• Introduction
• Guidelines for the Objectives and Format of the National Seminars
• Pre-Seminar Brainstorming Meetings
• The National Seminars

The main aim of the two year pilot phase of the FEMSA project was to compile Country Profiles of the four countries involved in the project. The information contained in these Country Profiles was collected through a variety of methods. These included:

• desk reviews to gather data on:
• the status of girls’ access to and participation in SMT subjects at primary and secondary school level and policies related to this and;
• of research and intervention strategies/projects carried out on these issues.

• questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions which were used with parents, pupils, head teachers and teachers to identify:
• the problems that hinder girls full participation in SMT education;
• the root causes of these problems and;
• possible solutions to these problems.

The National Seminars, which were held at the end of the pilot phase in each country, served several purposes. First of all, they provided a public forum for the dissemination of the project findings and the introduction of FEMSA to a wider and more diversified key audience. This further served to sensitize and raise the awareness of key players on the importance and status of girls participation in SMT and the need for action to address the identified problems.

Another purpose of the National Seminars was to establish and strengthen partnerships between the key players in the field of SMT education. This included key players in the school and community, i.e. pupils, parents, teachers and school administration, on the one hand, and education policy makers, NGOs involved in education, gender and SMT and other relevant institutions such as the media on the other. An effective and working partnership between these parties would raise the chances of success of any planned intervention strategies aimed at improving female participation in SMT education.

Finally, the major outcomes of the National Seminars which were the National Action Plans, were to serve as the transitional step between the pilot and the next phase of the FEMSA project.

As mentioned before, the main purpose of this booklet is to outline the strategies used by the individual countries in planning for and implementing the National Seminars. The first section, will look briefly at the suggested guidelines provided to the pilot countries for use in planning their activities. These will include an outline of the suggested objectives, participants and format for the seminars.

This will be followed by a description of the pre-seminar meetings which were held in each of the four countries for the purpose of planning for the National Seminars. This section will summarize the objectives, participants, activities and outcomes of these meetings.

The final part of the booklet will focus on the National Seminars. This section will compare and contrast the National Seminars in the four countries especially in relation to the categories of participants, issues of focus, and activities undertaken.

In order to ensure some uniformity in the outcome of the Seminars, it was suggested to the National Coordinators in each the four countries that the format and organization be centered around the following ideas.

It was suggested that the main objectives of the seminars should be to:

1. Disseminate the findings of the Country Study regarding;

• The status of girls’ access to schooling, their participation and performance in SMT subjects.
• The reasons for any differences revealed between girls and boys.
• Suggested solutions to alleviate the problems.

1. Draw up an Action Plan to implement the solutions suggested in terms of:

• Having an impact on National Policy and decision making, especially with regard to having the FEMSA findings incorporated in future policy decisions.
• Identifying interventions at the school and community level which could be supported in the future.
• Drawing up a work plan for the formation of a FEMSA Center.
• Identifying the agencies and organizations, and departments of the Ministry of Education which would be responsible for the implementation of the Action Plan.
• Drawing up a timetable of activities for the next 2 -3 years.
• Identifying modalities for evaluation of actions taken.

In order to ensure the participation of key players in the area of girls’ participation in SMT and to begin the process of establishing and building on existing partnerships, it was also suggested that the participants at the seminars should include:

• Officers of the Ministry of Education with the responsibility for:

1. Curriculum Development
2. Inspectorate
3. Examinations
4. Teacher Education
5. Girls’ Education/ Gender Issues

• Representatives of the universities and teacher education institutions dealing with gender issues and SMT education.
• Representatives of basic and senior secondary schools, especially from schools who were involved in the school studies.
• Representatives of the wider science community in each country.
• Gender activists, including members of the local Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) Chapter.
• Activists involved in the African Forum for Children’s Literacy in Science and Technology (AFCLIST) sponsored projects.
• Representatives of local donor organizations who might be in a position to assist with future FEMSA activities.

