Strategic approaches to girls’ education

• In Event: The Washington group questions and leave no girl behind: measuring disability prevalence among out-of-school adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa

Proposal

The Strategic Approaches to Girls’ Education (STAGE) project lowers the barriers that vulnerable and marginalized girls face in achieving an education by providing formal and non-formal education tracks in six regions of Ghana.
STAGE, a consortium led by World Education with experienced downstream local NGO partners, which include Afrikids, Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems, Pronet, Link Community Development, Prolink, Ghana Red Cross, Olinga Foundation, and the International Child Development Programme, will work together to improve LEARNING outcomes in numeracy, literacy, and life skills, and to establish relevant and appropriate partnerships and pathways for the successful TRANSITION of 20,100 girl beneficiaries between 10 and 19 years old. The project leverages the experience of its partners, utilizes lessons from other GEC and LNGB projects, and engage stakeholders at all levels to guide Ghana to the SUSTAINABILITY of outcomes achieved which improve the lives of its highly marginalized girls.
Key activities of STAGE address the outcomes of learning, transition, and long-term sustainability. With each cohort of girls, the intervention begins with a focus on literacy, numeracy, and life skills through accelerated learning programs to get girls on track for transition into either a formal education, a vocational learning opportunity, or some form of employment. Teachers and facilitators will be trained in gender sensitive and socially inclusive strategies, and provided with curricula and supporting materials to meet the diverse needs of the girls. The project will collaborate closely with partners such as the Girls Education Unit and Special Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to develop basic training modules and teaching and learning materials to facilitate the adequate provision of support to marginalized subgroups of girls, such as those with disabilities. The project will simultaneously work to sensitize communities and advocate at a national policy level to challenge contextual barriers affecting girls’ education. In order to do this, STAGE will establish peer education models involving adolescent girls and boys as allies; work with youth and adult male-led community sensitization campaigns to promote positive behaviour change; and engage both the public and private sectors to provide opportunities beyond the learning programs. To complement the learning activities and address the many barriers girls face, STAGE will focus on reducing poverty in hard to reach communities through farming subsidies, and provision of school kits, to help families afford the actual costs of supporting girls education while alleviating the burden of opportunity costs when they are enrolled.
Once the girls are identified, STAGE will conduct an initial needs assessment to understand the specific challenges girls face in accessing education and learning. This will inform the baseline, and results from the baseline will provide further details about the girls and interventions required to respond to their needs. The baseline will capture numeracy and literacy levels of out of school marginalized girls disaggregated by region, age, vulnerability and identified criteria. This presentation will share the findings of the baseline evaluation expected to be available by April 2019, and the proposed adaptations in the project interventions in response to those findings.

Author

• Susan Adu-Areey, World Education Inc.