Giving Compass' Take:

• Sumbal Naveed explains the need for more specific understanding of the high gender gap in education in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan.

• How can philanthropy effectively improve understanding of the challenges that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas face? What local experts can be called on to help shed light on the situation? 

• Find out why donations for girls' education may go astray. 

With the emergence of militants in the 1990s, the social, cultural, and economic structures of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan were badly damaged, most significantly affecting women’s lives. Access to basic services like health and education was reduced, with mobility so minimized that women were not permitted to see a doctor, attend school, or have social interactions. Worse, the militants physically abused residents in FATA.

Data from the Pakistan Education Statistics 2016-17 report shows that the overall reality of education remains bleak, with 22.6 million children out of school—more than half of whom are girls. Indeed, Pakistan holds the second highest gender gap in the world, according to the 2017 Global Gender Gap report. In FATA alone, more than half of the eligible grade 1-12 girls have never stepped foot inside a school and only 1 in 10 girls can read.

Since 2014, following the establishment of peace and government efforts to bring considerable reforms to the FATA region, FATA is now gradually moving towards “normality.” The first substantial step toward this change was a bill that was passed to merge FATA region with the neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Such steps toward mainstreaming the isolated tribal areas of FATA can significantly improve the life of people in this borderland, including their access to basic rights like education.

To improve girls’ education in FATA, understanding the local context with all of its challenges and opportunities is necessary.

Read the full article about girl's education by Sumbal Naveed at Brookings.