Back to School Better: Increasing Gender-Responsive Education for Refugee and Displaced Girls

This project aims to increase gender equality and promote the empowerment of refugee and displaced girls in Burkina Faso the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Mali. This project works to address the barriers to the personal safety of girls as well as the systemic/cultural barriers they face to realizing their right to education in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19). Project activities include: (1) conducting community outreach on the importance of refugee and displaced girls’ education and sexual and gender-based violence prevention; (2) providing support to gender-responsive enrollment campaigns to refugee and displaced girls; (3) supporting safe learning spaces for girls; (4) providing gender-responsive technical assistance to education stakeholders on integrating refugee and displaced girls in post-COVID-19 education plans; (5) providing training to teachers and social workers on gender-responsive remote learning and psycho-social support for refugee and displaced girls; and (6) providing hygiene and menstrual health kits to girls in formal and non-formal learning spaces. The project expects to directly benefit 58 950 girls and adolescent girls who are internally displaced or refugees and 15 000 vulnerable host community girls between the ages of 3 and 19. The project also expects to indirectly benefit 750 350 community members 1 000 community-based organizations including women’s associations 250 school management committee members 31 200 teachers 5 000 boys and officials from the Ministries of Education.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased knowledge of the value of education for refugee and displaced girls by parents/caregivers and community members; (2) increased ability of refugee and displaced girls to advocate for their right to education and make their voices heard in decision-making processes that affect them; (3) improved ability of education officials to integrate refugee and displaced girls into formal and non-formal education systems in the context of COVID-19; and (4) improved knowledge and ability of teachers and social workers to design and deliver quality gender-responsive teaching and safe inclusive learning spaces in the context of COVID-19.