Following the attainment of multi-party democracy in 1994 and the election of the UDF government, Malawi's commitment to reducing poverty was reflected in the bold decision to introduce Free Primary Education (FPE). Around the same period, renewed attention was paid to the education of the Girl Child, who had persistently been marginalised in poverty alleviation interventions. This was in recognition of international trends that recognise that educating girls is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to reduce poverty and to spur growth. Thus, over the past ten years, several development partners, donors and NGOs have partnered with the Government of Malawi (GoM) in implementing various interventions to enhance girls' education.
Purpose/Objective:
Methodology:
Although there has been a definite trend towards gender parity in enrolment since 2002, disparities still manifest in the upper classes with the percentage of girl enrolment in the senior classes dropping out higher than that of boys. This trend was observed in both UNICEF and non-UNICEF assisted schools.
In terms of the Human Rights Based Approach to Programming (HRBAP), as operationalised in the communities, the evaluation has confirmed the oft-made observation that cultural values and attitudes are deep-rooted in people's minds. This tends to impede their propensity to change.
While many community-based groups have been formed to implement and oversee the Girl Child Education interventions, there is a need for strong leadership from the head teacher and good will from local chiefs for their effectiveness. This, coupled with the high turnover of office bearers and that the effect of the cascade training model is not much in evidence, threaten the sustainability of the community groups.
Poverty is a major obstacle to the effectiveness of sector programmes. It is noted, for instance, that the Social Policy, Advocacy and Communication (SPAC) Child Protection Project, which is instrumental in withdrawing children from estate labour or household labour and returning them to school, has been ineffective because of the vicious cycle of demand for child labour and the lack of schools to place them in when taken out of labour.
With regard to the integration and internalisation of Girl Child Education interventions in the national fabric, it is noted that although resources to the education sector have been increased, there is low physical capital formation and widespread shortage of teachers, learning materials and resources for supervision and monitoring. This has had a retrogressive effect on the girl child education interventions.
The high turnover of personnel in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) and the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Community Services (MOGYCS) has left UNICEF without vital support for its initiatives. The situation is compounded by a general lack of capacity in these ministries.
Decentralisation has provided an opportunity for integration of the various elements at the district level, although the process seems to be slow in some areas.
The use of the school emergency school feeding programme has offered a unique opportunity to target girls and to boost their school attendance.
In terms of efficiency, the evaluation has shown that budgeting was not systematically done. Some activities were over budgeted, whereas others were under budgeted for. This is attributable to the absence of baseline data to anticipate expenditure levels.
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Report information
Date:
2004
Region:
ESARO
Country:
Malawi
Type:
Evaluation
Theme:
Education - Girls
Partners:
Government of Malawi
PIDB:
Follow Up:
Language:
English
Sequence Number:
2004/001