Stop Violence Against Girls in School: A Cross-Country Analysis of Change in Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique

This 84-page report discusses the experience and impact of the 5-year Stop Violence Against Girls in School project, which was led by ActionAid in Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique to empower girls and enable them to enjoy their rights to education and participation in a violence-free environment. The report presents a review of findings from endline studies to assess change and consider the implications for future interventions concerned with gender violence in schools and communities. The evaluation found that the integrated approach, which involved pupils, parents, schools, and communities, had a positive impact on girls' empowerment. It offers some promising practices for future work.

Overall, the evaluation found that the multi-dimensionality of the project successfully enabled change to take place at many levels: "Girls' clubs have had a positive effect on girls’ knowledge, confidence, attitudes and practices in managing violence and inequality, and boys' clubs have begun to show promise for similar work with boys. Discussions with parents in communities have led mothers and fathers to reflect on and discuss gender roles and norms, in some cases influencing family dynamics and easing the burden of labour from girls. Work in schools has influenced school management and classroom processes, strengthening pupil participation and gender equality. New structures for child protection at community level have strengthened dialogue between formal and informal justice systems."

The report outlines the following as key findings:

Girls' experiences, attitudes, and responses to violence, gender, and inequity
The evaluation found that the project resulted in positive changes in girls' knowledge and attitudes towards gender, rights, and violence, and that girls' clubs organised as part of the strategy had positive effects on girls' knowledge, confidence, attitudes, and practices in managing violence and inequality. Some of the impact has been differential between countries. "Girls in Ghana, and particularly in Mozambique, are more likely than in 2009 to report their experiences of violence to someone, though this is not the case in Kenya." However, the actual impact on incidences of violence are less clear to evaluate, as raising girls awareness and confidence is more likely to increase reporting, which can skew the monitoring of actual occurrences of violence.

Shifting attitudes, knowledge, and practices in families and communities
According to the evaluation, there is evidence that the project has positively influenced family dynamics, but "norms about gender, including female submission, still persist, and the area where project work has been most difficult, and sometimes evoked hostility, has been engaging with discussions in communities about teenage sex and relationships." The report notes that engaging with communities through community-based organisations helps to create an enabling environment, but that further engagement with families, communities, especially men, is needed.

Changes in schools as sites for challenging gender inequality and violence
The report notes changes within project schools, including increased girls' enrolment, improved pupil participation, and gender equality in classroom processes, which led to better knowledge and attitudes about gender and violence. However, harsh punishments in schools continue to be a challenge, and there is still significant work needed in both school structures and practices to ensure gender-sensitive and child-friendly schools.

Legal and policy enactments on violence against girls: from national to local
Coalition building is cited as a key factor in influencing policy and community-level structures to strengthen legislative and policy frameworks related to violence against girls. In communities, there has been improved knowledge and practices around child protection, including strengthening community-based structures that coordinate between informal and formal judicial systems. Greater improvements were seen in the Mozambique context, where the project took place in a peri-urban area, in comparison to the more rural contexts of Ghana and Kenya.

Chapter 7 of this report presents recommendations, including direct interventions with young people, interventions with schools, interventions with families and schools, and recommendations for planning future non-governmental organisation interventions. The following is a selection of recommendations related to using communication:

• "Girls' clubs: Girls' clubs in schools run by trained female mentors can be critical spaces for girls' empowerment. They can act as positive role models, and increase knowledge and confidence to speak out against violence and broader inequalities. Girls’ club manuals can provide effective guidance on how to run clubs. More research is needed on how to ensure fair membership criteria, avoid elitism, tailor club approaches for specific local contexts (particularly in relation to addressing sensitive taboo topics, including sex and relationships), maintain motivation and support for mentors, and how to institutionalise the clubs within the broader school culture, rather than being seen as an NGO [non-governmental organisation] intervention external to the school."
• "Girls out of school: Often the most marginalised members of communities, projects need to involve girls who are out of school, listening to and responding to their concerns, and facilitating
  their return to school or to alternative educational, training, and employment opportunities."
• "Codes of conduct for teachers: National guidance needs to clearly set out acceptable and unacceptable conduct and sanctions for breaking the code of conduct. Working closely with teacher unions is important in ensuring effective guidance and implementation."
• "Sex and relationships education: Teachers and project staff need training and support in how to address sex and relationships. While provision of curricular guidance will be valuable, staff will need support on how to address issues like safe, healthy sexual relationships in contexts where there are taboos on teenage sex."
• "Training and support for teachers: In-service training is an effective way to build knowledge and change attitudes about gender and violence, and to ensure this transfers into changing behaviour. Ongoing support for teachers and SMC members is needed alongside work with teacher training organisations and Ministries of Education to strengthen training."
• "Engaging families: Creating dialogues with parents and carers through Reflect circles, home-school discussions, and home visits can help parents to reflect on and re-negotiate gender dynamics and violence in the family. They can help parents to respond effectively to violence and to support girls to have safe relationships and be safe from violence. These opportunities are particularly important for reinforcing direct work with girls in clubs, helping parents to feel included and girls to feel supported in discussions about sensitive issues within families."
• "Integrated interventions: Projects that combine work with girls, boys, schools, communities, and district and national advocacy work are important for addressing the multi-dimensionality of violence."

To download the Executive Summary and Success Stories related to this report [in PDF], click the links below.

Endline Study Report - Executive Summary (English)

Endline Study Report - Executive Summary (French)

Success stories (English)

Success stories (French)

Success Stories (Portuguese)