Civic Involvement in Primary Education in Southern Africa
In southern Africa, where national governments have successfully expanded primary school enrollment, the education sector now faces the challenge of providing quality education to a vast population of new students. World Education's Civic Involvement in Primary Education (CIPE) project aims to address this critical issue by mobilizing communities in Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, and Zambia to become actively involved in the education of their children. Working with a key local NGO partner in each country, CIPE provides training and small grant assistance to parent associations (e.g., PTAs and school committees) at the community level, thus building their capacity to improve the quality of education in their schools.
Read more at:
http://www.worlded.co.za/index.htm
Making Middle School a Reality in Senegal
For many parents in Senegal, having their children go to middle school close to home was just a dream. Because many communities do not have a local middle school, children generally have to walk 15-60 miles to get to school. Creating high-quality middle schools that will give more Senegalese citizens the skills they need to participate in the political, economic, and social development of their country, is the objective of the Children’s Learning Access Sustained in Senegal (CLASS) project, funded by USAID and implemented by the Academy for Educational Development Global Education Center.
Read more at:
http://www.aed.org/Education/senegaledstory.cfm
Improving Education Quality in Malawi
Education in Malawi is in a dire state, primarily caused by the rapid and unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS that has caused the average life expectancy in Malawi to drop from 48 to 39 years since 1988. This means that greater effort is required to recruit and train teachers and that student drop out and repeat rates are increasing. The other contributing factor is the unforeseen consequence from the introduction of free primary education in 1994. Although it was a popular policy of the new government, it resulted in a massive increase in enrollment, further straining Malawi's under-resourced education system. More than 1.3 million additional children came to school following the declaration of Free Primary Education. There were not enough classrooms or teachers to effectively handle such an influx. Teachers were called back from retirement and others were brought on board who were not qualified. High repetition rates, low completion rates, and poor overall school quality characterize the crisis. American Institutes for Research supports USAID's efforts to increase education quality in Malawi as the lead organization implementing the Malawi Education Support Activity (MESA). The ultimate focus of MESA is to improve the effectiveness of schools leading to greater pupil outcomes.
Read more at:
http://www.air.org/overview/mawindo.aspx
Addressing Obstacles to Schooling in Ethiopia
In many poor communities, young girls are abducted on the way to school on behalf of a would-be bridegroom who is unable to afford the traditional bride price. As the girl’s parents often view immediate marriage as the only honorable outcome, further schooling becomes impossible. Fear of abduction, along with cultural or religious barriers to girls' education and the practice of keeping girls at home to work are the primary causes of low enrollment of girls in the rural Ethiopian schools where World Learning for International Development (WLID) is implementing the Community-Government Partnership Program in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The program addresses not only the obstacles to female enrollment, but also the troubling conditions under which learning must take place for both girls and boys.
Read more at:
http://www.worldlearning.org/wlid/news/ethiopia_education_story.html
Combating Child Trafficking through Education in Mali
With funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, CARE is working to reduce child trafficking and exploitative child labor by improving access to and quality of education in five districts in two regions of Mali (Segou and Mopti). The project goals are to increase overall school enrollment by reaching an additional 14,000 of out-of-school children; training at-risk children; and working with communities to prevent child trafficking.
Read more at:
http://www.careusa.org/careswork/projects/MLI056.asp
Dramatic Changes in Namibia's Classrooms
In the past 14 years Namibia's education system has undergone a transformation so sweeping that it could be described as extraordinary. Since gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, this young nation in Southwestern Africa has gone from an apartheid educational model that served only the privileged few-and even those students were racially segregated-to a structure that welcomes all children into integrated classrooms.
Read more at:
http://www.aed.org/Education/International/namibiaed.cfm
Community Radio in Zambia
The Zambia Community Radio (ZCR) project launched in November 2003 to foster discussion and raise awareness about development topics, among them: education, HIV/AIDS, child welfare and agriculture. Small community radio stations operate throughout Zambia and serve a critical role in disseminating information to the public and organizing community activities. Through the ZCR Project, Education Development Center (EDC) is partnering with these radio stations and other local non-governmental and community organizations to create a series of village-based radio programs titled, "Our Village." The programs feature village histories and topical music and drama skits to frame the development issues in the communities’ cultural and historical context.
Read more at:
http://main.edc.org/newsroom/features/featuresframe.asp?
Engaging Communities in Education in Guinea
In West Africa, World Education has long been working to improve the quality of education and to attract and retain girls in school. In Guinea, parents are often asked to make financial contributions to schools but otherwise have no say in their children’s education. Since 1997, World Education has been using non-formal education methods to help parents become more involved in their children’s education. Through the USAID-funded Community Participation in Basic Education for Quality and Equity Project (PACEEQ), World Education is strengthening communities to improve the quality and equity of basic education. PACEEQ works with parents in the community to promote girls’ education by organizing door-to-door information campaigns, encouraging other parents to enroll their daughters in school and advocating for girls’ right to education.
Read more at:
http://www.worlded.org
Improving Education Quality in Malawi
Education in Malawi is in a dire state, primarily caused by the rapid and unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS that has caused the average life expectancy in Malawi to drop from 48 to 39 years since 1988. This means that greater effort is required to recruit and train teachers and that student drop out and repeat rates are increasing. The other contributing factor is the unforeseen consequence from the introduction of free primary education in 1994. Although it was a popular policy of the new government, it resulted in a massive increase in enrollment, further straining Malawi's under-resourced education system. More than 1.3 million additional children came to school following the declaration of Free Primary Education. There were not enough classrooms or teachers to effectively handle such an influx. Teachers were called back from retirement and others were brought on board who were not qualified. High repetition rates, low completion rates, and poor overall school quality characterize the crisis. American Institutes for Research supports USAID's efforts to increase education quality in Malawi as the lead organization implementing the Malawi Education Support Activity (MESA). The ultimate focus of MESA is to improve the effectiveness of schools leading to greater pupil outcomes.
Read more at:
http://www.air.org/overview/mawindo.aspx
