In response to COVID-19, UNGEI collected a series of case studies on programmatic approaches to the gender-related impacts of the pandemic on education. Organisations and networks providing essential and gender-responsive support to learners and teachers throughout the pandemic shared their innovations, lessons learned, and challenges faced through a year of unprecedented disruption to education. And, through the spread of initiatives focusing on different barriers to girls’ education in different regions, a common thread emerged: the use of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is an online messaging platform (owned by Facebook) through which users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video…
Imagine a gender equal world. One without gender based violence, and filled with girls’ potential. It is a future world where feminist leadership is engrained within education and there are no barriers for girls to access quality & safe schooling. What does a school day look like? Who are the teachers and what is being taught? What are girls achieving? What are they inventing when there is no gender digital divide? How does it feel when all students have comprehensive sexuality education? And what flourishes when they’ve been taught about climate justice?
We are creating our first Transform Education Zine…
Based on an interview with Joanne Sandler by Natasha Harris-Harb & Aayushi Aggarwal
How Transnational Feminist Organizing Offers a Model for the Future
Based on an interview with Joanne Sandler by Natasha Harris-Harb and Aayushi Aggarwal
Over the past year, the world has undergone massive change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fight for social change and justice requires a continuous effort, especially in times like these where the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities. These abrupt and unpredictable changes have required adjustments to the way we work, and the way we support our partners and workforce. To better understand the impact…
By Maryjacob Okwuosa, Whisper to Humanity and Gloria Diamond, UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)
Whether on Twitter, online, in the news, you may have heard the term “shadow pandemic”, to describe the growing rates of violence against women and girls amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a narrative that has been taken up by development actors around the world — from international agencies to research institutes, NGOs and activists. But what is really meant by “shadow pandemic”, and why does it matter?
The language we use to describe our realities is important. In Narrative Power and Collective Action: Conversations with…
24th January 2021 marks the third annual International Education Day. This year’s theme is “Recover and Revitalize Education for the Covid-19 Generation”.
This #EducationDay Transform Education, a youth led coalition hosted by UNGEI, is celebrating the ways in which Education Transformers (aka youth led networks) are working to recover & revitalize education post Covid-19.
Here are a few ways you can join this mission:
- Share your commitment
By Feyi Rodway, FHI360
For education to realize its gender-transformative potential, boys and girls must have equal access to, and benefit equally from, education. To achieve this goal, we need education systems that are gender-responsive by design. The Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP) programme aims to do just that. …
By Gloria Diamond and Natasha Harris-Harb
Continuing UNGEI’s 2020 tradition of intergenerational dialogue and activism in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19, we held a Real Talk event on “Tackling the Shadow Pandemic” in December last year. This event is part of our #InSolidarityWithGirls advocacy campaign to put issues of gender and education at the forefront of COVID-19 response and recovery. But before we tell you more about this event, what is a Real Talk? We turn to our inspirational moderator and friend Fatou Wurie to explain:
By Feyi Rodway, FHI360
While talk of “getting the consistency right” and “velvet triangles”¹ may make us think of science experiments or complex recipes, these terms can in fact help us understand the power of institutions and networks to bring about change. Initial findings from an independent review of the UNGEI-led capacity development programme for Gender- Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP) illustrate just how important it is to build networks that include the right ingredients for the structural and transformative change required to advance gender equality in and through education. As the independent review shows, networks of feminist activists working…
By Kelsie and Sophie, Chalk Back
Chalk Back is a collective of young activists around the world raising awareness about gender-based harassment and violence. We receive anonymous testimonials via Instagram direct message, chalk the stories on the streets of our cities, and then post the images on Instagram. Through our messages, we have seen how students around the world are profoundly impacted by gender-based harassment and violence. They encounter gender-based violence in schools, either by peers or teachers, school staff such as security guards, janitors, or gender-based street harassment on their way to school.
Youth activism is a method to…
By Lydia Madyirapanze, National Coordinator, FAWE Zimbabwe
For a long time, Africa’s education systems reflected the accepted gender roles in societies. This has carved a standardized socialization of how girls and boys, men and women should behave and approach situations. In typical African society, males are socialized to be powerful and domineering, as compared to females. This socialization of gender roles is further reinforced in schools, through language, teaching methodologies, learning materials and roles assigned to girls and boys in the classroom. …
UN Girls' Education Initiative
Advancing gender equality in education and the empowerment of girls through the power of partnership.
