Download - WE16 - Letting Girls Learn in the Developing World: An Experience in Ghana

© 2016 IBM Corporation

Letting Girls Learn in the Developing World: An Experience in GhanaDr. Cheryl HowardSenior Data Scientist, IBM Analytics

WE16, Philadelphia PAOctober 29, 2016

2 © 2016 IBM Corporation

Benefits of Corporate Citizenship Programs

Social tools to help Police and community relations in Philippines

Information Management for Cervical Cancer Vaccine tracking in Kenya

Support for scaling of free eye care in India

Communities’ Problems Solved

Leadership Training & Development

Global Branding Local Branding – entry into

new markets such as Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Rwanda and Poland

Mentoring & Local Knowledge transfer

New Markets

“This is the best ‘course’ to expose employees to diverse cultures, growing countries international environments and new business challenges.”

— Corporate Service Corps Brazil Team Member

“Increased Cultural Awareness”

“Helped Them Perform Their ‘Day Job’”

“Increased IBM’s Role in GMU”

“Increased Teaming & Listening Skills”


Corporate Service Corps – Excellence in Leadership DevelopmentHuge leadership development and significant management support over the first 6 years of the program


The Peace Corps partnership demonstrates innovation for the CSC and promising opportunities for the field of pro bono problem solving The innovative public-private partnership between IBM and the Peace

Corps demonstrates the power of cross-sector collaboration in addressing the world’s problems

The skilled, multi-disciplinary CSC teams are coming together with the deep expertise on the ground of the Peace Corps – highlighting the strengths of both individually, but also the power of both combined

Strategic, high impact projects were completed in Ghana as part of Let Girls Learn to expand access to education for adolescent girls. Watch: http://bit.ly/1XOKWUp

Projects are underway in the Philippines and being planned in Mexico

Announced by The First Lady of the United States at Fortune Post Powerful Women Summit

https://t.co/anvVAdga8i


CSC teams meet weekly for 12-14 sessions prior to departure

Pre-work focuses on team building, problem solving, and cultural awareness

Team is global and multi-disciplinary. Not all team members have prior consulting experience.

The team works with an NGO partner (Pyxera Global) who identifies clients/projects and handles logistical aspects of the engagement

Project goals, SOW, and team composition are not revealed until several weeks before departure

– The Ghana 12 team found out earlier than most CSC teams that our mission would be related to the Let Girls Learn initiative and the Peace Corps Partnership

– Ghana 12 was the first CSC team to include a Distinguished Engineer, who was also sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer


About Ghana

First country in sub-Saharan Africa to claim independence from colonial powers (UK) in 1957

Population 26M – over 10 regional languages commonly spoken – English is official language

GDP/capita US$ 4,300 (vs. $55,800 for US) Literacy Rate 58% (vs. 99% for US) Child labor rate (5-14) is 34%

7

Why focus on education and girls’ empowerment

*https://www.usaid.gov/infographics/50th/learning-out-of-poverty** OECD

Economic Benefits• 38X: Ghana’s estimated GDP increase if all 15 year olds achieved basic

math and science proficiency**

• 10%: potential future earning increase per extra year of a girl’s education

• 10-30%: higher productivity per extra year of a girl’s education

• 90%: income educated woman invests in her family (vs 40% for educated man)

Social Benefits• 2X: chance a child born to an educated mother has of surviving to age 5• 50%: higher likelihood an educated mother immunizes her children• 3X: reduced chances a girl completing basic education has for contracting

HIV/AIDS

“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation).” – African Proverb


Educational Challenges in Ghana

Public education is free through Junior High School, but many still can not afford it due to:

– Costs of uniforms, supplies, testing fees– Need to work and share other family responsibilities

High School education (including public) has fees associated that are beyond the means of many families

Cultural expectations– Education of girls not considered as important– Expectations for girls to enter STEM fields are lower

Infrastructure– Distance/transportation to school– Sanitary facilities– Availability of technology (including electricity!)– Availability of curricula, books, lab supplies

Teacher turnover

9

Multiple forces can accelerate societal change

Society

Policy

Implementation and Enforcement

Grassroots

Shift


Projects are inter-related

– Measure previous empowerment program impact

– Mentors from past beneficiaries– Establish mentorship network

– Strengthen core business processes– Architect, design and prototype rural

learning device– Girls’ empowerment content

Connections:– Mentor training– Empowerment education– Advertise mentorship program– Collect statistics for impact analysis– Pilot sites– Voice and SMS campaign collaboration

10


Our achievements and impact of the Let Girls Learn projects in Ghana

In Ghana the CSC team worked with with the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), the Girls Education Unit (GEU) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the social enterprise TECHAiDE.

– The team developed a framework and the prototype for a web-based platform to give information about secondary education and provide a mentoring program for girls and their families for the MoGCSP and the GEU.

– At TECHAiDE they provided recommendations and deliverables in the overall business strategy, talent (HR strategy), marketing, financial and supply chain which will help to reach 400 schools in September 2016. Additionally they developed a prototype device (ANSANKA) that provides educational content for schools with limited or no access to the internet.


