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Session Submission Summary

World Education’s DREAMS Innovation Challenge Program: promoting girls’ education through prevention and response interventions in eSwatini, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania

Thu, April 18, 3:15 to 4:45pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Bay (Level 1), Bayview A

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Across East and Southern Africa, one-fourth of girls aged 15-19 have given birth by the age
of 18. Girls who become pregnant or become teen mothers are often unable to continue their
education and are ostracized by their families, schools, and communities. Social norms and
stigma around teen pregnancy, as well as highly restrictive formal education policies, prevent
girls who are pregnant or are young mothers from remaining in or returning to school, increasing their risk of HIV

Discriminatory behavior toward girls and the resultant “unfriendly” school experience sets the
stage for their dropping out of school. Further, the differential treatment of young female students l stemming from biased views about their potential, deters their retention in school. Internalizing these attitudes, and often lacking successful role models who can support them, many girls feel that primary education is “enough” and do not aspire to complete secondary school. Moreover, sexual harassment and violence in schools creates an untenable atmosphere for girls, increasing their likelihood of dropping out. For example, 30% of Tanzanian females aged 13-24 were victims of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) with almost one in four
reporting an incident that occurred on school grounds.

The Bantwana Initiative of World Education, Inc. (WEI/Bantwana) Determined, Resilient,
Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) Innovation Challenge (IC) program aimed to prevent HIV among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). Funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and managed by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., it addressed the link between teen pregnancy/motherhood and school drop-out as a key factor limiting education completion for adolescent girls in eSwatini, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It focused on the highly vulnerable and underserved sub-population of pregnant and parenting AGYW who had recently dropped out of school, and school-going adolescent girls with the greatest risk of becoming pregnant and dropping out.

Using a social ecological framework, WEI/B implemented a holistic package of individual,
school, and community-based interventions designed to both prevent school dropout and respond to girls who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy and had limited options ahead. These evidence-based and proven interventions were aligned with national policies regarding school drop-out and reintegration for pregnant/parenting girls, adapted to local contexts, and leveraged existing programming and relationships.


Prevention interventions included:

1. Trainings for teachers and school administrators that equipped them with skills around psychosocial support, preventing GBV, and creating a school environment that was supportive and sensitive to girls who were at-risk of dropping out.
2. An Early Warning System (EWS) in secondary schools that identified girls who were most vulnerable to dropping out so that they could be targeted with appropriate support for retention.
3. Protect our Youth (POY) clubs delivered evidence-based, country-specific and
culturally appropriate curricula that empowered girls to protect themselves from abuse, while fostering positive masculine behavior among boys.
4. Scholarship/educational subsidies helped keep at-risk girls in school, encouraged high academic achievement, and delayed early marriage.
5. Female volunteer community mentors (university students or young professionals) were paired with the adolescent girls to helping them navigate the many challenges that led them to dropping out of school and discuss transitioning to adulthood.
6. Community dialogues targeted traditional leaders, cultural gatekeepers, and spouses to change cultural norms pertaining to child marriage, pregnancy and girls’ education. These community members helped create an enabling environment and act as powerful agents of change supporting pregnant girls and young mothers to stay in school.

To respond to the needs of the adolescent girls who have already dropped out, WEI/B offered Part-time Continuing Education classes (PTCE) or Community Out of School Study Groups (OSSG). These interventions addressed the multiple needs of pregnant adolescents and teen mothers forced out of the formal education system and provided them with an alternative education pathway to obtain the Grade 7 Primary School Certificate Examination (PSCE), Junior or O Level Certificates. Community Case Workers and mentors linked them with services that included referrals for PMTCT, HIV Care and Treatment, Early Childhood Stimulation (ECS) classes, family planning, and GBV services.

Presentations on each of the three countries will highlight different aspects of their models that were essential to the success of the program. The eSwatini presentation will describe WEI/Bantwana’s layered approach to providing 300 out-of-school teen moms with non-formal education supplemented with mentorship support, ECS skills, and social and protective asset building. The Zimbabwe presentation will go into depth of how WEI/Bantwana developed an innovative EWS that included a school taskforce who were trained to use a simple early warning tool to track patterns of behaviors linked to drop out, incorporating the “ABC” risk indicators (absenteeism, behavior, and course failure), and then supported the AGYW with targeted support for retention in school. On the prevention side, the Tanzania presentation will detail the importance of protective assets to help at-risk adolescent girls address gender-based discrimination and violence and stay in school.

Sub Unit

Chair

Individual Presentations