The ABC - hiproweb.org · ABC FAWE House – Chania Road PO Box 21394 00505 Ngong Road Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254-2-573131 ... How do we keep score? 9 Charting the Way 10 What is the

ABC of Gender 1Responsive Education Policies

of Gender ResponsiveEducation Policies

Guidelines for developingEducation for All action plans

Forum for African Women Educationalists

The

ABC

FAWE House – Chania RoadPO Box 21394 00505 Ngong RoadNairobi, KenyaTel: 254-2-573131www.fawe.org

ABC Inside.pmd 3/26/03, 2:25 PM1

ABC of Gender Responsive Education Policies

About FAWE

The Forum for African Women Educationalists is a pan-African non-governmentorganization, founded in 1992, whose goal is to increase access, improve retentionand enhance the quality of education for girls and women in Africa. FAWE’s membersare African women ministers of education, permanent secretaries and university vicechancellors who come together to wield their positions and influence in pursuit ofFAWE’s goal.

FAWE’s mission is to work at continental, national and local levels, together withpartners, to create positive societal attitudes, policies and practices that promoteequity for girls in terms of access, retention, performance and quality by influencingthe transformation of education systems in Africa. To put the goal into operation,FAWE has facilitated the establishment of National Chapters in 33 countries across thecontinent.

FAWE’s strategic direction for 2002–2006 calls for action in four key areas:§ Education policy§ Advocacy§ Demonstration interventions§ Replication and mainstreaming

Underpinning these is a renewed focus on capacity building at both regional andnational levels. Particular attention is given to developing the skills of NationalChapters to influence policy formulation, implementation and monitoring throughadvocacy, and to demonstrate what works. The ultimate aim is to influence govern-ments to replicate and mainstream such best practices. The overall emphasis, in linewith EFA goals, is on action on the ground. FAWE is supported by a variety ofagencies, foundations and other donor partners.

��

The ABC of Gender Responsive Education Policies:Guidelines for developing a Gender Responsive plan

Published by: Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)PO Box 21394 00505 Ngong RoadNairobi, Kenya

Printed by: Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)PO Box 21394 00505 Ngong RoadNairobi, Kenya

ISBN: 9966-908-93-5

© 2002, Forum for African Women Educationalists



Contents

List of abbreviations ivAcknowledgements vForeword vi

Accepting the Principles 1What does EFA say about gender? 1What is a gender responsive policy? 2But what does gender mainstreaming mean? 3Box: Mainstreaming principles 3What other concepts do we need to understand? 4

Building the Foundation 5What is the process of analysing the policies we already have? 5Box :Five steps in policy analysis 5What documents do we need for the analysis? 7How do we frame the questions for the analysis? 8How do we keep score? 9

Charting the Way 10What is the process of mainstreaming gender

into EFA action plans? 10Box: Steps in the gender mainstreaming process 10How do we identify the causes of gender-related problems? 11What strategy options do we have? 13Who should be involved in gender mainstreaming? 14How do we stay on track? 15How do we pay for gender mainstreaming? 15How long should it take? 15Box: Checklist for the gender responsiveness of EFA action plans 15Chart: A gender mainstreamed EFA action planning matrix



BREDA Bureau Régional deL’UNESCO à Dakar

CEDAW Convention on theElimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination againstWomen

CRC Convention on the Rightsof the Child

ECOWAS Economic Community ofWest African States

EFA Education for all

FAWE Forum for African WomenEducationalists

GE Girls’ education

HIV/AIDS Human immuno-deficiency virus/ Acquiredimmune deficiencysyndrome

ICPD International Conferenceon Population andDevelopment

MoE Ministry of Education

M&E Monitoring andevaluation

NFE Non-formal education

NGO Non-governmentorganization

SADC Southern AfricaDevelopment Community

SMT Science, mathematics andtechnology

TTCs Teacher Training Colleges

UNESCO United NationsEducational, Scientific andCultural Organization

UNICEF United Nations Children’sFund

UPE Universal primaryeducation

List of Abbreviations

iv



Acknowledgments

F AWE’s founding premise wasthat sub-Saharan Africa’seducation policy environ-

ment had to be changed if theeducation prospects for womenand girls in the continent was evergoing to change. To this end afocus on policy has always been amajor preoccupation of the Forumand remains a key component ofFAWE’s Strategic Plan for 2002–2006.

We are thus very excited tobe playing a substantive part in thedevelopment of the country actionplans for achieving the goals ofEducation for All articulated inJomtien and reinforced in Dakar.Our deep appreciation goes toUNESCO-BREDA for extending usthe confidence and the opportu-nity to review country action plansfor their gender responsiveness.We have started this work throughour National Chapters in 12countries and will eventuallyencompass most other countries inSSA.

