© U N ICE F/B A N A 2013 -004 67/H A B IB U L H A QU E

A n n ual Report 2012

© U N ICE F/B A N A 2011-014 50/N A SE R SIDDIQU E

UNGEI’s Vision “A world where all girls and boys are empowered through quality education to realize their full potential and contribute to transforming societies where gender equality becomes a reality.”

Adopted at the UNGEI Global Advisory Committee Meeting Kathmandu, Nepal13 June 2008 13 June 2008

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TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

LETTER FROM THE CO-CHAIRS ………………………………………………………………………...........................5

I. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...……......7

II. STRATEGIC CONTEXT …………………………….……………………………………………………………..…...……...11

III. GLOBAL HIGHLIGHTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...15

IV. REGIONAL AND COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS …………………………………………………………………………….18

4.1 South Asia ……………………………………………………………………………………..…………….......20

4.2 East Asia and Pacific …………………………………………………………………………………………..22

4.3 West and Central Africa ………………………………………………………………..…………………. 24

4.4 Eastern and Southern Africa ………………………………………………………………………………25

V. CHALLENGES AND LESSON LEARNED …………………………………………………………………………………29

VI. FUTURE PLANS ………………………………………………………………………………………………..………..……..32

VI. ANNEXES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………..34

Annex 1: Global Advisory Committee and Partners, 2012 …………………………….……………35

Annex 2: Logic Model and Monitoring & Evaluation Framework…………..…………….……..38

Annex 2: List of countries with national / sub-national partnerships……………………..……39

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

AGE Acceleration of Girls' Education

AGEI Afghanistan Girls' Education Initiative

CSW Commission on the Status of Women

EAP East Asia and Pacific

EFA Education for All

ESA Eastern and South Africa

ESSP Education Sector Strategic Plan

FAWE Forum of African Women Educationists

GAC Global Advisory Committee

GETF Girls' Education Task Force

GPE Global Partnership for Education

IIEP International Institute of Educational Planning

JAS Joint Gender Advocacy Strategy

LEG Local Education Group

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MHM Menstrual hygiene management

MoEVT Ministry of Educational and Vocational Training

PNG Papua New Guinea

RFP/CFP Regional and Country Focal Point

RTE Right to Education Act

SA South Asia

SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

SACMEQ Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

SAIEVAC South Asian Initiative to Eliminate Violence against Children

SC Steering Committee

SIPEA Interim Strategy for Education and Literacy

SLeGEN/GEM Sierra Leone Girls' Education Network/Girls' Education Movement

SWAP Sector Wide Approaches

UNGEI United Nations Girls' Education Initiative

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

WCA West and Central Africa

WFP World Food Programme

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LETTER FROM THE CO-CHAIRS We are pleased to introduce the first Annual Report for the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) for the year 2012. The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) was launched in 2000 by then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It originated in the widespread realization that millions of girls were still unable to fulfill their right to education despite almost universal endorsement of this right through ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. When UNGEI was launched, more than half of the children out of school were girls – and despite progress in many countries, that reality still holds true. As part of its strategic reflection in 2012, UNGEI’s Global Advisory Committee (GAC) made a decision to introduce annual reports in order to improve its own accountability to the larger development community, including donors, members, partners, and champions, and at the same time take the opportunity to highlight its key efforts, achievements and challenges to the larger public. UNGEI has prepared its first Annual Report for 2012. The report incorporates activities coordinated by the global Secretariat as well as regional and country partnerships and aims to provide an overview of UNGEI’s work last year. In 2012, UNGEI continued to champion the importance of girls’ education as a driver for gender equality and development through policy advocacy, capacity development and knowledge management at the global, regional, and country level. Key achievements include:

Policy advocacy through engagement and/or hosting of high-level events, including a side event on the dynamics of gender and education in rural contexts during the 56th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) session in March 2012 and hosting of the roundtable on gender and skills development to coincide with the launch of Education for All – Global Monitoring Report 2012.

Increased engagement with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to strengthen the gender dimension of education sector plans at the country level.

Regional support for capacity building of national partnerships through exchange of best practices in girls’ education, training on advocacy skills, sensitization of traditional and religious leaders, and raising awareness on gender equality issues among government officials.

Acceleration of girls’ education in select countries where UNGEI partners adopted varied strategies ranging from rights awareness campaigns (Tanzania and Bangladesh), policy engagement (Laos and Uganda), and service provision in collaboration with government (Benin and Afghanistan), among others.

Global engagement through our social media platform, which led to a media explosion that recorded a 212 per cent increase in Facebook interaction as well as a marked increase in subscribers to Twitter and YouTube.

In addition, 2012 was a critical year for UNGEI as we reflected on the formative evaluation and recommendations. The Global Advisory Committee of UNGEI met in Kampala in May 2012 and

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spent nearly a week taking stock of the changing external landscape and deliberating on our existing work strategies and accompanying governance structure. There was an emerging consensus that if we wanted to meet our stated objectives of accelerating girls’ education and gender equality, we had to make our partnership more robust by reaching out to new actors in the gender and education arena, especially the private sector and academia, and most importantly by including young women and men in the conversation. This also meant that we needed to be more streamlined, focused and agile in our way of working and responding to new opportunities and challenges. The meeting was catalytic in initiating the process of planning for change and collectively identifying the strategic shifts that we want to make as we approach the 2015 deadline. We are looking forward to a renewed and recommitted UNGEI to take forward the agenda on girls’ education and gender equality. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our member partners and champions whose support and work enables UNGEI to make a difference in girls’ education worldwide. UNGEI strongly believes in the power of collaboration and partnerships to find collective solutions to the barriers that girls’ face in accessing and completing their education.

Vanya Berrouet Co-Chair Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD)1

Nitya Rao Co-Chair Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE)

1 On April 29, 2013, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and

International Trade (DFAIT) were amalgamated into the new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

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The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) is a multi-stakeholder partnership2 committed to improving access to and quality of girls’ education and contributing to the empowerment of girls and women through transformative education. Its foundational premise is that all girls have the right to succeed in a safe and supportive learning environment. UNGEI, as a designated flagship of Education for All (EFA), strives to support governments and the international community to deliver on the gender-related EFA goals and education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on achieving universal primary education and gender parity in primary and secondary education. With the countdown to 2015 fast approaching, UNGEI firmly believes that the immediate education priority should be a focus on all girls learning and achieving. An investment in girls’ education is integral to virtually all aspects of development and economic progress and it may well provide the highest return on investment available in the developing world. By 2015, the UNGEI partnership aims to support:

Select countries to achieve measurable change in girls’ education and gender equality;

Global and national development agendas to reflect emerging concerns on girls’ education and gender equality, especially for the most marginalized.

