Enhancing Girls’ Participation in Schools in Pakistan

Overview

This case study focuses on Oxfam’s education programme in Pakistan which aims to improve the Government policy environment, budget allocations and expenditure at national, provincial and district levels on education to ensure greater access and better quality of education for girls. Along with donors and implementing partners, Oxfam is taking an integrated approach to programming to tackle the range of issues that contribute to low literacy rates and low attendance and retention of girls in education. Some of the activities being implemented include empowering communities to actively participate in supporting the improvement of health and hygiene in schools, and encouraging more girls to enrol and stay on in school. This work includes providing safe drinking water, separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys, promoting key messages about good hygiene habits, as well as enabling children to be agents of transformational change in their families and in their wider communities. This case study is part of a series designed to illustrate how Oxfam GB has been working with partner organisations, schools and communities to integrate water, sanitation and hygiene into education programmes to tackle some of the biggest obstacles that prevent children from going to school.