Amplifying Girls’ Voices: Evidence and methodologies demonstrating girls’ impact solving climate challenges

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The right to a quality education is the cornerstone of sustainable development, critical to children’s safety and the provision of knowledge and skills needed to promote a more just world. However, education around the world, and the hope that it brings, is facing a generation-defining emergency: climate change, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 20 million secondary school aged girls may never return to school post-pandemic (Malala Fund, 2020. Girls’ education and COVID-19: What past shocks can teach us about mitigating the impact of pandemics) and estimates suggest that climate-related events will prevent at least four million girls in low-and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education in 2021 alone (Malala Fund, 2020. A greener, fairer future: Why leaders need to invest in climate and girls’ education).

The pandemic has highlighted gross inequalities and the fragility of societies and our planet. Past experiences with the Ebola crisis have shown that prolonged absences from school can be dangerous for girls as they face a heightened risk of gender-based violence, menstruation management challenges, early and forced marriage, and early or unintended pregnancy. Girls may be overburdened by unpaid care work and could miss out on future pathways to decent work. Coupled with the rise of authoritarian governments and extremism, hard fought human rights, particularly those of girls, are at serious risk of being rolled back. Our world of continuing disruption requires a new approach in delivering sustainable quality education for all, one that harnesses innovation and technology and prioritizes effective climate change education and action.
Girls’ education can be a key driver for climate justice and has been underestimated as a force for change, despite recent research showing that every additional year of schooling for girls leads to significant improvements in a country’s resilience to climate-related disasters (Kwauk, C. and Braga, A. (2017) Three ways to link girls’ education actors to climate change. Brooke Shearer Series, number 6. Washington DC: Brookings Institution). Further, there is a substantial body of evidence showing that investments in girls’ and women’s education yield a multiplicative benefit for future generations and the broader community, which is vital to sustainable solutions to climate challenges.

Centering girls’ knowledge, skills, and views affords new perspectives on global roadblocks, which have persisted despite decades of traditional, incremental, top-down technical and policy efforts. This panel session will present theoretical and empirical evidence that girls’ education is crucial and impactful in realizing climate justice. Presentation 1 summarizes survey evidence of youth perspectives on climate change and one youth’s effort to galvanize her peers around the issue; presentation 2 discusses a novel methodological approach to curriculum codesign with girls; and presentation 3 shows results from a specific curriculum teaching girls to design a water access solution for their own schools.

This panel session will engage the audience after presenting these three complementary perspectives. After sharing community, research, and practice perspectives, feedback from the audience as informed researchers and practitioners will be solicited through an interactive Q&A session to inform future efforts. This panel will also be unique as it includes youth voices and comprises presenters from all of these sectors. Presentation 1 will be conducted by a member of Plan International USA’s Youth Advisory Board; presentation 2 will be conducted by Plan Zimbabwe leadership; and presentation 3 will be presented by researchers from the DeBoer Lab at Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education and feature girls presenting their engineering technical solutions themselves.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chairs

• Sarah J Havekost, Plan International USA

• Jennifer DeBoer, Purdue University

Individual Presentations

• Youth Reimagining Climate Education and Action - Luna Abadia, Plan International USA

• GirlEngage: Improving educational opportunities in Zimbabwe through girl-led program design - Pamela Chinembiri, Plan International Zimbabwe

• Girls engineering climate change solutions for their local communities - Dhinesh Radhakrishnan, Purdue University