Secondary education grantmaking aims to improve participation by marginalized girls in quality, relevant secondary education, with the expectation that advances will have positive implications for both girls and boys.
Rationale
More education for girls brings well demonstrated benefits for them and related benefits for the whole society. Girls with higher levels of education marry later, have smaller families, survive childbirth at higher rates, experience reduced incidences of HIV/AIDS, have children more likely to survive to age five, earn more, and contribute to higher rates of economic growth at the national level. Our funding aims to improve participation by marginalized girls in quality, relevant secondary level education, with the expectation that advances will have positive implications for both girls and boys.
Background
Grantmaking focuses on learning opportunities for adolescent girls comprised in formal lower and upper secondary education and non-formal equivalents of those educational levels. These critical years of schooling are designed to complete the provision of basic education and equip girls with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be healthy and productive citizens.
In recent decades, there has been significant progress toward the goal of universal primary education. More children enrolling in and completing primary education has increased demand for secondary education, but participation rates are much lower at secondary levels, especially in developing countries and particularly for girls. For example, sub-Saharan Africa has a primary school enrollment rate of 77 percent, but secondary level enrollment is only 36 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest rates of secondary school participation and the highest rates of gender disparities of any region in the world, and these challenges only become more acute as children move to successive grade levels. In India, enrollment rates at the secondary level are also low, at 57 percent, with girls underrepresented. Governments in developing countries are thinking seriously about how to provide secondary education on a large scale, and there is a surge of donor interest in this area. Yet less is known about the barriers to secondary education or which intervention strategies are best for keeping girls in school and improving learning outcomes than is known about the primary level, offering an opportunity to test innovative models and fund research.
MacArthur’s investment in secondary education builds on different areas of Foundation activity. Education at this level strengthens Foundation initiatives to reduce maternal mortality and promote young people’s reproductive health. It creates possibilities for girls who have suffered human rights violations in conflict-ridden zones such as northern Uganda to be reintegrated into society. Secondary education also expands opportunities for female entrants into higher education in places like Nigeria, where MacArthur has worked for over ten years with some of the country’s leading universities.
Our support for secondary education is further informed by the Global Compact on Learning, an agenda developed by a variety of stakeholders in the field of education and published in 2011 by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education, that lays out challenges, priorities, and key strategies in education for the developing world. The report’s goals, which focus on quality of learning, have been endorsed by representatives from governments, the private sector, multilaterals, non-governmental organizations, and foundations. Under Brookings auspices these groups are working to build alliances to advance the Compact's objectives in the areas of early childhood education, literacy and numeracy in primary education, and post-primary education.
Strategic Approach
The Foundation is in an information gathering phase of its investment in girls secondary education, the results of which will further define our theory of change and long-term focal areas for grantmaking. We operate with the belief that the scale and complexity of the challenges in secondary education and the range of involved actors (public officials, civil society groups, multilateral organizations, private corporations, and foundations) requires a collaborative approach. MacArthur works in partnership with other donors on individual projects and on larger efforts through the International Education Funders Group, Global Partnership for Education, and Global Compact on Learning. By pooling knowledge and resources, initially we aim to:
- Fund pilot projects that offer innovative solutions to girls’ learning and access to education and bring successful models to partners to pursue opportunities for scale-up
- Support research and the development of a research agenda that addresses gaps in the knowledge base on secondary education and that feeds into policymaking and implementation
- Advance evidenced-based advocacy to strengthen national and sub-national secondary education policy development and implementation
By improving the knowledge base through research, applied interventions, and fostering efforts to implement successful models with other partners, we aim to help channel MacArthur’s resources and work with other donors towards secondary education programs that positively affect girls’ learning and access to education and enhance education outcomes for all.
Geographic and Programmatic Priorities
Both access to education and the quality of learning are areas of concern in secondary education. MacArthur funds projects focused on girls that develop the evidence base for cost-effective, potentially scalable interventions to improve education access and learning quality. Substantive areas of interest to the Foundation include:
- Reforms to teaching
- Use of educational technologies and open educational resources that improve access and quality of learning in the face of growing demand for education and limited funds
- Innovative approaches to secondary education in formal and non-formal settings that seek to provide girls with real, measurable twenty-first century and work skills that are relevant to life and labor markets, including, but not limited to, schools targeting married or pregnant girls
Given the significant role of social, cultural, institutional, and economic contexts in the effectiveness of interventions, the Foundation places a premium on initiatives pursued by or in concert with local actors, including civil society or community-based groups and local or national government agencies.
Geographic Focus
The Foundation works on secondary education in three countries: Nigeria, India, and Uganda where funding complements other MacArthur investments in the areas of maternal and reproductive health, human rights, and conservation. In addition to MacArthur work at the international level through the Global Compact on Learning and related efforts.
Assessment
The Foundation’s investment in girls' secondary education will be assessed over time in relation to the following:
- Impacts on girls’ access to education and quality of learning in Uganda, Nigeria, and India
- Development of a robust evidence base through research and related activities to inform secondary education interventions
- The degree to which the Foundation partners with other donors to pursue data driven interventions to advance quality, relevant secondary education
