Written by BEC member World Vision (Zayid Douglas, Alisa Phillips, Janelle Zwier and Danielle McCadden)

World Vision believes in fostering girls’ agency and safe education transition for them to create bright futures for themselves. In the past year and a half, when girls have experienced school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed the importance of harnessing a broad range of high- and low-tech distance learning approaches that are locally relevant and sometimes locally made from locally available materials. We have used these methods to reach girls across the different education transitions, from pre-primary to primary, continuing through to secondary and Technical Vocational Education and Training.

Young children, up to the age of 5, go through the most rapid brain development.[1] Strategic investment in quality pre-primary education for young girls and boys is, therefore, critical to positively impact an individual’s lifelong learning outcomes and societies overall.[2] To improve girls’ and boys’ life outcomes, we recognize that there is urgent need to increase quality programming that incorporates health, nutrition, safety and security, responsive caregiving, and early learning.[3] Investing in this type of holistic pre-primary programming that is play-based supports girls’ readiness to primary school and is essential for their development and success in primary school and beyond. Children enjoy ‘playing to learn’ by using manipulatives [4]and interacting with their environment. The pre-primary level is also a time of transition for both girls and boys as they meet new peers and learn to listen and follow new routines and instructions from teachers. The Rwanda Care and Comfort for Children on the Move project[5] emphasizes play, responsive caregiving, and positive parenting to support the development and transitions of young children. In this project, technology plays a key role by using audio sessions, developed in partnership with Sesame Workshop, that deliver playful parenting messages to caregivers for them to actively engage in their children’s learning.

Most of World Vision’s education programming and advocacy efforts focused on girls is done at the primary and secondary school levels. We know that beginning in the early grades, peer-to-peer learning and mentoring is important for girls to build their self-esteem and agency to succeed throughout school. Even at an early age, it’s important to motivate girls to be inspired to achieve more than what social norms might dictate. The All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD), a partnership of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision and the Australian Government, advances EdTech innovation and research to improve reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts. Through one innovation supported by this partnership, we learn about the story of a brave young girl named Grace. Grace doesn't hesitate to experience new things and explore a new world as she takes a journey to space, something she's always dreamed about. (To learn more about the author and the story of Grace in Space - go to the Global Digital Library [available for free download].)

Even as primary school-aged girls like the character Grace aspire to attend school and complete their education, they often experience increased home responsibilities, household chores, and greater and differing expectations about their role in the family as they age. In primary school, we also begin to observe how gender dynamics influence cooperative or peer learning in the classroom.[6] Even if girls can use technology in the classroom, access to technology outside of school time is not always afforded to girls, due to systemic and structural barriers that must be removed for girls to reap its benefit.[7]

It was especially important to remove barriers to learning for secondary school girls during school closures due to COVID-19. In many cases, this not only involved improved hardware and software required for accessing technology, but also raising awareness with caregivers on the role of distance learning, the importance of using the technology, and the benefits of girls’ and boys’ (continued) learning while not being able to attend class in person.

The World Vision-led Improving Gender Attitudes, Transition, and Education Outcomes (IGATE-T) project[8], funded by UK Aid through the Girls’ Education Challenge, revealed that there are entry barriers to digital learning related to girls’ lack of, or low foundational, literacy and numeracy skills, which often co-exist with the presence of less educated caregivers. Literacy and numeracy are essential for accessing digital skills; given the crisis of learning, particularly around literacy, this typically adds an additional layer of marginalization for girls. The IGATE-T endline found that in some communities, students with uneducated caregivers were less likely to be supported to attend community learning. These caregivers were least likely to engage with learning activities disseminated via WhatsApp.

However, girls like 13-year-old Esnath still found a way to access learning and motivate other girls to continue their education, even in the face of these obstacles. When schools closed in Zimbabwe, the IGATE-T program applied many strategies, building networks of community volunteers and girl peer leaders to remotely deliver literacy, numeracy, and life skills content using WhatsApp—eventually supplementing with print material. Intermediary community members and teachers worked to contact girl peer leaders and add those with access to phones to WhatsApp groups. Still, very few could access WhatsApp, even if they had access to a mobile phone—thus broadcast SMS was added. As a result of the outreach efforts by dedicated community members and teachers, 39% of peer leaders (382 of 977) were reached with these mobile platforms, most were of secondary school age.

During this time, Esnath was an instrumental peer leader in Chivi district, Zimbabwe. She mobilized girls to attend community learning circles during school closures. Esnath shared, “At Nehanda CLC I am the secretary of peer leads and my duties are as follows; I lead on discussions and share some sessions. One of the sessions I did is on Peer Pressure, I told my friends not to get married early and finish school.’’ Esnath works closely with the champions at the center and refers girls who may need assistance and counselling. She also maintains reading and study material that she shares with 9 other girls in her village.

““As a Peer leader I make sure that other children wash their hands before and after collecting their reading cards as I write their names down. I also select lessons on the radio for others to listen””

— Esnath

Evaluation findings confirmed that girls like Esnath who participated in peer learning sessions accelerated both their leadership and literacy skills.