Many thanks go as well to allthe members of the countryplanning teams and the organisersand participants of a series ofworkshops to brainstorm theprocess and train the planning

team and the participating NationalChapters.

Finally, several individuals mustbe singled out for their role in thedevelopment of this booklet.Professor Ruth Mena of theUniversity of Dar es Salaam devel-oped the original FAWE frameworkfor the analysis of the existingpolicy environment, and Dr. GraceW. Bunyi distilled the proceedingsof the brainstorming workshopsinto a similar framework for devel-oping the plans themselves.Margaret Crouch edited the twodocuments and amalgamated theminto this booklet. To these and themany others who were involved inone way or another, we say aheartfelt thank you.

The support of partners likeUNESCO and the contributions ofthe dedicated individuals who applytheir expertise to our cause give usthe hope and courage andinspiration to forge ahead. One daythe education policy environmentin our continent will ensure that allthe girls of Africa will be in school,that they will stay in school andthat they will do well.

Penina MlamaFAWE Executive Director

v



Foreword

T here is a wide body of literatureon girls’ education problems inAfrica and their underlying

causes. Consequently, most of us knowor at least can find out what these are.What has remained problematic,however, is the acquisition of thetechnical skills required for systemati-cally assessing, designing, implementing,monitoring and evaluating effectivepolicies and strategies for girls’ educa-tion. This skill gap must be addressed sothat the action plans for accomplishingthe goals of Education for All can berealistic, effective and achievable.

The purpose of this booklet is toaddress the gap in policy analysis andformulation skills. The booklet walksthe EFA action plan team throughthree processes: a) establishing thebasis for gender responsive policy as afoundation of basic human rights andeconomic development; b) analysingthe existing policy framework todetermine its gender responsiveness;and c) from that foundation, formulat-ing EFA action plans.

The booklet is the product of aprocess that began in 2000 whenFAWE developed a framework for theanalysis of education policies forgender responsiveness. This tool wasthen piloted for the policies ofEthiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali,Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, SierraLeone, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.

The following year FAWE enteredinto a memorandum of understandingwith UNESCO-BREDA to reviewnational EFA action plans for theirgender responsiveness. The projectbegan in 12 countries and will eventually

extend to most of SSA. A core group often people from each country wastrained in gender main-streaming toenable them to influence their nationalEFA country action plans. Each coregroup was drawn from National Chaptermembers, ministry of education officials,gender experts and partners ineducation. A tool for mainstreaminggender into EFA plans was developed.The effort continued in 2002, with twotraining workshops for gender main-streaming for these planning teams.

This booklet takes the process astep further by combining both of thepolicy analysis and planning tools intoone, easy to use handbook. Thebooklet continues the process ofbuilding the capacity of FAWE NationalChapters—and of all EFA action planteams—to integrate gender concernsinto national education policies.

The text points out that theultimate goal of gender mainstreamingis social transformation as gender equityis achieved. FAWE knows well that this isa long and often painful process.Therefore a key element of gendermainstreaming is broad participation andpartnership by local communities to buildownership and commitment to implemen-tation. This requires advocacy andmobilization at all levels in order toensure that gender is an integral part ofpolicy development and implementation.It also means that that there must be aclear link from existing problems to theperceived benefits of gender equity.The booklet aims to help make that link.

vi


ABC of Gender 1Responsive Education Policies1§

The internationally acceptedgoal of universal primaryeducation (UPE) by 2015,

which was later refocused asEducation for All (EFA), wasarticulated in Jomtien, Thailand, in1990 and reaffirmed at the Dakar(Senegal) World Education Forumin April 2000.

Between these two meetings,at the 1996 mid-decade meeting inAmman, Jordan, girls’ education(GE) was reported as having made“excruciatingly slow” progressespecially in Africa.

Regrettably, the 2000 EFAAssessment revealed that in manycases little or no success had beenachieved in narrowing the gendergap in education. Consequently,world governments decided toincrease efforts to close thegender gap, and made commit-ments to that end by articulatingEFA gender goals.

What does EFA say aboutgender?

In Dakar, gender in EFA goals werearticulated as follows:

§ Gender parity by 2005 -Eliminating gender disparities inprimary and secondary educa-tion by 2005.

In most countries, girls constitute the disadvantaged gender. In many countries therefore, a focus on gender translates into a focus on girls. Sometimes, however, boys are the disadvantaged gender in terms of some aspects of education. In this case, there should be a focus on boys even as the issues that affect the long-term goals of girls’ education (equal socio-political and economic life chances for women) continue to receive attention.

