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Girls Ed Forum Presentation 2.13.13 FINAL
- 2. 92% of girls are enrolled in primary school Less than 30% -1 in 5 girls - are enrolled in secondary school
- 3. Challenges Facing Adolescent Girls: School costs Early marriage Pregnancy Sexual abuse Caring for sick relatives and children
- 4. Our Approach
- 5. Focus Areas
- 6. The Batonga Girls’ Education Program Education, academic support Mentoring support from respected community women Engaged religious or traditional leaders to support girls’ education
- 7. 91% of girls progressed to the third year 75% of girls progressed to the fourth year On average, 63% of all girls completed all four years
- 8. Second Chance Education Program Estimated 500,000 out of school children in Zimbabwe Alternative platform for reaching and educating youth Accelerated curriculum for basic education and support services
- 9. Addressing the needs of girls
- 10. Keeping girls and boys engaged in learning
- 11. Child Protection Increasing rates of abuse in high HIV prevalence countries Global, national, local attention = opportunity for change
- 12. Western Uganda Bantwana Program Integrated livelihood, psychosocial support, child protection model High HIV and poverty High rate of school drop out and early marriage
- 13. Child Rights Clubs Build agency of girls Create mechanisms to report abuse in schools and communities Lead Youth Forums
Editor's Notes
- 1 -Benefits to investments in girls’ education are well known: Extra years of schooling = improve outcomes in health; education; increase girls’ income earning potential; reduce of the incidence of HIV; prevents violence; contribute to later marriage & smaller families; increases likelihood that children of educated women will go to school
- (primary school data – World Bank 2011; Secondary school data 2010 World Bank Vast majority of girls will not make it or persist in secondary school Substantial improvements in primary enrollment secondary enrollment and retention lag far behind
- Why? Poverty; early marriage; school costs; unwanted pregnancy; lack of adequate sanitation at school, pulled out to care for HIV+ relatives and siblings Vast majority of girls will not make it or persist in secondary school – we support girls in and out of school with practical lifeskills that they apply to their daily lives over their life span
- Start where communities are – recognizing traditional norms and values - divergent views and tensions between older and younger generation Building agency of girls is key to understand issues they face and advocate for themselves (right to stay in school, avoid early marriage); take active roles in decision-making (resist peer pressure; sexual harassment; early sexual debut) build leadership through active participation in community events; district meetings; even national presentations to Children’s Parliament (Zimbabwe) Engage both girls and boys; women and men: examples Caregivers and parents –need support and buy in of adults who are raising these children Engaging schools: build positive relationships with teachers - facilitators of after school programs (Batonga); teachers as mentors (Batonga); activate support from school committees/AMEs; CRC patrons; school committees/head teachers- BSIP; CD listening groups (Zimbabwe); Engaging communities: community-level work is the most difficult – messy, challenging, but is where change happens and where change sticks (vis a vis traditional leaders, community leaders, community volunteers, schools, clinics, building bridges between government (formal) and community (NGO/informal groups, churches) Influencing and aligning with national policies: Uganda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe= we work closely with national and district policy makers to feed community realities/challenges into national policy discussions – bring policy down to the district level.
- Why these focus areas? Greatest levers of change: build on national and global momentum highlighting areas education and lifeskills – national attention to gaps in secondary ed completion by government and advocates in countries where we work; spotlight by Hilary Clinton; build on vast evidence supporting investments in girls and need for integrated package of support 2) Child protection: 1- recent demonstrating increases in abuse and violence particularly in high HIV prevalence countries; 2- substantial improvements in child protection policies and investments by governments in building more effective systems for caring for highly vulnerable children 3) Community mobilization – speaks to our approach and strategy for durability
- Leveraged Ambassadors’ Girls’ Scholarship Programs supporting primary school girls across 13 W African countries –scholarship package; mentor support – primarily women in communities who were members of mothers’ associations; religious leaders; afterschool academic/lifeskills 3) Deeper community involvement through mentoring support through respected by adults in the communities – mainly women – significant involvement of AMES - WEI developed model to give women space and voice to influence education particularly for girls – adapted and scaled up throughout WEI programs in W Africa 3) Seeded secondary school ed program in N Mali with funds from a private donor (2006) – 300 girls 4) Attracted Angelique Kidjo and Batonga Foundation – supported 230 girls secondary ed program to Benin (2007) –and expanded N Mali program to Kidal (75 girls) 5) Attracted funding for sanitary pads from Proctor and Gamble (2010) 6) Today, supported by USAID
- Outcomes
- Launched with $10,000 from a private donor in on site serving xx kids (2010?) – from 2 – 14 sites with private donor funds and each site costing about $10k and serving 60 – 100 kids. At the end of two years 14 sites reaching 900 kids ( 52% are girls) – attracted attention of the GoZ and other stakeholders (2013) with support from basket funding will scale up to 40,000 children across xx sites in schools and communities Built on Bantwana’s comprehensive program for highly vulnerable children (2007) which was initially focusing on retaining vulnerable kids in school This initiative was a response to what we saw on the ground, in communities – growing #s of out of school kids Built on existing national curriculum – worked with Gov Correspondence School ( MOE was supportive) - Catch up academic skills in life skills. Primary goal to reintegrate into formal school but ensuring vocational and life skill for kids who were not going to make it back into formal school ( older adolescents) Site belongs to communities who provide labor and materials for classrooms or sanitation facilities – facilitators are community volunteers/ retired teachers/new grads –a large majority are women - Classes are at least 50% girls All facilitators and volunteers have to adhere to child protection policies RE’ Research on “Why girls?” – knowing what we know – we make a specific effort to ensure girls remain in the program
