Transcript Development and Education context

Partnerships for Girls
Education
Nitya Rao
School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia
Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE)
The Global Scenario
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Emphasis on gender equality in basic education:
Reflected in EFA and MDGs.
GMR 2007 notes that one-third of 181 countries
missed the gender parity target at the primary level
and two-thirds at the secondary level.
Majority of these countries lie in Sub-Saharan Africa
and South Asia
Renewed emphasis on partnerships as a means to
achieving this goal - states, civil society and donor
agencies.
Extreme Poverty remains a reality
1.2 B in 1990 to 1.09 B in 2001 but still:
More than 1Billion people live on less than $1 /day
Source: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005, United
Nations, Page No. 7
Children and women are among
the worse affected
 UNICEF: Number of child (under 5) deaths due to
poverty
30,000 each day
210,000 each week
11 million per year
Just 5 diseases responsible for half the deaths of
under-5’s: pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, measles
and AIDS
 70% of 1.1 billion in extreme poverty are women
Source: State of the World’s Children, 2005, UNICEF
Who is out-of-school?
Girls, rural, poor, with uneducated mother
47
Male
53
Female
18
Urban
82
Rural
23
Richest 20%
77
Poorest 20%
25
Mother with some education
75
Mother with no education
0
20
40
60
80
100
Distribution of out-of-school children (percentage) 2001
Barriers Faced: Reasons for Dropout
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Poverty, household income and costs of
education;
Opportunity cost to parents (need for child to
work for cash/kind at home/outside) – for girls, in
particular, need to care for their siblings;
Distance of School from home – issues of
access and safety;
Poor quality of education leading to lack of
interest, repeated failures,
poor learning outcomes;
Poor nutrition and health;
Perception of economic
benefits.
Addressing the
problem
 Interventions required
at multiple levels.
 Partnerships seen as the only way forward for
achieving the MDGs:
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A shared social vision to ensure education for
all children irrespective of gender, location,
class, community or other characteristics.
Broad-based alliances drawing upon the
comparative advantage of different ‘partners’.
BUT, Challenges too:
 Understandings of partnership may vary, often
following differences in power and resources
between actors: collaborator, contractor, supporter,
client or patron?
 Roles and expectations may vary, conflicts of
interests, ideologies and scope of practical action
may arise (innovations versus scaling up): Is it
service provision, advocacy or engaging
communities?
 At country level, conceptual dualisms between formal
and non-formal prevail, coinciding with the nature of
provider (Govt /NGO) and target group (girls/women).
Successful Partnerships: The case of
CAMPE in Bangladesh (A)
 A network of over 1000 educational NGOs and CBOs
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that came together after Jomtien in 1991.
Aim: To supplement and complement government
education programmes through service provision,
advocacy, capacity-building and awareness raising.
A new GO-NGO partnership: NGOs managing and
running ECCE centres attached to government
primary schools.
Yet GO support in terms of materials, trained
teachers and purpose-built classrooms lacking.
CAMPE seeks to enhance government support and
change perspectives by evidence-based advocacy
through its Education Watch research.
While problems in practice, not just a serviceprovider, involved in policy-making processes as well.
Where are the out-of school?
Pakistan
Indonesia
China
Bangladesh
India
Others
India: National Coalition for Education
and the Parliamentarians Forum (B)
 Formed in 2001, led by the South Asian Coalition on Child
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Servitude (SACCS is a network of 760 NGOs, trade unions
etc), with teachers unions, in their campaign to make
education a constitutional right (93rd Amendment).
Focus: Grassroots mobilisation not enough. Politicians,
Parliamentarians and Governments need to prioritise
children and their right to quality education.
Girls form majority of the excluded, especially those from
SC, ST and minority groups.
A major success was the formation of the Parliamentarians’
Forum on Education (with 168 MPs from different parties) to
work as a pressure group on the government, following the
‘knock the door’ campaign by children in November 2001.
Formation of MLA forums for raising educational issues at
state level; and Vigilance Committees on education at
grassroots level (people’s reps, teachers and local
government reps).
Scaling Up; September 2006 South Asian Parliamentarians
Forum on Education launched with support from NCE and
Commonwealth Education Fund. Have helped to bridge the
gap between elected policy makers and the people.
Positive Learning Working
Group (C)
 Focus: Addressing multi-sectoral challenges
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of HIV/AIDS and education.
The ‘education vaccine’ seen as essential to prevent the spread
of HIV in Asia (which has 3/4th of the world’s illiterate population
and close to half of HIV infected population).
PLWG formed in 2005 after a series of consultations brought
together people/organisations working on health, education,
migrant issues and HIV/AIDs.
Partnership between regional thematic networks e.g. Migrant
Forum in Asia, Asian Harm Reduction Network, Asian South
Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, Asia-Pacific network of
People living with HIV/AIDS, Health and Development
Networks, UNESCO.
Common objectives/ideas shared: of enabling students (and
teachers) to complete the educational cycle (dropping out due to
infection or care tasks) and reducing stigma and discrimination.
While enhancing community engagement an important activity,
major role seen as an advocacy body, which could also provide
technical support and facilitate capacity-building.
What makes partnerships work?
 Acknowledging difference, but developing
common ground based on shared
understandings rather than specific projects.
 “Enabling the Enablers”: demand-driven and
context-based capacity-building of education
providers - trainings, workshops, festivals.
Capacity-building and Leadership
development: a range of interventions
 Documentation of
innovative work and
good practice.
 Rigorous research and
its dissemination.
 Development of learning
materials and user
guides for enhancing
community engagement.
 Strengthening coalitions
amongst those with
interests in education,
but also across sectors.
Successful partnerships require
an investment of resources
Comparison of global spending 1998
$ Billion
Universal Primary Education
Perfumes in Europe & US
Pet food in Europe & US
Business entertainment Japan
Alcohol in Europe
Military spending worldwide
7
12
17
35
105
780
Source: (Source: Human Development Report 1998, United Nations
Development Program)
Contribution of Partnerships in
Attaining gender equity in education
 Innovative and coordinated approaches for provision
of good quality, empowering education to the
excluded.
 Demanding accountability and commitment from
states for adequate budget allocation to basic
education (infrastructure, fees and incentives).
 Capacity-building and motivation of teachers and
trainers to ensure learning.
 Monitoring progress in terms of learning
achievements, resource allocations and political
commitments at local, national and international
levels (The Asia School Report Card with the
participation of 10 national coalitions in process).