In Solidarity With Girls: Gender and Education in Crisis

  • A Advocacy Campaign/Project

I Inactive

Key Information

COVID-19 and the impacts of school closures are making visible many of the gendered power structures and systemic barriers to education across the globe. Drawing on the ‘build back better’ principle, this brief contributes to policy dialogues and discussions on how we can plan for and work towards more equal, gender-responsive school systems once restrictions are lifted. This policy brief builds on the content of an intergenerational dialogue that is representative of the wider youth network that each advocate represents. The dialogue focused on the gendered impacts of school closures and youth-led, innovative responses that are being undertaken in different contexts. It also explored some policy measures and actions aimed at governments, policymakers, and other key stakeholders to promote girls’ return to school.

Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Global

Activity URL

https://www.eccnetwork.net/resources/solidarity-girls-gender-and-education-crisis

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2020 - 2020

Partner(s)

Commonwealth Youth for Gender Equality Network (CYGEN)

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

New for COVID-19

Geographic Scope

Global / regional

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Primary enrollment
  • Secondary Enrollment

Other skills

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

Quality

  • Curricula/lesson plans
  • School-related gender-based violence
  • School violence

Skills

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • STEM

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Community sensitization
  • COVID-19 Response
  • Digital literacy
  • Early/child marriage
  • Emergencies and protracted crises
  • Empowerment
  • Female genital mutilation/cutting
  • Gender equality
  • Menstrual hygiene management
  • Nutrition
  • Other aspects of sexual and reproductive health
  • Sexual harassment & coercion
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)
  • WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Community leaders, Girls (both in school and out of school), Parent-teacher associations/school management committees, School administrators, Youth

Age

5 - 18

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

Not applicable or unknown

Program Approaches Back to Top

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community mobilization
  • General awareness-raising/community engagement

Curriculum/learning

  • Gender-sensitive curricula

Educational Technology

  • Digital devices for the purposes of studying, learning
  • Digital learning materials/programs
  • Digital reading materials (non-textbook)
  • Digital skills/literacy (including coding)

Food/nutrition

  • School feeding

Health and childcare services

  • Adolescent-friendly health services
  • Providing childcare for young mothers
  • Referrals to health services
  • Sexual and reproductive health services (including family planning)

Increased availability of learning materials

  • Textbooks (digital)

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power
  • Sexual and reproductive health (including puberty education)
  • Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills building

Menstrual hygiene management

  • Educating girls about menstruation
  • Raising awareness about menstruation (beyond just girls)

Other

  • Informational interventions (e.g. returns to education)
  • Other activities to address/end violence (not captured above)
  • Other activities to end child marriage (not captured above)
  • Other activities to end FGM (not captured above)

Reducing economic barriers

  • Addressing cost of school supplies
  • Conditional cash transfers (including non-cash goods) to individuals/households
  • Reducing/eliminating school fees

School-related gender-based violence

  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Support in and around schools (e.g. peer counseling, adult-to-student counseling)
  • Violence prevention curriculum/activities for students

Social/gender norms change

  • Media campaigns
  • Work with community leaders

Tutoring/strengthening academic skills

  • Literacy - in the classroom
  • Literacy - outside the classroom
  • Numeracy - in the classroom
  • Numeracy - outside the classroom
  • STEM - in the classroom
  • STEM - outside the classroom

Women's empowerment programs

  • Advocacy/action

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Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved academic skills (literacy and numeracy)
  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased literacy
  • Increased numeracy
  • Increased school enrolment (general)
  • Increased years of schooling
  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Reduced grade repetition

Cross-cutting goals

  • Improved maternal, newborn, and/or child health (MNCH)
  • Improved mental health
  • Improved nutrition
  • Improved sexual and reproductive health
  • Improved understanding of sexual harassment, coercion, and consent
  • Increased knowledge of rights
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Reduced child marriage
  • Reduced poverty/increase household well-being
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)