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UNICEF SUDAN

EDUCATION 2019

SOCIAL POLICY ANNUAL REPORT 2019

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................................................................. 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................ 4

SITUATION IN SUDAN .................................................................................................................................................. 6

RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10

CHALLENGES .............................................................................................................................................................. 19

LESSONS LEARNED .................................................................................................................................................... 19

FUTURE WORK PLAN ................................................................................................................................................. 20

CASE STUDY: IMPLEMENTING AN INNOVATIVE E-LEARNING PROGRAMME ......................................................... 23

STORY: SMILE, WE CAN’T WAIT TO LEARN .............................................................................................................. 25

EXPRESSION OF THANKS ........................................................................................................................................... 27

FEEDBACK FORM ....................................................................................................................................................... 27

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................. 28

Cover photo: a refugee girl attends classes in an UNICEF-supported school in Beleil settlement, South Darfur.

EDUCATION ANNUAL REPORT

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ACRONYMS ALP Alternative Learning Programme C4D Communication for Development CPD Country Programme Document CSO Civil Society Organisation CWTL Can’t Wait to Learn (e-learning project) DRR Disaster Risk Reduction ECD Early Childhood Development ECHO European Commission Humanitarian Aid ECE Early Childhood Education EMIS Education Management Information System EQUIP Education Quality Improvement Project (EU-funded project) ESSP Education Sector Strategic Plan GPE Global Partnership for Education HAC Humanitarian Action for Children HDI Human Development Index HNO Human Needs Overview IDP Internally Displaced Persons MICS Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MoE Ministry of Education NCLAE National Council for Literacy and Adult Education NGO Non-Governmental Organisation OOSC Out-of-School Children ORE Other Resources Emergency (emergency thematic funding) ORR Other Resources Regular (thematic funding) PTA Outpatient Therapeutic Programme RR Regular Resources S3M Simple Spatial Survey Method SDG Sustainable Development Goals (or Sudanese Pound) SIP School Improvement Plan UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR United Nations Refugee Agency UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USD United States Dollar WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WFP World Food Programme WHO World Health Organisation

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1 UNICEF’s out-of-school children (OOSC) report issued in 2017 stated that approximately one third of OOSCs do not go to schools due to financial reasons, among other

reasons.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Last year was a remarkable year for Sudan… … political protests in the capital and other states led to the fall of the 30-year regime of President Omar Al-Bashir in April. In August, an agreement for a transitional government – led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok – was signed, providing new hopes and opportunities for Sudan and the Sudanese people. At the same time, the situation of children and families deteriorated amid a continued severe and acute economic crisis. Exchange rate devaluation and high inflation rates drove the cost of living up and household purchasing power down. Shortages of fuel, cash, and bread hit vulnerable children and families hard. The country continues to face protracted, complex and overlapping humanitarian challenges. According to the 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), at the beginning of 2020, 9.3 million people – of which 5.3 million are children – are in need of humanitarian assistance (a sharp increase from the 5.5 million people/2.5 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in 2019).

Approximately three million school-age children (around one third of the school-aged population; children between six and thirteen years) do not go to school. There are high disparities between the eighteen states in Sudan. The most vulnerable groups are girls, children affected by conflict, refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), children in rural areas, and children from poor households. In addition, there are high drop-out rates, especially for girls and children living in rural areas.

▪ In 2019, 177,082 previously out-of-school children (49.5 per cent girls) from rural, nomadic, internally displaced, refugee and emergency-affected communities accessed formal and non-formal education with UNICEF’s direct support, against an annual target of 194,816 children (50 per cent girls). This result was achieved through the establishment of gender-responsive learning spaces, provision of learning supplies, ‘come to school’ and community sensitisation campaigns and teacher trainings. Of the total number of children reached, 80,008 (50 per cent girls) previously out-of-school children were enrolled in alternative learning programme (ALP) centres and 52,717 (52 per cent girls) in humanitarian situations were supported with access to formal and non-formal education in safe and child-friendly learning spaces.

