Emerging findings, West Africa - 2021

Emerging Findings:

The

impact

of COVID-19 on girls and the Girls’ Education Challenge response

Focus on West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone)

This Focus on West Africa brief summarises emerging findings around the impact of COVID-19 on learning, wellbeing and return to school from Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) projects in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana. It is one of a series of five regional Emerging Findings briefs which covers the time period from March 2020 to June 2021.

It is primarily aimed at West African national governments, INGOs and NGOs working in the region who are interested in understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on learning, wellbeing and return to school. This brief has continued relevance because of the ongoing uncertainty and continued impact on schools and, in some cases, school closures and learning. It outlines interventions that support the reopening of schools and the continuation of remote learning where schools remain closed.

The evidence collated and presented in this paper around learning, wellbeing and return to school from the GEC projects in West Africa was from the time period March 2020 to June 2021.

Summary

IMPACTS ON GIRLS’ LEARNING

• During school closures, opportunities for learning were significantly limited, with many children unable to access remote learning or receive learning support.

• Projects found that girls faced increased pressure to do housework and participate in incomegenerating activities, which negatively impacted their ability to learn.

• Solutions: Project interventions ranged from distributing radios to supporting Ministry of Education (MoE) distance learning initiatives to using small community-based learning groups.

IMPACTS ON GIRLS’ SAFETY AND WELLBEING

• GEC projects documented the negative impact of COVID-19 on the safety and wellbeing of women and girls across all three countries. The reports included an increase in incidences of violence against girls and increased rates of pregnancy and early marriage.

• This correlates with the broader external evidence in the region. For example, gender-based violence (GBV) cases in West Africa increased by over 100%, from 308 in January 2020 to over 3,000 reported cases by May 31, 2020 .

• Across the region, GEC projects reported the negative impact of COVID-19 on girls’ mental health.

• Solutions: Interventions included providing psychological first aid (PFA) training for project staff, volunteers and teachers, and creating safe spaces during group community-based learning sessions.

IMPACTS ON GIRLS’ RETURN TO SCHOOL

• Across the three GEC countries, COVID-19 has negatively impacted school enrolment rates for girls.

• Whilst reasons for non-return across GEC projects in the region vary, they include migration, early marriage, teenage pregnancy and an increased focus on income-generation.

• Although the reasons for dropout are similar to those seen post-Ebola, it is worth noting that in March 2020, the Sierra Leonean government overturned their decision to prevent pregnant girls from attending school and sitting exams, a significant step towards keeping girls in education.

• Solutions: GEC project interventions focused on keeping in close contact with girls, providing COVID-19 messaging to assuage fears of transmission at school, and the provision of cash transfers to young mothers, girls with disabilities and girls in older grades to encourage their return to school.

Introduction Emerging findings

During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted 188 countries to enforce national school closures and lockdowns, impacting approximately 98.5% of the world’s student population.1 As the year progressed, studies and reports began to note how these school closures and lockdowns disproportionately affected women and girls, particularly the most marginalised.2 Several tools were developed to track the educational effects of the pandemic. However, most did not include extensive information on girls’ education.3 This brief presents the work carried out with projects to provide a fuller and more nuanced understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on girls’ educational opportunities and life chances, particularly in the 17 countries in which the GEC operates.

This paper focuses on the West Africa region, specifically Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana,4 and is part of a series of regional papers5 that provide a comprehensive review6 and analysis of 90 studies, articles and reports produced on or within the 17 GEC countries regarding the impact of school closures and lockdowns on girls’ learning, safety, wellbeing and return to school. The review also includes analyses of COVID-19 impacts specifically on GEC girls, drawn from GEC projects’ quarterly reports.7 GEC projects further validated and elaborated upon these findings and analyses during two workshops and reviews of an initial paper conducted in March and April 2021.8 These workshops also explored and discussed GEC project activities and interventions that have shown promise with regard to addressing COVID-19 impacts on girls.