UNGEI is committed to responding to the urgency of action needed to tackle issues for today’s generation of girls. It believes in strengthening linkages and complementary goals with other partners, networks and coalitions to maximize resources and results for girls’ education and gender equality. The main objectives of UNGEI relate to three strategic areas:

Policy Advocacy: Use its collective voice to raise awareness of the importance of girls’ education and influence policy discussions and education sector plans to support increased investments to address key barriers to girls’ education and gender equality;

Knowledge Management: Strengthen the evidence base on effective and good practices in facilitating girls’ education and gender equality across regions and countries; and enhance UNGEI’s understanding of what works and how successful approaches can be replicated;

Capacity Development: Build capacity and strengthen institutional development of the partnership approach at the global, regional and country level to accelerate progress on girls’ education.

2 See Annex 1 for a list of UNGEI partner organizations.

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All of UNGEI’s current work at the global, regional and national level can be viewed as contributing to three outcome areas outlined in the accompanying partnership Monitoring and Evaluation framework3. At the global level, the GAC4 provides guidance to the partnership on strategic policy direction and engages in policy advocacy on behalf of the partnership. At the operational level, UNGEI is represented by the global Secretariat and is supported by the GAC Co-chairs/Steering Committee5 as well as the Task Teams, the latter created on a need basis to facilitate its work. The new partnership structure is presented below. UNGEI believes in the principle of decentralized functioning to promote and support flexible and responsive decision-making and action at the global, regional, and country level. Given this

3 See Annex 2 for UNGEI’s logic model and M&E framework.

4 The members of the GAC include multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies, inter-governmental agencies/inter-agency

networks, private sector and related foundations, civil society organisations and networks, academia, and related networks. The GAC membership is institutional and comprises up to 30 organisational members. Each organisation/network is represented by one person. 5 The partnership structure in 2012 still reflected the previous organizational structure which included the 2 co-chairs; and

which has expanded to constitute the Steering Committee under the leadership of a Chair in the new structure agreed upon in 2013. The co-chairs have continued to play a significant role in facilitating the transition. In order to maintain consistency of description of organization structure between 2012 and 2013, we are opting to present the new structure in the 2012 report.

UNGEI: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 2011Key Outcome Areas

UNGEI contributes to the achievement of the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for gender equality and

girls’ education through a strong partnership at the global, regional and country levels

Policy Advocacy

Outcome 1: Policies promote girls’ education and gender equality

Knowledge Management

Outcome 2: Best practices in facilitating girls’ education and gender equality are known and

institutionalized

Capacity-building

Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

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principle, UNGEI also operates at the regional and country level to ensure that policies are tailored to the needs of local communities and reflect the diversity embedded in these communities and the conditions faced by them. Currently, UNGEI is operational in 346 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia; and operating at a regional level in East Asia and Pacific, South Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, and Western and Central Africa. UNICEF is the lead agency for UNGEI and also a member of the GAC. As the lead agency, UNICEF hosts and supports the global Secretariat, including human resources, website and accompanying communication functions. In addition, through financing and appointment of the UNGEI Regional and Country Focal Point (RFP/CFP), UNICEF also takes the lead in facilitating and supporting the partnership at the regional and country level through its offices, including implementing, monitoring and reporting of activities.

6 As part of the mapping exercise initiated during the evaluation in 2011, 34 countries claimed to have an UNGEI partnership.

Needless to say the nature of partnership varies across countries. See Annex 3 for the list of UNGEI countries.

UNGEI Partnership Structure

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UNGEI came into existence in 2000 in the wake of the Education for All global framework for action and the articulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The development context of then and now is very different. Several social, political, and economic trends can be identified, in general and within the education sector in particular, which have framed the context within which UNGEI has evolved and currently operates. Trends in girls’ education7 Overall school enrolments have improved significantly in the last decade and a large majority of girls now attend primary schools. In four developing country regions (Northern Africa, Eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South-Eastern Asia), at least 95 per cent of primary-age children are in school. Girls’ enrolment in primary education has also been increasing at a faster rate than that of boys, helping to close the gender gap. However, a closer look reveals that nearly all of this growth occurred between 1999 and 2004 and that progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children slowed considerably after 2004, which is a source of concern. Currently, nearly 57 million primary school age children of are out of school, more than half are girls and the majority of them live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The number of children completing primary education has also not kept pace with the increasing enrolment and completion rates remain low for girls in several low income countries, especially in South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Even when children remain in schools, it is no guarantee that they are learning. 116 million young women have been denied the opportunity to complete primary school and need a second chance to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills. As at the primary level, there has been a general upward trend in the percentage of countries reaching gender parity in secondary education, although the pattern has not been steady across the various regions. In 2011, 69 million adolescents of lower secondary school age were out of school, out of which 34 million were girls. Girls have reached parity with boys at the secondary levels of education in select countries, primarily in North America and Western Europe; and in other countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, and East Asia, girls’ participation at the secondary level exceeds that of boys. In most countries with fewer boys than girls in lower secondary education, the disparity is smaller and often due to higher dropout rates for boys rather than higher transition rates of girls from primary to secondary school as evidenced in East Asia. However, for countries where boys have higher enrolment than girls, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, the gap tends to be greater as evident in Afghanistan, Togo and Yemen. Increased focus on girls’ education The improving trends in girls’ education are reflected in the strengthening of the investment case for girls’ education in international development in the last decade. Girls’ education as an issue has emerged as a priority and there has also been an increase in the number of interlocutors. Campaigns and initiatives lead by leading development actors have effectively