The formation of partnerships between these categories of people is advantageous in that it allows for the generation and coordination of ideas and resources and makes it easier, through strategic resource planning and allocation, to avoid wastage through duplication and allocate limited resources in an efficient and effective manner. Those participating in such a partnership because they are involved in the process of identifying the problems and planning for and implementing the solutions, will feel more of a sense of ownership for the product and may therefore be willing to invest the time, energy and resources required to ensure success.

The following was suggested as a possible format for the organization of the seminars.

• The presentation of keynote papers on the main issues of the project, prepared preferably by resource persons who were involved in the country study, and distributed to participants in advance of the seminar.
• The preparation and presentation of critiques of the issues raised in the keynote papers. These could be presented by two discussants and the author of the keynote paper would be given the opportunity to respond to the issues/ questions raised.
• Guided group discussions of the issues raised by the keynote papers and critiques. The main aim of these group discussions would be to identify and prepare the key elements of the Action Plan and would therefore form the main activities of the seminars.
• An alternative suggestion for the format was that the seminar could also begin by engaging the participants in a PLA (Participatory Learning Approach) session during which they would discuss:
• the constraints to girls access to schooling and SMT in particular;
• the causes of these problems and;
• possible solutions to these problems.

• shed additional light on the issues raised from the unique perspectives and opinions of the participants;
• raise interesting contrasts between the views of the different categories of participants, who include actors at the top, e.g. policy makers and the players at the grassroots;
• also be a more participatory, interesting and sensitizing way of beginning the workshop. The sensitization would come about as participants were made aware, as they went through the process, of the any biases and prejudices they harbor. This participation would be the first step towards helping participants find ways to overcome these biases and become truly committed to the cause of girls’ education and ‘buy into’ efforts to improve girls participation in education and especially SMT.

In order to effectively organize the National Seminars, it was suggested that each country’s project team hold a series of meetings to plan for and organize the National Seminars. These meetings culminated in a Pre-Seminar ‘Brainstorming Meeting’ which was generally a major two day meeting during which the project team invited representatives of the major education stakeholders to generate ideas and finalize plans for the Seminars. These meetings were generally held at venues which ensured that the participants were away from their official duties to avoid interruptions and encourage an environment conducive to focused discussion and planning. The approaches to the organization and focus of issues during these meetings varied from country to country. The following section will outline, as examples, the approaches used by Tanzania and Uganda for these meetings.

Tanzania’s ‘brainstorming’ meeting involved a fairly large number of participants (about 31) who were drawn from the various categories of key players suggested in the guidelines for the National Seminars.

The main objective of the Tanzanian brainstorming meeting was to develop the framework of a National Action Plan which would then be discussed and refined during the National Seminar.

In order to achieve this, the Tanzanians modeled the brainstorming meeting as closely as possible to the suggested format of the National Seminars. This included a presentation to the participants of FEMSA’s goals and project activities during the first phase of the project.

This was followed by a presentation of the findings of the study which were then discussed by the participants with the focus of the discussion being on the reasons for girls’ poor performance in SMT subjects. After these reasons had been identified participants were then asked to work in groups to discuss actions that could be undertaken at community and school level to address the problems identified and improve girls participation in SMT. Specifically, the groups worked on determining:

• What each of them could do as individuals i.e. as teachers, donors, parents, policy makers etc. to ensure positive change in girls’ education in general and SMT in particular?
• The interventions at school and community level which could be supported in the future. For each intervention, the groups indicated the objectives, activities involved, implementers and the funding required, as well as the issue of sustainability.
• A timetable of activities for the next 2-3 years.
• The modalities for the evaluation of any actions to be undertaken.

In addition to the above, the groups were also asked to address policy issues and asked to consider the following in their discussions.

• How the country’s broad educational objectives could be specified in order to enhance girls’ performance in SMT?
• How the FEMSA research findings could be incorporated into education policy so as to benefit the girl child in SMT?
• The extent to which the following Government instituted affirmative actions have influenced girls participation and performance in SMT subjects.

1. The Quota System
2. The establishment of day streams for girls in existing boys government schools
3. Reviewing the school curriculum
4. Establishment of special education support for girls and women in education.