Overall, the types and degrees of COVID-19 impacts on girls varied across countries and contexts within individual countries (e.g. rural or urban locations). However, a common theme emerged, irrespective of country or context, that COVID-19 exacerbated existing constraints and created new ones on girls’ educational opportunities and life chances. For example, school and community education centre closures and lockdowns increased girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence and increased their domestic chore burden as they cared for siblings and sick relatives. Girls who lacked access to mobile phones, radios or electricity before COVID-19 were disadvantaged even further during COVID-19, as this access was needed to participate in most distance learning activities. Subgroups, such as girls with disabilities, also faced increased stigma, discrimination and safeguarding risks.

Figure 1 provides examples of the many new or exacerbated constraints (noted in yellow) experienced by girls in most GEC countries and contexts, including the girls served by projects in West Africa.9 These constraints are located within the different levels of the education system: the home and community level, school (closure) level, and system and policy levels.

The following sections summarise the impact of COVID-19 on girls’ learning, safety, wellbeing and school return in the West Africa region (Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Ghana) and provide an overview of the GEC activities and interventions that address adverse impacts.

Figure 1: New and exacerbated constraints on girls’ access to education10

System and policy constraints

School closure constraints

Inadequate recruitment of female managers and teachers

Loss of learning and skills for an initial 3 months.

Home and community constraints made worse by lockdowns

Inadequate pre-service training on gender responsive pedagogy

Inadequate gender awareness, focal points, monitoring at national, regional or district level

Potentially 6 -9 months

Girls’ extra domestic work increases with all children at home and/or if parents become ill

Teachers disengage, stop practicing skills, nd other work

Time away from school leads to girls losing con dence in their learning abilities, increasing the risk of drop out

Girls forced to contribute to the family’s income (farm labour, market)

Girls working on their own are vulnerable to ‘survival’ transactional sex situations

Parents arrange an early marriage to o set family poverty

Parents lack the capacity/time to support learning

Family migration to nd food/ work

Family violence increases

Constraints on a girl’s capability to learn

Lack of access to phones/radios/electricity prevents girls from accessing distance learning

Lack of SRH, sexual abuse, manipulation, rape can lead to pregnancy

Girls do not go back to school due to early pregnancy

Girls’ mental health deteriorates

Girls do not know or have the con dence to claim their rights

When schools reopen, families can no longer pay for exam fees, uniforms, etc. Boys are prioritised.

Inadequate access to sanitary products during menstruation

Ministry of Education distance learning interventions are not gender responsive and overlook the most

Social norms deprioritise gender throughout government COVID-19 response

MoE COVID-19

Strategy has

Inadequate gender budgeting, planning, M&E

School is no longer a pathway for reporting violence for girls

Girls lack the protection, support, and resources that schools provide

Insu cient national policies for gender, sexual harassment, pregnancy re-entry Inadequate district referral pathways and response for SRGBV

Impacts on girls’ learning

The experience with Ebola meant that governments in this region were quick to respond. However, COVID-19 still resulted in school closures in all three West African GEC countries: Sierra Leone experienced 14 weeks, Nigeria 24 weeks and Ghana 53 weeks (as of July 2021).11 During school closures, opportunities for learning were significantly limited, with many children unable to access remote learning or receive learning support. In Nigeria, 45% of children did not receive any learning activities during the lockdown period.12 Just 10% of girls and 24% of boys were accessing distance learning via television, and only 18% of children via radio and 2% of children via mobile.13 Only nine out of over 1,300 households reported having received education-related materials directly from schools or education departments.14 Within the household, girls have less support with learning than boys and one-quarter of girls. Twice the number of girls than boys reported receiving no help from any source.15 Projects also reported unequal access to distance learning, with many girls unable to access it. For example, in Sierra Leone, GATE-GEC found that girls without radios or those in remote communities without radio coverage missed out on Ministry Of Basic And Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) lessons.

GEC projects reported that girls had to take on additional responsibilities during school closures, which prevented them from learning. In Ghana, 68% of girls supported by the MGCubed project reported that domestic work was one of the main ways they spent their time, compared to 43% of boys. In Sierra Leone, Every Adolescent Girl Empowered and Resilient reported that a high chore burden

was a significant barrier to attendance at educational programmes by 32.9% of girls and 28.2% of caregivers. Girls supported by the EAGER project reported that they were able to use the skills they had learned in sessions before the pandemic and reported putting those to use during the pandemic, with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and other health-related themes, negotiations and decision-making skills, assertive communication as most helpful from the pre-COVID-19 curriculum.

