Somali Girl's Education (ISPABE Project)

This 43-page report details a qualitative study that explored Somali parents' attitudes toward girls' education, as well as the cultural, economic, psychological, and logistical factors that still dissuade them from sending their daughters to school. The study was conducted to inform the BBC World Service Trust (WST)'s "Radio Teacher" programme, which is part of the project Integrated Special, Primary and Alternative Basic Education (ISPABE). Funded by the European Commission (EC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), ISPABE is an effort to address the weakness of the education infrastructure of Somalia following the outbreak of a civil war in 1990 that has led to widespread population displacement and paralysis of social services. Further, cultural norms and practices contribute to disproportionately low access to schooling for girls. According to UNICEF, the country had only a 22% primary school enrolment in 2004, 9% of which were girls. That figure dropped to 6% for secondary school.

In this context, the BBC WST is producing "Radio Teacher", 30-minute educational programmes broadcast on the BBC Somali service once a week, providing basic literacy and writing skills to listeners, as well as promoting the education of girls. Five topics considered important to the promotion of girls’ education are: family health (the benefits of girls' education on family health), equal rights (girls' and boys' equal right to education), economics (the short- and long-term economic benefits of allowing a daughter to receive education), children's health (the benefits of a girl's education on the health of her future children), and the environment (the connection between educating girls and protecting the environment). To date, 27 programmes have been broadcast. Transmitted on short-wave, BBC Somali service radio programmes can be heard in urban and rural areas across Somalia, and throughout the Somali diaspora in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen. CARE International and the Africa Educational Trust (AET) facilitate setting up classes, recruiting new students, and training teachers for community learning groups who follow the course on the radio and with accompanying print materials.

This study employed a qualitative methodology, involving 64 respondents (32 males and 32 females) in a total of 8 community-based focus group discussions. All participants were enrolled in the AET/CARE "Radio Teacher" community learning groups in 2 regions of Somaliland, and in both rural and urban areas. Despite attempts to hire a female moderator to conduct the focus groups with women participants, cultural restrictions preventing travel outside Hargeisa made this impossible. Thus, the BBC WST's male Somali researcher was required to run both the female and male groups separately. He found that, rather than being a substantial limitation, his presence turned out to be a form of advocacy for the importance of girls' education. Within Somali cultural gender hierarchies, males tend to give limited attention to female experiences and perspectives, so having a male researcher make the journey to meet with them, ask them about their experiences and opinions, and take their responses seriously seemed to have conveyed the importance of education in general and Somali girls' education in particular.

The researchers note that many of the focus group members themselves were not educated in their youth. Approximately half had not previously learned to read and write; nearly all expressed regret about this, and felt optimistic about the current educational opportunity provided by radio programming. They articulated how much they valued education and their current desire to learn from "Radio Teacher". Looking at the long term, some respondents also noted their belief that an educated girl's family would benefit from her as a future educated mother. It was expected that an educated mother would take better care of her children and improve health efforts, including maintaining sanitation and treating them for disease and illness. Regarding equal rights, many respondents acknowledge that children of both sexes should be given or have equal access to education. Economic benefits were widely acknowledged as well. Respondents did not, however, identify potential benefits to the environment as an advantage of education.

Factors that stand as barriers to girls' education in Somalia fell into 5 categories: cultural, religious, economic, psychological, and logistical. Many respondents said that it was common practice to prioritise sons for educational opportunities and require girls to do housework. Expectations within the Somali family dictate behaviour of girls and young women, as well as the practice of early marriage for girls; but lack of money for school fees is the primary factor that prevents parents from sending girls to school. Opinions diverged about whether religion supports the education of girls. Some respondents interpreted Islam as giving priority to boys. On the other hand, many understood that Islam places great value on education, regardless of gender. Long travel distances to school and limited standards for school facilities were additional barriers noted by respondents.

Reflecting on these perceptions, the authors provide recommendations for short-term and long-term messaging, to be fed back into the "Radio Teacher" curriculum. For example, they note that the intended audience for the programmes consists of people who value education, who are seeking education for themselves, and who are likely to already be receptive to information and advice encouraging education for women and children. But in some categories, respondents did not seem to be at all aware of particular benefits, such as benefits to the short-term health of female children, or benefits to environmental protection. Thus, researchers recommend that the programmes present messages advocating girls' education both in terms of long-term and short-term perspectives.

Also, the researchers stress that programme-makers and partners should anticipate that there will be differing responses to the "Radio Teacher" topics. Where messages are similar to existing opinions and experiences, the audience will readily agree with main points and accept the ideas; where there is a range of opinions, audiences will debate the issue; when the message contradicts their own experiences, audiences are likely to resist the information. Thus, the researchers recommend that the programmes apply different approaches or treatments of the messages depending on whether the audience is likely to accept, debate, or resist them.