Promoting child rightsto end child poverty

Plan Rwanda CSP II 2013 - 2018

Right to Access Quality & Inclusive Education

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RENCP GA July 2015By: Paul Bagambe- EPM

Promoting child rights to end child poverty

CP Goal & Objectives

Goal: • Girls and boys (7-19 years old) enjoy quality primary and secondary

education in a girl and boy-friendly, inclusive school environment in Plan target communities

Objectives:• To increase by 20 % the proportion of boys and girls from

marginalized and most vulnerable groups who have equitable access to quality basic primary and secondary education in Plan’s zone of interventions within 5 years.

• To contribute to the reduction by 3% the proportion of boys and girls out of school (4% at National average) in Plan’s zones of intervention in five years

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Program Issues:

1. Poor access to education:

- poverty of families as they are unable to meet the hidden costs related to attending ‘free’ basic education

- children trekking long distances (3-5km) - Gender considerations - girls often are not enrolled in or miss classes due to

a heavy burden of domestic work, societal perceptions that girls do not need to complete education, gender-based violence,

- insufficient sanitation facilities in schools and drop-outs as result of early and unwanted pregnancy . PPA2 Baseline Study.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Program Issues Cont’d

2. Poor quality of education: - Overcrowded classrooms which result to high primary teacher to

student ratio at 1:63 when the national standard is 1:45- Limited knowledge of MoI- English, Schools are not girl friendly:

Rwandan schools are often characterized by poor access to adequate sanitation facilities, basic infrastructure (classrooms, playground and water points) and high levels of gender-based violence in and around schools.

- Poor education on sexual and reproductive health and rights: low level of knowledge increases the risk of girls and boys being exposed to STIs, HIV and GBV.

- Poor teacher motivation and turn over.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Program Issues Cont’d

3. Poor Education governance;- Functioning PTC in schools? What about their roles and

responsibilities? - Any space for child participation in decision making-PTC, student

leadership? Clubs?- Feedback from Schools on Education- No existing mechanisms.

(Most Significant Change Stories by schools)

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Plan’s Response to Education Needs

This CP will seek to address the main violations of children’s right to education targeting three aspects: access, quality and governance through;

• Promoting girl and boy friendly primary and secondary schools by supporting the implementation of School Improvement Plans (SIP) which is an integrated approach for improving;

• teaching (teacher training and motivation, innovative approaches in teaching, learner centered methodologies, gender sensitive pedagogy);

• the learning environment (including support to basic infrastructure, addressing gender based violence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, school hygiene and sanitation, girl friendly infrastructure, masculinities mentorship programs) for better quality.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Promoting Girls’ Participation

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Plan’s Response Cont’d

• These will help with implementation of Plan’s Girl and Boy safe School Model, a holistic approach to ensure that school infrastructure, teaching and governance are responsive to the needs of boys and girls and promote gender transformation.

• Supporting the capacity building of Civil Society Organizations and duty bearers to advocate for child friendly budgeting in education and good governance initiatives (functional PTCs, children’s clubs/forums, GBV response mechanisms).

• Supporting inclusive education for children from the most vulnerable and marginalized groups by providing multi-year educational support (i.e. mentoring, assistive aids)

• National Campaigns- BIAAG (Because I Am A Girl campaign) while tackling the root causes of barriers to quality education for girls through gender transformative programming.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Plan’s response

As a child rights organization, Plan is committed to facilitate those changes by building in children and communities the capacity to respect and exercise their human rights and responsibilities in education and through education.

Our bigger goal: to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalised.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Program Strategies:

How?

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Community driven

Upward & downward

accountability

Promote solidarity and social cohension

Evidence-based advocacy

Work through partnerships

Focused, specialized

models

Gender equality and inclusion

Innovation

Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Relevance of CP to Gov’t Policy/ priorities

• The CP as the whole CSP is guided by two government documents;• Vision 2020 and EDPRS 2. (ESSP 2013-2018)

• Rwanda’s main strategic priority is to reduce the percentage of people living in poverty from 45% to under 30% by 2018.

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

Partnerships

• MINEDUC• REB• Districts and Sectors (DEOs, SEOs)• Schools (School H/Ts, Teachers, PTCs, Parliaments)• FAWE, PAJER, RWAMREC, YWCA, IEE, Haguruka• Communities (Families, Children)

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Promoting child rights to end child poverty

“Good teachers are costly but bad teachers cost more”!

Thank You Very Much!

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