1.
Writing Workshop, Sep 4-5, 2019
SCTP AND EDUCATION AMONGYOUTH IN MULANJE AND
SALIMA, MALAWI

2.
1. How does the SCTP cash impact school attendance?
2. What factors beyond the SCTP affect school attendance?
3. How do experiences at school affect attendance?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

3.
HOW DOESTHE SCTP CASH IMPACT
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE?

4.
 Direct impact: SCTP cash used to pay school fees
 Most youth and CGs indicated SCTP funds were not enough and
supplemented funds with work and investment
 Youth were able to spend more time in school and less time on
ganyu to pay fees
“They [caregivers] buy goats and after they multiply, they sell the
small ones and use the money for school needs, like uniforms,
books and fees” – in-school female, Salima
SCTP CASH: SCHOOL FEES

5.
CLOTHES AND UNIFORMS
 Proper clothing affected
school attendance and
retention
 Required for school
 Affected girls more than boys
Improper
clothing
Punishment or
teasing
Discouraged,
low self-
esteem
School absence
School dropout
“We are different from boys, who are
ok to go to school with torn clothes
as compared to girls”
–in-school female, Mulanje

6.
SHOES
 Required for school
 Facilitated comfort
 Described as an investment
“You use [shoes] wisely.
After classes when you are
back home, you remove
[them] and keep [them] so
that it should last long.” -
in-school male , Mulanje

7.
PERSONAL HYGIENE PRODUCTS
 Soap and lotion encouraged
school attendance
 Improved sense of confidence
 Clean clothes = less punishment,
less teasing
“We encourage [our
caregivers] to get us soap for
our clothes so that we can go
to school”.
“Having no soap for clothes, I
miss[ed] school”

8.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND EXAM FEES
 SCTP Cash reduced financial
burden on caregivers and
households, helped pay for:
 Pencils
 Notebooks
 Books
 Book bags
 Exam fees
“I thank Mtukula Pakhomo as
it pushed me through, when
the children have no books, I
buy” – Caregiver, Mulanje

9.
FOOD
 Food alleviated hunger in
class, improving
concentration
 Food access encouraged
school attendance,
discouraged absence from
school to work to alleviate
hunger
“You go to school without
taking breakfast and coming
from school, you find no lunch.
You go hungry, you come back
[and] you stay hungry, so you
conclude that, ‘I better quit
school. Maybe I can do some
casual labor and buy food for
myself’.” – in-school male,
Mulanje

10.
WHAT FACTORS BEYONDTHE SCTP AFFECT
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE?

11.
CAREGIVER SUPPORT:YOUTH
PERCEPTIONS
Youth motivated when CGs:
 Invested, involved in education
 Encouraged school attendance
 Kept youth accountable (class work)
 Provided financial and social support
 Reinforced importance of education
Youth discouraged when CGs:
 Uninvolved, unsupportive, or indifferent
to education
 Did not prioritize school
 Told youth to “quit”
 Prioritized youth to work or marry

12.
CAREGIVER SUPPORT:YOUTH
PERCEPTIONS
Perceived CG indifference
“For example, a child says, ‘I will not
go to school today’ and yet he [the
child] is not sick. Then parents
accept [school absence] without
saying anything,…they just accept it
and let him live. This makes the
child to drop out from school”.
– in-school male, Mulanje
Perceived CG encouragement
“My parents encourage me to go to
school by telling me that school is
important in life”
– in-school female, Salima

13.
 CGs often described financial or material support
 School and exam fees, school supplies, clothing
 Sharing SCTP cash with youth
 Provision of food, housing
 Other support described
 Reducing youth work in the morning (house or fieldwork)
 Provide advice, guidance or encouragement
 Force youth to go to school
 Keep youth accountable (talk to headmaster, teachers)
CAREGIVER SUPPORT: CAREGIVER
PERCEPTIONS

14.
PREGNANCY AND MARRIAGE
 Girls pressured to marry young,
especially when families benefit
 Men “target” girls for sex
 Includes male teachers, older men
 Youth lose interest in school
after they have sex
 Pregnancy causes girls to leave
school
 Unique youth perspectives:
 Girls sexually assaulted by own family
 Boys often described sexual assault as
an issue affecting girls
“We have violence against children in
homes we are from. If you have been
violated, you cannot perform better
because you are under attack. You
cannot make it in class. You just think
of what you are passing through. This
is the reason why she [girls] preferred
to [leave school and] get married.”
– Out-of-school male, Salima