7 The statistical trends are distilled from Education for All-Global Monitoring Report 2012 and 2011.

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influenced the global education agenda to demand attention to girls’ education in policy dialogue, national education sector plans and the design, implementation and monitoring of education investment. As increasing numbers of girls gain access to primary school, efforts on the part of bilateral donors, multilateral organizations and civil society have evolved to recognize the needs of girls in transitioning to secondary school and to focus on girls’ achievements through education in terms of learning outcomes and socio-economic opportunities. However, despite the increased attention, the growing multiplicity of actors has often been beset with challenges. These primarily relate to managing different objectives and/or overlapping agendas which are often accompanied by weak coordination efforts and result in a fragmented discourse and programming around girls’ education, both at the global level and on the ground. While these issues are neither unique to girls’ education nor insurmountable, UNGEI as a partnership needs to effectively manage the process to facilitate and amplify a collective voice around critical policy issues framing girls’ education and gender equality. Gender parity – necessary but not sufficient The education-related MDGs, goals two and three, tend to focus on increasing enrolment and reaching gender parity more than learning and gender equality. Global aggregate numbers show that gender parity in enrolment has ostensibly been achieved for primary education8. Sixty-eight countries, however, have not achieved gender parity in primary education and girls are disadvantaged in sixty of them. At the secondary level, ninety-seven countries have not reached gender parity. In forty-three of those countries, girls are disadvantaged. With more children, specifically girls, completing primary education, the demand for secondary education is growing. This increased demand poses a serious challenge for countries with limited resources. With the increased attention on secondary school has come a growing understanding that girls’ experience in education is a broader gender equality issue. There is an increased importance of looking beyond parity to address issues related not only to unequal access to education for girls but also to the inequality of experience in schools and classrooms that continues to disadvantage girls’ learning. Girls’ education is fundamentally linked to their socially and culturally defined role in society. Barriers to girls’ education and learning are multiple, ranging from a lack of schools, female teachers, separate latrines, and a biased curriculum, to cultural prejudices and harmful practices, including early marriage, that place a low value on girls’ education, and the risks of sexual harassment by male teachers and classmates. These issues are a barrier to an education that truly promotes gender equality. Hence the commitment to girls’ education requires that analyses and actions move beyond the education sector and towards cross-sectoral collaboration to address the critical dimensions of gender equality in education.

8 Education for All-Global Monitoring Report 2012

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Other emerging challenges As the 2015 deadline for the MDGs approaches, other emerging trends related to the growing youth bulge, economic crisis, increasing conflict and inequalities, climate change, and other issues also demand UNGEI’s attention. All these trends have significant implications for women and girls. For instance, the economic crisis has resulted in the largest cohort of unemployed youth ever, estimated at around 81 million worldwide in 2009. Girls are disproportionately represented in these ranks of the unemployed as well as in work defined by low skills and low pay. In addition, the impact of the recession on aid flows and on national budgets for social services is still being played out. Further, the adverse political and security situations in many countries, characterized by escalating conflict and rising extremism with resistance to girls’ education, are also threatening past gains. The landscape in which UNGEI currently operates is complex and introduces both opportunities and challenges. The gap between the interest in girls’ education and gender equality and the necessary investments to support it, both financial and political, tells us that our work is not done. There is still a long road ahead to ensure that the intentions, plans and policies translate into tangible financial and human resources and quality service delivery for girls’ education; and instigate changes in gender relations through education. UNGEI aspires to play a catalytic role in ensuring that girls’ education remains on the global and national policy agenda and the linkages between girls’ education and gender equality are made explicit and strengthened.

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At the global level, the UNGEI Secretariat provides technical leadership on global initiatives, supports regional and country partnerships, and conducts outreach and coordination through knowledge sharing, advocacy and partnership building. In 2012, UNGEI continued to champion the importance of girls’ education as a driver for gender equality and development. During its annual face-to-face GAC meeting that same year, UNGEI also engaged in its strategic moment of reflection on the evaluation findings and recommendations in order to redefine its future trajectory.

Highlights during the reporting period include:

Outcome Area 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality

Building on its earlier engagement with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), UNGEI and GPE agreed to a more formal partnership at the global and country level to support implementation of the 2012-2015 GPE Strategic Plan.9 The activation of the partnership in countries will vary according to the local context, needs and capacity of each country. In 2012, as an initial step, UNGEI extended technical support to partners in People’s Democratic Republic of Lao (PDR), South Sudan and Nigeria to promote gender analysis in education planning and review. Given the geographical reach of GPE and its degree of engagement with national governments, this partnership has an immense potential to make a difference in the lives of young girls living in developing countries.

UNGEI contributed to a number of important high-level events to influence the global policy agenda. These include: a) a panel discussion on girls’ education and empowerment, organized as a side event during the 56th session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW), which focused on the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current challenges; b) a dialogue on the role of partnerships during the World Bank Colloquium - Getting to Equal; c) technical engagement at the Plan International roundtable in December to mark the 2012 Because I am a Girl Report; and d) participation in the Brookings Institute discussion in early December on the post-2015 development agenda.

Advocacy and knowledge dissemination events were also hosted by UNGEI on the margins of relevant high-level global events including: Advancing gender equality in and through education at the Global EFA meeting in Paris in November, and the policy roundtable on Gender and Skills Development in New York to mark the release of the 2012 GMR on youth and skills. This event also coincided with the dissemination of the gender overview of the EFA-GMR 2013.

Outcome Area 2: Best practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

As part of its knowledge management function, the UNGEI Secretariat developed and disseminated several review documents: 1) Working paper on Gender Analysis in Education: an analytical mapping of gender tools in development/education; and 2)

9 In particular, the partnership relates to Objective 2: All girls in GPE-endorsed countries successfully complete primary school

and go to secondary school in a safe, supportive learning environment. Because of the cross-cutting nature of the issue, the work on girls’ education is also expected to positively impact the other strategic priorities, including those related to fragile states, financing, quality, and teachers.

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Engendering Empowerment: Education & Equality, a companion volume to the E4 conference featuring analytical chapters by the Institute of Education, London University, UIS, UNICEF and the World Bank. In addition, while not produced by the UNGEI Secretariat, the November 2012 special issue of Theory and Research in Education, Volume 10, No. 3 included four papers originally presented for the UNGEI E4 Conference.10

In order to further strengthen its knowledge management function, as recommended by the evaluation and agreed to by UNGEI partners, the Secretariat partnered with a technical resource agency to develop its customized knowledge management strategy. The strategy was finalized and made available in 2012 and the draft UNGEI action plan to be implemented in 2013 was developed, with a focus on needs of both internal and external UNGEI audiences.

