The main goal of the Female Education in Mathematics and Science in Africa (FEMSA) project is to improve the participation and performance of girls in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) subjects in primary and secondary schools in Africa. FEMSA completed a two-year pilot phase in December, 1997. The major objective of the pilot phase was to compile Country Profiles of four countries, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda, by making use of a partnership of students, teachers and parents to explore the problems girls face in the study of SMT subjects. These Country Profiles provide an information base on the status of girls' access to the study of SMT subjects and the constraints and difficulties they face in learning these disciplines. They further give an insight into the reasons for these difficulties, the attitudes of the girls themselves to the study of SMT subjects and those of their fellow male students, their teachers and parents, and offer some solutions which may be of use in improving the girls' performance.

A further important objective of the pilot phase was to sensitize ministries of education and other key persons in education about the status of girls' participation and performance in SMT and the importance of reforming SMT education to meet the needs of girls. This was done through the holding of National Seminars which are discussed in this booklet and through the design of National Action Plans in each of the pilot phase countries. Through the National Seminars, FEMSA has succeeded in building in each country a budding partnership of students, teachers and parents on the one hand, and policy and decision makers, gender activists, NGOs and funding agencies on the other, to begin to take action to improve the participation and performance of girls in SMT subjects. The problem is complex and pervades all sectors of the education system and the wider community. It is only through building a strong partnership of all the players involved, and providing precise information on the nature of the problem and the reasons leading to girls' current attitudes, that the situation can be alleviated.

FEMSA has published this series of booklets in order to share the experiences and information gained in the pilot phase with educationalists who cherish the goal of making SMT subjects more easily accessible to girls and of increasing girls interest and performance in these disciplines, and in the interests of helping to build strong partnerships among all relevant players to achieve this goal.

Funds for Phase I activities were provided for by a Donors' Consortium made up of the following organisations.

• NORAD
• The Rockefeller Foundation
• Irish Aid (HEDCO)
• DANIDA
• Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• ADEA Secretariat
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• SIDA
• Commonwealth Secretariat
• The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This dissemination booklet, Background and Research Methodology of the FEMSA Project, contains background information on how the two-year pilot phase of the FEMSA project was organized and details of the philosophy underlying the research methodology and instruments used. It is hoped that the booklet will be of help to those countries and organizations who might wish to undertake a similar study. Other booklets in the series will provide information on the questionnaires used, the PLA methodology used in group discussions and the instruments used for classroom observations, and of the difficulties and constraints encountered by the researchers in the four countries and the strategies they used to overcome these.

The material in this booklet was assembled by Joseph P O'Connor, FEMSA Project Consultant.

The main goal of FEMSA is to improve the access and performance of girls in mathematics and science at the primary and secondary school levels. FEMSA began its activities in late 1995 with a two-year pilot phase focused on compiling Country Profiles on the status of girls' participation and performance in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) subjects in four countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. Since the main objective of FEMSA was to compile Country Profiles of the status of girls' access to schooling and their participation and performance in SMT subjects when they were in school, the project was organized to facilitate this main aim. The administrative structure of FEMSA consisted of a project secretariat, based in Nairobi; National Teams of researchers in the four pilot phase countries, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda; a Project Committee to provide advisory services on professional matters; and a Donors' Consortium to provide funding for project activities. The research methodology and instruments to be used were designed by the secretariat and approved by the Project Committee. The guiding philosophy of the project was that, while the secretariat could design an overall plan and blueprint for the activities to be carried out in four diverse countries, it was essential that each country should own the project and be free to adapt the overall plan to their own peculiar circumstances.

It was realized at the outset that there already existed much quantitative data on the problem of girls' relatively poor performance in SMT subjects compared to that of boys. Therefore the FEMSA project concentrated on gathering data from those most intimately affected by the problem: the girls themselves, their fellow male students, their teachers and parents. The data collected were set in the context of the overall educational philosophy of each country and of the national policy related to the education of girls. The project decided to carry out an in-depth study of a small sample of primary and secondary schools in each country with a view to providing up to date information on the access of girls to schooling, their participation in Mathematics and Science when in school and their performance in national examinations in these subjects. The school studies also endeavoured to get an insight into the attitudes of girls to the usefulness and importance of Mathematics and Science, their perceptions regarding the difficulties and constraints they faced in studying these disciplines. The studies also sought from students, teachers and parents their views on the reasons for poorer performance by girls and the solutions they thought might be used to alleviate the situation.

