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DOCTOR OF EDUCATION CASE STUDY
Girls Education and the Millennium Development Goals: NGO Challenges
855.716 Contemporary Approaches To Educational Problems
SPRING, 2014
Photo Credit: Fred Mednick
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Efforts to stem malnutrition, remove barriers to
school enrollment, curtail unsanitary conditions
leading to child mortality, combat malaria and
tuberculosis, and provide access to water have been
impressive. Public-private partnerships have
flourished. Unprecedented advances in technology
have led to greater levels of access to vital resources
and information exchange.
As coordinated efforts have unfolded, research
continues to strengthen the case that the education of
girls serves as a catalyst for overall development.
Educated mothers are 50% more women are likely
to immunize their children than mothers with no
schooling (Lewis & Lockheed, 2007).
With an extra year of education, a girl can earn up to
20% more as an adult and often reinvest 90% of her
income into her family. A child born to a literate
mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of
5 (UNESCO, 2012).
Over the past 40 years (particularly from 2000 to the
present), womens education has prevented more
than 4 million child deaths. (UNGEI, 2012).
The Millennium Development Goals also include a2015 expiration date. With fewer than 850 days to
go, a vigorous and contentious post-2015 debate is well underway.
Millennium Goal Challenges
For many regions of the world, the Millennium Development Goal report card has been
nothing short of tragic. Most poor countries will not meet MDG targets. Net aid
disbursements have declined. Of the wildly discrepant global accounting of children who do
not attend school, some regions have excluded approximately 70% of its girls. In the least
developed countries, more than a third of young women (15-24 years old) cannot read (World
Inequality Database, 2013). The 46 per cent increase in carbon emissions since 1990 and the
rapid rate of climate change threaten environmental sustainability. 1 in 8 people go to bed
hungry. In several regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the number of mobile phones outstrips the
number of latrines or flush toilets.
Photo Credit: UNDP
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Girls Education Case Study: 855.716 Contemporary Approaches to Educational Problems 4
he MDGs themselves have faced withering criticism. Halving poverty has been considered
ridiculously under ambitious (Pogge). Others claim that a one-size-fits-all approach
undermines case-by-case capacity-building efforts in favor of global aid. The blogosphere is
filled with questions about the accuracy of data from monitoring, evaluation, transparency,
and accountability tools. Watchdog groups harbor deep suspicions toward the allure of
privatization and influence peddling. Others decry the lack of a framework for the protection
of human rights beyond a fleeting, tokenistic, or rhetorical embrace (Alston, 2004).
The Millennium Development Goals have also faced criticism from claims that it reflects a
negotiated, donor-driven agenda (2) MDG data design, collection methods, and reliability
have been viewed as flawed (3) MDGs have been criticized for not having considered
dependent variables enough most notably the meteoric rise in population, climate change,
and the dominance of India and Chinas data thus skewing the results (4) MDGs have been
called to task for its omissions.
Girls education may have received a great deal of media attention. However, the progress
report toward the realization of MDGs in these areas is mixed, particularly in the areas of
education quality and equity, education and public health, and education in emergencies.
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Targeted reading for teams working on this theme:
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. World Atlas of Gender Equality in
Education. Retrieved from: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/unesco-world-atlas-
gender-education-2012.pdfand corresponding interactive database, eAtlas of Gender Equality in
Education. Retrieved from: http://www.app.collinsindicate.com/atlas-gender-education/en-us
Photo Credit: Human Rights Watch
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Issues of gender equity have been central to the development of a gender sensitive lens designed
to link social justice and gender equality with education for sustainable development (Enarson,
2000). Researchers and NGO leaders have demanded publicly viewable data and accountabilitymeasures designed to ensure that policies governing and protecting gender equity and womens
empowerment are enforced.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals 2013 Report states: persisting gender-
based inequalities in decision-making continue to deny women a say in the decisions that affect
their lives (UNMDG Report, 2013). According to the Global Campaign for Education, the
existing MDG doesn't really do enough to provide a strong incentive to worry about the hard-to-
reach groups." (Williams, 2013)
While evidence can substantiate significant global development progress through the education of
girls, progress toward those MDGs focusing explicitly on health, equity, and economicopportunities for girls and women has consistently fallen short. In several countries rated at the
bottom of the United Nations Development Index, the pace of progress toward equity and human
rights has not only slowed, but also gone backward.
The issues are rarely understood from a single perspective. Sociological, psychological, and
anthropological perspectives tend to focus on regional contexts and cultural memory. Girls may
not attend school in a region of Pakistan because families may fear retribution by authorities, a
human trafficking network, or sexual violence. They may have been told that religious doctrine
forbids it. From an economic standpoint, those same families may not comprehend the longer-
term financial benefits of removing girls from the task of carrying water, especially when requiredto pay school fees for uniforms or supplies.
