Her Future: Challenges & Recommendations to Increase Education for Refugee Girls

This Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) policy brief, Her Future: Challenges & Recommendations to Increase Education for Refugee Girls (March 2019), identifies key barriers preventing refugee girls from accessing education and provides actionable recommendations for policymakers, donors, and practitioners. Highlighting that refugee girls are only half as likely as boys to enroll in secondary school, the brief examines challenges, including cultural norms prioritizing boys' education, lack of adequate sanitary facilities, unsafe learning environments, and the compounding effects of displacement and poverty. Drawing on JRS's operational experience and the stories of refugee girls from Uganda, Lebanon, and Afghanistan, it concludes with recommendations to incorporate gender into education plans, address harmful cultural norms, provide gender-appropriate infrastructure, and promote safe learning environments.