Qualitative research among adolescent girls in practice: An example from the USAID Mali Girls' Leadership and Empowerment through Education Project

• In Event: Access, Gender and the impact of Covid-19 on Education in Africa

Proposal

Qualitative research is a crucial tool that implementers have for understanding the context in which they work. It can help generate knowledge that is grounded in specific times and places, opening the possibility of new insights and improved ways of doing, yet it remains under-utilized. Research is particularly underutilized in situations on insecurity and conflict, where situations can develop rapidly and create an unpredictable environment.
Adolescent girls in Mali confront a host of barriers to educational access. Although enrollment rates for boys and girls have risen over the last 20-30 years, a gender gap has persisted nationally, with girls enrolled at a lower rate (63.4 percent gross enrollment rate in lower primary school) than that of boys (74.8 percent). After the coup d’état in 2012, normal systems and processes were fractured, leaving approximately 1 million primary age Malian children were out of school. Over the last 10 years, the conflict in Mali has further unraveled the fabric of government institutions and services, including two additional coups, numerous teacher strikes, and the closure of 1,113 of schools across the country. This has particularly affected the northern region of Mopti, where the ongoing conflict has further prevented girls from enrolling and staying in school.
Under the USAID Mali Girls Leadership and Empowerment through Education program, Winrock International partnered with EdIntersect and School to School International on a deep dive into the experiences of adolescent girls in and out of school, their families, educators, and other community members that provided rich insights into what is and is not working in the project as well as ideas for adaptations that have the potential to increase impact. Utilizing innovative qualitative research methods provided tangible tools for the project to navigate the “political and economic currents” to increase girls access to education and improve girls’ safety and positive health behaviors in addition to educational outcomes.
Most research focuses on the view of expert stakeholders, including government officials and teachers in the education field. In Mali, deeply traditional gender norms combine with multiple factors, such as the uncertain security environment, to marginalize girls and women and exclude them not just from education but from education-focused programming. EdIntersect and School to School International used triad interviews with adolescent girls, in an effort to encourage often shy young women to share their experiences and perspectives. This creative approach yielded mixed results, and future work should continue to innovate in this area. One finding to emerge from this, however, was on the underutilization of reporting boxes for school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). Winrock plans to build on this finding and the triad interview approach to conduct a case study of efforts to prevent SRGBV in both formal schools and project-associated accelerated learning centers over the remainder of the project.

Mali can be a challenging environment in which to conduct research. The comparatively low cost of qualitative research facilitated an approach that looked deeply into how and why project activities were or were not having the anticipated results in the specific context of the Kayes and Mopti regions of Mali, with their differing implementation challenges. The purposive sampling strategy allowed for longer time spent with respondents, which in turn resulted in more in-depth, nuanced, and specific details of what respondents are experiencing currently in Kayes and Mopti. The generated insights and recommendations will guide the project in its future implementation, resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness. The original project design did not directly ask adolescent girls their perspectives on programming, but Mali GLEE is now equipped to put the lived experience of young women both in and out of school at the center of adaptations to its programming. We recommend that more projects harness the power of qualitative data to engage vulnerable populations in creative ways, generate insights about the specific contexts in which they operate, and innovate to improve implementation.

Authors

• Aboubacar Coulibaly, Winrock International

• Mary Faith Mount-Cors, EdIntersect, LLC

• Drew Schmenner, School-to-School International