DOCUMENT RESUME ED 454 116 SO 032 789 AUTHOR Winter, Carolyn; Macina, Rebecca TITLE Girls' Education World Bank Support through the International Development Association (IDA). INSTITUTION World Bank, Washington, DC. Human Development Network. PUB DATE 1999-12-00 NOTE 39p.; Cover page varies. AVAILABLE FROM Education Advisory Service, 1818 H Street, NW, (MSN G8-800), Washington, DC 20433. Fax: 202-614-5000; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.worldbank.org/education. PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative (142) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Access to Education; Developing Nations; Elementary Secondary Education; Females; *Financial Support; *Womens Education IDENTIFIERS *Educational Issues; Lenders (Finance); World Bank ABSTRACT This report presents World Bank statistical data on International Development Association (IDA) support of girls' education. The report cites the reasons for focusing on girls' education and traces IDA funding for various education projects. It discusses the situation for girls' education in many developing countries and lists objectives for the future. (Includes 4 notes. Contains 4 tables and 2 boxes. Extensive lists of statistics are appended.) (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Girls' Education World Bank Support Through IDA Carolyn Winter and Rebecca Macina I U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) BEEN GRANTED BY /Thisdocument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. i1/4_40.tfixo._PAtilto Minor changes have been made to biv improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 1 00 C\I OCr) c/) EDUCATkON amm_nfog 999 BEST CO PYAVAILABLE THE WORLD 2 Girls' Education World Bank Support through the International Development Association (IDA) Carolyn Winter Rebecca Macina Photography Credits: Front cover: Nepal, S. Noorani (UNICEF); Haiti, J. Perkell (UNICEF); Pakistan, U. Anzar (World Bank); Back cover: Guinea-Bissau, G. Pirozzi (UNICEF) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Confronting the Challenge 4 Why Focus on Girls' Education? 5 Tracing MA's Involvement 6 Current Operational Support 7 Regional Patterns in Girls' Education Lending 8 Building Partnerships and Awareness 10 IDA Support at the Country Level 11 Supply-side Interventions 11 Demand-side Interventions 12 Mixing the Interventions 13 Meeting Future Challenges 13 Annex 1 15 Annex 2 23 Tables 1. Yemen, Lahej Governorate: Girls' Progression Rates, by District, 1996-97 4 2. India, Uttar Pradesh State: Total Fertility Rates and perceived Ideal Number of Children, by level of Women's Education, 1995 6 3. IDA Lending for Girls' Education, FY1996 to FY1999 7 4. New IDA Commitments for Girls' Education by Region, FY1996 through FY1999 8 Figures 1. Benin: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) 4 2. Yemen: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) 4 3. Chad: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) 4 4. Averaged Private Returns to Educating Females (%) 5 Boxes 1. Estimating IDA Lending for Girls' Education. 8 2. Cote d'Ivoire's Education and Training Support Project 12 1 Introduction The International Development Association (IDA), an integral part of the World Bank, has been an important channel for aid to low-income developing countries for more than 20years. Its work complements that of its sister institution, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. But unlike the Bank, which relies principally on private capital markets, IDA is funded entirely by grants from member governments. The Association has becomean outstanding example of multilateral cooperation to promote long-term development. This paper was prepared with support from the Resource Mobilization Department (FRM) of the World Bank. The authors are grateful to Ivar Andersen for his review and useful comments on the paper. Uzma Anzar provided research assistance, and Benjamin Crow managed the layout and publishing. This paper is part of a series printed and disseminated under the auspices of the Girls' Education Thematic Group in the Education Department, Human Development Network, World Bank. The views expressed in papers in this series are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank. 6 3 Confronting the Challenge Figure 1. Benin: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) This year, at the close of the 100 millennium, by World Bank estimates over 90 150 million children aged 6 to 11 years are 1 70 out of school, many of them in IDA 60 countries. The majority of these children 50 will very likely never attain basic literacy ao 30 and numeracy, a factor which will restrict 20 their lifetime opportunities and probably to condemn them to live their lives in poverty. 