In this second episode of Embedding Equality in Education, hosts Jenn O'Donoghue and Edem Ossai explore why the Learning and Action Alliance for Girls' Agency (LAAGA) chose to do research with girls in marginalized contexts. Drawing on voices from LAAGA researchers and girls themselves, they unpack how marginalization is shaped by shifting social, economic, and environmental systems, from poverty and early marriage to gender-based violence and climate change and why understanding these dynamics requires centering the perspectives of those most affected. The conversation also challenges common language in the field, like "vulnerable" or "empowerment," and makes the case for participatory research that engages girls as co-constructors of knowledge rather than subjects of study.

Show notes and transcript.

Embedding Equality in Education is a production of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at brookings.edu.

In the first episode of Embedding Equality in Education, hosts Jennifer O'Donoghue and Edem Dorothy Ossai introduce the Learning and Action Alliance for Girls' Agency (LAAGA), a Global South-rooted network of Echidna Global Scholar alumni working to rethink how girls' agency is understood, studied, and supported. Jenn and Edem share the origin story of LAAGA's community of practice, unpack why dominant development narratives get girls' agency wrong, and introduce LAAGA's living definition of agency — the power to dream, decide, and act. Along the way, they reflect on their own journeys into this work and set the stage for a season built on centering girls' voices, embracing contextual and multi-dimensional understandings of agency, and learning collectively across difference.

Show notes and transcript.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at brookings.edu.

On Embedding Equality in Education, a new podcast from the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, hosts Jennifer O'Donoghue and Edem Dorothy Ossai connect research and lived experience to challenge prevailing narratives and advance gender transformative education, spotlighting scholars from the Global South, and bringing policymakers, practitioners, and young people into the conversation.

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at brookings.edu.