Supporting sustainable inclusion in Ethiopia

• In Event: Adaptive management: girls’ education challenge transition baseline findings and their impact on project interventions in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia

Proposal

Link’s Supporting Transition of Adolescent Girls through Enhancing Systems (STAGES) project in Ethiopia’s Wolaita Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (2017 – 2024) draws on a successful GEC-1 project (2013-2017) which showed excellent results in literacy and numeracy (see above), a 12% increase in attendance and 30% increase in retention. Teachers were using more girl-friendly methods, support within the community improved and girls’ self-esteem made significant gains. Tutorial Clubs, Mothers’ Groups, Girls’ Clubs, social and emotional learning, improved gender responsive teaching methods and increased social accountability were all shown to be effective interventions.

STAGES will build on the success of GEC-1 and carefully consider the needs of the older adolescent cohort across the almost 44,000 girls. The project is working with the Regional, Zonal and Woreda (district) experts to help improve attendance, quality in teaching, school management and governance, positive community support for girls’ education, well-being and self-esteem for better learning, transition, and sustainability outcomes among marginalised, adolescent girls. It is designed to support three primary goals across seven years: to improve learning outcomes for all students, to support successful transition into higher grades, and to achieve sustainability of interventions. To achieve these goals, the STAGES project is intricately woven into the existing structures of the Wolaita Zone education system.

Baseline findings have shown a significant number of beneficiaries who have a disability. Using the Washington Group Questions has revealed a disability prevalence of 22% against a national average of 17% (WHO, 2011). Numeracy scores, particularly in subtraction, were low with, on average, 65% of girls demonstrating limited subtraction skills. The baseline showed that being over-age for their grade and a high level of corporal punishment also appeared to negatively impact literacy scores.

Link is now adapting interventions to take into consideration the findings, for example strengthening opportunities to raise awareness of children with disabilities and exploring ways to deepen learning on school related gender based violence. All interventions will be planned, delivered, monitored and evaluated alongside local government which will build sustainability at every stage.

Author

• Samantha Ross, Link Community Development International