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 - Background Membership-based NGO created in 1992 to advocate for GE & gender equity in African education by promoting access, retention and performance of girls in school. FAWE has 32 chapters across Africa and strives to undertake comprehensive 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 girlsCommunities 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.

(cont’d) Lessons Learned (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) T hank you for your attention

FAWE Best Practices per school/country Close collaboration with MoE (ownership and mainstreaming) – Signing of MOU 1013 Improvement of physical environment of schools 5+400Community sensitization (Mother‘s clubs) Promotion of girls‘ participation in SMT 1 (Uganda)+30Sexual maturation coaching 7+200HIV prevention Some COEs (Kenya) Guidance & counseling services (incl. peer counseling) Some COEs (Kenya) Boarding and eating facilities (rescue centers for vulnerable girls) Bursaries 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 COE Academic 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