A cceptingthePrinciples



§ Gender equality by 2015 -Achieving gender equality ineducation by 2015, with afocus on ensuring girls’ full andequal access to and achieve-ment in basic education ofgood quality.

§ Achieving a 50 percentimprovement in levels of adultliteracy by 2015, especially forwomen

Achieving these EFA goalsrequires that gender issues beaddressed in the EFA NationalAction Plans. This means thatnational education policy frame-works will have to be genderresponsive.

What is a gender responsivepolicy?

A policy is a statement of thegeneral principles that shouldunderlie the plans, actions andpractices in a particular area. It is ineffect a blueprint or guideline forimplementing action. Genderresponsive policy incorporatesbasic principles for addressing theimbalances and inequalities thathave resulted from socially andculturally constructed differencesbetween men and women in agiven society.

Why is this necessary? In-equalities arise from the process ofassigning to men and women, boysand girls, specific social roles,privileges, rights, responsibilities and

duties on the basis of the genderof the person concerned. In thisprocess most of our Africansocieties have also defined a powerrelationship that disadvantageswomen and girl-children in access-ing and benefiting from educationalresources and services.

Over many years the genderroles and the inequalities theynurture have come to be acceptedas the normal course of humanevents. Because of its pervasivenegative impact, such an attitudemust be challenged wherever it isfound.

Gender based inequalities mayand usually do occur in many areas,but the focus of this document ison their impact on education. Ineducation, social inequalities havelargely contributed to lowerenrolments of girls in school, lessretention of those who enrol, poorperformance in many subjectsparticularly mathematics, sciencesand technical disciplines, and lessparticipation of women in tertiaryand higher levels of learning. Thishas cumulatively affected the leveland nature of the participation ofwomen in the labour market, inpolitics and in managerial positions.

Gender responsive policytherefore seeks to redress thehistorical imbalances that have notonly created gender hierarchiesand limited the extent to whichwomen’s potentials can be fullydeveloped, but also constrainedefforts to realize the basic humanrights of women and girls.

A gender responsive policyconsistently and systematically

2



the stages of its formulation, fromthe definition of the problem tosetting goals and objectives,through to the identification ofstrategies, monitoring indicatorsand targets. This means thatgender concerns are systematicallybrought into the mainstream ofthe total policy process. Theultimate goal of gendermainstreaming is social transforma-tion as gender equity is achieved.

But what does gendermainstreaming mean?

The mainstream is the corewhere things happen. Gendermainstreaming in a policy entails aprocess that takes gender con-cerns into account systematically,from problem statement toimplementation strategy.

Mainstreaming does nothappen automatically. It has to befacilitated. It may need additionalhuman resources in terms oftechnical support, and the activitiesrelated to it will almost certainlyneed to be budgeted for. Gendermainstreaming also requires both

incorporates gender concerns at all

Gender mainstreaming is making girls’/women’s and boys’/men’s issues an integral dimension of the design, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes so that all can participate and benefit equally. The ultimate goal of gender mainstreaming is social transform-ation as gender equity is achieved.

Mainstreaming Principles § Diagnosis through analysis and

disaggregation of information to indicate the relative status of women and men.

§ System-wide accountability so that everyone is responsible for mainstreaming.

§ Addressing practical gender needs and strategic gender needs.

§ Institutionalization so that dealing with concerns is not ad hoc, but planned for and undertaken technically.

§ Contextualization in international development processes.

§ Disaggregation of data by gender.

§ Responsiveness to unique needs through gender-specific interventions.

§ Resource allocation. § Political good will.

the technical skill and the politicalcommitment to effect changes inthe way things happen. Problemsof inconsistencies may result frominsufficient resources, lack of skill tomainstream or lack of will to do themainstreaming.

At the level of educationpolicy, mainstreaming meansproviding guidelines that systemati-cally direct planning and implemen-tation in such a way that genderconcerns are part and parcel of thecore plan, and the core activitiescalled for in the plan. It means thatstrategies for addressing genderconcerns are spelt out, as well asthe targets that must be achieved

3



that need separate sets of activi-ties. For example, if a country’seducation policy aims at improvingaccess to secondary school with atarget of moving from an 18percent transition rate to 25percent by 2004, the policy has tobe clear on what percentage ofthis increase will be girls. Issues ofaccess do not have to be handledseparately from issues of equityand equality. In this way the policywill have mainstreamed gender inboth access and equality concerns.

What other concepts do weneed to understand?

To enhance the EFA gendermainstreaming process, it isessential that those who partici-pate in the development of EFAcountry action plans have a clearunderstanding of some gender andeducation concepts as they applyto EFA. A few such concepts aredefined below.

Gender parityThis is a quantitative term andrefers to equal enrolment rates forboys and girls, for example.