▪ A total of 222,060 children were reached with teaching and learning materials and other school supplies, such as uniforms and dignity (hygiene) kits for girls against an annual target of 433,934 children (50 per cent girls). Of these children reached, 74,378 vulnerable girls received a full social assistance package. As one of the key barriers to education is family out-of-pocket costs, educational materials and social assistance helped to offset poor

families’ schooling costs and encourage enrollment and retention, especially among girls1.

Without this vital support, many children would either have been excluded or dropped-out of school.

▪ In response to emergencies in Sudan, UNICEF, in partnership with more than thirty local and international civil society organisations (CSOs) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE), supported education in emergency supplies provision to A total of 437,843 children (48 per cent girls) and 3,755 teachers (50 per cent women) have increased capacity for emergency responses at their schools. An additional 1,274 conflict-affected children (40 per cent girls) were supported to take grade eight examinations so that they could complete their basic education.

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2 The School Improvement Planning (SIP) process offers a roadmap towards making schools child-friendly and improving quality teaching and learning environment.

The SIP is also a strategy for decentralising planning and education information management to school level.

▪ With UNICEF support, learning environments were improved in 272 schools, with the construction and rehabilitation of classrooms (216 semi-permanent and permanent classrooms constructed and 409 rehabilitated). Also 115 schools now have access to water, serving 59,296 school children (29,697 girls and 29,599 boys). The total number of schools that were supported by UNICEF were 356, against the annual target of 250 – a 142 per cent increase over the planned target.

▪ In addition, 596 schools were assisted with school grants, and 5,506 parent-teacher association (PTA) members (40 per cent women) received training to develop School Improvement Plans (SIP)2. This achievement is more than double the planned target.

▪ To improve learning outcomes, UNICEF supported capacity-building of teachers by providing teacher training for 4,689 basic education schoolteachers (44 per cent women) to enhance their skills in using learner-centred teaching approaches. The 2019 UNICEF target was 6,000 teachers to be trained. While less teachers could be reached in 2019, this and last year’s achievements bring the overall achievement rate to 90 per cent against the 2018-2021 Country Programme Document (CPD) target of 18,000 teachers trained.

▪ More than 11,111 adolescents (50 per cent girls) were equipped with life skills through the establishment of 1,169 child and adolescent clubs. Implementing the UPSHIFT programme – a social enterprise model to support marginalised and out-of-school adolescents (15 to 17 years of age) in using human-centred design methodologies – was an example of UNICEF’s integrated approach to address adolescent education and child protection issues. The programme focused on experiential learning and developing skills like creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration. The UPSHIFT successfully reached 2,000 adolescents (50 per cent girls) including South Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees in Kassala, Khartoum and Red Sea states.

▪ With UNICEF’s technical and financial support, considerable progress was made towards timely and quality education data (one of the main challenges affecting the education system in Sudan). The Ministry of Education improved data availability for evidence-based planning and management.

In 2020, UNICEF’s education team will pursue the following planned results as defined in the country programme and articulated in the annual work plan for 2020:

▪ 195,000 previously out-of-school children, especially girls and those in the most vulnerable situations and emergency affected children, access quality pre-primary, primary and alternative learning opportunities with UNICEF support;

▪ Educators have improved knowledge and skills to contribute to quality learning, and 250 schools have safe and inclusive school environments;

▪ The capacity of the education sector is strengthened to legislate, plan, coordinate and budget the provision of equitable and inclusive education opportunities.

Given that 65 per cent of the Sudanese population are under 25 years of age, getting things right for children, adolescents and youth in the immediate and longer term, will to a great degree determine how successful Sudan will be in the future. Urgent action is needed to make a critical difference in the most vulnerable children’s lives in the next months, and years to come.

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3 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), 2020. 4 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification estimates from World Food Programme (WFP), 2019. West Darfur State was not analysed by the state-level

technical working group; counting West Darfur, figures were estimated around 6.2 million. 5 Impact of economic crisis: household economic situation and coping mechanisms: Khartoum state. 6 Sudan Population Dashboard: Refugees and Asylum-seekers, UNHCR (as of 28 February 2020).