UNGEI had a very successful year in advancing global engagement through its social media platform, recording a 212 per cent increase in Facebook interaction as well as marked increase in subscribers to Twitter and You Tube – 180 per cent and 155 per cent, respectively. In addition, extensive media coverage of the GAC meeting in Uganda was provided through blogs, podcasts, press releases, and newsletters, among other outlets. The first International Day of the Girl Child was also marked by a blog, a photo story and links to videos, stories, and advocacy messages from UNGEI regional partnerships and individual partners including UNICEF.

Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

2012 was the year of strategic reflection for UNGEI, having completed a rigorous formative evaluation11 to inform its future direction and way of working. The evaluation reaffirmed UNGEI’s position as a global advocate for girls’ education. The annual GAC meeting in Kampala defined UNGEI’s forward looking agenda based on the evaluation recommendations and highlighted three strategic areas of work: knowledge management, capacity building and policy advocacy. The GAC also acknowledged the need and initiated the process to revise its current terms of reference in order to accommodate the emergence of new actors and initiatives; and strengthen the governance framework of the partnership to maximize collective ownership across: a) relevant actors at the global level; and b) the functioning bodies of the renewed partnership (Global Advisory Council, Steering Committee, and the Secretariat, among others).

The Secretariat also promoted partnership and collaboration by providing technical support to select partners, extending technical support towards development of the Forum of African Women Educationist’s (FAWE) Strategic Plan, and supporting RFPs and country offices in GPE partnership engagement at the national level.

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This publication can be found here. 11

The evaluation can be found here.

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UNGEI has grown significantly since its launch in 2000 and currently has active partnerships in 34 countries and in the East Asia Pacific Region. The organization has grown from partnerships limited to UN agencies at the global and country level to a broad alliance of committed actors, including national governments, civil society organizations, international NGOs, and bilateral and other multilateral development partners at the global, regional, and country level. UNGEI country partnerships have goals that broadly mirror those of the global partnership, underscoring the relevance of UNGEI’s agenda. However, the nature of these partnerships varies across countries and reflects local needs and contexts. Almost all 34 country partnerships operate at the national level and a substantial number have functional UNGEI partnerships at sub-national levels. UNGEI at the regional level was primarily envisioned as a technical resource, through the RFPs, to strengthen and support country partnerships. Although unique in its evolution, the successful establishment of the UNGEI East Asia Pacific (EAP) partnership demonstrates the possibility and the value of a collaborative approach at the regional level. Despite not having similarly established networks, other regions support countries primarily through the RFPs and at times in collaboration with select regional partners, for example: the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), and Plan International in EAP. Country partnerships, in turn, engage in a wide range of activities related to:

Technical Support and Capacity Building of partners and government counterparts through the provision of technical expertise on education policies and processes;

Policy and Community Advocacy for gender equality in education policies and systems by lobbying national governments, sensitizing traditional and religious leaders as well as government officials, and strategic partnerships with community-based organizations to undertake gender sensitive social mobilization with the support of UNICEF and other partners;

Knowledge Creation and Management to address knowledge gaps and the documentation of good practices, and to contribute to policy documents and communications materials on gender equality in education.

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4.1 South Asia UNGEI South Asia’s (SA) regional priorities include advocacy efforts to increase completion rates of basic education for girls and boys, improve transition rates of girls to secondary schools, and strengthen access for out of school girls who dropped out due to early marriage or come from marginalized linguistic or ethnic groups. Highlights for the reporting period include: Outcome Area 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality

UNGEI contributed to the strengthening of policy frameworks to promote girls’ education in the region. In Pakistan, under UNICEF’s leadership, UNGEI supported the passing of Article 25-A ‘Right to Free and Compulsory Education’ and facilitated working groups and partnerships at the provincial level to support local governments in the implementation of 25-A, with a focus on girls’ education. In Bangladesh, the ‘Young Champions for Education’12 initiative was integrated into the government work plan as a strategy to promote secondary education for girls. In India, the findings and recommendations of the National Framework for Girls’ Education, which was developed by UNGEI partners, including the government, were integrated into national and state-level work plans. Planning documents were created through active advocacy and engagement.

Outcome Area 2: Best Practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

In Afghanistan, successful advocacy by partners in the Afghanistan Girls' Education Initiative (AGEI) resulted in the scaling-up of a pilot initiative on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in government schools. This scale-up also resulted in increased awareness and capacity building of teachers from the pilot provinces on MHM. Local AGEI partners, primarily OXFAM and BRAC, conducted the training of teachers and students.

As part of its communication and outreach effort, UNGEI provided regular updates on developments in girls’ education in the region to partners within the region and beyond through its tri-annual newsletters in 2012 and resources posted on the UNGEI webpage, which is hosted by UNICEF.13

Outcome Area 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

While the SA may not have a formal regional partnership, UNGEI has initiated work with key regional initiatives including the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the major inter-governmental body in South Asia, and the South Asian Initiative to Eliminate Violence against Children (SAIEVAC) in 2012. The partnership with SAARC, through the SAARC regional forum, is expected to open new pathways for

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For details on the Young Champions concept, please visit this link. 13

UNGEI resources and recent newsletters can be accessed here.

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UNGEI to exert greater influence on governments and parliamentarians to prioritize girls’ education as part of the inter-governmental discussions agenda.

UNGEI partnerships within countries reached out to diverse stakeholders and collaborated to ensure that girls’ education remains on the policy agenda. In Nepal, UNGEI facilitated active engagement of parliamentarians and young people as spokespersons for girls’ education with a thematic focus on school sanitation and girls’ attendance. In India, the Right to Education Act (RTE) provided an opportunity to promote partnerships for girls’ education. Regional consultations within India around gender and RTE were followed by the formation of 4 state-level partnerships supported by a small working group at the national level, which includes representatives from the government, UNICEF, UNESCO and CARE.