While the full extent of the impact on learning outcomes is unknown, there is some emerging evidence. In Ghana, the estimated learning loss suffered over three months ranged from just over half to more than 100% of the gains attained during the prior year.16 In addition, GATE-GEC noted the adverse impact on the learning and progression of girls and student teachers, with girls reporting that they had forgotten lessons that they had learned previously.

Project also supported MoE distance learning initiatives. In Nigeria, Discovery Project 2 supported television and radio distance learning by training teacher presenters, supported content development and used their educational video library. MGCubed worked with the Ghanaian Education Services to produce Ghana Learning TV and produced over 420 national TV lessons, which were broadcast across Ghana, in addition to supporting the production of literacy programmes for Ghana Learning Radio.

Another common intervention was the use of small community-based learning groups. In Ghana, the Strategic Approaches for Girls’ Education (STAGE) project supports out-of-school girls, teenage mothers and other highly marginalised girls. As part of their pre-COVID-19 project design, they had established designated learning centres to deliver literacy, numeracy and life skills training. During school closures, girls were able to continue their learning at these centres. Those who plan to reintegrate into formal schools continued to learn the accelerated curriculum. Non-formal track girls continued to learn functional literacy, numeracy and skills training.

Ghana

Literature review findings:

The estimates of learning loss experienced over three months ranged from just over half to more than 100% of the gains attained during the prior year (Sabates et al. 2020).

Project findings:

MGCubed reported that 68% of girls spent a lot of time on domestic work, compared to 43% of boys. During school closures (data collected May to August 2020), 48% of children (46% girls and 51% boys) felt they were progressing with their learning, while 41% (both girls and boys) did not. 92% of children reported spending some time studying at home (91% girls, 94% boys), the majority studying for two or three days per week. 61% said that someone else helped them with their learning. Girls were considerably more confident about literacy (64% thought they were getting better compared with 49% of boys) and significantly less confident about numeracy (37% thought they forgot things compared to 27% boys).

Core interventions:

MGCubed worked with the Ghanaian Education Services to produce Ghana Learning TV (GLTV) on a newly created national TV channel at the request of the MoE, producing over 420 national TV lessons broadcast across Ghana. The project also supported the production of literacy programmes for Ghana Learning Radio. In addition, they made direct phone contact with the most marginalised and provided remote, phone-based learning support via teachers and facilitators. The project also distributed TVs and decoders (needed to access the specific channel for GLTV) and stationery kits. In addition, caregivers received guidance on how to support their child’s learning at home. All lessons included sign language interpretation and covered grades from kindergarten to senior high school. Subjects covered include English, maths, science and social studies.

STAGE used small, community-based learning groups to provide accelerated learning programmes. The content covered functional literacy and numeracy, skills training for non-formal track girls and accelerated curriculum for girls integrating into formal schools.

Nigeria

Literature review findings:

Since March 2020, 45% of children have not received any learning activities (Osae-Brown 2021). Just 10% of girls and 24% of boys access distance learning via television and only 18% of children via radio and 2% via mobile phone. Just nine out of over 1,300 households reported receiving education-related materials directly from schools and education departments. Within the household, girls have had less support with learning than boys. Twice the number of girls than boys reported receiving no help from any source (Malala Fund 2020c). As a result, many children were left behind as they were not equipped to adapt or transition to new methods of learning. For example, the MoE introduced a home-teaching method through radio and television, but access was limited as there was limited electricity supply in much of the country. This was compounded by high poverty levels, with many families unable to afford televisions or radios (Okwuosa & Modibbo 2021).

Core interventions:

Impact(Ed) provided a school-readiness package. This was designed to help all 609 Fitila schools develop schoolcommunity action plans to address the wide range of new or exacerbated barriers to education stemming from COVID-19 and school closures. The action plans sought to ensure the most vulnerable and struggling learners were re-enrolled and received extra support upon re-entry. In addition, the project supported Kano State’s MoE distance learning initiatives over television and radio by providing Impact(Ed) ‘s educational video library, training of teacher

presenters, content development and technical support during production. Broadcasts were estimated to reach approximately 800,000 primary and junior secondary school children. They also provided mobile phonebased support to over 4,000 teachers which included refresher training and check-ins on teachers’ wellbeing. This acknowledged the stresses and challenges they were facing and allowed them to share solutions on how best to support girls and boys during closures.