- Integral to the progam are strategies to address the specific needs of girls eg – Split classes to address sensitive cultural/gender related issues (Elders – men and women - in the community support girls and boys with academic studies, emotional support and life skills – traditional mentoring effort); Lifeskills (decision making, building self-confidence, hygiene, home economics ( especially for girls without parents who are caregivers themselves); Vocational skills; small business skills – examples Sanitary pads(Be the Change campaign: Zimbabwean women contributed to sanitary packs for girls and lobbied a local company for support); Girls also get emotional support (PSS) as needed (Church youth group volunteers - specifically addressing issues related to girls staying in school (managing housework and school work, pressure for early sex, etc.) – one to one counseling sessions with adolescents) Child protection info ( CD listening program) and referrals. CD listening sessions – address issue of abuse, rape and facilitate discussions on protection strategies and reporting abuse and avoiding situations of risk Flexible times to allow adolescent girls who are heads of households come to school when they can – we have also seen them bring their siblings to class A female facilitator walks the 8 kms to and from the Willow Dale Farm OSSG site to ensure the girls who live far away attend and can walk to OSSG in safety Women faciliators are role models - range for young women just finishing university to older women anchored in their communities who want to give back – some are qualified retired teachers; opp for women to strengthen their own leadership/visibility in the community; enables direct contribution; Sports programs that reflect girls preference for team building - netball/volleyball/ soccer and sports that build their physical and emotional strength
- Susan’s photo from her Powerpoint
- Global and national spotlight on child protection In Africa, government spotlight on child protection grew out of CABA crisis – now expanded to include vulnerability more broadly Recent research: 2009 National surveys – Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, nearly 1-3 young women report being sexually abused/coerced before the age of 18. 15 -24 year old girls more than twice as likely to be HIV + than boys of the same age. In Uganda study, 90% of more than 2000 children across 5 districts reported that they experienced some kind of violence at home, in communities, or in schools (Voices of Children and Adults in Uganda 2005 Raising Voices, SAVE) High level of physical violence as a norm for children. Over 70% of children across surveys report being severely beaten (Together for Girls) Translation to communities – for girls: early marriage, high school drop out; early pregnancy; sexual abuse; other forms of violence
- Needs assessment done in four districts with CBO partners – what are the biggest challenges for these communities – large numbers of orphaned children; elderly guardians caring for up to 11 plus kids; single heads of HHs – typically women; extreme poverty; little knowledge of how to access or link to existing services; early marriage; many girls at home and not at school CBO partners identified these three services as most critical. WUBP works with 9 CBO partners and reaches and 5000 children with integrated package of services (currently have trained 145 PSS volunteers who are working actively in their communities – reached 1193 families this year) Livelihoods – increasing assets and income to support children’s basic needs and open the door to other supports: PSS: This is a picture of a Miriam, a PSS volunteer. Each PSS volunteer works with 5-10 households, whom they visit at least once a month. She addresses a range of issues ( health/hygiene/nutrition/PSS/legal support) and also a focus on issues of child protection and works with families to keep girl children in school. PSS volunteers have had additional training on CR issues so that they can work with families and make referrals where appropriate. Child Protection – anchor is CRCs – in and out of school – 65 total 46 in 15 out Evidence: PSS and child protection case studies - Columbia research -
- Center of Child Protection efforts- CRCs CRCs – 61 Clubs -in and out of school clubs for boys 46 in school;15 out of school); reaching 2301 students (50% or more are girls); reach 15,000 community members Facilitated by teachers (men and women) and children – girls and boys; - build awareness of child rights and responsibilities- including Uganda’s Child Law, other policies that reinforce children’s rights CRCs- conduct a variety of activities, including music, dance, presentation through district-led Youth Forums and drama, debates, storytelling competitions, newsletter writing, and reporting and handling of cases under the guidance of club patrons What do CRCs do for girls? 1- build children’s understanding of their rights and responsibilities – Uganda/international laws that protect them 2-build confidence about how to report abuse in schools and communities 3-give children a platform to voice their feelings and opinions/ and raise awareness in schools and communities – dance and drams; radio call in shows – story competitions – presentation at Youth Forums with community influencers; district parole officers; parents/caregivers- murals, school gardens, and savings clubs 4- Development of the Child Protection Booklet – Evidence: Findings from
- Change logos? Results 65 Clubs- 1300 girls – Youth Forum leadership 199 cases of abuse reported in 2012 alone 46 by CRCs (and patrons) # of girls re-enrolled in schools? #s of cases of early marriage? (biggest issue for secondary school retention is school costs)