Girls' Education Challenge

The start of 2024 has been incredibly busy. Our latest Digest captures the work that has been happening as we have celebrated #12yearsoftheGEC. It provides links to our new film, blogs, Learning Briefs and Final Reflections from our projects. Enjoy! https://bit.ly/49SE9Bm

NEW PROJECT RESOURCES! Over the 12 years of the GEC, 41 projects have worked in 17 countries, supporting girls, their families, schools and communities. Through this work, these projects have developed a vast array of resources and tools that they used to deliver effective and lasting change. We are excited to share this new bank of 106 resources and tools covering learning and teaching, non-formal education, retention and transition, VfM, edtech, disabilities, safeguarding, gender inclusion, girls’ empowerment, M&E, sustainability, and working with schools and communities. We hope they will become an invaluable resource for organisations designing and implementing girls’ education programmes. Access them all here: https://bit.ly/3Q8Huq5

New think piece: Reaching and teaching adolescent girls: How do we make an education system ‘fit for purpose’? Over the years of adolescence, girls and boys undergo distinctive cognitive, social, emotional and sexual development. It is also a time when gender norms become more entrenched and have more of an impact on their lives. These norms often subject girls to more restrictions on their behaviour, freedoms and mobility. Education systems are central to adolescents’ lives, however, they are not always set up to respond to the unique needs and each unique phase of adolescence. This paper explores the specific needs of adolescent girls, how projects have responded to these needs, key learning and the challenges involved. Using the GAGE framework, it look at what adolescent-responsive education could look like and offer some policy and practice recommendations. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3XN1uCp

New Learning Brief! Acknowledging – and tackling – poverty as a barrier to education Every one of the 41 projects implemented under the GEC identified poverty as one of the main factors preventing girls from going to school, regularly attending, and learning once they are there. Parents may not be able to afford school fees, transport to school, uniforms, materials, or exam fees. Poverty can also pull girls out of school when they are needed by parents to help with domestic chores or to look after younger children or sick or elderly relatives, to help with income generation or to generate income through bride price. This Learning Brief examines the relationship between poverty, gender and education in the GEC and explores the ways in which GEC projects tackled this huge and complex issue. It also examines projects’ impact in a range of areas and outlines the learning and policy implications. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4bvUVYb

NEW REPORT! What did the Aarambha project achieve? What did it learn? This “Final Reflections” report outlines outcomes & learning from project activities with students, teachers, communities & government officials in Nepal https://bit.ly/3Umg6VP

This new report reflects on the impact of the Empowering Girls with Disabilities in Uganda project. It looks at the challenges, the results and the lessons that were learned by Cheshire Services Uganda. Read it here: https://bit.ly/4aYMB31

New blog! Leonard Byabagambi of Cheshire Services Uganda reflects on the impact of the Empowering Girls with Disabilities in Uganda project. Leonard looks at the challenges, the results and the lessons that were learned Read it here: https://bit.ly/3TyFjw3

All girls deserve a level playing field. The GEC has supported the education of over 1.6 million girls: changing their lives, their families, their communities. Please take a moment to see why this is so important. Please like and share! Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, PwC UK International Development, Social Development Direct, The Cadmus Group, Cambridge Education https://lnkd.in/d-gVXzns

In this latest blog, a team member from the STAGES project that worked in Afghanistan reflects on its achievements, the impact of regime change and their hopes for the future Read it here: https://bit.ly/43nNrnp

Child marriage is a significant barrier to education: the issues around it are complex and deep rooted. Keeping girls in school is one of the best ways to delay marriage. Our new Learning Brief explores these issues and outlines the approaches taken by GEC projects to support girls and postpone early marriages. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3PiQwj3 The brief includes case studies from Street Child, Link Education International, People in Need, International Rescue Committee, Acted, ChildHope UK, Education Development Trust and CAMFED - Campaign for Female Education