Endline Evaluation of the Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education (SAGE) Programme in Zimbabwe

Funded as part of the Girls’ Education Challenge’s Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB) funding window, the SAGE programme in Zimbabwe aims to – over five years (Aug 2018-July 2023) – improve learning outcomes and assist transition into formal education, training or employment for 13,200  highly marginalised, out-of-school adolescent girls in 11 districts. Through a consortium of faith-based, academic and private sector partners, SAGE focuses on providing high-quality, accelerated, non-formal education across 88 accessible and girl-friendly Community-Based Learning Hubs (CBLHs). As a gender transformative education programme, SAGE seeks to work at multiple levels to promote and improve education for girls by tackling the root causes of gendered social and economic barriers and to create an enabling environment for transforming unequal gender norms. This is being done through accelerated learning support to OOS girls (ATL), skills training (ISOP), improved access to financial resources, engagement with civil society and government stakeholders, and mobilisation of parents, boys and the wider community to adopt more positive gender attitudes to support and protect girls and their education.

 The programme, led by Plan International UK, is implemented through a consortium of faith-based, academic and private sector partners which include Plan International Zimbabwe (PIZ), The Open University (OU), Christian Blind Mission (CBM) UK, the Apostolic Women’s Empowerment Trust (AWET) and ECONET. The programme is being implemented under the oversight of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) and seeks to complement implementation of their Non-Formal Education (NFE) Policy which promotes alternative pathways to increasing access to quality education for marginalised learners.