What is Pathways?

AHEAD received a Planning Grant for the Ford Foundation PATHWAYS Project. The Pathways Project sought to address the problem of scanty or nonexistent data relevant to the particular problems of rural females and other segments of marginalized university aged populations in East Africa.

The planning exercise provided indepth investigations into gender-related access and retention issues within select universities in three countries of East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

The project rationale was to sharpen analytical tools and policies to address the specific needs of rural women in higher education. A strong focus of the approach was to seek to support institutional project work with women students on campus who come from marginalized areas. A particular reference was given to underrepresented areas of study such as math and sciences.

Through Ford Foundation funding, AHEAD ultimately made seven subgrants to East African Universities: University of Dar es Salaam, University of Nairobi, Moi University, Sokoine University, Hubert Kairuki University, Gulu University and Makerere University.

The researchers presented an impressive assortment of data, highlighted key aspects of ongoing initiatives, provided information on aspects of ongoing university initiatives, and provided information that suggested university management had taken some positive steps (and some missteps) vis-a-vis the issue of outreach to prospective students and retention of current students.