Gender Equity through Education

The Gender Equity through Education (GEE) Program is a 5 year activity (2007-2012) that aims to contribute toward gender parity among students and teachers, as well as to facilitate gender equity in terms of student achievement, attitude and behavior well beyond their educational experience. GEE is active in all 10 states in Southern Sudan, as well as the transitional areas of Abyei and Nuba Mountains. The GEE Program is implemented through a central office in Juba, with field offices in Wau and Malakal.

Program Goal: Provide incentives that will encourage girls to complete secondary school and mentor women to enter the teaching profession.

Objective 1: Reduce financial & infrastructure barriers for girls & women to attend secondary school & teacher training
Objective 2: Reduce social barriers for girls & women to attend secondary school & teacher training
Objective 3: Reduce institutional barriers for girls & women to attend secondary school & teacher training

The GEE Program strengthens the education system through a three-pronged approach that addresses financial and infrastructure barriers, social and cultural barriers, and institutional barriers to gender parity and equity.

A Scholarship Program provides tuition supplements and a personal needs allowance for marginalized students at secondary schools and teacher training institutes.

An Advocacy, Community Mobilization and Mentoring Program. A Scholar Mentoring Program trains mentors to support scholars academic and psycho-social needs. GEE develops and distributes teaching and learning materials for secondary schools on the topics of girls mentoring, boys mentoring, gender equity and HIV/AIDS.

GEE also implements Institutional Support Strategies that improves the policy and governing environment for gender equity in education through direct technical assistance and training for the MoEST's Directorate for Gender Equity and Social Change at the central and state ministry levels through seconded Gender Advisors.

Program accomplishments after the third quarter of the program's fourth year include:
• Distributing more than 9,000 scholarships – of which over 650 were to women attending TTIs – in all 10 states of South Sudan as well as Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, and Southern Kordofan.  (With the July 2011 independence of South Sudan, scholarship distribution was phased out in areas outside the 10 states.)
• Distributing over 16,200 learning materials, including Let's Talk puberty booklets and health and HIV/AIDS materials, to students
• Developing and delivering comfort kit training to local women's groups and issuing contracts to the groups to produce the kits
• Engaging state and county education officials in the distribution and monitoring of scholarships and school improvement grants
• Collaborating with the MoE on their Women into Teaching booklet, designed to explain how women can enter and navigate the teaching profession
• Providing technical assistance to the MoE to provide gender analysis of the draft Education Act of 2008
• Facilitating the MoE's conception and roll-out training for the Promotion and Advocacy for Girls' Education (PAGE) program
• Conducting male focus group discussions to address barriers to male's education as well as perceptions towards girls' education
• Delivering Leadership for Change training for 38 ministry officials
• Completing the GEE Girls' Mentoring Manual and translating it into English and Arabic
• Conducting regional mentoring workshops in coordination with MoE officials and providing technical and financial assistance to State Ministries of Education to launch their mentoring programs.  
• Conducting a baseline research study on girls' education and scholarships