My dream come true UNGEI Pakistan Dera Ghazi Khan, one of the districts in South Punjab, ranks rather low on most of the key education indicators, especially girls’ education. Recurrent flooding further worsens the education situation, often forcing the teaching and learning process to come to a standstill. In September 2012, heavy monsoon rains caused flooding, damaging more than 300 government schools. As part of UNGEI, UNICEF, in close coordination with the provincial School Education Department, opened 84 Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs) to ensure that children had continued access to education. UNGEI also used the opportunity to advocate for the hiring of female community teachers and to reach out to many girls to attend school for the first time in their lives. “I am 14-year-old and belong to a very poor family. My father is blind and not able to work and my mother is ailing. I have four brothers and two sisters. I had great desire to get education since childhood but it remained unfulfilled as the school was located at a very long distance from my home”, reflected Tehmina, who is now a student at the TLC in Government Primary School located in the village of Kumhar Wala. Ms. Shumaila, a Community Teacher at GPS Kumhar Wala shared with pride, “When I started my work, there were only 14 children in the school, I visited the community to identify out of school children, especially girls, and enrolled 83 boys and one girl initially. The enrolment gradually rose to 188 including 105 girls, out of whom eight girls between 10-13 years of age were first timers”.

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4.2 East Asia and Pacific

The UNGEI regional partnership in East Asia and Pacific (EAP) comprises over 20 partners and brings organizations and individuals throughout the region together to amplify a collective voice on critical issues framing gender and education in the region. While the region has seen notable progress in narrowing the gender gap in primary education and in terms of absolute gender parity in the region, gender disparities continue to persist. The partnership has highlighted three areas of engagement which include:

Addressing gendered nature of links between education and employment given that gender inequalities are prevalent in the transition from pre-primary to primary, primary to secondary, and school to work;

Strengthening access for girls while giving due attention to countries where boys are underperforming; and

Exploring the issue of gender-based violence in schools to obtain more reliable estimates of prevalence and efforts to combat this situation.

The regional partnership relies on regular regional newsletters to present highlights from the work of UNGEI and its partners, as well as first hand testimonials of girls on the challenges they face in staying in school.14 The partnership is also currently in the process of being activated at the country level in Lao PDR and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Highlights during the reporting period include: Outcome 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality

As part of its thrust to strengthen country partnerships in the region, EAP UNGEI supported a workshop in Lao PDR on gender capacity building in education for the Inclusive Education Network15 in November 2012. This workshop was the initial step in the formation of the National Gender in Education Thematic Working Group under the leadership of Plan Lao PDR and the Ministry of Education’s Inclusive Education Network. Another notable success is the reactivation of the Acceleration of Girls’ Education (AGE) initiative in PNG in late 2012 and its inclusion as a partner to support the monitoring of the Education Sector Improvement Plan.

Outcome 2: Best Practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

EAP UNGEI played a key role in promoting best practices in girls’ education through studies, development of research protocols, e-Newsletters, and technical trainings. The regional partnership completed a desk review and research protocols for a multi-country partnership study on “School-to-Work Transition,” which was finalized in collaboration with the ILO, UNESCO, Plan and UNICEF-PNG. EAP UNGEI also supported the publication of an important policy document, the Asia-Pacific End of Decade Note on

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Newsletter can be accessed on the UNGEI EAPRO website here. 15

Under the Lao PDR Ministry of Education and Sports

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Education for All: Goal 5 – Gender Equality, published by UNESCO-UNICEF in 2012.16 The regional secretariat also shared quarterly e-newsletters in 2012, including a December edition to commemorate the inauguration of the International Day of the Girl Child highlighting the personal stories of girls and how education has affected their lives.17

EAP UNGEI maintains its own vibrant web-space located within the global UNGEI site as a platform to share the region’s news, resources and partner information. A technical introduction was provided to stakeholders in Lao PDR on the use of GEMInfo, a supplementary gender in education knowledge management portal developed by EAP UNGEI. Pending official approval, the Inclusive Education Network has taken ownership of entering and managing information on Lao PDR in the portal.

Easier to get a job UNGEI East Asia Pacific Region

When 19-year-old Budi “Santi” Susanti graduated from high school last year, her father thought it was time for her to get married. She took on a factory job to earn some money but after four months she quit because the hard work and the four-hour commute from her home in the Grobogan district in Indonesia’s Central Java province were not worth the low pay.“ In my mind, after graduating from school I had to get a job because my parents’ financial condition is poor. I did not want to burden them, but I know that looking for a job does not mean I can take up any work. Without skills and experience I couldn’t get a decent job,” Santi said. Then one of her friends invited her to join the Plan-supported Youth Economic Empowerment (YEE) program. After three months of unemployment Santi decided to sign up and then spent four to five hours a day in the five-week program to learn communication, self-confidence and entrepreneurship.

Launched 2010 and now implemented in the Grobogan and Rembang districts of Central Java, and Lembata in East Nusa Tenggara, the program teams up with employers to provide the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the workplace. “I did not have to wait long. After completing the training I received two job interviews,” Santi said.

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The End of Decade Note can be accessed here. 17

See the International Day of the Girl Child Commemorative Edition here.

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Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

In EAP, regional gender and education actors find the UNGEI partnership to be an effective venue for joint advocacy, collaboration and exchange. For example, EAP UNGEI co-hosted an International Day of the Girl Child event with Plan Thailand, and provided substantial technical contributions in the form of op-ed pieces in local press, factsheets, and joint statements from UNGEI partners. This high-level event was presided over by the Minister from the Office of the Prime Minister of Thailand.

To further facilitate the effective function of the regional network, the UNGEI members have developed a ‘Statement of Commitment’, which identifies the roles and responsibilities of member agencies, co-chairs and the Regional Focal Point.

4.3 West and Central Africa At the regional level, UNGEI-West and Central Africa (WCA) currently functions as a communication network for girls’ education activities and involves the UNICEF Regional Office, the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa, FAWE, Save the Children, Action Aid, and Plan International. National partnerships are also currently functional in 15 countries under the leadership of UNICEF country teams and with direct support from the RFP. The WCA regional context is particularly challenging and is characterized by the lowest net enrolment at the primary level for both boys and girls globally. While in the majority of WCA countries, national education laws and policy frameworks identify girls’ education as a priority, implementation remains a critical issue. UNGEI works primarily through country partnerships on joint policy advocacy and a systems strengthening approach to address weak and poorly resourced educational systems as well as socio-cultural and economic issues relating to poverty, early marriage and gender-based violence. Highlights for the reporting period include: Outcome 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality.

