improving girls’ access through transforming education (igate) a non-traditional randomized...
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Improving Girls’ Access through Transforming Education (IGATE)
A non-traditional Randomized Control trial – The IGATE Baseline Study in
Zimbabwe.(UKFIET 2015, Oxford University)
Mbuso Jama & Lotte RenaultTuesday, 15 September 2015, Room 7
(UKFIET 2015, Oxford University, UK)
Project Background
Mothers Groups
Marginalised Girls & PW
Clubs
Village Savings & Lending Groups
Community
Leaders
School Developm
ent Committe
e
Male Champion
s
Matrons
CSGE Committe
es
EFZUDACIZA
MoPSE
IGATE Interventions
Improved academic performance for girl
child
Intervention Intervention Intervention
School
Household
Community
*MGs – parental support for girl child*CSGE – awareness on education standards*Religious Leaders Engagement – practices and value
*VSL – savings and IGAs
*BEEP – Provision of bicycles to boys and
girls*Male Champions – male supporting girls;
*SDC – School Management Training
and WASH;*CSGE – Establishing
abuse reporting mechanisms;
*Power Within – Establishing Girls Clubs
and training Matrons
Girl Child
*Low literacy and numeracy fluency levels for girls in
target school;
*Low parental support for girl children;*Low awareness on education standards and policy;*Religious beliefs, and practices attach low value to girl child;
*Low progression and promotion rates;
*Low School Management
Capacity;*School toilet
infrastructure not girl friendly;
*Low self-esteem and confidence for girls;
*Low economic capacity and investment in girls
education;*Less women
participating in decision making;
* Long distance between home and school – girls tired and attend less;
*Literacy Improvement – Material, camps
and practice
*Improved mechanisms supporting girls education (abuse, violence etc)*Increased support and value for girl child;*Increased awareness on education standards;
*Increased budget and activities for girl child in
school development plans;
*Increased retention, attendance and
enrolment;*Girls learning without
fear;
*Increased income and investment in girls
education;*More women participating
in decision making;*Reduced time to get to
school;
Baseline Study Design
Intervention group
(52) schools
Control group (33)
schools
Baseline
Baseline
Randomised Control Trial with data collected on baseline (t1), follow up at (t2) and (t3)
467 T Schools
Time, T1
33 C Schools
Year 1 - 2013 Baseline
Mixed Methods Approach
1,950 girls
950 girls
Use of Robust Mixed MethodsQuantitative
MethodsLevelQualitative Methods
KII with District Education Officials
(DEO)District
Quantitative Analysis of school
records (enrolment)
Sample of Schools
Sample of Teachers
Sample of Households
Quantitative analysis of school
records (Attendance, Performance)
Quantitative Survey (Performance,
Attendance)
Quantitative Household Survey (KAP, Assets, etc)
In-depth Interviews with Headmasters – School governance,
language
In-depth Interviews with sample for
teachers
FGD with households – perceptions,
practices, KII with Traditional Leaders
Sample of Girls
Quantitative Analysis of EGRA + EGMA test scores;
YLI and GEI
Focus Group Discussion with Boys
and Girls
Multiple Layers of Analysis
Enrolment (94%)
Attendance (96%)
Workload (45% > 4 chores)
Migration (7%)
Gender Equity + Chores
Violence / Safety
Youth Healthy Behaviour +
Pregancy
Youth Leadership
Infrastructure
Performance
Attendance
Enrolment
Trends in retention, attendance
Challenges faced by girl child
Quality of education
Drivers of drop-out & non-attendance
Remittances from children
under 16
Reasons for drop out
Caregiver Survey
Girl Child Survey
Focus Group
Discussion
Key Informant Interviews
Schools Survey
EGRA & EGMA
Poverty
OOS (13%)
Proportional Pilling on Income &
Expenditure
Perceptions and value for
education
Triangulation Illuminatio
nInformation Validation
Analysis of enrolment findings
Enrolment
90%
94%
EMIS
Out of school
10%
6%
EMIS
Add
Migration
6% 7%
Caregiver
Net
Out of School
12%
13%
Report
Reas
ons
FGDs reported several cases of children
being pressured by caregivers and
parents to migrate and support their families through
remittances
Poverty
65% of the 10% of total girls who
migrated were out of school.
41%
59%
Girls Survey
Overage
Girls’ enrolment rates
start decreasing at ages
11-12 and at 15 years of
age, they are at 83%
+
FGDs overwhelmingly
reported migration as a phenomenon affecting boys more than girls
BGA, IKS and School Surveys Apostolic sect (Johanne Marange) as endorsing child marriage and being more reluctant to send girls to school, but these opinions are not borne out by the quantitative data. Similar indications were obtained through participants in FGDs at the Gender Analysis and Indigenous Knowledge Study.
Early Child Marriage
DHS
201
2
The DHS 2012 indicates a high prevalence of pregnancy among 15-19 year olds in targeted areas, ranging from 17.6% in Masvingo to 24% in Matabeleland North.