The Country Profiles also sought to provide information on the role of syllabuses and examinations in determining the teaching methodologies used in the classroom and their impact on the difficulties facing girls. In addition, in each country a database was compiled providing information on the past and ongoing research conducted in the area of gender and SMT studies and on the past and ongoing interventions which have been undertaken in each country to ameliorate the situation. A variety of research methodologies were used: questionnaires for students and teachers; focused group discussions using the PLA methodology with students, teachers and parents; individual interviews with especially perceptive respondents; observation of Mathematics and Science classes in primary schools; and desk reviews of national policy documents, syllabuses and examination papers in Mathematics and Science, research documents and documentation of interventions.

It should be noted that little data was collected on Technological subjects, as there is little formal study of Technology in the primary and basic secondary schools in the four countries.

The main goal of FEMSA is to improve the access and performance of girls in mathematics and science at the primary and secondary school levels and to help countries and external assistance agencies to use their scarce resources more efficiently in promoting broader access to quality education in Africa. FEMSA began its activities in late 1995 with a two-year pilot phase focused on compiling Country Profiles on the status of girls' participation and performance in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) subjects in four countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.

1. To document and compile an information base on the status of SMT education with special reference to the access and performance of girls.

2. To sensitise relevant ministries of education and other key persons in education about the status of female participation in SMT and the importance of reforming SMT education to meet the needs of girls.
3. To provide information on innovative interventions in these areas by both formal government departments and agencies and NGOs, donors and the informal sector.
4. To document past and ongoing research in the areas of SMT and gender issues and indicate areas where research is needed.

5. To disseminate and share information and experiences on girls' education at national and regional levels.

6. To draw out differences, similarities and lessons to be learned from the experiences in the four countries.

7. To facilitate, through national seminars and follow-up activities, the initiation of concrete and appropriate national strategies, action programmes and interventions based on the compiled data and shared experiences.

FEMSA is a project of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)Working Group on Female Participation (WGFP), of which the Rockefeller Foundation is the lead agency. FAWE is hosting FEMSA on behalf of the Working Group and is also the grantee of the project. FAWE has established a trust account for the project which is managed by Price Waterhouse Consultants in Nairobi. NORAD leads the funding agency consortium for FEMSA.

The administrative structure of FEMSA consisted of a project secretariat, based in Nairobi; National Teams of researchers in the four pilot phase countries, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda; a Project Committee to provide advisory services on professional matters; and a Donors' Consortium to provide funding for project activities.

The FEMSA Secretariat, consisting of a part-time consultant and a part-time secretary, was based at the Rockefeller Foundation regional office in Nairobi. The planning, implementation and monitoring of FEMSA activities during the two-year Phase I was undertaken by the regional secretariat. In addition the secretariat provided back-up and support services for the National Teams who carried out the country studies in terms of design of the research methodology and instruments, guidance on data collection activities, suggestions on data analysis procedures, a common format for the four country reports and suggestions for the National Seminars and support for the Project Committee.

The work of carrying out data collection in each of the four countries was carried out by National Teams, under the direction of a National Co-ordinator. The National Teams, suitably balanced as regards gender, were made up of women and men with expertise in the area of gender and SMT and were all part-time for the time they spent on project activities. Indeed, one of the early problems in each of the countries was the loss of personnel who had been trained by FEMSA to more lucrative projects and NGOs. Each of the National Teams consisted of two to three more or less permanent members, while persons with the relevant expertise were recruited as required for specific tasks. The greatest credit and appreciation must be given to the four National Co-ordinators, Rose Eboutou Mfou in Cameroon; Georgina Quaisie in Ghana; Dr Verdiana Masanja in Tanzania and Dr Jane Mulemwa in Uganda, and all the members of their Teams, for the vast volume of work they undertook and the tremendous amount of data they collected during the two years of Phase I.

The four National Co-ordinators were identified by the Ministries of Education, in consultation with local FAWE Chapters, and approved by the FAWE regional secretariat in Nairobi. The following criteria were borne in mind in the identification and selection of the National Co-ordinators.

• Should be a woman.
• Should have outstanding expertise in the area of SMT education.
• Should be aware of the problems encountered by girls in SMT and have a strong interest in strengthening girls' participation and achievement in SMT through improvement in the quality of teaching and learning.
• Should be capable of adopting an essentially pragmatic and action-oriented approach to the review of problems and possible solutions in these areas.