Key emergent areas for policy advocacy are gender-based violence and social exclusion of marginalized children. For instance, through advocacy by UNGEI’s partners, measures to address sexual harassment and violence in schools were adopted in Benin and Gambia. In addition, UNGEI supported the campaign for inclusive education in Gambia to ensure access for children with disabilities within the national educational policy agenda.

In other instances of strengthening implementation, UNICEF, FAWE and the World Food Program (WFP) have come together in Chad under the banner of UNGEI to support implementation of the girls’ education policy contained in the Interim Strategy for Education and Literacy (SIPEA). This implementation focuses on school sanitation, nutrition, and increasing the availability of female teachers. In Nigeria, the national partnership (NGEI) contributed to the integration of a gender perspective into the development of Early Learning Development standards to ensure equity in the delivery of quality early learning. In Côte d’Ivoire, active involvement of UNGEI partners in the

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back to school campaign has facilitated the enrollment of one million children in primary schools of which nearly half are girls.

Outcome 2: Best Practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

Mechanisms to support knowledge generation and dissemination have so far been through informal and ad hoc initiatives. One important outcome of cross-country conversations has been the replication of the mothers’ clubs in the region. In the majority of countries, including Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire, different UNGEI partners have supported the creation and functioning of community-based mothers’ clubs to support regular attendance of girls in school.

Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

National UNGEI partnerships in the WCA region are particularly disparate – ranging from UNICEF-driven initiatives to functioning decentralized partnerships. In Mali, UNICEF directed its efforts at revitalizing the existing but dormant partnership into the creation of the Girls’ Education Initiative under the leadership of the Ministry of Education. In 2012, education campaigns to promote girls’ education were launched in areas exhibiting significant gender disparities in school enrolment.

The Sierra Leone Girls’ Education Network/Girls’ Education Movement (SLeGEN/GEM) took the initial step to decentralize and established local chapters in all 14 administrative districts with a focus on increasing the participation of local leaders, communities, young people and civil society organizations in the campaign for girls’ education across the country. The launch of the First International Day of the Girl Child in October provided the opportunity to initiate a truly decentralized advocacy campaign on the theme of “End Child Marriage: Say No to Teenage Pregnancy!”

In Nigeria, in order to facilitate effective communication and outreach, a UNGEI Draft Communication Strategy has been developed and will be finalized and implemented in 2013. In addition, action plans for capacity building activities were developed for 30 member of the national Technical Working Group and six state NGEI chapters on advocacy planning and implementation, and documentation of good practices on girls’ education. These plans were based on articulated needs.

4.4 Eastern and Southern Africa UNGEI in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region is primarily functioning at the country level and the main partnership is often between the government, FAWE, and UNICEF or refers to the often ad hoc arrangement between UNGEI GAC members who participate in the Local Education Group (LEG). UNGEI in countries like Uganda and Rwanda also functions as a multi-stakeholder partnership. Progress in education in the region has been very uneven. Geographic, gender and socio-economic disparities in completion rates and in the transition to secondary school remain

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challenging throughout the region, particularly for girls. UNGEI countries in the region primarily highlight barriers that relate to gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices, education supply bottlenecks relating to inadequate and unsafe environments, and an education system that does not reach the most vulnerable and ‘at risk’ children, especially those who have dropped out, and many of whom are girls.

Highlights during the reporting period: Outcome 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality

In Ethiopia, UNGEI contributed to the development of a comprehensive national girls’ education strategy, which includes post-primary education. In addition, a Gender Budgeting Guideline developed in 2008 was applied in 2012 and led to a two per cent allocation of the budget exclusively to address gender issues in education. This influenced the allocation of resources and development of targeted programming in education sector offices at national and sub-national levels across all levels of the education sector. Further capacity building on gender mainstreaming was conducted with educational experts at the national, sub-national and higher learning institution levels;

In Rwanda, UNGEI functions as a multi-stakeholder partnership referred to as the Girls’ Education Task Force (GETF) and works in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education. In 2012, the members of the GETF focused on supporting the development of the revised Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) by participating in various working groups which were established to create plans and budgets for key priority areas, particularly gender equality. This plan will come into effect in July 2013 and guide the education sector for the next five years.

UNGEI activities in Zambia are implemented mainly under the Joint Gender Advocacy Strategy (JAS), which is an initiative created by organizations working in the area of education advocacy. In 2012, UNGEI, under the leadership of UNICEF, supported revision of the re-entry policy guidelines for teenage mothers, finalization of the child protection policy for schools, and gender review of the HIV and AIDS policy.

In Tanzania, due to the work of the partnership, there is now a provision for re-admission of pregnant school girls in the revised Education and Training Policy, In addition, new re-admission guidelines, endorsed by all the relevant Ministry of Education committees, have been developed.

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Empowering Rwanda’s young girls to speak out UNGEI Rwanda Over one hundred school children gather at Murama School in Rwanda’s Bugesera district on a sunny afternoon to watch a theatre performance by the school’s Tuseme club members. Children smile and clap enthusiastically as the club members open the play with a traditional Rwandan dance. The play tackles a number of issues that might prevent girls from completing their education: early pregnancies, self-esteem, and transactional relationships in which young girls are lured into sex by older men. Tuseme club members choose a topic to address and, with support from teachers, develop a story line around the issue. “We wanted to talk about the problem with teachers giving gifts to girl students in exchange for sex,” one club member identified. The play is interactive, inviting audience members to comment on the play, act out scenarios and voice their opinions on the issues presented. Under UNGEI, UNICEF in partnership with FAWE currently supports Tuseme clubs in 54 schools across the country. The clubs comprise boys and girls from all grades and provide an opportunity for students to come together to discuss the challenges they face at school. “The Tuseme club has helped me build my confidence and speak out against issues such as teacher harassment and teenage pregnancies,” says Priscole Cyuzuzo, an 18 year-old- girl in Senior 4.

