from the UK to the regions where projects take place. This key aspect of fund management is now located in situ, facilitating engagement between the projects, education authorities and other stakeholders.
Thematic Learning Clusters have been established to facilitate cross-learning between projects. Initially under two broad headings of Teaching and Learning and Gender Equity and Social Inclusion these fora will foster the sharing of best practice, including tools and resources, methodologies and strategies for accelerating learning outcomes. Local and international experts will be invited to participate and join the discussions, findings from which will be shared locally and internationally.
We hope the session/paper will be an opportunity for others to share in our learning and provide feedback to the GEC on the tools and frameworks we have developed to help us push our thinking further.

Author

• Rachel Hinton, DFID