Lessons learned from the USAID girls" education activity in Guatemala, Morocco, and Peru

This report summarizes the experiences and lessons learned from 12 project initiatives in the 3 participating countries (Guatemala, Morocco, and Peru) to increase overall school participation and completion rates of girls in primary (elementary) school. Noting that these projects reflect the diversity of major initiatives that GEA facilitated in partner countries, but not the totality of project activities, the report aims for a general development audience concerned with girls" education. The report is divided into five sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Five Case Studies; (3) Findings and Conclusions; (4) Current Status of Projects and Future Directions; and (5) Suggestions to Improve Future Project Designs. Lessons learned from GEA require certain cautions similar to those that would be found in a review of any development project: (1) initiatives can be replicated only with care in a new location, even when circumstances seem very similar; and (2) data were collected mostly through recollections/reflections of participants at a three day conference, and thus the effects of specific interventions on project outcomes cannot be demonstrated with any degree of scientific certainty. The report summarizes the experiences of GEA as it was implemented in promoting girls" education but does not answer more general questions of which approaches have the greatest effect of girls" participation or whether these approaches played more important roles initially than it seemed they played when reported on during the conference. (ERIC abstract, modified)