Afghanistan

Allocation: US$11 million

Years: 2020-2021

Grant agent: UNICEF

Key documents:

• Application and program document
• Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 response plan

The grant will support the following interventions:

• Distributing WASH and hygiene supplies to schools. Training local community members and teachers to maintain WASH/hygiene equipment, and training school staff and students to adhere to social distancing guidelines and in the use of water and hygiene supplies
• Recruiting and deploying “volunteer” teachers, especially female. Providing teachers with online training to develop their capacities for learning assessments and remediation
• Developing and implementing guidelines for student assessments and exams, monitoring and supporting teachers in analyzing results and using them to prepare interventions enabling students to successfully complete their academic year
• Distributing student learning kits, teacher pedagogical support kits, and classrooms learning supplies
• Supporting accelerated and remedial “make-up” classes for students who have fallen below their grade level, with special attention to IDPs and students at risk of being stigmatized or abused
• Public schools - especially those in COVID-19 high-risk provinces - are tracked, assessed and ready for re-opening with the resources, information and materials they need to welcome children, and keep them and their teachers physically safe

In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Afghanistan received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education with the development of a comprehensive COVID-19 response plan for the immediate, medium- and long-term impact of the pandemic on the education system.