As the world becomes increasingly aware of educational and equity disparities, the momentum to
build more schools has met with resistance from those who seek assurances that those schools are
staffed with qualified teachers capable of promoting inclusion and fairness. In short, Malala has a
right to attend agoodschool and learn from well-trainededucators.
Global watchdog groups have exposed those governments that manipulate their dependence upon
foreign aid to abdicate their primary responsibility of educating their citizens (Dambisa, 2009).
Governments have been accused of deferring any national measures toward achieving MDGs until
after World Bank loans have been approved or fabricating statistics in order to curry favor withlending agencies or the international donor community.
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In 2000, when the Millennium Development Goals were formalized, the Inter-Agency Network for
Education (INEE) was founded in order to create education clusters of NGOs and global agencies
that coordinate interventions and establish standards based upon the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child and the Dakar 2000 Education for All goals.
Some rogue states have kept their borders porous in order to ensure a steady stream of profits
from the drug or arms trade. Human Rights Watch and UNESCO report numerous cases of
education under attack, and schools as battlegrounds where teachers are attacked, girls and
women are raped, and the school itself used as a storehouse of weapons (Human Rights
Watch, 2010-11).
The recent financial downturn and both large-scale natural and national disasters have
disenfranchised millions, resulting in the largest number of refugees in history. In turn, crises
expected to last months become protracted, seemingly intractable crises lasting years,
compounded by the issues that emerge in overcrowded, unsanitary, refugee communities. In
Syria alone, 4 million people are fighting for survival, and there is no end in sight. Over just a
few months earlier this year, states bordering Syria faced the herculean, humanitarian task of
absorbing 2.5 million displaced people into makeshift camps. In those same camps, polio
once eradicated has returned and incidents of gender violence have soared. Often
responsible for basic livelihoods, the carrying of water, and care for children, women suffer
the most. Relegated to a lower rung on food, power, and housing hierarchies, women are
subject to higher rates of infectious and water-borne diseases (IUCN).
In natural and national disasters, girls are particularly at risk. During the Indonesian
earthquake and tsunami in 2004, two-thirds of the casualties were women. Disasters
reinforce, perpetuate and increase gender inequality, making bad situations worse for women
(UNDRR, 2009). Natural and national emergencies have magnified existing social, political,
and economic disparities. Sexual and domestic abuse increases. Care for displaced families
falls squarely on womens shoulders, yet traditional power structures have not effectively
mainstreamed a gender perspective (UNDRR, 2009).
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has expressed concern that: existing
approaches in disaster risk reduction are not only unable to address gender-based vulnerabilities,
but also mask the skills and capabilities of women as individuals and as a group. (UNDRR)
The InterAgency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) has drawn a considerable amount
of attention to the instrumental role women have played in mitigating the effects of hazards in
rescue and recovery, relief, and reconstruction (INEE, 2010). The Hyogo Framework for Action
(HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters resolved to
ensure that knowledge, prevention, and planning would be taken seriously in schools (UNISDR,
2005).
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In 2009, The International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and the United Nations
Development Programme published Making Disaster Reduction Gender-Sensitive: Policy and
Practical Guidelines, to ensure that gender mainstreaming is incorporated into disaster
management initiatives; the science and technology of safety; communications, training and
education; and disaster preparedness and planning, intervention, post-disaster relief, and
reconstruction efforts (UNDP, 2009).
Questions and Challenges
The questions and challenges these NGOs face are not dissimilar to those faced by organizations
anywhere:
How do we build the capacity necessary to evaluate our work and demonstrate impacts? What successful methodologies and best practices should we use to negotiate power
relationships and stakeholder pressures?
What are the processes by which successful gender mainstreaming practices in oneregion might be of valuable to, and take root in, in our region?
Considering our environmental, political-economic, social, and cultural context, how dowe address threats to our work in girls education?
What tools and resources have been successful in measuring the effects of girlseducation on a given community?
How can our girls education efforts be sustained, replicated, communicated, andmeasured?
How might we address the opportunities and challenges of communicating these impactsto policy makers, planners, field workers, and community organizations?
How do we manage change? How do we cultivate leadership? How do we ensure community support?
Required Readings and Media
Additional readings are targeted to the themes (access and equality, public health, and
emergencies), as well as readings provided by team members to support the paper.
Video Girl Rising (2013). Remarkable stories of nine girls around the world - told bycelebrated writers and voiced by renowned actors. http://www.girlrising.com
Instructors are in the process of obtaining permission from film producers to make
the film available for students in this course
Girl Shot in Head by Taliban Speaks at UN (2013): Malala Yousafzai United
Nations Speech (2013). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRh_30C8l6Y
A 19:36 second video of Malala Yousafzai speaking on her 16th
birthday
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Web Slides Educating Girls: Storify collection assembled by Fred Mednick. Retrieved from:
Storify: http://sfy.co/gOFuDesigned to familiarize oneself with the issues through web resources
UN Report Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx
The formal document itself (about 10 pages, 30 Articles)
Interactive
DatabaseWorldwide Inequality Database on Education (2013). Education for All Global
Monitoring Report http://www.education-inequalities.org/.
