TEAM Girl Malawi

Malawi, 2018-2023, Girls’ Education Challenge; UKAid

TEAM Girl Malawi (Transformational Empowerment of Adolescent Marginalised Girls in Malawi) improved learning and life skills of some of the most marginalised adolescent girls in Malawi by creating community learning centres, building sexual and reproductive health knowledge, strengthening family and community support, improving child protection and education systems, and giving girls and their families skills to earn.

Key facts

6,300

reached – 5,250 girls & 1,050 boys

13%

of participants had a disability and 25% were pregnant or a young mother

105

learning centres in 3 districts: Lilongwe, Mchinji and Dedza

5 partners

ensured a comprehensive approach

For full a summary of the project, see our endline report here.

How we are making a difference

This project balances meeting the urgent needs of girls with addressing the systemic barriers preventing their access to education, particularly those created by gender, disability and power inequalities.

Halfway through the project, we are already seeing great results.

77%

can now read and write compared to national average of 13%

77%

can now use and understand maths

74%

of learners have stronger lifeskills (SEL and SRHR)

88%

of girls ‘agreed a lot’ that their participation in TEAM had improved their future

Impact for communities

94% of households ‘agreed a lot’ that their child’s participation had improved their future
86% of households ‘agreed a lot’ that the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) programme will have lasting positive impacts in the community

Impact for Malawi

Supports government’s focus on foundational literacy and numeracy, commitment to provide 12 years of education, and to reach the most marginalised
Delivers ‘Great Buys’ and ‘Promising Buys’ as listed in World Bank’s GEEAP framework
Demonstrates benefits of a twin-track approach – makes primary schools and non-formal structures more inclusive whilst supporting individuals

Other key impact

366 facilitators applying gender responsive and inclusive methods
2,990 stakeholders using local child protection systems
437 headteachers creating safe and inclusive primary schools
4,789 girls trained in SRHR and SEL
1,378 youth trained in vocational/ entrepreneurship skills
Supported the Government to develop an inclusive CBE model for wider use across Malawi
18 CBE facilitators became auxiliary teachers

Key activities

Complementary Basic Education (accelerated non-formal model)

With government, adapted the CBE curriculum so it was gender friendly, inclusive and relevant for adolescent youth
Trained community-based facilitators in inclusive teaching methodologies
In partnership with local communities, manage CBE centres

Ensured leaners with disabilities were included and supported

Worked with communities to ensure children with disabilities were identified, could access the learning centres and could participate
Developed individual education plans so each learners needs were met
Ensured vocational and entrepreneurship activities were relevant for those with disabilities

Engaged the community

Supported communities to identify, renovate and manage the learning centres and become active primary school management committee members
Strengthened community structures to ensure learners were safe and protected

Partners

Girls and MoE officials found the most valuable [activities] to be reading, writing and numeracy at CBE, vocational training and life skills. MoE officials felt that TEAM was a model worth following. One district official suggested that their own budget would be better spent “to emulate Link.” Another official reported that learning about effective resource allocation “is a continuous process we can learn from TEAM

External evaluation endline report