Digital Inclusion and Girls' Education in Fragile Contexts: Evidence on What Works for Participation and Continuity in Somalia and Uganda

This paper examines what works in advancing girls' education through digital inclusion in fragile and low-resource contexts, focusing on Somalia with comparative insights from Uganda. Existing studies rarely explain why similar digital interventions generate different educational outcomes across fragile contexts. This study develops an integrated systems framework explaining how institutional capacity, gender norms, digital capability, and educational governance interact to shape girls' digital inclusion. The paper presents a research-based contribution drawing on qualitative comparative analysis of Somalia and Uganda. Somalia represents a highly fragile context characterized by insecurity, displacement, poverty, restrictive gender norms, and weak educational infrastructure, all of which constrain girls' education and digital learning opportunities. Uganda provides a comparative case of relative institutional stability, where progress in girls' education coexists with persistent inequalities linked to rural-urban disparities, affordability constraints, and socio-cultural expectations limiting girls' educational progression. Findings demonstrate that digital inclusion is multidimensional and structurally conditioned rather than purely technological. Across both contexts, effective participation depends on the interaction of infrastructure, affordability, digital literacy, teacher capacity, mentorship, household support, and online safety. Context-appropriate low-tech approaches, including radio-based learning, mobile-supported education, and offline digital content, are particularly effective in fragile and resource-constrained settings. However, sustainable impact requires complementary institutional and social support systems. Mentorship, female role models, and increased female teacher representation strengthen girls' confidence, aspirations, and retention, while online harassment and limited digital literacy reduce participation in digital learning environments. The study further finds that many donor-supported digital initiatives struggle to scale sustainably because of fragmented implementation systems, weak institutional coordination, and uneven infrastructure coverage. Effective digital inclusion therefore depends not only on technology provision but also on its integration within broader education-sector planning and long-term institutional investment. The findings provide practical guidance for policymakers, donors, and education practitioners on designing scalable, equitable, and context-sensitive digital education strategies for girls in fragile settings. The paper argues that what works in digital inclusion is an integrated, gender-responsive, and institutionally embedded approach rather than technology provision alone. Effective interventions combine scalable low-tech delivery models with digital literacy, safeguarding systems, teacher development, mentorship, and community engagement.