15.
 Youth felt pressured to work instead of attending school
 Some CGs prioritized farming, household work
 Heavy morning workload  late to school  punishment  miss school
 Youth as caretakers themselves
 Youth cared for sick, injured or deceased CGs or family members
 Boys: earn money
 Girls: care for others
 Unique caregiver perspective:
 CGs treat orphan youth worse than own biological children
 More work, force orphaned to leave school so biological children can attend
HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES

16.
COMMUNITY ROLE MODELS FORYOUTH
Encouragement
 Motivated by role models
(teachers, doctors, researchers)
 Youth motivated to be role model
for others in their community
 Youth enjoyed recognition for
being educated by community
members
 Enjoyed applying education to
work, help others
Discouragement
 Others dismiss or diminish the
benefits of school
 “You think you will finish school?”
 “Who have you seen that has benefited
from school?
 Demoralized by job prospects
 “There are no jobs for you”
 Mocked for attending school

17.
HOW DO EXPERIENCES AT SCHOOL AFFECT
ATTENDANCE?

18.
BULLYING
Main reasons youth were bullied
 Clothes
 Girls: menstruation (fear of stains)
 Student age
 Older students felt ashamed learning
alongside younger peers, especially
when they struggled reading or writing
 Peers, CGs and teachers perpetuated
age and school-related bullying
The Effects of Bullying
 Short-term: school absence
 Decreased self-esteem
 Shame, embarrassment
 Long-term: leaving school entirely
“When you fail in class, the teacher
says ‘shame on you’ so the learners
are used to this word. If they say it
against you.Then I prefer to quit.”
–Out-of-school male, Salima

19.
Positive Negative
• Peers encouraged each to work hard
• Extracurricular activities: sports
• Learning from friends at school
• Meeting new friends
• Idolizing peers who:
• Have romantic partners
• Drink beer or smoke weed
• Left school to work
• Hearing discouraging messages,
“school is a waste of time”
• “Enticed” by others to leave school
• Skip school to watch movies
PEER INFLUENCE:YOUTH PERSPECTIVES

20.
PEER INFLUENCE:YOUTH PERSPECTIVES
Positive
“We have sports and we also
play different games and meet
different people”.
– In-school female, Mulanje
Negative
“We rush for money… We copy [others]
because he left school. …if we hear that
‘So and so sells water at [the] trading
center’ then we want to be like him. ‘I
should also go and do the same’ [I say].
When realizing [leaving school is a]
disaster, we are already in it. You start
blaming one another, [saying], ‘You are the
one who made me to do this!’ “
– Out-of-school male, Mulanje

21.
 Youth motivated and discouraged by career aspirations, school performance
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE & MOTIVATION
• Career aspirations
• Ability to read and write
• Desire, interest to learn
• Poor grades
• Struggled learning
• Did not see benefits from school
• Felt they “learned enough”
“I was one of the people who had
difficulties to understand, I would
listen to the teacher but it never
stuck in my head…When it came
to English, I would get a zero or
10, so I would feel like I was
bothering myself going to
school”
- Out-of-school female, Mulanje

22.
Did academically well
but bored with school
“I just decided to quit, I just decided to stop attending classes”
Preferred being with
friends
“I was not serious about [school], I was going to meet with my
friends.This is the reason why I dropped out early”
Wanted partner “…we go to school not to get education. ..You want to have a
girl, to win her to be your partner.You follow her to school and
pretend as if you are serious about school.When I fail to have
her, then I just quit.”
Felt excluded “They just support girls only not boys.They exclude boys….
Many projects are for girls. So we boys we think to say ‘‘gov’t
does not consider us as important to the society’”
LACK OF INTEREST IN SCHOOL:YOUTH
PERSPECTIVES

23.
INTEREST IN SCHOOL: CAREGIVER
PERSPECTIVES
 “Youth don’t listen”
 Are violent, rude
 Sexual relationships
 Negative peer pressure
 Drugs, sex, videos
 Videos are a bad influence
 Poor parental encouragement
 Gender-based violence
occurring at home
 Youth discouraged by
poverty, prospects of finding
work

24.
INTEREST IN SCHOOL: CAREGIVER
PERSPECTIVES
“Youth don’t listen”
“...before, the food was an issue, but now schools
have porridge but still they don’t go because they
don’t listen. I differentiate this generation to the
past ones, the past one would listen, but now, no!
for the boys, you will hear he was smoking weed.
For the girls you will hear she was with an older
man, relationships, so what can you do?” - In-
school CG, Mulanje

