OVERVIEW

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been helping the Afghan government to increase children's access to basic education since 2003. One of the strategies that USAID uses to bring education to children in remote areas is Community Based Education (CBE). USAID partners with the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) and implementing partners to implement the CBE strategy. CBE is a proven means to reach children who are unable to attend formal schools due to insecurity, distance or other constraints.

In 2014, USAID provided a grant to UNICEF to deliver community-based education to children in 13 provinces, utilizing a Ministry of Education approved curriculum. USAID’s grant to UNICEF also supports Accelerated Learning Centers (ALCs) specifically designed for young women whose education was interrupted due to conflict, distance to a formal school, lack of female teachers, or lack of learning materials and supplies. Under this grant, both the CBE and ALC activities focus on remote and underserved communities of Afghanistan.

OBJECTIVES

1. Provide access to quality basic education in rural and remote areas where MoE's schools do not exist.
2. Build the capacity of MoE staff at national, provincial, and district levels in planning and implementing CBE.
3. Mobilize and build the capacity of target communities to participate actively in the education of their children.

ACTIVITIES

• Provide education to children and young women in remote and underserved areas.
• Provide teaching and learning materials and pay the salaries of community-based teachers.
• Establish at least 1,000 community-based schools.
• Provide curriculum and exams to community-based schools and train community-based teachers Through the Ministry of Education.
• Train provincial, district education officers, and implementing partners on the MoE’s community-based education policy.
• Establish Accelerated Learning Centers to out-of-school children and young women.
• Conduct field monitoring, including third party monitoring by nongovernmental organizations and ensures the accuracy of reporting in MoE’s tracking systems.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Enrolled nearly 82,000 (50% girls) out of school children and youth.
• Established approximately 2,000 CBS and close to 900 Accelerated Learning Centers in 13 provinces (Bamyan, Badghis, Daikundi, Ghor, Helmand, Kandahar, Patika, Paktya, Uruzgan,  Zabul, Farah, Herat and Nangarhar).
• Recruited more than 2800 teachers, including 976 women.
• Mobilized over 900 communities through school management Shuras in 13 provinces, creating awareness about the roles and responsibilities of communities in children’s education.
• About 2,500 girls continuously accessed accelerated learning centers in 7 provinces.
• Trained 120 PED/DED staff (22 percent females).
• Distributed over 53,500 student kits.
• Distributed nearly 1200 teachers’ kits to newly recruited and existing teachers.
• Provided blackboards and floor mats to more than 1900 newly established CBEs to improve the classroom environment and support the teaching and learning process.