Photo credit: CRANE, Uganda

Feature

Girls Education Challenge

Life changing education
for 10,923 girls

Emma Sarton, UKAid:

"For me, primarily, one of the most amazing things about this particular programme, because this one has made an impression on me like no other, is how it centres the girl. Viva and CRANE have done a HUGE amount of work in that area…

I've not seen any programme that is so creative, so interested, and intrinsically on the side of those girls and supporting them. And I think the most powerful indicator of our success is the change of life of the people that we work with, or for whom we work, and these girls are truly inspirational."

Photo credit: CRANE, Uganda

These remarks came during a closure meeting for the Girls Education Challenge (GEC). In early 2024, this eleven-year Viva-supported programme that was delivered by the Children at Risk Action Network (CRANE) in Uganda came to an end. The programme was funded by the UK Government and was rigorously evaluated.

The kind of girls whom the programme was for include Nancy and Gladys:

  • Nancy

    Nancy (name changed), who, after attending a Creative Learning Centre, was helped to transition to and complete her formal secondary education, is now seeking to enrol in an electrical vocational school to pursue her dream: “I see myself as a powerful electrical engineer in three years. CRANE has changed my life a lot; I now have confidence in myself and also in my dreams and goals. I have seen CRANE changing a lot of people’s lives, mostly for girls in my community.”

  • Gladys

    Gladys (name changed), who is now 24 years old, a proud mother, and a devoted wife, who became part of CRANE as an older teenager when she joined a Creative Learning Centre and is now running a plumbing shop: “CRANE has helped to change my life. I now know it is very crucial to keep each child safe in the community and also provide a conducive environment to these children. Three years from now, I see myself as a great businesswoman, the best and proudest mother, and a courageous wife. My experiences with CRANE can take a day while narrating!”

In April 2024, a project closure event at the House of Lords highlighted the success as outlined in the independent evaluation: 

  • Girls’ scores exceeded the benchmark targets by 500% in literacy and 400% in numeracy.

  • 97% of girls had successful transitions through school, into further education or into work

  • Only 2% of girls involved in the programmes became pregnant, compared to 25% nationally

  • 97% of teachers achieved five or more essential criteria in classroom management

The project was successful for many different reasons.

The connections between the girls and the community were key to its success, which was made possible because CRANE is a network connecting churches and organisations. Each community organisation had a common goal of running a Creative Learning Centre as it utilised its local resources.  

The programme focused on holistic care for girls with an education focus. From April 2013 to March 2017, the programme piloted the running of 22 Creative Learning Centres (CLCs) in schools and community-based organisations that were part of CRANE.

In these centres, girls were taught basic numeracy and literacy alongside sessions of life skills and counselling. The next phase of the programme, from 2017-2024, focused on helping girls re-join formal education and, as such, expanded to working with 42 schools to improve school governance and management to make them safer and more inclusive as it continued with 17 CLCs. The children were trained in safeguarding through a ‘child ambassadors’ programme, which made them peer educators. Girls’ parents were supported by a community mentor who gave parenting training and encouraged them to join savings groups.

John Rowley noted the importance of local mentors who played a pivotal role in supporting the girls: “The network was there, the links were there, it was already possible to meet really good people, locally available to do things for the project. The mentors were people in the community who knew where the families were, where the girls were dropping out and had already dropped out.”

Capacity building through the Quality Improvement System enhanced the quality of care given in organisations running CLCs and formal school structures.

The schools became safer and better run because of training in areas such as people care, safeguarding, and financial management, impacting not just the children directly supported through this programme but thousands of other learners. 

In the endline evaluation, 100% of Headteachers and 90% of Learning Support Teachers were overwhelmingly positive about improvements in school management.

The teachers in the Creative Learning Centres were regularly brought together for training and learning from one another. Together, they took collective action using the same programme and resources but applied them to their context in their community. 

Teacher Stella was grateful to be part of a Creative Learning Centre. She witnessed girls thrive despite the lack of parental support and various social pressures the girls faced. “The girls leave happier and better than when they came to the CLC. This is because the girl gets empowered in many different ways; for example, she gets so many inclusive and creative learner-centred lessons and hands-on skills and counselling. The girls leave when their self-esteem is built. The girls leave when they are proud of themselves and what they have accomplished. The girls leave CLC when they believe in themselves.”

The citywide influence that the project aimed for as part of its sustainability measures was a highlight noted in the independent evaluation.

John Rowley, the lead external evaluator, noted: "When I think about projects that have actually brought about sustainable change in government policy and government procedures (from over 27 years of evaluating international development projects) … then this is one of them (being three in total – one in every nine years.)"

  • Local government officials are using the project's School Monitoring Tool to prepare schools for formal inspections.

  • Safeguarding committees in schools continue to address child protection issues. 

  • Two project initiatives for helping children with special needs, a Learning Needs Identification Tool and an Educational Assessment and Resource Centre, are now under government offices.

  • 28 child-friendly rooms were established for hearing children's testimony in abuse cases, which, alongside training for judges and legal professionals, resulted in conviction rates in child abuse cases increasing from 51% to 80%. 

Courtlin Stoker, an Education Advisor at Cambridge Education and Girls’ Education Challenge Fund Manager, was struck by the ‘true partnership’ she saw between CRANE and Viva: “I've been involved with many different projects.  I've seen them come and go, and I thought what I would focus on was really what sets Viva and Crane apart from the rest. I would like to focus on the genuine partnership between Viva and CRANE.  I think it's fair to say that no other project has had that close of a relationship, ensuring that they could deliver collectively, and deliver a project with cohesion, as well as ensure that national organisations had a seat at the table.”

Photo credit: CRANE, Uganda

CRANE continues to unite over 250 schools, churches, and organisations connected as a network through working groups, with some working together on new projects.

The learning and resources developed during the programme are being documented and shared within CRANE and with Viva’s partner networks across the world to ensure that more children are helped. The overwhelmingly positive reports and results are a testimony to hard work and the power of working together.