Programming for adolescent girls and boys: Shared experiences on an after-school support program in Urban Nairobi.

• In Event: Education for adolescents: Development of the youth

Proposal

The number of international and national commitments to enhance gender equality through inclusive quality education cannot be understated. On the education front, the gender parity in access to education and attainment has improved, with the primary school net enrolment rate in the developing regions improving from 83% in 2000 to 91% in 2015. In Kenya, the primary school net enrollment ratio, primary completing rate, and literacy levels among 15-24-year-olds improved from 67.8%, 57.7%, and 78.5% in 2000 to 88.2%, 80.3%, and 94.4% in 2014 respectively. In addition, gender-transformative approaches have also been found to be effective strategies in ending violence against women and girls, enhancing women’s sexual reproductive health, and maternal and newborn health. Despite these benefits, the majority of education interventions tend to have a strong focus on improving outcomes for girls. This is perhaps why some evidence indicates a reversed gender gap where girls are now outperforming boys at almost all academic levels. On the other side, studies show that education interventions targeting girls only, could be missing out on benefits that may accrue from interventions that are not gender-specific. This study sought to find out whether there was a preference for interventions targeting girls compared to boys in two urban informal settlements, and what benefits were realized from enrolling both adolescent boys and girls in an after-school support program. The program included homework support, mentoring in soft skills, exposure visits, motivational talks, service-learning, parental counseling, and digital literacy. The basis of this study is the Gender Equality Framework that emphasizes equal opportunities for both males and females. The framework is also understood through the social exclusion lens, which is the systematic discrimination of individuals based on characteristics such as sex, race, or residence. This paper thus focuses on the exclusion of boys from education and wellbeing interventions in urban informal settlements.

Qualitative data were derived from two evaluations conducted in 2018 and 2019 with 46 and 32 adolescents respectively, purposively selected by having participated in the A LOT-Change program. In each of the evaluations, four dialogues were held with same-sex adolescent groups, consisting of 6 to 8 participants. Informed consent from parents and assent from the adolescents, was sought before the dialogues. All the interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim in English, and saved in Microsoft Word for coding. Using the thematic analysis approach, relevant themes were identified to answer the study research questions. A coding scheme was generated inductively and deductively and fed into NVivo software to organize the findings into the themes of interest. The deductive codes were based on the research questions guiding the qualitative study while the inductive codes were additional themes that emerged during the coding process. A coding report summarizing the qualitative findings thematically was then generated.

Adolescent boys expressed concern that the majority of the support programs at the community and school levels tended to favor girls yet they were facing similar challenges such as high school dropout rates. The boys also lamented that even child abuse cases were rarely taken seriously, due to the notion that the boys would ‘survive’ the incident or the community would simply not believe that the incident happened. The unfair treatment was also felt at home where boys were usually the first suspects of wrongdoing, even if a girl was responsible. In other cases, parents were said to have skewed priority for girls’ education by paying their school fees first. Although the view that the majority of the interventions in the community tended to favor girls was also shared by adolescent girls, some felt that the differential treatment was justified since they faced more challenges compared to boys such as teenage pregnancy, low academic achievement, and a preference for boys’ education. Female adolescents appreciated that having boys enrolled enhanced diversity and the consequent sharing of knowledge among themselves. Girls were happy that they were able to improve in mathematics as a result of gaining knowledge from the boys who they felt performed better. In exchange, girls shared their literacy skills with the boys. Some girls felt that the sharing of knowledge with boys was easier because girls tended to keep to themselves. Both sexes also reported that being in the same program had enabled them to have a deeper understanding of the physical and cognitive processes that each of them were going through, thus enhancing their relationship. In the long term, girls felt that empowered boys had a better chance of becoming supportive fathers, especially during puberty. Girls also appreciated that empowering one gender would be detrimental to them in the future since they would get married to disempowered boys. There was imminent fear that disempowered boys could become perpetrators of gender-based violence and sexual abuse in retaliation. These sentiments were corroborated by boys who felt that feeling insignificant, idleness, and lacking academic support were push factors for them to engage in crime.

In general, both boys and girls strongly felt that empowering girls only would result in the perpetual cycle of inequality where the boys would now become marginalized. This study underscores the importance of education and wellbeing interventions like the A LOT-Change program that target both girls and boys in contributing to achieving SDGs 4 and 5 by providing equal opportunities to both sexes. This is in line with the CIES 2023 theme. Evidence from this paper also shows that there are more benefits than disadvantages in programming for both girls and boys and thus a need for program and policy stakeholders to consider such approaches to maximize gains in education and wellbeing. Adolescents being the key respondents not only ensured that their experiences and perspectives were captured first-hand, but also that they are at the forefront of actively contributing to the decision-making process regarding gender equality and consequently to social change.

Authors

• Nelson Gichuhi Muhia, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)

• Benta Abuya, African Population And Health Research Center