Interactive database based upon Education for All monitoring data
Global Case
Study
Analysis
Exclusion, Gender and Education: Case studies from the developing world. Center
for Global Development, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from:
http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/9781933286228-Lewis-Lockheed-exclusion.pdf
Preface, ix-xi; Social Exclusion, pgs. 1-27.
These case studies by the authors ofInexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still
Arent In School and What to Do About It, examine the correlation between the lack of
school attendance and social marginalization and how NGOs have achieved parity
Theory of
ChangeTheory of Change. Retrieved from: Center for Civic Partnerships.
http://www.civicpartnerships.org/ - !theory-of-change/c6i2
Definitions for theories of change, along with an annotated list of references.
The Spark Initiatives Theory of Change. Retrieved from:
http://www.smartstartga.org/_downloads/30924_Berkley_Spark_TheoryOfChange.p
df
A two-page overview based upon change factors, transition strategies, outcomes and
impact demonstrations, and scaling mechanisms developed by the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation
Recommended Readings
Alston, Philip (2004). A human rights perspective on the millennium development goals. Special
adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the MDGs, for the
millennium project task force on poverty and economic development. Retrieved from:
www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Claiming_MDGs_en.pdf
Education from a Gender Equality Perspective. USAID. Retrieved from:
http://www.ungei.org/resources/files/Education_from_a_Gender_Equality_Perspective.pdf
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Fast Tracking Girls Education: A Progress Report by the Education for All Initiative:
http://www.globalpartnership.org/media/library/girls-report/1-FastTrackEd-Girls-education-
report-full.pdf
Enarson, Elaine (2000, May 3-5). Gender issues in natural disasters: Talking points and research
needs. ILO inFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction.
Human Rights Watch (2010). Schools as battlegrounds. Retrieved from:
http://www.hrw.org/features/schools-as-battlegrounds; Education Under Attack (UNESCO),
retrieved from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001868/186809e.PDF
Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies. Gender Task Team. Pocket guide to gender:.
http://toolkit.ineesite.org/toolkit/Toolkit.php?PostID=1009 ; Pocket guide to gender
Implementation tools. http://toolkit.ineesite.org/toolkit/Toolkit.php?PostID=1113
Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies. IUCN. International Union for Conservation of
Nature. Disaster and Gender Statistics Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/1aZpVgi
Lewis, M. & Lockheed, M. (2007). Rich world poor world: A guide to global development. Center
for Global Development. Education and the developing world: Why is education essential for
development? Retrieved from: http://www.cgdev.org/files/2844_file_EDUCATON1.pdf
Mayo, Dambisa. (2009, Mar 21). Why foreign aid is hurting Africa, retrieved from: Wall Street
Journal, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123758895999200083
Milanovic, Branko. (2012). "Global income inequality by the numbers: in history and now --an
overview--," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6259, The World Bank.
Pogge, T. Interview. ASAP: Academics stand against poverty. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/1eB04gb
Shapiro, Ilana (2005). Theories of Change. Retrieved from: Beyond Intractability. Retrieved from:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/theories-of-change
Spark Initiatives Theory of Change. Buck Institute for Education. Retrieved from:
http://bit.ly/ITS9QJ
Temin, M. & Levine, R. (2009). Start with a girl: A new agenda for global health. Center for Global
Development. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/fEEcv
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. World Atlas of Gender Equality in
Education. Retrieved from: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/unesco-world-atlas-
gender-education-2012.pdfand corresponding interactive database:
http://www.app.collinsindicate.com/atlas-gender-education/en-us
United Nations Development Program (2009). Making disaster risk reduction gender-sensitive:
Policy and practical guidelines. ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UNDP).
2009. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN
Women). Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/17Y0az4United Nations General Assembly (2012, Aug 6) accelerating progress towards the millennium
development goals: options for sustained and inclusive growth and issues for advancing the UN
development agenda beyond 2015. Annual Report of the Secretary-General, 65thsession.
Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/1bKH7Hx
United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI). Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved from
http://www.ungei.org/whatisungei/index_2581.html
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United Nations Girls Education Initiative (2002). Engendering empowerment report, 2012: Global
partnership for education. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/1fQ2ojM
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (2005). Hyogo framework for action:
2005-2015. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/187RwZn
United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Resources for speakers on global issues. Retrieved
from: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/mdgs/stories.shtml
United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/report-2013/mdg-report-2013-english.pdf
United Nations Secretary Generals Report (See Footnote 3), and UNAIDS Report on the Global
AIDS Epidemic 2010, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) (Geneva,
2010).
United Nations Women. (2012). How women and girls are faring: Charting progress on the
millennium development goals. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/1bKHgLd
Williams, R. (Mar 11 2013). Why girls in India are still missing out on the education they need.
Retrieved from: The Guardian online: http://bit.ly/17FEBO5
Notes