Scaling a Youth-led Social Support and Mentorship Program to Improve Quality of Education for Marginalized Girls in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Project Abstract

Substantial improvements in education access in Sub-Saharan Africa have not yet translated into improved learning and life outcomes for marginalized children, especially girls, in underserved communities. Efforts to address barriers to equitable, quality secondary education are failing to target the needs of marginalized girls, who need more holistic and tailored support to stay in school and learn. This project will address this issue by examining how governments of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe can adopt and sustainably scale core elements of the evidence-based, youth-led social support and mentorship program known as the Learner Guide program. It focuses on improving girls’ access to and retention in secondary education and equipping them with a broad set of life skills necessary to transition to productive, fulfilling livelihoods. In Tanzania, the project will examine the effectiveness of the program under government co-implementation and its impact on marginalized girls, as well as the factors that enable or impede its effectiveness. Drawing on the program’s participatory government partnership scaling experience in Tanzania, the project will investigate how this approach could be transferred and applied to Zambia and Zimbabwe in order to integrate the intervention into their government structures. Selected through a competitive call process, the project will be implemented by a consortium consisting of CAMFED Tanzania, the Centre for Educational Research and Professional Development (School of Education, University of Dar es Salam), and the Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre (Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge). 

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