Home > Education Policy Reform > Project Description

• Providing Technical and Management Assistance to the BEPS Activity
• Disseminating Education Options for Underserved Populations: Coordinating the USAID Human Capacity Development Workshop
• Documenting the First Hemispheric Conference on Indigenous Education
• Expanding the Knowledge on Language of Instruction Policy
• Understanding Perspectives on Support for International Basic Education
• Addressing the Needs of Children with Disabilities in Developing Nations
• Documenting USAID's Progress in Basic Education
• Using Education to Combat Abusive Child Labor
  

Sharing a Model for Social Mobilization
World Wide
January – March 2001

To increase awareness and the ownership of ideas and practices related to education and other social issues in Malawi, Creative Associates developed and tested an innovative social mobilization process throughout the 1990’s. The strategy employed grassroots level methodologies and one-on-one communication at the community level to increase girls' access to and participation in formal basic education programs. The success of this strategy led to a similar campaign to improve community participation in educational quality as well as one to increase community awareness and involvement in combating HIV/AIDS.

Under the BEPS Project, the results of these campaigns were synthesized, ensuring lessons learned can be disseminated. BEPS consolidated the projects’ experiences into a conceptual model delineating a process for creating community dialogue and then mobilizing communities to accept responsibility and take action to address those issues. Key stakeholders and policy makers are kept informed of the community activities and work to influence policy change. After developing the conceptual model, BEPS facilitated a training in which Malawian NGO project participants taught other education professionals how to implement this social mobilization model at the Comparative and International Education Society Conference in 2001.

Resources

• Social Mobilization Campaigns: An Affirmative Strategy for Involving Communities

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