This GEC project completed its activities in December 2020

Sierra Leone

Literature review findings:

The government had experience with Ebola, which supported the COVID-19 Response Task Force’s quick formation and response (Solís Arce 2020)

Project findings:

EAGER reported that a high chore burden was identified as a significant barrier to attending educational programmes by 32.9% of girls and 28.2% of caregivers. 22.8% of project girls reported increased time spent on income generation during COVID-19, with increased household chores reported by 41% and increased childcare demands reported by 23.1%. Girls reported that they were able to use the skills they had learned in sessions before the pandemic and reported putting those to use during the pandemic, with SRH and other health-related themes, negotiations and decision-making skills, assertive communication as most helpful from the pre-COVID-19 curriculum, and numeracy as it helped with incomegenerating activities.

GATE-GEC girls noted they had forgotten school lessons learned previously. Adverse impacts on the learning and progression of girls and student teachers were noted. For example, some students were prevented from attending classes by male partners and girls without radios or those in remote communities without radio coverage missed out on MBSSE lessons.

Core interventions:

EAGER used small, safe space-based community learning groups (six or seven girls) facilitated by two community mentors or volunteers and one literacy and numeracy facilitator (teacher or young graduate). The groups covered functional literacy and numeracy and life skills, including psychosocial support (PSS). The project’s overall response fed into national plans, objectives and priorities, which aligned with the COVID-19 Emergency Education Response Plan.

GATE-GEC distributed radios so girls could access MBSSE lessons. They extended study groups, provided learning materials for use at home or in study groups and offered phone-based learning support for students who had not returned to school. This was facilitated by programme volunteers (teachers) and newly qualified female teachers (previously student teachers supported by the programme). The content covered literacy, numeracy and life skills.

Impacts on girls’ safety and wellbeing

Evidence from the Ebola crisis showed that women and girls faced increased GBV, unintended pregnancies and social stigma, which, in some cases, led to drop out from school. Reports from the GEC countries in the region indicated that a similar pattern was emerging in the COVID-19 pandemic as reports of GBV spiked in all three countries. In Sierra Leone, for example, reports of domestic violence increased by 20%.17 In addition, data from the West Africa Network for Peace Building National Early Warning System indicate that GBV cases in West Africa increased by over 100%, from 308 in January 2020 to over 3,000 reported cases by May 31, 2020.18

Across the West Africa GEC portfolio, projects found that lockdowns resulted in an increased risk to the safety and wellbeing of girls. For example, in Sierra Leone, EAGER reported increased reports of violence against girls and increased incidences of pregnancy and early marriage. In Ghana, MGCubed also observed an increase in teenage pregnancy in some communities (though there are no comparable data for pre-COVID-19 pregnancy rates to make a definite statement).

Projects also reported the negative impact on girls’ mental health during COVID-19. EAGER found that high levels of anxiety and depression were noted amongst 82% of girls. Household economic stresses increased. 70% of girls reported a lack of food and 67% reported a lack of money. MGCubed found that most girls and boys reported feeling ‘less happy’ since schools closed. 64% of caregivers had noticed changes in their child’s mood during school

closures. Of these, 81% reported their child was less happy. In data collected since December, 61% of caregivers think the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their child’s mood or wellbeing and, of these, 93% think it has deteriorated.

The provision of PFA training was a common intervention across the West Africa GEC portfolio. EAGER trained project staff and volunteers using the ‘Look, Listen and Link’ approach and gave mentors training on being a ‘Safe Person’ for girls, emphasising non-blaming and healing statements. GATE-GEC provided mental health and psychosocial services (MHPSS) training to community focal points and provided them with coaching to support families and children. MGCubed provided PSS training to teachers to be better placed to support children’s return to the classroom when schools reopened.

GEC projects also raised community awareness via radio. For example, Impact(Ed): Discovery Project 2 used its My Better World (MBW) television and radio life skills series to develop girls’ knowledge, attitudes and skills, and shift parent and community norms to support gender equality and social inclusion.