 The Role of the National Coordinators

1. To assemble a National Team with the relevant expertise to carry out the project activities.

2. Lead, orientate and monitor the activities of the National Team and make sure that project deadlines were met.

3. Maintain and be accountable for the FEMSA Project bank account.

4. Liaise with Ministry of Education personnel in the conduct of project activities.

5. Compile the Country Report.
6. Organise a National Seminar to disseminate the findings of the Phase I study, build a partnership of interested parties to address the problems raised and devise a National Action Plan for future action.

The overall approval and supervision of the activities of the pilot phase were vested in a Project Committee, which was composed of the following members.

The four National Co-ordinators

The Project Consultant, who chaired meetings.

Four representatives of FAWE

One members representing the AAS Female Education Research Project

During the course of 1996 a representative of the Gender and Science and Technology (GASAT) association was added to the committee. Over the two years of Phase I, Resource Persons were recruited from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Kenyatta University, Nairobi and the University of Capetown.

The Project Committee approved the overall design of the project for the collection of data as the basis for the Country Profiles in the four countries, the research methodology and the instruments proposed by the secretariat, the re-design of the instruments after the pre-testing period, the guidelines set for the analysis of the data and the outline of the Country Profiles. The Committee has also provided input into the proposals for Phase II of FEMSA.

The funding for the Phase I activities was provided by a Donors' Consortium headed by NORAD. The donors who provided funding for the project were as follows.

• NORAD
• The Rockefeller Foundation
• Irish Aid (HEDCO)
• DANIDA
• Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• ADEA Secretariat
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• SIDA
• Commonwealth Secretariat
• The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Under the leadership of NORAD, these donors formed a common investment pool to support FEMSA activities and use the ADEA fora to exchange information on overall support for SMT education in the region. FEMSA is grateful for the support of all of these donors who made the activities of Phase I possible.

FAWE was the grantee for the project and the financial manager for the project up to 30^th June 1997, when Price Waterhouse Consultants took over as financial managers. During the two years of the pilot phase, meetings of the Donors' Consortium were held in Oslo in March 1996 and February 1997. Annual financial reports prepared by the financial managers and audited accounts, together with operational reports prepared by the Project Consultant, were submitted to the Donors' Consortium.

In each of the four countries a special FEMSA Project Account was set up to receive funds disbursed from the secretariat in Nairobi. This account was administered by the National Co-ordinator who disbursed funds for all project activities in the country. The National Co-ordinators were accountable for all funds expended and prepared periodic financial reports of expenditure as well as operational matters.

In the planning of the FEMSA pilot phase towards the end of 1995, it was felt that much quantitative data was already available in each of the four countries regarding the status of girls' participation and performance in Mathematics and Science at primary and secondary level. It was clear from previous studies that enrolment of girls, especially at secondary level, was far below that of boys. While all pupils in primary schools had equal access to the study of mathematics and basic science subjects, as soon as a choice was offered between Arts and Science disciplines, far fewer girls opted for sciences in the secondary schools. In national examinations the performance of girls, especially at secondary level, was much lower than that of boys. This situation had prevailed in most countries in the region for the previous 20 to 25 years and the situation had reached the point where students, teachers and parents had come to accept the situation as somehow inevitable. Examination results had been posted on school noticeboards year after year showing a very high proportion of the girls as utter failures in Mathematics and Science. Teachers, and the girls themselves, had stoically accepted this with a shrug and little had actually been done to find the root causes for this situation or to adopt strategies to reverse the trend.

The FEMSA project began with the belief that more was required than mere collection of data and documentation of the problem. From the beginning there was a desire to probe beneath the quantitative data to find the reasons for the problem; to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of the girls, their male fellow students, their teachers and their parents; to begin to sift and explore possible solutions and approaches that would help to provide an insight into pragmatic interventions that might be put in place to change the way Mathematics and Science is presented to girls at primary and secondary school level.

Indeed, the original project proposal for the pilot phase of FEMSA envisaged the project activities as culminating in each country in a National Seminar embracing all interested parties - students, teachers, parents, Ministry of Education decision makers and personnel involved in curriculum development, textbook and resource developers, teacher trainers, examination personnel, the wider science community, NGOs concerned with girls' education and funding agencies - to launch a partnership to disseminate the information gathered and build awareness of the complexity and all-pervading nature of the problem. And it was expected that the National Seminars in each country would devise a National Action Plan to chart the way forward in the search for pragmatic and feasible solutions.

Thus, from the beginning, the FEMSA methodology and research instruments were based on the following principles.

