Somalia

Puntland has been awarded two grants totaling US$14.43 million. The first one, in the amount of US$5.6 million, runs from 2017 to 2020 and aims to address key priorities identified in the country’s Education Sector Strategic Plan for 2017-2021.

The second one, in the amount of US$8.83 million, is an additional allocation which runs from 2020 to 2023, and builds upon and complement the first grant.

The overarching goal of the program is to improve the quality of education, promote equity and access for the most socially excluded children in Puntland, and to strengthen the capacity of the ministry of Education to deliver effective and efficient education services.

With the second grant, the program’s structure remained the same with some adjustments made in line with lessons learned during the implementation previous programs.

The US$5.6 million grant aims to:

• Improve the quality of teaching in order to enhance children’s learning outcomes
• Promote equity in education by providing targeted financial support to overcome financial barriers to access education
• Strengthen the education system by supporting EMIS, annual examinations, learning assessments, inspection and supervision.

The US$8.83 million grant aims to:

• Improve learning outcomes for primary students
• Improve access to education for children in rural areas and disadvantaged and vulnerable groups
• Strengthen institutional systems for better service delivery.

Puntland has also recently been awarded an additional allocation of US$2.9 million to support 22,500 vulnerable girls and boys affected by the COVID-19 crisis. This assistance complements the ongoing work and provide basic education in areas affected by food insecurity and drought, where schooling has been severely disrupted, and children's nutritional status is poor.

Somaliland has been granted an education sector implementation grant made up of three different allocations (one original grant + two additional funding) totaling US$24,616,000 from GPE.

The original grant of US$7,680,000 runs since 2018 with the overall objective to help girls and boys of primary school age acquire the skills and competencies they need, through safe and protective learning environments. This grant has three components:

1. Access and equity to increase the enrollment rates in primary schools by 20% over their baselines, with 50% for girls, by:
   • Expanding enrollment of girls and boys in primary school, particularly girls, children with disabilities, and minority groups,
   • Making sure girls attending GPE-supported schools benefit from affirmative action.
2. Quality and learning outcomes to improve pedagogical skills of primary school and early childhood education (ECE) teachers (25% women) through professional training and certification by:
   • Ensuring that girls and boys attend GPE-supported schools which meet minimum standards,
   • Providing teachers with pedagogical skills in literacy, gender sensitive teaching, and social and emotional learning,
   • Developing an institutional framework for ECE.
3. Efficient and effective education system at the Ministry of Education’s central and devolved levels by:
   • Making sure that Quality Assurance and Standards System Department services are functional and decentralized,
   • Ensuring that the EMIS Unit is operationalized, functional and decentralized,
   • Developing and operationalizing an effective disaster and emergency strategic plan,
   • Ensuring that school and community structures promote safe, inclusive and gender-sensitive basic education.

The grant agent for this program is Save The Children US.

The second allocation is an additional funding of US$12,016,000, which runs from January 2020 through December 2022. It builds upon the achievements of the first grant (which underwent a costed restructuring in November 2019) with expanded scope and geographical locations within the main regions.

The funding also addresses some of the gaps of the first grant under the same three components: access and equity, quality and learning outcomes, and efficient and effective education system, particularly in primary education and selected interventions at the ECE level.

UNICEF is the grant agent for this second grant.

The third allocation is a US$4,920,000 additional financing supported by Save the Children US. It builds on the other two grants and contributes to the implementation of the ESSP 2017-21 through an expanded scope and an increase in the number of supported schools.

The objectives and components of this additional financing remain the same as those listed in the current ESPIG.

Somaliland also received an accelerated grant of US$3,004,000. The overall objective is to ensure children’s continued access to education opportunities in drought-affected communities in Somaliland, using a multi-sector approach.

The project targets 12,000 girls and boys (40% girls) aged 6-13, attending 100 formal schools in vulnerable drought-affected communities in Sanaag, Sool, Togdheer, Marodijeex, and Awdal regions of Somaliland and is organized around three components:

1. Ensure that vulnerable girls and boys affected by the drought have continued access to safe, protective, formal education through provision of support to schools.
2. Ensure that vulnerable girls and boys displaced by the drought have continued access to protective quality basic education.
3. Strengthen the capacities of the stakeholders to deliver effective and coordinated education in emergencies preparedness and response.

The program activities address the immediate needs of girls and boys affected by the drought, while continuing to build on existing structures to address the underlying causes of dropout and low enrollment through capacity building of communities and ensuring a holistic response through integration with other sectors such as water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and nutrition.

Save the Children US is the grant agent for this accelerated funding.