Bridging macro and micro level responses to gender inequalities in education

• In Event: Micro- and macro-level opportunities for and barriers to girls’ education: practitioner perspectives on achieving sustainable development goals 4 and 5

Proposal

Girls face a myriad of barriers to fully enjoying their rights to education, including child marriage, early pregnancy, menstrual health issues, family responsibilities, and long distances to and violence in school. However, the underlying root causes are the same. For example, the harmful social norms and gender stereotypes that prioritize boys’ education over girls’ education are the same norms that perpetuate the domestication of girls and put them at risk of early pregnancy, child marriage and sexual and physical violence. Therefore, an effective response must directly target the root causes of vulnerability and exclusion. This paper will discuss Plan’s approach to addressing root causes of gender inequality through gender transformative education programming.

Traditional education responses focus on improving education delivery: adequate classrooms, desks, books, WASH; improved curriculum, teacher training and assessment. However, it takes more than these to reach those left behind, especially girls. Traditional responses have failed to address the interlinked barriers to girls’ education. An effective response requires an integrated, tailored programmatic approach that tackles the root causes of inequality and contribute to lasting change not only in education, but also health, protection and economic security. Plan International is embarking on an innovative new project called Plan for Girls that aims to do exactly that. Through a rights-based and gender transformative approach, Plan is supporting adolescent girls in Cameroon and Benin to prioritize a package of interventions that help them realize their rights. Education, as prioritized by the girls, is part of an integrated model of development.

This paper will discuss macro and micro level responses to gender inequalities in education by drawing on Plan’s experience in multiple country contexts. At the policy level, a key barrier is the lack of gender-responsive and girl-friendly policies. Education ministries tend to develop “purely” education policies, which are often gender-blind. Recently, we’ve seen encouraging shifts towards more gender responsive planning, for example through gender responsive education sector planning (GRESP) initiatives, with the first regional workshop for education leaders jointly hosted by Plan International, GPE, UNGEI, and UNICEF in 2017 in Tanzania. Plan’s advocacy and collaboration with governments and development partners has also resulted to the adoption or implementation of gender-responsive policies such as ban on child marriage in Malawi; and flexible learning programs that address needs of young mothers or pregnant girls in Philippines and Ghana, among others.

Plan’s work at the micro-level seeks to address local needs while also piloting and generating evidence for promising practices that can be scaled up to meet policy-level commitments. For example, Plan piloted its innovative Gender Responsive Pedagogy Teacher Training (GRPTT) package in Mozambique and South Sudan, with research conducted on its effectiveness in Mozambique. The research showed positive changes in teaching practice in the classroom. There has been interest in South Sudan to scale up the GRPTT. Moreover, Plan’s work in improving girl’s agency, as well as in engaging traditional leaders, gatekeepers, men and boys so that they champion girls’ education, has made positive changes in improving girls’ education outcomes, delaying marriage, and reducing incidence of early pregnancy and sexual abuse and exploitation.

Author

• Pete Simms, Plan International Canada