From barriers to assets  Plan Egypt’s experiences in promoting girls’ and women’s empowerment

In a context of barriers… a story of an Egyptian girl

Stay at home, no

opportunities, no

aspirations, her

daughters will

reproduce the same

cycle

They born in families with

lack of knowledge about early childhood practices

They go to

school but drop out very soon

Exposed to FGM

Early married

B A R R I E R SCultural norms, patriarchal attitudes, stereotypical behaviors:

preference of boys over girls

Burden of domestic work Gender based violence

Early marriage, FGM, low awareness of reproductive health

Schools’ condition, low quality of teaching, overcrowded, noproper toilets, high rate of illiterates inside the school

How to change thisreality? How toovercome these

barriers?

A S S E T S

Life skills, informal education

opportunities and back

formal education

Personal Assets

saving groups Business skills, vocational

skills

Fiancial Assets

Social support, men and boys,opportunities to participate

Child protection mechanismsSocial Assets

CREATING ASSETS AND REDUCING BARRIERS The story of Intisar

Arab Women Speak

Out

Vocational

training

HTP awaren

ess

VSLA (savin

g)

REFLECT

(literacy)

Went back to school

Daughters & sons attends

New Horizons

Daughter free of

HTP

Set up her own busines

s

Activist in her

community

Young women

and young men

participate in

premarital

Community members

participate in

international events

Key Success Factors

• Holistic approach: one intervention is not enough to create assets, it has to be comprehensive and integrated. Tackle the different factors that take girls out of school: money, space, time, traditionalteaching methods, violence

• Child Centred Community

Development: the realityof children cannot be changed without tacklinggender inequality. Long term commitment

Key Success Factors

Including local community developmentassociations as key actors and promoters of theprogram (strengthening their capacities), as well asschools and child protection committees

• Start from the early beginning through Early Childhood programs: gender equality in the familyand work on importance of education for girls

Main Challenges faced by the program

girls’ and women’sissues are not national priorities,

Cultural norms, patriarchal attitudes,involvement of men and boys inthe program very challenging. It’s notjust about providing opportunities foreducation, but convincing parents andhusbands

Changing the mentality of communitiesand stakeholders: working on educationis not just quantity, not just about theschool building. It’s a whole package:the cycle of education, livelihoods…

Lessons Learned

Sensitive issues such as FGM or early marriage cannot be stand alone programs, they need to be integrate with other interventions that are easily accepted from the community. Involving men and boys: helps a lot in achieving results, it needs to be introduce at the beginning of the program, as part of the process of mobilizing communities

Partnership and networking with government ,unversties , NGO and INGOs

Lessons Learned

Starting early: ECCD, involvement of men and boys: introduced at thebeginning of the program, as part of the process of mobilizing communities

“ I will not let my daughter go through my

sufferings and get married at early age”

Ayda 32 years old

THANK YOU