On 11 November 2022 UNGEI launched a learning series on innovations for gender equality in education, within the framework of the Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI). Together with the GCI civil society partners ANCEFA (The Africa Network Campaign on Education for All), Plan International and FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists), UNGEI will host a series of webinars aimed at sharing innovations and good practices from the implementation of GCI. The webinars will allow civil society actors from the 8 GCI countries and beyond to share experiences in working with governments on gender-responsive education planning, advocating for gender-transformative education and working with communities to address harmful gender norms. The learning series is an important means for GCI to foster country-to-country learning and stimulate knowledge sharing among gender and education actors.
The first webinar in the learning series brought together 27 professionals, working in the field of gender and education at regional and national level within ANCEFA, FAWE, Plan International and Girls not Brides. Participants work in 8 different countries (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Nigeria).
During the webinar, civil society country teams shared a series of good practices from their GCI interventions. ANCEFA focused on their contribution to the development of a multi-sectoral mechanism for the prevention and response to violence (including gender-based violence) against children in schools in Mozambique. FAWE explained how they successfully advocated for the inclusion of a gender focus in the COVID-19 education plans in Adamawa and Sokoto States in Nigeria. FAWE also shared good practices in engaging with student leaders and school clubs in Burkina Faso and Mali to raise awareness on girls’ education. Plan International showed how they mobilized state and civil society actors at various levels in Niger in a dialogue on girls’ education and child marriage. They also shared their work with school counselors on School-Related Gender-Based violence in Sierra Leone.
For each of the good practices, the consortium members provided details on its implementation, results, lessons learned, suggested strategies to scale up and tips for others to adopt the practice. Participants also shared testimonials from students, teachers and decision makers.
I have moved from the unknown to the known, now I know that teachers have a key role to play to prevent gender-based violence issues and help girls to feel safe and protected in school.Nancy Joyce Kamara, Guidance Counselor & Principal, St Raphael School, Sierra Leone.
The rich discussions during the webinar allowed participants to gain new knowledge on how to promote gender equality in and through education in their programs. Participants committed to amplifying the good practices in their national and regional networks. New webinars will be organized in the course of 2023.
