“Girl-friendly” schools: The IMAGINE project had a large and significant impact on girls’ enrollment, attendance, and test scores. Viewed through the lens of the larger impact of the project for girls, it appears that there is indeed a “girl friendliness” about these schools that may be working. Historically in Niger, boys have a much higher rate of school enrollment than girls, potentially because parents may be reluctant to enroll their girl children in school due to cultural values or because of the large role girls often play in household chores. The IMAGINE project has successfully diminished the difference between boys’ and girls’ enrollment, attendance, and math test scores. We do not know which specific components of the project or the environment were the key drivers of such distinct impacts for girls, but we hypothesize that the elements specifically designed to attract girl students (such as the gender-segregated latrines and female teacher housing), as well as the complementary activities in support of girls education, were responsible for the differentiated impacts.
Lesson Learned