• To allow reasonable freedom to each country to adapt the approach, methodology and instruments to suit their own unique circumstances.
• To build the Country Profiles around the views and perceptions of those most intimately affected by the problem: the girl students, their fellow male students, their teachers and their parents.
• To attempt to put a human face on the quantitative data available in each country by placing the main emphasis on collecting qualitative and ethnographic data.
• To gather data on the reasons for the problems and elicit possible solutions from teachers, students and their parents.
• To set the Country Profiles in the context of the overall educational structure and policy regarding the education of girls.

In each country the National Teams concentrated on gathering data on a number of key areas:

• The relevance of the current syllabuses in SMT subjects to the needs of girls and women in their lives after school.
• The attitudes of girl students, teachers and parents to the study by girls of SMT subjects in school and to girls pursuing careers in the sciences and technology.
• How SMT subjects are presented in class, with special reference to how girls are treated in SMT classes.
• The extent to which gender issues are addressed in the design and production of curriculum support materials and the involvement of women in the curriculum development process.
• The gender sensitivity of examinations, the performance of girls relevant to that of boys in mathematics and science and the reasons for poor performance by girls in these subjects.

 It was decided that in each country the compilation of the Country Profiles should centre round a small sample of primary and secondary schools and that an in-depth study should be carried out in each school to build up a complete profile of the school with regard to the following areas.

• The physical facilities available and the resources to be had in the school for the teaching and learning of Mathematics and Science.
• The gender composition and qualifications of the staff.
• The attitudes of the students to the importance of Mathematics and Science in their lives after school.
• The perceptions of the students, teachers and parents of the difficulties and constraints faced by girls in the learning of mathematics and science and the reasons for these.
• The views of students, teachers and girls regarding any differences in performance in these subjects between boys and girls and the reasons for any reasons revealed.
• Views of students, teachers and girls on how the teaching and learning of Mathematics and Science could be improved and made more relevant for girls.
• The methods and approaches used in primary school Mathematics and Science lessons, the overall treatment of girls in comparison to that received by boys, and the willingness or otherwise of teachers to motivate the girls in Mathematics and Science on an equal basis with boys. It was decided not to undertake classroom observations in secondary schools, as it was believed that in many, the approaches were similar to those used in primary schools.

 The School Samples

It was originally decided that 12 primary schools and 10 secondary schools, comprising a mix of high, middle and low performing schools, should be selected in each country. In the event, the following was the makeup of the school samples in the four countries.

 Cameroon

Primary Schools: 12 francophone schools and 4 anglophone schools were selected from Adamaoua, Centre, East, Littoral, North, West, South, North-West, and South-West provinces.

Secondary Schools: 7 francophone and 5 anglophone schools were selected from Adamaoua, Central, East, Littoral, North, South, North-West and South-West provinces.

Primary Schools: In Ghana the Basic Education system comprises 6 years of primary schooling, together with 3 years of Junior Secondary schooling (JSS). A total of 11 basic schools were selected, which included JSS, from Central, Greater-Accra, Ashanti, Upper West, Northern and Brong Ahafo regions of the country.

Senior Secondary Schools: 12 Senior Secondary Schools were selected from the Greater-Accra, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta, Western, Central and Upper West regions of the country.

Primary Schools: 12 schools in Eastern and Lake Zones were selected.

Secondary Schools: 12 schools were selected from Bagamoyo, Karagwe, Bukoba, Ilala, Morogoro and Muleba districts.

Primary Schools: 16 primary schools were selected: 4 each from the Central, Eastern and Western regions of the country.

Secondary Schools: 10 schools from Central region were selected.

While the size of the school sample was small, the secretariat felt that even if the sample had been greatly increased, the problems revealed and the underlying reasons for them would not have been greatly different. And in fact, the results of the school studies undertaken in the four diverse countries, provided very similar data.

As will be seen from the breakdown above, each country attempted to cover as wide a geographic and socio-economic spread as was possible in such a small sample. This resulted in the research teams being involved in a lot of travelling, with a consequent drain on the meagre resources made available for the data collection. With the benefit of hindsight, it would now seem that it would have been more advisable to opt for more centrally located and accessible schools. This is especially so since the main focus of FEMSA Phase II activities will be the implementation of school-level interventions to attempt to alleviate the problems encountered in regard to girls' access and performance in Mathematics and Science education. It is hoped that the sample schools used in the data collection phase will be used as core schools for these interventions.