Objective: Improve educational outcomes for girls in Ghana through mentoring and networking

Goal: More girls reaching tertiary education, especially in Math & Science

Approach: Build a web-based community to inspire and support girls and to track outcomes

Let Girls Learn by Mentoring and Networking


Connect Mentors and Mentees

GEM Network


Social Media Outreach to Past Beneficiaries

Additional outreach through Facebook, Twitter, and personal connections

WhatsApp Broadcast

Manual data extraction

Focused WhatsApp

GroupGoogleDocs

survey

Timestamp 1. What is your name?2016/02/24 8:30:20 PM GMT Lyanne Dede Sackey

2. What is your mobile phone number? 3. What is your whatsapp number?274949126 274949126

4. What is your current e-mail address? 5. Which Program/Camp did you attend? [email protected] 5) Scholarship of Excellence

6. What is the year of participation? 7. What is your current location?2005 4) Central

8. What is your current occupation? 9. What is the level of education completed?Final year medical student 1) Senior High School

10. May we contact you for an interview? 11. What is the best days/times to contact you? Yes Mar 2, 2016 @ 2pm

12. What is the best way to contact ?2) Telephone Call

Automatic data extraction

Interviews


School Visits Clarified Obstacles to Success Over 100 students and adults interviewed at four Peace Corps schools Limited Role Models

– Girls aspire to challenging careers, but see few/no women in professional roles– Students see teachers, relatives, older siblings, university students from

community as role models Infrastructure

– Limited ICT infrastructure: computers, internet, smart phones– Long travel to school

Financial Challenges– Parents unable to pay levies and other costs can lead to sub-optimal

performance & behaviors– Many students work on weekends and after school and have many chores

Teacher Limitations– Shortage of qualified Maths, Science, and other specialty teachers– Lack of resources– Absenteeism


Ministry Meetings Identified Existing Systems

SRC/SRC Mobile

G-PASS

School Mapping & MonitoringEducation Management Information System (EMIS)

HRMISGirls empowerment

Newly-trained teachers

Teacher Performance


Analytics will Guide SolutionsQuestions: Is there a gender gap?Is it getting worse or better?Does it vary by level?


Analytics Drive Outreach TargetsQuestions: At what level are we losing girls?Do public/private behave the same?

Public school sees largest enrollment drop between J2 and J3

Also a large drop between J3 and S1

Public and Private show different retention behavior


Deliver web prototype, strategy, artifacts

Strategy Playbook

Technical Framework


Three Phase Implementation of GEM Network

Stra

tegi

c W

ebsi

te L

evel

Time

Mar of 2016 Oct of 2016 Oct of 2017

Official website for GEM network Contain broad range of resources

for girls empowerment Track and measure impact of

GEM network and other programs

Implement enterprise level site

3rd step

GEMNetwork Website

Mentor-MenteeMatching Website

Prototype Website

We are Here

3 step road-map

short-term implementation plan

mid-term implementation plan

long-term implementation plan

1st step 2nd step

Prototype website using WordPress

Focus on form of website Develop look & feel Create information gathering

pages for potential mentors and mentees

Look & Feel and Past Beneficiaries

Implement a hosted website Secure register of mentors and

mentees Match the mentor and mentee

manually

Register and Match Mentors/Mentees


Key Recommendations

Ownership:– Identify owners of hardware, software, infrastructure, administration– Create Action Groups to implement various aspects web platform

Outreach:– Plan and host in-person events at district level to drive traffic to site– Begin outreach in schools that have resources (e.g., internet, mentors)

rather than most needy schools– Address JHS first– Leverage partners (e.g., Peace Corps Volunteers, Vodafone, Camfed)

to promote website, host outreach events, grow network Impact Analysis

– Quantitative analysis will strengthen both GEM network and other empowerment programs

– Analysis must go beyond statistical reporting


Mentorship at Ashesi University

Lack of role models, especially females in STEM fields, is a systemic problem in Ghana

IBM, Peace Corps, the Ministries, and TechAide hosted a mentorship event for JHS/SHS and Ashesi University students

Ashesi University promotes entrepreneurship, service, and inquiry-based learning– 100% of students learn to code– Pan-African model– 44% of faculty are women


Links

My blog: https://cscghana2016.wordpress.com Ghana 12 team profile: http://

www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/wwa_ghana.html

External press: https://www.newglobalcitizen.com/impact-and-innovation/partnership-is-personal?cm_mc_uid=27204323371814636645557&cm_mc_sid_50200000=1471272337

Let Girls Learn: https://letgirlslearn.gov/ IBM Corporate Service Corps: https://

cscserv2.chicago.ibm.com/CorporateServiceCorpsRegistration/Controller?action=site-home

https://cscghana2016.wordpress.com/

http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/wwa_ghana.html




https://www.newglobalcitizen.com/impact-and-innovation/partnership-is-personal?cm_mc_uid=27204323371814636645557&cm_mc_sid_50200000=1471272337





https://letgirlslearn.gov/

https://letgirlslearn.gov/

https://cscserv2.chicago.ibm.com/CorporateServiceCorpsRegistration/Controller?action=site-home



Corporate Citizen & Corporate Affairs

Questions?

Download - WE16 - Letting Girls Learn in the Developing World: An Experience in Ghana

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