Gender equalityThis means that there is nodiscrimination on the basis of aperson’s gender in the allocation ofresources or benefits, or in theaccess to services such as educa-tion. Gender equality may bemeasured in terms of whetherthere is equality of opportunity, orequality of results or outcomes.

Quality educationAccording to a comprehensivemeaning of good quality educationarticulated by UNICEF in its QualityEducation Framework, good qualityeducation includes five broad butinter-related dimensions:

Quality learners – refers to whatlearners bring to school. Thelearners should ideally be healthy,well nourished, ready to learn andsupported to learn by their familiesand communities.

Quality content – refers to boththe planned and taught curriculumof schools. In addition to traditionalacademic subjects, it should alsoinclude the acquisition of knowl-edge in such areas as gender,health, nutrition, HIV/AIDSprevention and peace.

Quality processes – refers to thequality of the teaching–learningprocesses, which are predicated ontrained and gender sensitiveteachers, good management,supervision and support, and skilfullearning assessment.

Quality learning environments –refers to a physical and psychoso-cial school environment that hasadequate resources and facilities.The school environment should behealthy, safe, protective, effectiveand gender sensitive.

Quality outcomes – these refer todesirable outcomes of basiceducation, which have beenidentified as literacy, numeracy, andlife and coping skills.

4



uildingtheFoundationB

It should be clear that gendermainstreaming requires asystematic approach to policy

analysis, formulation and implemen-tation. This section guides youthrough the process of analysingthe policies that are already inplace, provides a checklist of thedocuments you may want to referto as support for this exercise, andhelps frame the questions thatneed to be answered to determinegender relevance. Once you knowwhether and to what extent theexisting policy framework is genderresponsive, you can go on to thebusiness of ensuring that your EFAaction plans mainstream gender,which is the subject of the lastsection of this booklet.

What is the process of ana-lysing the policies we alreadyhave?

The essential element here is tounderstand the policy context.The broad context will include yourcountry’s general developmentphilosophy and constitution, as wellas the external environment as aninfluencing factor. The specificcontext incorporates the realm ofeducation as it is envisioned andpractised in your country.

Step 1: Trace the policyphilosophyEducation policy is a subset of thebroader policy framework thatgoverns a country. Naturally, priorto analysing an education policydocument one has to understandthe broader framework withinwhich education is grounded. Moststates in Africa had blueprints thatdefined in both very broad andhighly specific terms the principlesthat were going to govern thedevelopment process generally,

Five Steps in Policy Analysis 1. Trace the policy philosophy. 2. Analyse the existing constitution

of your country. 3. Know the sector guidelines. 4. Understand the development

plans. 5. Situate your country in the

international arena.

5


ABC of Gender Responsive Education Policies6

including human relations. Oneneeds to unveil the guidingphilosophy that anchors allactivities,including the governance exercise.The changes that have taken placeover time, both internal andexternal, need to be understoodas well, because they can affectpolicy frameworks, particularly atthe operational level.

In Tanzania, for example, from1969 to the mid 1980s theblueprint guiding the nationaldevelopment process was rootedin socialism and self-reliance.Education for self-reliance drew itsmandate from this larger frame-work. An understanding of genderissues in education policy has to belocated in this larger framework.

The early blueprints, wherethey existed, have often beenreplaced by a variety of evolving“national visions”, including eco-nomic recovery programmes,structural adjustment programmesand lately poverty reductionstrategy papers, all of which aresupposed to provide the largerpolicy frame for guiding othersector and subsector policies. Theimplication is that prior to analysingany policy document one has tointerrogate the existing largerframeworks that inform otherpolicies and laws.

Step 2: Analyse the existingconstitution of your countryDevelopment philosophy getstranslated into law throughconstitutional provisions. The

constitution of any country issupposed to be the primary law ofthe land from which all other lawsand policies derive their legitimacy.If development philosophy is basedon principles of equality, theconstitution will provide a clausethat bars discrimination on groundsof sex. It can also mandateaffirmative actions to redresshistorical imbalances, and mayprovide for the specific rights ofwomen, children and otherhistorically disadvantaged groups.

Step 3: Know the sectorguidelinesBroad constitutional principles arefurther translated into sectorguidelines, sometimes known aswhite papers or sessional papers,which apply the general principlesto the specific sector context.Some countries do have genderpolicies, or women in development(WID) policies, that provide generalguidelines for all other sectorministries on how to mainstreamgender into their sectors. Wheresuch guidelines exist, it will beuseful to analyse them prior to theanalysis of the sector policies.Unfortunately, sometimes policymakers think their job is finishedwhen the gender policy isadopted, and gender awarenessfails to permeate the sector policiesand plans.

