When thinking about Education and Gender Equality, we are reminded of the amazing history and current strides CARE is making in defeating poverty, saving lives, and achieving social justice across the globe. Since 1945, CARE has been helping marginalized peoples and communities, and in 2022 alone, CARE and partners worked in 111 countries implementing 1,600 poverty-fighting development and humanitarian aid projects and initiatives that reached 174,000,000 people. Crucial to these efforts is their Education & Work programs where they believe “Education and the right to work are the most powerful tools in overcoming extreme poverty.”

We were very fortunate to be able to connect with Rachel Hartgen, Senior Director, Education and Adolescent Empowerment, Program Strategy & Impact at CARE where her team supports their country offices and other CARE Member Partners in designing and implementing education and adolescent empowerment (EAE) programming. Rachel responded to our questions from her office in Denver, CO.

What are your favorite accomplishments in this role at CARE?

It’s been a pleasure to revisit and update our Education and Adolescent Empowerment (EAE) Strategy with our team and other colleagues across CARE and partners in the sector to make sure we have models to achieve the impact we want to see. I’ve also enjoyed laying out how we are going to grow and sustain our SOAR model, discussed below, to support young people in getting a basic education. I’ve enjoyed growing our portfolio, particularly through designing new projects that strengthen the education system itself and those that use a holistic approach to meet the needs of children, adolescents, and youth.  Finally, I’ve been proud of the exceptional team that we’ve built, even amid a global pandemic and working across multiple time zones.

What do you feel are the most pressing issues right now surrounding international education for marginalized children, especially girls?

Pressing issues continue to be that in many countries, more boys than girls are more likely to be in and graduate from secondary school and tertiary education. Fewer girls are getting to this level, largely due to early marriage, pregnancy, and social and gender norms that value their education less. Though, with the pandemic and its secondary effects, we’ve seen a rise in boys dropping out of school as well, often to work informal jobs to support their families. In terms of access, we continue to see that marginalized families continue to struggle to be able to send their kids to school and keep them there. Issues of climate change, civil war, and other crises are increasing household insecurity and forcing households to make difficult decisions on whether to not to send their children to school and if so, which children will attend. Another issue is the quality of education. We’ve seen a rise in the number of children who are unable to read and understand simple texts. They are neither learning basic knowledge nor softer skills required for the workforce.  Finally, another pressing issue is that funding for education is remaining stagnant or decreasing in many countries. We need to encourage donors and governments to prioritize and fund education.

Read the full article about CARE by Joel Meyers at Global Washington.