GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
USAID GIRLS’ EDUCATION INITIATIVES IN 
GUATEMALA, GUINEA, MALI, MOROCCO, AND 
PERU: A PERFORMANCE REVIEW
Prepared for
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade/Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 31, 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...........................................................................................................v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................vii
USAID Girls’ Education Initiatives in Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru: A 
Performance Review...................................................................................................................1
I. Background.........................................................................................................................1
II. The Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity.......................................................................2
A. Approach.........................................................................................................................2
B. Results Indicators............................................................................................................3
1. Strategic Support Objective 2.0: Broad-based, Informed Constituencies 
Mobilized to Improve Girls’ Education in Emphasis Countries............................................3
2. Intermediate Results....................................................................................................3
a. IR2.1: Strengthened Capacity of Public and Private Sector Institutions to Promote 
Girls’ Education ..............................................................................................................3
b. IR2.2: Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies, and Programs for 
Girls’ Education ..............................................................................................................4
c. IR2.3: Mobilized Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education .....................................5
d. IR2.4: Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education...5
e. IR2.5: Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Participation....................................................................................................................5
III. Research Methodology....................................................................................................5
A. Objectives.......................................................................................................................6
B. Data Collection ...............................................................................................................6
C. Data Analysis..................................................................................................................7
IV. Findings ........................................................................................................................14
A. Strategic Objective ........................................................................................................14
1. Enrollment of Girls in Primary School.......................................................................14
2. Completion Rates ..................................................................................................15
B. Intermediate Results......................................................................................................17
1. Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations...............................17
a. Number of Organizations...................................................................................17
b. Types of Organizations......................................................................................18
c. Types of Actions................................................................................................19
d. Resources Leveraged for Actions.......................................................................20
2. Public Sector Support for Girls’ Education ............................................................22
a. Number of Actions by Public Sector Units.........................................................22
b. Investment in Girls’ Education/Primary Education.............................................24
3. Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies, and Programs for Girls’ 
Education..........................................................................................................................24
4. Mobilization Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education............................................25
5. Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education ...............26
a. Growth in Organizational Membership ..............................................................26
b. Community Initiation of Actions that Promote Girls’ Education ........................27
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6. Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School Education ..27
C. Project Organization......................................................................................................28
V. Conclusions, Lessons Learned, and Implications...............................................................28
A. Conclusions...................................................................................................................28
1. Strategic Objective ................................................................................................28
2. Intermediate Results..............................................................................................30
3. Project Organizational Structure ............................................................................32
B. Lessons Learned............................................................................................................32
C. Implications ..................................................................................................................33
References................................................................................................................................35
Appendix A: Operational Definitions.......................................................................................36
Appendix B: Guatemala Country Study
Appendix C: Guinea Country Study
Appendix D: Mali Country Study
Appendix E: Morocco Country Study
Appendix F: Peru Country Study
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List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1: Average Yearly Increase in Female Enrollment..........................................................15
Table 1: Change in Rural Female Fifth Grade Attainment during the Girls and Women’s 
Education Activity in Emphasis Countries.........................................................................16
Table 2: Change in Urban Female Fifth Grade Attainment during the Girls and Women’s 
Education Activity in Emphasis Countries.........................................................................16
Table 3: Number of New CSOs Initiating Actions by Country and Year ..................................18
Table 4: CSO Participation by Country and Type of Organization............................................19
Table 5: Types of Actions Undertaken by Country...................................................................20
Table 6: Non-USAID Resources Leveraged by Country and Type of Organization...................22
Table 7: Public Sector Unit Actions Promoting Girls’ Education by Country and Year .............23
Table 8: Primary Education as a Percentage of Total Education Budget ...................................24
Table 9: Studies and Tools by Country and Year.......................................................................25
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to acknowledge a number of individuals who made valuable contributions to this 
study and extend our appreciation for their efforts.
First we would like to thank the project field staffs for the considerable time that they spend with 
the study team and for the extensive input that they provided. María Angela Leal in Guatemala, 
Ana María Robles in Peru, Najat Yamouri in Morocco, Aly Badara Doukouré in Guinea and 
Kadiatou Coulibaly in Mali and their staffs all gave freely of their time to accommodate the 
study team, despite their own busy schedules. We also wish to extend thanks to the host country 
officials, civil society organization representatives, researchers, and members of donor agencies 
in each country who offered their time and knowledge to the data collection effort.
Gratitude is due to the USAID field mission staffs in each country who gave of their valuable 
time to serve as resources for the study. A special note of thanks goes to Julia Richards, 
USAID/Guatemala; Alpha Bah, USAID/Guinea; Jeff Ramin and Korotoumou Konfe, 
USAID/Mali; Monique Bidaoui and Christophe Tocco, USAID/Morocco; and Walter Twanama 
and Kristin Langlykke, USAID/Peru, for generously offering their own time and that of their 
staffs and colleagues during the field visit phase of the study.
Special thanks go to the sponsors of the study, the Office of Women in Development of the 
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade. Katherine Blakeslee, Director, provided 
insights on the original design of the study. Anne Dykstra, Advisor for Girls’ Education, and 
Julia Escalona, our CTO, provided valuable input and encouragement throughout the study. 
Susie Clay, LAC/CEN, and formerly the EGAT/WID Coordinator for Girls’ and Women’s 
Education, also contributed to the study design. 
A number of the individuals mentioned above made detailed comments on drafts of the study. 
We would like to thank Anne Dykstra, Susie Clay, Kristin Langlykke, and Aly Badara Doukouré 
for their contributions. Stefanie Leighton of USAID/Guinea, Meghan Donahoe of DevTech and 
Cory Heyman of AIR also made insightful comments on earlier drafts of this document.
Finally, all of the project managers working in the EGAT/WID Girls’ and Women’s Education 
efforts contributed to the study through discussions of their projects over the several years of our 
working together. Thus, we would like to thank Jane Benbow, CARE; Lorie Brush, AIR; 
Shirley Burchfield, World Education; Marina Fanning, MSI, Joshua Muskin, World Learning; 
and May Rihani, AED.
To the extent that this study provides useful information for implementing programs that support 
girls’ successful completion of primary schooling, all of these people are owed gratitude and 
credit.
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List of Acronyms
AEN Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña (Association to Educate Girls)
AIR American Institutes for Research
BEST Guatemala’s Basic Education Strengthening 
CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.
CSO Civil Society Organizations
CSSF Comité de Soutien por la Scolarisation de Filles (Committee to Support 
Girls’ Education)
EGAT/WID Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade/Office of Women in 
Development
EMIS Education Management Information System
FONSEF Le Fonds National de Soutien à l’Education des Filles (National Girls’ 
Education Support Fund)
GEA Girls’ Education Activity
GEMS Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GER Gross Enrollment Ratio
GWEA Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity
NGO Non Governmental Organization
PTA Parent Teacher Association
SAGE Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education Project
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences 
SSO Strategic Support Objective
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
USAID United States Agency for International Development
vii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
USAID Girls’ Education Initiatives in Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru:
A Performance Review
Introduction
This document summarizes the findings of a review of progress on a series of indicators in five 
countries participating in the USAID/EGAT/WID-funded Girls’ and Women’s Education 
Activity. The five emphasis countries of Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru were 
examined in relation to the strategic framework for Strategic Support Objective 2 (SSO 2) 
Broad-based, Informed Constituencies Mobilized to Improve Girls’ Education. The study was 
based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available national education 
statistics for the five countries, and fieldwork conducted in each country between March and 
September 2001.
Background
In the last ten years, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of girls’ education 
in improving economic and social well-being in developing countries. Investment in girls’ 
education has been related to increased productivity and labor force participation, decreased rates 
of fertility and infant mortality, and increased child health. However, multiple supply and 
demand factors contribute to girls not enrolling in and not completing primary school. 
Government fiscal and management capability as well as educational systems that reinforce 
stereotypes about female roles and girls’ low academic performance or provide inadequate 
physical and social environments for girls have been identified as supply-side constraints. 
Poverty and the related factors of direct and opportunity costs to families, together with 
household and community perceptions about the limited relevance of schooling for girls, are seen 
as depressing demand. 
Building on the growing experience in girls’ education, the USAID Office of Women in 
Development (EGAT/WID) implemented the Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity (1996-
2001). This was a multi-faceted program that included long-term support for building 
constituencies that supported increased enrollment, retention, and completion of female primary 
school students; research on the social and economic rates of return of adult literacy programs 
for women; strengthening the monitoring of the results of girls’ education initiatives; and 
developing classroom techniques for teachers to be used in encouraging girls’ participation in the 
classroom. The principal component of this effort was the long-term constituency building in 
five countries: Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru. The EGAT/WID approach was 
implemented through a small local team that served as a catalyst in mobilizing governments and 
civil society organizations, such as NGOs, business, the media, and religious groups to cooperate 
across sectors in removing barriers to girls’ education. As barriers to girls’ education were seen 
as country-specific, problems were to be identified locally and the programs, processes, and tools 
viii
for ameliorating the identified problems were to be created by organizations from these multiple 
sectors working in concert.
In conjunction with several partners, EGAT/WID has completed the final year of the first phase 
of what was envisioned during project planning as a ten-year effort to support Missions in 
identifying, informing, and mobilizing constituencies to improve girls’ education. This 
document provides national and cross-national information on the history, development process, 
lessons learned, and impact of girls’ education initiatives in EGAT/WID emphasis countries. 
Integrated data on the process of implementing similar actions in diverse settings and on the 
impact of those actions on target populations can be useful in identifying the processes that 
sustain benefits to girls and in planning future investments to increase the persistence of girls in 
school.
Study Design
A team of senior social scientists with extensive experience in educational evaluation in 
developing countries carried out the performance review. Meetings were held with the 
EGAT/WID partners implementing projects in the emphasis countries to obtain insights and 
gather background materials. Documents and data were analyzed to target fieldwork in the 
countries. Subsequently, a two-person team visited each country to collect data. Data collection 
focused on measuring the indicators in the EGAT/WID strategic framework. At the strategic 
objective level, “Improved Girls’ Education” was measured by examining trends in gross 
enrollment ratios and completion rates, defined as fifth grade attainment, over the life of the 
project in each country. At the intermediate result level, the mobilization of constituencies to 
promote girls’ education was determined by examining trends in the number and type of 
organizations initiating actions to promote girls’ persistence in school, as well as non-USAID 
resources generated by these organizations for investment in actions. Similarly, the number and 
type of public sector units involved in girls’ education were examined, as was public sector 
investment in girls’ education. Utilization of studies and tools by participants to make informed 
decisions about actions was also examined. The participation of leaders and the growth in 
community participation were used to determine mobilization at the local level. Where data 
were available, changes in girls’ participation in the classroom were examined. 
Principal Results
The programs in emphasis countries worked at the national level by supporting the actions of 
organizations from different sectors working in awareness building and policy reform. The 
programs also worked in selected rural areas. Thus, changes at both the national and the local 
level in each country were examined. The program in Mali was the exception to this design. It 
worked primarily in developing and implementing life skills curriculum for girls in local schools.
1. Strategic Objective
- Greater annual increases in female gross enrollment ratios during the years of the WID 
Program than in previous years in the three countries, Guatemala, Guinea, and Morocco, 
ix
for which comparative data were available. Reduction of the gap in national enrollment 
ratios favoring boys by 3%, 8%, and 8%, respectively, in those countries.
- Increases in national rural female completion rates of 8.1%, 5.6%, and 7.9% in Guinea, 
Guatemala, and Peru, respectively. Higher rural completion rates for girls than boys in 
Morocco.
- Increases in national urban female completion rates of 1.3%, 4.5%, 8.2%, and 14.1% in 
Morocco, Guatemala, Guinea, and Peru, respectively.
- Increases in local female completion rates of 26.7% and 25.9% in the two countries, 
Guinea and Peru, which had intensive efforts supported by local networks or alliances in 
target areas. In Guatemala, where the scope of the girls’ education project, at the local 
level, was smaller, the increase in female fifth grade attainment was 6.1%.
- Low rural female completion rates were found in all countries. Even with the increases, 
less than half of the rural girls who enroll in school attain fifth grade of primary school in 
five years. In Guatemala and Guinea, only about one-fourth of enrolled rural girls attain 
fifth grade. 
- Low primary completion rates were also found among rural boys in emphasis countries. 
One-third or less of the male rural primary school population attain fifth grade in five 
years in Guatemala, Guinea, Morocco, and Peru.
2. Intermediate Results
- In each country, one or more partnerships that included NGO, private sector, and public 
sector members were formed. These partnerships did not expand greatly in membership 
over the life of the WID program, but rather a “core” group of between 20 to 40 
organizations initiated actions to promote girls’ education.
- Social awareness efforts were generally the principal type of action. Such actions made 
up the largest percentage of the work by civil society organizations in Guatemala (38%), 
Peru (63%), and Guinea (59%). In Morocco, where a scholarship program was initiated,
actions related to this activity predominate (66%), with social awareness actions 
following (23%). 
- NGOs carried out the majority of actions related to girls’ persistence in school. NGOs in 
Guatemala, Peru, Morocco, and Guinea carried out 46%, 56%, 58%, and 88% of the 
identified actions promoting girls’ education. However, they generally did not contribute 
a large percentage of the local resources generated, producing between 7% and 25% of 
the local resources to support actions in the four countries. In Guatemala, Peru, and 
Morocco, where private sector participation had been actively pursued, the private sector 
provided 80%, 55%, and 61% of the resources generated. 
x
- Government agencies were members of a national partnership in each country. In all 
countries they supported actions carried out by civil society organizations in the 
partnership. However, with the exception of Guatemala, national budgets did not have 
special funding for girls’ education, and only in Guinea was there a relative increase in 
the budget for primary education.
- Non-USAID funding to support girls’ education was generated without a reliance on 
other international donor agencies. International donors were active partners in 
Guatemala, Peru, and Morocco. However, their contribution to actions engaged in by 
civil society organizations to promote girls’ education was less than 14% of the total 
resources generated in any country.
3. Project Organizational Structure
- Small teams of local professionals successfully acted as catalysts for constituency 
building in the emphasis countries following the framework. Despite successes, 
however, team members in each country felt that the project was under-staffed to meet 
the demands of the scope of work that required national and local involvement of staff. 
An added demand on staff was the need to provide administrative support to the national 
partnerships during their formation. 
Lessons Learned
The EGAT/WID framework assumption that a relatively small team of local professionals can 
act as a catalyst in bringing together organizations from different sectors to carry out actions 
promoting girls’ education appears well-founded. National organizations made up of diverse 
member organizations were formed in each country and all carried out actions. 
In countries with low female completion rates, long-term investment will be needed to achieve 
high completion rates, especially in rural areas. It is difficult to achieve dramatic change in 
female completion on a national level without efforts that are directly focused on improving 
school efficiency. 
International conferences can be important in providing leaders from different sectors an 
opportunity to learn from relevant experience in other countries and identify areas of mutual 
interest. The 1998 Conference “Educating Girls: A Development Imperative” was cited by 
participants from all countries as providing strategies for implementing actions to support girls’ 
education.
Civil society participation in girls’ education is not likely to grow exponentially. Rather it will 
be the responsibility of a “core” group of organizations that generally will have the promotion of 
education in their mission statement. 
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The approach of using local professionals to act as catalysts in bringing together organizations 
does not need to be a long-term strategy of more than five years, as in each country by the end of 
the project there were organizations in place to carry on the work.
Implications
Achieving an increase of 20% in national rural female primary school completion rates in ten 
years appears to be a difficult objective to achieve, given that no emphasis country has increases 
of more than 8% in rural areas over five years. Even in Guatemala, with a ten-year history of 
promoting multi-sector support for girls’ education, national rural completion rates for girls had 
only increased 6.4%.
The relatively slow increase in national completion rates suggests that the awareness building 
and incentive programs, which characterized most of the multi-sector actions to support girls’ 
education, may not sufficient. They should be complemented by actions that focus on improving 
the quality of primary education. 
Relatively large gains in female completion rates appear possible in local target areas. However, 
as actions in these areas were generally supported by project or USAID bilateral funding, the 
ability of local groups to finance local efforts or take them to scale is still in doubt.
All sectors are not equally likely to be members of a multi-sector coalition or to participate in the 
same way. For example, religious leaders or organizations acted as spokespersons for girls’ 
education, when involved at all. NGOs generally carried out regional or local actions and 
businesses provided funds for and, at times, carried out national actions. This suggests that as 
efforts to promote girls’ education mature, sector participation should be thought out 
strategically in terms of the types of resources that different sectors could best contribute.
Successful leveraging of local financial resources from non-USAID sources appears to require 
organizations that are involved with the business sector, if relatively large amounts are to be 
raised on an ongoing basis.
In planning future investments involving the use of local teams of professionals as catalysts, 
consideration should be given to including sufficient administrative staffing to support national 
partnerships during their formation. Additional resources will also be needed if the local team is 
to work extensively at the local level.
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USAID Girls’ Education Initiatives in Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru:
A Performance Review
The USAID Office of Women in Development (EGAT/WID), in conjunction with several 
partners, has completed the final year of an effort to support Missions in identifying, informing, 
and mobilizing constituencies to improve girls’ education. During the slightly more than five 
years of implementation (1996-2002), EGAT/WID has supported long-term efforts in five 
emphasis countries, Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru. In each country, a design in 
which a small staff of host country personnel complements Mission activities in basic education 
has been employed. Actions in different countries have included facilitation of dialogue about 
the educational situation of girls and women in a participating country, training and institutional 
support for public and private sector organizations to promote the implementation and local 
funding of girls’ education actions, development of analytical tools and studies on key girls’ and 
women’s education issues, and professional development to improve learning opportunities for 
girls and women. The role of the local team was to build the capacity of local partners such as 
government, business, religious organizations, the media, and other civil society groups to assure 
that the results of these efforts could be successfully sustained after the completion of the 
EGAT/WID activity. 
This document provides national and cross-national information on the history, development 
process, lessons learned, and impact of girls’ education initiatives in EGAT/WID emphasis 
countries. Integrated data on the process of implementing similar actions in diverse settings and 
on the impact of those actions on target populations can be useful in identifying the processes 
that sustain benefits to girls. It is hoped that this document will serve as a tool in planning future 
investments to enhance the persistence of girls in school.
I. Background
Education for all children has been the goal for most nations of the world since it was articulated 
in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The difficulty in 
achieving the goal was recognized in the World Conference on Education for All, held in 
Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990. The Jomtien conference also focused world attention on the fact that 
girls’ enrollment and persistence in primary school was lower than that of boys in many 
developing countries. Multiple supply and demand factors were identified as contributing to 
girls not enrolling in and not completing primary school. Government fiscal and management 
capability as well as educational systems that reinforce stereotypes about female roles and low 
academic performance or provide inadequate physical and social environments for girls have 
been identified as supply-side constraints (King and Hill, 1993; VanBelle-Prouty, 1991; Miske 
and VanBelle-Prouty, 1996; O’Gara et al., 1999). Poverty and the related factors of direct and 
opportunity costs to families, together with household and community perceptions about the 
limited relevance of schooling for girls, are seen as depressing demand (Tietjen and Prather, 
1991; Odaga and Heneveld, 1995; King and Hill, 1993). 
2
Research efforts have also begun to show that girls’ education is a key component in improving 
economic and social well-being. Investment in girls’ education has been related to increased 
productivity and labor force participation, decreased fertility and infant mortality, and increased 
child health (Florio and Wolf, 1990; King and Hill, 1993; Schultz, 1998). Recognizing the 
potential development gains to be achieved from educating girls, many countries have recently 
engaged in a variety of interventions to promote female education. Creating awareness among 
public sector officials of the importance of girls’ education, developing unbiased learning 
materials, employing female teachers, providing gender sensitivity training to school staffs, and 
improving physical facilities in schools are strategies being employed in different countries to 
make schools more attractive to female students. Lower cost materials and delivery systems, 
provision of scholarships or fee waivers, and information campaigns that engage community, 
business, and religious leaders are interventions that have been employed to increase demand.
II. The Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity
A. Approach
Building on the growing experience in girls’ education, the USAID Office of Women in 
Development (EGAT/WID) began implementing the Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity in 
1996. This was a multi-faceted program that included long-term support for building 
constituencies that supported girls’ increased enrollment, retention, and completion of primary 
school; research on the social rates of return of adult literacy programs for women; strengthening 
the monitoring of the results of girls’ education initiatives; and developing classroom techniques 
for teachers to be used in encouraging girls’ participation in the classroom. The principal 
component of this effort was the long-term constituency building in five countries: Guatemala, 
Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and Peru. The EGAT/WID approach was implemented by small local 
teams that served as catalysts in mobilizing governments and civil society organizations to take a 
multi-sector approach to addressing the barriers to girls’ education. Because barriers to girls’ 
education were seen as country-specific, problems were to be identified locally and the 
programs, processes, and tools for ameliorating the identified problems were to be created by 
organizations from multiple sectors working in concert.
The approach had six guiding principles (Williams, 2001): 1) the importance of traditional and 
nontraditional partners in changing both the demand and supply of girls’ education was to be 
recognized; 2) programs and solutions were to be developed locally; 3) programs were to use 
multi-method approaches; 4) human, financial, and physical resources to support girls’ education 
were to be developed locally; 5) capacity building (leadership, technical programming, and 
operational support) was to be provided; and 6) democratization of the civic, social, and 
economic opportunities of girls in each country and community would be achieved by engaging 
all stakeholders in support of girls’ education. The partners who participated and the activities 
undertaken would depend on country-specific contexts. However, the EGAT/WID-supported 
teams in each country used these principles as guidelines in their work.
3
B. Results Indicators
The EGAT/WID Strategic Objective for the Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity was a 
“Support Objective.” That is, the strategic objective was not reached solely through the project, 
but rather provided “value added” to USAID Mission strategic objectives in a consistent way 
across participating countries. The strategic framework was reviewed in 1999 in order to 
enhance the interpretative power of the indicators by creating additional measures, rephrasing 
some intermediate results to show a clearer relationship to the strategic support objective, and 
establishing meaningful denominators to permit measurement of change over time. The revised 
indicators and measures have been used throughout this study.
1. Strategic Support Objective 2.0: Broad-based, Informed Constituencies 
Mobilized to Improve Girls’ Education in Emphasis Countries
Completion Rates. Primary school completion rates were used as the principal indicator for the 
SSO. The goal over the life of the GWE Activity, which at the time of implementation was 
envisioned as a ten-year program, was a 20% increase in primary school completion. The 
operational definition for primary completion was fifth grade attainment. This is the UNESCO 
standard and allows comparison with international databases. Where possible, this was 
measured with real cohorts of children in schools that reported promotion, repetition, and 
dropout rates over a five-year period. When data were lacking to examine real cohorts, 
reconstructed cohorts using data on children’s advancement through the system in two 
consecutive years, were used to estimate fifth grade attainment.
Enrollment Ratios. Gross Enrollment Ratios were used as a complementary measure for the 
SSO in order to interpret the magnitude of the change in completion rates. Gross enrollment 
ratios were used rather than net enrollment ratios (the number of appropriate age children 
enrolled divided by the population of school age children) because of the difficulty in obtaining 
age-specific enrollment data. 
2. Intermediate Results
a. IR2.1: Strengthened Capacity of Public and Private Sector Institutions to 
Promote Girls’ Education
Indicator 2.1.1: Increased number of civil society organizations, including private sector 
organizations initiating actions to promote girls’ education. 
Different organizations that initiate action. The indicator is the number of civil society 
organizations including private sector organizations that initiate actions to promote girls’ 
education. This is measured by identifying all of the potential organizations that might work in 
girls’ education and then monitoring which of the pool of organizations actually carry out such 
actions. The unit of analysis is organizations. The pool of organizations is to be identified by 
using the number of organizations that participated in a national forum on girls’ education. Data 
4
are collected through an annual survey of organizations. (See Appendix A for operational 
definition of actions).
Indicator 2.1.2: The number of public sector units initiating actions to promote girls’ education.
Different units that initiate actions. Operationally, government is defined as central government 
entities responsible for legislative, judicial, and executive decisions and their operating units 
(Ministries), or semi-autonomous government organizations. Local-level organizations of these 
types will be included when a country initiative focuses on a particular locale and decision￾making is decentralized. The number of units initiating actions is measured in relation to the 
total number of units identified as potentially acting in girls’ education. Cumulative rather than 
annual totals are reported, as public sector actions are likely to be in response to political 
conditions.
Indicator 2.1.3: The number of CSOs, including private sector organizations, with increased 
resources leveraged from non-USAID sources to promote girls’ education.
Number of CSOs and amount. Data collected through a survey of CSOs that initiate actions, as it 
is these organizations that are promoting girls’ education. Revenue and resources in the form of 
materials are counted.
Indicator 2.1.4: Public sector investment in girls’ education.
Line item for girls’ education in national budget. The supposition is that the advocacy efforts of 
the constituencies formed through the Activity may affect government spending priorities. The 
indicator is the percent of the education budget allocated to girls’ education. Rural education as 
a percentage of the primary education budget or primary education as a percentage of the total 
education budget can be used as proxy measures where no line item for girls’ education exists. 
b. IR2.2: Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies, and Programs 
for Girls’ Education
Indicator 2.2.1: The number of analytical tools and studies produced and disseminated to inform 
policies, strategies, and programs for girls’ education.
Implementers’ Use. Studies are written or graphical information based on empirical evidence 
that provide knowledge on the implementation of actions to improve girls’ education. Tools 
provide procedures, also based on empirical evidence, on implementation of actions. To be 
counted, studies or tools must be produced, requested, or commissioned by the coordinating units 
carrying out actions. Studies and tools include those commissioned by EGAT/WID that 
anticipate country-specific and cross-national information needs.
5
c. IR2.3: Mobilized Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
Indicator 2.3.1: Increase in number of private and public sector leaders who actively support 
girls’ education.
Leaders who commit resources. A leader is an individual named by an organization to be its 
representative on issues of girls’ education. The assumption is made that individual organizations 
may have multiple representatives actively supporting girls’ education. Representatives of 
organizations that participate in national fora on girls’ education form the baseline. Those who 
commit organizational resources through a public channel are counted annually.
d. IR2.4: Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
Indicator 2.4.1: Percent growth in membership of public and private organizations that promote 
girls’ education.
NGO membership growth. This indicator applies only to NGOs, as private sector organizations 
have no commitment to growth in numbers but may look for higher productivity from less staff 
to maximize profits. Similarly, public sector units may look for efficiency over growth and are 
likely to have their personnel established by law. Information is collected through a yearly 
survey of NGOs.
Indicator 2.4.2: Communities initiating actions that promote girls’ education.
Number of communities. The number of communities initiating actions that promote girls’ 
education is measured as a percentage of the number of communities in the area of influence of 
the initiative. The types of actions engaged in by communities are monitored to help interpret 
SSO-level results.
e. IR2.5: Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Participation
Indicator 2.5.1: Girls’ participation in the classroom.
Female initiated interaction with the teacher. Girls’ participation is measured through direct 
observation of the number of interactions with the teacher initiated by girls. In order to 
determine change over time, such interactions are expressed as a percentage of all student￾initiated interactions with the teacher, corrected for the proportion of girls in the classroom.
III. Research Methodology
A team of senior social scientists with extensive experience in educational evaluation in 
developing countries carried out the performance review. Work began with meeting the 
EGAT/WID partners implementing projects in the emphasis countries. Existing documents and 
6
data of EGAT/WID partners were collected and analyzed in order to target fieldwork in the 
countries. Subsequently, a two-person team visited each country to collect data to fulfill the 
following objectives. 
A. Objectives
· Determine the progress of the Activity in meeting its objective in terms of girls’ 
persistence in primary school.
· Determine the progress of the Activity in reaching the intermediate results related 
to building broad-based constituencies as described in the Results Framework.
· Identify successful strategies that have contributed to the achievement of results, 
nationally and cross-nationally.
· Identify the social and political contexts that influenced choices of strategies and 
actions.
· Identify obstacles to successful implementation of strategies and actions, where 
results have not been achieved.
· Provide information that can contribute to reflection about actions and possible 
modifications in actions by local country teams to sustain benefits after Activity 
completion, where appropriate.
· Operationalize tools for continued monitoring of results in participating countries.
B. Data Collection
A primary task in meeting these objectives was visiting the ministry of education unit(s) 
responsible for educational statistics in each country. The purpose of these visits was to obtain 
and analyze educational statistics on national and target primary school populations. Data were 
obtained on enrollment, repetition, and dropout by age and grade for all available years since 
1990. Data were collected in electronic format (database format, spreadsheet format, comma 
delimited format, or tab delimited format), accompanied by codebooks identifying variables and 
file structure. These data were disaggregated at the lowest possible administrative unit available 
(i.e., classroom, school, or municipality). Where no electronic database existed, data were 
collected in paper format. Census bureaus or other appropriate government agencies were 
visited to collect population data for the corresponding years by gender and age. Government 
expenditures in education were collected from education or finance ministries.
Collecting data on each of the intermediate results was also part of the field visits. In each 
country the team worked with the host country project team and the USAID Mission to collect 
all project documents. Meetings were held with host country team members to discuss written 
7
information and clarify points as they related to intermediate results. Where necessary, the 
EGAT/WID results framework was used to create matrices for displaying results by year. The 
displays included a brief description of each action that occurred in a given year. The 
description discussed the organization carrying out the action and the magnitude of each action 
(e.g., number of scholarships established, number of local committees provided with bank 
accounts, number of materials reproduced by an NGO). Special attention was given to the social 
and political contexts influencing choice of actions and to the impact of the identified trends on 
girls’ persistence in and completion of primary school. When sufficient information was not 
available, government units or civil society organizations were contacted to provide additional 
information. When financial data were not available, the allocation of resources was estimated 
from current costs for services or materials.
C. Data Analysis
The process of analyzing the data for completion rates and the GER consisted of common 
procedures for all five of the countries, but the type and extent of analyses varied, depending on 
the number of years available and the quality of available data. The calculation of the 
completion rates depended on obtaining enrollments, repetition, and promotion data by grade and 
sex for each year that the girls’ education activities had been implemented and at least two prior 
years for a baseline. The calculation of the GER depended on annual enrollment figures by sex 
for all the students enrolled in the primary grades, and population data for the same years for the 
primary school age cohort.
If the girls’ education activities included interventions in specific schools or localities, the 
Education Management Information System (EMIS) and population data were also 
disaggregated to the school level by grade and gender. The intervention schools were then 
tagged for comparative analyses to examine possible differences in completion rates and GERs 
for intervention versus non-intervention schools.
The process of analyzing the data depended on the format of the data received from the 
ministries of education and the number of years covered. For example, the data from Guatemala 
were fairly complete from 1991 through 2000 and were disaggregated, by school, grade, and 
gender, which permitted real cohort analysis for the calculation of fifth grade completion. In 
other words, a group of students who entered first grade in 1991 could be followed year by year 
and the actual percentage of students who completed fifth grade in 1995 was calculated. When 
longitudinal data were not available for a sufficient number of years, the reconstructed cohort 
method was used where data from at least two pairs of adjacent years were available to calculate 
the percent of students reaching fifth grade based on the promotion and repetition in the earlier 
years versus the later years. This provided an estimated change in completion rates from one 
two-year period to the next.
Extensive cleaning of the data was required for each country. When the data were obtained in 
digital format, the analytic process consisted of a number of steps to convert the format to the 
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), followed by an examination of data integrity and 
the identification of errors. When doing real cohort analyses, it was necessary to use only the 
8
schools that had complete data during the years of each cohort being examined. Thus, schools 
that did not report enrollments in one or more years, schools that opened, and schools that closed 
during the period had to be removed from the analysis sample. Otherwise, completion rates may 
have changed significantly from year to year and not reflect the movement of the same cohort of 
students from grade to grade.
Once the data were converted and cleaned, the statistical software, SPSS, was used to aggregate 
the national and regional data, and the resulting output was then converted to Excel format for 
the actual calculation of GERs and completion rates, both real and reconstructed. The population 
data needed for the GER were obtained from the national census bureaus during field visits. 
Since population censuses are carried out at periodic intervals of at least five years, the most 
recent censuses with annual population projections were used. For example in Guatemala, the 
last census was in 1995 and in Peru it was in 1993. Census data were obtained in digital format 
in Guatemala, Peru, and Mali, but in Guinea and Morocco the data were only available on paper 
and had to be entered manually prior to conducting the analytic procedures. The educational 
statistics data were obtained in digital format for all the countries except Morocco. For that 
country, data were entered manually.
The completeness and quality of the data varied considerably over the five countries. The most 
complete data currently are from Guatemala (1991-2000), followed by Guinea (1996-2000), Peru 
(1993, 1998, 1999, and 2000), Mali (1997-1999), and Morocco (1994-2000 on paper and very 
incomplete until 1999). Thus, aggregate trends found across the countries have been interpreted 
cautiously.
In order to give the reader a concise overview of the girls’ education initiatives in the five 
countries and related bilateral projects, the following five boxes present the project descriptions, 
duration and the major results, serving as a bridge to the detailed findings presented in the next 
section.
9
Initiative: Girl’s and Women’s Education Activity, known as Proyecto Global in 
Guatemala
Contractor: World Learning, as a subcontractor to American Institutes for Research
Background: At the time that Proyecto Global began, USAID/Guatemala had been 
investing in girls’ education for over five years through its Basic 
Education Strengthening (BEST) Project. This program had held national 
seminars and provided technical assistance to the formation of a national 
association to promote girls’ education, which included the Ministry of 
Education and a number of philanthropic foundations of large private 
sector organizations. Despite civil society efforts that included national 
awareness campaigns and the testing of different incentive programs, 
governmental investment in primary education remained low, as did girls’ 
participation in primary schooling. Thus, when Proyecto Global began 
there was already civil society activity in support of girls’ education. The 
project was to help focus this activity through providing assistance to a 
common agenda among donors to support civil society actions and 
partnerships. However, the common agenda did not materialize and in the 
wake of the Peace Accords signed in 1996, that ended over 30 years of 
civil war and called for greater educational participation of Indigenous 
peoples, Proyecto Global began to work with the Directorate of Bilingual 
Intercultural Education (DIGEBI). It also continued to provide support for 
the national association. 
USAID Bilateral 
Education Projects: PAEBI – Bilingual Education; COMAL – Adult Literacy
Duration: Five years (May 1997 – March 2002)
Principal Partners: Directorate of Bilingual Intercultural Education DIGEBI
Results: Increases in rural female fifth grade attainment of 5.6% nationally and 
6.1% in the target area; increases in rural female primary gross enrollment 
ratios of 21% nationally and 41% in the target area, both as a result of 
aggressive school development program and awareness efforts for girls; a 
“core” group of civil society organizations, made up mainly of NGOs and 
private sector foundations carrying out actions to promote girls’ education; 
$6,473,124 of non-USAID funds leveraged by civil society organizations 
for actions encouraging the persistence of girls in primary school; 
pedagogical guides, community action manuals and media materials for 
girls’ education created
10
Initiative: Nuevos Horizontes para la Educación de las Niñas (New Horizons for 
Girls’ Education)
Contractor: CARE, as a subcontractor to American Institutes for Research
Background: At the time the program began, Peru was considered relatively successful 
in educational access within Latin America. However, efficiency was a 
serious problem, with over fifty percent of the primary school population 
over-age. The greatest percentage of over-age school children was in rural 
and rural women were more disadvantaged educationally than men, 
having on the average only 1.7 years of schooling compared to 3.5 for 
males. Nuevos Horizontes was designed to enable the Peruvian 
government and civil society organizations to formulate, institutionalize 
and implement actions for girls’ education that would lead to greater 
participation and persistence of girls in primary schooling. . The principal 
activities were: studies to identify barriers to girls education; the creation 
of a National Network to support girls’ education and several local 
networks at the department level, which developed policies, programs and 
practices to address barriers to the education of primary school-age girls.
USAID Bilateral
Education Projects: Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) – Rural Education Quality
Duration: Four years (April 1998 – April 2002)
Principal Partners: Red Nacional de Educación de la Niña (National Network for Girls’ 
Education)
Results: Increases in estimated rural female fifth grade attainment of 7.9% 
nationally and 25.9% in target area of Ayacucho: estimated completion 
rate increases of 14.1% nationally and 32.7% in target areas for urban 
girls; formation National and local “networks” consisting of organizations 
from different sectors, committed to improving girls’ persistence in 
school; passage of national legislation supporting the education of rural 
girls; leveraging of $279,566 of non-USAID funds invested in girls’ 
education efforts. 
11
Initiative: Girls’ Education Activity – Morocco
Contractor: Management Systems International, as a subcontractor to American 
Institutes for Research
Background: The Girls’ Education Activity in Morocco built on Ministry of National 
Education’s efforts that began in the early 1990s with mobilization 
campaigns to promote rural parents’ awareness of the importance of 
enrolling and keeping their children in school. The Ministry also made 
substantial progress in improving the supply of educational services by 
constructing additional schools in rural communities, during this period. 
Although the MNE did not place a special emphasis on girls but set as a 
goal to increase enrollment for both genders, there was a clear disparity in 
enrollment favoring boys at this time. GEA works to build awareness 
about the status of girls’ education and to facilitate the formation of 
coalitions to carry out actions promoting the enrollment and persistence of 
girls in school. The Girls’ Education Activity worked in primarily in 
opening dialogue about the constraints to girls’ education in Morocco and 
in building partnerships between civil society organizations and local 
communities and schools. The two principal partnerships formed were an 
NGO-led coalition, Comite de Soustiens por la Scolarisation de Filles
(CSSF), and a business-school alliance, Al Jisr.
USAID Bilateral
Education Project: Morocco Education for Girls (MEG) Project – education access and 
quality
Duration: Five years (September 1996 – September 2001)
Principal Partners: Al Jisr, Comite de Soustiens por la Scolarisation de Filles
Results: Gross enrollment ratios for girls have increased by 22.3% since 1995 and 
most of the increase came during the years of project implementation; 
estimated completion rates for girls higher than those for boys (57.7% 
versus 46.4 in urban areas and 36.1% versus 33.8% in rural areas); two 
national partnerships of civil society organizations, Al Jisr and CSSF, 
formed and functioning independently; government and civil society 
organizations are active partners in both partnerships; leveraging of 
$84,655 of non-USAID funds invested in girls’ education efforts. 
