Improving Girls’ Access through Transforming Education (IGATE)

The IGATE project supported 40,928 girls and was implemented by World Vision UK in Zimbabwe.

There are many barriers to girls’ education in Zimbabwe. Family and community attitudes typically prioritise male education over female education, particularly in the poorest households. Expectations involving household and school chores tend to put greater burden on girls than boys, and early marriage and motherhood often mark the end of a girl’s education. Girls in rural communities often face long distances to school, sanitary facilities are inadequate and schools are under-resourced. Teacher absenteeism and teacher-centric teaching methods can also limit learning opportunities within schools.

The project improved girls’ literacy, numeracy, life skills and self-esteem. It mitigated the barriers that limited girls’ educational access and retention in some of the poorest communities and helped girls to transition from primary to secondary education or onto employment or self-employment. It did this by working alongside communities and establishing non-formal, community-based learning opportunities for out-of-school girls. IGATE worked closely with key stakeholders in communities, schools and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to improve the quality of education in schools, and to address issues around gender-based violence, early forced marriage and the value of girls’ education.

Main activities

• Delivering community-based education focusing on literacy, numeracy, and financial and entrepreneurial skills led by a trained community volunteer.
• Implementing a whole-school approach to improve the quality of education by training teachers and headteachers on participatory teaching methods, inclusive approaches and subject-specific methodologies.
• Establishing school and community-based leadership clubs to enhance girls' leadership and life skills led by trained mentors.
• Strengthening champions for girls' education, including religious groups, through community-based action plans that addressed negative social norms and practices regarding girls' education.
• Delivering remedial English and numeracy classes at secondary level for girls who were falling behind.

The project in numbers

Lesson learned

Building partnerships for learning across schools and communities is critical for transformative change. Partnerships between schools and communities are critical for building transformative change, including reaching marginalised girls and improving learning outcomes. IGATE worked closely with community stakeholders throughout the programme and focused conversations around improving girls’ learning outcomes. It invested in building a support network of community educators, all volunteers, and provided them with clear guidance and basic working resources. This approach was successful, as over 700 community members led community learning circles when schools closed during COVID-19 lockdowns and these individuals continued to lead once schools had re-opened.

Creating opportunities for learners to apply leadership skills outside of clubs is key for their development. Leadership clubs are important for improving girls’ leadership skills, however, providing girls with actionable roles and responsibilities is important for accelerating the acquisition of leadership competencies, such as self-confidence and assertiveness. Peer leaders were older girls who were given significant roles within the programme during COVID-19, such as recruiting and organising participants for community learning circles, coordinating the distribution of learning materials during the lockdown, supporting peer-to-peer learning, and leading discussions on a variety of topics, such as peer pressure, early marriage and menstruation.

Building girls’ agency and voice, and engaging marginalised subgroups contributed to transformational change. IGATE’s approach to programme implementation was holistic, but they maintained a focus on specific sub-groups of girls (young mothers, survivors of gender-based violence, learners with low foundational literacy and numeracy skills, etc.) who were most marginalised. The project identified, engaged with, and monitored these groups regularly and gained more direct interface with these girls over time. By building a strong rapport with these girls, IGATE was better placed to amplify their voices during project implementation.

Alternative pathways and support are required to address the barriers young mothers face in returning to school. Many marginalised adolescent girls and young women who have dropped out of school aspire to return to school, but they are unable to do so due to stigma (of early teenage pregnancy), attitudes of school stakeholders, and perceptions by many that they are better off generating some income than continuing with their education. It remained difficult for this target group to transition back into formal schooling. Young mothers require alternative pathways and support specifically designed to address the barriers they face, including childcare arrangements, negotiation with gatekeepers as well as removal of barriers to accessing financing.

World Vision: https://www.worldvision.org.uk/