Wasichana Wote Wasome [Let All Girls Learn] – Baseline Study Report

Description

This report presents the results of research on establishing a baseline for the DfID Girls’ Education Challenge in Kenya entitled Wasichana Wote Wasome (Let All Girls Learn) Programme.
This is an ambitious programme aimed at enrolling and retaining in schools girls who are marginalised and disenfranchised. The research, monitoring and evaluation programme has been ably led and co-ordinated by Dr. Charity Limboro of the Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK). She has constituted a multi-disciplinary group who have expertise in education, gender, anthropology, environment, and cultural economy.

This report takes, as its starting point, fundamentals which have been widely advocated by DfID and other development partners: access for all children to enter school at the appropriate start age; to identify and analyse ‘silent exclusions’, particularly vulnerable and marginalised girls, which conspire against learning outcomes; the need to track children’s progress systematically; the uptake and purposeful use of teaching-learning materials; and to identify appropriate indicators to monitor progress to ensure sustainability of interventions. The work presented here, representative of the diversity of the context and nuanced nature of educational development, provides critical and novel insight into both the problem at hand – to provide access – and the demanding challenges ahead to achieving this goal.

The contextual analysis along with the generated knowledge of communities, families, and children relate to the ‘Theory of Change’ that underpins this programme. The Theory of Change is the proposed pathway for the DfIDGEC programme to approach holistically education and development, building on girls’ own motivations and capabilities, supported by the community and other relevant actors, to access and remain in school. This baseline study report illuminates the challenges that yet remain to bring relevant education to all children. The report has a particular focus on girls, with many insights that will assist all the partners involved with the programme to ensure robust monitoring and evaluation of their work and focus on achieving credible targets.