| dc.description.abstract | In this study, I explore the educational and gendered realities of some adolescent girls in primary schools in an urban slum area in Uganda and examines the possibility of the adolescent girls’ club approach to address the shortfalls in formal education in terms of empowering girls with gendered knowledge. As one of the developing countries that has promoted national and international girls’ education policies, Uganda provides an ideal country case to explore the interaction between girls’ education and empowerment. While more Uganda girls than ever are enrolled in primary school, it is unclear whether a prioritization of educational access has had the intended results in terms of improving the well-being and empowerment of girls. At the same time, adolescent girls’ clubs as a form of non-formal education has become an increasing popular approach to girls’ empowerment among the international development community. Nonetheless, current scholarship has insufficiently addressed the lived experiences of schoolgirls to examine how they perceive, make meaning of, and navigate the challenges and opportunities presented in their local context, particularly in the adolescent girls’ club setting. A qualitative comparative study was carried out in two primary schools, a non-governmental organization (Girl Up Initiative Uganda), and surrounding communities in Kampala, Uganda. Data was collected over 4.5 months through semi-structured interviews, fieldwork observation, informal discussions, and a review of organizational documents. The researcher compared the perceptions, meaning-making, and identity construction among participants in the Girl Up Club as the intervention group, and non-participants as the control group, The analysis was guided by an inductive thematic analysis and the levels and dimensions of empowerment theory. The main findings indicate that generational poverty affects girls’ access to formal education and feelings of empowerment and thus, it must be addressed in Uganda’s educational policy. Spatial perceptions and experiences of gender inequality were also found amongst all the girls, yet only the girls in the intervention group expressed a nuanced understanding of the socio-economic and political gender power dynamics that led to such disparities. Girls’ understanding of the concept of ‘empowerment’ was more apparent among the intervention group and while they provided varying meanings there was a common focus on individual psychological empowerment. The researcher also found that non-formal education has the potential to develop empowerment and that equally empowerment can lead to improved school performance, illustrating a dynamic interaction between education and empowerment. | eng |