Improving Girls Access to Education through Girl Led Participatory Research

• In Event: New research methods for improving education around the world

Proposal

Theme: Improving Education for a More Equitable World

Sub-Theme I: Social Justice and Inclusion

Title: Improving Girls Access to Education through Girl Led Participatory Research

Authors: Artmore Muguse, Plan International, Zimbabwe

Background
According to Zimbabwe’s National Statistics Agency, in 2019 only 54% of learners in lower secondary completed their basic education, and in 2021, only 21% finished upper secondary school . This problem is greater among rural girls due to early marriage, pregnancy, long distances to school and negative gender norms, that has been further exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic. These difficulties also negatively affect the 160 girls participating in the Graduation Project being implemented in Mwenezi District at two local high schools by Plan International. The project goal is to help girls stay in school, transit to the next grade level and ultimately complete basic secondary education.

The project is piloting a gender transformative approach called “GirlEngage”, which contends that the best way to achieve transformative change is to inclusively engage girls as project partners and co-designers to create sustainable solutions that reflect their priorities, needs and aspirations. The project ensures that girls are involved in all processes including project design, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and research. The purpose is to increase their agency and life skills such as self-confidence, positive identity and critical thinking skills so that they are more able to achieve their educational aspirations. Already, the GirlEngage approach has made a significant impact on girls’ secondary education completion. About 69% of the girls who were due to graduate completed their basic secondary education, a significant improvement from the 54% recorded at national level.

Despite this support, however, 41 out of 160, or 26% of cohort girls dropped out of school since the project began in March 2020. Alarmed by the statistics, the girls proposed to follow up with the girls who dropped out with the view to bring them back to school. To do so, the project is supporting the cohort girls in leading a participatory study to find out why they dropped out and ways the project could attempt to bring them back to school, or other alternative solutions. By leading the study the girl researchers will not only discover important information to help reduce the drop out rate among girls but also build their sense of agency and self-efficacy.

Methods and Procedures
Twelve girl researchers have been selected from the two high schools; six from each school. They are currently being trained on how to conduct in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) as well as note-taking and research ethics. Fieldwork will take place between August 11 and 24 August. During interviews, the girls will work in pairs, one as facilitator and the other as note-taker. For comparison, the girls will also interview six boys who also dropped out. The girl researchers will assist the project team in facilitating four FGDs with girls at the two high schools on the contextual factors influencing decisions by girls and their parents about dropping out of school. Also, the project research team will interview 10 parents of girls who dropped out of school to also get their perspectives about school dropouts amongst girls. Data analysis will take place during a workshop in which the girl researchers discuss key findings, identify central themes and recommend ways to integrate study results into practical activities that reflect girls’ and parents’ perspectives rather than only those of the project team. The girls will then help to write the final report. Currently the study is in process and will be completed in September, 2022. Findings will be shared at the conference.

Author

• Artmore Muguse, Plan International Zimbabwe