Country lead for baseline study of GEC Successful Transition and Advancement of Rights for Girls (STAR-G) Project for Save the Children Mozambique, in association with NFER.
Multilingual support and mediation between UK analysts and local groups to produce a baseline study of a project supporting girls’ access to education.
Approach
STAR-G, a Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) project implemented in Mozambique by Save the Children Mozambique, seeks to ensure that girls have equal access to education and are able to stay in education, transitioning successfully through the different stages. NFER were contracted to conduct a baseline study for the second phase and, in turn, contracted Simone, as an NFER Research Associate, to act as country lead, and Forcier, Mozambique to conduct the local data gathering. Simone managed the first part of the data collection, supporting the study design and preparing and training Forcier’s enumerators. She was responsible for quality assurance of the instruments, translations, enumerator training and performance, and ensuring that child protection policies and fieldwork ethics were in place and followed. She assisted with the qualitative analysis, and reviewed and contributed to the final report prepared by NFER.
A fluent Portuguese speaker and expert on the Mozambican cultural and educational context, throughout the study Simone coordinated between NFER in the UK and Forcier and other parties in Mozambique, including local officials, data gatherers, and Save the Children in-country. Simone facilitated contact between individuals and organizations with very different perceptions and experiences: her role included mediation and translation, both linguistic and cultural.
Outcomes
With Simone providing cultural liaison and technical support in the areas of data collection and quality assurance, essential baseline data was collected to provide a high quality, detailed baseline report against which to measure future achievements, supporting the STAR-G team in their ongoing efforts to ensure girls’ equal access to education. The final report provides guidance for programme leaders to make informed decisions going forward.