SITUATION IN SUDAN

Sudan is the third largest country in Africa occupying approximately 1.9 million square kilometres (almost half the size of the European Union) and is home for a rapidly growing population of 41 million people. More than half of Sudan’s people are children. Spurred by a high population growth of 2.4 per cent, Sudan is experiencing a demographic shift towards a youth-based population. It will be critical for the adolescents and youth bulge to be provided with education and vocational opportunities, to harness the potential for inclusive economic growth resulting from the demographic dividend. Rapid urbanisation characterises the demographic changes, with over a third of the population now living in urban areas. Rural-urban migration is being driven in part by conflict, drought and desertification, as well as the search for better economic opportunities and access to basic services. Socio-economic indicators remain low in a context of deep economic crisis. In the last decade, Sudan attained a lower middle-income country status. This standing, however, masks the disparity in child-specific social indicators between states. Sudan ranked 168th out of 189 countries and territories in the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI). More than 2.7 million children are malnourished – one of the highest numbers of malnourishment in the world – and

a staggering three million children in Sudan are out-of-school3. National poverty levels rose drastically and while the vast majority of the population felt the effects of the crisis, the most vulnerable bore its brunt. Incomes, wages and purchasing power fell, driving six million people to food insecurity, with 58 per cent of households not able to meet basic daily food requirements4. Vulnerable communities resorted to reducing meals, switching to cheaper and less nutritious foods, borrowing, and selling livelihood and household assets, to the detriment of future generations and at the risk of creating poverty traps5. Others spent less on health and education and some also withdrew their children from schools. In 2020, 9.3 million people – of which 5.3 million children – are in need of humanitarian assistance (a sharp increase from the 5.5 million people/2.5 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in 2019). Humanitarian crises – including protracted conflict and displacement, natural disasters, epidemics, emergency-level malnutrition and food insecurity – remain major challenges. Sudan counts more than 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled violence and conflict. Since 2011, children in the armed-conflict zones of Jebel Marra, Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains have been denied access to basic services, such as education, polio and measles vaccinations, nutrition services, and water and sanitation facilities and child protection. With the transitional government’s focus on peace, and the possibility of the inaccessible areas opening-up, many more people – often deprived of social services for years – might be reached with humanitarian assistance in 2020. Sudan also receives high numbers of refugees from neighbouring Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan and, in recent years, significant numbers of Syrian refugees and several thousand Yemeni refugees. The country is both a temporary and a long-term host country of refugees and migrants as many choose to move onwards to North Africa and Europe and Sudan stands prominently at the crossroads of the large, complex and constantly evolving Horn of Africa migration route. Sudan is also a country of origin for migration due to high poverty, unemployment, conflict and insecurity.

At the beginning of 2020, Sudan hosted more than one million refugees and asylum seekers, but the Government of Sudan estimates that the actual number is closer to two million. UNHCR estimates that there are over 810,000 South Sudanese refugees living across Sudan, the second largest figure in the region (after Uganda)6.

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EDUCATION Education is one of the key priorities for Sudan’s transitional government. The new Minister of Education – Professor Mohamed El Amin – announced the need for educational reform, to gradually increase public expenditure on education to fifteen–twenty per cent, adopt the ‘2-6-3-3’ school year ladder (i.e. two years of pre-school, six years of primary, three years of lower secondary and three years of upper secondary), achieve ambitious gross enrollment rate targets, and undertake a comprehensive review of the current curriculum taking into consideration best international practices and the Sudanese context.

These reforms are timely and necessary as education in Sudan faces multiple challenges, of which the key challenges are listed below:

Less than half of six-year-old children are eligible to start grade one and enroll in schools: Poor access, poor retention and poor learning outcomes in basic education come from complex and mutually reinforcing patterns of disadvantage including: poverty, geographical disparities, gender inequities, disability, conflict, and displacement which all raise barriers to schooling in Sudan. Social-cultural beliefs related to child marriage, girls’ education and domestic work also pose a great threat to young girls in accessing, transitioning and completing the primary school cycle. Poverty and school fees also negatively affect retention and significantly contribute to high drop-out rates. The majority of schools in rural and nomadic areas suffer from a shortage of clean water and/or gender-sensitive sanitation facilities, which affects both attendance and learning. The scarcity of food also hinders retention and completion of basic school education in remote and refugee areas.

