Sustaining Progress Made From Girls‟ Education Initiatives - Perspectives From Cares ‘Regal‟ Project In Rural And Urban Communities Of The Sekyere Central District

Abstract

Ensuring sustainable development across the globe means reducing poverty to its lowest ebb among the world‘s poorest groups of which women are in the majority. The surest way of achieving this aim is through education hence a lot of education initiatives and investment in educational infrastructure particularly for girls across the world by different organizations over the years. Amid the immense strides made, a lot of challenges persist limiting the success of gains made in respects of new global agenda especially in deprived and rural districts. It is in this context that this study examined the sustainability of gains made and examines drawbacks from a girl‘s education improvement initiative, the REGAL Project by CARE International in rural and urban communities in the Sekeyre Central District. Drawing on Unterhalter et al, (2014) Theory of Change and Shediac-Rizkallah & Bone Sustainability framework, the study assessed the current state of school facilities and interventions aimed at improving girls‘ enrolment, community participation and how challenges to sustained improvement in quality education for girls in deprived and poor areas are being negotiated. Using a multi stage sampling procedure, 150 respondents were selected for a survey in two rural communities (Abasua and Ankamadoa) and two urban communities (Nsuta and Beposo) in the Sekyere Central District. Personal interviews and observation were also used to solicit information. The study shows improvement in girls‘ access, attendance and progress over the years in all communities but one rural community still underperformed in key indicators in sanitation and health, community and parental support and obstacles to girls‘ education confirming results of other studies. Accordingly, the study suggests continuous advocacy and community engagements in rural communities, teacher involvement and drastic reduction in cost of education at all levels by government and the continuous courting of support from opinion leaders in communities by organizations that undertake education improvement projects for continuous benefits.