12
Initiative: Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education (SAGE) Guinea
Contractor: Academy for Educational Development, as a subcontractor to 
Development Alternatives Inc.
Background: The Girls’ and Women’s Activity in Guinea continued and complemented 
USAID investments in improving educational equity and quality in 
Guinea that began in 1990. These activities focused on both awareness 
building in local areas of the importance of educating girls and improving 
the quality of instruction. The project was originally coordinated by Plan 
Guineé, as the local contractor with the American Institutes for Research 
but was later switched to the Academy for Educational Development to 
provide greater geographical coverage. The principal activities of the 
project were mobilizing national stakeholders around the importance of 
girls’ education, conducting research to determine local barriers to 
educating girls, and creating national and local alliances for Girls’ 
Education that built local support for enrolling and keeping girls in school.
USAID Bilateral
Education Projects: Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (FQEL)
Duration: Five and a half years (October 1996 – July 2002), SAGE (March 1999 –
July 2002)
Principal Partners: National Alliance for Girls’ Education, 6 local pilot alliances
Results: Increase of 14.5% in girls’ primary school gross enrollment ratio and a 
reduction of 7.9% in the primary school enrollment gender gap; estimated 
increase in female fifth grade attainment rate of 8.1% nationally and 
26.7% in pilot alliances; estimated fifth grade attainment increase of 8.2% 
nationally for urban girls; formation of a 150 member national alliance 
with legal status in Guinea; leveraging of at least US$94,160 of non￾USAID funds invested in girls’ education efforts. 
13
Initiative: Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education (SAGE) Mali
Contractor: Academy for Educational Development, as a subcontractor to 
Development Alternatives, Inc.
Background: The SAGE/Mali Project differs from the other G/WID Emphasis countries 
in that it has a narrower scope of work. Rather than build multisectoral 
constituencies to promote girls’ Education, SAGE/Mali was designed 
primarily to provide technical assistance on girls’ education to three 
NGOs—World Education, Save the Children/USA and Africare—that 
work in rural areas primarily with community schools. It was felt that 
parents would be motivated to enroll their children, especially girls, in 
school when they learned that these subjects were taught. Subsequently, 
the project trained trainers from the Ministry of Education and the NGOs 
in use of the life skills modules and designed a complementary guide for 
the implementation of active teaching methodologies in the classroom. It 
has also developed a training guide to promote leadership among female 
parent/teacher associations and recently has begun to assist communities 
in fundraising in non-traditional sectors. Efforts included the organization 
of a national committee to support girls’ education and to raise and 
manage funds contributed by businesses, religious organizations and the 
media.
USAID Bilateral
Education Projects: Basic Education Expansion Project (BEEP)
Duration: Three years and four months (April 1999 – July 2002)
Principal Partners: Ministry of Education Girls’ Education Cell, World Learning, Save the 
Children, Africare
Results: Increase of 19% in female primary gross enrollment ratios from 1992-
1998; increase of 22.5% in estimated female fifth grade attainment rates 
from 94/95 to 98/99, however there has been a decline in recent years 
attributed to changes in teacher hiring procedures; formation of a national 
multisectoral committee to support girls education; development of life 
skills modules and tools for enhancing female participation in the 
classroom and community; approximately 50 trainers, 200 teachers and 42 
community promoters trained to use the seven tools developed
14
IV. Findings
A. Strategic Objective
1. Enrollment of Girls in Primary School
Increasing access will have a positive effect on the number of girls reaching fifth grade, 
even if completion rates only remain constant. Thus, change in gross enrollment rates 
were examined to aid in interpreting the Activity’s effect on completion. Data were 
available to calculate yearly gross enrollment ratios from several years prior to the 
Activity through at least 2000 for three countries, Guatemala, Guinea, and Morocco. 
Although female primary gross enrollment ratios are lower in Guinea than in the other 
two countries (reaching 50% in 2000/01 compared to 87% in Guatemala and Morocco), 
the trends are similar. In each of these three countries, the average annual increase in 
female gross enrollment ratios during the years of the Activity was greater than in years 
immediately preceding the Activity (Figure 1). In addition, the gap in national 
enrollment ratios favoring boys decreased by 3, 8, and 8 percentage points, respectively. 
In each case this was a change in the trend from previous years where the gap had 
remained constant in Guatemala, increased in Guinea, and decreased by less than 2 
percentage points in Morocco. 
The slight change in female enrollment in Peru, measured in this case by the number of 
children of the appropriate age at each grade level, reflects the close to full enrollment in 
that country. Data for Mali were available only for the first two years of the overall 
Activity, and show a slight drop in the average increase. However, this is prior to the 
initiation of the EGAT/WID supported project in that country, and the enrollment ratio is 
increasing.
15
Figure 1: Average Yearly Increase in Female Enrollment
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Guinea Guate Morocco Mali Peru
Pre
Project
The increases in female gross enrollment ratios mean that 14.5%, 19%, and 16.2% more 
girls are enrolled in primary school in Guinea, Guatemala, and Morocco, respectively, 
than before the Activity began. Thus, with a greater number of girls in school, even if the 
completion rates prior to the Activity remain constant, a greater total number of girls will 
attain fifth grade.
2. Completion Rates
Tables 1 and 2 present the rates of attainment of fifth grade in five years for cohorts of 
girls in each of the five emphasis countries. In rural areas, which are the target of the 
country projects, rates have increased in Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru. In addition, in 
Guatemala the gap in completion rates between boys and girls has decreased and 
completion rates for rural girls in Peru and Morocco are higher than those for boys. 
However, Moroccan children of both genders show a decline in completion in the 
available data. In Mali, respondents related the decrease in completion rates to the 
government’s move to community schools. This move has caused teachers to lose 
benefits and forced them to find a community that wants them as its teacher. The general 
confusion and teacher absence has been seen as lowering educational quality, at least in 
the short run. 
16
Table 1: Change in Rural Female Fifth Grade Attainment during the Girls’ 
and Women’s Education Activity in Emphasis Countries
Years Guinea Guatemala Morocco Mali* Peru
Guatemala** Other*** 
1993-1997 1996/97 --- 18.7 --- 42.6
1994-1998 1997/98 12.3 20.5 --- 40.0
1995-1999 1998/99 13.7 21.6 --- 38.6 41.1
1996-2000 1999/00 18.3 24.1 38.6 49.0
2000/01 20.4 --- 36.1
Change from 
Baseline
+8.1 +5.4 -2.5 -4.0 +7.9
 * Country as a whole rather than rural ** Real cohorts ***Reconstructed cohorts
In urban areas, there has been an increase in female completion rates in the four emphasis 
countries for which data are available. Again, in Guatemala the increase in the 
percentage of urban girls reaching fifth grade is greater than that for boys and urban girls 
in Morocco and Peru have higher rates of completion than their male counterparts. In 
Guinea, the increase in completion for boys in both rural and urban areas is greater than 
that for girls.
Guatemala and Guinea provide the most complete data sets. The Guatemala data are 
actual cohorts and therefore the most robust information on completion trends available. 
The increase in female completion rates is around 5%. This, combined with the relatively 
little change in Morocco, and the decreasing trend in Mali, suggests that an increase of 
20% in national completion over the ten-year life of the Activity may be unrealistic. 
However, the rates of 8% in Guinea and 8% and 14% in Peru leave the question open. 
It should also be remembered that the scholarship program for rural girls, which has been 
a major strategy supported by a partnership of the public sector and civil society in 
Guatemala, has increased female completion at the lower grade levels by 7% and these 
children have yet to reach fifth grade.
Table 2: Change in Urban Female Fifth Grade Attainment during the Girls’ 
and Women’s Education Activity in Emphasis Countries
Years Guinea Guatemala Morocco Peru
Guatemala* Other** 
1993-1997 1996/97 --- 44.5 ---
1994-1998 1997/98 17.9 46.6 ---
1995-1999 1998/99 20.3 46.4 --- 60.4
1996-2000 1999/00 14.4 48.9 56.4 74.5
2000/01 26.1 --- 57.7
Change from 
Baseline
+8.2 +4.5 +1.3 +14.1
 *Real cohorts **Reconstructed cohorts
17
In three countries, Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru, data could be disaggregated for regions 
where the emphasis country projects were working intensively on the local level. Guinea 
and Peru had similar trends in that both showed increases of greater magnitude than were 
found in rural areas of the nation as a whole. In Guinea estimated completion among 
girls in the sub-prefectures where the SAGE Pilot alliances were found increased 26.7% 
after 1997. However, in the local alliances where SAGE was working less intensively 
there was a different trend. Schools followed a pattern similar to the alliance pilot 
schools from 1997/98 to 1999/2000, in that they had greater increases in completion than 
non-SAGE schools. However in 2000/01, completion rates decreased to below 1997 
levels for both boys and girls. This seems to be the result of a number of alliances being 
located in the Forest Region of Guinea, which has undergone upheaval in the last two 
years in dealing with the influx of refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia. 
In Ayacucho, Peru, where the New Horizons project, implemented by AIR subcontractor 
CARE, worked intensively, girls’ completion rates increased an estimated 25.9% in rural 
areas for the two available cohorts. In both Guinea and Peru, completion rates in these 
areas were above the national rural increases for the period. In the Guatemalan 
department of El Quiché, on the other hand, increases in female attainment of fifth grade 
were less dramatic. During the years of the project, there was a 5.3% increase in fifth 
grade attainment, which was similar to all rural areas. In addition, completion rates in El 
Quiché were almost 8% below the national rural average, despite the increase.
B. Intermediate Results
1. Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
a. Number of Organizations
An assumption of the indicator, increased number of civil society organizations, 
including private sector organizations, initiating actions to promote girls’ education, is 
that a project facilitates a national dialogue on girls’ education, and, therefore, an 
increasing number of organizations will begin to work in the area, as the importance of 
the issue is recognized. Thus, the focus is on new organizations that undertake actions 
over the life of the project. As shown in Table 3, the number of organizations grew in 
each country. However, the growth did not increase each year. In Guatemala and Peru, 
where a pool of potential organizations was identified from those organizations that 
participated in national conferences, only 27% and 56% respectively, of the organizations 
that were identified actually undertook actions during the life of the project. It should be 
pointed out, however, that the Guatemala project had had a similar girls’ education 
initiative prior to the start of Proyecto Global and many of the organizations involved at 
that time were still active in girls’ education. They were not included in the count of new 
organizations. 
18
Each project was successful in facilitating one or more partnerships of organizations from 
different sectors that carried out actions in support of girls completing primary school. In 
Guatemala, Guinea, and Peru, the partnerships were umbrella NGOs with member 
organizations from several sectors that were to function as coordinating bodies for efforts 
in girls’ education. Guinea and Peru also had local alliances at the sub-prefect and 
department level, respectively, that had a similar function for locally generated actions. 
Morocco had two partnerships: Al Jisr, a school-private sector partnership coordinated by 
WAFA bank, and CSSF, an umbrella NGO that worked across sectors. The project in 
Mali also formed a multi-sector coordinating committee. However, given the nature of 
the project in Mali, this group has served in an advisory capacity to the project rather than 
initiating or coordinating actions itself. 
Attendance at the International Conference, “Girls’ Education: A Development 
Imperative,” was cited by project teams in Peru, Morocco, and Guinea as important in the 
formulation of partnerships. The Peruvian delegates to the conference became the 
founding members of the Network for Girls’ Education. Some Guinea delegates are 
involved in the National Alliance, and the opportunity to learn about experiences in 
forming multi-sector partnerships in other countries provided insights to the National 
Working Group on strategies to involve the private sector. In Morocco, attendance at the 
International Conference convinced the minister of education that public sector – private 
sector collaboration could be successful. The experiences shared by the Guatemalan 
delegation were seen as important in planning efforts in Peru, Morocco, and Guinea.
Table 3: Number of New CSOs Initiating Actions by Country and Year
Country N. of 
Orgs.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total % of 
Base
Guatemala 59* 2 4 5 2 3 16 27%
Peru 39* NA 3 8 8 3 22 56%
Morocco 33 0 2 13 12 6 33 100%
Guinea 29 0 1 20 8 0 27 100%
*Includes potential organizations
b. Types of Organizations
Table 4 shows the distribution of actions by type of organization. Only actions that have 
national or regional scope are included in the table, as community-level actions are 
discussed elsewhere. Organizations that initiated actions during the life of the project, 
but had carried out actions previously were also included. This applies only to 
Guatemala, as in all other countries the organizations working in girls’ education were 
only monitored from the beginning of the EGAT/WID Activity. As can be seen, NGOs, 
as a group or sector, initiate the greatest number of actions in all countries. The business 
sector, including philanthropic foundations, makes up 41%, 36%, and 22% of the actions 
undertaken in Guatemala, Morocco, and Peru, respectively. Project personnel stated that 
Guinea has had minimum business sector participation, in part, because of the strategy in 
19
that country not to approach the business sector until the coordinating body, FONSEF, 
had gained legal status as an NGO. 
Table 4: CSO Participation by Country and Type of Organization
Type/
Country
Guatemala Peru Morocco Guinea
No. 
of 
Orgs
% of 
Actions
(39 total)
No. of 
Orgs
% of 
Actions
(54 total)
No. 
of 
Orgs
% of 
Actions
(64 total)
No. of 
Orgs
% of 
Actions
(42 total)
NGO 9 46% 14 56% 19 58% 22 83%
Religious 1 3% 1 2% 3 3% 1 3%
Business 4 18% 3 22% 6 34% 1 3%
Foundation 3 23% -- -- 4 2% 1 3%
Media 2 5% 2 11% 1 3% 4 9%
Education 2 5% 2 9% 0 0 0 0
Total 21 100% 22 100% 33 100% 29 100%
Media, as a sector, has had some involvement with girls’ education in all countries. 
Actions initiated by educational institutions, on the other hand, are limited to Guatemala 
and Peru. While religious leaders have had a role in some countries in promoting girls’ 
education, actions undertaken by religious organizations specifically in girls’ education 
are minimal in all countries. 
c. Types of Actions
As might be expected in an Activity that has the strategic objective of broad-based, 
informed constituencies mobilized to improve girls’ education in emphasis countries, a 
significant percentage of the actions in each country were dedicated to social awareness. 
Actions included channels such as national media campaigns, newspaper supplements, 
pamphlets, magazine articles, and fashion shows, as well as national, regional, and local 
conferences and meetings on the importance of girls’ education. Actions related to 
incentives made up a relatively large proportion of the total actions in Morocco and 
Guatemala, where scholarship programs were an important national strategy. While 
some efforts to improve infrastructure were found in all countries, only in Guinea where 
the focus was on the work of local alliances, did infrastructure make up more than 11% 
of all actions.
Actions related to informing policy were significant only in Peru, where much of the 
effort of the Girls’ Education Network focused on lobbying for the passage of a law 
providing rural girls with the right to a quality education. Policy-related actions had also 
been important in Guatemala prior to the EGAT/WID Activity when awareness efforts 
such as conferences and meetings with key public sector personnel led to a ministerial 
20
decree on girls’ education and the Congressional act of funding a large-scale scholarship 
program for rural girls. 
Table 5: Types of Actions Undertaken by Country
Action/ Guatemala Peru Morocco Guinea
Country No. % of 
Total
No. % of 
Total
No. % of 
Total
No. % of 
Total
Social 
Awareness
15 38% 34 63% 15 23% 25 57%
Incentives 10 26% 2 4% 42 66% 1 2%
Policy 1 3% 10 19% 0 0 1 2%
Community 
Academic 
Support
3 8% 0 0 0 0 0 0
Curriculum 3 8% 0 0 0 0 0 0
Teacher 
Training
4 10% 5 9% 0 0 0 0
Infrastructure 3 8% 3 6% 7 11% 17 39%
Actions that might directly support improvements in educational quality, such as 
curriculum reform, teacher training, and community academic support, were found 
mainly in Guatemala. This is a result of NGOs and foundations beginning to focus on 
improving girls’ experience in the classroom in schools that they run which are outside 
the Ministry of Education. Actions in teacher training in Peru were the work of local 
networks in their areas of action.
d. Resources Leveraged for Actions
In each of the countries, civil society organizations leveraged resources from non-USAID 
sources to carry out actions. Table 6 shows the resources generated for national-level 
actions, by sector, over the life of the projects. In each case the totals are somewhat 
underestimated, either because the records of participating organizations were not broken 
out in ways that allowed funding to be specifically attributed to girls’ education or 
because organizations were unwilling to provide exact funding totals. However, the 
trends in funding for existing data are fairly similar. If the philanthropic foundations in 
Guatemala and Morocco are included with business, this sector has generated between 
55% and 80% of the non-USAID resources for girls’ education in three countries. In 
Guatemala, the business/foundation sector was also responsible for almost 100% of the 
resources generated for girls’ education under the BEST project. The actions financed by 
this sector have generally been the relatively costly national awareness campaigns and 
incentive programs.
21
The exceptions to relatively high business/foundation participation are Guinea and Mali. 
In Guinea, a conscious strategy of waiting until the umbrella organization FONSEF had 
legal status before approaching the private sector for funding was followed, and the 
project in Mali has had more of a technical assistance model of implementation than the 
other countries. 
NGOs have provided between 7% and 100% of the resources invested in national actions 
to support girls’ education in each country. However, only in Guinea, where all of the 
national-level actions have been funded by NGOs, is the total over 25%. This is in 
contrast to the relatively high percentage of actions (46% to 88%) initiated by NGOs in 
each country. This suggests that the actions that NGOs are able to fund are of a relatively 
smaller scale, although more numerous than those funded by the business sector.
Funding has mostly been generated from sources within a country. Donor agencies other 
than USAID make up less than 15% of the resources generated in all of the countries. 
Government resources have been counted in the case of Peru because they are direct
contributions for Network actions by government organizations that are members of the 
Network for Girls’ Education. These funds are of a different nature than those paid to the 
AEN in Guatemala to administer the rural girls’ scholarship program. In this case, the 
fee for service is counted as leverage funding by the NGO and makes up about 4% of the 
NGO total.
As can be seen in Table 6, local resource generation for actions in girls’ education was 
significantly greater in Guatemala than in other emphasis countries. This was a result of 
the relatively large number of philanthropic foundations in that country and their long 
involvement in girls’ education. A number of these foundations had large-scale girls’ 
education activities under way when the EGAT/WID activity was initiated in Guatemala.
Investment of local resources in girls’ education has been important in Peru and Guinea, 
where a substantial part of project effort is building departmental networks and local 
alliances, respectively. The 19 communities in Huanta and Tambo of Ayacucho 
department in Peru provided the equivalent of $US 111,171 in goods and services, 
whereas the total in the 19 local alliances in Guinea was $US 84,666. As local NGOs are 
part of the CSSF partnership in Morocco, their contribution has been subsumed in overall 
NGO total. In Guatemala, where much of the community-level work by the project at the 
time of the study had been awareness building, no local resource generation was 
identified.
22
Table 6: Non-USAID Resources Leveraged by Country and Type of 
Organization (in US $)
Type/Country Guatemala Peru Morocco Guinea
Amt.* % of 
Nat. 
Total
Amt. % of 
Nat.
Total
Amt. % of 
Nat. 
Total
Amt. % of 
Nat. 
Total
NGO 775,181 11.5% 12,051 7.2% 21,452 25% 9,494 100%
Religious 0 0 857 1% 426 1% 0 0
Business 374,677 5.6% 92,897 55.2% 51,452 60.7% 0 0
Foundation 4,985,171 74.2% 0 0 2,778 3.3% -- --
Media 338,095 5% 7,725 4.6% 0 0 0 0
Education 0 0 4,057 2.4% 0 0 0 0
Donor (non￾USAID)
 241,202 3.6% 23,253 13.8% 8,547 10.1% 0 0
Government 0 0 6,789 4.0% 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 6,714,326 100% 168,395** 88.2% 84,655 100% 9,494 100%
Local NGOs 0 0 111,171 0 0 84,666
Grand Total 6,714,326 100% 279,566 100% 84,655 100% 94,160 100%
* Amounts in US$ equivalents corrected for currency fluctuations
**Peru includes $20,766 in funds where the funded actions were identified but were not attributable to a 
particular sector.
2. Public Sector Support for Girls’ Education
Public sector support for girls’ education was measured through actions initiated by the 
public sector and public sector investment in girls’ education. The public sector units 
that will be involved in girls’ education are not likely to grow over time, as such units 
generally have a somewhat inflexible operational mandate. Thus, the number of actions 
by the pool of units that might work in girls’ education was used as the indicator of 
public sector support. 
a. Number of Actions by Public Sector Units 
In each country the public sector was a member of the partnerships formed through the 
efforts of the project. The Guatemalan Ministry of Education has been a partner in the 
efforts of the Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña since the first national conference in 1991 
that identified barriers to girls’ education in the country. In Peru and Guinea, 
representatives of the Ministry of Education and other ministries are involved in the 
Network for Girls’ Education and the National Alliance, respectively. In Morocco, the 
ministry works closely with Al Jisr in its school-business partnership and in Mali, there is 
a government representative on the recently formed committee to mobilize resources for 
girls’ education.
23
Table 7: Public Sector Unit Actions Promoting Girls’ Education by Country 
and Year
Country/Year Total 
Units
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Guatemala 27 2 6 6 4 1 19
Guinea 6 2 3 4 5 14
Morocco 41 1 5 2 8
Peru 10 12 11 14 2 39
Table 7 shows the actions initiated by government units over the life of the project in 
each country. In Guatemala, the Ministry of Education and its sub-units at either the 
central or departmental levels have been responsible for 17 of the 19 actions that took 
place during the project. The other two actions were by the Secretariat for Promotion of 
Women. Most ministry actions related to adaptations of materials or curriculum to better 
meet the needs of girls. Peru had the greatest number of actions by government units. 
Similarly, in Peru, actions by the Ministry of Education either nationally or on the 
department level in association with regional networks accounted for 22 of the 39 actions. 
Many of these actions were related to planning awareness activities, diagnostic studies, 
and pilot projects. Other units with multiple actions included the ministry charged with 
defense of children’s rights, the Office of the First Lady, and Congress. The most 
significant of the congressional actions was the unanimous approval of legislation 
supporting education of rural girls in October of 2001. In Morocco, Ministry of 
Education activities supporting the scholarship program and Al Jisr were three of the total 
of eight actions identified. The actions by other public sector units were principally in 
infrastructure support. The Guinean Ministry of Education has carried out awareness 
efforts on girls’ education through its equity commission and made changes in the 
curriculum to improve quality in the classroom. These actions are ongoing and predate 
the project. Other actions include support of National Girls’ Education Day by the 
Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Communications lowering rates for radio 
media awareness campaigns, and awareness efforts by the Ministry of Higher Education 
and the Office of the Prime Minister, which are direct results of project and National 
Alliance efforts. 
24
b. Investment in Girls’ Education/Primary Education
Only Guatemala had a line item in its national government budget documents for girls’ 
education. This was for the scholarship program for rural girls. It totaled about Q 45 
million, or more than seven million dollars, from 1997 through 2000. This investment 
fluctuated between five-tenths of one percent and seven-tenths of one percent of the total 
education budget over the life of the project. 
In order to compare trends, primary education as a percentage of the total education 
budget has been used as a proxy indicator for investment in girls’ education. As shown 
in Table 8, no consistent pattern across countries emerges. Only Guinea shows a steady 
increase. In Peru and Morocco, the percent of the education budget allocated to primary 
education remains relatively constant. Guatemala and Mali show declines through the 
years of their respective girls’ education projects. This suggests that mobilizing 
constituencies, even where efforts result in new legislation as in Peru and previously in 
Guatemala, is not likely to affect government spending in the relatively short period of 
five years. A second explanation is that spending allocated to girls’ education, while 
significant as in the case of Guatemala, may be too small to affect total primary education 
budgets. 
Table 8: Primary Education as a Percentage of Total Education Budget
Year/Country Guatemala Guinea Mali* Morocco** Peru
1996 56 38 68 26 54
1997 53 39 97 26 55
1998 52 43 58 27 54
1999 47 47 34 26 54
2000 47 46 45 24 54
2001 ---- 49 --- 27 ---
* Includes primary and junior secondary 
**Includes primary and secondary
3. Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies, and Programs 
for Girls’ Education
The indicator to examine improved knowledge is the number of studies and tools utilized 
in a country. As utilization could not be observed directly, studies or tools produced, 
requested, or commissioned by coordinating units within a country were used as the 
measure. It was assumed that if implementing organizations are producing or requesting 
empirical evidence on the implementation of actions to improve girls’ education, that 
they will use such information.
There was a general pattern of a greater number of studies being produced in the 
initiation of a project and tools dominating later in the work. This is to be expected, as 
25
the interest early in the life of the project was to determine the actual situations and areas 
of action. As actions were started, however, the need was for tools that guided the 
implementation of actions. This pattern occurred in Guatemala, Morocco, and Peru. As 
Guatemala had been implementing a similar activity prior to the EGAT/WID initiative, 
studies predominated in those years. It is interesting to note that several of the studies 
utilized in Guatemala during the EGAT/WID project were conducted previously. This 
suggests that in-depth research may not be conducted often, at least in Guatemala, and 
that studies of girls’ education have a long half-life. Guinea and Mali were the 
exceptions. The tools developed in Guinea related to fostering school-community 
relationships and advocacy efforts among the local alliances. As Mali was a technical 
assistance effort, the tools supported implementation of a life skills curriculum for girls 
and leadership training efforts.
Table 9: Studies and Tools by Country and Year
Country/Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Guatemala
 Tools 1 6 8 3 0 18
 Studies 2 0 0 2 0 4
Guinea
 Tools 0 0 1 1 0 2
 Studies 0 0 0 0 0
Mali
 Tools --- --- 0 5 2 7
 Studies --- --- 0 0 0 0
Morocco
 Tools 0 0 0 1 2 3
 Studies 0 3 1 0 0 4
Peru
 Tools --- 2 1 2 1 6
 Studies --- 6 5 2 0 13
In Guatemala, Peru, and Morocco, the project teams found the tools produced centrally 
through the GWEA to be well developed but not very useful for their needs, as the 
materials were initially only available in English. By the time the materials became 
available in Spanish, French, or Arabic, the organizations implementing actions generally 
had more specific information needs than were found in the documents. In Guinea and 
Mali, the local focus of their work made the documents of limited utility.
4. Mobilization Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
26
The projects used different strategies for involving leaders. In Guatemala, where a 
substantial amount of resources were being raised, about one-third of organizational 
representatives made public statements about the allocation of resources for girls’ 
education. Guatemala project staff suggested that this did not show a lack of support 
among leaders but rather that any proclamations about personal or organization wealth 
might expose a leader to physical danger. In Peru, the mobilization of leaders was 
defined as representatives of organizations who made public statements supporting girls’ 
education. Of the 62 organizations identified, 27 leaders had made such proclamations. 
In Morocco, no evidence was found of leaders who made public proclamations allocating 
personal or organizational resources for girls’ education. It was suggested that lack of 
such proclamations was due to a fear among leaders that it would be seen as inequitable if 
leaders were seen as favoring girls over boys. SAGE/Guinea has employed a strategy of 
working with religious leaders so that such leaders raise awareness about the importance 
of educating girls at local religious gatherings. Training of local leaders rather than 
mobilizing leaders with national visibility was the focus of SAGE/Mali’s original scope 
of work. However, at the time of the study, the project had brought together national 
leaders for a dinner to discuss issues of girls’ education. None of those leaders had 
subsequently issued public proclamations of support.
5. Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
 a. Growth in Organizational Membership
This indicator was difficult to measure because of differences in the types of activities 
being initiated in each country. The framework assumption was that local community 
organizations such as PTAs would become involved in girls’ education actions and attract 
those interested in contributing to such actions as awareness of the importance of 
educating girls grew. Membership growth, when it has occurred, has generally come 
within the implementing organization. In Guatemala, several organizations reported that 
they increased staffing to work on girls’ education activities, but it was not clear if such 
staff would be maintained once the activities to which they were assigned were 
completed. In Peru, there was growth in the number of organizations who were members 
of the local network in Ayacucho, but not in the local community organizations. Because 
of a division of labor among USAID projects in Morocco, the GEA project was not 
expected to work at the community level. Guinea concentrated on defining and 
implementing the actions of local alliances rather than increasing their size. Similarly, 
Mali is working with a limited number of PTAs to improve their skills in action planning, 
project implementation, and monitoring. 
27
b. Community Initiation of Actions that Promote Girls’ Education
Measurement of the number of communities initiating actions that promote girls’ 
education was also difficult. The assumption of the framework is that national and local 
level actions in girls’ education will inform and support one another. The local work is 
seen as providing ongoing information for national actions. This has limited monitoring 
of local actions largely to communities with close ties to the project. However, 
community actions may be taking place on a much larger scale but not monitored 
carefully. For example, the project in Guatemala works with 16 communities and at the 
time of the study, 3 of these communities had initiated actions to encourage girls to 
participate in school. However, when the civil society organizations that are working in 
girls’ education were asked about the number of communities in which they are carrying 
out actions, the total number was 16,293. In Peru, all of the 19 communities with which 
the project was working directly in Ayacucho had initiated actions. These actions had 
generated the equivalent of $US 111,171 in local resources and were primarily related to 
school infrastructure improvements. Actions were reported to be under way in the areas 
of influence of other local networks, but these could not be documented. 
In Guinea, the project focused on the 19 local alliances that had been established. All had 
carried out at least one action, but multiple actions that generated over $US 80,000 in 
local resources were carried out in the 6 alliances where the project worked intensively. 
The Al Jisr program in Morocco has reached agreements on what will be done with about 
100 communities, but only 3 had initiated actions at the time of the study. Similarly, 
scholarship recipients were being identified in about 15 communities through local 
efforts in partnership with CSSF. However, most of the project work was at the national 
level, as another USAID project was developing the capabilities of communities to carry 
out actions related to girls’ education. Mali is working to build the capacity of local 
communities to plan and implement actions. The effort is currently focused on 6 
communities. 
6. Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Education
This indicator was added in anticipation that actions by participating organizations would 
at some point be directed at situations of teaching and learning. At the time of the study, 
actions of this type had taken place in three countries, Guatemala, Mali, and Peru, and 
only in Guatemala had the effect on girls’ classroom participation begun to be measured. 
Available data for Guatemala suggested that there had been a decline in girls’ 
participation in the classroom over the life of the project. However, no interpretative data 
on possible change of teaching staff, or use of the materials developed by Proyecto 
Global, were available to help explain the decline. 
28
C. Project Organization
While not part of the results framework, the assumptions about project organization are 
important in the implementation of the framework. It was assumed that a small staff of 
host country professionals could successfully act as a catalyst in building constituencies 
to carry out actions promoting girls’ education. Each country had a staff consisting of a 
project director and one or two additional support staff. With the exception of Morocco, 
projects were housed with international NGOs that had some involvement with the 
project. Project staff in the four countries where the framework was being followed felt 
that the projects could have been more successful in supporting and monitoring the 
actions with somewhat larger staffs, given the national and local focus of the effort.
Although staffs were small, they generally took on some of the administrative functions 
of the coordinating organization during the implementation of the project. Peru and 
Guinea provided administrative support to the National Network and National Alliance, 
respectively. Prior to the EGAT/WID Activity, the BEST project also provided such 
support to the Educate Girls Association for several years, until the organization gained 
legal status. The Morocco project paid for a CSSF support person when that project was 
initiating work. 
Individuals interviewed in Guatemala, Guinea, Morocco, and Peru also identified the 
importance of national visibility in building cooperation among civil society 
organizations with national scope. Such visibility could come about through being 
associated with a major education project, as was the case with the Girls’ Education 
Program in Guatemala under the BEST Project, working with a well-known NGO, as in 
the case of the project in Peru, or through the personal experience and contacts of the 
project director, as occurred in Morocco and Guinea.
V. Conclusions, Lessons Learned, and Implications
A. Conclusions
1. Strategic Objective
The EGAT/WID Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity has had its most obvious 
effect on increasing the enrollment of girls in primary school.
In Guatemala, Morocco, and Guinea, the average annual increase in female gross 
enrollment ratios during the years of the Activity was greater than in years 
immediately preceding the Activity (Guatemala 4.7% vs. 2%: Guinea 2.8% vs. 
2.3%; Morocco 4% vs. 1.2%). In addition, the gap in national enrollment ratios 
favoring boys decreased by 3, 8, and 8 percentage points, respectively. In Peru 
and Mali comparative data were not available.
29
National female completion rates have generally increased in emphasis countries. 
However, it is not clear if a goal of a 20% national increase in rural areas over the 
ten-year period originally envisioned for the GWE Activity could be reached, even if 
the projects were continued for that period.
In rural areas, which are the target of the country projects, female completion 
rates have increased 8.1%, 5.6%, and 7.9% in Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru, 
respectively. In Morocco, although female completion rates are higher than those 
of boys, children of both genders show a decline in completion in the available 
data. In Mali, where data could not be disaggregated by geographic location, a 
decrease in female completion rates of 4% has been related to government’s move 
to community schools. In urban areas, there has been an increase in female 
completion rates of between 1.3% and 14.1% in the four emphasis countries for 
which data are available. 
The Guatemala data are actual rather than reconstructed cohorts and therefore the 
most robust information on completion trends available. The increase in rural 
female completion rates is around 5%. This, combined with the relatively little 
change in Morocco, and the decreasing trend in Mali, suggests that an increase of 
20% in completion over the ten-year life of the Activity may be unrealistic. 
However, the rates of 8% in Guinea and 8% in Peru, where each of the projects 
had been operating for less than five years, leave the question open. 
In target areas where a Girls’ Education project works intensively and a local 
partnership is active, the strategic objective is likely to be reached. 
Two countries, Guinea and Peru, had intensive efforts supported by local 
networks or alliances in target areas. In each of these countries, estimated 
increases in female completion rates of greater magnitude than for the rural area 
as a whole were found. In Guinea, estimated completion among girls in the sub￾prefectures where the SAGE Pilot alliances were found increased 26.7% after 
1997. Among the alliances where SAGE did not work intensively, gains were 
found until 1999/2000, when upheaval related to refugees from Sierra Leone and 
Liberia led to an estimated decrease in completion to below levels at project 
initiation.
In Ayacucho, Peru, where the New Horizons project, implemented by 
AIR/CARE, worked intensively, girls’ completion rates increased an estimated 
25.9% in rural areas for the two available cohorts. In the Guatemalan target area 
of El Quiché, where Proyecto Global had encouraged actions in only a few 
communities and a local partnership was not yet active, the increase in female 
attainment of fifth grade was 6.1%. 
30
Despite increases in completion rates, overall primary completion is low in emphasis 
countries. This is especially true for rural areas.
Even with the estimated increases in female completion rates in most emphasis 
countries, less than half of those rural girls enrolled in school attain fifth grade of 
primary school in five years. In Guatemala and Guinea, only about one-fourth of 
enrolled rural girls attain fifth grade. Even in urban areas, more than a quarter of 
the enrolled girls in Peru do not complete primary school, whereas the figure is 
32% in Morocco, 52% in Guatemala, and 74% in Guinea. 
Lack of primary completion is not limited to girls but is a serious problem for
children of both sexes, especially in rural areas. 
One-third or less of the male rural primary school population attain fifth grade in 
five years in Guatemala, Guinea, Morocco, and Peru. In urban areas, the 
percentage of boys that attain fifth grade ranges between 37% in Guinea to 73% 
in Peru.
2. Intermediate Results
Each of the projects was successful in mobilizing a multi-sector constituency to 
promote girls’ education. However, the magnitude of the constituency is unlikely to 
grow rapidly. Rather, actions will be initiated by a “core” group of committed 
organizations that generally form part of a recognized partnership.
In each country, one or more partnerships that included NGOs, the private sector, 
and public sector members were formed. The members of the partnerships made 
up the bulk of the new organizations that initiated actions promoting girls’ 
education. However, the number of new organizations that initiated actions 
ranged from 16 in Guatemala to 33 in Morocco, and the progression of new 
organizations did not increase steadily over time. Rather member organizations 
carried out multiple actions.
Social awareness efforts are likely to be the predominant actions undertaken by civil 
society organizations on a national scale, at least in the early years of an initiative.
Social awareness actions made up the largest type of actions carried out in 
Guatemala (38%), Peru (63%), and Guinea (59%). In Morocco, where a 
scholarship program was initiated, actions related to this activity predominated 
(66%), with social awareness actions following (23%). Policy reform was 
undertaken in Peru and accounted for 19% of the actions. Only in Guatemala, 
which had the longest experience with forming constituencies and had partnership 
members that ran schools, were actions related to academic success significant, 
making up 26% of all actions.
31
NGOs are likely to carry out the majority of actions related to girls’ persistence in 
school, but do not generate large amounts of funding to do so. Business is the sector 
most likely to generate internal resources.
NGOs in Guatemala, Peru, Morocco, and Guinea carried out 46%, 56%, 58%, and 
88% of the identified actions promoting girls’ education. However, they 
leveraged between 7% and 25% of the local resources to support actions in the 
four countries. In Guatemala, Peru, and Morocco, where private sector 
participation had been actively pursued, the private sector provided 80%, 55%, 
and 61% of the resources generated. Guinea had employed a strategy not to seek 
private sector funding until the National Alliance in that country had obtained 
legal status, so resources had not yet been provided from that sector. 
Religious sector organizations are unlikely to be active members of partnerships to 
promote girls’ education.
Religious organizations were minimally involved with the national partnerships to 
promote girls’ education formed in the emphasis countries. They made up 
between 0% and 3% of the organizations initiating actions. Similarly, only in two 
countries, Peru and Morocco, were resources leveraged by religious 
organizations, and in each case the amount made up 1% of the total resources 
leveraged. 
Government agencies can be active partners in partnerships to promote girls’ 
education. While the participation of such agencies can generate financial support 
for targeted actions, it is unlikely to change national educational funding priorities, 
at least in the short run. 
