Using community-based structures in education programming Thematic Review

OCTOBER 2021

The Thematic Review series is a collection of papers which focus on what has been learned, why it is important and for whom on the Girls’ Education Challenge.

This Thematic Review summarises the learning around how community-based structures (CBSs) supported projects during COVID-19 school and community-based education closures.

It examines the role of CBSs in supporting Girls’ Education Challenge projects to pivot successfully and identifies six characteristics of successful utilisation of CBSs.

This Thematic Review is primarily aimed at projects, implementors and non-governmental organisations interested in working with CBSs to maximise project outcomes now and in the future. It is also useful for researchers and policy makers, supporting conversations about how to best work with communities and CBSs.

Acknowledgements

This review was written by Emma Sarton and Hetal Thukral with support from Anita Reilly, but it would not have been possible without the work carried out by Sharon Tao and Gabriella Prescott and, ultimately, the support from and work of the projects on the Girls’ Education Challenge. This report also includes a Value for Money (VfM) review written by Valsa Shah. The following projects gave up their time to develop the findings in this review:

Link Education International: Team Girl Malawi and STAGES (Ethiopia)

STAGES: Afghanistan

People in Need: CHANGE (Ethiopia)

Education Development Trust: Let Our Girls Succeed (Kenya)

International Rescue Committee: TEACH (Pakistan)

Plan International: GATE-GEC (Sierra Leone)

I Choose Life: Jielimishe (Kenya)

As always, none of this would be possible without the hard work, insights and reflections of all the projects in the Girls’ Education Challenge.

Thank you.

Link Education International: Team Girl Malawi and STAGES

STAGES: Afghanistan

People in Need: CHANGE

Education Development Trust: Let Our Girls Succeed

International Rescue Committee: TEACH

Plan International: GATE-GEC

I Choose Life: Jielimishe

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Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………25

Annex 1: Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………27

Anne 2: An initial Value for Money review of community-based structures ……………………………28