Educating girls in sub-Saharan Africa : USAID"s approach and emerging lessons for donors

This report attempts to discern a common structure within USAID"s activities, place it in a sectoral adjustment framework, and draw together lessons learned about donor support. Specifically, the report: overviews USAID"s approach to sectoral adjustment for education in Africa; develops a structure for codifying USAID"s approach; reports some of the results of USAID"s efforts and offers preliminary thoughts on the effectiveness of these efforts; and reviews the different assistance modalities used by the Agency. It then examines in depth several emerging lessons for donor support for girls" education. The principal lesson is that when dealing with girls" education donors should not forget what they have learned about educational development in general. All the tenets of sectoral adjustment should obtain, such as systemic change, government-led reform, and sustainability. Girls" education must be addressed within an overall context of educational reform. Small activities such as publicity campaigns and school contests aimed at girls will in themselves not achieve the systemic, structural changes essential to expanding and improving education for both girls and boys. Nonetheless, girls must be the primary focus of the reform and the primary clients of the education system. If they are, all children will benefit, as USAID"s efforts in Malawi bear witness.