Government agencies were members of a national partnership in each country. In 
all countries they supported actions carried out by civil society organizations in 
the partnership. However, only in Guatemala with a congressionally mandated 
rural girls’ scholarship program, was girls’ education part of the national budget, 
and allocations dropped as a percentage of the education budget over time. In 
Morocco and Peru, national funding for primary education did not change during 
the lives of the projects, while in Mali and Guatemala, funding as a percent of the 
education budget decreased.
Non-USAID funding to support girls’ education can be generated without a reliance 
on other international donor agencies. 
International donors were active partners in Guatemala, Peru, and Morocco. 
However, their contributions to actions engaged in by civil society organizations 
to promote girls’ education amounted to less than 14% of the total resources 
generated in any country.
32
Studies are more important than implementation tools in the early years of 
launching a girls’ education initiative. Both studies and tools must be in the 
principal language/s of the country to be utilized.
In all of the projects, studies were used in planning efforts and in some cases to 
monitor results of actions. Implementation tools generally were developed after 
actions had been identified and were generally used at the local level. Despite 
being well designed and building on international experience, the tools created by 
AIR were not utilized, as their translation into the principal language of a country 
occurred relatively late in the life of the project.
3. Project Organizational Structure
National visibility of the project is critical in providing entry to national leadership 
in different sectors. 
In each of the projects there was agreement that having national visibility was 
critical, either through the principal investment in primary education in the 
country, as in the case of the BEST project in Guatemala, through a nationally 
recognized implementing organization, such as CARE in Guatemala, or through 
the personal recognition of the project directors, as in Guinea and Morocco, where 
formation of the multi-sector partnerships was facilitated.
Legal status of national partnerships and administrative support are issues that 
must be resolved if initial success is to continue.
Project staffs in Guatemala, Peru, Guinea, and Morocco either carried out many 
of the routine administrative functions for a national partnership or provided 
support personnel. In Peru and Guinea, neither the responsibility for such 
functions nor the funding of administrative support had been resolved at the time 
of the study.
B. Lessons Learned
The EGAT/WID framework assumption that a relatively small team of local 
professionals can act as a catalyst in bringing together organizations from different 
sectors to carry out actions promoting girls’ education is well founded. Such actions can 
have a national impact on the participation of girls in primary schooling. While the 
projects may not be entirely responsible for increased female gross enrollment ratios, the 
consistency of the trends toward greater female enrollment and a reduction of the gender 
gap in access during the life of the projects, suggest that they make a contribution.
33
It is difficult to achieve dramatic change in completion on a national level without 
focused efforts. Although progress was made in raising fifth grade attainment, national 
increases over five years were all under 10%. This may be a result of the focus of civil 
society actions that were largely on building awareness of the importance of girls staying 
in school, rather than on the school experience and the quality of schooling. This is 
natural, as civil society organizations in general have little access to formal school 
situations. Completion rates also appear susceptible to sociopolitical conditions and 
policy change, as both Mali and parts of Guinea had sudden drops in completion rates as 
a result of teacher hiring practices and refugee influx respectively.
International conferences can be important in providing leaders from different sectors an 
opportunity to learn from relevant experience in other countries and identify areas of 
mutual interest. In the three countries initiating actions at the time of the 1998 
International Conference on Girls’ Education in Washington, D.C., the conference helped 
to focus areas of common action.
Civil society participation in girls’ education is not likely to grow exponentially. Rather 
it will be the responsibility of a “core” group of organizations that generally will have the 
promotion of education in their mission statement. Even among organizations committed 
to promoting girls’ education, the types of actions and the resources available will differ.
The approach of using local project staff to act as a catalyst in bringing together 
organizations does not need to be a long-term strategy of more than five years. In 
Guatemala, the core group of organizations that was formed previously continued actions 
largely without support from the EGAT/WID project, which began to work in the areas 
of educational quality when not needed as a catalyst. Similarly, although some logistical 
and administrative issues needed to be worked out, partnerships were in place to continue 
actions without project support in Peru, Morocco, and Guinea.
For tools and studies to be utilized, they must be available in the language(s) of the 
country early in the life of a project. Although tools prepared under the core GWEA 
project were seen by field teams as well prepared, they were generally not used in 
planning and implementing actions, as they were available only in English early in the 
project
C. Implications
Although significant progress has been made, a goal of an increase of 20% in female 
rural primary school completion may be somewhat optimistic on a national level in 
emphasis countries even if the project were to continue for ten years. No country has 
increases of more than 8% in rural areas over five years. If only “targeted areas” are 
considered, a 20% increase across all countries still seems unlikely. Peru and Guinea 
have already surpassed the strategic objective in their immediate areas of influence. 
However, Guinea has had a decline owing to circumstances beyond the project’s control 
34
in its other alliances and the data for Peru are limited. Guatemala also has had positive 
gains but is unlikely to reach 20% in a ten-year period, if current trends continue. No 
relevant local data are available for Morocco and Mali.
Low completion rates for both girls and boys in all countries, even after ten years of 
promoting girls’ persistence and completion of primary school as is the case in 
Guatemala, suggest that dramatic change in completion rates may require an extended 
period of time or more targeted actions than have been carried out in the emphasis 
countries to date. The promotion of the elements of schooling related to quality may be a 
necessary complementary strategy to awareness and incentive programs that have 
predominated in civil society efforts.
In planning future investments involving the use of local project staff to act as catalysts, 
the visibility of the project will be a key consideration. Local technical assistance 
appears to only have a catalyst role if it has a creditable linkage to a number of sectors 
that is national in scope.
All sectors are not equally likely to be members of a multi-sector coalition or to 
participate in the same way. This suggests that as efforts to promote girls’ education 
mature, sector participation should be thought out strategically in terms of the types of 
resources that different sectors could best contribute.
Successful leveraging of financial resources from non-USAID sources appears to require 
organizations that are involved with the business sector, if relatively large amounts are to 
be raised on an ongoing basis. Most of the financial resources for actions promoting 
girls’ persistence and completion of primary school came from the private sector, either 
from commercial entities or from philanthropic foundations with educational objectives 
in their mission statements. Substantial support from international donor agencies does 
not appear likely or necessary to generate sufficient funding to carry out actions of 
national scope, once national multi-sector organizations to support girls’ education are 
formed.
35
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Washington, D.C.: USAID.
Tietjen, K., and C. Prather. 1991. Educating Girls: Strategies to Increase Access, 
Persistence, and Achievement. Washington, D.C.: USAID/ABEL Project.
VanBelle-Prouty, D. 1991. “From the Outside Looking In: Women and Educating in 
Francophone Central Africa.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation. East Lansing, 
Michigan: Michigan State University.
Williams, H. 2001. Multisectoral Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education: Principles 
& Practice. SAGE Technical Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.: USAID/SAGE Project.
36
Appendix A: 
Operational Definitions
37
OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS FOR G/WID FRAMEWORK
Active Support: A public proclamation, reported in some form of national, regional, or 
local media that allocates resources for girls’ education.
Action: A set of coordinated behaviors that result in distinct outcomes related to girls’ 
education through the use of national, regional or local resources. Different classes or 
types of outcomes include: school infrastructure, incentive programs, community 
academic support, school-business partnerships, nutritional supplements, curriculum, 
teacher training, instructional materials, policy formulation, social awareness efforts.
Civil Society Organization: A group of individuals that form a legally constituted, non￾government association, for a common purpose in a given country.
Community: The assemblage of households within the catchment area of a school.
Completion Rate: Percent of female students in a cohort entering school in a given year 
that attain fifth grade in eight years. (Assumes no automatic promotion).
Emphasis country: A developing country, with low participation of girls in formal 
schooling at the primary level, where USAID has opted for a strategy of facilitating 
collaboration among several sectors (private, religious, public, media) to mobilize human 
and financial resources to address the situation.
Female student participation: Number of interactions by girls with the teacher as a 
percentage of all student interactions with the teacher, corrected for proportion of girls in 
the classroom
Gross Enrollment Ratio: Definition: Number of female students enrolled in primary 
school divided by the population of primary school-age girls
Leader: An individual named by an organization to by its official representative 
(organizations can have more than one leader) in activities related to girls’ education.
Tools/Studies: Written or graphical information or procedures, based on empirical 
evidence, that provide knowledge on the implementation of activities to promote girls’ 
education. Tools or studies are those produced, requested or commissioned by local 
entities or commissioned by G/WID in anticipation of country-specific or cross-national 
information needs 
Analytical Studies: A compilation of information that presents systematic, empirical 
findings based on new data or existing data organized in new ways, which inform policy 
of practice related to girls’ education.
Analytical Tools: Materials that guide and facilitate the implementation of actions to 
improve policy formulation and educational practices related to girls’ education.
38
Local Resources: Money or cash equivalents for goods and services generated by a local 
organization to promote girls’ education within a country. This includes funds obtained 
through solicitation of international organizations other than USAID. It excludes those 
funds provided by international donor to carry out an agenda not explicit in the local 
organization’s mission statement.
Appendix B:
Guatemala Country Study

xli
GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GUATEMALA COUNTRY STUDY
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by: 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
xlii
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................xlv
I Introduction............................................................................................................................ XLVII
II Socio-Political Context...................................................................................................................II
III The GWEA Program...................................................................................................................1
A Project Development ...................................................................................................................1
B Project Organization....................................................................................................................3
IV Findings......................................................................................................................................4
A Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates ...........................................................4
1. Enrollment..................................................................................................................................4
2. Completion.................................................................................................................................5
B Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations..............................17
1. Organizational Participation......................................................................................................17
2. Types of Actions ........................................................................................................................7
3. Commitment...............................................................................................................................8
C Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education....................................................................9
D Trends in Leveraging Resources................................................................................................10
E Trends in Public Sector Investment ...........................................................................................12
F Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs for Girls 
Education..................................................................................................................................13
G Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education...................................................13
H Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education....................14
I Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School Participation...15
V Conclusions .....................................................................................................................................17
A Strategic Objective....................................................................................................................17
B Intermediate Results..................................................................................................................18
C Project Organizational Structure................................................................................................19
VI Implications.....................................................................................................................................21
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX A: LOCAL INVESTMENT IN GIRLS’ EDUCATION 1992-1996 ...................................24
xliii
List of Tables
Table 1: Change in Guatemala Rural Primary Gross Enrollment Ratios by Gender: Nation and El 
Quiché ................................................................................................................................5
Table 2: Change in Rural Fifth Grade Attainment by Gender: Nation and El Quiché...................5
Table 3: Change in Rural Third Grade Attainment by Gender: Nation and El Quiché..................6
Table 4: Number of Guatemalan CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year................7
Table 5: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action...................................8
Table 6: Organizations Showing Commitment to Continue Working in Girls Education .............9
Table 7: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year ...........10
Table 8: Organizations Stating Increased non-USAID Resources by Organization Type ...........10
Table 9: Guatemala Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1997-2001 ............................11
Table 10: Primary and Rural Primary as a Percentage of the Total Education Budget by Year (Q. 
millions)............................................................................................................................12
Table 11: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year .....................................................13
Table 12: Organizations Stating that Leaders Publicly Identified Organizational Resources by 
Year and Organization Type..............................................................................................14
Table 13: Number of Communities by Organization Type ........................................................15
Table 14: Girls’ Participation in the Classroom.........................................................................16
Table 15: Guatemala Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1992-1996 ..........................24
xliv
Guatemala List of Acronyms
AEN Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña
AIR American Institutes for Research
BEST Basic Education Strengthening Project
CSO Civil Society Organizations
DIGEBI Directorate of Bilingual Education of the Ministry of Education
EGAT/WID Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/ Office of Women in 
Development
FUNDAZUCAR Foundation of Guatemalan Sugar Growers
FUNRURAL Fundación para el Desarrollo Rural
GER Gross Enrollment Ratios
GWEA Girls and Women’s Education Activity
INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística
JICA Japanese International Assistance Agency
MEDIR Medicion de Indicadores y Resultados
MINEDUC Ministerio de Educación
NGO Non Governmental Agency
PAN Partido de Acción Nacional
PRONADE Programa Nacional de Autogestión para el Desarrollo Educativo
SSO Strategic Support Objective
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USIPE Unidad Sectorial de Información y Planificación Educativa
xlv
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document summarizes the findings of a review of progress of the USAID-funded 
GWEA Project, known as Proyecto Global, in Guatemala. The project forms a part of 
USAID/EGAT/WID Girls and Women’s Education Activity. The five-year life of the project is 
examined in relation to the strategic framework for Strategic Support Objective 2 (SSO 2) 
Broad-based, Informed Constituencies Mobilized to Improve Girls’ Education The study is 
based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available national education 
statistics for Guatemala and fieldwork conducted in Guatemala during March of 2001.
The GWEA Project differs from other efforts funded under the EGAT/WID Activity in 
that it is the second project in Guatemala to employ the strategy of using a small local team of 
specialists to act as a catalyst in mobilizing support for girls’ education. USAID’s investment in 
girls’ education in Guatemala began in 1991 as a component of USAID/Guatemala’s Basic 
Education Strengthening (BEST) Project. The purpose of the BEST Girls’ Education Program 
was to promote attendance, persistence, and completion of primary school by girls, especially 
Mayan-speakers and those who were members of other rural populations. The program 
consisted largely of technical assistance to several initiatives to support girls’ education and the 
development of instructional materials and guides for classroom and community use. The 
Program supported the organization of national seminars on girls’ education and provided 
technical and administrative support for the Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña (AEN), which 
evolved from the seminars as a coordinating body for different actions in girls’ education. The 
Program also supported tests of incentive packages carried out by FUNDAZUCAR, a foundation 
of the Guatemalan sugar growers association; development of workshops and manuals; and the 
design of public sector initiatives, such as the Ministry of Education scholarship program for 
girls, which has been implemented nation-wide in a collaborative effort with AEN. 
As the BEST Project drew to a close, USAID/Guatemala continued to invest in girls’ 
education through a buy-in to the Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity coordinated by 
USAID’s Office of Women in Development. The GWEA program in Guatemala was 
implemented by World Learning, a subcontractor to the American Institutes for Research, and 
began work in May of 1997. GWEA’s principal areas of action on initiation of work were to be: 
1) providing technical support to the Common Agenda in Girls’ Education, a collaborative effort 
of USAID and the Japanese international assistance agency, JICA; and 2) strengthening the 
capabilities of the AEN to establish relationships with private sector entities both to encourage 
investment in girls’ education and to assure that activities were coordinated. Much of 1997 was 
spent in planning the Common Agenda activities. However, it was finally decided that USAID 
and JICA would work in a parallel and complementary manner rather than the integrated manner 
envisioned by the Common Agenda. This, together with changes in administration of AEN that 
required a redefinition of the organization’s procedures, forced GWEA to redirect its efforts in 
1998.
Consistent with the USAID/Guatemala Strategic Objective #2 Better Educated Rural 
Society, which focuses on improving the education of the rural populace through education 
xlvi
policies and strategies that enhance gender equity and cultural pluralism, GWEA formed a 
working relationship with the Directorate of Bilingual Education of the Ministry of Education 
(DIGEBI) and began an awareness program in DIGEBI model schools (escuelas de exelencia) 
for teachers and parents. The sessions focused on the importance of girls attending, as well as 
staying in school.
In 1998, GWEA also renewed technical support to AEN. This organization had become 
the conduit for the Ministry of Education scholarship program and requested GWEA 
management assistance. GWEA also began to develop materials to improve the reading skills of 
female students. Contacts were also made with the administrative personnel for the department 
of El Quiché, as this department was to be the focus of USAID work. 
From 1999 through 2001, the project dealt with three principal areas of action: awareness 
campaigns to mobilize leaders to support girls completion of primary school; training teachers to 
create girl-friendly classrooms; and building community participation in keeping girls in school. 
The strategy for implementing these actions was to create tools, with local participation, that 
could then be used by partners to carry out actions. Over the course of 18 months a series of 
materials for use with girls in the classroom were produced. These materials, called suggestions 
(Sugerencias), were packaged in a loose-leaf binder for dissemination. The positive support for 
the tool by the Ministry of Education after participation in workshops carried out by the GWEA 
team has resulted in USAID extending the project in order that 10,000 copies of the manual can 
be produced. Radio campaigns were also produced and a community discussion manual based 
on pictorial representations to be used with illiterate parents was developed. 
The GWEA project has been implemented in a period of political change. It began as the 
Peace Accords, ending more than 30 years of civil war, were being initiated and has seen the 
change of elected governments that went from a pro-business administration to one with a more 
populist program. The GWEA is completing its work in a severe economic downturn.
Principal Results
- Increases of 5.6% nationally and 6.1% in the target area in rural female fifth grade 
attainment
- Increases of 21% nationally and 41% in the target area in rural female gross 
enrollment ratios, due in part to an aggressive program by the Ministry of Education 
to create schools in isolated areas
- Rural female third grade attainment higher than that for boys, in part a result of the 
girls’ scholarship program
- A “core” group of civil society organizations, made up mainly of NGOs and private 
sector foundations carrying out actions to promote girls’ education
- $6,473,124 of non-USAID funds leveraged by civil society organizations for actions 
encouraging the persistence of girls in primary school
- Pedagogical guides, community action manuals and media materials for girls’ 
education created
xlvii
Challenges
- Completion rates in rural areas remain low with less that one-fourth of female 
students reaching fifth grade in five years
- Government funding for primary education has had a relative decrease and the 
government has ended its partnership with civil society in implementing the 
scholarship program
- Much of the civil society investment in girls’ education comes from a few private 
sector organizations
- Outlets must be found for the tools produced by the GWEA project to ensure 
utilization
- Girls’ participation in the classroom is relatively low
Implications
- The results with actual rather than estimated cohort completion rates, suggest that the 
EGAT/WID goal of a 20% increase in girls completion rates over ten years may be 
overly optimistic for Guatemala
- Once a core group of civil society organizations are carrying out actions, the catalyst 
function of the project may be unnecessary
- The civil society organizations working in girls’ education may need to focus on 
instructional quality, as well as incentives, to ensure higher completion rates
GUATEMALA COUNTRY STUDY
I Introduction
USAID’s investment in girls’ education in Guatemala has a relatively long time 
frame when compared to other emphasis countries in the EGAT/WID girls’ education 
initiative. The program began in 1991 as a component of USAID/Guatemala’s Basic 
Education Strengthening (BEST) Project. The BEST project had a number of 
components that aimed to improve the efficiency, coverage, and quality of basic 
education services, especially as such services pertained to underserved populations. At 
the time the project began, it was the only large investment in basic education by an 
international donor agency.
In the initial phase of the BEST Project, the girls’ education effort worked mainly 
through other project components, to assure that all dealt with issues of gender equity. 
However, a 1991 national conference on the issue of girls’ education and economic 
development, supported by USAID and other international and Guatemalan institutions, 
II
stimulated cross-sector interest in girls’ education and led to the Girls’ Education 
Program taking on broader responsibilities. The purpose of the BEST Girls’ Education 
Program was to promote attendance, persistence, and completion of primary school by 
girls, especially Mayan-speakers and those who were members of other rural populations. 
The program consisted largely of technical assistance to several initiatives to support 
girls’ education and the development of instructional materials and curriculum guides. 
The principal activities were: support in organizing national seminars on girls’ education, 
including a review of international experience, compiling seminar results, and technical
support for the Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña (AEN), which evolved from the 
seminars as a civil society organization that had the objective of coordinating different 
actions in girls’ education; technical support to a three-year test of incentive packages 
carried out by FUNDAZUCAR, a foundation supported by the Guatemalan sugar 
growers association; development of workshops and manuals for teachers, community 
members, and local educational administrators on the importance of educating girls and 
techniques for promoting participation of girls in schooling; and technical support of the 
Ministry of Education scholarship program for girls. In the last year of the program, 
emphasis was also given to designing a common agenda for donor support in girls’ 
education.
At the time the program began, Guatemala was second only to Haiti in illiteracy 
rates among women in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Over 60 percent of 
Guatemalan women were illiterate compared to 40 percent of men. Among the 
indigenous populations, the estimates are 90 percent illiteracy rate for women and 73 
percent for men. Over 45 percent of Guatemalan women had not completed first grade. 
Of every ten children who completed primary school, eight were boys and two were girls 
(USIPE 1988).
II Socio-Political Context
The program also began in a period of unrest in Guatemala, as a decades-long 
civil war was underway. This war had cost the lives of what is estimated at over 100,000 
Mayans who lived in areas of conflict between the Guatemalan army and guerilla forces. 
Many thousands more fled their homelands because of the war. Thus, programs dealing 
with indigenous populations were greeted with suspicion by both the government and by 
the indigenous communities they were to serve. The few existing indigenous 
organizations at that time were unlikely to call undue attention to themselves by 
supporting what might be considered controversial programs such as the education of 
girls.
In addition, the administration of Vinicio Cerezo, the first freely elected 
government in forty years, was completing its term in office. A second presidential 
election took place successfully in 1991, bringing Jorge Serrano to power. However, less 
than two years into office, Serrano attempted a “self-coup” (auto-golpe) which was 
similar to that which had taken place in Peru several years earlier. Negative international 
III
and internal reaction led to the president fleeing the country and to the appointment of an 
interim government. The interim president, Ramiro de León Carpio, made headway in 
negotiations with the guerillas, but no peace agreement was reached. Two years later, 
power again changed hands through the election process, and the new government of 
Álvaro Arzú and the Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) was able to negotiate a peace 
agreement with the guerilla forces in 1996. The official cease-fire went into effect in 
January 1997. As a result of the improved climate created by the peace process, both 
indigenous groups and women’s organizations proliferated. These groups were active in 
promoting the goals of the peace accords, which included formation of a pluralistic 
society and the participation of women in all aspects of Guatemalan life.
The PAN government was also pro-business and was able to attract international 
investment to the country subsequent to the signing of the Peace Accords. Much of the 
investment was in improving infrastructure to facilitate the sale of goods and services. 
PAN served one term and was replaced through popular vote in December of 1999.
The populist, Frente Republicano Guatemalteco party, with Alfonso Portillo as 
President, has had difficulty in attracting international investment because of its anti￾business leanings and the presence of a former dictator, Efraín Rio Montt, as the leader of 
the party. This, combined with reported government corruption, severe climatic 
conditions that have affected crops, and decreasing prices for many agricultural goods, 
has thrown Guatemala into an economic downturn at the beginning of the 21st century.
III The GWEA Program
A Project Development
USAID/Guatemala has continued to invest in girls’ education through a buy-in to 
the Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity coordinated by USAID’s Office of Women 
in Development. The GWEA program, which in Guatemala is known as Proyecto 
Global, began work in May of 1997, as a five-year effort. The project supported 
constituency building at the national level and participatory action for girls’ education in 
local communities and schools serving indigenous populations. GWEA overlapped with 
the final year of the BEST Girls’ Education Program in order to ensure continuity in 
actions. During this period, the Ministry of Education and the AEN reached an 
agreement that the Association through one of its members, FUNRURAL, would 
administer the Ministry’s scholarship program. It was planned that the scholarship 
program would increase over five years from 15,000 recipients to about 45,000 
recipients.
GWEA’s principal areas of action on initiation of work were to be: 1) providing 
technical support to the Common Agenda in Girls’ Education, a collaborative effort of 
USAID and the Japanese international assistance agency, JICA; and 2) strengthening the 
capabilities of the AEN to establish relationships with private sector entities both to 
encourage investment in girls’ education and to assure that activities were coordinated. 
According to GWEA personnel, much of 1997 was spent in planning the Common 
Agenda activities. However, it was finally decided that USAID and JICA would work a 
parallel and complementary manner rather than the integrated manner envisioned by the 
Common Agenda. This, together with changes in administration of AEN that required a 
redefinition of the organization’s procedures, forced GWEA to redirect its efforts in 
1998.
Consistent with the USAID/Guatemala Strategic Objective #2 Better Educated 
Rural Society, which focuses on improving the education of the rural populace through 
education policies and strategies that enhance gender equity and cultural pluralism, 
GWEA formed a working relationship with the Directorate of Bilingual Education of the 
Ministry of Education (DIGEBI). The director of DIGEBI named a specialist in girls’ 
education to work with GWEA. GWEA began an awareness program in DIGEBI model 
schools (escuelas de exelencia) for teachers and parents. The sessions focused on the 
importance of girls attending, as well as staying in school.
In 1998, GWEA also renewed technical support to AEN. This organization had 
become the conduit for the Ministry of Education scholarship program and requested 
GWEA management assistance. Late in the year, the program began to work with the 
Guatemala Reading Council (Consejo de Lectura) to develop materials to improve the 
reading skills of female students. Contacts were also made with the administrative 
personnel for the department of El Quiché, as this department was to be the focus of 
USAID work. 
2
The GWEA plans for 1999 dealt with three principal areas of action: awareness 
campaigns to mobilize leaders to support girls completion of primary school; training 
teachers to create girl-friendly classrooms, and building community participation in 
keeping girls in school. The strategy for implementing these actions was to create tools, 
with local participation, that could then be used by partners to carry out actions. In order 
to provide tools to local communities, a needs assessment was undertaken. However, the 
study went beyond simply interviewing local respondents and attempted to elicit a series 
of local terms that defined how community members felt about a number of education 
issues. As a result of the complexity of the study, it took more time to complete than 
originally anticipated. It was begun in January 1999 and completed in October of the 
same year. As the data were necessary to use the proper vocabulary and language for 
designing messages for parents, work on community participation was delayed. 
The focus of GWEA work was on teacher training. GWEA staff examined 
materials for teacher training developed under the BEST girls’ education component and 
determined that these materials were too complex for teachers in El Quiché and did not 
focus specifically enough on reading. A workshop was given to 50 DIGEBI teachers on 
improving girls’ reading skills. The workshop was taped and the program produced 
cassettes that were designed to help others carry out workshops of this type. As a follow￾up to the workshop, GWEA began working with a core group of 18 teachers who had 
participated in the training. Over the course of 18 months a series of materials for use 
with girls in the classroom were produced. These materials, called suggestions 
(Sugerencias), were packaged in a loose-leaf binder for dissemination. The positive 
support for the tool by the Ministry of Education after participation in workshops carried 
out by the GWEA team has resulted in USAID extending the project in order that 10,000 
copies of the manual can be produced.
While community work began through the use of the participating teachers as 
links to their respective communities, delay in the production of the situational analysis 
prevented work on tools such as awareness campaign materials and manuals. Work 
focused on community meetings to discuss the importance of girls going to school in 16 
communities of El Quiché.
During 2000, radio campaigns were produced and a community discussion 
manual based on pictorial representations to be used with illiterate parents was 
developed. Unlike the Sugerencias that were developed by teachers, with technical 
support from GWEA, these materials appear to have been largely the work of paid 
specialists who were experts in each area. In addition, a national meeting on girls’ 
education was held. This meeting was to involve the government, NGOs and the private 
sector and had the objective of assisting the newly elected government to develop its 
strategies with regard to girls’ education. However, owing to miscommunication 
between GWEA and AEN, many potential private sector participants were omitted.
At the time of this review, the radio spots were being tested in sample 
communities and the draft community discussion manual was being reviewed by USAID. 
3
The GWEA director stated that there are a number of potential users for these materials 
and was hopeful that they would be disseminated before the completion of the project
B Project Organization
World Learning, a U.S-based NGO that did not have legal status in Guatemala, 
administered the project, as a subcontractor to the American Institutes for Research 
(AIR). The project staff consists of a Coordinator and an administrative assistant in 
Guatemala City and a gender specialist in El Quiché. The lack of a national presence was 
mentioned by staff as an inhibiting factor in GWEA furthering the national dialogue on 
girls’ education. This was especially true after the failure of the Common Agenda and 
prior to World Learning being contracted to carry out a bilingual education project, which 
increased the organization’s visibility. 
Staff members also felt that their work was hampered by the small staff size as it 
related to the need to work at both the local and national level. While the idea of 
technical assistance being carried out by a local Guatemalan team was seen to be valid, 
more human resources were felt to be needed to meet the broad scope of work required b 
the EGAT/WID strategy. 
4
IV Findings
This section presents the findings of the performance review team. Findings are 
organized in terms of each of the intermediate results of the EGAT/WID framework for 
SSO2. The findings are based on meetings in Guatemala involving representatives of 
USAID/G-CAP, members of the GEMS team, the director of the GWE Activity and 
representatives of various partner organizations. They also include review of findings of 
a monitoring survey carried out by the GWEA project in Guatemala, as well as other 
secondary sources.
A Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates
1. Enrollment
Rural indigenous girls are the primary targets of the GWEA program in 
Guatemala. Thus, national rural gross enrollment ratios and completion rates for rural 
girls are reported. GERs and completion rates are also reported for the department of El 
Quiché, which is the special focus of USAID/G-CAP and a specific target area for the 
GWEA program. Enrollment and completion data were obtained from the Ministry of 
Education database and population estimates from the National Institute of Statistics 
(INE). Fifth grade completion rates for rural girls were calculated using only those 
schools for which complete data were available during the five years of tracking a given 
cohort.
Table 1 shows the total increase in gross enrollment ratios from the 1995 baseline 
year for girls and boys. Enrollment ratios have increased substantially for both males and 
females. Both nationally and in El Quiche, girls’ enrollments have increased slightly 
more than boys. However, girls have made up only 3-percentage points of the 13-
percentage point gap that existed in 1995. In El Quiché the difference has been reduced 
by 6%. This may in part be the result of capping gross enrollment ratios at 105%, a level 
reached by boys in El Quiché in 1999. 
The increase in gross enrollment ratios in rural areas is largely a result of the work 
of the PRONADE program. This program is a semi-autonomous arm of the Ministry of 
education that began work in 1992. It is designed to create schools in hard-to-reach areas 
of the country. The program supports communities, which meet certain criteria, in 
establishing a school and implanting a primary education delivered by local teachers 
identified by the community. The program has been responsible for over 250,000 new 
enrollees in its years of operation (PRONADE, 2000).
5
Table 10: Change in Guatemala Rural Primary Gross Enrollment Ratios by 
Gender: Nation and El Quiché
Year National El Quiché
Male
%
Change 
From 
Baseline
Female
%
Change 
From 
Baseline
Male
%
Change
From 
Baseline
Female
%
Change
From 
Baseline
1995 79 66 70 52
1996 80 +1 67 +1 75 +5 57 +5
1997 81 +2 68 +2 78 +8 60 +8
1998 90 +11 77 +11 96 +26 76 +24
1999 99 +20 86 +20 105 +35 91 +39
2000 97 +18 87 +21 105 +35 93 +41
Sources: MINEDUC base de datos 1991-2000; INE Estimaciones y Proyecciones de Población 1990-2010
2. Completion
Change in attainment of fifth grade in rural areas also follows a pattern of general 
increase (Table 2). The relative change in completion rates is much less that enrollment 
ratios. Nationally, boys’ completion has increased 5.3%, whereas that of girls has 
increased 5.6%. However, only about a quarter of the enrolled children of either gender 
reach fifth grade in five years. In El Quiché, completion rates are lower than the national 
rates for both boys and girls. Further, girls do not follow the pattern of a consistent 
increase each year that is found nationally. Although girls’ attainment of fifth grade has 
increased 6.1%, they have lower completion rates than boys.
Although not the target in Guatemala, the completion rates for urban girls have 
also increased. They have gone from 42.5% in 1995 to 52.5% in 2000. In 1995, 
completion rates for boys in urban areas were 42.7%. The increases in boys’ completion 
rates were less than those of girls, reaching 51.2% in 2000. 
Table 11: Change in Rural Fifth Grade Attainment by Gender: Nation and El 
Quiché
Year National El Quiché
Male
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Female
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Male
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Female
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
1995 21.7 18.5 12.4 11.0
1996 21.4 -0.3 18.6 +0.1 13.6 +1.2 11.3 +0.3
1997 22.0 +0.3 18.7 +0.2 14.3 +1.9 10.9 -0.1
1998 23.3 +1.6 20.5 +2.0 13.9 +1.5 9.5 -1.5
1999 23.8 +2.1 21.6 +3.1 17.4 +3.0 14.7 +4.7
2000 26.0 +5.3 24.1 +5.6 19.6 +7.2 16.1 +6.1
Source: MINEDUC base de datos 1991-2000
6
Given the emphasis on scholarships for rural girls by the Ministry of Education 
and the civil society organizations involved in girls’ education, completion rates for the 
first three grades, which were the target grades for the scholarship program, were 
examined. Beginning in 1997, the first year of the partnership between the Ministry of 
Education and the AEN for administration of the scholarship program, completion ratios 
went up consistently for girls nationally. Boys’ completion rates, on the other hand, were 
stagnant and girls surpassed boys for the 1997-1999 cohort. This is the first complete 
cohort of the scholarship program to reach third grade. Completion rates for this cohort 
are also higher than those of boys in El Quiché. The second cohort in 2000 continues the 
trend. Girls’ completion rates continue to increase and remain higher than those of boys. 
Boys’ completion rates, however, also begin to increase. Total increases for girls, from 
the 1995 baseline, are 7.1% and 9.5% nationally and in El Quiché, respectively. 
Table 12: Change in Rural Third Grade Attainment by Gender: Nation and El 
Quiché
Year National El Quiché
Male
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Female
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Male
%
Change 
from 
Baseline
Female
%
Change 
from 
baseline
1995 30.4 28.5 25.2 20.4
1996 31.6 +1.2 30.6 +2.1 22.2 -3.0 18.2 -2.2
1997 32.2 +1.8 30.8 +2.3 26.7 +1.5 22.6 +2.2
1998 32.9 +2.5 32.6 +4.1 26.0 +0.8 22.0 +1.6
1999 32.1 +1.7 34.1 +5.6 26.7 +1.5 28.0 +7.6
2000 34.6 +4.2 35.6 +7.1 29.1 +3.9 29.9 +9.5
Source: Proyecto MEDIR 2001 Indicator Report
The scholarship program seems to be having a positive affect on girls’ completion 
rates. However, only about a third of the children of either gender reach third grade. 
Given the greater number of girls enrolling in first grade (208,713 in 1999 versus 149,667 
in 1995), it is doubtful that scholarships alone can solve the problem of persistence, 
owing to the relatively high cost.
B Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
1. Organizational Participation
Examining “the number of civil society organizations, including private sector 
organizations that initiate actions to promote girls’ education” required a special strategy, 
given the longevity of efforts in Guatemala. Two different populations of organizations 
were established: those who had participated in the original national forum of 1991; and 
those who had participated in subsequent forums. These baselines were used to 
determine the number of additional “old” organizations and the number of “new” 
organizations that had initiated their first actions since 1997 when the GWEA project 
7
began in Guatemala. The total number of organizations initiating actions is also reported. 
The legal status of an organization was determined as part of a survey of organizations 
conducted in 2001.
Table 4 shows the organizations initiating actions promoting girls’ education for 
the first time. Over the ten years of activities to promote girls’ education in Guatemala, 
77 organizations have shown interest in the efforts by participating in a national forum on 
the issue. Of the 43 organizations that participated in the initial forum in 1991, 18 or 
42%, initiated actions prior to the GWEA. Since 1997, only one additional organization 
of the original group has initiated actions in girls’ education. New organizations that 
participated in subsequent forums totaled 34. Of these, a total of 15, or 44%, have 
initiated actions during the course of the GWEA project. Thus, the relative frequency of 
new organizations has been consistent over the history of girls’ education initiatives. It is 
important to note, however, that the Guatemalan case suggests that the original 
participants in the organizing meetings that do not initiate actions are unlikely to do so 
over an extended period of time. Rather new organizations, in the sense of being first￾time participants in girl’s education, are the more likely targets of opportunity. 
Only new organizations initiating actions are included in the table. Many of those 
organizations that initiated actions previously have continued these actions throughout 
the period under study. However, the supposition of the framework is that there will be 
an increasing participation of civil society organizations. The yearly totals of 
organizations that initiate actions do not suggest an increasing build-up of organizations 
and increasingly greater cumulative action over time, as after increasing to five new 
organizations initiating actions in 1999, the total has been only two or three in subsequent 
years. 
Table 13: Number of Guatemalan CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by 
Year
Org/
Actions
Base Pre
1997
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
No. No % No No No No. No. No %
Original 43 18 42% 1 0 0 0 0 19 44%
New 34 0 0 1 4 5 2 3 15 44%
Total 77 18 23% 20 24 29 31 34 34 44%
Source: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001; Leal (personal
communication); Nuñez (personal communication).
 
2. Types of Actions
Table 5 shows the actions engaged in by different types of organizations since 
1997. It includes both organizations that had ongoing actions during the period, and 
those discussed previously that engaged in actions for the first time. As can be seen, 
most organizations initiated more than one type of action and carried out a total of 39 
8
actions in the different categories from 1997 to 2001. Social awareness actions, such as 
media campaigns and newspaper supplements on the importance of educating girls, made 
up the greatest percentage of all actions at slightly less than 40% of the total. Incentive 
programs made up the next largest percentage of actions. They were over a quarter of the 
actions and related to support of scholarships for girls and school food programs. 
Actions that would seem to affect classroom behavior and educational quality, such as 
curriculum development and teacher training, combined, made up only about 18% of the 
actions. 
NGOs initiated the greatest percentage (46%) of the identified actions. However 
the business sector, as represented by commercial business and philanthropic foundations 
of commercial business also implemented over 41% of the actions. The relative 
frequency with which other types of organizations initiated actions was similar. Media, 
Education and Religious sectors initiated 5%, 5% and 3% of actions promoting girls 
education, respectively 
Table 14: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action
*Includes potential organizations
Source: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001
3. Commitment
In order to obtain an indicator of commitment to girls’ education, organizations 
were asked if they planned to continue working with issues of girls’ education in the near 
future. Table 6 shows that commitment is surprisingly low among NGOs, with only 
slightly more than 50% stating that they would continue. The split is almost totally along 
size, affiliation, and type of involvement. All but one of the NGOs with international 
affiliations, including AEN, stated that they would continue. Local Guatemalan NGOs 
that had generally carried out one activity in the area said they would not. This response 
appears to be closely tied to a perception of available funding. The businesses and 
foundations that stated a continued presence in the area of girls’ education were those that 
have provided long-term support dating from the first girls’ education program. 
When the same question was asked of representatives of public sector 
Type of 
Action/
Org
Infra￾Structure
Incentives Comm. 
