Towards Reforms in Vocational Training Options for Out of School Girls: Reflections from the STAGE Project.

• In Event: Enhancing Development Projects across Cultures

Proposal

Background: In developing Countries, areas with high levels of extreme poverty and deeply ingrained traditional and social norms regarding gender roles, such as early marriage, pregnancy, and heavy chores burden women, and girls' ability to advance in education and obtain equitable and sustainable employment are usually impeded. The Strategic Approaches to Girls' Education (STAGE) project focused on the economic and social development of girls in Ghana from 2018 to 2023. A rapid assessment of cohort 2 was carried out to improve project implementation methods for non-Formal cohort 3. This study provided practical evidence on project aspects that worked well, as well as challenges and opportunities for improvement to increase learning outcomes and reduce extensive economic and social norms that harm girls' education and skills development.
Methods: The Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team used an evidence-based mixed method in the rapid assessment to monitor data from February to September 2021 on its cloud-based dashboard and conducted field data from October to November 2021. Data was carefully selected from a specific list of project communities and stakeholders. Therefore, the team supervised trained enumerators to collect the needed data. The team adopted this approach to produce high-quality evidence to refine implementations of its cohort 3 interventions. Quantitative and qualitative tools and methods were used to collect primary data. These included surveys, focus groups discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs) that were used for primary data collection from chosen STAGE girls, facilitators/master craft persons, caregivers, CoC members, supervisors, community and opinion leaders, and relevant staff of local assemblies in particular communities across the 7 Downstream Partners (DSPs). Data from the rapid assessment was collected with the goal of understanding the outcomes of the non-formal track cohort 2 implementation from the perspective of stakeholders. With an initial goal of 350 girls and 350 caregivers, as well as 68 facilitators and master crafts persons, a total of 358 girls, 44 facilitators, 43 master craft persons, and 358 caregivers were reached, resulting in a 96% response rate. In addition, secondary data was gathered from published and non-published documents which included district progress reports and others which were subsequently analyzed and presented.

Findings: The average attendance to Accelerated Learning Programs (ALPs) and Vocational Skills Training (VST) sessions was high, considering the many barriers and competing priorities STAGE girls face in their day-to-day lives. A reflection of extraordinary commitment on their part, as well as on the part of the facilitators, who the girls reported were reliably present at the ALPs. The majority of classes met the target of an 80% overall attendance rate. Most of the girls responded that the learning environment was conducive, well ventilated, well lighted, accessible from the community, a safe place, and had enough furniture. Significantly, however, close to a quarter of girls indicated that the learning centers which were mainly formal school buildings were not disability friendly, with the main concern being non-inclusive physical infrastructure. Caregivers reported that the ALP/VST sessions had greatly aided their daughters' learning. In terms of caregivers' observation, a significant majority of caregivers believe that their children's confidence and attitude have improved, as well as that they have acquired the necessary skills for the future. It was agreed that community animation sessions had been extremely beneficial in changing community perceptions of girls' education, skills development, and empowerment. More than nine out of ten caregivers reported seeing posters and hearing messages about child protection in their communities, and that they had learned new things about child protection and safeguarding. It was emphasized that a stronger collaboration between all district and community stakeholders, and appropriate sensitization, tend to promote ownership and sustainability of girls' education interventions.
Conclusion: The existence of family, community, and district stakeholder support for girls' education, tends to improve their literacy, numeracy, and life skills. Development programs and projects should periodically conduct action-oriented assessment to identify context-specific challenges, changing risk and opportunities to foster strong partnership in addressing girls' education challenges.

Authors

• Richard Boateng, University of Education, Winneba

• Michael Yaw Acheampong, National schools Inspectorate Authority