On Thursday this week we hosted Alicia Herbert OBE, FCDO’s Director of Education ,Gender and Equalities and the UK’s Special Envoy for Gender Equality, together with colleagues from the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) to commemorate International Day of the Girl and to celebrate the impact of Women’s Rights Organisations within the GEC.
Earlier this year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) put Girls’ Education at the forefront of its priorities in International Development with the publication of its International Women and Girls Strategy, 2023–2030. The Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) was launched by the legacy Department for International Development (DFID) – now FCDO – in 2012, as a 12-year commitment to reach the most marginalised girls in the world. It is the largest global fund dedicated to girls’ education and aims to transform the lives of over one million of the world’s most marginalised girls through quality education and learning, including girls who have disabilities or are at risk of being left behind.
We were delighted to welcome Alicia Herbert to provide insight into engaging with Girls’ Education and Women’s Rights Organisations (WROs). Alicia Mills from Cambridge Education Mott MacDonald delivered a fascinating summary of the learnings from the Girls’ Education Challenge with WROs, and we greatly valued the virtual participation of Hope Dunira, Head of Programmes at Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust (AWET), and Violet Muthiga, CEO of Sauti Ya Wanawake (The Voice of Women) Organisation, joining us from Kenya. Heavily emphasised was the need for continued investment in girls around the world, as well as the importance of ensuring that we are including representation in policy-making and genuine voices in story-telling. For a dive into the details, read Alicia’s new think piece, “Feminist organisations and girls’ education: harnessing the power of women’s rights organisations to support educational outcomes for girls", published earlier this month by the GEC on International Day of the Girl, 11th October.
This event was pivotal to dig deeper into the crucial role of local civil society organisations in delivering the work of the GEC on the ground. It is abundantly clear that their local understanding and reach within their communities are critical factors to open the space for inclusion. At the forefront of the WROs’ work is gaining and maintaining trust within these local communities, who are often marginalised or oppressed. The power of grassroots organisations which have grown from the very communities they empower and the value of those relationships cannot be underestimated. In fact, WROs excel at shifting social norms precisely because of their broad networks that enable them to reach and be listened to by a wide range of people, including those at the very top.
Looking to the future, we need to be clear in our commitment to changing perceptions and to expanding the boundaries for expectations of what girls can achieve. While the FCDO’s International Women and Girls Strategy prioritises this, we need to start ‘walking the talk’. The main discussion in our Q&A Panel, expertly chaired by Sharon Tao (Education Director and Team Leader of the Girls’ Education Challenge, Cambridge Education Mott MacDonald), centred on how to do better at supporting WROs by creating space for participation, partnering in large scale programmes such as GEC.
It was truly inspiring to hear that the women leading the WROs have become real role models for the beneficiaries of the GEC. As champions within their communities, they have paved the way for what becomes possible when girls are educated and continue to prove it every day through their work. If one thing is clear, it is that the power of Women’s Rights Organisations to help educate girls is immense and it should not be underestimated.
Amalie Coleman, Programme Executive, British Expertise International