Academic 
Support
Curric. Teacher 
Training
Policy Social 
Awareness
No* No. of 
actions
% of 
Total
% of
 Total
% of 
Total
% of 
Total
% of
 Total
% of
Total
% of 
Total
NGO 36 18 (46%) 1 (3%) 4 (10%) 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 3 (8%) 0 8 (20%)
Religious 5 1 (3%) 0 0 0 1 (3%) 0 0 0
Business 16 7 (18%) 1 (3%) 3 (8%) 0 0 0 1 (3%) 2 (5%)
Foundation 13 9(23%) 1 (3%) 3 (8%) 2 (5%) 0 0 0 3 (8%)
Media 4 2 (5%) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 (5%)
University 3 2 (5%) 0 0 0 1 (3%) 1 (3%) 0 0
Total 77 39 3 (8%) 10 (26%) 3 (8%) 3 (8%) 4 (10%) 1 (3%) 15 (38%)
9
organizations. All of the Ministries that had carried out actions responded affirmatively. 
The one exception was the Congress, which did not see a continuation of actions after 
2001. 
Table 15: Organizations Showing Commitment to Continue Working in Girls 
Education
Sector No. Yes No
NGO 15 8 (53%) 7 (47%)
Religious 5 4 (80%) 1 (20%)
Business 9 4 (44%) 5 (56%)
Foundation 6 4 (66%) 2 (33%)
Media 3 2 (66%) 1 (33%)
University 1 1 (100%)
Total 39 23 (59%) 16 (41%)
Source: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001
C Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education
Table 7 shows the public sector units that deal in some way with girls’ education. 
Although the guidance calls for a cumulative total to be reported, public sector units were 
examined by year over the course of the GWEA project to assess trends engendered by 
changes in government. Seven public sector units have initiated 19 actions. The 
Ministry and its key departments have initiated a total of twelve actions in the five years 
of the GWEA project. In addition, several department education offices have also 
initiated actions. These actions have focused on adaptations of materials developed under 
the girls’ education program of the BEST project. Seven departments have also been 
involved in girls’ education actions funded by JICA. These actions were not counted, as 
they were an initiative of the donor agency rather than the departments, themselves. It is 
interesting to note, that the new government took action in the area of girls’ education 
soon after taking office in 2000, as the Ministry of Education initiated more actions in 
that year than at any time during the project. However, only one new action was 
identified in 2001. This was support of training MINEDUC personnel in the use of the 
teachers’ guide, Sugerencias, developed by the GWEA project. 
10
Table 16: Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year
Units 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
MINEDUC 2 3 1 6
PRONADE 1 1
DIGEBI 2 2 4
SIMAC 1 1 2
SOSEP 1 1 2
Departments 2 2 4
DIGEBI/Quiche
Other Ministries
Total Actions 2 6 6 4 1 19
Sources: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001; Nuñez 1997
D Trends in Leveraging Resources
In order to determine the number of CSOs with increased resources leveraged 
from non-USAID sources, a survey was carried out with those organizations that had 
shown interest in girls’ education by participating in a national meeting. As shown in 
Table 8, thirteen organizations stated that they had increased resources specifically for 
girls’ education from sources other than AID, during the period of the GWEA program. 
These organizations came principally from the NGO and foundation sectors, where 
almost all of the organizations that initiated actions also increased resources from non￾USAID sources. The single religious organization that engaged in actions specifically for 
girls’ education also stated that non-USAID resources had increased. Additionally, one 
business said that it had increased the resources allocated to girls’ education. 
Table 17: Organizations Stating Increased non-USAID Resources by 
Organization Type
Sector/
Increased 
Resources
No. of Potential 
Organizations
No. w/actions No. with 
increased 
resources
NGO 36 9 (25%) 8
Religious 5 1 (20%) 1
Business 16 4 (25%) 1
Foundation 13 3 (23%) 3
Media 4 2 (50%) 0
University 3 2 (66%) 0
Total 77 21 (27%) 13
Source: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001
11
Not all of these organizations were able to provide detailed information on 
amounts of resources by year. Table 9 provides a summary of trends in resource 
generation for the seven organizations providing such information. As can be seen, the 
majority of local funds dedicated to girls’ education were generated through the work of 
foundations. These private sector philanthropic organizations generated close to five 
million US dollars in local currency. The bulk of this investment, as reported previously, 
was in large-scale incentive programs such as scholarships for girls and school food 
programs. About one third of the total investment was in training of teachers, 
communities and support personnel.
 NGOs generated over $800,000. These funds were invested in a wider variety of 
actions, with training of teachers making up a fairly large percentage of the total. 
Businesses and the media produced similar levels of funding. Administrative support 
costs for AEN, which came from managing the government scholarship program is 
included in this total. Much of the business contribution was income foregone to provide 
services, such as free accounts for the girls’ scholarship program and designing social 
awareness programs. Investments in scholarships, and donations to NGOs were also part 
of the business contribution. Media contributions were in income foregone for 
publishing special supplements on girls’ education.
Table 18: Guatemala Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1997-2001
Org 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001* Total
Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat
NGO 21,529** 47,499 21,329 64,872 242,203 255,107 165,500 42,858 775,181
Relig.
Bus 37,028 53,031 89,051 60,880 134,686 374,677
Foun 110,550 330,172 58,092 2,124,465 88,568 2,176,705 51,665 243,280 198,344 4,985,171
Media 338,095 338,095
Uni
Total 21,529 195,077 21,329 786,171 58,092 2,455,719 88,586 2,492,692 51,665 543,466 241,202 6,473,124
Source: Confidential Accounts of Participating Organizations
* Estimated for first six months of the year.
** Amounts in USD corrected for annual local currency fluctuations
Totals in 2001 were estimated for the first six months of the year. As can be seen, 
they are less than half of that of the previous two years. This is, in part, the result of 
Ministry of Education making the decision to administer the girls’ scholarship program 
rather than outsource this administration to one of the partners of the AEN, FUNRURAL, 
as had been done since 1997. This change resulted in a reduction in the funds generated 
by AEN, which had negotiated administrative costs with the Ministry.
Support from international organizations, other than USAID, was close to a 
quarter of a million dollars. This was less than four percent of the total funds generated 
and was mostly for scholarships.
The total funding for the GWEA project, including a percentage of “core project 
activities, was approximately 1.6 million dollars (Brush, 2001). Of this total, about 
12
$950,000 was used for the actual operating expenses of GWEA in Guatemala.
The total amount is somewhat higher than that leveraged during the BEST 
project. However, the trend of greater local funding than USAID investment was also 
found during that period. The local resources generate were estimated at $3,234,578, for 
the period 1992-1996 (see Appendix A). Foundations generated over 99% of these 
resources, and over half of the foundation resources went to social awareness campaigns. 
The pilot program to test the viability of scholarships in relation to other types incentives, 
Eduque a la Niña, accounted for a large percentage of the remaining funding by 
foundations. About $200,000 of these resources came from international donor funds. 
The funding for operating the Girls’ Education Programs was roughly $1.1 million from 
1990 to 1997 (Juarez, 1997). 
E Trends in Public Sector Investment
Public sector investment was defined as the percentage of the Ministry of 
Education budget that is allocated to girls’ education. Where such data were not 
available or kept, rural primary education as a percentage of the Education budget was 
used, as a proxy. Where these data were not available, primary education as a percentage 
of the education budget was used to track trends. It is obvious that such an indicator only 
makes sense where there are targeted percentages within an overall strategy, as if taken to 
a logical conclusion, using this indicator would lead to the entire Ministry budget going 
to girls ‘education or primary education. However, given that all of the countries have 
limited investment in primary education, the indicator is useful in the short-run. These 
data were gathered from the Ministry of Education annual statistical yearbook.
As shown in Table 10, public sector investment in primary education has 
decreased over the years that the GWEA project has been in operation. The decrease is 
especially dramatic with the change of government in 1999. Although there has been a 
gross increase in the primary education budget in the first two years of the government, 
the percentage of the budget devoted to primary education has dropped over five percent. 
It is also interesting to note, that the government has stopped reporting on budget 
allocations to rural education, despite having its main constituents in the rural areas. 
Girls’ education is represented by the allocation to the scholarship program.
Table 19: Primary and Rural Primary as a Percentage of the Total Education 
Budget by Year (Q. millions)
Year/Category 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Education 1,559 1,425 1,782 2,135.3 2,692.3
Primary 867 750 924 1,004.2 1,255.6
Percent of 
Education
55.6% 52.6% 51.8% 47.0% 46.6%
Rural Primary 522 376 423 Na Na
Percent of 
Education
33.5% 26.4% 23.7% Na Na
13
Girls Education 1.6 10.3 10.9 13.1 13.6
Percent of 
Education
.1% .7% .6% .6% .5%
Source: Anuário Estadística MINEDUC
F Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and 
Programs for Girls Education
Bibliographies from several retrospectives on girls’ education were used to 
establish baseline of analytical tools and studies. These were then reviewed to determine 
if they met the criterion of utilization established in the guidance. Again, although the 
guidance called for a cumulative total, tools and studies were divided by the years since 
1997 in which they were used, in order to identify trends. 
Table 11 shows that 22 tools or studies have been commissioned, produced, or 
requested by Guatemalan organizations involved in girls’ education. This compares with 
15 studies and tools in the years prior to 1997. In the early years of efforts in girls’ 
education in Guatemala, studies predominated, suggesting the importance of testing 
actions in the early years of an initiative. With the maturing of efforts, it appears that 
there has been a greater need for tools that aid in the implementation of actions.
Table 20: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year
Type Pre-1997 1997 1998 1999 2000 Total
Tools 5 1 6 8 3 18
Studies 10 2 0 0 2 4
Total 15 3 6 8 5 22
In the case of studies, three of the four cases were utilization of studies produced 
prior to 1997. The only exception was an evaluation of the scholarship program 
commissioned by the Ministry of Education in 2000. Six of the tools produced prior 
to1997 were also used by a new organization. Three new tools, dealing with girls’ rights, 
training of teachers, and implementing a local scholarship program, were produced. The 
remaining nine tools were adaptations of tools produced under the BEST Girls’ 
Education project. No requests for the packet of materials produced centrally by the 
GWEA project were documented. Local Guatemala staff felt that the initial production 
of these tools in English limited their usefulness, as the forums for presenting the 
materials for review occurred prior to their translation into Spanish. 
G Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
The number of leaders who made public proclamations allocating resources for 
girls’ education was determined through a survey of organizations. Organizations were 
asked if organizational representatives had made such statements in a given year. Table 
14
12 shows that 10 leaders, of the 36 civil society organizations that actually initiated
actions during the period that GWEA has been in operation, made public proclamations 
allocating resources for girls’ education. Leaders of a number of the organizations that 
had been participating in girls’ education since the early 1990s had made statements prior 
to 1997. The statements were consistent with the types of actions engaged in by the 
organizations and related to funding for scholarships, or allocation for resources for 
social awareness campaigns or teacher/community training materials.
Table 21: Organizations Stating that Leaders Publicly Identified Organizational 
Resources by Year and Organization Type
Source: Villagrán “Encuesta de Instituciones” Proyecto Global 2001
There was, however, a consensus among GWEA staff that this indicator is 
underestimated. This is because, in Guatemala, it is uncommon for leaders other than 
politicians to make such proclamations about resources, either personally or on behalf of 
their organizations, for fear of personal safety. The reluctance of business leaders to 
make public statements on issues of resources, was borne out by the survey, as only one 
of the 16 business sector organizations surveyed responded affirmatively.
H Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
This indicator includes only CSOs other than the private sector. Private sector 
organizations generally do not attempt to increase membership, but rather look to 
increase production and thereby reduce personnel. Public sector organizations may have 
the same objectives and law often determines the size of public sector membership. As 
the indicator focuses on “growth in membership within organizations that promote girls’ 
education,” only those organizations that have initiated actions were counted. Questions 
on membership were part of the survey of organizations.
NGOs, religious organizations and foundations were included in the study. All of 
the nine NGOs that had initiated actions stated that their membership had increased 
during the life of the GWEA project. Similarly, the one religious organization that had 
initiated actions specifically related to girls’ education reported a growth in membership. 
Year/Organization No. of 
Potential 
Organizations
Pre 
1997
1997 1998 1999 2000 Total
NGO 36 6 2 1 1 10
Religious 5 3 2 5
Business 16 1 1
Foundation 13 5 1 1 7
Media 4 1 1 2
University 3 1 1
Total 77 16 4 1 1 4 26
15
The two principal foundations acting in girls’ education, Castillo Córdoba and 
FUNRURAL also reported growth in membership. However, such membership has 
increased staff to handle expanding actions during the period that GWEA was in 
operation. These organizations expected staff to be decreased if actions were 
discontinued.
Organizations were also asked the number of communities in which they were 
working with girls’ education. Table 13 shows the magnitude of the work by sector. 
Consistent with the information on the leveraging of local resources, foundations have 
the greatest coverage. This is due both to the nature of the programs that they are 
administering (scholarships and school lunches) and their mission to work with schools in 
their own areas of influence (e.g. coffee and sugar plantations). 
Table 22: Number of Communities by Organization Type
No. No. of 
Communities
Average
NGO 12 1368 114
Religious 3 500 166
Business 4 119 30
Foundation 5 14,256 2851
Media Na
University 1 50 50
Total 25 16293 652
 
Local NGOs tend to work with a small number of communities in a particular 
region. The total shown in the table is inflated somewhat by the two NGOs with 
international affiliations that reported working with more than 500 communities each. It 
would also be higher if the 3500 communities involved in the scholarship program were 
counted with AEN. They have, however, been included with FUNRURAL, the actual 
implementing organization during the period, in order to avoid double counting. Both 
businesses and universities tend to work with a small number of communities.
I Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary 
School Participation
The baseline for the GWEA project was the 16 communities in El Quiché where 
the project is working directly. At the time of the study, actions had been initiated by 
three of the communities. As tools had been developed with the assistance of teachers in 
these communities, a sample of schools in which the GWEA project is working directly 
with teachers, was also examined. Data was obtained from the MEDIR project, which 
collects indicators on teacher performance to assist the Mission in tracking results.
Table 14 shows that there has been little progress in girls’ participation in the 
16
classroom during the time GWEA has been working with teachers. Girls’ participation as 
measured by initiation of interactions with the teacher has improved slightly in non￾GWEA schools. In GWEA schools, there has been a substantial drop in girls’ 
participation. While the overall percentage of child-initiated interactions was similar, 
boys accounted for a greater percentage of such interactions in 2000 than in 1998.
Table 23: Girls’ Participation in the Classroom
1998 2000 Type of School
Teachers Boys Girls Teachers Boys Girls
Non-GWE % 74.2 17.1 8.7 69.1 18.9 11.5
N 2568 2568 2568 232 232 232
GWE % 68.9 13.4 17.6 68.4 21.6 9.9
N 187 187 187 23 23 23
Total % 73.8 16.8 9.3 69.0 19.2 11.3
N 2755 2755 2755 255 255 255
Source: MEDIR database
17
V Conclusions
A Strategic Objective
The USAID emphasis on building constituencies to promote girls’ completion of primary 
school has contributed to higher completion rates among female primary school students 
in Guatemala.
The six cohorts attaining fifth grade available for Guatemala showed completion 
rate increases of 5.6% and 6.4% for rural and urban girls, respectively. These 
increases were slightly greater than those for boys during the same period, and in 
urban areas, girls had overcome a slight gender gap and had higher completion 
rates than their male classmates. In the target area of El Quiché, rural girls had a 
6.1% increase in completion rates from the 1995 baseline. This was, however, 
less than the 7.2% increase for boys.
Despite increases in completion rates, overall primary completion is low in Guatemala. 
This is especially true for rural areas.
Even with the increases in completion rates, only about one-fourth rural 
Guatemalan children make normal progress to fifth grade (24.1% of girls and 
26.0% of boys). In urban areas, only about half of the children make normal 
progress to fifth grade. Completion rates are even lower in El Quiché, with 
16.1% of girls reaching fifth grade in five years and 19.6% of boys attaining this 
level.
Social awareness programs about the importance of girls going to school, when 
combined with increased access, can affect girls’ enrollment in primary school
The almost ten years of emphasis on educating girls in Guatemala has led to a 
general familiarity with the issue. This familiarity, when combined with the 
efforts of PRONADE to create schools in isolated rural areas has created a growth 
in enrollment among girls that is slightly greater than that of boys nationally. 
Gross enrollment ratios for girls have reached 87%, an increase of 22% since 
1995.
Large-scale investment in scholarship programs alone will not insure that a high 
percentage of girls complete school, in situations where completion has traditionally 
been low. 
Scholarships have formed the basis of much of the work in girls’ education in 
Guatemala during the life of the GWEA project. Approximately 10% of rural 
female primary students received scholarships during this five-year period. This 
investment produced significant trends in girls’ completion and raised the 
completion rates of girls both nationally and in El Quiché above that of boys 
among the cohorts of third grade girls who had had the benefit of scholarship 
18
support for three years. However, less than a third of rural Guatemalan girls or 
boys complete third grade in three years. 
B Intermediate Results
Leadership and major actions in girls’ education are likely to remain in a few civil 
society organizations whose mission statement supports girls’ education. 
Organizations that do not undertake actions soon after initial contact with national 
efforts are unlikely to do so. 
In Guatemala, long-term leadership and activity was found in the philanthropic 
foundations of major commercial entities, and to some extent in the NGO formed 
to address problems of girls’ education. These organizations were among the 
original partner organizations that began carrying out actions in the early 1990s. 
Although additional organizations have carried out actions, only 44% of the 
organizations that attended national meetings on girls’ education initiated actions 
in either period of USAID-funded support for girls’ education. Only one 
organization that had participated in the first national meeting, during the BEST 
project, initiated its first action during the GWEA program. 
Businesses and small local NGOs are not likely to be long-term leaders in girls’ 
education in Guatemala.
All small NGOs without international affiliations and all businesses that 
participated in a single short-term project stated that future involvement in girls’ 
education was not foreseen by their organizations. This suggests that these types 
of organizations may be called upon for specific activities, but will not form part 
of the ongoing constituencies envisioned by the EGAT/WID framework. 
Local organizations that take a leadership role in carrying actions are able to 
generate non-USAID funding on a consistent basis. However, as with the number of 
organizations actively involved, such funding is not likely to grow exponentially.
Local funding was generated at three to four times the USAID investment for 
both the BEST and GWEA girls’ education programs. However, funding did not 
grow significantly beyond an average of about one million dollars a year. More 
that 75% of this funding came from four or five local private sector foundation in 
each period.
Non-USAID funding to support girls’ education can be generated without a reliance 
on international donor agencies.
International donor agencies have been active partners throughout the ten years of 
constituency building in Guatemala. However, their contribution to actions engaged in 
by civil society organizations was less than 10% of all non-USAID resources.
19
Government agencies can be active partners in alliances to promote girls’ education. 
However, public sector financial support of an issue such as girls’ education may 
change dramatically with changes of government.
The two administrations prior to 2000 undertook scholarship programs with 
public financing. The program that began in 1997 with outsourcing of 
government funds to the private sector for implementation has been seen as a 
model for public sector-civil society collaboration. However, with the change of 
government in 1999, the percent of the education budget dedicated to primary 
education has been reduced each year. While the scholarship funds were a 
Congressional mandate through 2001, there appears to be little continued support 
in the new Congress and the Ministry of Education has ended its partnership with 
the civil society organization that appeared to be administering the scholarship 
program successfully.
Studies are more important than implementation tools in the early years of 
launching a girls’ education initiative. Both studies and tools have a long life span, 
but must be in the principal language/s of the country to be utilized.
During the BEST project studies were used in planning efforts and in monitoring 
results of actions. Implementation tools predominated during the GWEA project. 
A number of the tools and studies produced prior to the GWEA project were still 
in use or had been adapted for specific needs. Despite being well-designed and 
building on international experience, the tools created by AIR were not utilized in 
Guatemala. This was a result of their translation into Spanish only taking place 
late in the life of the project.
Leaders can be mobilized to support girls’ education through public statements. 
However, such support is unlikely to include declarations of organizational 
resources being allocated.
Despite leveraging more than one million dollars a year, only ten leaders made 
declarations about allocation organizational resources to girls’ education and 
amounts were not made specific. Respondents felt that such declarations were 
limited owing to fear for personal safety. 
C Project Organizational Structure
USAID-funded local teams can be appropriate to carry out work related to teaching 
and learning even when they do not serve as a catalyst for constituency building. 
However, in either role, they must have human resources commiserate with the 
project’s scope of work.
GWEA work in developing teacher training guides and workshops was well 
received by the Ministry of Education. However, team members felt that the 
20
project was understaffed to meet the demands of the scope of work that required 
national and local involvement of staff. One full-time coordinator and one 
administrative assistant called for by the contract could not handle the volume of 
work. 
21
VI Implications
Although Guatemala has made significant gains in girls’ completion rates, the 
country appears unlikely to reach the USAID/EGAT/WID goal of a 20% increase over 
the ten-year period originally envisioned for the life of the Activity. In the ten years that 
the framework has been implemented in Guatemala, completion rates have increased 
between 5.6% and 7.1% for the different target groups. Much of this increase came 
during the years that the GWEA has been in operation. However, even if the increases 
were to double in the next five years, the maximum increase would be about 14% for the 
ten-year period. As the Guatemala trends are based on real cohorts, rather than 
reconstructed cohorts, the existing trends in completion might serve as a guide in 
establishing future goals related to primary school completion. 
The scholarship program may contribute to improved female attainment of fifth 
grade, as third grade attainment has increased by 6.1% and 9.5% in a four-year period. 
However, as no cohorts containing scholarship recipients have yet reached fifth grade, it 
is impossible to estimate what may be the effect. Given the changes that have taken 
place in the administration of the scholarship program and the lack of commitment of the 
Guatemalan government to continue the program, long-term changes in completion rates 
are unlikely.
Low completion rates for both girls and boys even after ten years of 
promoting girls’ persistence and completion of primary school, suggest that 
dramatic change in completion rates may require an extended period of time and/or 
more targeted actions than have been carried out in Guatemala. The promotion of 
the elements of schooling that will ensure that all children complete school with the 
skills and knowledge defined as necessary to become a successful adult in 
Guatemala may be a complementary strategy to awareness and incentive programs 
that have predominated in civil society efforts. Such a role, which would require 
collaboration with the Ministry of Education, may be difficult in light of the 
governments’ current relationship with the private sector.
The EGAT/WID framework of using local professionals to act as a catalyst in 
bringing together organizations from different sectors to promote girls education 
may not be necessary as a long-term strategy. The Guatemalan experience suggests 
that once a constituency for girls’ education has been formed, a core group of 
organizations will continue actions in the areas. Local technical assistance may only 
have a catalyst role in such a situation if it has a visible linkage that is national in 
scope, as was planned with the Common Agenda. Without such visibility, GWEA 
was unable to bring together new partners on the national forum.
All sectors are not equally likely to be contributing members of a multi￾sector coalition. In the case of Guatemala, NGOs carried out a number of actions 
that did not require large expenditures, whereas foundations, business and 
government funded large or costly projects. The religious sector was almost a non￾participant. Thus, different organizations will contribute in areas where they have 
22
expertise or other resources. This suggests, that as efforts to promote girls’ 
education mature, sector participation should be thought out strategically in terms 
of the types of resources that different sectors could best contribute.
Successful leveraging of financial resources from non-USAID sources 
appears to require organizations that are involved with the business sector, if 
relatively large amounts are to be raised on an ongoing basis. Most of the financial 
resources for actions promoting girls’ persistence and completion of primary school 
came from foundations with educational objectives in their mission statements. 
Substantial support from international donor agencies does not appear likely or 
necessary to generate sufficient funding to carry out actions of national scope, as less 
than 6% of the over ten million dollars generated by civil society organizations has 
come from such donors. 
The relatively long life of tools and studies, suggests that the tools developed by 
the GWEA in Guatemala have a good chance of being utilized. However, as the project 
is ending, there is a question of the Ministry’s ability to train teachers or even a large 
number of trainers in their use, given the economic conditions prevailing in the country. 
If the tools are used, they may not have an immediate effect. Data from classrooms 
where GWEA worked with teachers suggests little short-term change in girls’ 
participation in classrooms.
23
Bibliography
AIR, 2000 Annual Report: Year Four. Washington, DC: AIR prepared for 
USAID/G/WID.
AIR, 2001. Annual Report: Year Five. Washington, DC: AIR prepared for 
USAID/G/WID.
Delpino, María Antonieta, 1999. Informe: Evaluación del “Program de Becas para Niñas 
del
 Area Rural” en Guatemala. Guatemala City/World Learning, October.
FUNRURAL, 1998. Informe 1997: Programa de becas para niñas del area rural. 
Guatemala
 City/FUNRURAL.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) 1997. Guatemala: Estimaciones y proyecciones 
de
 Población por departamento según edad y sexo 1990-2010 y estimaciones de 
población
 por municipio según sexo 1990-2005. Guatemala City/INE-CELADE.
Juárez and Associates, 1997. BEST Final Finacial Report. Los Angeles. 
Nuñez, G. 1997. La iniciativa de la educación de la niña en Guatemala.
 GuatemalaCity/MINEDUC, August.
PRONADE 2000. Estudio cuasi-experimental de resultados del año 1999. Guatemala
 City/MINEDUC, September.
Sistema de Información Educativa – Unidad de Informática, 1991-2000. Anuario 
Estadística de
 la Educación. Guatemala City/MINEDUC.
Unidad Sectorial de Investigaciones y Planificación Educativa, 1988. Estadística inicial
 preliminary y número de aulas en uso: Cuadros resumen año 1987. Guatemala
 City/Ministerio de Educación. 
Villagrán, M. 2001. Encuesta de instituciones. Guatemala City/Proyecto Global, March.
24
APPENDIX A: LOCAL INVESTMENT IN GIRLS’ EDUCATION 1992-1996
Table 24: Guatemala Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1992-1996
Org 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Total
Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat Intl Nat
NGO 3,250 2,400 50,000 7,650 10,000 60,900 12,400
Regl
Bus 6,818 6,818
Foun 9,091* 41,818 611,103 140,000 1,993,170 560,178 140,000 3,215,360
Media
Uni
Total 9,091 3,250 51,036 50,000 611,103 140,000 1,993,170 7,650 570,178 200,900 3,234,578
Source: Confidential Accounts of Participating Organizations
* Amounts in USD corrected for annual local currency fluctuations
Appendix C:
Guinea Country Study
GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GUINEA COUNTRY STUDY
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/ Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by: 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
c
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..............................................................................................i
I. Introduction............................................................................................................. 1
II. Socio-Political Context............................................................................................ 2
III. The GWEA Program ........................................................................................... 2
A. Project Development ........................................................................................... 2
B. Project Organization............................................................................................ 5
IV. Findings .............................................................................................................. 5
A. Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates................................... 5
1. Enrollment.......................................................................................................... 5
2. Completion......................................................................................................... 7
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations ....... 9
1. Organizational Participation............................................................................. 9
2. Types of Actions............................................................................................ 10
C. Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education.......................................... 11
D. Trends in Leveraging Resources........................................................................ 12
E. Trends in Public Sector Investment.................................................................... 12
F. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs 
for Girls Education ............................................................................................ 13
G. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education........................... 14
H. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education .......................................................................................................... 14
I. Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Participation ...................................................................................................... 14
V. Conclusions........................................................................................................... 15
A. Strategic Objective ............................................................................................ 15
B. Intermediate Results.......................................................................................... 16
C. Project Organizational Structure ........................................................................ 17
VI. Implications....................................................................................................... 18
Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 19
d
List of Tables
Table 1: Guinea Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios............................................... 7
Table 2: Guinea National Fifth Grade Attainment: Reconstructed Cohorts by Gender and 
Location.................................................................................................................. 8
Table 3: SAGE Pilot and Non-SAGE Fifth Grade Attainment: Reconstructed Cohorts by 
Gender .................................................................................................................... 8
Table 4: SAGE Pilot and Non-Pilot Fifth Grade Attainment: Reconstructed Cohorts by 
Gender .................................................................................................................... 9
Table 5: Number of Guinean CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year ...... 10
Table 6: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action ...................... 11
Table 7: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year 11
Table 8: Guinea Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1998-2001...................... 12
Table 9: Public Sector Investment in Primary Education 1990-2001.............................. 13
Table 10: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year ......................................... 13
e
Guinea List of Acronyms
AED Academy for Educational Development
AIR American Institutes for Research
APEU Community civil and religious leaders and parent-teachers organizations
CIDA Canadian Agency for International Development
CSO Civil Society Organizations
EGAT/WID Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/ Women in Development
ESRP Education Sector Reform Program
FAC Fonds d’Aide et de Cooperation Française
FONSEF Le Fonds National de Soutien à l’Education des Filles
FQEL Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels
GEMS Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GOG Government of Guinea
GWE Girls and Women’s Education 
IPN Institute Pédagogique National
MEPU Ministry of Pre-University Education
NGO Non Governmental Agency
NPA Non-Project Assistance
PASE Programme d’Adjustment Sectoriel de L’Education
SAGE Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education Project
SSO Strategic Support Objective
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
i
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
This document summarizes the findings of a review of the progress of the 
USAID-funded girls’ education work in Guinea. The five-year life of the project is 
examined in relation to the strategic framework for the USAID/EGAT/WID Girls’ and 
Women’s Education Activity, of which the effort in Guinea forms a part. The study is 
based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available national education 
statistics for Guinea, and fieldwork conducted in Guinea during July and August of 2001.
Background
The EGAT/WID Girls’ and Women’s Activity in Guinea continued and 
complemented USAID investments in improving educational equity and quality in 
Guinea that began in 1990. Within the Ministry of Pre-University Education an Equity 
Committee was formed in the early 1990s to build awareness of the importance of 
educating girls. The Ministry, through the USAID-funded Fundamental Quality and 
Equity Levels (FQEL) Activity created and designed teacher professional development 
activities and instructional materials to improve the opportunities for all children to learn 
in Guinean classrooms. In late 1996, Plan Guinée, as the local contractor in conjunction 
with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the prime GWE contractor, began 
mobilizing national stakeholders around the importance of girls’ education and 
conducting research to determine local barriers to educating girls. The country director 
was a former Deputy Minister from MEPU and an active participant in the Equity 
Committee. 
Much of 1997 was dedicated to organizing the National Alliance for Girls’ 
Education. This organization began a process to develop a National Fund for Girls’ 
Education (known by its French acronym—FONSEF—Le Fonds National de Soutien à 
l’Education des Filles). The National Alliance consists of 150 members the public, 
private and non-governmental sectors. Its initial work focused on promoting a public 
dialogue on the importance of girls’ education by setting up and carrying out a national 
awareness campaign. Concurrently with the creation of the National Alliance, GWE/Plan 
Guinée started work on setting up local alliances in 19 areas (sub-préfectures) dispersed 
throughout the interior of Guinea. A first step was to conduct community consultations 
to assess the area-specific barriers to girls’ education in order to develop strategies to 
enroll more girls in school. The results of the consultations were discussed with Local 
Alliance members and action plans to address the identified problems, such as lack of 
school facilities for girls and few female role models in local communities, were 
designed.
This work continued through much of 1998 and was linked to the National 
Alliance by establishing mentors for the Local Alliances from among the National 
Alliance membership. At the end of 1998, the GWE institutional contractor changed from 
AIR to the Academy for Educational Development (AED) under the Strategies for 
ii
Advancing Girls’ Education Project (SAGE/Guinea). The country director, however, 
remained the same. The main reason for this change was that Plan Guinée concentrated 
its activities in the forest region of Southern Guinea while the girls’ education activities 
were to be nation-wide and geographically dispersed. As a result, GWE/Plan Guinée
became SAGE/Guinea starting in 1999.
During 1999, SAGE/Guinea organized a National Forum on approaches and 
strategies for girls’ education. It also designed an action plan and strategies for working 
with local radio stations, held an Annual Meeting of the National Alliance, assisted the 
Local Alliances with the implementation of New School Year activities, gathered data on 
the activities of the six pilot alliances, and recruited Barry et Frères, a local advertising 
firm, to pledge financial support to girls’ education and to donate billboard space.
SAGE/Guinea continued in 2000 to build the capacity of the Local Alliances. 
This was accomplished through workshops that dealt with: messages and funding for 
local media campaigns; conducting girls’ mentoring programs; and procedures for fund￾raising. An advocacy tool to be used by Local Alliances in building community support 
was developed, and guidelines to improve relations between the Local Alliances and their 
schools were created. SAGE/Guinea also participated in the Girls’ Education National 
Day celebration, as well as completed the annual data collection and analysis of the local 
alliance activities. In addition, by the end of the 2000, the National Alliance had created 
FONSEF, the National Girls’ Education Fund that would solicit contributions from 
private donors. However, this activity could not begin on a large scale until FONSEF 
was established as a legal Guinean NGO.
One of the most important goals for 2001 was for FONSEF to meet all the 
requirements necessary for legal status. This was accomplished in May 2001. With this 
completed, FONSEF became more active in soliciting funds from civil society 
organizations and began working on plans for fundraising. However, SAGE/Guinea 
remains responsible for many of the administrative functions of the National Alliance and 
FONSEF. On the local level SAGE/Guinea held a series of workshops with Local 
Alliance religious leaders. These workshops offered training in the kinds of activities 
that can be undertaken to promote girls’ education and to help obtain contributions to the 
Girls’ Education Fund. A major emphasis was on access, retention and educational 
achievement of girls.
Principal Results
- A 14.5% increase in girls’ primary school gross enrollment ratio and a 7.9% 
decrease in the primary school enrollment gender gap
- An estimated completion rate increases of 8.1% nationally and 26.7% in pilot 
alliances among rural girls
- An estimated completion rate increases of 8.2% nationally for urban girls
- Similar trends albeit higher estimated increases in completion rates for boys
- The formation of a 150 member National Alliance with legal status in Guinea, 
made up of individuals from different sectors with the goal of raising awareness 
of the importance of improving girls’ persistence in school
iii
- The leveraging of at least US$94,160 of non-USAID funds invested in girls’ 
education efforts. 
Challenges
- Completion rates for girls remain low (26.1% in urban areas, 20.4% in rural areas, 
and 39% in pilot alliances)
- Despite alliance efforts, completion will be influenced by contextual conditions 
such as conflict and refugee infusion
- The National Alliance and FONSEF must resolve issues pertaining to its 
organizational structure and support of administrative functions carried out by the 
project
- There has been little leveraging of resources at the national level, as most non￾USAID funds come from community groups for school infrastructure 
improvements
Implications
- The results suggest that the EGAT/WID goal of a 20% increase in girls’ 
completion rates over 10 years can be met through the strategies used by 
SAGE/Guinea, at least in target areas, if activities continue and the projected 
completion rates are borne out over time. However, such long-term objectives 
can be affected dramatically by changes in the local context, such as an influx of 
refugees from conflicts in nearby countries 
- Efforts to increase awareness of the importance of girls’ persistence in school may 
also affect boys’ completion in low access countries such as Guinea.
- SAGE/Guinea has been effective at the Local Level as local alliances with 
members from different sectors have raised funds and initiated actions that have 
encouraged both girls and boys to stay in school
- Although the limited actions and funding at the national level was somewhat by 
design, as strategies were predicated on FONSEF gaining legal status, the success 
of the approach relies heavily on encouraging multi-sector actions and funding for 
FONSEF in the last year of the project
PERFORMANCE REVIEW 
GUINEA COUNTRY STUDY
I. Introduction
USAID’s investment in girls’ education in Guinea began in 1990 as part of the
multi-donor project, Programme d’Adjustment Sectoriel de l’Education (PASE). This 
project focused on increased enrollment in primary schools as well as equitable access to 
quality education for girls and children in rural areas. It was created in response to the 
government’s 1989 National Education Policy, which addressed the urgent need for a 
complete reform of the country’s educational system.
USAID’s support during the first phase of PASE (1990-1995) consisted primarily 
of endorsing key policy reforms through its Education Sector Reform Program (ESRP), 
with special emphasis on the need to improve access to primary education. Under the 
program, non-project assistance (NPA) provided general budget support to help allocate a 
greater proportion of the Government of Guinea (GOG) expenditures for primary 
education and project assistance support to institutional capacity building in key areas of 
management and administration.
While continuing its support for more equitable access to primary education, 
USAID’s main emphasis during the second phase of PASE (1995-2000) was on 
improving the quality of teaching and learning in primary schools. USAID’s assistance 
under the Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (FQEL) Activity supported an 
institutional strengthening program to sustain sector reform and to improve the quality of 
teaching at the classroom level. Its main objective was to develop MEPU’s capacity to 
deliver efficient quality primary education throughout the country, focusing on improving 
access to education for girls and children in rural areas.
Additional initiatives promoting girls’ education during PASE included the 
Government of Guinea through its Comité d’Equité, the World Bank’s Equity and School 
Improvement Project, and the Reinforcement of the Guinean Educational System 
Program of the Fonds d’Aide et de Cooperation Française (FAC). Other important 
donor contributions included: UNICEF’s support for girls’ primary education, teacher 
training, and development of a communication system at the central level; the Canadian 
Agency for International Development’s (CIDA) support for primary education and 
technical and professional training; the German Federal Government’s financing of an in￾service teachers training project; the Centres Nafa Project implemented by UNICEF with 
funds from UNICEF, CIDA, and UNICEF’s Finnish Committee; the Project de 
Reécriture du Matériel Pédagogique carried out by the Institute Pédagogique National
(IPN) in collaboration with UNICEF; and the Human Development Initiative, a UNDP, 
UNESCO and GOG initiative.
2
II. Socio-Political Context
Guinea gained its independence from France in 1958. In spite of large extensions 
of arable land and abundant mineral resources (bauxite, iron, gold and diamonds), the 
country is one of the poorest in the world. In 1995, it ranked 168 out of 174 countries on 
the United Nations Human Development Index, with a life expectancy at birth of 44.5 
years, an infant mortality rate of 144 per 1,000 live births, and a per capita gross domestic 
product of $592. At that time, over half of the population was under the age of 15 
(USAID/Guinea 1995).