25.
TEACHERTREATMENT:YOUTH
PERSPECTIVES
 Over-punishment
 Boys felt teacher over punished boys
 Mocked by teachers
 Sexual abuse
“Instead of giving you punishment you
deserve, they give you a punishment
that you will fail to do it. “
‘mbuli iwe’ [unintelligent you are]
‘amagokutailira kwanu’ [they do not
caution you at home]
“Being asked out by teachers for better
grades” or “touching breasts” of girls

26.
 Teacher behavior towards youth
 Harsh teacher punishment
 Physical abuse
 Insults, mockery, harsh feedback
 Sexual abuse, inappropriate behavior
 Many believed education quality was better when they were
students
 Teachers do not teacher properly (reasons why varied)
 Many youth cannot read, write or speak English
TEACHERS: CAREGIVER PERSPECTIVES

27.
TEACHERS: CAREGIVER PERSPECTIVES
Inappropriate teacher behavior
“[Girls] drop out from school
because they go at school without
any motive. They meet with a
teacher and [the teacher] ask[s] love
to them, [girls] deny. [Girls] prefer
to stay at home. Asking them; ‘Why
not going to school?’, they say ‘My
teacher proposed me. So I better
stay away from him’ “ - In-school
CG, Mulanje
Poor education quality
“Teachers are not teaching as they
deserve. I think because they are
not well paid. They just tell their
learners to say ‘teach one another’
and they go out and have a chat
outside the classroom. We have low
quality education.” –Out-of-school
CG, Mulanje

28.
 Low awareness of Mtukula Pakhoma
 DEM is aware of SCTP, but not details regarding educational
objectives
 PEA, HeadTeachers and especially teachers unaware of program
 DEMs and HTs requested more information so schools could
take more ownership of the program
 Program has similar objectives to schools
KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS (~10WITH DEM,
PEA,TEACHERS)

29.
 Beyond finances…
 Cultural factors: students less interested after initiation ceremony
 Parents/families: Don’t encourage or emphasize schooling, allow
children to skip school
 Girls: Cultural and familial factors especially important, plus
menstrual health
REASONS FOR DROP-OUT FROM KEY
INFORMANT INTERVIEWS

30.
 Provide list of Mtukula Pakhomo students to schools for
monitoring
 Attendance monitoring via class registers
 Currently done for other programs (WorldVision, One Community)
 Special ‘Report Card’ produced forAmazing Grace to track performance of
students receiving their support
 Amazing Grace has their own forms, which schools fill out each month
 This system can be used by Mtukula Pakhomo
KEY INFORMANTS’ SUGGESTIONS FOR
COLLABORATION - 1

31.
 Use Mother’s Groups to follow-up on drop-outs
 Know what is happening in the community, better able to reach out and
encourage re-enrollment
 They are especially focused on girls drop-outs
 Greater two-way sensitization
 DEM, PEA and some HTs to attend pay parade, discuss school enrollment
importance with caregivers, listen to concerns
 Mtukula Pakhomo to sensitize teachers and HTs about program eligibility,
operations, and objectives
 Build ownership of schooling objectives among school administrators and
teachers
KEY INFORMANTS’ SUGGESTIONS FOR
COLLABORATION - 2

32.
 SCTP facilitates school access, attendance and retention
 Factors affecting school attendance and retention
 Household dynamics
 Social, gender and community norms
 School experiences
 DEM, PEA andTeachers largely unaware of SCTP
 Recommendations:
1. Develop SCTP youth student list
2. Use mothers group to follow-up on out-of-school youth
3. Increase SCTP sensitization among school staff
KEY POINTS

33.
 What results did you anticipate? What surprised you?
 How do these findings align (or not) with your own observations?
 What needs to be explored further?
 Main themes, messages:
 “SCTP helps families overcome financial barriers, but complex social
context and relationships, including school quality, are also important.”
 “There is not a strong community culture of schooling.”
 “Opportunities for SCTP to work with schools and community groups
exist.”
DISCUSSION

34.
Team:
Clare Barrington
Ashu Handa
Courtney Turner
Humberto Gonzalez Rodriguez
Frank Otchere
Kaku Attah Damoah
Maxton Tsoka
@TransferProjct
transfer.cpc.unc.edu
This work is funded by the German Government through KfW
THANK YOU