Uganda, 2018-2020, UKAid
What we achieved
Background
Girls living in rural areas of Uganda are the most likely to drop out of education due to low quality education, household poverty, negative attitudes towards girls’ education and the challenges of adolescence. This is further undermined by gender bias and discrimination in schools through textbooks, curricula and teachers’ attitudes.
Private schools in Uganda outnumber government schools and play an important role in the education provision, however they often don’t have the resources, networks or knowledge to improve the education quality of their schools.
Insufficient classrooms or trained teachers creates over-crowding and many classrooms are missing appropriate educational resources in private schools which can significantly affect the quality of education provided. While a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities can result in adolescent girls skipping school during menstruation.
Aims and objectives
The Empowerment for Girls’ Education (EGE) project aimed to address the economic and social challenges which are the most commonly cited barriers to girls’ education in Uganda, enabling 28,988 girls to complete a full cycle of education.
This included:
- Improving education quality
- Promoting financial literacy
- Life skills training
- Empowerment initiatives
- Tailored financial services
Link was one of six organisations working in partnership with Opportunity International to achieve these aims.
How we got there
Link supported the education quality strand of this project to help ensure affordable private schools met the national requirements for quality education.
We adapted our school management simulation training to address the specific challenges faced by affordable private schools, and supported education specialists in using this tool during leadership and development training sessions.
School leaders worked with education specialists to outline school development plans and received professional leadership training to make incremental improvements to enhance the quality of education in their schools.