Despite mounting evidence indicating that in certain national contexts boys face a higher risk than girls of repeating grades, failing to complete various educational levels, and achieving poorer learning outcomes, there remains a dearth of research aimed at comprehensively understanding effective strategies to tackle boys' disengagement from education. This project examines which interventions that focus on masculine norms can make a difference in education in Malawi, Lesotho, and Cambodia.

The project explores how addressing harmful masculine gender norms can keep boys engaged, in school, and learning while advancing gender equality. Additionally, it seeks to identify the conditions that facilitate successful implementation and broad-scale adoption of such initiatives. The project aims to develop a globally applicable intervention, substantiated with locally required adaptations based on locally identified disadvantages for boys at school, their relationship with detrimental norms, and their underlying factors. At the same time, it aims to scale the model through direct work with Ministries of Education that have identified this as a policy concern by building capacity of staff and supporting the development of gender transformative teaching and learning materials with a particular view of addressing harmful masculine gender norms.