A factor that emerged during the data collection activities is the extent to which many institutions and individuals in countries in the Africa region are beginning to suffer from "evaluation fatigue". Institutions and individuals, in some countries more than others, have been repeatedly studied and researched over the past 15 to 20 years and their views solicited on the nature of their problems in all areas of life and the solutions they would wish to see implemented. Yet once the research or study has been completed they are left to their own devices. It is in response to the belief that we have reached a point where action, rather than rhetoric, is required and in a desire to give something back to the respondents who provided the bulk of the data from Phase I, that the FEMSA project wishes to help the sample schools to implement some of their solutions by making them the core centres for Phase II interventions.

The data collected from the school studies were set within the context of the overall educational structure and policy of each country. Information was collected on important policies and decisions regarding the education of girls, especially as these related to the study of SMT subjects and these were analysed with specific reference to their gender sensitivity and the promotion of girls' education. The subject syllabuses and examinations set for Mathematics and Science at the primary and secondary levels were analysed to assess their impact on the attitudes of the girls, and boys, studying these subjects; the problems they encounter in learning the disciplines; and the approaches used by the teachers in the classroom. Examination statistics for as many years as possible since 1990 on the performance of girls and boys were analysed. Information databases were compiled on the past and ongoing research conducted in each country in the area of gender and SMT and on the interventions being implemented to improve the participation and performance of girls and women in SMT.

 The Research Instruments

The school studies were undertaken using a variety of research methodologies:

• Questionnaires, designed by the project secretariat, were administered to teachers and students from upper classes in primary schools; and to science and mathematics teachers and students from non-examination classes in secondary schools. Approximately 1400 students and 400 teachers completed questionnaires in primary schools and questionnaires were completed by about 1600 students and 300 teachers in secondary schools. All the questionnaires were pre-tested and modified to suit the unique requirements of each country. A strict requirement of the whole study was that, while the overall framework of the study and the instruments were designed centrally, each country was given maximum freedom to adapt these instruments to suit their own individual needs. The FEMSA secretariat will in the near future publish a booklet outlining the methodology used, containing the actual questionnaires used and with a commentary on the pitfalls and constraints encountered in the conduct of the school studies.
• Special questionnaires were completed by the Heads of schools used in the sample. These gave details of enrolment, dropouts, repetition, school facilities and staff and examination performance and enabled the researchers to build a complete picture of the school and its community.
• Guided discussions were held with students, teachers and parents using the Participatory Learning Action (PLA) methodology. This methodology was pioneered by the Uganda team and used extensively by them in their school studies. It involved intensive brain-storming, first with female and male only groups, and then in mixed groups of participants, to unearth the reasons for the poor participation and performance of girls in mathematics and science, and thereafter to come up with solutions which might alleviate these problems. The PLA discussions provided the richest data of the whole study and were particularly effective in enabling the researchers to give considered priorities to the causes of the problem and the solutions which might be used to address them. It was of considerable importance that these discussions, while unearthing reasons and causes, also were extremely effective in creating awareness of the seriousness of the problem and sensitising the participants to the fact that they themselves, and their traditional and at times chauvinistic attitudes, were the principal cause of the situation and to the fact that the solution lay largely in their own hands.
• Individual interviews were held with students. teachers and parents who appeared to be particularly informative.

Desk reviews and interviews were carried out to determine the past and current research conducted in the area of gender and SMT and to document the interventions which had been set in place to improve the participation and performance of girls in SMT subjects. FEMSA intends to publish booklets incorporating this information.

Desk reviews were also undertaken on national policy related to the education of the girl child and on the impact of science and mathematics syllabuses and examinations on girls' participation and performance in these disciplines and with regard to their relevance to the girls' lives after school.

Subsequent booklets in this series will deal with specific aspects of the research methodology: The Questionnaires used in the Primary School Studies, The Questionnaires used in the Secondary School Studies, The Classroom Observation Schedules, Focused Group Discussions, Interviews and the PLA Methodology.

 The Design of the Research Instruments

The overall approach to the compilation of the Country Profiles, the scope of the data to be collected and initial drafts of the instruments to be used were prepared by the secretariat.

These were then presented to the Project Committee for discussion and amendment in February of 1996. Subsequent to the perusal by the Committee the Project Consultant, together with two Resource persons from Kenyatta University in Nairobi modified the various instruments.

The questionnaires were presented in an open-ended format, with no structured responses provided for respondents. This was deliberate, although the drafters of the questionnaires realised there would be very many responses to some questions, which would deliver a nightmare scenario in terms of analysis of the data. However, it was felt that it would be wiser to get precise information from respondents on what they really thought and believed, rather than presenting the designers' own pre-conceived views. Thus it was decided to leave the open-ended style questions for the pre-testing stage.