Low government expenditure in education: Sudan spent around nine per cent of its total public expenditure on education, resulting in an inadequate number of schools, shortage of qualified teachers, insufficient instructional materials, and inadequate facilities in schools with regard to toilets, drinking water, school fencing and learners’ desks affecting adversely both access and retention.

The quality of education is generally poor: Findings from the 2018 National Learning Assessment (NLA) on learning outcomes among grade three learners showed that while there had been some improvement in literacy levels, overall learning remained poor. Still many children struggled to read simple familiar words and less than half could comprehend what they read. For mathematics, less than half of the children correctly carried-out level one addition exercises and even fewer were able to carry-out level two addition exercises (Ministry of Education, 2018 National Learning Assessment report).

There is a shortage of basic school infrastructure, notably classrooms, school furniture, water and sanitation facilities: Only 60 per cent of the available classrooms in government schools are permanent with an average classroom pupil ratio of 1:76. This resulted in overcrowded classrooms, open air classes under trees, or children learning in unsafe temporary classrooms. Only two thirds of learners in basic education have access to seats. Separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys and access to clean and safe water is a challenge in Sudan. More than 370,000 learners are enrolled in schools without any water supply with significant variations between states. Nationally, only 50 per cent of the schools are connected to the piped water network. The average toilet to pupil ratio was estimated at 1:91 for girls and 1:102 for boys, which is much above the recommended acceptable ratios (1:30 for girls and 1:60 for boys).

School environments are often unsafe, with cases of bullying, gender-based violence, abuse, and corporal punishment happening in schools, but seldom officially reported: School fencing is one of the recommended safety measures for securing learners, as well as codes of conduct for teachers, and community advocacy around positive parenting. Half of primary schools are not fenced. There have been cases of schools losing property including learning materials or occupation of schools by militia groups. The absence of school fences was also linked to availability teachers who preferred to teach in schools with a fence. Further, there is a high level of violence within the classroom setting due to the high acceptance of corporal punishment and other forms of violence within communities and families.

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There is an acute shortage of qualified teachers in Sudan with just over a quarter of teachers in primary schools meeting the minimum requirement for teaching: Moreover, the curricula followed in education studies give priority to theory but remain weak in providing practical and pedagogical skills for instruction. The newly installed Minister of Education has made it a priority to revise curricula to be more suited to skill needs for the future.

Adolescents and youth present a new series of challenges: Sudan has a youthful population that grows at a considerable rate. While the young population of Sudan presents a great socio-economic potential, if properly equipped with relevant skills for a healthy and productive life, it also exerts pressure on government resources. Investment in young people starts with life skills, citizenship and skills training. However, for skills training to be effective, basic literacy should be addressed first.

UNICEF and partners collaborate to improve the access to and quality of education to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Four: Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

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This boy is happy with his new school

and school bag in refugee settlement Bentiu

on the outskirts of Khartoum.

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7 In 2019 UNICEF maintained strong partnerships with both financial and non-financial partners as well as local community and civil society organisations, which contributed in providing access to education for out-of-school children. The financial and technical contribution from Global Partnership for Education (GPE), European Commission, German Government, Netherlands government, Educate A child Initiative – Qatar; and the collaboration with sister UN agencies such as WFP, UNHCR and UNESCO has contributed to the achievement of the results. Partnerships with civil society organisations and the Ministry of Education supported advocacy efforts at different level, programme monitoring, information sharing and capacity building especially at school level, which also contributed to the achievement of the results. In collaboration with the state Ministries of Education, UNICEF partnered with multiple local and international civil society to reach emergency affected school-aged guided by the Emergency Response Plan for 2019.

RESULTS

OUTPUT 3.1 More out-of-school children, especially girls, and those in the most vulnerable situations, accessed quality pre-primary, primary and alternative learning opportunities. UNICEF’s education programme was designed to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the national targets and objectives set out in the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2018-2022. During this second year of the UNICEF Country Programme Document (CPD) 2018-2021 implementation, UNICEF supported a total of 177,082 previously out-of-school children (50 per cent girls) to access formal and non-formal education in fourteen states. This represents a 91 per cent achievement against the 2019 target of 194,816 children and 18 per cent against the four-year country programme document (CPD) target. Of these children, 45 per cent (80,008 out-of-school children) were enrolled in alternative learning programmes (ALPs), while the other 55 per cent were enrolled in regular basic education schools. While 175,000 children were targeted, only 51,623 girls and boys (49 per cent girls) were enrolled in grade one in 2019 with direct support from UNICEF, representing only 29 per cent achievement of the annual target.

