How does girl-led action impact learning outcomes and transitions in a conflict-affected context?

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

A substantial number of interventions have taken place to boost girls’ access to education over the past two decades. While part of those interventions has invested in developing girls’ skills to engage in collective action to improve education outcomes, adolescent girls continue to be largely regarded as ‘beneficiaries’ of projects, rather than as active leaders in social norm change processes. There is limited data on how education systems are preparing adolescents, particularly girls, to engage in collective action, and the literature is far sparser when it comes to the results of their participation. What has been adolescent girls’ contribution to changes in access, learning, and inclusion? Is the activism of adolescent girls contributing to the development of their individual and collective capabilities? If yes, to what extent and for whom? The responses to those questions will contribute to our knowledge of how positive youth development can strengthen education outcomes. Those responses can also inform education system reform – challenging our views of education as a ‘service’, rather than a collective construction which fosters student action and is reinforced by it.
This panel will share perspectives on girl-led action from a large-scale initiative implemented in Somalia in 2018-2024 and discuss emerging findings from its research study. Girl-led action is a core component of this program, which intends to boost access to education, learning outcomes, and positive transitions for ultra-marginalized adolescent girls in areas severely affected by conflict in South Somalia. The program builds upon lessons learned from a previous study conducted in 2013-2017, which identified girl activism as a critical component in shifting community perspectives on attendance, retention, and the prioritization of resources for girls’ education. The program is also piloting how interventions to foster girls’ activism – including leadership skills development, peer mentorship, and participatory accountability processes - can be implemented through existing resources within education systems.
This program is conducting a large-scale longitudinal study to better understand the impact of adolescent girls’ activism on education outcomes. Using a mixed-method approach, the study is tracking cohorts of participants to explore changes at school and individual levels, and how those are contributing to household level shifts in social norms towards girls’ education. The first session of the panel will discuss how girls’ activism is contributing to the improvement of individual learning outcomes and positive transitions among participants from socially marginalized groups. The second session will reflect on the contribution of girls’ activism to boosting attendance, retention, and inclusion in their learning environments. In the third session, we will discuss girls’ perspectives on their roles as activists for stronger, more inclusive education systems – and how such roles could be strengthened through international education programming. The fourth session will include a dialogue on the role of education systems in fostering adolescent activism, including successes, persistent barriers, and perspectives from schools, Ministries of Education, and adolescents on the process.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizer

• Lotte Marianne Pires Renault, CARE USA

Chair

• Lotte Marianne Pires Renault, CARE USA

Individual Presentations

• How is girls’ activism perceived by the girls themselves? - Joy Khangáti, CARE International USA

• Youth activism and education systems: Interrelations and options - Abdifarhan Farah Gure, CARE Somalia

Discussant

• Fatuma Adan, USAIDSomalia