Are life skills universally distributed? Can they be taught? Evidence from multi-country baseline analysis and RCT in India

• In Event: Soft skills help girls grow up: practical results demonstrate significant progress

Proposal

Though progress has been made towards greater gender equality in education, many girls in poor or emerging countries are still unable to complete secondary school and develop the life skills or competencies that have been proven to be key for success in school and in life, particularly as they deal with limiting gender stereotypes of womanhood, unequal employment opportunities and endemic gender-based violence.
Girls face gender-specific challenges adolescent girls face when trying to stay in school and receive the quality education that will enable them to become independent, productive citizens, including lack of positive role models, mentoring and lack of knowledge of key foundational learning skills. Based on the research of the World Health Organization [1] and many other international institutions, these are skills that are needed for children to succeed in school and beyond, including communication, empathy, critical thinking, self-confidence, perseverance and relationship building, among others. Very often, these skills are not taught in schools and if they are, they do not take into consideration girls’ specific needs, despite evidence that “cultivating these types of competencies or skills plays an important role in girls and women’s empowerment and leadership” [2].
Is it however possible to teach life skills like resilience, self-esteem, problem-solving, critical thinking, decision making and others to girls and if so, how can their growth in these skills be measured?
The implementing organization has worked 15+ years in nine countries, implementing life skills programs in schools in Asia and Africa and investing in research, monitoring and evaluation tools able to test the core assumption that life skills can indeed be taught and do contribute to better life outcomes for girls.
The presenter will share new results from ground-breaking empirical research on the life skills progression of adolescent girls in Rajasthan, India. The study, the first of its kind, will shed light on how much girls have been able to adapt life skills into their daily lives and compare the girls who have been through life skills through an in-school life skills program and mentoring, with girls who have not been part of the program and were assessed at baseline and after two years, as part of a rigorous randomized control trial. Through the presentation, patterns will be identified of how life skills development can be impacted by learning activities and mentoring.
In addition to the India case study, the presenter will share information from baselines in multiple countries, identifying patterns in the life skills predisposition of girls in Asia and Africa.


[1] World Health Organization (2003) Skills for health: Skills-based health education including life skills: An important component of a child-friendly/health-promoting school. The World Health Organization's Information Series on School Health, Document 9. Geneva. Available at: http://www.who.int/school_youth_health/media/en/sch_skills4health_03.pdf.
[2] King, E. and Winthrop, R. (2015) Today's Challenges for Girls' Education. Washington: Brookings Institution. Available at:

Author

• Lucina Di Meco, Room to Read