There are plenty of studies that ana-lyze the problems affecting women's eduction in Sub-Saharan Africa, but very few of them suggest how to tackle these problems, which are caused by socio-economic conditions and school environments as well as political and institutional factors. A new study by the World Bank, however, provides not only an exhaustive summary of current knowledge concerning the obstacles to girls' schooling in Africa; it also presents practical ways of using this knowledge to design projects that can reduce the gender gap in education, and offers an overview of some promising strategies, programs and projects being tried in other parts of the developing world. The study, Girls and Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Analysis to Action, is the Bank's contribution to the efforts that African governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors have been making in recent years to develop programs that address the problems of improving girls' educational participation. Many of the challenges facing education systems in Africa certainly do not concern women alone: fiscal crises, civil strife, political instability, drought, endemic poverty and high population growth rates all place tremendous pressures on education systems, as do poor student participation, high drop-out and repetition rates, low academic achievement, and low teacher morale and attendance. But promoting female education remains the biggest challenge of all, because it is becoming increasingly clear that educating girls, as well as boys, is crucial for social and economic development. Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa indicates that_in spite of improvements in female participation_girls' and women's access to education remains limited in several countries across the region. Once enrolled, girls are more likely to drop out of school than boys; their academic achievement is poorer than that of boys and few girls opt for math- or science-related fields of study. "Much remains to be done to design and implement programs to accelerate female education in the region," says the report. "Few significant programs and projects have been implemented to reduce the gender gap in education, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and those implemented have had limited impact." Although it is difficult to assess the cost-effectiveness of most initiatives, the most promising approaches appear to be those which address supply- and demand-side factors simultaneously. On the supply side, this means building more schools, improving the school environment, training more female teachers and removing gender bias in textbooks. On the demand side, it requires information campaigns to promote the benefits of female education, and stipends and scholarships as incentives. The study also found that most of the successful initiatives are conceived and managed by NGOs on a relatively small scale, with little direct government involvement but with strong community engagement, but warned that the effectiveness of many initiatives has yet to be proven. The study proposes three phases that governments can use in moving from analysis to action: The major problem in a given field must be identified, using as a starting point an analysis of 18 statistical indicators which follow the status of girls as they progress through the education system. Principal controllable causes of the problem need to be diagnosed, for which the Bank has prepared a separate set of questions that can be used to analyze the household, school, community and national level factors that influence female participation in education. It should then be possible to identify how much each factor contributes to the key problem and which ones need to be dealt with. Alternative mixes of possible interventions can be developed, assessed and planned in detail to form an intervention program. The report suggests practical ways to develop this program. For prices and ordering information, call Distribution at (202) 473-1155, fax (202) 522-2627 or e-mail to books@worldbank.org. |
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