Abstract

Girls’ educational participation in low-income rural contexts remains constrained by structural, economic, and gendered factors. While role model interventions increasingly support girls, evidence on their influence on educational aspirations remains limited. This study explores how interactions with female role models shaped adolescent girls’ aspirations and sense of agency in rural northern Ghana, specifically Nanumba North, Saboba, Tolon, West Gonja, and West Mamprusi districts, and guided by Dasgupta’s (2011) Stereotype Inoculation Model (SIM). Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 46 programme beneficiaries, 25 parents, and 5 district education officers, the study examined narrative shifts in girls’ educational goals before and after engagement with the intervention. Analysis focused on interpretive patterns in participants’ accounts rather than causal effects, consistent with the study’s qualitative design. Findings suggest that locally grounded role models broadened girls’ educational horizons, strengthened confidence, and provided interpretive resources for navigating social norms and material constraints. Complementary financial support was associated with sustaining aspiration change. The study highlights aspirations as relational and socially produced, consistent with sociocultural scholarship on aspiration formation, and suggests that integrated approaches combining mentorship with financial and institutional support may address both material and psychosocial dimensions of educational exclusion.

Read more: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43545-026-01678-0