Outcome 2: Best Practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

In Rwanda, evidence generated from a UNICEF pilot has helped to define an upgraded water and sanitation hardware package that includes separate facilities for boys and girls as well as a menstrual hygiene management component. Girls’ Education Task Force partners are currently in the planning process to address the supply of these upgraded facilities to schools in 2013 and to document the impact on girls’ education in order to inform the revision of school infrastructure standards.

In Tanzania, UNICEF provides technical and operational leadership for the partnership in collaboration with the Gender Unit of Ministry of Educational and Vocational Training (MoEVT). With financial support from UNICEF, the MoEVT is mainstreaming the Tuseme program in primary schools and has signed a memorandum of understanding with FAWE-Tanzania to facilitate the process.

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In Zambia, with the support of UNGEI, the MoEVT is working to enhance the gender balance in the ministry through capacity building and promoting women to managerial positions in response to recommendations from the 2008 Gender Audit.

From a regional perspective, and building on the evidence collected through the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ), the UNGEI Regional focal point is contributing to a pilot program with the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP) to explore the stories behind gender differences in learning outcomes.

Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

In Malawi, the UNGEI partnership has been recast as a National Girls’ Education Network to facilitate the sharing of best practices among a range of members including civil society actors, relevant Ministries, and development partners. In addition, UNGEI partners built awareness on the issue of child marriage by holding a public debate on the International Day of the Girl Child.

In Ethiopia, a strong partnership with the World Food Programme on enhancing girls’ education through feeding projects has benefited girls in food insecure areas.

The Tanzania Girls’ Education Initiative membership is expanding in numbers and coverage. 21 districts are now involved, an increase of 11 districts from 2011.

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There is no doubt that addressing girls’ education in today’s complicated landscape requires innovative approaches that draw on many sectors and stakeholders. UNGEI’s experience demonstrates the potential of partnerships as effective mechanisms to facilitate transformative gains for girls’ education in varied contexts. Overall, the success of UNGEI at all levels – global, regional, and country - is contingent upon a few critical factors: a) strong and diverse member organizations who understand the importance of working on girls’ education and gender, and with girls and women; b) ongoing capacity development for all involved to build organizational capacity related to policy advocacy, knowledge management and collaborative approaches; c) creation of partnership practices, policies, and strategies that are flexible and adapted to respond to the context-specific needs of UNGEI members and girls; and d) close attention paid to the importance of using data and impact to make a case. Though there are challenges inherent in this work, UNGEI has identified key lessons learned that contribute to effective engagement. These include:

Although UNGEI is an established global partnership, incubating regional partnerships has been challenging. Among the four regions, only the EAP boasts of a formal regional partnership. This has been enabled through strong UNICEF leadership and, to a degree, geography, since the majority of the regional UN and INGO entities maintain their offices in Bangkok and have rallied around the issue. Only recently has the region tried to engage with country level processes. The other three regions maintain a stronger presence in countries and have recently experimented with different modalities to mark their regional presence. In WCA, UNICEF is the lead agency and maintains a communication network with key players. In ESA, UNICEF has partnered with the FAWE regional network for expanded outreach and is planning to expand its memberships to include additional regional players. In SA, the UNGEI regional partnership is being initiated around the inter-governmental structure of SARC.

There is a challenge to translate globally agreed priorities into country-level activities without placing an additional burden on national governments to integrate them into existing national plans and programs. Hence, it is necessary to ensure the relevance and alignment between the global, regional, and country levels. This will require stronger capacity and coordination at all levels to respond to and support the varied agendas. The UNGEI-GPE partnership at the country level may be leveraged as a strategic platform to ensure this alignment as we move forward.

Related to the above, UNGEI’s experience also indicates that government engagement, if not ownership, is critical to the success of country partnerships. ESA highlighted the importance of partnership between relevant government entities such as national gender units, and CSOs such as FAWE. In SA, UNGEI countries highlight the importance of forming government partnerships for their policy advocacy successes. In terms of strengthening policy advocacy engagement, EAP UNGEI stresses the importance of integrating gender analyses into Sector Wide Approaches (SWAP) for greater integration ownership.

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The WCA and ESA regions also highlight the specific challenges of working in countries where the overall performance of the education system is poor and girls’ participation and performance is even poorer. A key lesson from these regions is that policy advocacy initiatives must focus on system strengthening, from the enabling environment to curricula. These initiatives also must include teacher training and management, as well as support for the development of targeted policies. When UNGEI-related activities, such as community dialogue and engagement sessions, are linked to other program initiatives such as the in-service training of teachers and school managers, issues affecting children, especially girls, are prioritized.

Another key lesson is the importance of data and impact evidence in enhancing policy advocacy efforts, such as disseminating results on the impact of girls’ education on community welfare. In several countries, including Rwanda and Zambia, stressing the need to invest in evidence generation for more effective and informed policy advocacy and programming has been a key lesson for the future. For instance, Zambia’s desk review on teenage pregnancies not only presented hard data, but also highlighted areas of additional concern such as child marriages, that had not been as evident to education officials even though the study relied heavily on education data.

From the Secretariat perspective, monitoring and evaluation of UNGEI remains an important challenge. The UNGEI evaluation highlighted the challenge of demonstrating results through contribution analysis. As a partnership, UNGEI struggles to build a systematic approach to monitoring the effectiveness of advocacy, knowledge sharing and capacity building, and its own collaborative contribution to results.

At the country level, it must be acknowledged upfront that in the context of inadequate capacity among local civil society organizations and in the absence of an independent UNGEI budget, UNICEF often steps in to play a very hands-on role in implementing and/or facilitating UNGEI activities. Often, it is the only organization on the ground with the capacity to rally partners around the issue. This means that UNICEF and UNGEI roles tend to be conflated at the country level and at the regional level where the only actor at times is the RFP. This is an issue that must be recognized and managed.

Maintaining a partnership at all levels requires significant dedicated resources for development, management, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Within the context of a constrained budget, the investment needed to coordinate for the partnership may at times seem to distract from joint or complementary action on issues relating to girls’ education, especially where urgent action is needed. There is, therefore, a struggle to deal with the larger issues of trying to draw a balance between the focus on the issue versus the partnership, and the role of individual agencies in the partnership versus the partnership as a collective.