Guinea is a diverse country. Its seven million people are divided among 16 ethnic 
groups, the largest being the Fulani, Malinké, and Susu. Over 80 percent of the 
population is Muslim. The rest are Christian (about 10%) or belong to different 
indigenous religions. About one fifth of the population lives in the capital city of 
Conakry, with the remainder is dispersed in four different regions. Three quarters of the 
population are engaged in agriculture (World Bank 1995).
Although the social and economic status of Guinean women varies to some extent 
across regions and ethnic groups, early marriage of girls, high bride price in some 
regions, and high male migration for labor in others create significant barriers to girls’ 
schooling. Literacy rates among women 15 or older are estimated at only 22 percent, 
compared to 50 percent for men (Kamano et al 1998).
III. The GWE Program
A. Project Development
The centrally funded GWE activity in Guinea began in late 1996 with Plan 
Guinée as the local contractor and the American Institutes for Research as the GWE 
contractor.. The country director was a former Deputy Minister from MEPU and an 
active participant in the Equity Committee. At the end of 1998, the GWE institutional 
contractor changed from AIR to the Academy for Educational Development (AED) under 
the Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education Project (SAGE/Guinea). SAGE 
maintained the same country director. 
The first GWE/Plan Guinée Activity was the organization of the National 
Alliance for Girls’ Education, with 150 members from the public, private and non￾governmental sectors. The initial work of the Alliance was to promote a public dialogue 
on the importance of girls’ education by setting up and carrying out a national awareness 
campaign. 
The planning and implementation of National Alliance activities were carried out 
by a 12 member National Alliance Working Group. Working with this group, 
SAGE/Guinea set up a Media Task Force consisting of local radio and TV broadcasters 
3
as well as the print media. The efforts of the Task Force resulted in broadcasts on girls’ 
education in the middle of 1999, and as part of that program the Minister of Social 
Affairs officially stated the governments’ commitment to promote girls’ education. In 
addition to the national promotion campaign, the Task Force also worked with the Local 
Alliances, described below, to develop media campaigns with broadcasts by six rural 
radio stations. 
Shortly after the formation of the National Alliance, GWE/Plan Guinée started 
work on establishing Local Alliances in 19 areas (sub-préfectures) located throughout the 
interior of Guinea. The Local Alliances would typically contain at least six schools and 
consist of 20-60 members that included local leaders, religious groups, women’s groups, 
private businesses and parents. An executive committee of 5-12 people are responsible 
for the organization of actions. As part of the organization of the Local Alliances, 
GWE/Plan Guinée used focus groups to conduct community consultations in the 19 
selected sub-prefectures. The purpose of the consultations was to assess the area-specific 
barriers to girls’ education in order to develop strategies to enroll more girls in school. 
Once the data from 140 focus groups were collected and analyzed, the 19 Local Alliances 
were charged with designing action plans to address the identified problems, such as lack 
of school facilities for girls and few female role models in local communities.
The Local Alliances received technical assistance from the GWE/Plan Guinée, 
and in the process of working with these alliances, six were selected as “pilot” alliances 
and destined for more intensive support by the project. The remaining 13 alliances 
focused their activities on the preparation and participation in the annual National Girls’ 
Education Day. This day is celebrated on June 21st and has become an integral part of the 
opening ceremony for the new school year.
In addition to working with National Alliance on the national and local efforts to 
increase awareness of girls’ education, GWE/Plan Guinée made preparations for 
attending the May 1998 conference in Washington and sent eight individuals representing 
the Local Alliance pilot areas, the National Alliance Working Group, Plan Guinée and 
SAGOU, a Guinean NGO. Project personnel felt that the opportunity to learn about 
efforts in other countries as well as talk with the implementers of such programs helped 
in the development of their own strategies to involve different sectors.
After the Washington Conference, the GWE Activity went through a series of 
administrative changes and terminated its relationship with Plan Guinée. The main reason 
for this decision was that Plan Guinée concentrated its activities in the forest region of 
Southern Guinea while the girls’ education activity was to be nation-wide and 
geographically dispersed. As a result, GWE/Plan Guinée became SAGE/Guinea starting 
in 1999.
During 1999, SAGE/Guinea organized a National Forum on approaches and 
strategies for girls’ education. The project also designed an action plan and strategies for 
working with local radio stations, held an Annual Meeting with the National Alliance for 
which several organizations donates space or funds, assisted the Local Alliances with the 
4
implementation of New School Year activities, gathered data on the activities of the six 
pilot alliances, and recruited Barry et Freres, a local advertising firm, to pledge financial 
support to girls’ education and to donate billboard space.
SAGE/Guinea continued in 2000 to build the capacity of the Local Alliances. 
Two workshops were held on funding local media campaigns, a workshop on the Girls’ 
Mentoring Program took place, an advocacy tool (Plaidoyer) to be used by Local 
Alliances in their communities was developed, guidelines to improve relations between 
the Local Alliances and their schools were created, and a workshop on the procedures for 
collecting funds for girls’ education was held. SAGE/Guinea also participated in the 
Girls’ Education National Day celebration, and completed the annual data collection and 
analysis of the Local Alliance activities. In addition, by the end of the 2000, the National 
Alliance had established a National Girls’ Education Fund that would solicit 
contributions from private donors. However, these activities could not begin until 
FONSEF was established as a legal Guinean NGO.
One of the most important goals for 2001 was for FONSEF to meet all the 
requirements necessary to achieve the legal status of FONSEF. This was accomplished 
in May 2001. With this completed, FONSEF became more active in soliciting funds 
from CSOs and began working on plans for fundraising. FONSEF went on to contact 
two insurance companies (SOGAM and UGAR), Nestlé, two banks, Sabena, Air France, 
two hotels (Novotel and Camayenne), and the Société Aurifére de Guineé (gold mining 
and exporters) in order to solicit funds and to further discussions with companies that had 
made commitments before FONSEF became a legal NGO. 
Another avenue that was being explored for fundraising was to have local artists 
and musicians organize a fundraiser for girls’ education and the donors listed above were 
approached to make contributions toward the estimated $2,500 needed to finance the 
event. By the end of July 2001, ten well known local artists committed to producing three 
paintings each with 100% of the proceeds going to the Girls’ Education Fund. The 
paintings depicted themes related to girls’ education.
Another potential activity has involved discussions with the World Food Program 
on the possibility oft SAGE/Guinea’s Local Alliances becoming partners in a $14 million 
school-feeding program. Originally the program was scheduled to initiate activities in 
October 2001 but this has been delayed until the beginning of 2002.
SAGE/Guinea also expanded its work with the religious sector during 2001. On 
the national level, discussions with the Islamic League were held to explore possible 
partnerships and a protestant Bishop has been asked to sit on the board of FONSEF. On 
the local level, a series of workshops were held with Local Alliance religious leaders to 
train them in the kinds of activities they can undertake to promote girls’ education and to 
help obtain contributions to the Girls’ Education Fund.
5
B. Project Organization
The past five years of GWE activity in Guinea has essentially been a small 
operation, consisting of the country director and two assistants. One of the assistants is 
the Deputy Director and the other in charge of financial operation and accounting. When 
the activity was administered by AIR and Plan Guinée the GWE offices were located 
within Plan Guinée and as such, GWE was able to use its office equipment and logistic 
support. 
Since the organizational change from AIR/Plan Guinée to AED, SAGE/Guinea 
relocated in 2001 and is currently a more independent organization. As discussed, the 
girls’ education activities take place at both national and local levels, and the latter 
requires frequent travel to meet with the Local Alliances. This travel is divided between 
SAGE staff going to the interior and Alliance members coming to Conakry. Essentially, 
the country director has made most of the contacts, attended meetings and carried out 
workshops. Many of these activities, especially making contact with both public and 
private sector stakeholders has been managed by the director who has an extensive 
personal network in the Guinean public and private sectors. 
The project has not only provided technical assistance to the National Alliance, 
but has also served as the administrative center for that organization. Such support has 
included accounting for funds raised through FONSEF efforts. With FONSEF becoming 
a legal entity and SAGE/Guinea drawing to a close in 2002, the issues of FONSEF 
administrative viability are beginning to be addressed.
IV. Findings
This section presents the findings of the performance review team. Findings are 
organized in terms of each of the intermediate results of the EGAT/WID framework for 
SSO2. The findings are based on meetings that took place in Guinea involving 
representatives of USAID/Guinea, the director of the SAGE Activity, representatives of 
various partner organizations and the GEMS team, as well as on school and community 
visits. They also include an analysis of existing statistical data on the Guinean 
educational system and review of other secondary sources.
A. Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates
1. Enrollment
At the time of data collection for this report, data showing the rural population by 
gender in Guinea were not available. Consequently, only national gross enrollment ratios 
have been calculated. Table 1 shows the total increase in gross enrollment ratios from the 
1989/90-baseline year for girls and boys. Enrollment ratios have increased substantially 
6
for both males and females. Prior to the EGAT/WID Activity, girls’ enrollments 
increased by 18% and boys’ gross enrollment ratios increased by more than 25%, thereby 
widening the gender gap. Since the initiation of the Activity, there has been an additional 
increase of 14.5% in girls’ gross enrollment ratios, compared to a 6.6% increase for boys, 
thereby narrowing the gender gap by 7.9%. However, gross enrollment ratios continue to 
be low, with 50% of girls and 72% of boys enrolled in primary school.
7
Table 25: Guinea Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios
1989-2001
Years Gross Enrollment Ratios
Total 
%
Boys
%
Girls
%
Gap
%
1989/90 28.6 39.9 17.4 22.5
1990/91 31.8 44.0 19.7 24.3
1991/92 31.9 44.1 19.7 24.4
1992/93 36.7 50.6 22.8 27.8
1993/94 40.1 54.6 25.7 28.9
1994/95 44.6 59.9 29.3 30.6
1995/96 46.6 61.6 31.5 30.1
1996/97 50.5 65.4 35.5 29.9
Change 
from89/90 
Baseline
+21.9 +25.5 +18.1
+7.4
1997/98 51.0 65.1 36.9 28.2
1998/99 53.5 67.1 40.0 27.1
1999/00 56.8 69.2 44.3 24.9
2000/01 61.0 72.0 50.0 22.0
Change 
from 96/97 
Baseline
+10.5 +6.6 +14.5
-7.9
Source: Database 1989-2001. MEPU/SSP
2. Completion
Although promotion data for Guinea were relatively complete, the lack of 
repetition rates made it impossible to examine the fifth grade attainment of actual cohorts. 
Thus, reconstructed cohorts of children reaching fifth grade in five years have been 
calculated. The initial year of the project 1997/1998 serves as the baseline for examining 
progress. As shown in Table 2, estimated fifth grade attainment rates in both urban and 
rural areas follow a pattern of general increase. The same is true when looking at 
estimated fifth grade attainment rates for boys and girls. Girls’ completion rates have 
risen in each year of the project and show about an 8% increase in each area. Boys’ 
completion rates have also increase in each year of the project but at a slightly higher rate 
than that of girls. This has contributed to an increase in the gender gap in terms of 
completion. Completion for both genders is low with less than one-fourth of enrolled 
girls advancing to fifth grade in five years and only about one-third of boys making such 
progress.
8
Table 26: Guinea National Fifth Grade Attainment: Reconstructed Cohorts 
by Gender and Location
Cohort Years Urban Rural
Boys
%
Girls
%
Gap
%
Boys
%
Girls
%
Gap
%
1997/98 26 17.9 +8.1 24.8 12.3 +12.5
1998/99 29.4 20.3 +9.1 29.6 13.7 +15.9
1999/00 33.5 24.4 +9.1 32.8 18.3 +14.5
2000/01 36.9 26.1 +10.8 36.4 20.4 +16.0
Change from 
Baseline
+10.9 +8.2 +2.7 +11.6 +8.1 +3.5
Source: Database 1997-2001. MEPU/SSP
Table 3 shows the estimated completion rates in pilot alliances where 
SAGE/Guinea works intensively. These rates are compared to all non-SAGE school 
completion rates. That is, all Guinean primary schools with the exception of schools in 
the 19 Local Alliances. As might be expected, non-SAGE schools have estimated 
completion rates similar to those for Guinean primary schools as a whole. SAGE pilot 
schools, on the other hand, have increases in the estimated percentages of the cohort 
reaching fifth grade for both girls and boys that are much greater than non-SAGE schools 
and than the country as a whole. Girls, for example showed gains of 26.7% compared to 
gains of 8.3% for girls in non-SAGE schools. Although the greatest gain occurred in the 
first year that the alliances were active, there have been steady gains in each year that the 
alliances have been in existence. Although the magnitude of increases are similar, that is 
the completion rates of both boys and girls in pilot schools triple over the life of the 
project, the gender gap in completion has increased because boys’ ratios were higher at 
the start of the project. 
Table 27: SAGE Pilot and Non-SAGE Fifth Grade Attainment: 
Reconstructed Cohorts by Gender
Cohort Years SAGE-Pilot Non-SAGE
Boys
%
Girls
%
Gap
%
Boys
%
Girls
%
Gap
%
1997/98 19.9 12.3 +7.6 25.1 15.3 +9.8
1998/99 45.1 29.3 +15.8 29.5 17.2 +12.3
1999/00 51.6 36.9 +14.7 32.6 21.5 +11.1
2000/01 60.8 39.0 +21.8 36.8 23.6 +13.2
Change from 
Baseline
+40.9 +26.7 +14.2 +11.7 +8.3 +3.4
Source: Database 1997-2001. MEPU/SSP
The alliances in which SAGE/Guinea works less intensively were examined 
separately. As shown in Table 4, they had a somewhat different pattern than the pilot 
schools or the Guinea primary school system in general. These schools followed a pattern 
9
similar to the alliance pilot schools from 1997/98 to 1999/2000, in that they had greater 
increases in completion than non-SAGE schools. However in 2000/01, completion rates 
decreased to below 1997 levels for both boys and girls. This seems to be the result of a 
number of alliances being located in the Forest Region of Guinea, which has experienced 
upheaval in the last two years in dealing with the influx of refugees from Sierra Leone 
and Liberia. 
Table 28: SAGE Pilot and Non-Pilot Fifth Grade Attainment: Reconstructed 
Cohorts by Gender
SAGE non-pilot SAGE Pilot
Years Boys
%
Girls
%
Boys
%
Girls
%
97/98 35.5 15.9 19.9 12.3
98/99 37.2 17.2 45.1 29.3
99/00 47.4 21.1 51.6 36.9
00/01 25.2 14.2 60.8 39
Change from Baseline -10.3 -1.7 +40.9 +26.7
Source: Database 1997-2001. MEPU/SSP
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
1. Organizational Participation
Table 5 shows the number of different organizations that have initiated actions on 
a local or national level. The Project has concentrated on building the alliances’ ability to 
implement actions, therefore the number of organizations to date is small. Most of the 
national actions have been initiated through one organization, the national alliance. 
However, in 2000, several organizations, such as the Guinean Chamber of Commerce, 
and media, and an NGO with a national agenda, have begun coordinated but independent 
actions. Most actions have been related to building awareness of the importance of 
educating girls. As it is felt that there is a general awareness of the issues related to girls’ 
enrollment and persistence in primary school, project staff expects more organizations to 
become involved by initiating actions in other areas prior to the completion of the project 
in July 2002. The National Alliance initiated its first actions in 1998 and has been the 
organizing force behind all of the girls’ education activities. 
The regional CSOs represent the 19 Local Alliances that were formed in 1997 and 
1998 and began to initiate actions in 1999. SAGE/Guinea does not foresee creating 
additional alliances, but during 2001 extensive contacts were made with private sector 
organizations, especially in the insurance and banking sectors. Thus, the commitment of 
resources and substantive actions are anticipated for the last half of 2001 and the first half 
of 2002. 
10
Table 29: Number of New Guinean CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ 
Education by Year
Years/Organizations Pool 1998 1999 2000
National 10 1 1 8
Regional 19 0 19 0
Total 29 1 20 29
Source: SAGE/Guinea records
2. Types of Actions
Table 6 shows the types of actions carried out by CSOs in different sectors. As 
mentioned, the focus at the national level has been on organizing FONSEF and building 
awareness. This was done largely through the National Alliance and several media 
partners representing the Media Task Force. In addition, one business, an advertising 
agency, was documented to have initiated actions by introducing its own girls’ education 
awareness campaign in the form of billboards, and a trade union and the Guinea 
Association of Women Lawyers have donated brochures and other materials in support of 
National Alliance efforts.
At the organizational level, only one religious organization, the Anglican Church, 
had carried out an action by making a contribution to FONSEF. In addition, local 
religious leaders at the community level speak out in support of girls’ education. 
Philanthropic foundations are not common in Guinea, but the Mama Henriette Conté 
(Guinea’s First Lady) Foundation has lent its support to the creation of FONSEF. 
Although only one business had carried out an action at the time of the study, the 
SAGE/Guinea documentation and interviews by the Performance Review team found that 
a number of businesses had been contacted and would, in all probability, initiate actions 
before the end of the project in 2002. Furthermore, two religious organizations, one 
Islamic and the other Protestant, indicated strong interest in becoming active participants 
in promoting girls’ education. 
Social awareness actions comprised the majority of the efforts undertaken by 
local alliances. These were primarily the organization of the National Girls’ Education 
Day celebration in the communities and testimonials by local leaders, especially religious 
leaders about the importance of educating girls. The infrastructure activities consisted of 
the school improvement and construction projects carried out in the schools within the six 
pilot alliances. 
11
Table 30: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action
Source: SAGE/Guinea records
C. Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education
The primary public sector actor for the support of girls’ education has been the 
Ministry of Pre-University Education (MEPU). It has carried out two principal actions 
supporting girls’ education. These are the work of its Equity Commission in building 
awareness of the importance of girls enrolling in school, and its work on curriculum and 
materials that provide all Guinean children with appropriate learning opportunities in 
school. These actions predate both GWE/Plan and SAGE/Guinea, and the project has not 
been directly involved with them. However, as they are complementary to the work of 
the project and are ongoing, they have been listed as occurring annually (Table 7). In 
addition, the Cellule Genre Equity de l’Enseignment Superieur, a division of the Ministry 
of Higher Education is carrying out awareness activities of the importance of girls’ 
staying in school.
The Ministry of Social Affairs has been a more direct partner in the efforts of the 
Project. Beginning in 2000, it has carried out activities in support of the National Girls’ 
Education Day. The Office of the Prime Minister has participated in the National Forum 
and contributed funds to FONSEF, whereas the Ministry of Communications reduced the 
cost of radio message dissemination. 
Table 31: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions
in Girls’ Education by Year
Units 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total Units
Ministry of Pre-University Education 2 2 2 2 2
Ministry of Social Affairs 0 0 1 1 1
Ministry of Higher Education 1 1
Office of the Prime Minister 1 1 1
Ministry of Communications 1 1
Total Actions 2 3 4 5 6
Type of 
Action/Org Infrastructure Incentives
Com. 
Academic 
Support
Curric. Teacher 
Training Policy Social 
Awareness
No. of 
Orgs.
No. of 
actions
% of Total % of Total % of Total % of 
Total
% of Total % of Total % of Total
Local NGOs 19 34 34% (15) 43% (19)
National 
NGO
3 3 2% (1) 2% (1) 2% (1)
Religious 1 1 2% (1)
Business 1 1 2% (1)
Foundation 1 1 2% (1)
Media 4 4 9% (4)
University 0 0
Total 29 44 39% (17) 2% (1) 2% (1) 57% (25)
12
Source: SAGE/Guinea records
D. Trends in Leveraging Resources
Nationally, SAGE/Guinea has had limited success in securing the investment of 
local resources in support of girls’ education. As shown in Table 8, about $4000 in local 
funding in 2000 and 2001, plus a $5500 donation from Plan Guinée in 200 have been 
raised by national NGOs. SAGE staff did not identify funds from any international donor 
agency other than USAID. As mentioned previously, national level fund raising was to be 
undertaken once FONSEF had obtained legal status. Thus, the generation of non-USAID 
funds for actions through FONSEF is expected to increase in the final 18 months of the 
SAGE project. 
The equivalent of US$84,666 in resources was generated by the 19 Local 
Alliances in 1999. This figure is based on data collected by a survey carried out in 
October of 1999. This amount represents the value of the goods and services obtained by 
the Local Alliances. A survey, similar to that conducted in 1999, was also carried out in 
2000, but owing to computer problems at SAGE/Guinea, those data were not available at 
the time of the study. Therefore, the total financial resources leveraged by the project 
through the Local Alliances is greater than that which is reported in Table 8. In addition, 
SAGE/Guinea staff reported that approximately $15,000 was provided by Plan Guinée in 
2000 for a school community contest and local construction costs. Those figures have 
not been included in the table, as the amounts could not be verified. 
Table 32: Guinea Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1999-2001
Year/Organization 1999 2000 2001 Total
National NGOs $7,765 $1,729 $ 9,494
Local NGOs $84,666 $84,666
Business
Media
Total $84,666 $7,765 $1,729 $94,160
Government
International Donors
Grand Total $84,666 $7,765 $1,729 $94,160
Source: SAGE/Guinea records
E. Trends in Public Sector Investment
Table 9 shows the Government of Guinea’s investment in public education from 
1990 through 2001. From 1991 to 1997, the percentage of the government budget 
allocated to education remained fairly constant, ranging from a high of 20% in 1993 and 
a low of 18.6% in 1997. Since 1997, education as a percentage of the national budget has 
declined. On the other hand, primary education, as a percentage of the education budget, 
13
has shown a consistent increase over the same time period. The rate of increase has 
accelerated during the years of the project. From 1990 to 1997, the total percentage 
increase was 6%. Between 1997 and 2001, the increase was 10%. It is noteworthy that 
although the percent of the national budget allocated to education decreased from 2000 to 
2001, the percent of the education budget allocated to primary education continued to 
increase. The Guinea education budget does not contain line items allocating funds 
specifically for girls’ education, nor can primary education allocations be related directly 
to project activities. However, the increased funding for primary education does indicate 
a continuing commitment by the government in the area targeted by project activities.
Table 33: Public Sector Investment in Primary Education 1990-2001
Year Gov’t 
Budget
Education 
Budget
Education 
%
Primary 
Budget
Primary 
%
1990 160,181 16,003 10 5,281 33
1991 178,224 34,390 19.3 12,837 35
1992 236,237 47,116 19.9 16,491 35
1993 251,355 50,164 20 18,059 36
1994 265,039 51,373 19.4 20,036 39
1995 259,376 51,125 19.7 18,405 36
1996 280,669 53,187 19 20,211 38
1997 286,268 53,383 18.6 20,820 39
1998 301,338 50,628 16.8 21,770 43
1999 323,207 60,278 18.7 28,331 47
2000 392,400 60,971 15.5 28,218 46
2001* 531,611 60,404 11.4 29,690 49.2
* These are the amounts in the original budget, but actual disbursements are 
considerably lower.
Source: Ministère de L’Enseignement Pre-Universitaire
F. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs 
for Girls Education
Although the GWE/Plan Guinée and SAGE/Guinea activities produced numerous 
reports, only two tools were found that were commissioned to specifically facilitate the 
implementation of girls’ education activities. The first was a guide to be used by the 
Local Alliances for their community advocacy activities. The second was also an 
advocacy tool (Manifeste des Alliances) used to help integrate the school and the 
community on behalf of girls’ education, including how to create more favorable school 
environments for girls. These two tools were produced in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
Table 34: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year
 
Type 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
14
Tools 0 1 1 0 2
Studies 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 1 1 0 2
Source: SAGE/Guinea records
G. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
No information was found regarding leaders of civil society organization who 
spoke out to promote girls’ education and who also committed resources for that purpose. 
As mentioned, the use of religious leaders for awareness building was a strategy of 
SAGE/Guinea. These religious leaders were observed by the Performance Review team 
to speak out in support of educating girls. However, as confirmed by the SAGE staff, up 
to this point, support has been general awareness building and not specific actions that 
involve the commitment of resources by religious groups. The Minister of Social Affairs 
did however, voice his support of the Girls’ Education National Day and said his ministry 
would support these activities with their personnel and other resources.
H. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
The Local Alliances work with community civil and religious leaders as well as 
parent-teachers organizations (APEAE). These activities have been counted and included 
as part of the work accomplished by the Local Alliances on behalf of girls’ education. 
Membership in the alliances has remained stable and, at the time of the study, there are 
no plans to create new Local Alliances.
I. Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary 
School Participation
Neither GWE/Plan Guinée nor SAGE/Guinea has carried out any activities that 
have involved pedagogy or instructional materials to strengthen teacher performance. 
However, activities are underway to work with school inspectors to help teachers 
improve performance in the classroom. Thus, the participation of girls in classroom 
activities may be a future concern of the project.
15
V. Conclusions
A. Strategic Objective
The USAID strategy of mobilizing constituencies to promote girls’ education, as 
implemented through the SAGE/Guinea has contributed to higher completion rates 
among female primary school students, most notably among the six pilot alliances 
where the project is working intensively.
Gains in completion rates for girls have been about 8% over the life of the 
EGAT/WID Activity in Guinea. In pilot alliances, however, estimated female 
completion rates have increased nearly 27%. Despite such increases, boys have 
shown greater gains in completion rates than girls, thereby widening the gender 
gap.
SAGE/Guinea has had mixed success in improving female completion rates in areas 
where the project is working less intensively. This appears to be the result of 
changing social conditions beyond the project’s control.
After several years of increased completion rates, the SAGE alliances that are not 
part of the pilot program experienced a drop in completion rates for both boys and 
girls to below the baseline year. A number of these non-pilot alliances are located 
in regions that have been dealing with the ramifications of conflicts in 
neighboring countries, such as an influx of refugees. 
Despite increases in completion rates, overall primary completion is low in Guinea. 
This is especially true for girls in rural areas.
Even with the projected increases in completion rates, less than one-fourth of 
enrolled girls advance to fifth grade in five years and about one-third of boys 
make such progress. In rural areas, only about 20% of girls succeed in 
progressing to fifth grade in five years.
The strategy of building constituencies to promote girls’ completion of primary 
school has also contributed to higher gross enrollment ratios among female primary 
school students in Guinea.
Since the initiation of the EGAT/WID Activity, girls’ gross enrollment ratios have 
increased by 14.5%. As this increase is more than double the increase in gross 
enrollment ratios among boys for the same period, the gender gap in enrollment 
has narrowed. Prior to the EGAT/WID Activity, girls’ enrollments increased by 
18%. However, boys’ gross enrollment ratios increased by more than 25%, so 
that the gender gap grew from 1989/90 to 1996/97. 
16
B. Intermediate Results
The number of organizations initiating actions at the national level has 
been limited. This is a result of the strategy to coordinate actions through 
the national umbrella organization, and to focus on Local Alliances.
Only ten organizations have initiated actions at the national level and these 
actions have generally been planned through the National Alliance with project 
assistance. The low number of organizations is due, in part, to a desire to 
establish FONSEF’s legal status before reaching out broadly to different sectors 
and in part to a project focus on establishing the Local Alliances. Each of the 19 
Local Alliances has carried out one or more actions.
Social awareness efforts are likely to be the predominant actions undertaken by civil 
society organizations on both a national and regional scale, particularly in the early 
years of an initiative.
Sixty percent of the actions carried out by civil society organizations at the 
national level were social awareness efforts. Similarly, 43% of the actions carried 
out by Local Alliances were related to building awareness of the importance of 
girls enrolling in and competing school. Almost all of the other actions by Local 
Alliances were related to improving infrastructure to make schools more 
hospitable to girls.
In Guinea, in-kind contributions to support actions by NGOs at the local level are 
the major source of local investment in girls’ education. However, strategies to 
encourage internal investment by other civil society sectors have not been fully 
explored.
The Local Alliances carried out 77% of the identified actions promoting the girls’ 
education. They also provided about 90% of the documented local resources 
invested in girls’ education. Strategies to involve other sectors, especially at the 
national level were delayed until FONSEF obtained legal status. However, the 
effectiveness of such strategies remains to be determined. 
Government agencies may not be active partners in coalitions to promote girls’ 
education, but can work in complementary ways to support civil society actions. 
Government agencies were members of FONSEF and several had representatives 
as members of a committee to implement recommendations for girls’ education. 
However, they did not carry out actions through the National Alliance. Rather, 
the ongoing actions of these agencies in social awareness and improving 
education quality complemented project efforts. In addition, public sector 
funding for primary education increased during the years of project activity.
17
Studies and tools have not been important in the implementation of actions to 
promote girls’ education in Guinea. 
Only two tools were produced or used by SAGE and the National Alliance and it 
is unclear whether they have had ongoing utility outside of the workshops in which they 
were introduced.
Leaders can be mobilized to publicly support a girls’ education initiative, but such 
support is not likely to include public allocation of organizational resources to the 
effort.
A strategy of SAGE/Guinea was to encourage religious leaders to speak out on 
the importance of educating girls. Although the actual number was not tracked, 
SAGE staff noted that many local religious leaders made public proclamations, 
and the performance review team observed such proclamations. However, none of 
these proclamations included announcing that organizational resources would be 
used to support actions.
The strategy of creating Local Alliances to promote girls’ education is successful in 
the Guinea context for generating local investment in education.
At least $80,000 in local investment related to general school improvement 
among the Local Alliances has been documented. The actual total is likely to be 
somewhat higher when lost survey data have been retrieved. 
C. Project Organizational Structure
The national reputation and experience of the SAGE/Guinea project director was 
critical in providing entry for SAGE/Guinea with Guinean leadership in different 
sectors.
There was general agreement that having a project director who was well known 
as an educator and had experience with leaders in a number of sectors was 
important in moving foreword the initiative in Guinea. 
Administrative support for the National Alliance and FONSEF is an issue that must 
be resolved if that organization is to function successfully.
SAGE/Guinea staff has carried out many of the routine National Alliance 
administrative functions. The responsibility for such functions and the funding of 
administrative support must be resolved in the remaining life of the project.
18
VI. Implications
The SAGE project has already surpassed the ten-year EGAT/WID goal of a 20% 
increase in girls’ completion rates in the areas where it works intensively. If current 
trends are maintained, it is probable that on a national level, Guinea will approach a 20% 
increase in female completion rate. Such long-term objectives are, however, subject to 
internal and regional conflicts, as can be seen the decrease in completion rates in those 
alliances dealing with large numbers of refugees from neighboring countries.
The social awareness activities and community coalition building carried out by 
SAGE/Guinea has had a positive affect on increasing the awareness of the importance of 
schooling for children of either gender. Boys’ completion rates, even among the pilot 
alliances. have risen more than those of girls. The clearest national impact of the 
EGAT/WID Activity on girls is in increasing their enrollment. Girls’ gross enrollment 
ratios have risen faster than those of boys’ over the life of the Activity, suggesting that 
the framework assumption of a small local technical assistance team as a catalyst for 
local constituency building may be most effective in dealing with access in relatively low 
access countries.
The effectiveness of the EGAT/WID framework in using local professionals to 
act as a catalyst in bringing together organizations from different sectors to promote girls 
education is still in question at the national level. Few organizations have initiated 
actions that have not been supported to some degree by the SAGE/Guinea project and the 
long-term administrative functioning of the National Alliance and FONSEF must still be 
worked out. The lack of civil society actors, appears at least in part to be by design as 
strategies were predicated on FONSEF gaining legal status as an organization. This has 
now been accomplished and there are strategies in place encourage greater multi-sector 
participation at the national level. The last year of the project will determine the success 
of this approach.
On the other hand, the framework has been effective at the regional level. Local 
Alliances, in conjunction with members from different sectors, have initiated actions that 
have encouraged both boys and girls to stay in school. These alliances have also 
generated local resources for school improvement.
Despite the successes of using a small Guinean technical staff as a catalyst, the 
difficulties stated by the staff in carrying out activities that required dealing with a 
number of individuals and organizations in different sectors, at both the national and 
regional level, suggests that greater resources would enhance effectiveness.
19
Bibliography
Kamano, P., M. Sutton, K. Tietjen, and A. Bah. 1998. Impact Evaluation. Improving 
Girls’ Education in Guinea. Washington, DC: Center for Development 
Information and Evaluation, USAID.
Ministère de l’Education Pré-Universitaire et de la Formation Professionelle/Service 
Statistique et Planification/Section Statistique. Statistical database 1989-2001. 
SAGE/Guinea 2000. Manifeste des Alliances. Conakry, Guinea.
SAGE/GUINEA 2000. Plaidoyer. Conakry, Guinea.
USAID/Guinea 1995. Audit of USAID/Guinea’s Education Sector Reform Program.
 Audit Report No. 7-675-95-007. Dakar: Regional Inspector General for Audit,
 USAID.
World Bank 1995. Implementation Completion Report. Republic of Guinea. Report No. 
14617. Washington, DC: Population and Human Resources Division, Western 
Africa Department, Africa Region, The World Bank.
Appendix D:
Mali Country Study
GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
MALI COUNTRY STUDY
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth Agriculture and Trade/Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by: 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
ii
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................v
I Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
II Socio-Political Context ...................................................................................................... 2
III The SAGE Program....................................................................................................... 2
A Project Development...................................................................................................... 2
B Project Organization ...................................................................................................... 6
IV Findings......................................................................................................................... 6
A Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates.............................................. 6
1. Enrollment .................................................................................................................... 6
2. Completion ................................................................................................................... 7
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations .................. 7
1. Organizational Participation....................................................................................... 7
2. Types of Actions and the Leveraging of Resources .................................................... 8
C. Trends in Public Sector Investment ................................................................................ 8
D. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs for 
Girls’ Education ....................................................................................................................10
E. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education......................................10
F. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education........11
G. Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Education..............................................................................................................................11
V. Conclusions ......................................................................................................................11
A Strategic Objective........................................................................................................11
B Intermediate Results......................................................................................................12
VI. Implications..................................................................................................................12
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................13
iii
List of Tables
Table 1: Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios........................................................... 6
Table 2: Reconstructed Completion Rates....................................................................... 7
Table 3: Public Sector Investment in Primary Education 1994-2000.............................. 10
Table 4: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year ............................................ 10
iv
Mali List of Acronyms
AED Academy for Educational Development
APE Associations de Parents d’Elèves
BEEP Basic Education Expansion Project
CMR-SCOFI Comité de Mobilisation de Ressources pour la Scolarisation des Filles
CSO Civil Society Organizations
EMIS Education Management Information System
EGAT/WID Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/ Women in Development
GEA Girls’ Education Activity
GEMS Girls’ Education Monitoring System
MEB Ministère de l’Education de Base
MOE Ministry of Education
MOH Ministy of Health
NGO Non Governmental Organization
PRODEC Programme Décenal de Developpement de l’Éducation
PTA Parent Teacher Association
SAGE Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education Project 
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
This document summarizes the findings of a review of the progress of the 
USAID-funded SAGE/Mali project. The two and a half year life of the project is 
examined in relation to the strategic framework for the USAID/EGAT/WID Girls and 
Women’s Education Activity, of which SAGE/Mali project forms a part. The study is 
based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available national education 
statistics for Mali, and fieldwork conducted in Mali during July of 2001.
Background
The SAGE/Mali Project began its activities in the first quarter of 1999. The 
project differs from the other EGAT/WID Emphasis Countries in that it had a narrower 
scope of work. Rather than build multisectoral constituencies to promote girls’ 
Education, SAGE/Mali was designed primarily to provide technical assistance on girls’ 
education to three NGOs—World Education, Save the Children/USA and Africare—that 
work in rural areas primarily with community schools.
The initial activity was the creation of life skills modules with a gender 
perspective. The modules consisted of supplementary materials to be incorporated into 
the existing curriculum in order to increase students’ knowledge of nutrition, health, 
hygiene, and reproductive health. It was felt that parents would be motivated to enroll 
their children, especially girls, in school when they learned that these subjects were 
taught. The modules were developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Education’s 
Cellule Nationale de Scolarisation des Filles, the three NGOs and their local NGO 
partners. The modules were developed and tested over approximately a six-month 
period. Training of trainers from the Ministry of Education and the NGOs began in 
September 1999. Subsequently, SAGE/Mali designed a complementary guide for the 
implementation of active teaching methodologies in the classroom and trained trainers in 
the use of the life skills modules using interactive methodologies.
Early in 2000, a training guide to promote leadership among female 
parent/teacher association members was developed. The objectives of the guide were to 
encourage greater participation of females in the decision-making process, provide 
knowledge and skills to support girls’ participation in the community schools, and to 
support the USAID/Mali Democracy and Governance Program. Again trainers were 
prepared to use the guide in the local context. During the same year SAGE/Mali worked 
with a core group of trainers to develop trainers and teachers guides for girl friendly 
practices in the classroom, and carried out training of trainers that included personnel 
from the MOH and the participating NGOs. The project also worked with trainers to 
create a guide for community promoters that would help generate more active community 
support for girls’ education. 
vi
At the end of 2000, SAGE/Mali staff revised the original scope of work and went 
beyond the training of trainers from the three NGOs. Under the expanded work-plan, the 
project began directly assisting the trainers in preparing teachers from 60 schools to use 
the life skills modules and working directly in leadership training and management in a 
small number of communities. These activities were continued through 2001.
SAGE/Mali also began to assist communities in fundraising in non-traditional 
sectors in 2001. Efforts included the organization of a national committee to support 
girls’ education and to raise and manage funds contributed by businesses, religious 
organizations and the media. Members of this volunteer committee were trained in fund 
raising strategies and fund management, and a fund raising dinner was held in June 2001.
Principal Results
- A19% increase in female gross enrollment ratios from 1992-1998
- A 22.5% increase in estimated female completion rates from 94/95 to 98/99, 
however there has been a decline in recent years attributed to changes in 
teacher hiring procedures
- Formation of a national multisectoral committee to support girls education
- Development of life skills modules and tools for enhancing female 
participation in the classroom and community
- Approximately 50 trainers, 200 teachers and 42 community promoters trained 
to use the seven tools developed
Challenges 
- Female gross enrollment ratios and completion rates are low – 40.3% and 
38.6%, respectively for the latest data available
- Government funding for primary education is decreasing
- Active learning and the participation of girls in the classroom has been 
observed to be low
- The newly formed committee for supporting girls education is likely to need 
SAGE/Mali administrative support
Implications
- SAGE/Mali does not fit the framework for building constituencies that 
characterize the other Emphasis Countries and should not be expected to meet 
the Activity goal in terms of completion rates.
