World Bank Symposium 2007

Education: A Critical Path to Gender Equality and Empowerment

Forum for African Women Educationalists

FAWE

Codou Diaw

October 2-3, 2007 Washington, DC

Girls‘ Education in Africa - Overview

Education sector in SSA experiences formidable challenges despite progress made since Jomtien 1990 and Dakar 2000

Upward trend in average PS enrollment rates (78% in 1990 98% in 2004/5)

But gender gap persits in access, retention & achievement at all levels

EFA and MDG target of gender parity in primary level access by 2005 missed

Only 1 girl for every 2 boys makes it to SS & 1 girl for every 3 boys completes SE (accounts for 45% of girls)

Even smaller number of girls (40%) attain higher education

Gender bias in pedagogy, learning materials, school management

Socio-cultural attitudes and practices against GE die hard in many countries

(Figures from UNESCO DAKAR +7 EFA Report)

FAWE - BackgroundMembership-based NGO created in 1992 to advocate for GE & genderequity in African education by promoting access, retention and performance ofgirls in school. FAWE has 32 chapters across Africa and strives to undertakecomprehensive and holistic actions. FAWE acts at 4 levels:

Raise awareness about importance of educating girls

Influence integration of gender in education policy formulation

Demonstrate how to achieve girls‘ access, retention & achievement through in-country and school interventions

Convince African MoE to replicate and mainstream FAWE‘s best practices and successful models

EVOLUTION of FAWE Matured into 32 National Chapters network across Africa and

is still growing.

From GE advocacy at policy level to influencing policy/plans.

From focus on UPE access to classroom processes and community advocacy for basic education.

From focus on girls only to a gender approach.

From scattered single interventions to a holistic model of transforming a normal school into a gender-responsive school model.

FAWE‘S CURRENT STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING GE

FAWE is convinced that several dimensions of GE need to be addressed simultaneaously in order to make a lasting impact.

A holistic model integrating multiple supply- and demand-side factors Gender-Responsive School (GRP) has been demonstrated in 13/10

A gender approach is necessary to address both girls‘ and boys‘ education COE model results in improvement of the whole school

COE model is applied mostly at secondary but also primary level in single and mixed-sex schools

Several of these best practices are progessively being adopted by MoE and mainstreamed into national education systems (i.e Kenya, Tanzania, Ehtiopia, Senegal)

FAWE Center of Excellence (Gender-Responsive Pedagogy and School

Management Training)Gender-sensitive learning materials

Harassment free zoneAddressing HIV/Aids

Empowerment of GirlsProviding boarding facilities

Scholarship for needy girls Communities Supporting GE

Providing water & sanitation

Promoting SMT for girls

FAWE Gender-Responsive School

Lessons Learned Advocacy at policy level is not enough - must be combined with

advocacy targeting practitioners and stakeholders in the community.

Advocacy must be accompanied with capacity to influence policy formulation and implementation as well as reform processes.

Access is not a panacea. Quality in teaching and learning processes as well as materials must accompany

Improving educational quality for both girls and boys requires gender-responsive approaches that go beyond the school to reach communities and other practitioners.

Gender equity and equality in education are not punctual elements but rather permanently cut across all levels of education policy-making and practice.

Lessons Learned (cont’d)(cont’d)

• Specific interventions must be incorporated where needed, particularly in conflict and post-conflict situations, HIV-AIDS stricken communities, or communities with practices that are harmful to girls i.e. retention and performance greatly improved in Kenya CoE with rescue centers for girls and counseling desk).

• Single interventions may provide immediate solutions but integrated, holistic and adapted solutions such as the COE model may reap higher returns in the medium to long-term.

• Training and capacity-building are key elements of mainstreaming and scaling up efforts FAWE NCs must be strengthened for better program delivery

• For scaling-up and mainstreaming efforts to be viable and lasting, Ministries of Education must be implicated in all initiatives from the conception stage. The signing of MOU with MOE (14 NCs so far) has facilitated the institutionalization of FAWE-MOE relationships.

Way Forward Conduct larger scale evaluation of COE model to validate

earlier successful results

Continue focus on Secondary school with special attention to vocational/professional training and SMT training for girls.

Focus on conflict or post conflict situations with set up of new chapters (Somalia, South Soudan, DRC and Angola)

Scale up COE and/or other individual FAWE models

Continue convincing more governments/MoE to mainstream models

Build long-term, sustainable partnerships with MoE and financial partners to ensure that programs are funded and implemented properly

Way Forward (cont‘d)

• Facilitate experience sharing between MOE staff of countries that are mainstreaming FAWE best practices and those that are considering or have not mainstreamed them yet.

• Establish FAWE Regional Training Center for Gender-Responsiveness in Education to enable scaling up activities and ensure quality of training and capacity building in mainstreaming efforts at national and local levels (including FAWE National Chapters)

Thank you for your attention

FAWE Best Practices per school/country

14--Close collaboration with MoE (ownership and mainstreaming) – Signing of MOU

1013Improvement of physical environment of schools

5+400Community sensitization (Mother‘s clubs)

14+40Promotion of girls‘ participation in SMT

1 (Uganda)+30Sexual maturation coaching

7+200HIV prevention

Some COEs (Kenya)Some COEs (Kenya)Guidance & counseling services (incl. peer counseling)

Some COEs (Kenya)Some COEs (Kenya)Boarding and eating facilities (rescue centers for vulnerable girls)

17+200Bursaries to needy girls

12300TUSEME – Girls‘ empowerment à leadership & life skills training

1244AGRP – Gender-responsive pedagogy (TT + manuals +learner-focused methods)

No. OF COUNTRIESNo. OF SCHOOLSMODEL

Impact of COEAcademic Performance

Improved national exam score for girls (66% in 2000 75% in 2002)

Kenya - Kadjado girls‘ school

6 Girls among top 10 students nationally from COE in 2003

Rwanda - FAWE girls‘ school

Higher passing grades for more girls (47% in 2001 69% in 2003)

Senegal - CEM Gd Diourbel

Better national ranking of COE students in form 2 at national exam (169 in 2002 72 in 2003)

Tanzania – Mgugu Secondary school for girls

Empowerment of Girls

Reduction in teenage pregnancy (less than 1% in all 4 COEs)

More girls in school committees & leadership roles

More participation of girls in classroom processes

Higher retention rates for girls

Low drop out rates

Boys in mixed schools with higher gender awareness makes gender relationships much easier within schools and surrounded communities