Step 4: Understand thedevelopment plansOperationally, the broad principlesinform development plans gener-ally, as well as specific sector plans.


ABC of Gender 1Responsive Education Policies7

This means you will have to gothrough your country’s develop-ment plans to find out how theyhave concretely provided for theelimination of gender discriminationand how this is further specified inthe sector plans for the Ministry ofEducation.

Step 5: Situate your country inthe international arenaYour country must operate in theworld environment, and theproducts of your education systemmust be able to contribute to andcompete in that environment.Thus, in addition to your ownnational policy documents, it may behelpful to scrutinize the constitutionand policy documents of neighbour-ing countries or other countries at alevel of development similar toyours.

You will also need to know theexisting international instrumentsto which your country is a party,particularly those that advocate forthe rights of women and children,especially girls. Your country mayalso be a member of such regionalgroupings as the EconomicCommunity of West African States(ECOWAS) or the Southern AfricaDevelopment Community (SADC)that may have specific genderdeclarations or protocols for theirmembers. If so, you should addthese to the list of documents youneed to study. Finally, to furtherenrich your understanding of theexternal environment, try toacquire literature on globalization,structural adjustment and othertrends.

What documents do we needfor the analysis?

That is a lot of studying! Tosummarize, a number of docu-ments can be identified that wouldfacilitate a review of the genderresponsiveness of education policy.

For any given country, amongthese documents are:§ The blueprint or development

vision or policy framework,where it exists and is stilloperational

§ The constitution, with aspecial focus on the Bill ofRights, if any

§ Gender or WID policy§ Most recent country develop-

ment plan§ Education policies (sessional

papers) for primary, secondaryand tertiary education

§ Education master plan§ Poverty reduction strategy

paper

Some of the basic internationalinstruments are:§ The Geneva Conventions§ Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW)

§ Convention on the Rights ofthe Child (CRC)

§ The Declaration of The 4thWorld Conference on Women(Beijing Declaration, 1995)

§ The Declaration of theInternational Conference onPopulation and Development(ICPD, Cairo, 1994)



§ The Declarations on Educationfor All (Jomtien, 1990, andDakar, 2000)

How do we frame the ques-tions for the analysis?

Now that you have that mass ofmaterial, how do you make senseof it? You have to read it critically,taking note of the answers tosome key questions. The listsbelow will help you frame questionsthat are pertinent to your situa-tion.

Questions about the existingpolicy framework or develop-ment visionThe vision is usually general, but afew countries have managed toenshrine in these broad principlesthe specific principle of genderequality and the necessary guide-lines for redressing gender imbal-ances. As you read, ask yourself:§ Is the development philosophy

guided by principles of equal-ity?

§ Is the principle of genderequality spelt out in the policyframework?

§ Do general goals define theobjective of redressing genderinequality? Are targets de-fined?

§ Is a time frame given?§ Are guidelines on resource

mobilization provided?§ Is the principle of affirmative

action recommended?

Questions about theconstitutionGender responsive constitutionsprovide education activists with atool for advocating for equaleducational rights for all children.Such a constitution makes discrimi-nation against the girl-child illegal.To help determine whether yourcountry’s constitution provides youwith this kind of ammunition, askyourself:§ Is the principle of gender

equality enshrined in theconstitution?

§ Is discrimination on grounds ofsex constitutionally barred?

§ Does the constitution providefor affirmative action?

§ Does the constitution providefor women’s specific rights, asin South Africa, Uganda andMalawi?

§ Is basic education considered abasic right of citizens?

Questions about policiesConstitutional principles have to betranslated into developmentguidelines or policy statements.The following questions guide thereview of policy documentsincluding education policy docu-ments:§ Do mainstream policies address

gender inequality as an issue?§ Is gender equality a policy

priority in mainstream policies?§ Do policy goals, both overall

and specific, spell out theobjective of redressing genderdisparities in the economy?

§ Are there guidelines for


ABC of Gender 1Responsive Education Policies9

developing a checklist forgender monitoring?

§ Are gender-disaggregatedstatistics mandatory? Are therepolicy guidelines to this effect?Are the necessary resourcesprovided to support datacollection? Does the capacityexist to collect and analysesuch data?

§ Is affirmative action providedas a policy principle? Does thepolicy define targets? timeframe?

§ Do education policies recognizegender inequality as a prob-lem?

§ Is gender inequality considereda factor in influencing otheraspects, such as quality,efficiency, education manage-ment?

§ Do financial policies address theissue of gender inequality?

Questions about developmentplansPolicy guidelines are blueprints thatmust be translated into operationalplans, both general and sectorspecific. The following questionswill help guide your review of theeducation master plan:§ Has the plan translated the

equality principles into operat-ing plans? At what level?Defining the problem? Definingbroad goals and objectives?Defining strategies? Putting upmonitoring indicators? Definingtargets?