EAGER prioritised stress management skills and emotional resilience as core components of their learning programme. They used the structure of a safe space-based learning group to support girls’ mental health in a number of ways including:

• introducing stress management practices at the beginning of each session

• increasing the emphasis on Social Emotional Learning in Life Skills, including stories that normalised stress and anxiety

• jumping ahead in the curriculum to discuss sensitive topics like menstruation, sex and pregnancy so girls were better equipped to stay safe

• supporting girls to build their social networks by creating a buddy system

• coaching mentors to be kind, supportive and inclusive of all girls.

Ghana

Literature review findings:

There was an increase in teenage pregnancy (an almost ninefold rise in Krachi West Area Programme) ( World Vision 2020).

Project findings:

MGCubed observed an increase in teenage pregnancy in some communities as a reason for girls not returning to school. The project found that most girls and boys reported feeling ‘less happy’ since schools closed and 64% of caregivers had noticed changes in their child’s mood during school closures. Of these, 81% reported their child was less happy. In data collected since December 2020, 61% of caregivers think the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their child’s mood or wellbeing and, of these, 93% think it has deteriorated.

Core interventions:

MGCubed teachers received PSS training to be better placed to support children’s return to the classroom. Additional activities included trialling a radio club lesson, but this was not broadcast as schools reopened and children could resume life skills learning through the project’s afternoon school clubs.

Nigeria

Literature review findings:

There were sharp rises in reported cases of violence against women and girls (UN Women 2020a).

Core interventions:

Impact(Ed) broadcasted an animated life skills series (MBW) on multiple channels in July 2020 and September 2020, making the show available to millions of learners and their families in Hausa and English. MBW was a television and radio life skills series based on themes from the Campaign for Female Education’s (CAMFED) print curriculum to develop students’ and especially girls’ knowledge, attitudes and skills, and shift parent and community norms in support of gender equality and social inclusion. The series was distributed at school and through national and local television and radio. In addition, the series aired on Radio Kano, extending its reach to millions more young people, especially in remote, rural areas where television ownership rates are low.

Sierra Leone

Literature review findings:

There was a 20% rise in reports of domestic violence, sexual and non-sexual (Srivatsa 2020).

Project findings:

EAGER saw increased incidences of pregnancy (0.6% participants) and early marriage (0.4% participants) throughout COVID-19. The project also noted increased anxiety and depression (among 82% of girls) and increased household economic stresses. For example, 70% of girls reported a lack of food and 67% reported a lack of money. Girls also faced increased responsibilities and reported increasing violence against girls (19%), frequently mentioning intimate partner violence and early marriage.

Core interventions:

EAGER implemented activities described in the case study on page 10, and in addition, the project added interactive activities and emphasised discussion to encourage peer learning. In addition, radio programming delivered threeminute stories and messaging and a community fund was set up to pay for girls to access referral services. Furthermore, weekly radio programmes were re-sequenced and presented relevant issues through the eyes of girls. The project also launched six community dialogues to encourage collective action to address harmful gender norms.

GATE-GEC used girls’ clubs in primary schools, positive parenting sessions within Village Savings and Loans Schemes (VSLA) groups, mapping and capacity assessment of MHPSS. As a result, community MHPSS focal points were trained and coached to support children and families, and community protection and safeguarding structures were strengthened. PFA and PSS training was given to all staff and volunteers and used to support the sensitisation of communities. Girls’ clubs were facilitated by qualified female teachers and positive parenting village agents.

Impacts on girls’ return to school

Emerging findings from GEC countries in West Africa indicate that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the enrolment rates for girls across the region. For example, in Nigeria, the number of out-of-school children stands at 10.1 million, an increase of more than 3 million from last year.19 Only 59% of school-age children went to school in October 2020, compared to 74% in January 2019.20 In Sierra Leone, one in 10 students had failed to return to school by November 2020. GEC projects have also seen an impact on the return-to-school rate. For example, GATE-GEC has found that migration has delayed girls from returning to school or prevented them from returning altogether. In addition, some being forced to continue participating in income-generating activities caused a delay in girls returning to school. EAGER also noted that girls’ increased focus on farming and mining activities as an alternative for basic survival has led to changes in attendance levels.

