THE PUGGLE
SHARING WITH OTHERS TO MAKE
FASTER PROGRESS FOR ALL
Out in the bush, you’ll have to go into the pouch of a mama echidna to pet her baby puggle. Our Puggle is easier to find, showing up every month to share what we’re learning about emerging issues in girls’ education. Other posts provide our analysis of recent research and events and feature stories from our grantees. Explore more below, including a link to our resource library.

The Puggle: December 2024 edition
Dana Schmidt | December 19, 2024

A Wrap-Up on Standout Resources

It’s that time of year again! 

Today we look back at what happened from across the year in the field of girls’ education. We may have been quieter this year on the blog, but that’s not because we weren’t listening to what was happening.

Below we share some (of the many) resources that have deepened our understanding of key issues for girls’ education, that offer tools that inform our work, and that inspire the work ahead.

Ready? Here we go…

First, resource “hits” that helped deepen our understanding of issues that matter for girls’ education:

1. The Lancet published a new series on “the next 1000 Days” offering insights on the crucial developmental period from ages 2–5 years and calculating the cost of inaction: “an estimated forgone benefit of 8–19 times the cost of investing in ECCE.”

2. UNESCO’s 2024 Global Education Monitoring report focuses on the important role of Leadership in Education, and highlights the gender gap in school leadership, with the share of female principals in primary and secondary education being at least 20% lower than the share of female teachers.

3. Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa outlines how investments in adolescent girls “can yield a tenfold return in economic impact.” It outlines areas for action — including education and focusing on the most vulnerable girls.

4. An analysis of gender bias in textbooks by the Center for Global Development “finds consistent patterns of under-representation of female characters and portrayal of stereotypical gendered roles.”

Next up we’ve got some tools that might be useful in developing programming and advocacy for girls’ education.

1. Interested in understanding and advocating for gender-transformative education (“GTE”)? Or just want to understand what “GTE” means? Check out UNGEI’s new glossary.

2. Want to know the extent to which quality pre-primary education is being offered around the world? Check out the interactive map and thematic case studies in the Early Childhood Education Global Hub by CUE and TheirWorld. 

3. Wondering about the evidence behind life skills and what programs are effective? J-PAL Africa’s Life Skills Policy Brief finds that life skills programs consistently improve outcomes related to girls’ agency and education and outlines the mechanisms behind their impacts.

4. Curious about how to measure life skills and values in contextually relevant ways? Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) launched an open-source platform with assessment tools, performance tasks, training manuals, and more. 

Last but not least, some “hits” that inspire our work ahead:

1. She Creates Change, a short film from Room to Read, “tells the true stories of six courageous girls,” celebrating gender equality and women’s empowerment through education.  

2. Echidna Giving’s Expanded Strategy launched this year and will be guiding our own grantmaking in the years to come.

The Puggle: December 2024 edition
Dana Schmidt | December 19, 2024

A Wrap-Up on Standout Resources

It’s that time of year again! 

Today we look back at what happened from across the year in the field of girls’ education. We may have been quieter this year on the blog, but that’s not because we weren’t listening to what was happening.

Below we share some (of the many) resources that have deepened our understanding of key issues for girls’ education, that offer tools that inform our work, and that inspire the work ahead.

Ready? Here we go…

First, resource “hits” that helped deepen our understanding of issues that matter for girls’ education:

1. The Lancet published a new series on “the next 1000 Days” offering insights on the crucial developmental period from ages 2–5 years and calculating the cost of inaction: “an estimated forgone benefit of 8–19 times the cost of investing in ECCE.”

2. UNESCO’s 2024 Global Education Monitoring report focuses on the important role of Leadership in Education, and highlights the gender gap in school leadership, with the share of female principals in primary and secondary education being at least 20% lower than the share of female teachers.

3. Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa outlines how investments in adolescent girls “can yield a tenfold return in economic impact.” It outlines areas for action — including education and focusing on the most vulnerable girls.

4. An analysis of gender bias in textbooks by the Center for Global Development “finds consistent patterns of under-representation of female characters and portrayal of stereotypical gendered roles.”

Next up we’ve got some tools that might be useful in developing programming and advocacy for girls’ education.

1. Interested in understanding and advocating for gender-transformative education (“GTE”)? Or just want to understand what “GTE” means? Check out UNGEI’s new glossary.

2. Want to know the extent to which quality pre-primary education is being offered around the world? Check out the interactive map and thematic case studies in the Early Childhood Education Global Hub by CUE and TheirWorld. 

3. Wondering about the evidence behind life skills and what programs are effective? J-PAL Africa’s Life Skills Policy Brief finds that life skills programs consistently improve outcomes related to girls’ agency and education and outlines the mechanisms behind their impacts.

4. Curious about how to measure life skills and values in contextually relevant ways? Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) launched an open-source platform with assessment tools, performance tasks, training manuals, and more. 

Last but not least, some “hits” that inspire our work ahead:

1. She Creates Change, a short film from Room to Read, “tells the true stories of six courageous girls,” celebrating gender equality and women’s empowerment through education.  

2. Echidna Giving’s Expanded Strategy launched this year and will be guiding our own grantmaking in the years to come.

LIBRARY
We believe in exchanging ideas and sharing knowledge. Here’s some of what we’ve been reading to inform our thinking on girls’ education. Feel free to suggest additional resources for us to read and feature!