Evaluation of the Transformative Potential of Positive Gender Socialization in Education for Peace Building.

American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting an impact evaluation of The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund's (UNICEF's) teacher-training program and reinforcing text messages that aim to provide meaningful knowledge regarding the transformative potential of positive gender socialization in education for peace building in the region of Karamoja, Uganda. The impact evaluation assesses the effects of the teacher-training program, with an emphasis on gender socialization, on teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerned with gender equity, and positive gender socialization. The authors implemented a mixed-methods research design for the impact evaluation, using quantitative and qualitative methods. They compared the outcomes of interest among the teachers who benefit from the program with the outcomes of interest of comparable teachers in different schools who do not benefit from the program. The impact evaluation is based on an eight-month intervention, with baseline data collected in March 2015 and endline data collected in November 2015. One hundred five schools from eight Coordinating Centre Tutors (CCTs) located in the districts of Abim, Kaabong, and Napak are participating in the study, with a third of the schools receiving the training plus reinforcing text messages (the "complete intervention" group), another third receiving the teacher training only (the "limited intervention" group), and the other third not receiving any of the interventions (the control or "business as usual" group). A total of 916 teachers working in the 105 schools at the time of baseline data collection were surveyed. Provided that the various stakeholders respond in the manner anticipated, the trainings--and potentially the active teacher support and engagement delivered using the mobile SMS platform--should lead to a set of initial effects or intermediate outcomes. Tables and figures are appended.