• The language policy for Education in Tanzania states that Kiswahili should be the medium of instruction in primary schools and English at secondary level. Research and experience has shown that the bilingual nature of the medium of instruction negatively affects communication skills which in turn adversely affects educational attainment especially for the girl child. What action should be taken to alleviate the problem?

During the meeting, the objectives and format of the National Seminar were also discussed with the participants. This helped the National Coordinator and her team to explore possible approaches to the running of the National Seminar and also helped to identify potential facilitators for the participatory sessions.

The Uganda pre-seminar brainstorming meeting was also held over a period of two days. However, in contrast to Tanzania, this meeting was attended by only a small group of key people. A strategy which the project team felt was more effective and efficient.

The project team had already determined during previous meetings that the main objective of their National Seminar would be to expose participants to a number of PLA sessions designed to explore the problems of girls participation and performance in SMT and to identify and prioritize possible solutions. In order to prepare for this, it was decided that the objectives of the brainstorming meeting would be to:

• Work through the PLA methodology
• Suggest and discuss the activities proposed for the National Seminar
• Identify and assign tasks that needed to be accomplished in preparation for the seminar.

The key elements of the PLA methodology were explained to the participants and tips on the practical implementation of the methodology given by the National Coordinator.

The PLA method is outlined in another booklet entitled Focused Group Discussions, Interviews and the PLA Methodology. Those interested in learning more about this method should therefore refer to this booklet.

The participants engaged in group work during the meeting the objectives of which were to use the PLA methodology to:

1. identify the main problems
1. identify the causes of the problems
2. clarify what strategies girls use to cope with these problems
3. prescribe solutions for the problems
4. prioritize the solutions in relation to the issue of the girls’ participation and performance in SMT subjects in Uganda.

The participants were divided into two groups by gender and first asked to discuss the question ‘ What problems do girls face in the learning of Mathematics and Science?’ Each group first discussed and free-listed as many problems as they could think of, then prioritized and short listed these to identify the six they felt were most important. The two groups were then brought together and their lists combined, then the process of prioritization was repeated to come up with a list of the six problems that the entire group after debating felt were the most critical. The whole group then went on to list and prioritize causes, coping strategies and possible solutions for the six problems listed.

Although all the participants agreed that the PLA methodology was a very effective strategy for raising awareness and prioritizing issues, there were misgivings about whether it could be effectively implemented during the National Seminar given the intensity of the proceedings, the number of participants and the time available. It was therefore decided that the actual seminar would begin with the dissemination the project findings on the problems that inhibit the full participation of girls in education in general and SMT in particular, and that the PLA method would then be used to identify and prioritize solutions.

The meeting also decided on a time table for the National Seminar and decided on the participants to be invited.

As mentioned before, the project teams in each country were given the freedom to adapt and modify the guidelines suggested above in any way they deemed would enable achieve their objectives in the most effective way. As a result, it emerged that each country chose to interpret and implement the suggested guidelines in different ways, based on their perceived priorities and expected outcomes.

The following section looks at the National Seminars under the major headings, ‘participants’ and ‘format’. Under format, there will be outlined, the keynote papers presented and the activities undertaken especially in relation to group work.

In addition to the FEMSA project team, the categories of participants invited to the National Seminars of each of the four countries was similar. Each country included among its participants;

• Head teachers, teachers and parents from schools in the regions in which the project was carried out. Some of the countries also invited students to their National Seminars as participants.
• Senior government officials. In some cases, this included Ministers and the heads of educational departments and institutions. Also included were representatives from Ministries that were concerned with the status of women and children, or with SMT.
• Senior education officials and policy makers. These included curriculum developers, representatives of the Inspectorate, planning, teacher training and research departments within the Ministry, as well as Education Officers at various levels such as the DEO.
• Representatives from non-governmental organizations concerned with the education of girls in general and/or in SMT in particular. These included for example, UNICEF, USAID, INSSTEP, British Council/ODA, Danida, FAWE, JICA, GTZ, World Bank, representatives of religious NGO’s especially those from the mainstream religions in the country, as well as representatives from relevant local non-governmental organizations.
• In addition to the above mentioned categories of participants, all countries also invited representatives of the media.

