Successful Transition and Advancement of Rights for Girls (STAR-G)

The STAR-G project supported 30,616 girls and was implemented by Save the Children in Mozambique.

There are a higher number of out-of-school girls in Mozambique than boys, and more out-of-school learners in rural areas. Many learners enrol to primary school late and many repeat classes. In project communities, drought has led to further dropout, particularly in Gaza, as many families relocate and pull children out of school to contribute to domestic work and the family’s income.

Societal norms tend to negatively discriminate against girls. Expectations around roles, aspirations and educational attainment of girls and boys are gendered, and as they approach adolescence, the pressure they face to conform to these expectations becomes more pronounced resulting in early marriage and pregnancy. This has a negative impact on girls’ education. High teacher-to student ratios have a negative impact on the quality of education and many learners do not speak the language of instruction at home.

STAR-G has worked to improve the life chances of marginalised girls by equipping them with functional literacy and numeracy skills and empowering them to transition to the next stage of education. It focused on raising the skills and motivation of teachers, tutors and education facility managers, and worked closely with communities to ensure long-term changes in support to girls’ education. It also worked with the Ministry of Education on identifying and addressing the barriers to girls’ learning at secondary level and establishing Distance Learning and Community Based Education (CBE) centres as alternative pathways to secondary level education.

Main activities

• Offering professional development for teachers, CBE facilitators and distance learning tutors.
• Providing alterative pathways for girls though distance learning education and community-based education centres.
• Providing academic support for primary and secondary school girls, including provision of materials and establishment of study groups.
• Providing bursaries to in-school girls to assist with the costs of school fees, uniform and materials, and providing transport to secondary schools.
• Empowering girls through Girls’ Clubs which equip them to champion their rights and advocate for their own protection
• Running community-based activities to support girls’ education and empower existing community structures to support girls’ needs.

The project in numbers

Lessons learned

The project must have the technical expertise to improve learning and life outcomes for girls. It is Important that the expertise within the project team is aligned to the strategic aims of the project including specialist education and gender capacity. As the project progressed, a gender specialist was hired to exclusively deal with gender issues, and subject specialists were hired linked to the learning outcome of the project.

Collaboration with education officials at all levels from the outset was key to building common understanding, accountability, ownership and sustainability. Involving the education officials from the design stage promoted a sense of ownership, which worked in favour of the project in subsequent years and set a positive precedent for interventions being fully aligned and integrated with government systems.

In times of crisis, such as COVID-19, the most marginalised are the most vulnerable to further educational marginalised and require additional support. An assessment of the needs of project girls during school closures found that the most vulnerable girls’ barriers and challenges to education were exacerbated by COVID-19. Barriers included limited access to radio and mobile device for learning, increased risk to sexual and gender-based violence, and an increase in household chores.

Save the Children: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/