§ Do the plans allocate resourcesfor mainstreaming gender

concerns into the implementa-tion of the activities spelledout in the plan?

§ Are gender concerns morethan window dressing? Havethey been systematically raisedduring the various stages ofthe plan? Have they beensmuggled into the middle ofthe plan, without any founda-tion? Once mentioned, dothey just fade away?

How do we keep score?

If the time and resources areavailable, you might want to go sofar as to set up a computerprogramme for analysing responsesto the questions you pose aboutthe policy framework. This meansthat you have to develop acodified set of answers to thequestions. Probably there will not beeither the time or the resourcesfor this level of analysis, and youwill have to rely on your generalconclusions about the state of thepolicy framework. If most of youranswers are favourable, theframework is probably reasonablygenderresponsive.

Once you have determinedthe gender responsiveness of theexisting education policies, you areready to begin to formulate theaction plan for ensuring the genderrelevance of new policies forachieving EFA.



hartingtheWayC

Steps in the Gender Mainstreaming Process

1. Analysing and prioritizing girls’ education problems.

2. Analysing and prioritizing the underlying causes of the problems.

3. Selecting appropriate strategies for addressing the underlying causes of the problems.

4. Identifying those responsible for implementing the different strategies.

5. Developing quantitative and qualitative gender sensitive indicators for monitoring and evaluation.

6. Making specific budgetary provisions for the identified strategies.

7. Determining time lines for implementation.

This section presents aprocessfor developing EFA actionplans at the country level.

The gender mainstreaming inher-

ent in the process requires clearlinkages among the identifiedproblems in girls’ education, theirunderlying cause(s), the possiblestrategies for addressing thecause(s), and the monitoring andevaluation (M&E) indicators that willhelp implementers remain on track. The process also requiresidentifying the responsible partiesand setting a firm and realistictimetable. These elements arediscussed in detail in the para-graphs that follow. The charts atthe end of the section provide achecklist for gender responsivenessand an example of a gendermainstreamed EFA action planmatrix.

What is the process ofmainstreaming gender intoEFA action plans?

In Africa, the main problems ofgirls’ education are in access,retention, performance andtransition to the next levels of

10



education. However, the serious-ness of all or any one of theseproblems differs from country tocountry and from region to regionwithin countries. At the same time,different categories of girls (andwomen) such as urban, rural, thosewith disabilities, street girls andthose living in remote areas sufferdifferent educational problems.

It is therefore critical that theproblems affecting girls are identi-fied accurately and that the groupsof girls affected by the problemsare specified. In order to do this, athorough analysis of availablequantitative data should be carriedout to establish access, retention,performance and transition trendsby gender. Where such data arenot available or are inadequate,baseline surveys may be necessary.On an ongoing basis, the collectionand analysis of gender-disaggregated data should be animportant gender mainstreamingstrategy.

Once the problems have beenaccurately identified you have torank them in terms of theirseriousness so that priority insetting strategies and allocatingresources can go to the mostcritical ones.

In terms of the EFA gendergoals, however, all countries areobligated to plan for the eliminationof gender disparities in primary and

secondary education by 2005, forgender equality by 2015 and for a50 percent improvement in levelsof adult women’s literacy by 2015.

How do we identify thecauses of gender-relatedproblems?

The underlying causes of problemsin girls’ education will vary fromcountry to country and withincountries. As the designers of EFA

The seriousness of the problems in girls’ education differs from country to country and from region to region within countries.

Specific Elements of the Gender Mainstreaming Process

?? Baseline surveys to reveal the

status quo. ?? Accountability mechanisms,

e.g., including responsibility for mainstreaming in staff employment terms of reference and appraisal.

?? Reflection of gender in all project cycle elements.

?? Implementation and tracking mechanisms such as gender focal points and working groups.

?? Capacity building through sensitization, sectoral training, training of trainers and exchange visits.

?? Use of internal and external expertise.

?? Networking for information and experience sharing.

?? Monitoring and evaluation tools to assess mainstreaming progress and impact.

?? Documentation and dissemination of lesson learned and best practices.

11



Women’s organizations and individual gender sensitive women and men educationists should be involved in the planning and drafting teams.

action plans, it is therefore impor-tant that you accurately identifyand prioritize the specific underlyingcauses of each of the girls’ educa-tion problems prioritized for focus.This will involve reviewing existinggender in education and relatedresearch literature and/or carryingout research where such studiesare lacking or are inadequate.