UNICEF maintained strong partnerships with the Ministry of Education, as well as various other partners, including local communities and civil society organisations to achieve these results7. The partnership with communities (for example, through parent-teacher associations, and mother groups who identify children that are not going to school) have been very instrumental to address various barriers to education and enhance access to schooling for more girls and boys.

In response to sudden onset emergencies in various parts of the country (Blue Nile, Darfur, South Kordofan and White Nile states) 52,717 (52 per cent girls) of the planned 147,454 emergency-affected children had access to formal and non-formal education in child-friendly learning environments.

Education work was constrained in 2019. Factors for the challenges include school closures (for around fifty days in 2019), the high cost of schooling for families, lack of classrooms, and limited number of single sex schools. Harmful social norms and child marriage continue to be major bottlenecks to children’s education, especially for girls. Socio-political protests combined with the high turn-over of the Ministry of Education officials and the ongoing economic crisis affected the timely implementation of a number of the education activities. To help reduce the high schooling costs for vulnerable children, 222,060 children were reached with teaching and learning materials, recreational materials, school uniforms and dignity kits, with support from UNICEF. Of these, 74,378 especially vulnerable girls received a full social assistance package (85 per cent of the annual target of 87,500 children reached with social assistance packages). Education materials and social assistance helped to offset poor families’ direct and indirect schooling costs, encouraging enrollment and retention, especially for girls. Without this vital support, many children would have either been excluded or dropped-out of school. UNICEF contributed to education results through support to several strategic interventions. (I) Updating the statistics of out-of-school children for all states. (II) Mobilisation, sensitisation, capacity-building and mentorship of children, duty bearers, local leaders and the community at large. (III) Capacity-building of education stakeholders at national and subnational levels in conducting ‘come to school’ and community sensitisation campaigns. (UNICEF’s resources

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covered campaigns because they are usually not budgeted for in the governments annual budget. Although without the school enrollment campaigns, results would not have been achieved). (IV) Service delivery through the provision of teaching and learning materials to vulnerable and at-risk children to offset the cost of schooling. (V) Establishing alternative learning programme (ALP) centres for older out-of-school children to help learners to mainstream into the formal basic schools or to complete basic education curricula in an ALP center and then sit for the grade eight exam to acquire the basic school certificate that qualifies a child to be enrolled in secondary education. (VI) Restoring of education for emergency-affected children through the establishment of safe learning spaces and support to parent-teachers associations (PTAs) that identified and supported children not enrolled in schools. (VII) Use of innovative technology (e.g. the Can’t Wait to Learn e-learning project – for more detail see page 23) for the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach out-of-school children. (VIII) Leading the education humanitarian cluster or sector to develop and implement a sector-wide humanitarian response plan with all education partners. (IX) Strategic partnerships with both financial and non-financial partners – such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE); the European Union; Governments of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States (Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration); other UN agencies (OCHA, UNESCO, WFP and WHO) and non-governmental organisations.

Come to school campaigns In 2019, 309,550 people were reached through the community-based enrollment campaigns that were conducted in 63 localities in twelve of Sudan’s eighteen states. The Come to School Campaign was conducted two weeks after the start of the school year and focused on the importance of education, with a special focus on girls and children with disabilities. The campaign was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education (at national and state level), with technical and financial support provided by UNICEF. The campaign’s messages targeted a diverse audience – ranging from senior government officials and decision-makers at state and local levels, to community leaders, parents and children. The messages were conveyed through local media (radio, television), posters, announcements, theatre plays, and group discussions.

