Organization: UKAid and World Vision
Country: Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands, and Masvingo, Zimbabwe
Education level: Primary, Lower Secondary
Organization type: Nongovernmental organization
Family involvement: Strengthening Home Learning and Caregiving, Shifting Mindsets, Building Relationships and Interactions
Overview
Improving Girls’ Access through Transformative Education (IGATE) was a project put in place in 10 districts across four provinces of Zimbabwe from 2013 to 2017 by a consortium of nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners including World Vision and funded by UK Aid. The project received $25 million from UK Aid to eliminate barriers to education for girls by working within communities to change attitudes about girls’ education. To that end, IGATE engaged a diversity of actors, including parents, religious organizations, and teachers. All told, the project reached over 101,000 girls in 10 districts (World Vision, n.d.).
Strategies
Mothers and fathers groups to support girls’ education
The project established mothers groups of, on average, 15 parents each, which met regularly in homes and community centers to discuss the importance of girls’ education. It also implemented “male champions” programs, or fathers groups centered on the importance of girls’ education, to encourage men to advocate for their daughters’ learning in their homes and communities.
Parent and teacher mentors for girls
IGATE also supported the creation of Power Within clubs in schools. These clubs chose teachers to act as student mentors, who worked with parents from the mothers group to help girls develop self-confidence, learn to articulate the value of girls’ education, and cultivate life skills such as planning and decisionmaking. Additionally, the program put in place a series of trainings and meetings by public sector employees on the value of girls’ education and the standards communities should hold their schools to. IGATE even reached out to local religious leaders to determine where they could collaborate on promoting girls’ education.
How did they do it?
IGATE relied on the power of mindset shift for all of its interventions in Zimbabwe. It provided general information on the importance of girls’ education but also demonstrated how girls’ education affects local communities directly, such as through improved child health outcomes. The project also empowered students to champion learning alongside their parents by building girls’ capacity for self-advocacy. It further built support for girls’ education by forging relationships with community leaders, such as local religious officials, who historically would have presided over early marriages. This grassroots approach to behavior change demonstrates the power of family attitudes. Getting parents on board as advocates for their children’s learning proved a highly effective way to get girls into and through school. An external impact evaluation showed the potential effects of this wide-reaching work on mindset shift. The study showed that participation in the program increased girls’ school enrollment rates by 2.5 percentage points and improved their standardized test scores in math by 3.27 percentage points (Cotton et al., 2020).
Resources and testimonials
- “We have been taught about child rights, career guidance, and also communication. I think as I continue with this project, I will grow up to be a more clever and confident person.” – Basitsana, 11-year-old participant in Power Within IGATE club (World Vision, 2015)
- “By looking at how to comprehensively target all key actors in a girl’s life, IGATE is moving beyond a traditional ‘one model fits all’ style of development programming and is collaborating with all leaders and influencers to initiate change and support girls’ education.” – Craig Geddes, IGATE consortium leader (World Vision, 2015)
- “For me as a traditional leader, a Mother’s Group is not a group of mothers. Rather, it is a ‘mother figure’ for the community. Therefore, I feel honoured to participate in such a platform as it will assist the girls in my area of jurisdiction.” – Headman of the Lupane District in Zimbabwe (World Vision, 2015)
- IGATE Endline Evaluation Report
References
Cotton, C., Nordstrom, A., Nanowski, J., & Richert, E. (2020). Campaigns to improve community attitudes towards girls’ education can increase math scores and enrolment. Queen’s Economics Department. https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/wpaper/qed_wp_1426.pdf
World Vision. (n.d.). IGATE: Improving girls’ access through transforming education. https://www.wvi.org/education-and-life-skills/igate-improving-girls-access-through-transforming-education
World Vision. (2015, March 6). Improving girls’ access through transforming education: The IGATE programme in Zimbabwe. https://www.wvi.org/international-womens-day/article/improving- girls%E2%80%99-access-through-transforming-education-igate