Enhancing Resilience and Agency Through Remote Education For Afghan Girls: A Pilot in Providing Foundational Numeracy And Literacy

Providing foundational learning is a core development goal, yet 27 million children worldwide face disruptions in formal schooling due to conflict. This deprivation perpetuates the marginalization of vulnerable groups, particularly women, limiting their ability to access services, claim rights, and participate in decision-making. Protecting foundational learning in crisis settings urgently requires innovative solutions.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s rollback of women’s education rights since 2021, including a ban on girls attending secondary schools, has created a crisis of learning and of social isolation for women and girls. In parallel, the country is undergoing an economic crisis that is among the most severe humanitarian emergencies in the world. This study tests the feasibility of delivering basic literacy and numeracy via mobile phones to Afghan girls and thereby build agency, foster participation in household and community decision-making, and strengthen social connectedness. While prior work by our partner has evaluated phone tutoring for foundational numeracy, ours will be the first randomized evaluation of literacy.  Building on a successful model developed in six countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explores a scalable approach to provide education in crisis settings. 

Our randomized controlled trial (RCT) will involve 3,200 girls across three groups: (1) basic literacy and numeracy via phones, (2) the same educational intervention with peer interaction, and (3) a group receiving non-educational calls by teachers (female role models). By randomizing peer groups, the study will assess whether interactions with peers and teachers enhance social inclusion and well being. We also aim to test for impacts on spillovers on learning and empowerment outcomes of siblings as well as long-run impacts.

We work closely with grassroots Afghan civil society organizations, which allows us to culturally and politically tailor the intervention. We expect our findings will carry policy implications for the millions of children, and especially girls, whose education is disrupted during humanitarian crises.