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With the formative evaluation finalized in 2012, UNGEI was able to take stock of the partnership, reflect on the evaluation and recommendations, and, as a global collective, identify the strategic shifts to make as 2015 approaches. Going forward, UNGEI’s key priorities include:

Enhance support to country level partnerships;

Streamline UNGEI’s work around three key and related broad objectives: policy advocacy, capacity development and knowledge management;

Revise the governance framework to accommodate the emergence of new actors and initiatives, and ensure a better fit with emerging objectives;

Define and implement UNGEI’s policy advocacy agenda;

Strengthen UNGEI’s knowledge management functions;

Develop capacity building strategy to support and promote “partnerships” for girls’ education and gender equality, including increased engagement with the private sector and academia;

Launch the UNGEI-GPE partnership and support the implementation of the GPE strategic plan on girls’ education;

Reinforce understanding of the decentralized nature of UNGEI partnerships at the regional and country level, and ensure a shift to a more mutually supportive and accountable modality of working;

Increase participation of other partners in UNGEI leadership positions at the country level; and

Revisit the existing monitoring and evaluation framework to update and confirm its relevance to UNGEI’s mandate and country contexts.

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Annex 1: Global Advisory Committee and Partners, 2012 A Global Advisory Committee is composed of key partners who share in the planning, decision-making, guidance and accountability of UNGEI.

ANCEFA (African Network Campaign on Education for All) ANCEFA is a regional network consisting of independent coalitions or networks in 23 countries of Anglophone and Francophone Africa.

ASPBAE (Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education) ASPBAE was established in 1964 by a group of adult educators, inspired by the idea of promoting adult education in the region.

Camfed (Campaign for Female Education) The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) is dedicated to fighting poverty and AIDS in rural communities in Africa by educating girls.

Cisco Cisco is the global leader in networking for the Internet, dedicated to changing the way people work, live, play, and learn.

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, is the main intergovernmental agency of the Commonwealth, facilitating consultation and co-operation among member governments and countries.

DFID (Department for International Development) DFID, the Department for International Development, is leading the British government’s fight against world poverty. It supports long-term programmes to help tackle the underlying causes of poverty. DFID also responds to emergencies, both natural and man-made.

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Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) One of DFATD’s main functions is to “foster sustainable international development and poverty reduction in developing countries and provide humanitarian assistance during crises”.

FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists) The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African non-governmental organization founded in 1992 to promote girls’ and women’s education in sub Saharan Africa in line with Education For All.

ILO (International Labour Organization) The International Labour Organization is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights.

Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Plan International Founded over 75 years ago, Plan is one of the oldest and largest children's development organizations in the world.

Sida (Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation) - Co-Chair The Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation, Sida, is a government agency under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida's goal is to contribute to making it possible for poor people to improve their living conditions.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) UNESCO works with national governments and development partners to achieve universal free primary education and gender equality by 2015.

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UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity.

UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) UNICEF is the lead agency and Secretariat for UNGEI. UNICEF is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized.

USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) USAID's work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives.

WFP (United Nations World Food Programme) As the food aid arm of the UN, WFP uses its food to meet emergency needs and support economic & social development.

World Bank The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.

World Vision International World Vision International is a Christian relief and development organization working for the well-being of all people, especially children.

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Annex 2: Logic Model and Monitoring & Evaluation Framework

Output 1.1: Policy change delivered by UNGEI advocacy efforts at national, regional and international levels

Output 1.2: Knowledge and information about girls’ education and gender equality in education strengthened by UNGEI-related communication strategies

Output 1.3: National systems monitor girls’ education and gender equality in education regularly and support evidence-based policymaking

Output 2: Good practices are documented & disseminated by UNGEI

Output 3.1: UNGEI partner capacity is strengthened

Output 3.2: Development efforts targeting girls' education and gender equality are coordinated and enhanced through collaboration within UNGEI

Inputs from the UNGEI global partnership

Inputs from other partners, e.g., national government

Inputs from other partners, e.g., communities

Inputs from other partners, e.g., multilateral partners

Inputs from other partners, e.g., bilateral agencies

Inputs from other partners, e.g., NGOs, private sector, etc.

Goal: UNGEI contributes to the achievement of the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for gender equality and girls’ education through a strong partnership at the global, regional and country levels

Outcome 1: Policies to promote girls’ education and gender equality

Outcome 2: Best practices to facilitate girls’ education and gender equality are known and institutionalized

Outcome 3: UNGEI facilitates an effective partnership for girls’ education and gender equality

RE

SU

LT

S

IMP

LE

ME

NT

AT

ION

Monitoring criteria

Criteria for M&E of UNGEI

goals:

Number of girls and boys out of school

Number of girls and boys completing primary education

Girls’ and boys’ secondary

participation rates

Criteria for M&E Outcome 1:

Number of UNGEI countries

with:

National policy frameworks that support GE

Budgets allocated to girls’ education

Criteria for M&E Outcome 2:

Evidence of:

Financial incentives to reduce barriers to girls’ education

Measures of safety for girls going to school

Measures against sexual harassment and violence

Schools with separate toilets

Gender-responsive materials, curricula and teaching guides

Teachers and school managers trained in gender equality

Programs supporting girls’ re-entry to school after pregnancy

Criteria for M&E Outcome 3:

Number of member organizations actively engaging in UNGEI activities

Degree of satisfaction of member organizations

Vision: All girls and boys are empowered through quality education to realize their full potential and contribute to transforming societies where gender equality becomes a reality

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Annex 3: List of countries with national and/or sub-national partnerships

South Asia East Asia and

Pacific Western and

Central Eastern and

Southern Africa

Afghanistan Papua New Guinea Africa Botswana

Bangladesh Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Benin Burundi

India Burkina Faso Ethiopia

Nepal Cameroon Kenya

Pakistan Central African Republic Madagascar

Chad Malawi

Cote d’Ivoir Rwanda

Democratic Republic of Congo

Swaziland

Gambia Uganda

Guinea United Republic of Tanzania

Liberia Zambia

Mali Zimbabwe

Nigeria

Senegal

Sierra Leone