Tools created through the Global Education Coalition’s Gender Flagship are continuing to make an impact on girls’ education and gender equality around the world, including in indigenous areas hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNESCO and the Government of Viet Nam are developing teachers’ capacities on gender and communication through virtual workshops in schools participating in the project, “We are ABLE – Achieving Better Living and Education.” The project is promoting gender equality and girls’ education in the ethnic minority areas of Viet Nam, and is funded through the UNESCO Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education.
Fifty-nine key teachers (30 women and 29 men), in 24 lower secondary schools in the provinces of Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan and Soc Trang were trained to integrate gender considerations into communications, using the Gender Flagship’s Keeping Girls in the Picture: Community Radio Toolkit.
Teachers benefited from three weekly sessions.
The training workshop is very useful for us in implementing the school radio programme. It was the first time we learnt how to ensure gender-sensitive and student-led approaches in our communication activities
In Week 1, they learnt how to develop a gender-sensitive, student-led communications plan for lower secondary pupils. They discovered approaches to communication for development and communication for behaviour change (and learnt how to identify and challenge gender stereotypes through compelling messaging. Teachers shared experiences and thoughts via individual and group discussions, games and moderated Q&A sessions.
Screen shot: Training on the importance of students’ participation in communication activities
Week 2 focused on the importance of student participation in school communications activities, followed by the presentation of the Community Radio Toolkit. Teachers were introduced, through hands-on activities, to practical tools for developing a school radio programme that can be adapted to the available human resources, technical equipment and creativity. They also experimented with online applications and platforms for community radio programmes in lower secondary schools.
It is very interesting to learn some online platforms, which are helpful not only for our communication activities but also for our online teaching
In Week 3, teachers presented the school radio programme plan and sample products they had developed to their peers and the training team. Through interviews, role plays and a news broadcast, they highlighted how their plan and products for student-led radio integrated gender and inclusion considerations.
Screen shot: The teachers modelling a role play for a school radio programme
The training was organized by UNESCO Viet Nam, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training’s Department of Teachers and Educational Administrators. UNESCO Viet Nam is delivering follow-up support to teachers in implementing the Community Radio Toolkit in their schools.
About the project
The 'We are ABLE' project targets some 16,000 ethnic minority secondary school students, teachers, principals and education officials, parents and community members in three provinces of Viet Nam. Over 9,000 are female, including 6,000 girls aged 11-14 from 24 lower secondary schools. The project, implemented in Viet Nam since 2019 in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, is funded by the UNESCO Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education supported by CJ Group.
UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition brings together some 180 partners from the United Nations family, civil society, the private sector and academia to protect the right to education during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The Gender Flagship aims to ‘build back equal’ and support 5 million girls to fulfil their right to education, with a focus on the 20 countries with the greatest gender disparities in education. It focuses on three action areas: data, research and evidence; advocacy and communications; and country-level action.