FGDs - Caregivers Qualitative information indicates high occurrence of early marriage, particularly among specific religious groups, such as the VaPostori. .
Girls Survey only 0.6% of the girl respondents declared to be married, and only 0.3% are or ever have been pregnant. .
Information on early marriage not fully disclosed by
caregivers/households.
Caregiver Survey
• The increase in absenteeism and workload through time (Figure 2) suggests that underlying gender norms related to adolescent girls play a strong role in the decision of missing school, and may ultimately lead to the decision of dropping out altogether..
Analysis of attendance findings
Indicator / Finding Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
*Twelve percent of the girls age 13 and above missed months or years of schooling, compared to 5% of those age 10‐12.
*The difference in absenteeism among older and younger girls is much higher than the difference in the degree of absenteeism among girls living in households able to meet basic needs (93% attending school most of the time). Poverty plays a role in absenteeism.
*There is a negative correlation between distance to school and attendance rates. In the 90‐99% attendance bracket, only 29% of the girls walk more than 30 min to school, while 48% of those in the 70‐79% bracket walk 30 min or more.
Quantitative Data*An analysis of school records indicates high absenteeism rates, with 33% of the girls in the age range 13‐15 missing 10% or more of the school days; during Form 1, 38% of the girls missed 10% or more of the school year.*24% of the girls had 100% attendance.
Qualitative Data*Peer support emerges as a positive factor: 67% of the girls who have good friends at school were present for 80‐99% of the time, compared to 55% of those who have not.*Qualitative data suggests that absenteeism is mostly related to the inequitable distribution of the workload at home; beliefs associated to menstruation, as well as lack of menstrual pads and inadequacy of school toilets;
Learning Outcomes
• Learning outcomes are poor at all levels, with girls in Form 2 reaching an average score of less than 40% in reading comprehension questions about a short, basic paragraph;
• Reading fluency (number of words read per minute) increases through time, while reading comprehension remains poor; Note - girls were tested in English (the official language of instruction), the results suggests that this second language was not mastered by most of the girls assessed in this study.
• Predictors of poor learning included, being absent more than 20% of the time (strong predictor), teacher absenteeism, less qualified teacher, textbook sharing and surprisingly religion (belonging to traditional or Va Postori Sect).
• Indigenous Knowledge Study (IKS) highlighted the social importance of virginity in local cultures, and the taboos associated with sexual activity among unmarried girls. It is possible that caregivers’ responses in relation to violence are not accurate due to the sensitivity of the issues involved.
Gender Based Violence (GBV)
25% of the female students said that
there are things that are not good in school
17% reported being afraid some of the
time in school
13% of the girls age 12-15 do not feel safe in
their community
Issues related to violence and gender-based violence were
also scarcely mentioned by caregivers.
Caregivers - Only 5% indicated that girls had seen violence in school (against girls or boys).
Qualitative data indicates the occurrence of gender-based violence on the way to school and in school grounds.
Girls Survey
Household Chores (Attendance and Learning)
• The number of chores performed increases considerably with age: by the time girls are 15 years old, 45% of them are performing four or more chores.
• In contrast, qualitative data indicated that girls are spending a massive amount of time doing chores, and both the Gender Analysis and the Indigenous Knowledge Study highlighted the cultural importance of girls performing chores as a way of training them for marriage and childcare, and of building a sense of responsibility.
Analysis both quantitative and qualitative data indicate a strong gendered pattern in the division of work, with traditional cultures reinforcing the need to engage girls in chores as a part of their preparation for marriage.
Workload, Chores & Attendance for girls
Indicator / Finding Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Analysis
Workload and Chores - Household chores and the girl’s age have an important negative effect on attendance: as girls become older, they perform more chores and attend school less often.*The number of chores performed increases dramatically with age: by the time girls are 15 years old, 45% of them are performing four or more chores.
*Only 41% of the girls age 15 attend school 90% or more of the time.*Most caregivers did not point out household chores as a factor affecting attendance or enrolment.
Quantitative Data*61% of the girls performing no chores attended more than 90% of the time; only 51% of the girls performing four types of chores attended more than 90% of the time.
Qualitative DataMost caregivers indicated that girls spend little time doing household chores;
Girls described a heavy schedule of chores which reduces their sleeping hours and affects their ability to pay attention at school.
Conclusion• In contrast with traditional randomised controlled trials, IGATE’s
baseline made a conscious investment in qualitative research along with the use of robust quantitative tools.
• Benefit from the combined expertise of consortium members in the form of various tools tailored for use with marginalised adolescents, assessing complex outcomes related to behaviour, leadership and social norms.
• The use of tools targeting various respondent groups through different methodologies, quantitative and qualitative, combined with an analysis framework that focussed on triangulation of results at multiple levels, resulted in the identification of varying perspectives about factors affecting girls’ enrolment, attendance, participation, performance and retention in school.
• Baseline results have shown relationships between education outcomes and social norms and family characteristics.