A Lesson Observation Schedule was prepared for use by researchers in documenting the activities and approaches used in Mathematics and Science classes in primary schools.

Guidelines for the conduct of the focused group discussions and individual interviews were also prepared.

Pre-testing of all of the research instruments took place in all four countries between March and June 1996. The initial trials revealed serious problems, especially with the questionnaires for primary school pupils and teachers. The questionnaires were simply too ambitious and some questions sought information which the students did not have. For example, in response to questions asking which were the most difficult topics in Mathematics and Science, students simply listed the topics which they were currently studying. The analysed results produced a list of all the topics on the syllabus! As anticipated, all of the open-ended questions produced a list of options that would have been virtually impossible to analyse in any meaningful way. The initial versions were in English, except for the francophone schools in Cameroon and in Tanzania, where they were translated into Kiswahili. Even where the questionnaires were administered in the medium of instruction of the school, language proved a major stumbling block, among teachers as well as pupils, and many questions were intelligible to the respondents. This was partly overcome by oral translation of the questions into the vernacular language of the area and by detailed explanations of the intent of the questions. Questionnaires for the Head Teachers and for the secondary schools were generally found to be satisfactory.

Further problems were encountered in the conduct of focused group discussions and interviews. Examples of the kinds of issues that might be discussed with various groups had been made available, but in some cases all of the issues were raised for discussion leading to rather cursory treatment of most issues. A similar approach led to individual interviews in some cases degenerating into oral questionnaires, with interviewers rushing to get down responses, without having time to delve deeply into key questions or pursue promising lines of enquiry.

The classroom observation schedules were the most difficult to operate. There was a serious dearth of experienced lesson observers in all countries, even where researchers with a background in Teacher Training institutions were used.

Each of the four countries made extensive modifications to the instruments as a result of the pre-testing and then tried the new versions. Relative freedom was given to each National Team to make whatever changes they desired to meet their own peculiar requirements, while at the same time keeping as many common questions and issues as possible to make a cross-country comparison of the results feasible.

Each team contributed a unique input to the re-design and re-organisation of the instruments. Cameroon produced French versions of all the instruments, Ghana produced a new version of the Classroom Observation Schedule, Tanzania produced Kiswahili versions of the primary school questionnaires and Uganda pioneered and perfected the use of the PLA methodology for the group discussions.

All of the information gathered during the pre-testing in the four countries, together with the modified versions, completed questionnaires and data collected during group discussions and interviews, and classroom observations, was relayed to the FEMSA secretariat. All of this data collected was analysed and the flaws in the instruments, the required modifications, and the resulting data was exhaustively discussed at a meeting of the Project Committee in July 1996. New versions were proposed and these were finalised by the Project Consultant and the two Resource persons from Kenyatta University and each country was presented with the final versions.

In all four countries there was a serious shortage of trained researchers with the required expertise, especially in classroom observation and the PLA methodology. Each of the National Teams began the pre-testing phase with training sessions on the goals and objectives of FEMSA, the nature of the data collection exercise and the use of the research instruments. Special attention was given to the use of the classroom observation schedules and the PLA approach. The specific training approaches used are outlined in the relevant booklets in this series.

In each of the four countries the Ministry of Education and relevant officers were fully briefed by the National Co-ordinators and formal permission and clearance received for the activities to be conducted in the schools. The close contact with the Ministries of Education was essential, not only for reasons of protocol, but for the future utilisation of the findings of the Phase I studies in attempting to improve the participation and performance of girls in SMT subjects through meaningful interventions in the schools. FEMSA is grateful to the Ministry of Education in each country for the full co-operation and unstinting support given to all the members of the National Team and for the readiness with which clearance was given to use the schools for the studies.

As schools were identified and selected to become part of the study, the activities to be carried out were explained to the Head Teacher and the school's consent to conduct these activities was sought. Care was taken to have the Head explain to both students and teachers the reason for the FEMSA Team's presence in the school, so as to allay fears that they might be mistaken for School Inspectors. The FEMSA team was in residence in each school for approximately one week. The Team promised to give each school immediate feedback on their general findings regarding their school at the end of the exercise, if they wished to have it. Most schools eagerly accepted this offer and this resulted in the beginnings of awareness building and sensitisation in the schools.

Some difficulties were encountered in the efforts of the National Teams to collect data in their countries.