0 Girls are more likely to suffer this fate: they 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 .1996 account for over 90 million of the 150 million young children out of school. The Figure 2. Yemen: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) differential access to school enjoyed by boys and girls is startlingly evident in many 100 IDA countries. For instance, in Benin in 90 BO 1996, a 40 percentage point disparity 70 existed between boys' and girls' 60 SO enrollments in basic education. In Yemen, 40 there was a 42 percentage point disparity, V. 30 20 and in Chad, a 41 percentage point disparity 10 (Figures 1-3). 0 1985 1990. 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 However, girls' limited access to educational opportunities is only one side Figure 3. Chad: Primary Gross Enrollment Rates (%) of this bleak picture. For the girls who do manage to enroll in school, their stay there is often far too short. Girls' dropout rates SO..--la90 are often exceedingly high. Some data from t 70 a typical governorate (province) in Yemen a6060 e illustrate this clearly (Table 1). In most a50 districts within the illustrative governorate, e...........A........-e___e____e___A.ir.4 only around half of the girls who began et 20 school are still enrolled four years later. 10 Moreover, only around 16 percent of girls 0 who enter school reach Grade 9. 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 -46-M -11r-F Table 1. Yemen, Lahej Governorate: Girls' Progression Rates, by District, 1996-97 Progression Rate (%) Districts Grades 1 to 4 Grades 1 to 9 Yafeh 90 55 Al-Daleh 56 16 Radfam 61 12 Tour Al-Baha 49 12 Tuban 49 1 All districts 57 16 Source: Governorate of Lahej, Republic of Yemen. Statistical Office. 4 7 What are the special barriers girls confront in gaining an education? Clearly, thereare a range of barriers which are often interrelated and which show some differences across countries and regions. However, the most significant barrier in almost all countries and regions ispoverty. Put another way, the key barrier is the high direct and opportunity costs of education. Poorer families, unable to cover the direct costs (tuition, books, transport, miscellaneous fees) of educating all their children, make an economically rational decision to send their boy children rather than their girl children. Boys have better employment prospects in the future and, where extended families are the norm, also support aging parents. The opportunity costs of girls' education for parents is also usually significantly higher than that for boys. This is because girls' labor, rather than boys', is often central to agricultural production and household chores. Surveys in Tanzania, for instance, show that girls aged 7 to 9 years who attend school work 21 hoursper week compared with boys' 12 hours. Together, the high direct and opportunity costs of education for girls combine to present a significant barrier to girls' education inmany countries. This is particularly so in the IDA countries where poverty is more pervasive. Other important contributing barriers to girls' education include low quality education, long distances to schools, limited availability of schools, cultural norms, insecure or unsafe school environments, and inadequate school infrastructure. In the longer run, limited employment opportunities forwomen and discriminatory labor practices also work against girls' schooling. Why Focus on Girls' Education? Many IDA countries Figure 4. Average Private Returns to Educating have not yet given priority to Females (%) improving girls' educational opportunities. Yet, there are very 20 sound reasons for doing so. It is well known that investment in 15 a human capital is key to 10 achieving long-term sustainable development and that education 5 is positively correlated with 0 overall economic growth. It is Primary Secondary Higher also known that, when all its Averages from country studies benefits are taken into account, Male 'Female girls' education yields a higher rate of return than any other Source: Larry H. Summers, 1994, "Investing in All the People: Educating women in Developing Countries," EDI Seminar Paper No. investment available in the 45, Washington, D.C.: World Bank. developing world? Figure 4 provides some evidence of this byshowing the private returns to female education. These private returns to education are important, butare also complemented by the very significant social benefits associated with girls' education. Moregenerally, the multiple benefits of girls' education include: A. Mason and S.R. Khandker, 1996, "Measuring the Opportunity Costs of Children'sTime