As with the Ebola pandemic, it seems that the increase in early marriage, teenage pregnancy and greater poverty has resulted in an increased dropout rate. However, in March 2020, the Sierra Leonean government overturned their decision to prevent pregnant girls from attending school and sitting exams – a significant step towards keeping girls in education.21

Project interventions focused on keeping in touch with girls during the lockdown period. For example, EAGER ensured that mentors kept in close contact with girls through the community-based learning groups. In addition, GATE-GEC used phone-based monitoring and support throughout the lockdown period.

Back to school campaigns and community outreach was a common intervention across the region. Projects also disseminated COVID-19 messaging to assuage fears of transmission at school. For example, Impact(Ed): Discovery Project 2 (DP2) raised COVID-19 awareness through mobile phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp groups and mobilised communities to take appropriate public health and child protection precautions during the pandemic, prioritising continued learning for children.

MGCubed provided cash transfers to young mothers, girls with disabilities and girls in older grade classes to encourage their return. In addition to amplifying the national back-to-school campaign, the project worked with District Education Officers to track absenteeism and follow up with children who were regularly absent. Of the 178 children who missed at least three days of school and whose cases were followed up, 118 have returned and are attending regularly. Schools were also provided with wash items and pupils and teachers were given reusable personal protective equipment (PPE). As of June 2021, the project had recorded a return rate of 93%.

Ghana

Literature review findings: Schools were reopened in January 2021 after nine months of closure.

Core interventions:

MGCubed focused on national TV and radio messaging (working with MoE) and back-to-school messaging shared through community information centres and local networks through the District Education Officers and project facilitators. Additional activities provided cash transfers to young mothers, girls with disabilities and girls in older grade classes to encourage their return. They also supported the national back-to-school campaign and worked in each district to amplify it with the District Education Offices (DEO). In addition, the project worked with DEO officers to track absenteeism and follow up with children who were regularly absent (of 178 children who missed at least three days of school and whose cases were followed up, 118 have returned and are regularly attending). Schools were also provided with WASH items and pupils and teachers were given PPE. Results show that there was a 93% return rate to school.

STAGE worked on transition processes, including back to school campaigns and support of community oversight committees. Results show that 88% (7,152) out-ofschool girls have transitioned to formal schools since the government announced the reopening of schools.

Nigeria

Literature review findings: Only 59% of school-age children went to school in October 2020, compared to 74% in January 2019 (OsaeBrown 2021). The number of out-of-school children stands at 10.1 million, an increase of more than 3 million from last year (Obiezu 2021).

Core interventions:

Impact(Ed) raised COVID-19 awareness through mobile phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp groups and mobilising communities to take appropriate public health and child protection precautions during the pandemic, including prioritising continued learning for children. The results show that these efforts reached at least 25,000 households across project areas in Kano State.

Sierra Leone

Literature review findings:

In November 2020, one in 10 students had failed to return to school since reopening in October 2020 (Street Child 2020). In March 2020, the government overturned their decision to prevent pregnant girls from attending school and sitting exams, a significant step towards keeping girls in education (Calimoutou 2020).

Project findings:

GATE-GEC reported that migration has resulted in girls not returning to school as they were forced to continue participating in income-generating activities. They also found a delay in girls returning to school due to slow migration back to their communities after closures. Some girls returned to schools in new communities or schools not associated with the GEC.

EAGER saw an increased focus on farming and mining activities for some girls as an alternative for basic survival which led to changes in attendance levels.

Core interventions:

EAGER used small, safe space-based community learning groups and ensured that mentors kept in close contact with girls. They avoided interactive activities, which could increase the risk of spreading COVID-19. They used stories that spoke to girls’ risks as starting points for discussion about sensitive topics and reinforced COVID-19 safety and hygiene messaging at the start of each session. They also reinforced safeguarding and reporting messaging during sessions and prioritised stress management skills and emotional resilience as core components of the programme. Results have seen over 80% re-enrollment of girls. The group of girls that had dropped out of the original cohort was because of early marriage and pregnancies (during the pause in learning) and girls moving away from the community.

GATE-GEC used a back-to-school and safe reopening of schools campaign. They also used community mobilisation and sensitisation, social protection, and phone-based monitoring and support. The results showed that when accounting for children that transitioned out of the cohort and into Senior Secondary School, 82% of the project’s cohort returned to school (note: this does not mean the remaining 18% did not return to school as many families migrated. It is likely that some children returned to school in new communities).