In addition, awareness raising materials were developed. The campaign materials emphasised the importance of children’s education and retention in schools. They also included some social assistance packages for the most vulnerable girls (school uniforms and stationery) to help them attend school and reduce the risk of them dropping-out. These efforts contributed to the enrollment of 51,623 children in grade one (49 per cent girls) and 80,008 older out-of-school children (50 per cent girls) in alternative learning programmes (ALP).

A total of 80,008 children enrolled in alternative learning programmes (ALP) To address the schooling needs of older out-of-school children, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Education to enroll 80,008 older children (50 per cent girls) in alternative learning programmes (ALP) centers. These centers are part of the Ministry of Education’s programme for girls and boys who missed the opportunity to enroll in school or who dropped-out of school. The centers cover the eight-year national primary school curriculum in four years and focus on literacy and numeracy. The programme helps children to be mainstreamed back into the formal basic education classes or to obtain their grade eight certificate, depending on when the child entered the programme.

Some 5,136 children (47 per cent girls) also utilised e-learning opportunities in 80 centers with the support of 135 trained facilitators. In partnership with War Child Holland and the Ministry of Education’s National Council for Literacy and Adult Education (NCLAE), UNICEF initiated this e-learning project as part of the global Can’t Wait to Learn (CWTL) project to help hard-to-reach children – including nomads, children on the move and conflict-affected children – access learning opportunities. The project uses digital game-based learning material on tablets based on an accelerated Sudanese curriculum. Completion of the accelerated alternative learning programme provides a way to access mainstream the children to the formal education system from at least grade three, or even possibly grade four.

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Teaching and learning materials for 222,060 children

Education – both primary and secondary – in Sudan is intended to be free of cost; yet teaching and learning materials are not provided and can be an obstacle for children to attend school. Most Sudanese parents have insufficient income to buy essential learning materials for their daughters and sons. In 2019, a total of 222,060 children were reached with teaching and learning materials and/or other supplies like school uniforms and dignity kits, with UNICEF’s support. Of these, 74,378 vulnerable girls received a full social assistance package (85 per cent of the annual target of 87,500 children reached with the social assistance package). Educational materials and social assistance helped offset poor families’ direct and indirect schooling costs, encouraging enrollment and retention, especially of girls.

A total of 52,717 children in humanitarian situation accessed education In response to the many emergencies across the country, 52,717 children (51 per cent girls) – of the planned Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) target of 147,454 children living in emergency-affected areas – had access to safe learning spaces in newly-constructed or rehabilitated classrooms. A total of 437,843 children (48 per cent girls) – of the planned HAC target of 372,356 children in emergency-affected areas – received education-in-emergency supplies, exceeding the target by eighteen per cent. Further, 3,755 teachers (50 per cent women) gained increased capacity for emergency response at the school level, particularly for psychosocial support. Among them, 200 are from three conflict-affected localities in the Jebel Marra region in Central Darfur. In addition, 1,274 students (411 girls and 863 boys) from three internally displaced person (IDP) settlements in North Darfur state were enabled to sit for grade eight examinations. They were supported with transportation, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities and supplies, as well as sleeping mats during the examination period. Progress towards these targets was impacted by the late opening of schools and low funding for the education sector. One of the challenges is that education in emergencies is not always regarded as a lifesaving priority by donors and further sensitisation and advocacy is needed to advocate the donor community on the importance of allocating humanitarian funding for education in conflict and disaster-affected regions.

A total of 3,000 vulnerable children benefitted from the cash for education project The cash for education project in East Darfur was piloted in El Ferdous locality for 3,000 vulnerable children and adolescents in formal and non-formal education. The project aimed at supporting students’ enrollment and retention to compensate for the opportunity cost of education among marginalised families with school-aged children. According to the enrollment records at the locality education office, there was a 28 per cent enrollment increase for 2019 compared to 2018 with an additional 2,681 children in primary school, and 1,197 children in pre-school. One of the lessons learned during the pilot was that the timing of the cash should be at the start of the school year (rather than a month or two earlier) so that parents understand that the cash is to help off-set the costs to have their children in school and to promote school attendance. Despite the progress reported above, there are still many children out-of-school. This is caused by challenges on the demand and supply side. The demand for education is unmatched by education supplies due to inadequate investment in basic education. For example, lack of classrooms and poor school environments prevent children (including grade one newcomers) from accessing education. Shortage of government teachers in nomadic, rural schools and alternative learning programmes (ALPs) was reported by many states as an issue that seriously affects the quality of learning. This challenge is also highlighted in the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2018-2022.