It should be noted that with all the countries, it was an issue of concern that negotiations for the attendance of senior government officials be started as early as possible. This was because in most cases the attendance of these officials required personal meetings and the petitioning of highly placed contacts within the relevant Ministries and organizations. The official duties of senior officials also made heavy demands on their time which made it necessary to contact and request their attendance well in advance of the Seminar dates.

Many of the issues and problems identified during the study require intervention at policy level and the support and approval of relevant ministries within the government is necessary for the success of any action undertaken to address these problems. The backing of highly placed government officials also raises the profile and awareness of the cause and is the key to easier and maybe quicker implementation of necessary reform. It is also important that any key participants invited to the Seminar receive necessary documents well in advance of the seminar, including project and country reports.

For all the countries involved, after the official opening, the National Seminars generally begun with presentations on the background of the FEMSA project, including its aims, objectives and activities to date. Also discussed were the justification for the pilot phase of the project as well as information on the methodologies utilized during the data collection process as well as a description of the study area, population and sample.

This was generally followed by the presentation of keynote papers and, in some cases, critiques of the presentations. Plenary discussions were held after key presentations, to allow participants to react to and raise questions about the issues presented. Participants were then involved in group work during they were required to formulate an action plan guided by the information generated by the keynote papers and resulting discussions.

This format is discussed in more detail for the individual countries in the sections following.

The keynote presentations during the Cameroon Seminar were:

• ‘Education is Important, the Girls Know It’: Obstacles to this education.
• Presentation of the Major Findings from the Research carried out.
• ‘The Education of Girls in Mathematics and Science, the Plight of Girls in Rural Areas of Cameroon’.

After these presentations which were followed by plenary discussions, the participants were divided into groups (referred to as commissions). Each commission was assigned one of the following issues to discuss in relation to the research findings and the issues raised in the other keynote papers and subsequent discussions:

1. Elaboration of a proposed plan of action at the level of the Ministry of National Education on girls access to Mathematics and Science.
1. Ways of improving the performance of girls in Mathematics, Science and Technical Industrial subjects.
2. An action plan for advocacy and social sensitization for the access and retention of girls in Mathematics and Science in schools.

In discussing their assigned topic, each commission was asked to specifically:

• Take inventory of the problems which militate against the performance of students in Mathematics, Science and Technical Subjects.
• Define short and long term strategies to be undertaken.
• Propose actions for the implementation of these strategies.
• Identify the actors capable of this implementation.

Each commission than made a presentation of the outcomes of their discussions during plenary sessions. At the end of each presentation, the rest of the participants were encouraged to ask questions, discuss and generally react to the presentations.

As a result of these discussions, participants identified two levels at which interventions should be targeted in order to improve female access to and participation in SMT. These were, the access and retention of girls in school in general and SMT subjects in particular first at primary school level and also at secondary school level. For each of these levels, discussions were held to isolate the problems the girls faced, to define strategies and specific actions to deal with these problems and identify the actors who could most effectively implement these strategies and actions. This formed the framework for the National Action Plan.

The Action Plans for all the four countries are presented in detail in the booklet entitled The National Action Plans.

The keynote papers presented during the Ghana National Seminar were on:

1. ‘Policy and Structure of the Education System’
1. ‘Current Practice of Science and Technology Education’
2. ‘Research and Interventions in the area of Gender, Science and Technology’.

After each presentation, the moderator for each session led that plenary in the discussion of the issues raised in the papers.

The participants were then divided into six groups based on the categories of participants i.e. researchers; head teachers; teachers; policy makers; parents and representatives of NGO’s; female students and; male students.

Below are the key issues which the groups were asked to discuss. These issues were identified from the areas covered by the keynote papers.

1. ‘Policy and Structure of the Education System’

• Access of Girls to School.
• Retention of Girls in School.

1. ‘Current Practice of Science and Technology Education’

• Performance of Girls in Math’s at Basic Level.
• Performance of Girls in Science at Basic Level.
• Access of Girls to Science Programs at the Senior Secondary School (SSS) level.
• Retention of Girls in Elective Math’s at the SSS level.
• Retention of Girls in Elective Sciences at the SSS level.
• Performance of Girls in Math’s at SSS level.
• Performance of Girls in Science at SSS level.

1. ‘Research and Interventions in the area of Gender, Science and Technology’.

• Researches done in the area of Gender and SMT.
• Interventions which have taken place in the area of Gender and SMT.

The groups were also given guidelines on which to base their discussions of the above issues. For example, the groups were told that their discussions should center on four main areas:

• The problems,
• Factors resulting in, or causes of each problem,
• Strategies for solving the problems and,
• Who would do what in order to solve the problems.

Each group was assigned one resource person from the organizing team to guide discussions and encourage full participation. The group selected it sown moderator and secretary to compile their reports.

After each group meeting, the plenary re-convened and the secretaries of the groups read out the record of the groups discussions. Each presentation was then discussed and any further inputs were incorporated by the secretaries into their reports.

The final group reports, constituted a critical part of the seminar outcomes and were to be used by the project team as the foundation for developing the National Action Plan.

The keynote papers in the Tanzanian National Seminar were:

• Status of Girls Access to Schooling, Participation and Performance in Science, Mathematics and Technical Subjects.
• Reasons for the Differences between Girls and Boys in SMT Education.
• Suggested Solutions and Interventions to Alleviate the Problem.

This seminar involved innovative activities which made it unique. The first two keynote papers were each followed by the presentation of a drama based on the theme of the paper. The organizers felt that the use of drama was a more interesting, thought provoking and participatory way of presenting the findings of the research. The drama sessions were then followed by the presentation of a critique of the paper, underlining the key points, raising issues of concern and pointing out gaps and areas that required more exploration, among other things. This was followed by a plenary discussion during which the seminar participants were given the opportunity to react to and discuss the issues raised.

After the session on each paper, participants were divided into groups of six and provided with issues directly related to the preceding presentation to discuss. The issues discussed in relation to the paper on ‘Status of Girls Access to Schooling, Participation and Performance in Science, Mathematics and Technical Subjects’ were:

1. Students preference of male/female teachers.
2. Perceptual attitudes of girls.
3. Girls lack of awareness of the factors that influence their performance in science.
4. Peer influence and withdrawal from Science subjects by girls.

For the second paper on ‘Reasons for the Differences between Girls and Boys in SMT Education’, group work was based on the following issues:

1. Other causes/problems/factors other than those identified by the FEMSA study, which affect girls access to school, their participation and performance in SMT.
2. The six most important factors affecting participation and performance, in order of importance.
3. Identifying the root causes of these six factors.
4. Strategies to make girls aware of their potential and enable them to realize their abilities to the fullest.
5. To identify the main beneficiaries of positive changes in girls’ participation in education, particularly SMT and outline the possible benefits.

In addition to the above, time was made for panel presentations from students and parents. Each presentation, was followed by a session during which participants asked questions of the presenters and discussed the issues raised by the panelists.

On the third day of the workshop, participants were required to work in groups to draw up a National Action Plan focusing on strategies for awareness raising and poverty eradication. In drawing up this plan, participants were asked to ensure that the strategies suggested promoted collaboration between and within the family, school, local community, religious institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations. The strategies should also be pragmatic, economical, sustainable and capable of being implemented in the short term. The groups were also asked to give some thought to and suggestions on the issues of; the policy of cost sharing in education, positive discrimination against girls, liberalization of schools and the issue of school girl pregnancy in relation to their effect on SMT. These suggestions were then forwarded to the MoE for consideration and further action.

The Ugandan National Seminar differed from the others in that the PLA methodology was used in the group discussions.

After the official opening of the workshop and the presentations on the FEMSA project, two keynote papers were presented. These gave information on the results of the desk reviews on:

• Policy, Access, Performance and Curricular Issues and;
• Research and Interventions in Gender and SMT.

Each presentation was followed by a critique of the findings, issues and questions raised in each paper. After the presentations and critiques of both papers, came a plenary session during which the project findings were discussed.

The participants were then divided into groups comprising the different categories of participants, i.e. teachers, parents, head teachers and policy implementors.

Each group was assigned at least two identified problems facing girls in SMT to discuss. The problems were assigned in such a way that the various groups discussed those problems that were most relevant to them and that they as a group could do the most to address.

The task for each group involved the use of the PLA methodology to:

1. Identify feasible solutions to the specific problems assigned to the group.
2. Identify the possible implementers for each of the suggested solutions.
3. Prioritize the solutions in terms of their feasibility, cost effectiveness and sustainability.

Each group was under the leadership of two of the workshop organizers all of whom had been trained in the use of the PLA methodology.

Each group was required to carry out brainstorming sessions on each problem and generate a free list of solutions from which they would later prioritize and rank the ones they considered the most important. The problems discussed by each group are outlined below.

Teachers:

• Discouragement
• Anxiety during science lessons
• Poor self concept

Head Teachers:

• Distraction of girls
• Teachers’ attitudes/Personality
• Poor teaching approaches

• Domestic and other chores
• Missing classes
• Little mathematics/science-based experiences

• SMT subjects are masculine
• Distraction
• Lack of interest in SMT

As mentioned before, the Action Plans generated from the National Seminars are discussed in the booklet The National Action Plans. These National Action Plans constitute the major outcomes of the Seminars and indeed the pilot phase of the FEMSA project and they are essential to the successful initiation of the next step in the project. The comparison of the various National Action Plans for the four countries will also help those implementing similar activities to take note of those issues which were common to all the four countries and which are therefore more likely to be common to other African countries with similar contexts. This would be of assistance in helping determine areas of focus and areas that require action without necessarily engaging in all the activities of the pilot phase of the project.

It should also be noted that, in formulating the National Action Plans, it is especially important that the recommended solutions and strategies for intervention should, first of all, be based on the identified constraints, and should in addition be feasible i.e. should be capable of being efficiently implemented within the limitations of the resources available, should be culturally appropriate, should be sustainable and should ensure permanent positive reform and take into account the opinions of the categories of players most directly affected. It is important in identifying the key implementers of the suggested solutions and interventions that there is established and sustained, collaboration within and between the various categories of stakeholders involved in gender issues in SMT. One notable impact of these seminars is that they drew together participants from all levels of the system i.e. policy makers and planners from the higher echelons of the education system and, teachers, students and parents who make up the grassroots level of the system. The participants found this association mutually beneficial and many confessed to being pleasantly surprised at how much they were able to learn from each other.

As noted before, the countries involved in this exercise adopted contrasting strategies in the planning and implementation of their pre-seminar meetings and National Seminars themselves. This is in keeping with the overall philosophy of FEMSA in which each country is allowed and even encouraged to evolve a unique approach to defining, and identifying solutions to the problems constraining the participation of girls in SMT education in their own countries. This makes the solutions and strategies arrived at as a result of such a process more relevant to the specific country contexts and increases their chances of success once implemented.

This approach also permits the development of a variety of techniques for addressing project activities, and a variety of strategies for intervention which new FEMSA countries can choose from.

This dissemination booklet on the FEMSA National Seminars, aims at outlining the processes and steps undertaken by the pilot phase countries, in the planning, development and implementation of their National Seminars. It is hoped that the information in this booklet will be of assistance to organizers of similar seminars in other countries.

This booklet is mainly targeted at FEMSA Project Teams and other similar groups whose interest is the improvement of female access and participation in SMT subjects and careers. It is however important to note that similar activities can be organized to benefit various other areas of education in general and female participation in these areas in particular. This booklet would also be of particular interest to education policy makers who are interested in finding ways of formulating action plans that stem from and involve all the key players, in order to implement appropriate and effective reform in their educational systems.