Quantitative and qualitativeresearch studies carried out byuniversity researchers, ministries ofeducation, donor agencies, NGOsand others have documented theunderlying causes of girls’ educa-tion problems in different Africancountries. The following exampleshighlight some of those findings.

Access

M Possible causes of problems§ Lack of schools close to

communities§ Parental concerns about

security and safety on the wayto school

§ Poverty§ Religion or its misinterpretation§ Education not considered a

priority in emergency situations

Retention

M Possible causes of problems§ Lack of/failure to implement

readmission policies for school-

girl mothers§ Gender insensitive curriculum,

e.g., curriculum does not buildon and value girls’ life experi-ences outside school or focuson the sexual maturationneeds of adolescent girls

§ Girl-unfriendly school environ-ment, e.g., lack of adequateand appropriate separatetoilets for girls and boys

§ Negative socio-cultural prac-tices such as female genitalmutilation

§ Migratory or refugee girls

Performance

M Possible causes of girls’ poorperformance generally and inSMT in particular

§ Gender insensitive teaching/learning processes

§ Girls’ low self-esteem§ Gender stereotyping§ Inadequate facilities for SMT in

girls’ schools§ Girls’ negative attitudes

towards SMT

Transition

M Possible causes of problems§ Lack of/inadequate places for

girls in higher levels of educa-tion

§ Under valuing of highereducation for girls

§ Girls’ poor performance inselection examinations

When you have accuratelyidentified the underlying causes of

12



the problems in girls’ education inyour country, you will need to rankthem in terms of their seriousnessso that priority in setting strategiesand allocating resources can begiven to the most critical ones.

What strategy options do wehave?

You have now identified specificgirls’ education problems and theirunderlying causes for focus. Thenext thing to do is to identify theappropriate strategies for address-ing them.

An important consideration willbe the cost-effectiveness of agiven strategy especially becausesome strategies—such as teacherpre- and in-service training forgender responsiveness—have beenfound to be effective in addressingmore than one problem in girls’education. In what follows,examples of strategies that havebeen implemented in differentAfrican countries to address thedifferent problems and theirunderlying causes are presented.

Girls’ education problem: Access

Underlying cause: Lack of schoolsclose to communities

* Possible strategies§ Build feeder schools, i.e., small

schools close to communitiesfor the very young children.

§ Provide transportation.§ Provide mobile schools.§ Construct boarding schools.Underlying cause: Poverty

* Possible strategies

§ Institute income-generatingprojects for parents.

§ Introduce fee waivers for girls.

Underlying cause: Low valuing ofeducation for girls

* Possible strategy

§ Advocate for and mobilizecommunities to support girls’education.

Girls’ education problem:Retention

Underlying cause: Girl-unfriendlyschool environment

* Possible strategy

§ Provide adequate, appropriate,secure and separate sanitaryfacilities for girls and boys.

Underlying cause: Sexual harass-ment and gender violence

* Possible strategies§ Implement zero tolerance

policies against sexual harass-ment and gender violence byteachers and boys.

§ Provide empowermentprogrammes for girls.

§ Implement guidance andcounselling programmes forboth harassers and harassed.

Underlying cause: Gender insensi-tive curriculum

* Possible strategies

§ Review the curriculum to makeit gender responsive.

§ Include knowledge on HIV/AIDS

13



and life skills in the curriculum.

Underlying cause: Schoolgirlpregnancies

* Possible strategies§ Articulate re-entry policies for

schoolgirl mothers.§ Disseminate/publicize re-entry

policies for schoolgirl mothers.§ Implement re-entry policies for

schoolgirl mothers.§ Implement non-formal educa-

tion (NFE) programmesespecially for girls and youngwomen.

Underlying cause: Migration

* Possible strategies§ Articulate education as a basic

need (like food and shelter)policy for refugee and inter-nally displaced people’sprogrammes.

§ Advocate for and mobilizecommunities to support girls’education.

Girls’ education problem:Performance

Underlying cause: Gender insensi-tive curriculum

* Possible strategies§ Review curriculum to portray

valuing of girls’ life experiencesoutside school.

§ Remove gender stereotypingfrom curricula and textbooks.

Underlying Cause: Gender insensi-tive teaching/learning processes

* Possible strategy

§ Gender training for teachersand teacher support personnelsuch as school inspectors.

Girls’ education problem: Poorperformance in SMT

Underlying cause: Gendersocialization

* Possible strategies§ Provide women role models for

SMT§ Implement girls’ empowerment

programmes

Girls’ education problem:Transition

Underlying cause: Inadequatesecondary school places

* Possible strategies§ Build more secondary schools

especially for girls§ Establish quotas for girls in

secondary schools

Who should be involved ingender mainstreaming?

