Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality
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Project Status: Ongoing
Duration: 36 months
End Date: March 2027
Funded by: Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX), a joint endeavor with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada
About:
Despite mounting evidence indicating that in certain national contexts boys face a higher risk than girls of repeating grades, failing to complete various educational levels, and achieving poorer learning outcomes, there remains a dearth of research aimed at comprehensively understanding effective strategies to tackle boys' disengagement from education. This project is being implemented in Cambodia, Lesotho and Malawi. It seeks to generate evidence on how education systems can challenge harmful gender norms through a gender-transformative, whole-school approach. The goal is to keep boys engaged in learning while advancing gender equality for all learners.
To achieve this, this project is undertaking research that includes a six-country scoping study of promising initiatives, in-depth country case studies, the development, implementation and evaluation of a school-based intervention, piloted in Malawi. These activities are designed to provide a detailed understanding of the social and institutional barriers contributing to boys’ disengagement, and to identify promising strategies for addressing them.
The project explores how addressing harmful masculine gender norms can keep boys engaged, in school, and learning while advancing gender equality. Additionally, it seeks to identify the conditions that facilitate successful implementation and broad-scale adoption of such initiatives. The project aims to develop a globally applicable intervention, substantiated with locally required adaptations based on locally identified disadvantages for boys at school, their relationship with detrimental norms, and their underlying factors. At the same time, it aims to scale the model through direct work with Ministries of Education that have identified this as a policy concern by building capacity of staff and supporting the development of gender transformative teaching and learning materials with a particular view of addressing harmful masculine gender norms.
Lifting barriers: boys’ disengagement from education, volume 1: scoping study
The potential of addressing harmful and restrictive gender norms to support boys’ continued learning. Efforts to achieve inclusive and quality education for all have prioritised girls’ education, with policies and programmes helping to reduce gender gaps that have historically disadvantaged girls. However, gender gaps that disadvantage boys, such as lower rates of completion of a full cycle of education in some contexts, have not always been adequately addressed in policy or practice.Gender norms and stereotypes significantly shape the educational experiences and outcomes of both boys and girls. This scoping study explores how educational innovations can challenge gender norms, including harmful and restrictive masculinities, to improve boys’ engagement in school while advancing gender equality more broadly. The study draws on insights from six programmes and pilot interventions across diverse country contexts.This scoping work is part of a wider three-year project, ‘Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality’, under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) programme. The project includes the development and piloting of a school-based intervention model with a focus on masculinities, working closely with research partners and Ministries of Education in Cambodia, Lesotho and Malawi.
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Educating Boys for Gender Equality Project Workshop Meeting Report
The Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality GPE KIX project held a workshop on November 14, 2024 with key national stakeholders in Malawi to ensure a way forward and a successful implementation of the project.
Funded by the Global Partnership for Education’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX), a joint endevour by the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC). Led by UNESCO in collaboration with Equimundo and the University of East Anglia, the project Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality investigates how harmful and restrictive masculine gender norms impact boys' educational motivation and desire to learn as well as how to best address boys’ disengagement from education.
This report summarizes the discussions and key recommendations from the participants of the workshop and the Advisory Committee meeting on improving project implementation to address harmful and restrictive masculine gender norms, enhance boys' engagement in education, and ensure that no one is left behind.
Read More: Lifting barriers: Educating Boys for Gender Equality Project Workshop Meeting Report | GPEKIX
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Podcast episode on the Lifting Barriers project: Interviews with the project team
Listen to the podcast Goal 4: Education for All, UNESCO Special: Lifting Barriers: Educating Boys for Gender Equality (Season 3, Episode 8), released on 20 May 2026, in which members of the Lifting Barriers team discuss boys’ disengagement from education, harmful gender norms, and the project’s key findings.
Globally, an estimated 139 million boys are out of school.
Addressing boys’ disengagement is critical not only for their future well-being but also for achieving gender equality and inclusive societies. Research shows that boys who complete secondary education are more likely to challenge gender-based violence, participate in caregiving, and contribute to shared domestic responsibilities. Conversely, boys who leave school early face heightened risks of unemployment, poor health, and involvement in criminal activity.
The Lifting barriers: Educating boys for gender equality project, led by UNESCO in collaboration with Equimundo and the University of East Anglia, directly addresses boys' disengagement from education. It works to promote inclusive, positive masculinities and create education systems that are safer, more equitable, and more responsive to all learners’ needs.
Listen to the podcast here: Podcast episode on the Lifting Barriers project: Interviews with the project team | GPEKIX
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