GREAT (Gender-Responsive Education and Transformation)

Increased integration of gender-responsive play-based learning into teaching practice.

Increased engagement of parents and caregivers.

Increased integration of gender-responsive play-based learning into teacher training.

The GREAT project facilitated positive learning environments (PLEs) for children by incorporating gender-responsive play-based learning (GRPBL) into teaching practices, to improve equal learning outcomes for girls and boys at the primary level.

Ghana: (1) In part of the project, pupil enrollment increased from 36,269 (17,395 F/18,884 M) to 46,906 (23,024 F/ 23,882 M); (2) The mean score for girls in the oral reading fluency at the endline evaluation was 73.38 and 64.34 for boys, against a baseline mean score of 19.06 for girls and 16.27, respectively. (3) At the endline, school attendance stood at 92.53% for girls and 93.86% for boys which exceeded the project target of 89% for girls and 88% for boys. (4) With regard to life skills, the project contributed to improving the self-esteem of girls and boys. Overall, 98.6% of girls and 99.4% of boys were reported as having high self-esteem compared to the baseline figures of 66.7% for girls and 63.7% for boys.

Mozambique: (1) There was a noticeable increase in children’s self-esteem reported at endline. 86.2% of boys and 96.6% of girls were found to have high self-esteem compared to 69.3% of boys and 67.30% of girls at baseline. This exceeded the project targets of 80% for boys and 78% for girls; (2) An improvement was also reported for children’s leadership skills in the endline. This improved from 56.60% at baseline to 64.9% at endline for girls and from 57.4% to 63.7% for boys. Although this did not meet the expected targets of 80%; (3) GREAT also contributed to the improvement of the relationship between teachers and students. At the end of the project, 71.5% of boys and 70.3% of girls had a positive perception of their teachers, which exceeded the overall 50% target. This is an improvement from the baseline values of 13.3% for boys and 12.4% for girls; (4) By the end of project implementation, more teachers were implementing GRPBL in their classrooms. These changes are reflected in the endline, which reports that 95.2% of male teachers and 93.10% of female teachers engaged learners in child-centered learning compared to 46.7% of male teachers and 63.20% of female teachers at baseline. This exceeded the project targets of 75% for male teachers and 82% for female teachers. 

Rwanda: (1) GREAT Rwanda targeted 32,697 girls and 32,094 boys, for a total reach of 64,791. At endline, the project reached 38,831 girls and 40,537 boys (79,368 in total); (2) With regard to the cultivation of life skills, the endline reported that self-esteem levels for girls and boys improved by approximately 20 percentage points for both girls and boys. At baseline this was 77.1% for boys and 77.4% for girls and increased to 97.4% (boys) and 97.6% (girls) at endline. This exceeded project targets of 85%; (3) Leadership skills of girls and boys were positively affected by the project. The endline reports an approximate increase of 12 percentage points for boys and 10 percentage points for girls. More specifically, there was an increase from 80.3% for boys and 83% for girls at baseline to 92.8% (boys) and 93.8% (girls). This met the targets set at 90% for boys and 93% for girls; (4) The endline reported that 93.8% of boys and 97.2% of girls perceived their learning climate to be supportive compared to 85.9% (boys) and 80.3% of girls at baseline. This is an improvement of approximately 8 percentage points for boys and 17 percentage points for girls.