3.3 Digitalized e-learning, teaching and interaction

Training teachers on digital pedagogy

gender responsive has recorded an increase in school enrolment from 450 students in 2017 to 734 students in 2019. It is also the only school in district offering sciences at A’ level.

3.3 Digitalized e-learning, teaching and interaction

The positive school environment was reinforced further through the e-learning platform. In 2019, FAWE, through Ultimate Multimedia Consult Ltd developed and introduced an e-learning platform to the 40 project schools. The goal of the portal was to avail digital learning resources on STEM related subjects in the Uganda secondary school education curriculum, as well as other STEM and GRP content. This would support and inspire teachers and learners in STEM related careers. Two hundred and forty seven teachers were equipped with digital pedagogy skills, in order to maximize the utilization of the portal. In addition to access to teaching and learning materials, the platform enables girls to interact with each other and with teachers and mentors. Both teachers and students research more on STEM subjects; resulting in renewed interest, confidence and better teaching and learning. As one beneficiary teacher notes: “Teaching using computer is worth adopting because it calls for more research amongst us teachers, a trend which was not there before FAWE came to our school. While using the old chalk and talk method of teaching, we would dwell on theory work and left out much of the concepts while handling different topics. Teaching was also boring with some students going as far as sleeping in class. Today with digital teaching we research and avoid being embarrassed by students” Teacher and STEM focal point person, St. Catherine secondary school Boroboro, Lira district, Uganda. However, even with the undeniable benefits of the e-learning platform; there were concerns about the intermittent or limited internet access, especially in rural parts of the country; coupled with concern around the cost of internet. FAWE addressed this challenge by initiating the installation of an offline portal. However, owing to limited resources, only 17 schools were selected to benefit from the exercise. FAWE aims to engage Ministry of Education and Sports, to scale up the off line portal to other schools in Uganda. The offline portal will be ideal for schools in the rural areas that have limited access to internet connectivity. Additionally, FAWE managed to keep the e-learning platform operational, even when it necessitated importing servers and other equipment that were difficult to source in country during the difficult early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3.4 Documentation and knowledge management for future learning and replication

The project documented and published most significant change stories on girls in STEM and case studies of successful women in STEM professions; in order to use them to inspire the students on the pathways to STEM careers. FAWE documented 38 stories of successful African women from 18 countries and the book was officially launched in 2020. An e-copy of the publication will be shared on the website learning portal and social media, while hard copies will be given to the 40 project schools. FAWE has had the English publication translated into French for the Francophone Chapters implementing similar interventions geared towards enhancing girls’ participation in STEM subjects. It is available at http:// elearning.fawe.org/inspiring-stories-from-africanwomen-scientists. Additionally, lessons learned and emerging good practices including; STEM clubs, capacity building of teachers and innovations among girls, were documented and shared within the FAWE network, and beyond.

3.5 Advocacy awareness and creation

3.5.1 Government and education stakeholder buy in In order to ascertain credibility and enlist stakeholder buy in, there was a one day national project launch that was attended by 100 key education stakeholders; surpassing the project target of 60 by 40%. At the initiation stage and throughout the three years, FAWE conducted advocacy and awareness raising and worked closely with existing structures and education stakeholders, key among them being the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) in Uganda. The MoES is the government entity in charge of Education and by inference, girls’ education participation and performance in STEM subjects. Following advice by the ministry, the project drew upon the ‘Secondary Science and Mathematics Teacher project’ (SESEMAT) centres, established by ministry between 2005-2008. The overall goal of SESEMAT was to improve the quality of delivery of science subjects and performance, especially targeting the girls. The Ministry of Education and Sports, which had through SESEMAT, trained over 100 science teachers in modern methods of science teaching; saw FAWE’s STEM project as a good initiative to further advance teaching and learning of science subjects in selected project secondary schools and subsequently improve performance. Additionally, the Ministry of Education and Sports invited FAWE to participate in the review of and validation of its guidelines for school clubs and school re-entry for child-mothers. The school reentry guidelines are among the government efforts towards creating an inclusive and conducive school environment for learners, especially the girl-child. This accords child-mothers a second chance to return to school, complete their studies and transition to higher levels of education and be open for future career choices. Over the course of the project, in addition to the teachers and students, there was a build-up of engagement and involvement of policy makers in project activities, events/workshops and competitions. These included: the line ministriesMinistry of Education and Sports and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations; officials including Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners and school administrators. These activities further generated debate on the need to address the current challenges in teaching of Science subjects in schools. Among the suggestions made were: moving from a theory-based to practical approach; increasing advocacy for improved uptake and participation of girls in Science subjects; making the teaching and learning environment gender responsive and enforcing other good practices. 3.5.2 Resourceful partnerships: Advancing STEM through partnership Owing to the increased awareness raising, the project attracted UNESCO, Ministry of Education and Sports (Teacher, Instructor Education and Training Department and the Gender Unit), Makerere University’s Department of Science, Technical and VocationalEducation(DSTVE)andNationalCurriculum Development Centre; to develop national guidelines for integrating FAWE’s GRP model in primary and secondary schools. Draft guidelines were developed and validated and as a result, 91 science teachers, (female: 23, male: 68) selected from primary and secondary schools neighbouring the STEM project schools, were identified and oriented on the GRP model, as well as the draft GRP guidelines. This is intended to cascade the GRP model and promote the