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An adolescent girl in Kigali in Rwanda. Photo: Nathalie Bertrams/GAGE 2020

Teaching and learning for life skills development: Insights from Rwanda’s 12+ programme for adolescent girls

22.03.22 | Rwanda

Bodily integrity and freedom from violence | Economic empowerment | Education | Education and learning | Health, Nutrition and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) | Lifeskills | Psychosocial well-being | Voice and agency

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Sophia D’Angelo Rachel Marcus and Ernest Ngabo

The development of life skills has been increasingly recognised in formal and non-formal education programmes as critical to enabling young people to flourish. Recent competency-based curricular reform reflects a growing consensus on the importance of developing a combination of socio-emotional, cognitive and practical skills to overcome contemporary social, environmental, and economic global challenges.This paper examines the pedagogical practices that develop such skills by drawing on lessons from Rwanda’s 12+ programme, a non-formal life skills programme for adolescent girls.Five insights are highlighted: structured teaching and learning materials; the use of dialogic teaching; experiential learning opportunities; the importance of safe spaces; and the engagement of mentors as role models. These ingredients of effective life skills led to the development of adolescent girls’ skills, knowledge, and attitudes.

Teacher education and ongoing professional development should focus on strengthening teachers’ capacity to use learner-centred, interactive methods, and to foster positive social relationships with and amongst learners.Suggested citationD’Angelo, S., Marcus, R., Ngabo, E. (2022) Teaching and learning for life skills development: Insights from Rwanda’s 12+ programme for adolescent girls’ Development Policy Review e12622 (https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12622)

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