UNGEI Country Partnerships in the South Asia Region - Afghanistan Girls’ Education Initiative (AGEI) - Young Champions for Education

UNGEI Country Partnerships  Formal UNGEI partnerships in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, evolving in Pakistan  Four trends  Government as an active partner  Most pronounced in Afghanistan  Also in Nepal  Planned in 5 states of India in 2008  Partnership without the government  Partners advocate to the government for policy and other reforms (Bangladesh)  Young Champions facilitate country Partnership  Pakistan in 2 provinces, to be followed by federal UNGEI under DFID project (GEPSP)  Using SWAp as an entry point (successful advocacy for dis- aggregation of data in EMIS)  Sri Lanka

Afghanistan Girls’ Education Initiative (AGEI)  Launched in 2007 with 17 partner organizations including line ministries, donors, research organizations, NGOs, UN  Co-chaired by MOE and UNICEF  Forum for information sharing, networking and funding for improved coordination and collaboration on girls’ education  Strong political commitment (ed. universal & compulsory from grades 1 to 9), girls’ education focus area in the 5 year education plan of Afghanistan which aims to increase enrolment of girls and boys in primary schools to 60% and 75% by 2010  AGEI seeks to support the government's objectives for girls’ education

Results under AGEI  Ownership and participation  Situation analysis of girls’ education report prepared by partners  Monthly meetings with rotating venue (8 held so far, last meeting was at Save the Children, next to be held at WFP)  Thematic working groups under 7 thematic working groups: community participation and youth, ECD/pre-school, girls’ education, school construction, literacy, out of school curriculum development, school feeding  School mapping exercise underway

Results under AGEI  Three young champions as AGEI partners implementing one –year action plans  Four community radio stations and women’s listener groups established  Text material under development for media drive and scout involvement to help prepare young females who have completed secondary schooling to become teachers (brochures, posters, newspaper ads)  Enrollment drive planned for winter session but cancelled at the last minute due to worsening security situation in Nengahar province in September  Equal access interested to set up youth to youth radio programme (Nepal model)

Challenges for AGEI  Security related to girls’ schooling  Female teachers/presence in Schools  Status of women and girls: severe gender disparities in access, rural urban differences  Better coordination of efforts

Update on Young Champions  Active in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan  Bangladesh: TOT organized for adolescents, advocacy through articles in print media, joint activities w/ Save the Children, television talk show and reporting, documentary drama planned

Update on Young champions  Nepal: regional e-group, lead role in organizing activities on World Literacy Day (including release of girls’ education strategy paper & gender mainstreaming manual), advocacy for targeting of marginalized communities & female teacher recruitment, enrollment drives in 22 education resource centers

Update on Young champions  Pakistan: formal agreements with government in Punjab and North West Frontier Province (NWFP)  Aim: reduce drop out of girls in grades 1 and 2 in Punjab, developing capacity & linkages among govt., civil society, academia using boy scouts as a vehicle to promote girls’ education in NWFP  Provincial level partnership exists in NWFP (SC-US, UNFPA, WFP) under DFID supported Gender in Education Policy Support Project (GEPSP)  Province level committees, youth resource centers, boy scouts, BCC materials, TOT  Planned: youth conference w/ UNFPA, TV show w/ Save  Newsletter, website in process  Federal level partnership to be set up under GEPSP

And finally …..  UNGEI country partnerships are evolving in different context specific ways  It is often difficult to separate and attribute UNGEI role from that of the organization’s role in country processes (UNDAF, PRSP, SWAp)  To do: Formation of country partnerships in Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan  Need the support of GAC members with presence in these countries  Generally, need greater involvement of GAC members at country level