The UNESCO EFA guidelines haveunderscored the importance of aparticipatory EFA planning processaimed at building consensus andpartnerships. In this regard, toenhance gender mainstreaminginto the action plans, it is importantto make sure that women’sorganizations and individual gendersensitive women and men educa-tionists are involved in the planningand drafting teams. It is alsoimportant that women and menpolicy makers are sensitized to

14



gender concerns so that they willsupport gender mainstreaming inthe EFA process.

In addition, effective planningand implementation of genderprogrammes require participation ofactors from the various levels—from community and school levelsto national policy makers andeducation managers.

How do we stay on track?

You won’t know whether youhave reached your gendermainstreaming goals unless youmonitor your progress. A monitor-ing and evaluation plan should beput in place at the beginning, as anintegral part of the strategy and

with indicators that are appropriateto the activities.

Put simply, an indicator is anindication of something, a pointeror a gauge. In the context of M&E,indicators help to measure whethera given strategy has been success-ful in addressing the identifiedproblem.

For the purpose of assessingthe effectiveness of gendermainstreaming strategies, genderfocused quantitative and qualitativeindicators must be developed. Youwill need to develop indicators tohelp track the progress, outputand outcomes of the strategy.How do we pay for gendermainstreaming?

Checklist for the Gender Responsivenessof EFA Action Plans

4 Are the identified gender-in-education problems based on an analysis ofgender-disaggregated data?

4 Is gender reflected in the objectives and/or statement of the problems beingaddressed?

4 Do identified strategies have a gender focus?4 Are there specific budgetary provisions for the gender strategies?4 Have women and men, girls and boys, been considered as actors in the EFA

gender mainstreaming process?4 Do the M&E indicators call for gender-disaggregated information?4 Have qualitative issues of girls’ education been addressed?4 Are there linkages between the identified problems, strategies and indicators?4 Have sustained advocacy and mobilization mechanisms, as well as partnerships,

been identified as strategies for effective gender mainstreaming?4 Has gender capacity building at various levels through sensitization, sectoral

training, training of trainers and exchange visits been emphasized?4 Has the action plan underscored the need for institutional and programmatic

gender policy?

15



Obviously, implementation of theplanned gender mainstreamingstrategies will require resources. Itis therefore important that theircosts be calculated and spelled outin the EFA Action Plans.

How long should it take?

As you articulate datelines for thevarious gender mainstreamingactivities, it is important to keepthe EFA gender goals in mind:§ Elimination of gender disparities by 2005.

Girls’ education problem/ Objective

Strategies Responsible parties

Indicators Budget Time lines

Access: Raise girls’ access in remote rural areas from 50% to 100%

Build feeder schools Advocate for girls’ education Implement school feeding programmes

Men & women from MoE, communities, NGOs and donor agencies MoE, FAWE, Gender specialists Communities, NGOs, etc.

No. of girls enrolled in feeder schools Observed increased valuing of girls’ education School feeding programme in operation No. of girls benefiting from the school feeding programme

$20,000 $20,000

By 2015 Ongoing 2003

A Gender Mainstreamed EFA Action Planning Matrixfor an Imaginary Country

§ Gender equality by 2015.§ Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult women’s literacy by 2015.

The timelines in the actionplans should therefore be withinthese EFA deadlines, but they mustalso be realistic and achievable.

16



Perfor-mance: Raise girls’ performance at end of primary exam by 50% Raise girls’ performance in SMT by 30%

Gender training for teachers and school inspectors Implement girls’ empower-ment pro-grammes Provide role models

Men & women in the MoE, TTCs, gender trainers MoE, schools, gender experts, teachers

Observed gender responsive teaching/learning processes 30% rise in girls’ per-formance in the end of primary exam Increased girls’ self-confidence observed 30% rise in girls’ per-formance in SMT

$50,000 $ 20,000 $5,000

By 2006 By 2006

Transition: Raise girls’ primary/ secondary transition to 100%

Build 50 new girls’ secondary schools Advocate and mobil-ize for high-er level girls’ educa-tion

MoE, communities, donor agencies Gender experts, national and local leaders, FAWE

100% girls’ primary/ secondary transition

$2 million $100,000

By 2015 Ongoing

Retention: Reduce girls’ dropout rates by 50%

Re-entry policies for schoolgirl mothers NFE pro-grammes for girls

Gender activists, MoE, FAWE MoE, NGOs and communities

Re-entry policy imple-mented 50% of out-of-school girls in NFE

$5,000 $50,000

By 2004 By 2010

17




Documents

The ABC - hiproweb.org · ABC FAWE House – Chania Road PO Box 21394 00505 Ngong Road Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254-2-573131 ... How do we keep score? 9 Charting the Way 10 What is the