IIEP-UNESCO Short Course on Gender-Responsive Educational Planning, October-December 2021

Call for applications 

Deadline: July 15, 2021

PLEASE READ THE INTRODUCTION NOTE TO THIS COURSE CAREFULLY.

A training programme aimed at mainstreaming gender throughout the educational planning cycle

Inequalities between men and women persist throughout the world and education systems continue to reflect these disparities, even though education can be a major lever for strengthening equality. Despite significant progress made in recent years, parity in enrolment has only been achieved by fewer than two out of three countries in primary education, by one out of two countries in lower secondary education and by only one out of four countries in upper secondary education (UNESCO, 2019). Moreover, while the issue of gender equality in schools has often been reduced to a simple discussion of parity, the reality is more complex and disparities persist in many other dimensions of education, including learning outcomes, vocational orientation and opportunities after completing school. For example, women are largely under-represented among students in vocational and higher education in the engineering and technology sectors. Gender intersects with other inequalities (e.g. class, background, location and disability) to create educational exclusion. Yet, in many cases, education policies fail to prioritize measures to achieve gender equality (UNESCO, 2019) and to target the most vulnerable learners.

Achieving gender equality in and through education requires institutions to generate equitable policies, budgets and plans which enable all learners to succeed, regardless of their demographic characteristics (GPE, 2019; GPE/UNGEI, 2016). Such an approach involves paying attention to institutional organization and structures, and also to social norms and their dynamics within and outside of schools. In order to drive change and build the future of education on sustainable foundations, gender equality, and more generally issues of equity and inclusion, must be taken into account right from the start of education sector planning.

With this in mind, and in the context of the Gender at the Center Initiative (GCI), the Africa-based office of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO Dakar) offers a short training course on Gender-Responsive Educational Planning. The course targets executives and managers involved in the formulation, planning and implementation of educational policies and plans, working at the national and subnational levels of education administration or related fields (finance, health, etc.), as well as stakeholders working in civil society and development organizations, research and training institutions, etc. It aims to equip participants with the skills to mainstream gender into all stages of educational planning by taking into account the multidimensional factors that perpetuate gender inequalities in and through education.

From November 2020 to January 2021, 39 people, working for the most part in the field of education planning and management, took part in the first version of this training course, delivered in French. Sixteen francophone African countries were represented and 56% of participants were women. The second edition of this course will be delivered in English, from October to December 2021, and will target participants from English speaking African countries.

The Gender at the Center Initiative (GCI)

The Gender at the Centre Initiative aims at strengthening governments’ capacities to advance gender equality in the education systems of eight countries in the region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Launched in 2019 during the G7 summit in Biarritz in France, the GCI recognizes the urgency of ensuring access to quality education for all, on an equal basis, and of removing barriers to education for girls and young women. The initiative is run by an Alliance of partners, coordinated by UNGEI. IIEP is responsible for the technical leadership, in close collaboration with ministries of education of the eight countries concerned. The Alliance also includes UNESCO’s headquarters and national and regional offices, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the African Union – International Centre for Girls’ and Women’s Education in Africa (AU/CIEFFA), as well as a consortium of non-governmental organizations: the African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA), and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)

WHO CAN APPLY?

Priority will be given to people in senior positions of responsibility at central or decentralised administrative level, involved in the formulation, planning and implementation of education policies in anglophone African countries. More specifically, but not exclusively, participants are likely to come from:

• government institutions at the central or decentralised administrative level, such as ministries of education, finance, planning or health (non-exhaustive list)
• national decentralised structures such as district education offices and inspectorates
• research and training institutions
• civil society and non-governmental organizations.

Successful candidates are likely to occupy positions such as:

• Senior manager or planner in a technical directorate of a ministry of education, finance, planning or health (non-exhaustive list) or in a decentralised service;
• Education inspector;
• Heads of training institutions and deans of faculties;
• Researcher or trainer in a national research or training institution;
• Executive officer or senior manager in civil society and non-governmental organizations.

Candidates from anglophone African countries are invited to apply, as well as representatives of civil society organisations and development organisations who are involved in national or decentralised educational planning processes in these countries.  A number of priority places are reserved for participants in anglophone member countries of the GCI (Nigeria and Sierra Leone). Attention will be given during the selection of candidates to ensuring a good balance in terms of gender, type of function (decision-maker vs. planners and officers) and administrative level (central vs. decentralized).

To ensure fully interactive sessions, the number of participants is limited to about 40, with a focus on candidates who:

• have a minimum of three years of professional experience in areas directly linked to education policy formulation, planning and implementation, including professional training, research and advocacy.
• have at least a Bachelor’s degree (three years of higher education), or equivalent, preferably in a field related to education or social and economic sciences.
• are fluent in English (reading, writing and speaking). Candidates whose mother tongue or working language is not English must provide a certificate of competence in English.

have good skills in the use of the Microsoft Office suite, in particular Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

HOW TO APPLY?

Candidates must fill in the application form available online through this link before July 15, 2021, midnight (GMT). Only fully completed applications will be accepted.

All applications will be analyzed by the Selection Committee and a shortlist of candidates will be published by August 2, 2021.

Shortlisted candidates will need to submit by August 20, 2021 a letter from their supervisors endorsing their participation in the course.

The list of accepted candidates will be published by August 27, 2021.

CALENDAR

OBJECTIVES

► Understand and explain the issues and challenges of gender equality in and through education;

► Identify and analyze the school-based and non-school factors that cause gender disparities in education and establish links between gender norms and gender disparities in education;

► Identify relevant indicators (quantitative and qualitative) and data sources and analyze them;

► Explain the policy planning process and identify concrete strategies and actions to address gender disparities in education.

APPLICATION DATES

► submission of applications: June 7 to July 15, 2021, through this link.

► confirmation of participation (shortlisted candidates only): August 27, 2021.

DELIVERY

► 9 weeks online training (following a two- week preparatory phase)

CONTACTS

For any questions, please email gendercourse@iiep.unesco.org.

Applications should be made using the online form only. Applications sent by email will not be processed.