- Several of the characteristics of the framework have been recently 
implemented by SAGE/Mali and their progress should be monitored carefully
- Trends in national statistics should continue to be monitored, when data 
covering the years of the project are available. 
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
MALI COUNTRY STUDY
I Introduction
USAID’s investment in girls’ education in Mali is of relatively long duration. 
The Basic Education Expansion (BEEP) Project was initiated in 1989. The program was 
in response to a congressional mandate to develop basic education in Africa. The 
objectives were (1) to expand access to primary education with better internal efficiency, 
and (2) to improve the quality of fundamental education, particularly in the first cycle 
(grades one to six). The project was to provide technical assistance in a number of areas, 
including girls’ education.
BEEP was part of the Fourth Education Project, a larger educational reform 
program designed by the World Bank. In addition to the World Bank and USAID, the 
Fourth Education Project was partly financed and executed by other donors, including 
France, Norway, Canada, and the United Nations Development Program. The 
Government of Mali, and local communities also helped to finance the effort (Diane et al. 
1993). The life of the Program was 1989 through 1999. As of 1997, the program has 
received $38 million in project assistance and $3 million in non-project assistance.
The girls’ schooling component began with the establishment of a committee 
within the Ministère de l’Education de Base (MEB) with representation from different 
MEB divisions and offices, including the National Pedagogical Institute, the National 
Directorate of Fundamental Education, and the Education Projects Bureau. This 
committee developed a national plan of action to promote girls’ education which included 
social marketing (press and media); studies to identify constraints on girls’ education and 
pilot projects; actions to support parents; institutional support; and management and 
planning. As part of the National Directorate of Fundamental Education within the MEB, 
the National Cell for Girls’ Schooling and regional cells for girls’ schooling were created 
in 1992.
The cells for girls’ schooling included a national cell in the Bamako District and 
regional cells in Koulikoro, Sikasso, and Segou. In 1994, regional cells expanded to 
Mali’s remaining regions of Kayes, Mopti, Toumboctou, Gao, and Kidal. Until 1993 
many of the decisions about girls’ schooling activities were made at the national level. 
Subsequently, decision-making power for girls’ schooling activities were decentralized 
and shifted to the regions. Activities of the national and regional cells have included: a 
multi-media sensitization campaign using the press, radio, and videos; a prize distribution 
to the best female and male graduates and to schools best promoting female enrollment; 
and the development of a home economics curriculum and the training of teachers in its 
use. The first national seminar on the schooling of girls was held in 1994. The BEEP 
2
Community Support component also supports girls’ access to education by requiring that 
community schools built under the component enroll an equal number of boys and girls.
Other donors have become active in supporting girls’ education. The World Bank 
is supporting the government of Mali develop a ten-year plan that includes as an 
objective, improving girls’ access to education. UNDP/UNESCO and UNICEF both 
launched girls’ education initiatives in 1996.
II Socio-Political Context 
Despite these efforts, the education system in Mali is in a critically poor state. 
Throughout the 1980's the system experienced drops in enrollment, classroom 
deterioration, and a decrease in classroom construction. Primary school enrollment rates 
have increased over time but remain low, particularly for girls. The early 1990’s were
characterized by political instability including a coup d’etat in 1991.
III The SAGE Program
A Project Development
The SAGE/Mali Project began its activities in the first quarter of 1999 staffed by 
a girls’ education specialist and an assistant. The Project was designed to provide 
technical assistance on girls’ education to three NGOs—World Education, Save the 
Children/USA and Africare—that work in rural areas primarily with community schools. 
SAGE/Mali was to implement at least four of the following six activities by the end of 
2000:
1. The design of life skills from a gender perspective modules to be included in the 
basic education curriculum
2. Leadership training for female APE (Associations de Parents d’Elèves—
Community Parent Teacher Organizations)
3. Girls’ mentoring and life skills program
4. Girl friendly classroom practices
5. Female teacher support
6. Community action plans to support schools and promote gender equity
The SAGE/Mali technical assistance methodology was designed to provide 
training in the activities listed above for personnel of the three NGOs who would in-turn 
train teachers in their community schools and the female members of the APEs. In the 
process of implementing these activities, it was decided to use more active methodologies 
to teach the life-skills modules and include the entire community, both men and women, 
in the APE leadership training.
3
The life skills modules consisted of supplementary materials designed for 
incorporation into the existing curriculum in order to increase students’ knowledge of 
nutrition, health, hygiene, and reproductive health. The basic idea was that parents would 
be motivated to enroll their children, especially their girls, in school when they learned 
that these subjects were taught in school. Furthermore, the content of the life-skills 
modules are in accordance with the PRODEC (Programme Décenal de Developpement 
de l’Éducation—Mali’s 10 year plan for basic education: 1998—2008) objectives and the 
USAID strategic objectives.
The life skills modules were designed through a process of first collecting existing 
materials from both international and local institutions and determining what could be 
adapted for use in the Mali primary schools. Next, the SAGE/Mali visited local 
communities to collect information on what parents felt should be included in the 
curriculum in order to better meet the educational needs of their daughters. Once this 
information was collected, the modules were developed in collaboration with the 
Ministry of Education’s Cellule Nationale de Scolarisation des Filles, the three NGOs 
and their local NGO partners. Part of this process included a publicity campaign in a local 
newspaper (Le Soir de Bamako) and radio/TV spots (Radio Guintan and l’Office de 
Radiodiffucion et Télévison du Mali). After the modules were developed, SAGE/Mali 
carried out training of trainers from the Ministry of Education and the NGOs; the first 
trainings were held in September 1999, and a total of 46 persons were trained. 
 
Interactive methodologies based on Pédagogie Convergente were also 
incorporated into the life skills modules in order to make them more student-centered. 
This approach called for the students to become more actively involved in the learning 
process. SAGE/Mali designed a guide for the implementation of active teaching 
methodologies in the classroom, trained trainers in the use of the life skills modules using 
interactive methodologies, and these trainers in-turn trained 180 teachers from 60 
schools.
The objectives of the leadership training for female APE members were to 
promote greater participation of females in the decision-making process, provide 
knowledge and skills to support girls’ participation in the community schools, and to 
support the USAID/Mali Democracy and Governance Program. A training guide was 
developed based on information collected from eleven communities. Community schools 
working with World Education, Save the Children/USA were observed by training 
animators and coordinators from the three NGOs and their partners. A training of trainers 
on this guide was held in April 2000 with the participation of 26 NGO trainers.
The girl friendly practices were designed to create a positive classroom 
environment for both boys and girls, have teachers adopt teaching and classroom 
management practices that permit both girls and boys to gain self esteem and to succeed 
scholastically, to assure that classrooms are girl friendly in order to encourage girls to 
stay in school, and to improve girls’ achievement. In order to achieve these goals, 
SAGE/Mali collected documentation on classroom environments from the MOE and 
NGOs, assembled a core group of trainers who developed a guide for girl friendly 
4
practices, and carried out training of trainers that included personnel from the MOH and 
the participating NGOs. Two guides were developed, one for the trainers, 
“Apprentissages Efficaces et Pratiques Internes de Classes Equitables entre Filles et 
Garçons. Guide de Formation d”Enseignants et d’Enseignantes”, and one for the 
teachers, “Apprentissages Efficaces et Pratiques Internes de Classes Equitables entre 
Filles et Garçons. Manuel du Participant et de la Participante.” A total of thirty trainers 
were trained. Subsequently, Save the Children/USA trained all their teachers attending 
workshops during vacations, and Africare also trained all their teachers in the use of the 
guide for a total of 200 teachers. 
In order to generate more active community support for girls’ education, 
SAGE/Mali implemented the community action plans to promote girls’ education. First 
trainers were trained to be part of a task force. They participated in workshops to design 
a guide for community action plan development entitled, “Formulation de Plans 
d’Actions Communautaires: Guide de Formation d’Animators.” Once the guides were 
completed, a total of 42 animators from the three NGOs and their partners were trained. 
Follow-op activities consisted of: translating the guide into Bamanan, monitoring the 
activities of the animators, and reviewing the impact of these activities on girls’ education 
in select communities. 
The activities described above were completed during 1999 and the first three 
quarters of 2000. Based on these accomplishments, SAGE/Mali and AED revised the 
original work plan to expand the project activities to go beyond the training of trainers 
from the three NGOs. Under the expanded work-plan, the project is directly assisting the 
trainers in the training teachers from 60 schools to use the life skills module, they are 
monitoring the incorporation of the life skills modules into the curriculum using active 
teaching methods, they are revising the module as needed, and will assess the impact of 
the module in a random sample of 20 out of the 60 participating schools. The teacher 
training workshops were carried out during the first half of 2001, and the impact 
assessment was pending at the time of the visit by the GEMS team in July 2001. 
Because the participation of women in the APE management committees 
continued to be quite low, the leadership training with a focus on adult female 
participation will be expanded to include the entire community and will use materials 
translated into Bambara. The objective of this is to promote greater participation by 
women in the decision-making process. Workshops were carried out during the first half 
of 2001, and an assessment of the impact is scheduled to be done in October 2001.
The experience with the training of trainers in girl friendly classroom practices 
during 2000 showed that teachers continue to treat boys and girls differently which has a 
negative impact on the retention, achievement and completion of girls; and furthermore, 
that teachers are often unaware of the effects of their behavior. In order to address these 
issues, the project continued their work training the trainers and expanded their work to 
also assist the NGOs train 60 teachers in 20 schools or three per school. In the process 
SAGE/Mali revised the training module based on classroom observation. These activities 
5
started in February 2001 and continued through the middle of the year, and an assessment 
is scheduled for the end of 2001.
Since Mali’s education and other administrative systems continue to decentralize, 
there is a need for more decision-making and self-management at the community level. 
As part of this process, SAGE felt that communities should be trained to support girls’ 
education more actively and in a sustainable fashion. SAGE/Mali decided to support 
these goals with several actions. They translated their modules to train communities to 
make action plans into Bambara, they are carrying out follow-up training with the NGOs 
that were trained in the action plans, and are introducing the use of a girls’ mentoring 
module and monitoring tools. This mentoring module is discussed in more detail below. 
Going beyond the training of trainers, SAGE/Mali also directly assisted 6 communities in 
developing and implementing action plans to create a more favorable environment for the 
participation of girls in school. These activities began during the second quarter of 2001, 
continued into the third quarter, and impact assessments in the six SAGE/Mali 
communities and six other partner NGO communities are scheduled for late 2001.
In order to support the community actions plans and the expected increase in 
girls’ enrollment and persistence in school, SAGE to designed a girls’ mentoring program 
to promote better performance in school. The purpose of the mentoring program is to 
provide positive female role models, advice and guidance, assistance and academic 
tutoring. A guide for the program was developed. In mid 2001, six communities 
implemented this mentoring program. Assessments will be done on these six 
communities as well as six partner NGO communities that are not presently 
implementing the mentor program. 
In order to promote community action and encourage better girls’ achievement in 
school, SAGE/Mali introduced an incentive program. Under this program, awards are 
given to girls who are successful in school. A community committee that collects cash 
and in-kind contributions from local residents funds the award. The first awards were 
scheduled for the end of 2001.
As a major departure from previous SAGE/Mali activities, the revised 2000/2001-
action plan called for fundraising in non-traditional sectors to assist communities in their 
support of girls’ education. This activity resulted from the realization that communities 
have very limited resources and that by tapping non-traditional sectors, communities can 
be assisted in carrying out girls’ education activities. To this end, SAGE/Mali organized a 
national committee to raise and manage funds contributed by businesses, religious 
organizations and the media. These funds would then be used to assist communities in 
implementing their girls’ education activities. The volunteer committee was organized by 
SAGE/Mali and the Cellules Nationale et Régionales pour la Scolarisation des Filles. 
The members were trained in fund raising strategies and fund management. The first 
activity was a fund raising dinner in June 2001.
6
B Project Organization
SAGE/Mali has its offices in the World Learning building and has access to 
support services such as e-mail, photocopies and FAX services. The project staff consists 
of the country director and two assistants. 
IV Findings
This section presents the findings of the performance review team. Findings are 
organized in terms of each of the intermediate results of the EGAT/WID framework for 
SSO2. The findings are based on meetings in Mali involving representatives of 
USAID/Mali, members of the GEMS team, the director of the SAGE Activity and 
representatives of various partner organizations, as well as school and community visits. 
They also include analysis of existing statistical data on the Mali educational system and 
review of other secondary sources.
A Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates
1. Enrollment
As it was impossible to obtain accurate population estimates for the rural 
population by gender in Mali, only national gross enrollment ratios have 
been calculated. In addition, available data are for years prior to the 
initiation of the SAGE project. Educational statistics subsequent to the 
1997/98 school year were not available because of changes to the EMIS 
system that were underway at the time of performance review team’s visit. 
Table 1 shows the total increase in gross enrollment ratios from the 1991/92-
baseline year for girls and boys. Enrollment ratios have increased 
substantially for both males and females. Prior to the EGAT/WID Activity, 
girls’ enrollments increased by 18.9%. However, boys’ gross enrollment 
ratios increased by more than 23.8%, so that the gender gap grew from 
1991/92 to 1997/98. Despite these increases, gross enrollment ratios continue 
to be low, with 40% of girls and 60% of boys enrolled in primary school.
Table 35: Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios
 1991-1998
Enrollments School Age Population
( 7-12)
Gross Enrollment 
Years Ratios
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Gap
7
1991/92 271424 159212 430636 752394 743893 1496287 36.1% 21.4% +14.7
1992/93 308527 186054 494581 756324 753460 1509784 40.8% 24.7% +16.1
1993/94 343454 213630 557084 765305 766008 1531313 44.9% 27.9% +17.0
1994/95 367297 245172 612469 782477 783512 1565989 46.9% 31.3% +15.6
1995/96 414268 268895 683163 807828 805560 1613388 51.3% 33.4% +17.9
1996/97 472561 305889 778450 829769 838321 1668090 57.0% 36.5% +20.5
1997/98 512344 350530 862874 854844 869901 1724745 59.9% 40.3% +19.6
Change 91-98 +23.8 +18.9 +4.9
Source: Ministère de l’Education de Base, database 1991-1998
2. Completion
As with enrollment data, completion rates could only be calculated for years prior 
to the initiation of the SAGE project. Table 2 shows the reconstructed cohorts of children
reaching fifth grade in five years. The adjacent cohorts of 1993/94 and 1994/95 serve as 
the baseline to examine progress. Change in the estimated attainment of fifth grade 
shows an overall increase from the baseline. However, completion rates for both boys 
and girls begin to drop in 96/97-97/98 and continue to drop the following year. Those 
interviewed in Mali felt that this was a result of the move to community schools by the 
government. This movement has eliminated teacher pensions and other government 
support and forced teachers to find jobs within communities. The result is seen as a 
falling commitment to the profession, and poorer quality teaching in many schools during 
the transition period. Both in times of rising completion and during decreases, the gap 
favoring boys has been maintained. Completion for both genders is low, with only about 
40% of all children reaching fifth grade in five years.
Table 36: Reconstructed Completion Rates
1993-1999
Year Boys Girls Gap
93/94-94/95 18.7% 16.1% +2.6
94/95-95/96 38.7% 34.7% +4.0
95/96-96/97 47.1% 42.6% +4.5
96/97-97/98 43.8% 40.0% +3.8
97/98-98/99 43.1% 38.6% +4.5
Total Change 24.4 22.5
Source: Ministère de l’Education de Base, database 1991-1998
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
1. Organizational Participation
8
Due to the fact that SAGE/Mali was designed to provide technical assistance 
primarily to three NGOs and their partner NGOs that work with community schools, 
promoting girls’ education in with Mali civil society organizations was a relatively minor 
component of the project activities. Nevertheless, the formation of a committee to raise 
funds took place in the beginning of 2001 and held regular monthly meeting to plan fund 
raising activities and schedule special events. The principal fundraiser that had been held 
prior to the visit by the GEMS team in August 2001 was dinner to benefit girls’ education 
that is described below.
The original concept for the committee, known as the Comité de Mobilisation de 
Ressources pour la Scolarisation des Filles (CMR-SCOFI), was to have a membership of 
15-20 prominent Malian citizens from the business community, the national and 
international NGO sector, the government and other interested individuals that had both 
the contacts and organizational abilities to plan and hold major fund raising events. The 
initial membership consisted of 22 individuals who represented the following types of 
civil society organizations: four from international NGOs, eleven from national NGOs, 
one from the private business sector, one from the Mali government and two 
representatives from USAID. The number of individual who attended the monthly 
meetings decreased to about ten active participants, including a prominent dentist from 
the private sector. 
2. Types of Actions and the Leveraging of Resources
The major fund raising event during the first half of 2001 was a dinner held at the 
Hotel Salam in Bamako on June 8. Approximately 26 individuals attended, representing 
the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and Professional Training, the media, 
national and international NGOs, and eight individuals from the business sector. The 
Minister of Labor gave the welcoming address and additional remarks were made by the 
Chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Education and the director of the Cellule 
Nationale de Scolarisation des Filles of the Ministry of Education. The business sector 
included individuals from two major banks, a pharmaceutical company and American 
Express International.
The total income generated by the dinner was 1,785,000 CFA or $2,500 but the 
expenses for the dinner were 1, 358,300 CFA ($1,887), resulting in a total income for the 
girls’ education fund of $613. The major expenses for the dinner were having it at one of 
the most prestigious hotels in Bamako and the cost of the musical ensemble.
The committee (CMR-SCOFI) has planned additional events with a lower cost 
overhead and will include benefit concerts by well-known Malian musicians and popular 
singers.
C. Trends in Public Sector Investment
9
Table 3 shows the government of Mali’s investment in public primary education 
from 1994 to 2000. The primary budget includes both the first cycle (grades 1-6) and the 
second cycle (grades 7-9), and the Ministry of Education Budget Office provided the 
2000 figures as preliminary estimates.
The education budget as a percent of the total national budget steadily increased 
from 13.3 to 13.7 in 1996, then experienced a 3.7% drop in 1997, and then rose to a high 
of 13.8% the following year. In 1999 the percentage dropped by 1.2 from the previous 
year and continued to drop in 2000, reaching a low of 9.9%.
The primary budget as a percent of the education budget was 72.4 in 1994, 
dropped in the two subsequent years and then reached a high of 96.7 in 1997. The 
following two years experienced considerable decreases, reaching a low of 33.8% in 
1998, nearly one-third of what it was in 1997. In 2000, the percent had increase by a little 
under 12% to 45.1.
10
Table 37: Public Sector Investment in Primary Education 1994-2000
(millions FCFA)
Year Education 
Budget
Primary 
Budget
Primary 
%
1994 34,698 25,112 72.4
1995 35,201 23,727 67.4
1996 41,026 28,038 68.3
1997 32,542 31,452 96.7
1998 49,946 28,938 57.9
1999 62,149 21,007 33.8
2000 49,240 22,217 45.1
Source: Ministère de l’Education de Base
D. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and 
Programs for Girls’ Education
The studies and tools produced by SAGE/Mali as part of their NGO and 
community training activities were requested by the three principal NGOs to serve as 
guides for the implementation of their continued training efforts with teachers and 
community facilitators from their member NGOs and the community schools. Although 
SAGE/Mali produced numerous reports, none could be considered as commissioned 
studies of girls’ education, but as the training of trainers continue and more communities 
participate in workshop and develop their own action plans, studies that meet the criteria 
for this indicator will in all probability be produced.
Table 4 show that a total of seven tools were produced, and five of these included 
a training guide for the life skills curriculum for grades 4, 5 and 6; a guide for the 
participation of girls in basic education, a guide for change agents, one guides for trainers 
of trainers, and a guide for the teachers in the community schools. The other two tools 
were guides for the Design of Community Action Plans and a Guide for the use of active 
teaching methodologies. The first five were produced in 2000 and the last two the 
following year.
Table 38: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year
Type 2000 2001
Tools 5 2
Studies 0 0
Total 5 2
E. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
11
The fund raising dinner was SAGE/Mali’s first activity involving leaders from 
civil society organizations. These leaders have yet to speak out and commit resources to 
promote girls’ education, but planned activities in the near future will provide 
opportunities for recruiting leaders and raising additional funds.
F. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
Although the original design for the SAGE/Mali activities was primarily to train 
trainers, the project team has been working directly with six parent teacher organizations 
that work with the teachers from their community schools. These parents have 
participated in training workshops where they learned how to calculate the gross 
enrollment rations for boys and girls in their communities and to identify the disparities 
between the sexes. From these exercises they have discussed what can be done to reduce 
the enrollment gap between boys and girls and what steps should be taken to enroll more 
girls in school and what to do to keep girls from dropping out of school. As a result of 
these workshops, the PTAs have produced action plans, and as of the GEMS team visits, 
six PTA had produced these plans. Future activities have been planned by SAGE/Mali to 
measure the impact of the action plans on girls’ enrollment and persistence in school.
G. Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary 
School Education
Although the GEMS team made no direct classroom observation, the SAGE/Mali 
activities to train teachers in girl friendly classroom activities are designed to change 
teacher behavior. Like many of the other activities described above, the effects of the 
teacher training were scheduled for assessment during late 2001.
V. Conclusions
A Strategic Objective
The lack of education statistical data from recent years makes it difficult to draw 
conclusions on the effectiveness of this project within the EGAT/WID framework. 
At the time of this report, data were not available to assess the impact the project 
has had on completion rates among Malian primary school students. Also, 
assessments of particular project activities had not been completed; therefore 
conclusions on their effectiveness cannot be drawn until further data are available. 
12
There have been positive trends in female participation in primary schooling in Mali 
through the 1990s. However, recent policy decisions on teacher employment have 
negatively affected completion rates
Increases of 19% in female gross enrollment ratios and 22.5% in estimated female 
completion rates from the baseline years were found. However there has been a 
decline in recent years attributed to changes in teacher hiring procedures.
Despite increases in female enrollment and completion rates, both are low
Only about 40% of the eligible female population is enrolled in primary school in 
Mali and less than 40% of those enrolled reach fifth grade in five years. 
B Intermediate Results
SAGE/Mali appears to have been successful in meeting its scope of work 
The project has developed life skills modules and tools for enhancing female 
participation in the classroom and community and has been responsible for 
approximately 50 trainers, 200 teachers and 42 community promoters being 
trained to use the tools developed under the project.
Current work in Mali is consistent with EGAT/WID framework, but it is too early 
to judge progress.
SAGE/Mali has facilitated the formation of a national multisectoral committee to 
support girls’ education and carried out fund-raising training and an initial activity 
with this group. However, as this is a new area for SAGE, many issues about the 
viability of the committee must be dealt with.
VI. Implications
SAGE/Mali does not fit the framework for building constituencies that 
characterize the other Emphasis Countries and should not be expected to meet the 
Activity strategic objective. However, SAGE/Mali has recently implemented several 
of the strategies of the EGAT/WID framework. The progress of these strategies 
should be monitored carefully
Trends in national and local statistics should continue to be monitored, when data 
covering the years of the project are available. 
13
Bibliography
Agueh, Francine 2000. SAGE/Mali: 2000-2001 Program Design. Academy for 
Educational Development.
Ministère de l’Education de Base, Celle de Planification et de Statistiques, database 
1991-1998
Rihani, May and Karen Tiejen 1999. KGirls’ Education Activity (GEA): Mali Strategy 
and Design. Academy for Educational Development.
SAGE/Mali 2000. Modules en Compétences Essentielles “Life Skills” pour le 
Programme de l’Education de Base (Classes 4e, 5e, et 6e années.
SAGE/Mali 2000. Vers une Participation Active des Femmes dans les Actions 
d’Education à la Base. Guide d’Animation à l’intention des agents de changement.
SAGE/Mali 2000. Apprentissages Efficaces et Pratiques Internes de Classes Equitables 
entre Filles et Garçons. Guide de Formation d’Enseignants et d’Enseignantes.
SAGE/Mali 2000. ApprentissagesEfficases et Pratiques Internes de Classes Equiables 
entre Filles et Garçons. Manuel du Participant el de la Participante.
 SAGE/Mali 2001. Formulation de Plans d’Actions Communautaires
SAGE/Mali 2001. Guide Pedagogique Convergent.
Appendix E:
Morocco Country Study
GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
MOROCCO COUNTRY STUDY
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by: 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
iii
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................... vi
I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
II. Socio-Political Context ................................................................................................... 1
III The Girls Education Activity........................................................................................... 2
A. Project Development ................................................................................................... 2
B. Project Organizational Structure.................................................................................. 5
IV. Findings.......................................................................................................................... 6
A. Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates........................................... 6
1. Enrollment .............................................................................................................. 6
2. Completion.............................................................................................................. 7
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations............... 7
1. Organizational Participation .................................................................................... 8
2. Types of Actions ....................................................................................................... 9
C. Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education.................................................. 10
D. Trends in Leveraging Resources................................................................................ 10
E. Trends in Public Sector Investment ........................................................................... 11
F. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs for 
Girls Education ......................................................................................................... 12
G. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education .................................. 12
H. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education ... 13
V. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 14
A. Strategic Objective .................................................................................................... 14
B. Intermediate Results.................................................................................................. 14
C. Project Organizational Structure................................................................................ 17
VI. Implications .................................................................................................................. 18
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 20
iv
List of Tables
Table 1: Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios........................................................... 6
Table 2: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment by Gender and 
Location.................................................................................................................. 7
Table 3: Number of CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year ....................... 9
Table 4: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action ........................ 9
Table 5: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year 10
Table 6: Local Investment in Girls’ Education............................................................... 11
Table 7: Primary and Secondary Education as a Percentage of the Total Government 
Budget by Year (000,000s DH) ............................................................................. 11
Table 8: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year ........................................... 12
v
Morocco List of Acronyms
ADFM Association Democratique de Femmes du Maroc
AIR American Institutes for Research
CSO Civil Society Organizations
CSSF Comite de Soustiens por la Scolarisation de Filles
EGAT/WID Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade/ Women in Development
GEA Girls’ Education Activity
GEMS Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GER Gross Enrollment Ratio
GOM Government of Morocco
GWE Girls and Women’s Education
MEG Morocco Education for Girls Project
MNE Ministry of National Education
MSI Management Systems International
NAPE National Partners in Education
NGO Non Governmental Agency
SAGE Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education Project
SSO Strategic Support Objective
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document summarizes the findings of a review of progress of the USAID￾funded Girls’ Education Activity (GEA) in Morocco. The project forms a part of 
USAID/EGAT/WID Girls and Women’s Education Activity. The five-year life of the 
project is examined in relation to the strategic framework for Strategic Support Objective 
2 (SSO 2) Broad-based, Informed Constituencies Mobilized to Improve Girls’ Education. 
The study is based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available 
national education statistics for Morocco and fieldwork conducted in Morocco during 
July of 2001.
The Girls’ Education Activity was the first of the five centrally funded projects 
that began operations in September of 1996. The project supported USAID/Morocco’s 
strategic focus on basic rural education in general and specifically on closing the 
enrollment and completion gaps between boys and girls.
USAID/Morocco’s emphasis built on Ministry of National Education’s (MNE) 
efforts that began in the early 1990s with mobilization campaigns to promote rural 
parents’ awareness of the importance of enrolling and keeping their children in school. 
The MNE also made substantial progress in improving the supply of educational services 
by constructing additional schools in rural communities, during this period. Although the 
MNE did not place a special emphasis on girls but set as a goal to increase enrollment for 
both genders, there was a clear disparity in enrollment favoring boys at this time.
GEA was designed to complement USAID/Morocco’s other investment in girl’s 
education, the Morocco Education for Girls (MEG) Project. Whereas MEG is working at 
the local level, directly in schools and communities to further USAID and GOM 
objectives, GEA works to build awareness about the status of girls’ education and to 
facilitate the formation of coalitions to carry out actions promoting the enrollment and 
persistence of girls in school. The Girls’ Education Activity has worked primarily in 
opening dialogue about the constraints to girls’ education in Morocco and in building 
partnerships between civil society organizations and local communities and schools. The 
two principal partnerships formed were an NGO-led coalition, Comite de Soustiens por la 
Scolarisation de Filles (CSSF), and a business-school alliance, Al Jisr.
CSSF began as the result of a National Conference on Girls’ Education, facilitated 
by GEA, which brought together representatives from Ministry of Education, other 
ministries and NGOs. During discussions, it became clear that NGOs could complement 
MNE work and participants founded CSSF. The first meeting was held in December 
1997. The primary initial activities of the coalition were to promote the dissemination of 
information on the status of girls’ education through different media channels. In the first 
quarter of 1998, the principal activity of both GEA and CSSF shifted to the preparation 
for the May conference on girls’ education held in Washington, DC. A group of 
Moroccans from different sectors, including the Minister of Education, attended this 
conference. The group of participants examined the experience of other countries and 
vii
became convinced that the formation of partnerships with different sectors of society to 
promote girls’ Education could be successful in Morocco.
After the conference, the delegates continued to meet and decided to organize a 
national conference that would broaden the awareness of different sectors to the situation 
of girls’ education. The conference was held in March 1999 in Marrakech and US First 
lady, Hillary Clinton, attended. It was support by the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, 
and USAID, as well as GEA. The fact that the First Lady of the United States was 
attending turned out to be a crucial factor in encouraging the attendance of 
representatives from the private sector. A major outcome of the conference was the 
creation of Al Jisr in July 1999. Al Jisr is a coalition that promotes individual businesses 
agreeing to sponsor a school by improving infrastructure and other necessities. Initially, 
plans were made to create over 600 school-business relationships. The first three 
business-school partnerships became operational in March 2001.
At the same time, CSSF first began working with NGOs and then developed a 
network of NGOs. Several of these NGOs participated in what has become the main 
focus of CSSF’s work, a scholarship program for girls to attend secondary schools. 
Participating NGOs work to select girls and find housing and scholarship support for 
them to attend school. The collaboration between CSSF and Femme du Maroc, a 
woman’s magazine with a large nation-wide circulation, has provided support to the 
scholarship effort. The Caftan fashion show, which is organized by the magazine, 
publicized the issue of girls’ education in both 2000 and 2001and raised money for 
scholarships. The magazine has pledged to continue with the girls’ education theme for 
the next ten years.
The ascension of King Mohammed VI to the throne in July of 1999 has facilitated 
the work of GEA. The new king made data available for a reexamination of Morocco’s 
national priorities and education was placed second only to territorial integrity. The goal 
of education for all by the year 2002 was set, as this was seen as an important prerequisite 
for Morocco joining the European Common Market, which is considered vital to 
economic development. 
Principal Results
- A 22.3% increase in primary school gross enrollment ratios for girls since 1995; 
most of the increase came during the years of project implementation.
- Fifth grade attainment rates for girls higher than those for boys (57.7% versus 
46.4 in urban areas and 36.1% versus 33.8% in rural areas)
- Two national partnerships of civil society organizations, Al Jisr and CSSF, 
formed and functioning independently.
- Government and civil society organizations are active partners in both 
partnerships.
- Leveraging of $84,655 of non-USAID funds invested in girls’ education efforts. 
viii
Challenges
- Completion rates in rural areas remain low (less than 37% in rural areas and 60% 
in urban areas).
- Completion rates for both girls and boys are estimated to drop in available 
cohorts.
- Non-USAID funds may not be sufficient to meet the technical and administrative 
functions carried out previously by GEA.
Implications
- The results suggest that the EGAT/WID goal of a 20% increase in girls’ 
completion rates over 10 years may be difficult to meet through the strategies 
currently being implemented.
- The partnerships may need to focus on issues of educational quality to ensure 
high female (and male) completion rates.
- Broader financial support will be needed, if the level of activity supported through 
GEA is to be continued by CSO partnerships.
Performance Review
Morocco Country Study
I. Introduction
Of the five EGAT/WID/GWE emphasis countries, the Girls’ Education Activity 
(GEA) in Morocco was the first of the centrally funded projects that began operations in 
September of 1996. The agreement between EGAT/WID and USAID/Morocco came at 
an opportune time when the Morocco Mission had just completed an assessment of basic 
education in Morocco and decided to place an emphasis on rural education in general and 
more specifically on closing the enrollment and completion gaps between boys and girls.
USAID/Morocco’s goals for the education sector were based on the Ministry of 
National Education’s (MNE) mobilization campaigns that began in the early 1990s to 
promote rural parents’ awareness of the importance of enrolling and keeping their 
children in school. At the same time, the MNE made substantial progress in constructing 
additional schools in rural communities. The smaller communities with a population of at 
least 300 were to have satellite schools with the first six grades to serve as feeder schools 
for larger nucleus schools. Some 469 nucleus schools were constructed with an additional 
1,594 satellite schools located nearby, which resulted in a 12.5% increase in the total 
number of rural primary school classrooms. 
The goals of the mobilization campaigns and the improvement in the school 
infrastructure were to reduce the large gross enrollment gaps between rural and urban 
areas, which in 1994 were 36.7% and 89.4%, respectively. Although the MNE did not 
place a special emphasis on girls, rather set the goal to increase enrollment for both 
genders, there was a disparity in favor of boys at the time.
II. Socio-Political Context
In 1990, women composed 25% of the Moroccan labor force, and this percentage 
was rapidly increasing. As result of the increased participation of women in the labor 
force and the recognized need to educate more children, both boys and girls, many 
changes took place in Moroccan basic education during the 1990s. For most of the 
decade, the government policies were designed for increasing access to education, 
promoting retention and constructing more schools, especially in rural areas. But with the 
ascension of King Mohammed VI to the throne in July of 1999, more profound political 
changes began to occur, and the education sector was no exception.
One of the first changes was the increased availability of state statistics of all 
kinds, showing that 70% of the population had no social benefits, 80% did not have 
access to potable water, nine out of ten mothers were illiterate, five girls out of ten had 
access to education but most did not finish, and only 3% went on to higher education. It 
became clear that urgent action was needed, and the government wanted to be the 
2
facilitator of change. It was clear that in order to enable responsible and durable change, 
policies and action would have to be designed and implemented with care.
One of the first changes was the emergence of new political parties and the return 
of older ones that had been inactive for many years. New electoral laws provided for 
election reforms and as a result, a nation-wide election for a constituent assembly is 
scheduled for 2002. In addition, the new king reexamined Morocco’s national priorities. 
Education was placed second only to territorial integrity, and education for all by the year 
2002 was set as a goal. The latter was seen as an important prerequisite for Morocco to 
join the European Common Market, which was considered to be vital to economic 
development and projected to occur by 2008. 
For education, the new openness made it possible for NGOs and civil society 
organizations to begin acting more vigorously, to lobby on the political level for change 
and to concentrate on the educational plight of girls. In addition, the king formed a 
Commission for Educational Reform and named women to its membership, appointed a 
female advisor to his cabinet and recognized NGOs working for women’s rights and 
advancement.
III The Girls’ Education Activity
A. Project Development
The Girls’ Education Activity agreement was signed in September 1996, and the 
activities officially started the following month. The first step was identifying the 
constraints on girls’ education and prepare a state-of-the- art report and second, 
organizing a National Conference on Girls’ Education in partnership with the Ministry of 
Education. The conference took place a year later in October 1997. Representatives from 
other ministries and the non-governmental sector were invited, but the private sector was 
not included.
At the conference, GEA presented the constraints to girls’ education, and 
discussions on what should be done were held with the attending partners. It became 
clear that MNE and USAID strategies should focus first on improving education in rural 
areas and second on the importance of girls within that strategy. As a result of the 
conference, persons from different NGOs and independent individuals created the Comite 
de Soustiens pour la Scolarisation de Filles (CSSF), and the first meeting was held in 
December 1997.
Since CSSF did not have legal status as a NGO, the new organization worked 
informally, and when necessary in fulfilling bureaucratic requirements, CSSF used the 
legal status of the NGOs of some of its members. The main activities during this 
formative stage were contacting the media in order to print and broadcast information 
about girls’ education and presenting statistics on the status of girls’ education. As 
3
explained above, presenting statistics prior to 1999 involved some risk because statistics 
of any kind were considered by the state privileged information. 
In the first quarter of 1998, the principal activity of both GEA and CSSF shifted 
to preparing for the May conference on girls’ education held in Washington, DC. As a 
result of discussions held with decision-makers, there was clear agreement that the 
conference would be an opportunity to form new partnerships. The core group consisted 
of 14 individuals, ten of whom went to the conference; two were from Moroccan NGOs, 
one from the media, one representative from the private sector, one from the banking 
sector, three from the MNE—including the minister and the chief of his cabinet, the GEA 
director and the USAID Education Officer.
At the conference, the planning group continued their work, attended sessions and 
met with representatives from other countries. In between the sessions, the Morocco 
delegation contacted other country delegations that they considered had similar problems. 
They decided that Guatemala and Egypt had the most relevant experiences to explore. In 
the evening they brainstormed, and after hearing about what was being done in other 
countries, it turned out that this was the first time that the Minister of Education had been 
exposed to the idea of forming partnerships with different sectors of society. 
After returning to Morocco, the delegates organized a dinner in June 1998 and 
continued brainstorming. The Minister of Education was a strong supporter of education 
for all, of forming partnerships with CSOs and making education an important issue for 
the Moroccan government. A result of these discussions, a national conference was 
deemed necessary to examine what could be done to improve girls’ education, provide 
statistics on the situation of girls, continue mobilizing resources, and form additional 
partnerships. 
The conference was held in March 1999 in Marrakech and US First lady, Hillary 
Clinton, attended. The conference was large and expensive and received support from the 
World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO as well as GEA/USAID. The main actors were GEA, 
MNE and the WAFA Bank. The fact that Hillary Clinton was attending turned out to be a 
crucial factor that encouraged the attendance of representatives from the private sector, 
especially the banks. During the conference, discussions focused on what should and 
could be done, finding out who could really contribute and become partners, and how 
best to involve the private sector. The latter led to the creation of Al Jisr in July 1999. Al 
Jisr was a partnership in which individual business agreed to sponsor a school by 
improving infrastructure and other necessities. Initially, plans were made to create over 
600 school-business relationships.
