The principal data collection units were sites where policy was discussed and acted on. These comprised 2 national Departments of Education (in Kenya and South Africa), 2 provincial departments, 2 schools, 2 NGOs located in large cities, and 2 located in rural areas. Data collected included interviews, focus groups, observations, analysis of school records and records of report back meetings. In addition 12 interviews with staff in global organisations dealing with this policy area were interviewed. Comparative case study was used in Kenya and South Africa to investigate similar kinds of relationship – negotiations with global policy agendas on gender, education and poverty reduction – in somewhat different sites. A selected range of units of analysis were examined for hierarchies in which policy and practice are related from global levels, ranked ‘above’ the national and local level (vertically) and forms of connection, exclusion or boundary setting between different kinds of organisation (horizontally). Both countries have in place policies on poverty, education and gender equality, and are active global policy players. However, they differ in their engagements with global policy transfer, histories of attention to gender. There was thus potential to look at how the cases did and did not vary, and the explanatory weight that could be accorded to local conditions. Five case studies were conducted in each country: the National Department of Education, South Africa, Ministry of Education in Kenya, a provincial department in each country, a matched school attended by children from a peri-urban community with high levels of poverty, a rural NGO working on education and poverty, and a global NGO engaged with the global policy agenda and local implementation. The project aims to examine initiatives which engage with global aspirations to advance gender equality in and through schooling in contexts of poverty. It looks at how these are understood, who participates in implementation, what meanings of gender, schooling and global relations are negotiated, what constraints are experienced, in what ways these are overcome, and what concerns about global obligations emerge. A key focus is what conditions how global policy goals are interpreted and acted on in different sites. Case study research will be conducted in Kenya and South Africa, two countries where reforming governments have sought to address questions of poverty and gender in the expansion of education provision. In each country data will be collected in five sites: the national Department of Education, a provincial education department, a rural primary school, the offices of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) engaging with global education and poverty policy, and an education NGO operating at a local level. The main methods of data collection will be documentary analysis, individual and group interviews, focus group discussions, and observations. Advisory committees in Kenya and South Africa will guide the process of data collection, comment critically on emerging analysis, and give support with dissemination.
Research methods comprised documentary analysis, interviews, observations, field notes, and focus group discussions. Documents written over the last ten years including websites, policies, and publications of all the organisations were analysed. One hundred and thirty three hours of interviews and group discussions were recorded and transcribed. Observation and analysis of site dynamics were made using ethnographic methods. Report back meetings on preliminary findings in all the ten case study sites took place after the first round of data collection and were recorded and transcribed. In a second round of data collection up to a year later participants were interviewed regarding changes that had taken place. A small number of interviews were conducted with children at the peri-urban schools and rural NGO projects.