In the IGATE-T project, while the focus was on increasing girls’ primary school completion and increasing secondary school access, retention, and learning outcomes, not all girls were able to successfully make the transition to secondary school. For girls who do not transition to secondary or do not complete due to multiple barriers, including pregnancy, vocational training and non-formal learning offers them an alternative. In these cases, there is potential for skills development via coaching and support, peer facilitation, non-formal routes to qualifications, and opportunities for last mile delivery of quality content. In all cases, access barriers, including gatekeepers to technology or resources, need to be addressed. Removing these barriers and making smart investments in technology-enhanced learning can open up new worlds of ideas, role models, and networks of support to often-isolated girls and young women.

When vocational training sessions for out of school youth disbanded abruptly in Zimbabwe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attempts to group and network out-of-school adolescents and young women remotely were difficult, as only 30% could be reached and put into WhatsApp support groups—versus 53% for boys. The majority had to be reached via intermediaries, including project community volunteers (who were also vital in recruiting the WhatsApp support group members, while around 12% of out of school adolescents and young women were no longer traceable. These WhatsApp support groups and intermediaries firstly provided social support and maintenance of communication channels for alternative content delivery and dissemination of adapted resources (e.g., business skills consolidation guides), followed by mobilization and support for transition opportunities,[9] including modified vocational training courses (due to COVID). These groups have evolved to become a lifeline in helping maintain girls’ social capital through ongoing networking and coaching, independent of the project.

Example of exchange between mentor and girl peer leader on topic of assertiveness and peer pressure.

Across the world from Zimbabwe, the USAID-funded Puentes project in Guatemala’s Western Highlands makes a concerted effort to introduce skills-based, educational, and entrepreneurial opportunities to youth ages 15 to 24—utilizing technology as a bridge to these groups. With the advent of COVID-19, Puentes further expanded their education and training programming offerings with increased transmission of information and education through means such as using virtual platforms to teach courses virtually and provide guidance and support via text message—easing access, and removing barriers, to such life-enhancing information. For several years, Puentes has also provided courses via radio, and recently rolled out a web-based version of its core skills curriculum. The increased flexibility and accessibility of such information has further supported youth with atypical schedules or those who are some distance away from Puentes centers. Youth with families, like Yesenia, a young mother who dropped out of secondary school when she became pregnant, are given the chance to continue their life skills education and training—giving them a new lease on life. In the words of Yesenia, they are given “…. the opportunity to focus on (our) goals and to dream.” Financial challenges brought on by the pandemic have driven some of Puentes’ older adolescent girl and female youth participants to engage in new livelihoods opportunities, often to generate income to support themselves and their families. Some are utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook to launch their small businesses.

This all goes to show that through a wide range of digital technologies, girls across various age groups can be equipped to continue their education and training in both formal and informal spaces and live out their dreams.

In most places that World Vision works, girls still face a variety of hurdles that impact their ability to successfully transition between childhood and adolescence, and from adolescence into adulthood. This includes the risk of gender-based violence, including child marriage, and other barriers that leave them with limited schooling and skills-building opportunities as they age. We need to ensure that girls can safely access the digital technologies they need to support and enhance their pursuit of education and learning opportunities. We need to call on global actors to continue their investment in education programming that breaks the barriers limiting girls from living out their full potential. If passed by the US Congress, the Keeping Girls in School Act would mandate that USAID and US Department of State address various barriers including normative barriers that limit girls from pursuing quality secondary education including those that dictate girls’ interactions with technology . We are in this together. We must work to make sure that our girls stay connected to those resources and aids that help them stay on the path to a bright future.

[1] Joan Lombardi on Getting the Most Bang for the Buck: Quality Early Education and Care, 2011
[2] Stepping up Early Childhood Development: Investing in Young Children for High Returns, Dendoba, Amina, Sayre, Rebecca, Wodon Quentin, Elder, Leslie, Rawlings, Laura, Lombardi, Joan, World Bank, CIFF, 2014.
[3] Early Childhood Development Coming of Age: Science through the Lifecourse, Advancing Early Childhood Development: From Science to Scale, Vol. 389, Issue 10064, January 2017.
[4] Manipulatives are defined as a hands-on approach where a learner uses objects to perceive an educational concept, etc.
[5] A Gift from the United States Government
[6] White Paper: Learning through Play at School, Parker, Rachel, Thomsen, Bo Stjerne, The Lego Foundation, 2019.
[7] EdTech Hub, Clear evidence, better decisions, more learning. Girls’ Education and EdTech: A Rapid Evidence Review, July 2020, Webb, Daniel, Barringer, Katie, Torrance, Rebecca, Refugee Support Network, Mitchell, Joel, Edtech Hub
[8] The IGATE-T Project since inception, has reached 40,928 primary and lower secondary girls in rural Zimbabwe.
[9] These transition opportunities include modified vocational training courses (due to COVID), standard operating procedures, attachments, part time continuing education, and start-up support.