Other partnerships were forged as CSSF made the first step to cooperate with 
Femme du Maroc, a women’s magazine with a large nation-wide circulation. The 
magazine had sent a journalist to the conference in Washington where the discussions 
with CSSF initiated which later resulted in a formal relationship. One of the milestones of 
this new partnership was the Caftan 2000 fashion show in March of that year where girls’ 
education became a central theme. A second show in 2001 continued working at 
4
publicizing and raising money for girls’ education. After the two Caftan shows, Femme 
du Maroc pledged to continue with the theme of girls’ education for the next ten years.
CSSF had also begun working with NGOs and then launched a network of NGOs 
in 1998. Part of this work consisted of identifying all NGOs in Morocco working with 
education. It turned out that none were working specifically with girls. In September 
1998, CSSF organized a forum and invited the 117 NGOs that were working in 
education. These NGOs were classified as those working with literacy programs and 
those working in non-formal education. Most of these NGOs expressed interest in girls’ 
education, and as a result GEA and CSSF started a selection process to see which NGOs 
could be mobilized to work with girls’ education.
During the time that CSSF was collecting information about NGOs and education, 
they were formulating their main strategy—a girls’ scholarship program to attend 
secondary school. Secondary was chosen because this would give girls’ in primary school 
and incentive to stay in school and have a goal beyond simply getting a primary 
education. The discussion of the scholarship concept began in late 1998 and the program 
started in July 1999.
In preparation for the scholarship launch, CSSF contacted all the NGOs that had 
expressed an interest and explained the concept: homes and host families for girls so they 
could go to school. This would be financed by local contributions and the scholarship 
recipients would be monitored closely tracking their progress in school. Twenty NGOs 
expressed a strong interest and 16 were selected to participate as semi-finalists. These 16 
were then asked to submit a written response and how they would implement the 
program, provide legal evidence showing they had bank accounts and accounting 
systems. Of these, eight were selected to be part of the program. The startup of the 
scholarships coincided with the beginning of the Al Jisr business-school partnerships.
The eight participating NGOs had to go through a training program as part of a 
process of gradual incorporation. When they became full partners they were responsible 
for turning in quarterly reports and attending discussion groups every three months. The 
training was in gender relations, active teaching methodologies, assessment and 
administration. Once this had been accomplished, CSSF was able to reach NGOs 
working at the school and community level. This had the effect of bringing CSSF closer 
to the problems inherent to girls’ education and would allow CSSF to directly lobby the 
MNE to find solutions. This was seen by CSSF as having the effect of bypassing many 
levels of bureaucracy and working with the democratization process. In other words, 
regions and their communities were given a voice and could now express their concerns 
about girls’ education directly to the central office of the MNE with CSSF as an 
intermediary.
CSSF held a retreat in July 2001 where all aspects of the organization’s activities 
were discussed. It was found that 50% of the organization’s time was used for lobbying 
and advocacy activities. In order to be effective, lobbying must be done at the decision￾making levels. Furthermore, it was decided that the argument that cultural barriers 
5
account for why girls’ were not in school was not valid; the real reason was poverty. 
When the scholarship program was first started it was a minor activity within CSSF, but 
after two years it had become their main concern. In order to improve the program, a 
decision was made to encourage local NGOs to give evening courses preparing girls for 
school and also to work on improving the quality of education in rural schools. An 
important step for improving educational quality would be for communities to take 
ownership of their schools and to assure teacher attendance. They also agreed that 
schooling has improved girls’ marriageability, further evidence that the cultural barrier 
argument is not valid: better educated girls mean they will marry better and in turn will 
provide better security for their aging parents.
At the conclusion of the retreat, CSSF decided to continue working at the local 
level by strengthening their NGOs, trying to decrease CSSF financing for scholarships 
and putting NGOs in contact with additional potential donors. They would also like to 
expand the program by working with new NGOs in different regions. CSSF also intends 
to work on mechanisms to set up new partnerships that could lead to establishing a cohort 
of working educated females that is resident in rural areas. These women are seen as role 
models for the girls currently in school and for those who are considering going to 
school. Promising girls will get special follow-up and be invited to visit Rabat. Some 
girls have already started working in adult literacy and working in health and hygiene.
After Al Jisr was organized and began activities in 1999, it became apparent that 
further training was needed for Al Jisr members to work with the MNE. The main 
problem was that businesses had different ways of working and the partnership with the 
MNE was difficult to build and to maintain. After a series of meetings that were held in 
March 2000, GEA started working with Al Jisr on social marketing and helped them 
develop messages and how to communicate with the MNE. In addition to GEA, the 
National Partners in Education (NAPE), a US NGO, was brought in to help Al Jisr and 
designed an action plan that was ready in July 2000. In November 2000, two Al Jisr 
members traveled to Houston and attended a NAPE symposium. Al Jisr went on to 
become a NAPE international partner.
The first three Al Jisr business-school partnerships became operational in March 
2001, and most of the contributions were earmarked for improving school infrastructure, 
school gardens and library facilities. At present Al Jisr has no formal monitoring system 
and it was not possible to quantify the contributions made to support the three schools.
B. Project Organizational Structure
Management Systems International (MSI), an international consulting firm that is 
also part of the consortium implementing the MEG project, is implementing GEA as a 
subcontractor to America Institutes for Research (AIR). Consistent with the EGAT/WID 
framework, GEA is led by a Moroccan project director and a small local staff, who 
receive support from the overall project in Washington.
6
There was general agreement among those interviewed that a key factor for 
forging the alliances between CSSF, NGOs, the business sector and the Ministry of 
Education has been the established links that the GEA project director had with all of the 
sectors involved. Dialogue could be initiated through a social/professional network that 
allowed civil society organization representatives to become familiar with the GEA work 
prior to a public forum on the issues. In terms of personnel, staff members and 
international support personnel felt that more might have been accomplished with 
additional staffing. 
IV. Findings
This section presents the findings of the performance review team. These 
findings are organized in terms of each of the intermediate results of the EGAT/WID 
framework for SSO2. The findings are based on meetings in Morocco involving 
representatives of USAID/Morocco, members of the GEMS team, the director of the 
GWE Activity and representatives of various partner organizations. They also include 
analysis of existing statistical data on the Moroccan educational system and review of 
other secondary sources
A. Trends in Gross Enrollment Ratios and Completion Rates
1. Enrollment
As it was impossible to obtain accurate population estimates for the rural 
population by gender and age in Morocco, only national gross enrollment ratios have 
been calculated. Table 1 shows the total increase in gross enrollment ratios from the 
1995 baseline year for girls and boys. Enrollment ratios have increased substantially for 
both males and females. Girls’ enrollments have increased more than boys. In fact, the 
change in girls’ enrollment ratios have been almost double that of boys in each year since 
the baseline. The greatest gains have come during the period when the GWEA project 
was being implemented. From 1997 to 2001, girls’ gross enrollment ratios have 
increased an average of about five percent a year. However, girls are approaching the 
gross enrollment ratio of boys in the baseline year. It is possible that the rate of increase 
may slow down as girls’ near 100% GER.
Table 39: Primary School Gross Enrollment Ratios
1994-2001
Years Enrolled-Urban and Rural Gross Enrollment Ratio
7
Boys Girls Total Boys
Change 
From 
Baseline
Girls
Change 
From 
Baseline
1994-95 1698398 1197339 2895737 91.6% 64.6%
1995-96 1736027 1246668 2982695 93.1% 1.5% 66.8% 2.2%
1996-97 1753709 1280699 3034408 93.5% 1.9% 68.3% 3.7%
1997-98 1784744 1334281 3119025 94.6% 3.0% 70.7% 6.1%
1998-99 1863510 1453643 3317153 98.2% 6.6% 76.6% 12.0%
1999-00 1932806 1565120 3497926 101.3% 9.7% 82.0% 17.4%
2000-01 1996113 1668291 3664404 104.0% 12.4% 86.9% 22.3%
Source: Statistiques Scolaires 1994-2000: Ministere de L’Education Nationale, Direction de la 
Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, Rabat.
2. Completion
Completion is operationally defined in the EGAT/WID framework as the 
attainment of fifth grade. The limited data permitted the creation of two reconstructed 
cohorts. As this analysis uses internal efficiency data in the estimates, it was possible to 
examine rural and urban cohorts by gender. As can be seen in Table 2, there were slight 
increases in the estimated percentages of the cohort reaching fifth grade for both girls and 
boys in urban areas. Urban primary girls’ have higher rates of attainment than boys. In 
both cohorts, over 10% more girls than boys attain fifth grade in five years.
In rural areas, estimated completion rates for girls are also higher than those of 
boys. However, for children of both genders, there is a drop in the estimated completion 
rates. The drop for girls is slightly greater than that for boys. Overall completion in rural 
areas is quite low, with only about one-third of rural children making normal progress to 
fifth grade.
Table 40: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment by 
Gender and Location
Years Urban Rural
Girls
%
Boys
%
Girls
%
Boys
%
1998-1999 56.4 45.7 38.6 35.5
1999-2000 57.7 46.4 36.1 33.8
Change +1.3 +0.7 -2.5 -1.7
Source: Statistiques Scolaires 1998-2000: Ministere de L’Education Nationale, Direction de la 
Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, Rabat.
B. Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
8
1. Organizational Participation
The baseline for civil society participation began with those representatives of 
institutions who participated in the November 1998 Meeting of Public and Private 
Partners and the Formation of NGO Networks in June of 1998. A list provided by GEA 
shows a total of 33 CSOs where 16 were local and 17 national level organizations as 
shown in Table 3. Table 3 also shows that all of the organizations eventually initiated 
actions. Ten of the 16 local organizations began activities in 1999 and three more in each 
of the two following years for a cumulative total of 100 percent. On the national level, the 
data show a progressive increase in the number of CSO activities beginning with two in 
1998, three the following year, nine in 2000 and the remaining three in 2001. The two 
CSOs that initiated actions in 1998 were CSSF and ADFM (Association Democratique de 
Femmes du Maroc), and in the case of CSSF, the action was to organize the conference 
on NGO networking that was held in June.
9
Table 41: Number of CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year
Org/Actions Base 1998 1999 2000 2001
No No % No % No % No %
Local Level 16 0 0 10 62.5 3 81.3 3 100
National Level 17 2 10 3 33.3 9 82.3 3 100
Total 33 2 5.5 13 45 12 82 6 100
Source: GEA project records
2. Types of Actions
The types of actions were examined by sector. Table 4, includes all of the actions 
undertaken by each civil society organization. As can be seen, the 33 organizations 
engaged in 62 actions. To be counted, actions had to include the use of national, regional 
or local resources and, therefore, simply attending a meeting or giving a presentation was
not counted. The majority of actions dealt with incentives. This is largely a result of 
donations made by organizations to the scholarship program. Social awareness was also 
an important category of actions and related principally to the organization of 
conferences and exchanges on the topic of girls’ schooling. Support of infrastructure 
improvements in local communities was the only other type of action carried out. The 
importance of the king in policy decisions made actions related to policy difficult for 
organizations to undertake effectively.
NGOs carried out about 60% of the actions. However, businesses carried out 
more actions on the average than NGOs. The average number of actions per business 
was 3.7, compared with 1.9 actions per organization for NGOs. Universities had not 
engaged in any actions specifically promoting girls’ persistence in school during the life 
of the project and media and foundations carried out few actions. 
Table 42: Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action
Source: GEA project records
Type of 
Action/Org Infrastructure Incentives
Com. 
Academic 
Support
Curric. Teacher 
Training Policy Social 
Awareness
No. No. of 
actions % of Total % of Total % of Total % of 
Total
% of 
Total
% of 
Total % of Total
NGOs 19 37 8% 73% 19%
Religious 3 2 50% 50%
Business 6 22 23% 55% 23%
Foundation 4 1 100%
Media 1 2 100%
University 0 0
Total 33 64 15% 66% 23%
10
C. Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education
Table 5 shows the Moroccan public sector units that the GEA project personnel 
identified as dealing in some way with girls’ education. Although the guidance calls for a 
cumulative total to be reported, public sector units were examined by year over the 
course of the GEA project to assess trends in government participation. Since GEA 
scholarship activities on the local level were implemented by associations in eight 
provinces, the local delegations of the government ministries that initiated activities in 
some but not all of the provinces have been included in the list. Furthermore, only actions 
that involve national, regional or local resources have been considered. Actions by eight 
of the 41 public sector units represent about 20 percent of the total, and the Ministry of 
Education’s actions represented one third of the actions by government organizations, 
making up most of the government actions related directly to the persistence of girls in 
primary school. Ministry actions were related to its partnership with Al Jisr, involving 
logistical support for schools and support of awareness efforts. Other Ministries and 
local governments provided infrastructure support to residences where scholarship girls 
were housed. 
Table 43: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ 
Education by Year
Units Baseline 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Ministry of Education (MNE) 1 1 1
Provincial Delegations of the 
Ministry of Health 
8 1 1
Provincial Delegations of the 
Ministry of Youth and Sports
8 1 1
Provincial Governments 8 1 1 2
Provincial Delegations of the 
Ministry of Education
8 2 2
Provincial Delegations of the 
Ministry of Social Welfare
8 1 1
Total 41 1 5 2 8
Source: GEA project records
D. Trends in Leveraging Resources
The level of non-USAID support was extracted from GEA project documents and 
reports, as well as from discussions with GEA partner organizations. The total 
investment of local resources provided in Table 6 is an underestimate of all resources 
invested, as Al Jisr representatives were unable to provide estimates of the resources 
generated through their work. However, the table provides a summary of trends in 
resource generation for the different sectors engaged in girls’ education, using available 
data. As can be seen, the majority of local funds dedicated to girls’ education were 
generated through the efforts of business. The efforts of the business sector made up 
61% of the non-USAID resources leveraged, and 68% of the funds leveraged solely by 
11
civil society organizations. This includes primarily the Caftan effort in 2000 and 2001, as 
well as some support of conferences and meetings. NGOs have been responsible for 
leveraging most of the other resources and have been the only sector to leverage 
resources from international donors other that USAID. Support from international 
organizations, other than USAID, was $8,547. This was about 10% of the total funds 
generated and was mostly for scholarships, conference support, and documentation. 
Totals in 2001 were estimated for the first six months of the year. As can be seen, totals 
increase each year, even though 2001 includes less than a complete year total.
Table 44: Local Investment in Girls’ Education
Organizati 1998 1999 2000 2001 Totals
on Intl Nat. Intl. Nat. Intl. Nat. Intl. Nat. Intl. Nat.
NGO $1,196 $8,547 $1,282 $7,692 $11,282 $8,547 $21,452
Religious $213 $213 $426
Business $11,880 $12,906 $26,666 $51,452
Foundation $2,778 $2,778
Media
University 
Totals $1,196 $8,547 $13,375 $20,811 $40,726 $8,547 $76,108
Source: GEA project records
E. Trends in Public Sector Investment
Public sector investment was defined as the percentage of the Ministry of 
Education budget that is allocated to girls’ education. Where such data were not 
available or kept, rural primary education as a percentage of the Education budget is 
used, as a proxy. Where these data were not available, primary education as a percentage 
of the education budget was used to track trends. In Morocco, none of these indicators 
were available. Thus, Table 7 presents primary and secondary education as a percentage 
of the total government budget. While this may be too gross an indicator to be amenable 
to change by a small project such as GWEA, there does appear to be a slight increase in 
the education budget over time. Prior to 1996, education had never reached 26% of 
government allocations. Since that year, the percentage has been at or above 26% in 
three of the five years. The small changes in percentages suggest that public sector 
investment in education is relatively immune to change.
Table 45: Primary and Secondary Education as a Percentage of the Total 
Government Budget by Year (000,000s DH)
Year/Category 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000* 2001
Gov’t budget 40,313 44,837 48,403 54,240 53,939 54,084 60,969 63,892 66,991 40,536 72,755
Education** 10,411 11,628 12,227 12,797 13,532 14,049 15,516 17,190 17,385 9,712 19,589
Percent of gov’t 
budget
25.8 25.9 25.3 23.6 25.1 26 25.5 26.9 26 24 26.9
12
* the budget for year 2000 was only for one semester—6 months
** these amounts are the annual budgets for primary and secondary education combined
Source: Finance Office Ministry of Education
F. Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and 
Programs for Girls Education
Information on studies and tools were complied as part of interviews with project 
staff in July of 2001. The identified documents were reviewed to determine if the 
documents met the criterion of utilization established in the guidance. That is, tools and 
studies must be written or graphical information or procedures, based on empirical 
evidence, that provide knowledge on the implementation of activities to promote girls’ 
education. Although the guidance called for a cumulative total, tools and studies were 
divided by the years in which they were used since project initiation, in order to identify 
trends. 
Table 8 shows that eight tools and studies have been commissioned, produced, or 
requested by Moroccan organizations involved in girls’ education. The initial study that 
was carried out prior to the start of GEA helped identify the need for the project and how 
it would fit with other USAID investments in education. Other studies in 1998 and 1999 
were situational analyses and progress reports from actions underway in the areas in 
which GEA was working. Tools produced in the last two years of the project were 
guides for forming local alliances, organizing a scholarship program and soliciting 
support for actions. 
Table 46: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year
Type 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Tools 0 0 0 0 1 2 3
Studies 1 0 3 1 0 0 5
Total 1 0 3 1 1 2 8
GEA, with its partners also produced several flyers, brochures, and other 
informational materials over the life of the project. These materials were used at the 
different conferences facilitated by the program. However, these materials did not meet 
the criteria of presenting evidence for implementing actions promoting girls’ education, 
and were not counted. No requests for the packet of materials produced centrally by the 
GEA project were documented. GEA staff felt that the initial production of these tools in 
English limited their usefulness, as they were not produced in Arabic until late in the 
project. 
G. Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
Fieldwork in Morocco found no evidence of leaders who made public 
proclamations allocating personal or organizational resources for girls’ education. GEA 
13
staff and USAID representatives suggested that this is a result of a fear that such 
proclamations would be seen as inequitable, in that they favor girls over boys. The 
Femmes de Maroc production of Caftan in 2000 and 2001, which were organized around 
the theme of girls education and it was publicly announced that the proceeds were to be 
donated to ‘support girls’ education is the best example of leadership mobilized to 
promote girls education. 
H. Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
In accordance with a decision made by USAID/Morocco, the mandate of GEA 
did not include involvement at the local level in terms of classroom interventions such as 
curriculum content and pedagogy. The Mission’s Morocco Education for Girls (MEG) 
project is carrying out activities at the community level. However, the CSSF Girl’s 
Scholarship Program and the Al Jisr Business-School Partnerships do involve 
communities, but these interventions do not include the schools and their activities.
14
V. Conclusions
A. Strategic Objective
The USAID emphasis on building constituencies to promote girls’ completion of primary 
school has contributed to higher gross enrollment ratios among female primary school 
students in Morocco.
Girls’ gross enrollment ratios for the country as a whole have increased by 22.3% 
since 1995. This is almost double the increase in boys’ GERs. The greatest gains 
have come during the period when the GWEA project was being implemented. 
From 1997 to 2001, girls’ gross enrollment ratios have increased an average of 
about five percent a year, compared to an average of about 2% in previous years.
The GEA project has had little effect on national female primary completion rates. 
Although data are limited, there has been little change in estimated completion 
rates for girls. In urban areas, a slight increase has been estimated with the two 
cohorts available, whereas a slight decrease was found in rural areas. The same 
pattern is true for boys. Girls have higher completion rates than boys in both 
urban and rural areas.
Overall primary completion is low in Morocco. This is especially true for rural areas.
Only slightly more than one-third of rural Moroccan children make normal 
progress to fifth grade (36.1% of girls and 33.8% of boys). In urban areas, it 
is estimated that only about half of the children reach fifth grade in five 
years. Girls’ completion is at least 10% higher than that of boys in urban 
areas. However, 43% of female primary students do not reach fifth grade in 
five years. 
B. Intermediate Results
The majority of actions are likely to remain in a few civil society organizations and 
sectors, rather than grow exponentially, as assumed in the Framework. 
In Morocco, two sectors accounted for most of the ongoing leadership and 
activity in support of girls’ education. NGOs and business carried out over 90% 
of the identified actions. Much of the activity was related to alliances formed to 
support the CSSF scholarship program for rural girls. GEA personnel see this 
program as largely self-sustaining, although USAID is continuing to provide 
limited technical assistance. Al Jisr was expected to have a major affect on 
school change, but at the time of the study, it had begun work in only three 
communities.
15
16
Local organizations in Morocco are able to generate non-USAID funding on a 
consistent basis. However, the amount of funding is small when compared to GEA 
operational costs.
Local investment in girls’ education has grown each year of the GEA project, and 
local funds in 2001 were twice the amount of those in 2000. However, the total 
amount generated in five years is only about one-tenth of the GEA operating costs 
for the same period. Most of the funding that was generated was related to a 
secondary scholarship program for rural girls.
Non-USAID funding to support girls’ education can be generated without a reliance 
on international donor agencies.
International donor agencies have been active partners in the actions initiated to 
support girls’ education in Morocco. However, their contribution to actions 
engaged in by civil society organizations was less than 10% of all non-USAID 
resources.
Government agencies can be active partners in civil society-led coalitions to promote 
girls’ education.
The Minister of Education was a leader in promoting partnerships and helped 
organize a conference, which involved private sector partners and launched Al 
Jisr. 
Studies are more important than implementation tools in the early years of 
launching a girls’ education initiative. Both studies and tool must be in the 
principal language/s of the country to be utilized.
During the initial years of the GEA project, studies were used in planning efforts 
and in monitoring results of actions. Implementation tools predominated in the 
last two years of the project. They were developed in conjunction with 
workshops to increase understanding and capacity of civil society organizations 
working in the area. Tools in English were not found to be useful until they could 
be translated into Arabic.
Leaders can be mobilized to support girls’ education. However, such support is 
unlikely to include public declarations.
No specific instances of leaders publicly announcing allocation of organizational 
or individual resources to girls’ education were identified. Respondents felt that 
such declarations were not made because culturally it would be viewed as 
supporting inequality. 
17
C. Project Organizational Structure
The support of USAID and the social and professional linkages of the GEA project 
director were critical in providing entry for GEA to Moroccan leadership in different 
sectors. 
There was general agreement that having USAID as a major actor in 
education in Morocco created visibility for the project. The recognition of 
the GEA project directors among leaders of different sectors also was seen as 
important in moving foreword the initiative. 
USAID-funded local teams can serve as a catalyst for constituency building. 
However, they must have human resources commiserate with the project’s scope of 
work.
GEA was successful in building several alliances within Morocco that have 
an ongoing commitment to girls’ Education. However, team members felt 
that the project was understaffed to meet the demands of the scope of work 
that required national and local involvement of staff
18
VI. Implications
Although the results must be interpreted cautiously, given the limited data, it 
appears that Morocco is unlikely to reach the USAID/EGAT/WID strategic objective of a 
20% increase over the life of the Activity. For the three years of available data (1998-
2000), the estimated completion rates of girls in urban areas have increased only 1.3%. 
In rural areas, there has been a 2.5% decrease. In both locales, however, girls’ 
completion rates are consistently higher than those of boys. This suggests that primary 
school completion is not just a problem for girls, and that boys should be included in 
strategies to increase completion.
The change in gross enrollment ratios for girls during the life of the project 
suggest that the types of social awareness and incentive programs engaged in by the 
sectors brought together by the project may be most successful in encouraging girls 
to attend school. As Morocco is approaching full enrollment of girls, as measured 
by gross enrollment ratios, the organizations and alliances working in the area may 
need to expand the types of actions that are carried out. This is especially important 
given the relatively low completion rates for both girls and boys. A dramatic change 
in completion rates may require an extended period of time or more targeted 
actions than have been carried out in Morocco. 
The EGAT/WID framework of using local professionals to act as a catalyst in 
bringing together organizations from different sectors to promote girls education 
has been effective in Morocco. This is due, in part to the visibility of the project and 
the commitment of the local staff. Also the GEA strategy of providing 
administrative, staffing and logistic support for CSSF and other partners early in 
the project contributed to the success of actions and the establishment of ongoing 
efforts.
All sectors are not equally likely to be contributing members of a multi￾sector coalition. In the case of Morocco, the university sector was a non-participant, 
and among the media and religious sectors participation was low. Similarly, all 
member organizations will not make the same type of contributions, but rather will 
contribute in areas where they have expertise or other resources. This may mean 
that expansion should be thought out strategically and new Network members 
recruited on the types of resources that they could contribute (financial, professional 
or technical), in relation to the strategic goals of the Network. Such issues should be 
part of any organizational planning.
In leveraging financial resources from non-USAID sources, a reasonable 
assumption might be that other international donors would be the prime source of 
funds. This has not been the case in Morocco, where only about 10% of non-USAID 
financing of actions has come from international donors. 
Despite the effectiveness of using a small Moroccan technical staff as a 
catalyst, given the stated difficulties in carrying out activities that required dealing 
19
with a number of organizations in different sectors, at both the national and 
regional level, suggests that greater resources would enhance effectiveness. In using 
the approach in other countries or other sectors besides education, donor agencies 
would be wise to plan for a higher level of investment than the resources expended 
for GEA, if wider coverage is desired.
20
Bibliography
AIR, 2000 Annual Report: Year Four. Washington, DC: AIR prepared for 
USAID/G/WID
AIR, 2001. Annual Report: Year Five. Washington, DC: AIR prepared for 
USAID/G/WID
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 1995. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
Année Scolaire 1994-1995. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 1996. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 1995-1996. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 1997. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 1996-1997. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 1998. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 1997-1998. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 1999. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 1998-1999. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 2000. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 1999-2000. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Direction de la Strategie, des Etudes et de la Planification, 2001. Statistiques 
Scolaires:
 Année Scolaire 2000-2001. Rabat: Ministere de L’Education Nationale.
Williams, H. 2001. Multisectoral Strategies for Advancing Girls’ Education: 
Principles
 & Practice. Washington, DC: SAGE (Technical Report #3), June.
Appendix F:
Peru Country Study
GEMS 
Girls’ Education Monitoring System
PERU COUNTRY STUDY
Prepared for:
United States Agency for International Development
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade/Office of Women in Development
Julia Escalona, CTO
Project undertaken by: 
Juárez and Associates, Inc. 
May 2002
Contract #:
LAG-C-00-99-00042-00
ii
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..........................................................................................................i
I Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1
II Socio-Political Context..........................................................................................................2
III The New Horizons Program.................................................................................................2
A. Project Development 2
B Project Organizational Structure 5
IV Findings...............................................................................................................................5
A Trends in Enrollment Ratios and Completion rates 5
1. Enrollment 5
2. Completion 7
B Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations 7
1. Organizational Participation 8
2. Types of Actions 9
C Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education 10
D Trends in Leveraging Resources 10
E Trends in Public Sector Investment 11
F Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and Programs for 
Girls Education 12
G Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education 12
H Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ Education13
I Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary School 
Participation 16
V Conclusions.........................................................................................................................15
A Strategic Objective 15
B Intermediate Results 30
C Project Organizational Structure 32
VI ............................................................................................................................. Implications18
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................23
iii
List of Tables
Table 1: Enrollment Ratios for Girls and Boys in Rural Areas by Grade-specific Appropriate 
Age Enrollment Ratios and School Appropriate Age Enrollment Ratios........................ 6
Table 2: Enrollment Ratios for Girls and Boys in Urban Areas by Grade-specific Appropriate 
Age Enrollment Ratios and School Age Appropriate Enrollment Ratios........................ 6
Table 3: Total and Percentage of Appropriate Age for Grade of Students in Huanta and 
Tambo 1998-2000. ........................................................................................................ 7
Table 4: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment for Appropriate Age 
Children in Rural Areas: National and Ayacucho .......................................................... 7
Table 5: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment for Appropriate Age 
Children in Urban Areas: National and Ayacucho ......................................................... 8
Table 6: Number of Peruvian CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year............... 9
Table 7:Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action............................. 10
Table 8: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year ..... 11
Table 9: Organizations Stating Increased non-USAID Resources by Organization Type ..... 12
Table 10: Peru Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1998-2001.............................. 13
Table 11: Primary and Rural Primary as a Percentage of the Total Education Budget by Year 
(New Sols millions)..................................................................................................... 14
Table 12: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year ............................................... 15
Table 13: Ayacucho Local Investment in Girls Education ................................................... 16
iv
Peru List of Acronyms
AIR American Institutes for Research
CSO Civil Society Organizations
G/WID Global/ Women in Development
GEMS Girls’ Education Monitoring System
GWEA Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity
MED Ministry of Education
NGO Non Governmental Organization
PROMUDEH Ministerio de Promoción de la Mujer y Desarrollo Humano
UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
This document summarizes the findings of a review of the progress of the 
USAID-funded New Horizons (Nuevos Horizontes) project in Peru. The four year life of 
the project is examined in relation to the strategic framework for the USAID/G/WID 
Girls and Women’s Education Activity, of which the New Horizons project forms a part. 
The study is based on analysis of project documents, manipulation of the available 
national education statistics for Peru, and fieldwork conducted in Peru during June of 
2001.
Background
New Horizons began in April of 1998 as a Special Objective within 
USAID/Peru’s results framework. The focus of the Special Objective Expanded 
opportunities for girls’ education in target areas was on increasing girls’ persistence in 
schooling. Although the effort was targeted at rural areas, had a national scope in terms 
of raising understanding throughout Peru of the educational barriers facing rural girls. 
The Mission buy-in to the WID Office Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity was to be 
$1.2 million dollars over four years of implementation. The project provided technical 
assistance to local organizations and individuals in carrying out actions to help girls stay 
in school. The principal activities were: studies to identify barriers to girls education; 
technical support of partnerships created to develop appropriate policies, programs and 
practices to address barriers to the education of primary school-age girls; and testing pilot 
interventions to overcome barriers in target areas.
As CARE International/USA was a subcontractor to the American Institutes for 
Research on the G/WID project, CARE-Peru was designated the implementing 
organization. The first project activity was the selection of Peruvian leaders from a 
number of sectors to participate in an international conference on girls’ education in May 
of 1998. The delegation, of 27 people, with the organizations that they represented, built 
on the conference to form the Network of Girls’ Education. The Network conducted 
meetings and commissioned studies, which provided the background for the development 
of an “open agenda” that served as the framework for discussion and action planning. A 
national conference was arranged in June of 1999 where the agenda was presented for 
discussion. The conference brought together local leaders from a number of departments 
with large rural populations to discuss the agenda and suggest how it might be 
implemented at the local level. Several of the department leaders who participated in the 
conference decided to start local networks made up of a cross-section of organizations 
similar to that of the national network. Another outcome of the conference was a national 
campaign to promote the importance of girls’ education, carried out in conjunction with 
McCann Erickson of Peru, a member of the network. 
vi
Activities in 2000 focused on the work of local networks and the organization of a 
second national conference, dedicated to exploring the right of girls to self-expression 
and the barriers that prevent girls from expressing themselves at home, in school and in 
the community. An outcome of this were recommendations about the educational needs 
of children whose mother tongue wasn’t Spanish and the drafting of a law in favor of the 
education of rural girls. The New Horizons and the Network undertook refining the 
conference document and lobbying for its approval with Congress. Given the 
disintegration of the Fujimori government and the subsequent transition government the 
law was not immediately approved. However, ongoing awareness and lobbying efforts 
by Network members led to the unanimous passage of the legislation in late October of 
2001. 
Additional activities of the project in 2001 were: an exchange inviting rural girls 
to speak out on their educational needs; workshops provided for four local networks on 
how to promote and monitor attendance and effective use of time by female students; the 
organization of a competition for research studies on girls’ education; and the initiation of 
planning to ensure the continuation of the National and Regional Networks.
Principal Results
- Increases of 7.9% nationally and 25.9% in target area of Ayacucho in estimated 
fifth grade attainment rates among rural girls
- Increases of 14.1% nationally and 32.7% in target areas in estimated fifth grade 
attainment rates for urban girls
- Similar albeit slightly lower estimated increases in completion rates for boys
- Formation of a “core” group of organizations from different sectors, committed to 
improving girls’ persistence in school through the National and Regional 
Networks
- Government and civil society organizations are active partners in the Network
- Passage of national legislation supporting the education of rural girls, during a 
period of rapid political change
- Leveraging of $279,566 of non-USAID funds ($168,395 nationally and $111,171 
in Ayacucho) invested in girls’ education efforts. 
Challenges
- Completion rates in rural areas remains low (less that 50% nationally and in target 
areas)
- The Network must resolve issues of organizational structure and support of 
administrative functions carried out by the project
- There has been no change in the level of government funding for primary 
education over the last five years
- Non-USAID funds come primarily from the private sector for short-term actions 
in its area of expertise or from community groups for school infrastructure 
improvements
vii
Implications
- The results suggest that the EGAT/WID goal of a 20% increase in girls’ 
completion rates over 10 years can be met through the strategies used by New 
Horizons, if activities continue and the projected completion rates are borne out 
over time
- The Network will need to focus on issues of educational quality to ensure high 
female (and male) completion rates
- Broader financial support will be needed, if the level of activity supported through 
New Horizons is to be continued by the Network
- Either other donors or private sector members may have to support the 
administrative functions of the Network
PERU COUNTRY STUDY
I Introduction
USAID’s investment in girls’ education in Peru is of relatively recent duration. It 
began in April of 1998 as a Special Objective within the Mission’s results framework. 
While the Mission did not have the resources to become substantially involved in the 
education sector, it was felt that a focus on increasing girls’ participation in schooling, 
especially in rural areas, would complement the efforts of the Government of Peru in a 
critical area (USAID/Peru, April 1998). The Special Objective, Expanded opportunities 
for girls’ education in target areas, was designed to enable the Peruvian government and 
civil society organizations to formulate, institutionalize and implement actions for girls’ 
education that would lead to greater participation and persistence of girls in primary 
schooling. Although the effort was targeted at rural areas, it was to have a national scope 
in terms of raising understanding throughout Peru of the educational barriers facing rural 
girls. The Mission buy-in to the WID Office Girls’ and Women’s Education Activity 
was to be $1.2 million dollars over four years of implementation. The project provided 
technical assistance to local organizations and individuals in carrying out actions to help 
girls stay in school. The principal activities were: studies to identify barriers to girls 
education; technical support of partnerships created to develop appropriate policies, 
programs and practices to address barriers to the education of primary school-age girls; 
and testing pilot interventions to overcome barriers in target areas.
At the time the program began, Peru was considered relatively successful in 
educational access within Latin America. However, while net primary enrollment was 
estimated as close to 90 percent, efficiency was a serious problem, with over fifty percent 
of the primary school population over-age. The greatest percentage of over-age school 
children was in rural areas, where 70.2 percent were above the appropriate age for the 
grade in which they were enrolled. Rural women were more disadvantaged educationally 
than men, having on the average only 1.7 years of schooling compared to 3.5 for males. 
The Ministry of Education had begun the implementation of a 15-year 
development plan aimed at expanding access and improving the quality of primary 
education. The plan was designed to meet the needs of a technology-driven economy 
through reforms in teacher training, curriculum and teaching materials. The plan did not, 
however, specifically address disparities between girls and boys and the specific barriers 
that hinder girls’ progress in school. 
In the following year, USAID/Peru began a second project called Opening Doors 
(Abriendo Puertas) that complemented the girls education program (USAID/Peru, 1999). 
This effort provided funding to respond to the Summit of Americas focus on quality 
primary education by supporting a variety of interventions that were designed to 
overcome impediments to female primary school completion in target rural areas.
2
II Socio-Political Context
The project was initiated in a period of political upheaval in Peru. Respondents 
described the period as one of decreasing trust in government as the Fujimori 
administration maneuvered to position the sitting president for a third term in office. 
Difficulties in obtaining information from government agencies were said to increase and 
there was greater concern about expressing oneself in public. This was especially true in 
areas that might not appear to be in line with government policies.
From Fujimori’s announcement to seek a third five-year term in December of 
1999 until his resignation in November of 2000, the country was in political turmoil. 
First, the opposition parties held the April presidential election results in question, and in 
May, presidential challenge Alejandro Toledo called for a delay in the run-off election, 
then withdrew from the race, citing fears of voting irregularities. Fujimori won the 
subsequent election and on July 23, took the oath of office. However, in September, a 
video filmed prior to the May election was aired on national television. This video 
showed Peruvian security chief Vladimiro Montesinos bribing opposition leader, Luis 
Alberto Kouri.
Montesinos fled the country and Fujimori announced that he would call new 
elections in which he would not be a candidate. Vice President Francisco Tudela 
resigned after Montesinos was allowed to return to Peru. Amid rising national clamor, 
Fujimori attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brunei, and then 
continued to Japan where he formally resigned in a letter to Congress on November 20, 
2000. Two days later, Congress swore in Valentin Paniagua as interim president and 
elections were set for April of 2000. In February of 2001, Congress voted for the 
indictment of Fujimori. In June, Alejandro Toledo won the presidential run-off election 
against Alan Garcia and was sworn in on July 28, 2001.
III The New Horizons Program
A. Project Development
With approval of the Special Objective, the project, called “New Horizons for the 
Education of Girls” began in April of 1998. As CARE International/USA was a 
subcontractor to the American Institutes for Research on the project, CARE-Peru was 
designated the implementing organization. Ana Marie Robles was hired by CARE to 
serve as project director and immediately began the first project activity. This activity 
was the selection of Peruvian leaders from a number of sectors to participate in an 
international conference on girls’ education in May of 1998. The project team worked 
with USAID and G/WID to identify and invite a relatively large delegation of 27 people. 
These individuals represented a heterogeneous group of organizations from sectors such 
as government, commerce, academic institutions, and non-governmental institutions 
working with education or women’s issues. This group met prior to leaving Peru and 
then had three meetings during the conference. The meetings served to discuss issues of 
3
girls’ education raised at the conference and to plan what might be approaches to 
addressing the issue of girls’ education in Peru.
