Transforming cultural mindsets to increase demand for education through community movements in Northern Nigeria

• In Event: Community and Social (Re)Integration after Conflict and War through Education

Proposal

Nigeria accounts for 15 percent of the world’s out of school (OOS) children (UIS, 2022). Despite officially free and compulsory primary education, 10.2 million children of primary school age and 8.1 million of junior secondary school age are OOS (UBEC, 2018). Of these, two-thirds (66 percent) are in the North-east and North-west, 86 percent are from rural areas, and 65 percent are from the poorest socio-economic quintile (NBS & UNICEF, 2021). Despite recent efforts to ensure that all children are in school and learning, progress in reducing the number of OOSC is not keeping pace with the growing child and youth population of Nigeria. Social norms, gender values and low social perceptions of the value of education contribute to the large number of OOS children by reducing the rate of demand for education and negatively affecting supply provisions decisions.

Low retention and completion rates are driven by both demand- and supply-side factors. On the demand side, perceived low benefits of education, especially for girls, and perceived low rate of return from formal education (i.e., return to investment) are contributing factors. On the supply side, factors include a lack of schools within walking distance; weak infrastructure; and a lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, especially a lack of girl-friendly facilities. Currently, 49 percent of primary schools and 41 percent of junior secondary schools do not meet the minimum standards for learning conditions – lacking basic amenities, facilities, and resources such as water, electricity, toilets, furniture, and textbooks (UBEC, 2019).
In response to these challenges, UNICEF, together with FCDO, the Federal Government of Nigeria and six state governments, implemented the Girls Education Project Phase Three (GEP3) from 2012 through 2022, through which an additional 1.5 million girls were brought into school in northern Nigeria (UNICEF, 2022). GEP3 targeted three results: 1) increased enrolment and retention of girls in basic education; 2) improved capacity of teachers to deliver effective quality teaching for girls; and 3) improved governance to strengthen girls’ education. Strategic interventions included enrolment drives, cash transfers; peer support; capacity development for teachers, headteachers and school-based management committees; foundational literacy and numeracy interventions; strengthened education data collection; increased representation and participation of women and girls in education decision-making and advocacy; and sustainability planning.

An independent impact evaluation of GEP3 was conducted to determine if, how, where, why and for whom the programme’s interventions worked, to inform the sustainability and future of the GEP3 programme and provide guidance for national policymakers and decision-makers as they plan for the state-level scale-up. The evaluation used a mixed methods, quasi-experimental longitudinal panel design that tracked a cohort of targeted schools over the life of the programme. The design was developed to simulate a before-and-after approach and with-and-without comparison. The evaluation included: (i) a household survey to measure the effectiveness and impact of cash transfers to girls' caregivers; (ii) a school survey consisting of learning outcome assessments of pupils; (iii) interviews of headteachers; (iv) classroom observations and headcounts; and (v) a desk review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with a variety of stakeholders. A value for money (VfM) analysis and quantitative analysis of secondary data from national household surveys complemented the evaluation. Programme effectiveness and impact on learning outcomes and socioeconomic indicators were measured by assessing and comparing the achievements of three groups. The first (i.e., “treatment”) group received 10 GEP3 interventions (without cash transfers). In the second group, girls' families received the same interventions in addition to unconditional cash transfers. The third group was the comparison group, which did not receive any interventions and served as the control group.

The evaluation found that girls’ gross enrolment and gender parity both increased across target states, with the latter growing from 0.73 at baseline to 0.97 by the end of the programme. The cash transfers, namely when combined with foundational learning interventions, contributed significantly (p<0.01) to increasing the proportion of families with girls who completed nine years of schooling. Basic English literacy increased from 10 percent at baseline to 40 percent at end-line.

Moreover, a remarkable achievement was the transformational shift in these communities' mindsets regarding girls' education, resulting from intense and consistent community sensitization and high-level advocacy activities. Through community-led organizing, local stakeholders demanded improved access to education and transformed social norms in support of schooling, especially for girls. School based management committees, mothers’ associations, adolescent peer mentoring groups, high-level women advocates, youth education advocates and committees of traditional and religious leaders became strongly influential figures leading mild protests which revolted against cultural practices and beliefs to overcome the lack of demand for quality education. Implementing advocacy and awareness programming with men (e.g. male religious and community leaders and through SBMCs and 'He for She') occurred alongside support for women's resources, voice and decision-making opportunities. Evidence suggests progress towards female empowerment, especially in giving female students and mentors a voice. The management of resources, evidenced by the mother’s/caregiver’s use of unconditional cash transfer to support girls' education in Niger and Sokoto, and women’s participation in decision-making also supported efforts towards empowerment.

The presentation will share the strategies deployed by UNICEF Nigeria to build indigenous movement and masses, community organizers, women and youth activists to dismantle and reshape the cultures of education and its institutions in northern Nigeria. Insights will be shared on how movements of different community groups were mobilized to bring about transformational shifts in community social norms on education to achieve evidenced reductions in early marriage (from 54.7 to 25.7 per cent) and childbearing rates (from 6.9 to 2.4 per cent) together with improvements in the youth literacy (from 22.6 to 29.6 per cent). The presentation will conclude by reflecting on how effective, community-led strategies can be employed to bridge remaining gaps, scale these effective models in Nigeria and beyond and tackle the unfinished agenda of the transition, retention, and completion of secondary education, especially for girls.

Author

• Sarah Hope Fuller, UNICEF