About 40 participants from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania Mainland, Uganda, Zambia and Zanzibar gathered in Dar Es Salaam this week to pilot the use of the recently released GPE/UNGEI Guidance for developing gender-responsive education sector plans.

The workshop offered the first opportunity to use the guidance, which offers a step-by-step approach to help introduce gender dimensions in sector plans. According to UNESCO GEMR, more than one-third of countries around the world are still to achieve gender parity in primary education. Worldwide, 15 million girls currently out of school are expected never to enroll.

Facilitators guided participants in understanding the key terminology about gender, recognizing what constitutes an enabling environment, collecting and analyzing the relevant data, and defining goals, strategies and activities, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks to ensure that all girls and boys can equally participate and succeed in the education system.

The participants included representatives from education, health and gender-focused ministries, development partners, and civil society organizations.

All participating countries have already made progress in tackling gender inequities in education, whether through passing new laws, adopting policies, making reforms, or training and deploying teachers. The workshop has allowed participants to access innovative tools, which they will further use in their own countries’ local education groups to continue to advocate for gender equality in education.

It’s an essential task, because achieving SDG 4 depends on it.