When the delegation returned from Washington, D.C., they continued to meet 
about what they could do as a group to promote girls’ successful completion of primary 
school. In June of 1998, they formed a network of organizations to work together on 
issues of girls’ education, with the New Horizons project providing technical support and 
coordination. The Network included: a number of government organizations such as the 
Ministries of the President, Education, Women an Human Development, and Health, two 
congressional commissions, and the Office of the First Lady; confederations made up of 
private business, social communication leaders, organizations to promote women’s 
issues, and those concerned with dialogue on educational issues; academic institutions 
such as the Institute of Peruvian Studies, the education department of the Catholic 
University, and Colegio Inmaculada; and international donor organizations such as 
UNICEF, Save the Children UK, and USAID. The Network has since expanded to 
include additional NGOs and international donors.
The Network, through the New Horizons project, commissioned several studies to 
help orient their efforts. One study, carried out by the Institute of Peruvian Studies, 
examined the situation of rural girls in terms of national statistics, whereas a second study 
looked specifically at the situation of girls of primary school age in the department of 
Ayacucho. Ayacucho was chosen as a target area because of the potential impact of the 
project on many of the barriers to girls’ primary school participation. The department 
had been heavily penetrated by the Sendero Luminoso movement, it was largely rural and 
poor, and had low levels of adult literacy among women.
The findings from these studies were used by the Network to develop an “open 
agenda” that served as the framework for discussion and action planning. The principles 
of the agenda were: that all rural girls are enrolled in primary school at the appropriate 
age; that girls are provided with time and the conditions to study; that girls receive 
attention to the needs of puberty; that girls are provided with effective learning 
opportunities in school; and that girl-friendly schools are valued and implemented. A 
national conference to discuss the agenda was organized in June of 1999 where the 
agenda was presented for discussion. The conference brought together local leaders from 
a number of departments with large rural populations to discuss the agenda and suggest 
how it might be implemented at the local level. Several of the department leaders who 
participated in the conference decided to start local networks made up of a cross-section 
of organizations similar to that of the national network The national network was to 
provide some support to these networks and to encourage the formation of additional 
ones. To date, most of the efforts of local networks are seen to be the result of 
individuals who have taken on the leadership of the organization in a given department.
The national network developed a plan of operations near the end of 1998. 
However, it purposely did not seek to become a legally constituted organization under 
Peruvian law. It was felt that because of the diverse nature of the membership, some 
partners, such as international donor agencies might be excluded. In addition, the time 
4
and resources needed to pursue legal status might take away from the mission of the 
group. 
Several activities of national scope followed the conference. A national campaign 
to promote the importance of girls’ education was developed in conjunction with 
McCann Erickson of Peru, a member of the network. The campaign used television and 
radio to focus on the number of out-of-school girls and the importance of schooling to 
success in life. Workshops on fund-raising were also held for members of the network. 
However, given its lack of organizational status, the skills and strategies imparted during 
the workshops were felt not to have been applied. 
Activities in 2000 focused on the work of local networks and the organization of a 
second national conference. This conference, called “I want to speak” (Quiero Tomar la 
Palabra) was dedicated to exploring the right of girls to self-expression and the barriers 
that prevent girls from expressing themselves at home, in school and in the community. 
The conference looked for more departmental participation, which contributed to specific 
recommendations about the educational needs of children whose mother tongue wasn’t 
Spanish, as well as support for a law in favor of the education of rural girls. The New 
Horizons project hired a consultant to draft a law to this effect.
After the disintegration of the Fujimori government, the law was pushed forward 
with the transition government and received the general support of all political parties. 
However, it was not approved during the transition government and was again moved 
forward after the new government of Alejandro Toledo took power in July of 2001. 
Awareness and lobbying efforts led to the unanimous passage of the legislation 
supporting the educational rights of rural girls in late October of 2001. 
As part of the efforts of the transition government, a national consultation on 
education was held and several members of the network participated in this activity. 
Network participants felt that the ideas of girls were not being highlighted sufficiently in 
this consultation. The network, therefore, organized a national exchange, entitled “Girls’ 
Voices, which featured young girls speaking about their own educational needs. The 
findings from this exchange were submitted as an addendum to the national consultation.
Additional activities of the project in 2001 were: workshops provided for four 
local networks on how to promote and monitor attendance and effective use of time by 
female students; the organization of a competition for research studies on girls’ 
education; and the development of a plan to ensure the continuation of the national 
network.
B Project Organizational Structure
The project organizational structure has had advantages and disadvantages. All of 
the individuals involved with New Horizons stated that having CARE as the 
implementing organization facilitated the formation of the National Network and other 
aspects of the project, because of the organization’s national presence and high visibility. 
5
However, the role of the project as a technical assistance provider to the Network, of 
which CARE was a member, required careful role management by project personnel. 
Project staff served as administrative support for the Network, but encouraged other 
Network members to take lead roles in publicizing Network positions and activities. The 
transparency and dedication of the New Horizons project director to furthering girls’ 
education was also cited as an important element in collaboration among members and 
the success of Network efforts. Thus, the initiative was not perceived of as a CARE 
program, but rather a program with wide civil society participation.
The project’s assumption of many of the administrative functions of the Network, 
however, delayed decisions about how to ensure efficient Network actions over the long 
term. Both the formal organizational structure of the Network and ongoing support of 
administrative functions were under discussion as the project neared completion.
In terms of personnel, New Horizons staff and others interviewed, felt that more 
might have been accomplished with additional staffing. It was felt that a greater variety 
of sectors might have been tapped and work undertaken in more local areas with 
additional human resources. 
IV Findings
A Trends in Enrollment Ratios and Completion rates
1. Enrollment
Rural girls are the primary target of the New Horizons project in Peru. Thus, 
national enrollment ratios and completion rates for rural girls are reported. However, 
owing to the length of time since the 1993 national census and the extensive internal 
migration within Peru, both gross and net enrollment ratios are unreliable. To attempt to 
deal with these problems, we have used the percentage of children of the appropriate age 
who are enrolled in the correct grade, as a proxy for examining change in access. This is 
consistent with one of the goals of the Network, which is to promote enrollment of girls 
at the appropriate age and uninterrupted continuation of schooling. We have also 
provided the percentage of boys and girls in the schools who are of appropriate school 
age but may not be in the appropriate grade.
Only three years of national statistics exist for Peru. Both grade-specific 
appropriate enrollment and school-age appropriate enrollment ratios were 
calculated for the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. As can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, 
there is very little difference in these enrollment ratios for boys and girls. Girls 
and boys have had a slight increase in grade-specific age appropriate enrollment 
in both rural and urban settings. Girls’ school-age appropriate enrollment ratio 
has declined slightly in rural areas, whereas that of boys has increased in both 
rural and urban settings. It is important to note that girls’ enrollment ratios are 
higher than those of boys on all comparisons. This suggests that the problem of 
enrollment, at least at the appropriate age, may not be a gender issue but rather a 
6
rural-urban phenomenon in Peru. This is especially evident in terms of grade￾specific age appropriate enrollment where the percentage of girls and boys 
enrolling in the appropriate grade at the right age in rural areas is almost 20 
percentage points lower than in urban settings.
Table 47: Enrollment Ratios for Girls and Boys in Rural Areas by Grade-specific 
Appropriate Age Enrollment Ratios and School Appropriate Age Enrollment 
Ratios
Years/Enrollment 1998 1999 2000 Change 98-00
Grade-specific 
Enrollment Ratio
% % % %
Girls 36.8 37.3 38.5 1.7
Boys 35.8 36.7 37.9 2.1
School-age Enrollment 
Ratio
% % % %
Girls 77.6 77.2 77.5 -0.1
Boys 75.8 75.8 76.2 0.4
Source: Database 1998-2000: Ministry of Education, Unit of Educational Statistics, Lima. 
Table 48: Enrollment Ratios for Girls and Boys in Urban Areas by Grade-specific 
Appropriate Age Enrollment Ratios and School Age Appropriate Enrollment 
Ratios
Years/Enrollment 1998 1999 2000 Change 98-00
Grade-specific 
Enrollment Ratio
% % % %
Girls 54.3 54.8 56.9 2.6
Boys 53.8 54.1 56.2 2.4
School-age 
Enrollment Ratio
% % % %
Girls 85.6 86.1 86.9 1.3
Boys 85.0 85.3 86.3 1.3
Source: Database 1998-2000: Ministry of Education, Unit of Educational Statistics, Lima.
The New Horizons project has collected yearly Ministry statistical data on the 
communities of Ayacucho, where the project is working with local interventions. Table 3 
shows the trends for the two provinces of Huanta and Tambo in the department of 
Ayacucho, where the New Horizons project is working intensively in a total of 20 
communities. Although there is within-year variation, girls have had a net increase in 
total enrollment from the baseline year of 1998 to 2000. The increases are small, totaling 
22 girls in Huanta and 12 in Tambo, or less than 5% of the female school population. 
Boys, on the other hand, have had a net decrease. The decrease is 10 boys in Huanta and 
39 in Tambo.
7
 Table 49: Total and Percentage of Appropriate Age for Grade of Students in the 19 Pilot 
Communities of Huanta and Tambo 1998-2000.
Year/Province 1998 1999 2000
Huanta Number % Appr. Age Number % Appr. Age Number % Appr. Age
 Girls 456 17% 496 59% 478 23%
 Boys 480 20% 491 56% 470 26%
Tambo
 Girls 538 15% 555 17% 550 18%
 Boys 670 17% 646 16% 631 19%
Source: Database 1998, 1999, 2000, Proyecto Nuevos Horizontes Educación de 
Niñas/Warmi Wawakunapa Yachaynin, Educación Bilingüe Intercultural
The percentages in Table 3 show the grade-specific appropriate age enrollment 
for the school populations. In this case, there is an increase in the percentage of children 
of the appropriate age enrolled in the correct grade for both genders from 1998 to 2000. 
In Huanta, there appears to be a dramatic increase in children of the appropriate age 
enrolled in the proper grade. This may a result of project activities or a counting error. 
The latter appears likely, as the overall school population does not increase 
correspondingly. Thus, the change from 1998 to 2000 would appear to be more reliable 
and shows that boys and girls exhibit similar increases of 6%. The trend data for Tambo 
are more consistent and also shows increases for students of both genders from 1998 to 
2000. In this case, girls show a three-percent gain compared to 2% for boys.
2. Completion
Completion is operationally defined in the EGAT/WID framework as the 
attainment of fifth grade. In examining completion, the percentage of appropriate age 
children at each grade level was used as a proxy measure for promotion. Given the 
difficulties with the national statistical data, it was assumed that these data would be 
relatively stable, as they dealt with only children in school. Thus, the change in the 
percentage of children of the appropriate age advancing from one grade to the next, over 
the course of two years, was used for conducting a reconstructed cohort analysis. Tables 
4and 5 present the cohort analyses for the national population and for the target area of 
Ayachucho, using these data. 
Table 50: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment for 
Appropriate Age Children in Rural Areas: National and Ayacucho
National Ayacucho
Girls Boys Girls Boys
1998-1999 41.1 37.3 23.5 28.0
1999-2000 49.0 45.1 49.4 41.4
Change +7.9 +7.8 +25.9 +13.4
Source: Database 1998-2000: Ministry of Education, Unit of Educational Statistics, Lima.
8
As can be seen in Table 4, there were increases in the estimated percentages of the 
cohort reaching fifth grade for both girls and boys. As with enrollment, rural girls for the 
country as a whole have higher estimated completion rates than boys. However, in 
Ayachucho, estimated completion was lower for girls in the 1998-1999 cohort. The 
trends are similar for national cohorts and for Ayachucho, although the magnitude of the 
change differs. The increase in rural girls’ completion nationally is almost exactly the 
same as that for boys, whereas in Ayachucho, girls’ completion rates are nearly double 
those of boys. 
Trends in urban areas (Table 5) are similar to those in rural areas. Nationally, 
estimated completion increases for boys and girls have only slight gender differences. 
Again, girls have higher completion rates in both cohorts than boys. In urban areas of 
Ayachucho, girls have slightly lower completion rates in the 1998-1999 analysis but 
greatly increase completion in the 1999-2000. Boys also show a relatively large increase 
in completion rate, but it is less than that of girls. While the data must be interpreted with 
caution, given the problems discussed previously and the magnitude of the Ayacucho 
increases, the direction of the trends is consistent. This suggests that, especially in 
Ayachucho, the project is having an impact on the persistence of girls in school. 
Table 51: Reconstructed Cohort Analysis of Fifth Grade Attainment for 
Appropriate Age Children in Urban Areas: National and Ayacucho
National Ayacucho
Girls Boys Girls Boys
1998-1999 60.4 58.2 25.5 26.5
1999-2000 74.5 73.5 58.2 54.9
Change +14.1 +15.3 +32.7 +28.4
Source: Database 1998-2000: Ministry of Education, Unit of Educational Statistics, Lima.
B Trends in the Promotion of Girls’ Education by Civil Society Organizations
1. Organizational Participation
The baseline for civil society participation began with those representatives of 
institutions who participated in the Washington, D.C. conference in May of 1998. Eleven 
organizations had representatives at this conference (Silva, 2000). These organizations 
became the founders of Network of Girls Education, created later in the same year. The 
project eventually identified a pool of 34 organizations that worked on women or 
children’s issues that were civil society organization with an immediate potential to 
initiate actions. In addition, four regional networks were formed that were to initiate 
actions in specific departments of the country. These departments were Ayacucho, San 
Martin, Amazonas, and Junín and Huancavelica.
Table 6 shows the organizations that initiated actions during the three and a half 
years of the project. As this table shows the total number of organizations initiating 
9
actions, organizations are counted only once, even if they initiated multiple actions. The 
totals shown here differ somewhat from those reported by the project, as they included 
international organizations such as UNICEF, Save the Children UK and Save the 
Children Canada. For consistency in comparing results cross-nationally, we have only 
considered national organizations. As can be seen, 21 organizations initiated actions. 
This constituted 55% of the targeted pool of organizations. Seventeen of the 
organizations worked at the national level. In addition, the four regional networks all 
initiated actions. The number of new organizations initiating actions is similar for 1999 
and 2000, the two complete years of the project. It appears that there is a decline in 2001. 
However, this may be the result of data being collected in the middle of the year.
Table 52: Number of Peruvian CSOs Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by Year
Years/Organizations Pool 1998 1999 2000 2001
National 34 3 7 4 3
Regional 4 0 1 3 0
Total CSOs 38 3 11 18 21
Sources: Silva (2000) and Robles (personal communication) 
2. Types of Actions
The types of actions were examined by sector. Table 7, includes all of the actions 
undertaken by each civil society organization and, thus, is somewhat greater than the 
number of organizations. Again the totals differ from those in project reports, because 
actions had to include the use of national, regional or local resources and, therefore, 
simply attending a meeting or giving a presentation were not counted. As can be seen 
from the table, the majority of actions, with a national scope, initiated by Peruvian 
organizations dealt with social awareness. They included such things as support of 
national conferences on girls’ education, design and implementation of television and 
radio campaigns on the importance of girls attending and completing school, breakfast 
briefing and planning meetings, and the like. NGOs carried out the largest percentage of 
social awareness actions (28%) and were responsible for more than half (56%) of all 
actions. However, in actions related to social awareness, the business sector also made a 
significant contribution, carrying out 20% of all actions. These actions tended to be those 
that were most costly, such as television campaigns and support of conferences. 
Business was the second most active civil society sector, carrying out 22% of all actions.
Actions related to policy were carried out almost entirely by NGOs. Such actions 
were principally the efforts of the Girls’ Education Network to have a law promoting 
education for rural girls brought before the Peruvian Congress. Teacher training actions 
were contributions to national curricular efforts in the areas of gender or equity, whereas 
the few actions related to incentives were those promoting a competition to carry out
10
Table 53:Actions initiated by CSOs by Type of CSO and Type of Action
*Includes potential organizations
Source: New Horizons documents
research on girls’ education. Infrastructure actions related to the provision of space for 
meetings or conferences. The religious sector had the fewest definable actions, the 
exception being carrying out a campaign related to equity in schooling. However, several 
of the participating educational institutions had religious affiliations. 
C Trends in Public Sector Support of Girls’ Education
Table 8 shows the public sector units that the New Horizons project identified as 
dealing in some way with girls’ education. As can be seen, eight different units carried 
out a total of 39 actions. Although the guidance calls for a cumulative total to be 
reported, public sector units were examined by year over the course of the GWEA project 
to assess trends in government participation. Again, the totals differ somewhat from 
those reported by the New Horizons project in its various reports. This is a result of the 
definitions used in this study, which eliminate such actions as participation of 
government representatives in national or international conferences, when such 
participation is financed from outside the government organization. Only actions that 
involve national, regional or local resources have been considered. Whereas the project 
included actions such as teacher training and materials for bilingual education, under the 
assumption that such actions would benefit girls, these were not included in our study 
unless specific reference to meeting the needs of girls was included in the documentation. 
Type of Action/
Organization
Infrastructure Incentives Community
Academic 
Support
Curric Teacher 
Training
Policy Social 
Awareness
No. of 
Orgs*
No. of 
actions
% of Total % of Total % of Total % of 
Total
% of 
Total
% of 
Total
% of Total
NGO 18 30 (56%) 2% (1) 2% (1) 0 0 7% (4) 17% 
(9)
28% (15)
Religious 1 1 (2%) 0 0 0 0 2% (1)
Business 8 12 (22%) 0 2% (1) 0 0 0 20% (11)
Foundation Na
Media 4 6 (11%) 0 0 0 0 2% (1) 2% 
(1)
7% (4)
University 3 5 (9%) 4% (2) 0 0 0 6% (3)
Total 34 54 6% (3) 4% (2) 0 0 9% (5) 19% 
(10)
63% (34)
11
Thus, while the project identified 44 MED actions, we found only 14 that were directly 
linked to girls’ education. These actions still constitute the largest percentage of actions 
by government organizations, making up37% of all government actions related directly to 
the persistence of girls in primary school. Many of the MED actions were related to its 
membership in the Network of Girls’ Education and included the organization of 
planning meetings, the publication of strategy documents and the undertaking of 
diagnostic studies and pilot projects such as El Saber de las Niñas. This project was 
implemented through CARE and was designed to disseminate the principles of the Open 
Agenda for Girls’ Education to rural parents. Other actions, especially in the later years 
of the initiative, included launching a campaign for enrollment at the appropriate age, 
collaboration with the USAID-funded girls’ education project, Abriendo Puertas, and 
working with teacher training institutes in rural areas to incorporate gender in their 
curricula. 
Table 54: Number of Public Sector Units Initiating Actions in Girls’ Education by 
Year
Units 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Ministry of 
Education
5 2 6 1 14
PROMUDEH 1 2 2 5
Ministry of 
Health
1 1
Ministry of 
Finance
1 1 2
Congress 1 1 1 2
Office of the 
First Lady
2 2 4
Council of 
Ministers
2 2
Local 
Networks
0 3 5 8
Total 12 11 14 2 39
Source: New Horizons documents
Congress, through the committees participating in Network, has carried out a total 
of three actions. The most important action was the unanimous approval of legislation 
supporting the education of rural girls by the Congress in October of 2001.
Other ministries carried out actions in their areas several of which generally 
focused on issues not exclusively related to girls’ education. However, PROMUDEH, 
the ministry charged with the defense of children’s rights, organized planning breakfasts, 
and disseminated information on the importance of girls’ education as a strategy to 
defend the rights of rural girls. Similarly, the Ministry of Health developed planning 
strategies that supported the policies of the Open Agenda. The Council of Ministers 
helped to generate funds public funds for the national conferences on girls’ education, 
12
and congressional membership promoted several testimonies on issues of the education 
of girls. While the First Lady participated in the international conference on girls’ 
education in Washington in 1998, the office itself undertook no actions. However, an 
advisor to the First Lady, in her capacity as representative to the National Network, 
developed several options for a legal organizational structure for consideration by the 
Network.
Although actions were reported to be underway in all four Local Networks, 
specific documentation of these actions was available only for Ayachucho at the time of 
the study. In Ayacucho, actions included the negotiation of agreements for local 
government support of communities undertaking actions. Most of the actions reported 
were encouraging communities to enroll girls in school, either through awareness efforts 
or actual school infrastructure improvements. These are discussed more fully in the 
section of local efforts. 
D Trends in Leveraging Resources
In order to determine the number of CSOs with increased resources leveraged 
from non-USAID sources, a survey was carried out with those organizations that were 
identified as potential or actual actors in girls’ education. The results of the survey, 
reported in Silva (2000), asked organizations to state whether they had initiated actions 
promoting girls’ education in each of the project years. The responses of the 
organizations that agreed to answer the survey are shown in Table 9. As might be 
expected, business was the most successful sector in carrying out actions without USAID 
support. In additional, all of the NGOs that provided information, with the exception of 
CARE, reported carrying out at least one action without USAID financial support. The 
relatively high participation of Education organizations reflects the provision of space for 
conferences and meetings by two different institutions of higher learning at different 
points in time. The number of organizations increases in each year, with the highest total 
in the third year of the project. 
Table 55: Organizations Stating Increased non-USAID Resources by 
Organization Type
No. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
NGO 5 0 1 3
Religious 1 0 0 1
Business 6 2 4 6
Media 1 0 0 1
Education 2 0 2 2
0
Total 15 2 7 13
Source: Silva 2000
The actual level of non-USAID support was extracted from New Horizons project 
13
documents and reports, as well as from personal communication with the New Horizons 
project director. Table 10 provides a summary of trends in resource generation for the 
different sectors engaged in girls’ education. As can be seen, the majority of local funds 
dedicated to girls’ education were generated through the efforts of business. The efforts 
of the business sector made up 55% of the non-USAID resources leveraged, and 62% of 
the funds leveraged solely by civil society organizations. This includes primarily the 
development and funding of media spots and support of conferences and meetings. Some 
of the funding for the latter activities is also included in the unaccounted category, where 
the total amount of expenditures was available, but could not be easily attributable to 
specific organizations. This category also includes investment in the research 
competition on girls’ education carried out in mid-2001. Media investment is also related 
to social awareness campaigns on the importance of girls’ education. Investment by 
NGOs is relatively low considering that over half of the identified actions were initiated 
by such organizations. This suggests a reliance on USAID funding to carry out their 
work in girls’ education.
Support from international organizations, other than USAID, was $23253. This 
was about 14% of the total funds generated and was mostly for conference support, 
documentation and promotional materials, such as logos and videos. Totals in 2001 were 
estimated for the first six months of the year. As can be seen, they are much less than 
half of that of the previous year. This is, in part, the result of the Network members focus 
on the congressional recognition of the law on education for rural girls, as well as 
preparing for closure of the New Horizons project. 
Table 56: Peru Non-USAID Investment in Girls’ Education 1998-2001
Year/Organization Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4* Total
NGOs $545** $1746 $3256 $6504 $12051
Religious 0 0 $857 0 $ 857
Business $611 $76790 $15438 $58 $92897
Media 0 0 $7725 0 $7725
Education 0 1529 $2412 $116 $4057
Unaccounted 0 $13232 $2409 $5125 $20766
Total $1156 $93297 $32093 $11803 $150835
Government 0 0 $6789 0 $6789
International Donors $1000 $ 3230 $17679 $1344 $23253
Grand Total $2156 $96527 $56565 $13147 $168,395
Source: New Horizons and AIR Quarterly Reports, Ana Maria Robles (personal communication)
* Estimated for first six months of the year.
** Amounts in USD corrected for annual local currency fluctuations
E Trends in Public Sector Investment
Public sector investment was defined as the percentage of the Ministry of 
Education budget that is allocated to girls’ education. Where such data are not available 
or kept, rural primary education as a percentage of the Education budget is used, as a 
14
proxy. Where these data are not available, primary education as a percentage of the 
education budget is used to track trends. It is obvious that such an indicator only makes 
sense where there are targeted percentages within an overall strategy, as if taken to a 
logical conclusion, using this indicator would lead to the entire Ministry budget going to 
girls ‘education or primary education. However, given that all of the countries have 
limited investment in primary education, the indicator is useful in the short-run. These 
data were gathered from the Ministry Economy and Finance, as reported in Silva (2000).
As shown in Table 11, public sector investment in primary education has 
remained relatively stagnant over the years that the New Horizons project has been in 
operation. The government does not report allocations for rural primary education nor 
for girls’ education, as separate line items. However, line items may change with the 
implementation of the law supporting education for rural girls.
Table 57: Primary and Rural Primary as a Percentage of the Total Education 
Budget by Year (New Sols millions)
Year/Category 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
GNP 187.6 200.4 215.0 215.0 226.8
Education 5.4 6.2 6.2 6.9 7.2
Education % of 
GNP
2.9 3.1 2.9 3.2 3.2
Primary as % 
of Education
54.4 55.3 54.0 54.1 54.1
Source: Silva 2000
F Trends in Improved Knowledge to Implement Policies, Strategies and 
Programs for Girls Education
Lists of studies and tools were compiled as part of the New Horizons formative 
evaluation efforts (Silva, 2000). This information was updated through interviews with 
project staff in June/July of 2001. For the current review, these lists were reviewed to 
determine if the documents met the criterion of utilization established in the guidance. 
That is, tools and studies must be written or graphical information or procedures, based 
on empirical evidence, that provide knowledge on the implementation of activities to 
promote girls’ education. Although the guidance called for a cumulative total, tools and 
studies were divided by the years in which they were used since project initiation, in 
order to identify trends. 
Table 12 shows that 19 tools or studies were commissioned, produced, or 
requested by Peruvian organizations involved in girls’ education at the time of the study. 
As might be expected, there was a heavy reliance on studies during the first two years of 
the project. These studies focused on the situation of girls in schools in particular areas 
of the country and also included bibliographies and statistical summaries of the national 
situation. The tools, were not those that dealt with procedures for implementing projects 
or programs but rather were position papers such issues as the Girls’ Education 
15
Network’s open agenda, and the Ministry of Education strategies for girls’ education and 
bilingual education. The total number of studies for 2001 was likely to rise by year’s end, 
given that the New Horizons project had sponsored a competition to fund several 
research studies on girls’ education. The winners of the competition had been selected at 
mid-year and were preparing to begin their studies, at the time of data collection for this 
review.
Table 58: Number of Analytical Tools and Studies by Year
Type 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Tools 2 1 2 1 6
Studies 6 5 2 0 13
Total 6 6 4 1 19
Source: CARE records
The National Network, through its members, produced numerous flyers, 
brochures, and other informational materials over the life of the project. As these 
materials did not meet the criteria of presenting evidence for implementing actions 
promoting girls’ education. No requests for the packet of materials produced centrally by 
the GWEA project were documented. Local Peruvian staff felt that the initial production 
of these tools in English limited their usefulness, and that the Network’s agenda had been 
formed by the time the materials become available in Spanish. 
G Trends in Mobilizing Leadership to Promote Girls’ Education
The formative evaluation study conducted by the New Horizons project found no 
evidence of leaders who made public proclamations allocating personal or organizational 
resources for girls’ education (Silva, 2000). Thus, mobilization of leaders was defined 
by project personnel as simply representatives of organizations who made public 
proclamations about the importance of educating girls. Sixty-two organizations were 
identified (35 civil society organizations and 27 public sector organizations). At the time 
of the study, 27 of the leaders of these organizations had made public proclamations. 
H Trends in Broadened Local Community Participation to Promote Girls’ 
Education
The indicator of broadened membership can apply only to NGOs. Private sector 
organizations generally do not attempt to increase membership, but rather look to 
increase production and thereby reduce personnel. Public sector organizations may have 
the same objectives and law often determines the size of public sector membership. As
the indicator focuses on “growth in membership within organizations that promote girls’ 
education,” only those organizations that have initiated actions were considered. 
Similarly, as Networks at both the national and departmental level have been the focus of 
the effort in Peru, change in the number of member organizations in such networks was 
examined, rather than increases in the membership of individual organizations. 
16
At the national level, documents produced by the Network list a change in 
membership from 21 organizations in June 1999 to 25 in April of 2001. New members 
included a pedagogical institute, a member of the media, a private sector organization and 
an international donor agency. The departmental Network in Ayacucho has expanded 
from 25 original organizations to 34 members (Heyman and De Wilde, 2001). Heyman 
and De Wilde also identify five local networks that have been established subsequent to 
the founding of the San Martín departmental network. No information was available on 
increased membership in the departmental networks of Amazonas and Junín and 
Huancavelica.
The CARE-Peru field office serves as the headquarters for the Ayacucho network 
and the New Horizons project funds some of the activities of the network and provides 
technical assistance support. Thus, documentation of the achievements of this network is 
more complete than that of other departmental networks. The Ayacucho network is 
involved with 19 communities in two districts, Huanta and Tambo. A number of actions 
are underway in these communities including awareness building on the importance of 
educating girls, a bilingual intercultural education project, professional development and 
technical support for teachers to raise girls’ self-esteem, school committees to monitor 
student and teacher attendance, and adult literacy efforts. Awareness efforts began 
almost with the founding of the network, most of the other actions, however, began in 
mid-2000 or later. Project staff complied a list of the community-level actions 
undertaken in conjunction with the work of the network and monetary or in-kind 
investment by communities in these actions. The actions and level of investment is show 
in Table 13. 
Table 59: Ayacucho Local Investment in Girls Education
Year/Actions 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
School Construction S/141,500 S/15675 S/133730 S/68000 S/358,905
Improvements for girls S/4500 0 S/640 S/17000 S/22,140
Learning materials 0 S/1500 0 0 S/1500
Nutrition S/450 S/1325 S/4780 0 S/6555
Total S/146,450 S/18,500 S/139.150 S/85,000 S/389,100
Source: CARE-Peru Staff
As can be seen, the actions generated S/ 389,100 or approximately $111,171 in 
local investment. The bulk of the actions related to school construction such as road 
improvements, walls, teacher living quarters, school kitchens, and classroom repair, 
which benefited both boys and girls. About $63500 was invested in latrines and other 
improvements that were specifically to encourage girls to attend school. Relatively small 
amounts were invested in learning materials and nutritional improvements, such as school 
gardens. 
I Trends in Strengthened Teacher Performance to Improve Girls’ Primary 
17
School Participation
At the time of the study, the local implementers of girls’ education actions had not 
examined classroom behavior to determine if pedagogical actions, such as the bilingual 
education program, were affecting girls’ participation in the classroom. Anecdotal 
information suggests that enrollments have increased greatly as a result of the actions, but 
change in actual classroom behavior remains to be evaluated.
18
V Conclusions
A Strategic Objective
The New Horizons project has contributed to higher completion rates among 
female primary school students, most notably in the target area of the 
department of Ayacucho.
Although data are limited, the two reconstructed cohorts that could be calculated 
showed estimated fifth grade attainment rate increases of 7.9% and 25.9% for 
rural girls nationally and in Ayacucho, respectively. The estimated increase in 
completion rates for rural girls in Ayacucho was almost double that of boys for 
the same period. For the national as a whole, the increase in completion rates for 
rural girls is only a tenth of a percentage point higher than that of rural boys. 
Urban completion rates followed a similar pattern, with girls showing increases of 
14.1% nationally and 32.7% in Ayacucho. Again these increases were higher 
than those of boys.
Despite increases in completion rates, overall primary completion is low in 
Peru. This is especially true for rural areas.
Even with the projected increases in completion rates, less than half of rural 
Peruvian children attain fifth grade of primary school (49.0% of girls and 45.1% 
of boys). In urban areas, more than a quarter of the children of each gender do 
not complete primary school. 
Lack of primary completion is not limited to girls but is a serious problem 
for children of both genders, especially in rural areas. The problem is 
exacerbated by failure to enroll children in school at the appropriate age.
Only about one-third of the rural primary school population is enrolled in the 
grade appropriate to their age, and more than 20% of this population is not of 
primary school age. The percentages are almost identical for girls and boys, 
suggesting substantial late enrollment and internal inefficiency.
B Intermediate Results
The number of civil society organizations initiating actions to promote girls’ 
education is unlikely to grow rapidly. Rather, actions will be initiated by a 
“core” group of committed organizations.
Over the three and a half year history of the initiative, actions were largely limited 
to members and affiliates of the National Network for Girls’ Education. Of the 
organizations carrying out actions at the national level, 13 of 17 (76%) were 
Network members. Departmental networks carried all of the documented 
19
regional actions out.
Social awareness efforts, and the related area of lobbying for policy reform 
related to girls education, are likely to be the predominate actions 
undertaken by civil society organizations on a national scale, at least in the 
early years of an initiative.
Eighty-two percent of the 54 actions carried out by civil society organizations at 
the national level were either social awareness efforts (63%) or related to policy 
reform (19%). Small percentages of the actions were dedicated to teacher training 
(9%), infrastructure (6%), and incentives (4%).
NGOs are likely to carry out the majority of actions related to girls’
persistence in school, but appear to rely heavily on outside funding to do so. 
Business is the sector most likely to generate internal resources.
Peruvian NGOs carried out 56% of the identified actions promoting the girls’ 
education and two-thirds of the participating NGOs surveyed stated that they had 
increased non-USAID funding for girls’ education. However, the NGO sector 
was responsible for only about 7% of civil society funding generated for specific 
actions. All surveyed private sector organizations identified increased internal 
resources dedicated to girls’ education, and this sector was responsible for 55% of 
the resources generated. 
The religious sector, at least in Peru, is unlikely to be an active member of 
partnerships to promote girls’ education.
With the exception of institutions of learning with religious affiliations, no 
religious organization was a member of the national network. The single 
religious organization identified as a potential partner carried out one action and 
was responsible for less than 1% of non-USAID funding invested in promoting 
girls’ education. 
Government agencies can be active partners in coalitions to promote girls’ 
education. While the participation of such agencies can generate financial 
support for targeted actions, it is unlikely to change national educational 
funding priorities, at least in the short-run. 
Six government agencies were members of the national network. These agencies, 
together with several others, carried out 39 actions, including providing funds to 
support conferences and dissemination of information. However, national 
funding for primary education did not change during the three years of the project.
Studies are more important than implementation tools in the early years of 
carrying out a girls’ education initiative. Both studies and tools will only be 
utilized if they are produced in the national language of the country. 
20
The number of studies produced or used by the Network was almost double that 
of the number of tools. The tools produced tended to rely on the studies as evidence for 
the needed reforms that the tools outlined. Materials produced internationally by the core 
project were generally not utilized, except by New Horizons staff, as they were originally 
available only in English.
Leaders can be mobilized to publicly support a girls’ education initiative, but 
such support is not likely to include public allocation of organizational 
resources to the effort.
Over the three years of project implementation, representatives of 27 
organizations spoke out publicly in favor of girls’ education. However, none of 
these proclamations included announcing that organizational resources would be 
used to support actions.
The strategy of creating local networks to promote girls’ education appears 
successful in the Peruvian context for broadening local participation and 
generating local investment in education. Local investment is likely to be in 
infrastructure improvements that benefit both boys and girls.
There has been an increase in the number of member organizations in the 
networks of both departments for which data were available. Over $100,000 in 
local investment related to girls’ education has been documented in the 
department of Ayacucho alone. Over 90% of these resources have been used for 
general school improvement. 
C Project Organizational Structure
The national recognition of the implementing organization was critical in 
providing entry for New Horizons to Peruvian leadership in different sectors 
and providing the support structure for quickly launching the project. 
There was general agreement that having CARE as the implementing organization 
facilitated formation of the National Network and other aspects of implementing 
the project, because of the organization’s national presence and high visibility. 
The unswerving commitment of the CARE project director to promote the 
importance of girls’ education also was seen as important in moving the initiative 
forward. 
Network administrative support and the level of effort for actions must be 
resolved if the success to date is to continue.
New Horizons staff carried out many of the routine Network administrative 
functions, neither the responsibility for such functions nor the funding of 
administrative support has yet been resolved, as New Horizons nears completion. 
21
As the staffing for New Horizons was generally considered inadequate to carry 
out multiple technical and administrative functions throughout the country, level 
of effort for support must also be an issue. 
VI Implications
The New Horizons project appears on track to meet the ten-year goal of a 20% 
increase in girls’ completion rates, if the work initiated by the project continues. 
Although results must be interpreted cautiously, given the limited data available,
estimates suggest a 26% increase in the target area of Ayacucho. In the rural area, as a 
whole, the 8% increase in available cohorts within three years, if continued would result 
in a 24% increase.
The low completion rates for both girls and boys argue for a move by the 
Network from promoting girls’ rights to complete primary school to a focus on the 
elements of schooling that will ensure that all children complete school with the skills 
and knowledge viewed as necessary to be successful in Peruvian society. The success of 
the Network in promoting dialogue and the recent national legislation supporting the 
education of rural girls should allow it, together with the Ministry of Education, to lead a 
national discussion of issues of educational quality. Key to such a discussion are the 
related issues of efficiency, such as encouraging children to enroll at the appropriate age 
and to make normal progress through school. 
The EGAT/WID framework of using local professionals to act as a catalyst in 
bringing together organizations from different sectors to promote girls education has been 
effective. This is in part because the practice of networks was already common in Peru. 
The fact that the New Horizons project took on many of the administrative functions of 
the Network also contributed to its success. While long-term administrative structure of 
the Network is under discussion, it may be worthwhile to out-source administrative 
support to CARE or another Network member for the short term, if resources can be 
found among member organizations or Network supporters.
All sectors are not equally likely to be contributing members of a multi-sector 
coalition. In the case of Peru, the religious sector was almost a non-participant. 
Similarly, all member organizations will not make the same type of contributions, but 
rather will contribute in areas where they have expertise or other resources. This may 
mean that expansion should be thought out strategically and new Network members 
recruited on the types of resources that they might contribute (financial, professional or 
technical), in relation to the strategic goals of the Network. Such issues should be 
considered as part of any future organizational planning.
In leveraging financial resources from non-USAID sources, a reasonable 
assumption might be that other international donors would be the prime source of funds. 
This has not been the case in Peru, where only about 14% of non-USAID financing of 
actions has come from international donors. 
22
Despite the effectiveness of using a small Peruvian technical staff as a catalyst, 
given the stated difficulties in carrying out activities that required dealing with a number 
of organizations in different sectors, at both the national and regional level, suggests that 
greater resources would enhance effectiveness. If this approach is to be replicated in 
other countries and if wider coverage is desired, donor agencies would be wise to plan for 
a higher level of investment than the resources expended for New Horizons. 
23
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