What next?

This paper has reported the emerging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on girls’ learning, wellbeing and return to school. Projects have reported what they did in response to COVID-19, the activities they implemented and the pivots they made to programming. As we move into the next phase of COVID-19, where COVID-19 case rates are rising in some places and schools are re-closing, the need to continue to collect evidence and document the evolving challenges that girls face what interventions are successful or not is crucial.

The evidence reported here will be revisited in 2021 through projects’ discussion and reporting, resulting in an updated paper. The intention is to find out and document, as schools reopen, evolving challenges faced by girls, what interventions were successful and why, using project data, assessment data and reporting.

Annexes

A: GEC West Africa project glossary

Project Lead Organisation Project name (linked to GEC website project page)

Impact(Ed) Impact(Ed): Discovery Project 2 (DP2)

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Every Adolescent Girl Empowered and Resilient (EAGER)

Country Funding window22

Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria

Sierra Leone

GEC-T

LNGB

Mercy Corps Educating Nigerian Girls in New Enterprises (ENGINE) II

Plan International GATE-GEC

(Varkey) Plan International Making Ghanaian Girls Great! (MGCubed)

World Education Inc. (WEI) Strategic Approaches for Girls’ Education (STAGE)

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

GEC-T

GEC-T

Ghana GEC-T

Ghana LNGB

B. Collation of findings

This paper brings together two types of data and information regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on girls’ learning, safety, wellbeing and return to school:

1. Contextual findings for the West Africa region, including information and data at the national level or a particular area or city

2. GEC project findings, entailing information and data about project beneficiaries

Both these sets of findings have their limitations. Based on the GEC review of country-level research and data at the time, it became apparent that there is a shortage of rigorous research conducted on the impacts of COVID-19, particularly regarding adolescent girls. This can be attributed to several factors, including the recentness of the pandemic, the limited systematic focus of response efforts and research on adolescent girls and the lack of genderdisaggregated data.23 Most global, country or regional-level reports based their predictions or estimates of effects mainly on data from previous crises such as the Ebola outbreak in 201624 or on emerging evidence from countries with reporting systems in place.25 A UNICEF Report (2021) modelled their dropout rate predictions in South Asia on both rates of school dropouts during Ebola in Guinea and Sierra Leone and dropout rates during the 1997 financial crisis in Indonesia. No comprehensive or rigorous research has been conducted on the impacts of COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Global South countries. Information and data presented in this paper should, therefore, generally be viewed as indicative.

At the GEC project level, the rigour of findings varies from project to project. Reports of COVID-19 effects on girls span a wide range, including anecdotal findings from project Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and results from robust surveys or assessments. Given the different types of data reported and the differing sizes of projects, sample sizes for this GEC project information/data vary. This is

understandable and not necessarily problematic, as this paper aims to provide an understanding of what we know and do not know via the collation of information at project and country levels (with further validation from workshops). The following sections present this collation of information on the impacts of COVID-19 via three thematic areas:

1. Impacts on learning (i.e., loss or gains and why these occurred)

2. Impacts on safety and wellbeing (particularly regarding pregnancy, early marriage, GBV and mental health)

3. Impacts on girls’ return to school

For each theme, country and contextual data are presented together with GEC project-level data for comparative purposes.

It should be noted that the findings presented, particularly with regard to learning, highlight the impacts on girls’ opportunities to learn as opposed to the actual achievements in this area. There are several reasons for this:

1. National exams for many countries have been delayed or cancelled due to school closures (exam data are also limited to students in exam grades, which applies to a relatively small proportion of GEC girls)

2. No comprehensive or rigorous assessment of learning achievements has been conducted in GEC countries (that has been published or is in the public domain), generally due to the difficulties of inter and intranational travel

3. GEC projects have conducted only a very limited number of learning assessments for similar reasons. However, the assessments that have been conducted are certainly noted in the findings.

With regard to girls’ safety, it is only possible to understand levels of ‘negative achievement’ via reports of violence, marriages, pregnancies, female genital mutilation (FGM), etc. Unfortunately, reporting systems on these incidents at district or national levels before COVID-19 were patchy at best in many countries. However, GEC projects actively pick up these incidents regarding their beneficiaries due

to increased capacity development in safeguarding and the Fund Manager’s SHE system.26 That said, wellbeing is a much more nuanced and complex area to report systematically. However, projects have reported on cases they have noted.

