Girls’ education projects succeed when whole communities ‘live the change’ and carry it forward

(Press-News.org) Education projects supporting marginalised girls in lower-income countries are more likely to achieve lasting transformations when they mobilise young women and their communities as “agents of change”, a new report indicates.

The recommendation comes from the latest evaluation of the Girls’ Education Challenge: a UK Government-supported initiative which has funded projects reaching more than 1.6 million girls. The University of Cambridge-led study finds that these projects initiated “virtuous cycles” of change – particularly by rooting themselves in communities and empowering young women to lead the way.

In many low- and lower-middle-income countries, girls face persistent inequalities that limit their learning and life chances. Many drop out of school early due to early marriage, pregnancy or because they are expected to work at home. Marginalised girls, who live in extreme poverty, have disabilities, or come from remote areas, are least likely to attend or complete school.

 

Although some aid programmes target marginalised girls, their impact can be short-lived. Aside from the difficulties of changing deep-seated social norms, the initial momentum from girls’ education programmes is easily lost when funding ends, and is also vulnerable to economic shocks, conflict, and environmental crises. For this reason, the new evaluation explores how far Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) projects managed to deliver sustainable change, and under what conditions.

The study was undertaken by a collaboration which has carried out previous evaluations for the GEC, led by the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. One earlier study, in 2023, provided substantive evidence of the projects’ success in enhancing the learning and life opportunities of marginalised girls, but warned that long-term success would depend on sustained investment.

Although it reiterates that warning, the new report, which is based on evidence from 27 projects with a particular focus on Nepal and Zimbabwe, expresses cautious optimism that they have laid the foundations for lasting progress.

REAL Centre Director, Professor Pauline Rose, said: “Many girls’ education projects emphasise the importance of community buy-in, but the GEC projects succeeded in part because they also worked through communities – embedding processes of transformation in local structures and making communities, along with young women themselves, the carriers of change.”

One key reason for the projects’ success, the authors argue, was their relatively long duration, from 2017 to 2024. This allowed them to challenge entrenched social norms – such as support for preventing early marriage or gender-based violence – that often represent barriers to girls’ education and life chances.

Rather than simply running awareness campaigns, many projects engaged influential local figures, groups and school committees to help challenge these attitudes. In Zimbabwe, for instance, a mothers’ support group and local faith leaders were engaged to monitor girls’ wellbeing, and proved instrumental in identifying and reporting cases of child abuse and early marriage. One teacher-mentor told the researchers that their efforts had “significantly reduced incidents of early marriage”.

 

In Nepal, parent-teacher associations and school management committees were directly involved in managing school supplies, handling requests for uniforms and hygiene items for girls attending school, and delivering GEC activities. Local businesses provided work experience and supported the girls’ career development. This embedded approach, which mobilises the community to support girls’ education is, the report suggests, key to sustainability.

Echoing findings from the 2023 report, the authors also emphasise the importance of empowering young women as “agents of change”. In several of the participating countries, graduates of GEC-backed projects were trained to run life skills sessions, support groups, and mentoring schemes for other students. This approach, which is embodied in initiatives such as the Campaign for Female Education’s “Learner Guides” programme, is increasingly acknowledged as invaluable to sustaining progress in girls’ education and has also been adopted by organisations such as UNICEF and the World Bank.

Beyond its immediate educational impact, the new study suggests that this model had ripple effects which reshaped social expectations. As girls progressed into higher education or employment, the report suggests they became visible role models who helped communities perceive the broader benefits of ensuring access to a quality education. “Once people have moved forward and grabbed education, they can’t think of going backward and not educating their children,” one teacher in Nepal told the research team.

A third mechanism of long-term change was the projects’ alignment with national and local government priorities, as well as the work of other organisations. In Nepal, authorities took direct responsibility for aspects of the GEC project, for example; while an implementing partner in Uganda emphasised the importance of the project’s integration into school development planning and governance.
 

Although it suggests that the GEC projects have therefore laid the groundwork for sustained progress, the report also draws attention to the basic fragility of girls’ education, especially its vulnerability to system-wide shocks and emergencies. One GEC partner in Kenya, for instance, reported that after a prolonged drought, some families had begun to see the “bride price” they might get for marrying off their daughters as a potential solution to their financial difficulties. “That may erode the gains we have worked towards,” they said.

“Unfortunately, girls’ education, particularly for the most marginalised, is often a casualty of any crisis,” Dr Amna Ansari, the report’s lead author, said. “We need the international community and national governments alike to remain committed to supporting it, but the mechanisms for sustaining positive change are nevertheless becoming clear. When communities are mobilised, girls are empowered to lead, and projects are connected to their systemic context, a virtuous cycle emerges, along with a groundswell of local support. Those are the features that can carry change forward.”

The report can be accessed here.

ENDS.

 

 

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