A large-scale community intervention to change gender perceptions in rural Ethiopia
Loading...
Date
Authors
Visser, M.J. (Maretha Johanna)
Jansen van Rensburg, Madri
Garforth, Laura
Tefera, Nebiat
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
This paper reports on our participatory multi-faceted community-wide intervention to change gender perceptions and encourage support for girls' education to improve their school attendance and performance. The intervention involved community and education stakeholders in implementing a context-specific multi-faceted intervention to improve opportunities for girls in 123 primary schools in the rural Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. We implemented a repeated-measures quasi-experimental design in a sample of 30 schools (15 project and 15 control schools) to evaluate the intervention's effectiveness. Over 3 years we assessed gender perceptions of a cohort of 750 Grade 6 girls, their parents and teachers in project and control schools. In addition, participative group discussions were conducted with various stakeholders. In project schools, we recorded significant changes (e.g., provision of sanitary pads, counselling, tutorial classes and community involvement). Teachers and parents reported improved gender attitudes and support for girls' education; while girls' self-esteem scores and educational aspirations increased. The findings showed a change in community perceptions of the value of girls' education and some evidence of increased equality in gender perceptions. We concluded that these systemic changes marked the start of a long-term change process. This intervention showed the value of a participatory approach in a systemic community intervention.
Description
Keywords
Community gender perceptions, Developing countries, Gender-sensitive teaching, Girls' education, Mixed methods, Participative research, Socio-ecological systems theory
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Visser, M., Jansen van Rensburg, M., Garforth, L., & Tefera, N. (2021). A large-scale
community intervention to change gender perceptions in rural Ethiopia. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 31(5), 571–589. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2540.