1.1 Background
1.2 Structure
1.3 Limitations
This report was commissioned by the British Development Division in Central Africa (BDDCA) of the Overseas Development Administration (ODA). The consultant. Dr. Nicola Swainson, was requested to conduct a literature review of policy and other interventions that have been developed to address the constraints against girls' access and persistence within the education systems of the BDDCA region. The BDDCA area covers four countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, because there is very little reliable information and research on the education sector in Mozambique, this country has not been included. The objective of this project is to provide the BDDCA with information and analyses that will assist them in designing and implementing effective gender strategies in order to improve educational outcomes for girls.
The report is divided into two parts. The first part contains the following three chapters: (1) An examination of the international evidence concerning the benefits of female education; (2) A review of the literature that outlines the nature and extent of gender disparities in education in the BDDCA region; and (3) An overview of the main factors which have shaped gender inequalities in education. The second part of the report consists of four chapters (5-8) that focus on strategies to promote the education of both girls and women. It assesses the impact of policies and other interventions employed in Africa and highlights particular initiatives which could be effectively replicated in the Southern African context. The report is completed by a list of research priorities and recommendations for BDDCA.
As this report is primarily a desk study, most information was obtained from specialist libraries, in particular those at the Institute of Development Studies and the School of Education at Sussex University, Brighton. Other information was obtained through personal contacts. This report reviews a large amount of literature on gender and education, but it cannot pretend to be fully comprehensive given the time allocated (30 days) for the consultancy. More work was done on the report in order to revise it for publication. There is a shortage of good quality school-based primary research in all three countries. More recent enrolment figures are also needed for all BDDCA countries, broken down by sex, grade and region. The information on interventions by governments and donors is selective, the intention being to focus on those which offer the greatest possible relevance to the situation in Southern Africa.
