PROJECT
Plotting a Safe, Healthy, and Prosperous Path to Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study of Schooling Quality and Experience in Malawi

When schooling of good quality is accessible, and educational experiences are positive, disadvantaged children can acquire the capabilities to break out of poverty and access a greater range of opportunities as adults. Indeed, it is likely in the poorest settings that schooling makes the greatest contribution to children’s futures. This study aims to identify critical aspects of school quality that put adolescents who face the dual challenges of poverty and HIV/AIDS on a safer, healthier, and more productive path to adulthood. More specifically, the study has the following objectives:

• To assess the effects of primary school quality and adolescent schooling experiences on (1) educational outcomes, including attendance, grade attainment, competencies, exam scores, attitudes toward schooling, and transition to secondary school; and on (2) the terms and conditions of the transition to adulthood, especially sexual behavior, marriage, labor force participation, civic and community participation, and gender role attitudes.

• To evaluate the effects of various educational interventions undertaken by the Malawi Ministry of Education and supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve educational outcomes and the outcomes marking the transition to adulthood.

Study design and project status

The study is a school-based longitudinal sample of adolescents ages 14–16 attending 59 primary schools in Balaka and Machinga districts in the southern region of Malawi. This region was selected because it has the highest rates of HIV, early marriage, and teenage childbearing in Malawi. The first round of data collection, completed in July 2007, included approximately 1,750 interviews with in-school adolescents and 875 interviews with adolescents not attending school. Adolescents also completed literacy and mathematical evaluations to assess their acquisition of basic skills and competencies. In addition to the adolescent surveys, over 300 interviews were conducted among teachers in standards (grades) 4–8. For all interviews, questions considered sensitive were conducted via audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) using handheld PCs.

Schools will be visited and all study participants will be re-interviewed in the second term of the Malawian school year in May–July 2008 and again in 2009. In the second and third rounds of interviewing, information will be collected from adolescents regarding their academic progress and changes in their family, health, and work status. Adolescents also will be asked about changes in their sexual and risk behavior, partnership and marriage status, and labor and employment activities. Additional evaluations of participants' knowledge and aptitude development will be conducted during each year of the study. To ensure than any changes in the educational environment and school quality are captured, teachers will be re-interviewed and school facilities re-assessed during each round.

The project is co-directed by the Population Council and the Centre for Educational Research and Training (CERT) at the University of Malawi, Zomba. Dr. Joseph Chimombo, director of CERT, oversees the project in Malawi and liaises with local stakeholders, including the Malawi Ministry of Education, district education officers, school personnel, school management committees, and the local donor community.

The mobile audio computer-assisted self-interviewing software was developed by the Population Council Department of Information Technology. Stephen Cao, application programmer/database developer, created and designed the ACASI software for Windows Mobile5 using Visual Studio.NET. Stan Mierzwa, director of Information Technology, managed the development of the ACASI program and assisted in the development and formulation of the software.

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Population Council researchers

Paul C. Hewett, Cynthia B. Lloyd, Barbara S. Mensch, Sharon Ghuman, Richard Gregory

Non-Council collaborators

Joseph Chimombo (CERT, University of Malawi, Zomba)

Donors

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

The Spencer Foundation

Publications/Resources on this project

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