Positive Gender Socialization in Education for Peace Building in Uganda

  • R Research Project/Report/Study

? Activity Status: Unknown

Key Information

Post-conflict regions are often characterized by a weakness in resilience, social cohesion, and human security, which may be reinforced by gender inequality. Uganda’s Karamoja region lacks an organized approach to positive models of masculinity and femininity in schools and open discussion about masculine and feminine roles. The continued absence of these elements of positive gender socialization can serve to perpetuate inequality, inevitably confining women to traditional gender roles. Women constitute the largest proportion of out-of-school youth in Uganda, and their limited educational opportunities render them unable to contribute to this aspect of the peace-building process, which in turn may further delay progress in peace-building. In an effort to reduce gender inequality, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES)  implemented a program to encourage gender equality and positive gender socialization in primary schools. The program includes several trainings in gender, identity, and peace-building to build teachers’ capacity as agents of change to foster a change in gender social norms in schools. In addition, a subset of trained teachers receives reinforcing text messages through a mobile Short Message Service (SMS) platform. This program is being implemented in five districts within Karamoja region.


Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Uganda

Government Affiliation

Government-affiliated program

Years

2015 -

Partner(s)

Not applicable or unknown

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

Unknown

Geographic Scope

Sub-national

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Other skills

  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education
  • Social and emotional learning

Quality

  • School quality
  • Teacher training

Cross-cutting areas

  • Empowerment
  • Mentorship
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Girls (both in school and out of school), Youth

Age

Not applicable or unknown

School Enrolment Status

Some in school

School Level

  • Lower primary
  • Upper primary
  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary

Other populations reached

Not applicable or unknown

Participants include

  • N/A

Program Approaches Back to Top

Curriculum/learning

  • Gender-sensitive curricula

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power

Other

  • Check-in calls or SMS messages by teachers
  • Coordinated Action

Teaching

  • In-service teacher training – gender-responsive pedagogy
  • Pre-service teacher training – gender-responsive pedagogy

Women's empowerment programs

  • Empowerment training

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Curricula, teaching and learning materials are free of gender-bias and stereotypes
  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Teachers and learners have the knowledge and skills to promote gender equality

Cross-cutting goals

  • Improved understanding of sexual harassment, coercion, and consent
  • Increased agency and empowerment
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms