Increase Girls’ Retention and Completion Rates in Primary Schools

The project worked from the community level up to the national level, addressing harmful practices and their negative impact on schoolchildren with the aim of overcoming sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and improving retention and completion  rates for girls and boys in primary schools. The safe school environment created by the project helped increase confidence levels of girls in reporting SGBV from 30 % in the first year to 84 % in the final year. Also, there was an increase in enrolment and an improvement of the retention and completion rates at upper primary levels, especially the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education level for girls. Performance of pupils in all 118 targeted schools showed a general improvement on completion to next class across all grades.