Finally, reporting on achievements in girls’ return to school is the most straightforward area to track and measure and, as such, many projects and countries have been able to report on this.

As discussed, the limitations in both global and GEC data make it difficult to draw any hard and fast conclusions about the impacts of COVID-19 on girls. Hence, this paper aims to more broadly provide an understanding of what we know and do not know at this point. However, our growing understanding of COVID-19’s impacts on girls’ opportunities to learn, be safe and return to school will prepare us for when robust data on achievements (or lack thereof) is produced. More importantly, it has already allowed GEC projects to develop strategies to improve girls’ opportunities in the face of school closures and lockdowns and will continue to do so.

Endnotes

1 UNICEF 2021

2 See de Paz et al. 2020 and UN Women 2020

3 Education tracker tools are summarised here: https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/8-tracking-tools-covid-19-data-education

4 The countries listed here are not meant to represent West Africa as a region, rather they are the projects included in the GEC in this geographical area.

5 There are 5 Emerging Findings briefs that cover South Asia, Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and East Africa. Click here to access the GEC website resources page.

6 Literature was collected via a wide online search and included documents produced from March 2020- March 2021. All documents cited in this paper are listed in the bibliography where links are available.

7 Annex A provides a list of all Girls’ Education Challenge Transition (GEC-T) and Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB) projects in West Africa.

8 These workshops initiated the GEC’s broader strategic refresh, which aims to set the direction of the GEC from 2021–2025. Please note that not all GEC projects were represented at each workshop; hence, additional validation was gleaned through circulation of this draft report.

9 It should be noted that the figure does not unpack additional constraints due to intersections with disability, ethnicity and other forms of marginalisation.

10 It should also be noted that under normal circumstances (prior to COVID), there are also numerous constraints at the school/classroom level.

11 Solís Arce 2020

12 UNESCO global monitoring of school closures

13 Osae-Brown 2021

14 Malala Fund 2020c

15 Malala Fund 2020c

16 Sabates et al. 2020

17 Srivatsa 2020

18 Obiezu 2021

19 Obiezu 2021

20 Osae-Brown 2021

21 Calimoutou 2020

22 The GEC has two funding windows GEC-T and LNGB. Projects funded through the GEC-Transition window primarily reach girls in the formal education system and projects in the Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB) window focus on reaching out-of-school girls primarily through community-based education initiatives.

23 See Rafaeli & Hutchinson 2020

24 For example, the Malala Fund 2020a draws on data from the Ebola epidemic and estimates that approximately 10 million more secondary school-aged girls could be out of school after the crisis has passed, if dropouts increase by the same rate. Other estimates/predictions include: Save The Children International 2020a estimates that 9.7 million children may never return to school post-COVID-19 and that an additional 2.5 million girls are at risk of child marriage and adolescent pregnancies are expected to rise by up to 1 million in 2020. World Vision International 2020 estimates that as many as one million girls across sub-Saharan Africa may be blocked from returning to school due to pregnancy during COVID-19 school closures. UNESCO 2020 estimates that about 24 million students (from pre-primary to tertiary) will be at risk of not returning to education. UNFPRA 2020 estimates a one-third reduction in progress towards ending GBV by 2030, including FGM and child marriage.

25 For example, in some countries with robust reporting systems in place, reported cases of violence against women have doubled (UN 2020)

26 The GEC FM incident reporting system used primarily for safeguarding and fraud cases.

Find out more: learningteam@girlseducationchallenge.org | www.girlseducationchallenge.org

The Girls’ Education Challenge is a project funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (“FCDO”), formerly the Department for International Development (“DFID”), and is led and administered by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Mott MacDonald Limited, UK, trading as Cambridge Education as subconsultants, working with organisations including Nathan Associates London Ltd. and Social Development Direct Ltd. This document has been prepared only for FCDO in accordance with the terms agreed with FCDO and for no other purpose. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the other entities managing the Girls’ Education Challenge (as listed above) accept no liability to anyone else in connection with this document.