Publications

Spotlight on Women and Education

Studies concerning the importance of women's education in the developing world

• Mainstreaming gender for better girls' education: Policy and institutional issues, UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and UNGEI (2006)
  
  Developed from the collaboration between the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and the UN Girls' Education Initiative, this paper raises several key points in moving the gender agenda forward in education. One is to evaluate and derive policy lessons from the rich experience of innovations in gender and education that exists in South Asia. These policy lessons need then to be mainstreamed, so that they permeate all aspects of educational policy and implementation. [Download paper]

• Education Strategy: Improving lives through learning, US Agency for International Development (2005)
  
  This report from USAID presents an overview of the agency's education strategy, which includes a dual emphasis on teaching the basic skills for development, and supporting higher education objectives which enable people and nations to thrive in a changing social and economic environment. Their approach is based on extensive research, analysis and over fifty years of experience in more than 75 countries worldwide. Recognizing the significance of education's role in development, the report points out, “Beyond its impact on individual development, education plays a crucial and multifaceted role in economic growth, poverty reduction, and democratic governance.” [Download paper]

• What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World, Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling (Council on Foreign Relations, 2004)
  
  Herz and Sperling’s study provides an excellent overview of the current research on the status of girls’ education in the developing world and the positive impact this investment has on a broad range of areas—economic growth, political participation, women’s health and disease prevention, among many others. It outlines the most effective approaches to increasing girls’ enrollment and improving educational quality. [Download paper]

• Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education, World Bank (2002)
  
  This extensive report from the World Bank focuses specifically on higher education. Taking into consideration the integral role of higher education in defining a country's status in an increasingly knowledge-based world economy, the report lays particular stress on the fact that "tertiary education can no longer be viewed as a discrete subsector of education. Rather, it must be seen as but once critical element that buttresses a holistic system of education - a system which must become more flexible, diverse, efficient, and responsive to the knowledge economy." [Download paper]