Jielimishe (Educate Yourself)

The Jielimishe project supported 11,386 girls and was implemented by I Choose Life - Africa in Kenya.

The project worked to address the most common barriers to girls’ education. These include gender inequalities, poverty, limited value placed on education girls, girls facing insecurity when travelling (long distances) to school, and household responsibilities affecting girls’ abilities to fully engage with learning activities.

The project supported girls across 20 primary schools and 39 secondary schools to complete a full cycle of education and transition to the next level. This included alternative pathways such as technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The approach focused on increasing girls’ motivation to learn through Girls’ Clubs and mentorship schemes, improving the quality of teaching through teacher training, coaching and mentorship, and encouraging local communities to support girls’ education. The project also supported 6,980 boys in primary and secondary school to ensure that boys were also able go to school and benefit from a supportive learning environment.

Main activities

• Training 37 teacher champions and 162 teachers in gender-sensitive and inclusive teaching approaches.
• Providing information and communication technology (ICT) and training teachers to use it effectively.
• Providing academic and career mentorship to girls and establishing remedial support for weaker students.
• Providing scholarship and bursary support to marginalised girls and empowering communities through economic opportunities.
• Developing Girls’ Clubs to promote empowerment and self-confidence, including training on social and emotional learning and sexual and reproductive health.
• Providing resources and learning materials, including solar lamps for home study and material to develop libraries.

The project in numbers

Lessons learned

Building girls self-esteem and motivation helps improve learning outcomes. Building girls’ life skills around self-efficacy and self-confidence helps them to become more focused on their studies, more engaged in classroom learning and more willing to complete additional studies.

Remote learning proved challenging for girls, with many reporting they were unmotivated and unengaged in learning during lockdown. This was often true for the most disadvantaged with no access to technological devices. Thus, alternatives were needed for girls who cannot access mobile phones, tablets, and computers.

Professional coaching was the most valuable means of building teachers’ capacity along with hands-on IT support. The one-on-one model allowed teachers to focus on their individual techniques and receive real-time support to improve their teaching approaches.

There is more work needed concerning the stigma around menstruation. While girls were taught reproductive health details on menstruation, the social stigma continued to negatively impact school attendance.

I Choose Life – Africa: http://www.ichooselife.or.ke/index.php