Educate Girls, End Poverty

The EGEP project supported 30,100 girls and was implemented in Somalia.  

Somalia has one of the lowest school enrolment rates in the world with over three million school-aged children out of school. The main barriers are the cost and opportunity-cost for parents of sending children to school. In many households demands for girls to support with chores at home or manage households increases with age, meaning that the older girls targeted by EGEP were likely to experience a particularly onerous burden of household tasks. Furthermore, early marriage and pregnancy are linked to early dropout. Girls also face several other barriers to education, such as low availability of sanitation facilities, lack of female teachers, safety concerns and social norms that favour sending boys to school. 

EGEP supported the hardest to reach girls, in mainly urban areas of Somalia, to increase their educational achievements and to successfully transition from primary to secondary education or vocational and employment opportunities. This was done through an integrated approach which focused on improving both academic and life skills of learners. The project worked at the system, school and community level to ensure holistic support to girls’ education, and to ensure core activities were sustained beyond the lifetime of the project.  

Main activities

• Working with the Ministry of Education and Teacher Training Institutes to train primary and secondary school teachers in improved teaching practices, gender-friendly and inclusive education, and English language skills.
• Improving access to education for marginalised girls through the provision of bursaries, sanitary kits and solar lamps and Girls' Clubs.
• Providing remedial classes in English and Maths to support children who were underperforming in the subject areas.
• Building life skills though Girls’ Clubs and supporting female mentors to run leadership activities for girls which helped build confidence.
• Training Community Education Committees in planning and monitoring processes for their schools, and to play a lead role in supporting girls to complete school through community-led behavioural change.

The project in numbers

Lessons learned  

Subject-specific methodologies are key area for professional development amongst teachers. At the outset of the project, subject knowledge was also identified as one of the weakest links in teacher capacity. Therefore, training on the use of new methodologies and classroom management practices, needs to be linked to teachers’ subject areas. Not only is it important that teachers have in-depth knowledge of their subject and the curriculum, they must also know how learners learn their subject. A starting point for projects is to know where teachers have gaps in their own skills, subject knowledge and subject-related methodologies. 

Collaborative coaching was an effective method of teacher professional development. It was notable that it took time for teachers to become comfortable with coaching practices, particularly classroom observations, but when coaching activities were approached collaboratively, teachers found them very valuable. It was also important that there was buy-in from headteachers and that they managed and oversaw the process, particularly if activities were to be sustained.  

Leadership activities have helped improve girls’ confidence which has a positive impact on learning outcomes. Girls attributed their improved learning outcomes to improved confidence to engage in learning. Girls suggested that the use of leadership-based activities in the class and outside of class made them feel more confident asking questions in their lessons and sharing their learnings with one another 

Building the capacity of Community Education Committees had positive impacts on the education of the most vulnerable. The Community Education Committees had a focus on improving education outcomes for the most marginalised learners in their communities. At the end of the project, they had taken ownership themselves in addressing the barriers to learning for the most disadvantaged. It should be noted however, that the sustainability of efforts is often reliant on the motivation and commitment of schools, particularly the headteachers.