OUTPUT 3. 2 Education providers, parents and communities have improved knowledge and skills to contribute to quality learning in inclusive safe and protective school environments. The key activities and interventions included: (I) in-service trainings of teachers (II) supporting schools to develop and implement child-friendly school-based improvement plans, (III) improving school learning environments through the construction/rehabilitation of classrooms,

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including the provision of a water and sanitation facilities and (IV) enhancing life skills of adolescents through child and adolescent clubs. In addition to the above, the unlocking literacy strategy was advanced through a UNICEF and World Vision partnership to boost literacy and early-grade reading as well as mathematics programmes.

A total of 4,689 teachers received in-service teacher training in various courses UNICEF contributed to improving the capacity of 4,689 primary school teachers (44 per cent women) by providing in-service teacher trainings. These trainings included various courses to enhance teachers’ skills in using learner-centred teaching approaches. With the 2019 annual target of 6,000 teachers, 78 per cent of the target was achieved in 2019, and 26 per cent towards the 2018-2021 country programme document (CPD) target of 18,000 teachers trained. UNICEF and partners continued to focus on short and cost-effective courses, and also to update training methodology and support guides where needed, based on feedback received.

Moreover, 3,755 of the trained teachers (50 per cent women) gained skills in emergency responses at the school level, and 3,403 education personnel (767 women and 2,636 men), including headmasters and parent-teacher association members, benefitted from education-in-emergency training. Two training modules on life skills and child-centered training were reviewed and finalised by the Ministry of Education, with support from UNICEF.

Since nomadic children represent thirteen per cent of the out-of-school children in Sudan, the education sector employs nomadic teachers to ensure the provision of educational opportunities for these children. Nomadic teachers benefitted from a revised and improved teacher guide following the Ministry of Education’s development of a new school curriculum in Sudan.

UNICEF is currently working on a ‘Teacher’s Code of Conduct’ for teachers and schools to help ensure greater safety for children, for example by addressing the issue of corporal punishment prevalence in public schools. In 2019, UNICEF also started working with the Ministry of Education on improving child safeguarding policies at the national level and increasing the knowledge, awareness and commitment of schoolteachers towards child protection. The vision is to work with other education stakeholders to make this part of the teacher training strategy and/or the education personnel (teachers) management strategy.

In total, 596 schools were supported to develop school improvement plans based on the child-friendly schools’ framework Empowering schools and communities through school-based improvement planning is a key strategy that UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are using to enhance quality and inclusive education in Sudan. The planned result was to support 250 schools annually to develop, implement and monitor school improvement plans (SIPs), based on the child-friendly schools’ framework. With UNICEF support, 596 schools established school management committees and developed school improvement plans (SIP) for their schools. Training was provided to 5,506 committee members (40 per cent women) to gain skills in better school management and community mobilisation. Each SIP committee had at least twelve members (one head teacher, three teachers, two students, two young people, and four members of the parent-teacher association). The trained SIP committees each received a school grant of SDG 45,000 (about USD 1,000) to implement the plans they developed. The development of the school improvement plans is key for enabling school communities to undertake school-based monitoring and actions towards equity and quality learning issues in their communities.

In addition, school improvement planning as well as school grants increased local ownership and empowered the community to take active part in their schools. The 2019 target to support 250 schools to develop school development plans was exceeded by more than double the original target. The reason for the overachievement was that school grants were in high demand and UNICEF Sudan managed to raise additional resources for the activity. Financial support from various donors contributed significantly to the achievement of results. Moreover, partner coordination meetings at the Ministry of Education shaped UNICEF’s

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programming and contributed to the achieved results. The protracted (displacement) crises, weak low capacity among government partners and inadequate availability of flexible funds affected some of the implementation.

A total of 11,300 children benefitted from an improved learning environment in 272 schools - more inclusive and safe learning environments with gender-specific latrines and quality water supply. Learning environments were improved in 272 schools through the construction and rehabilitation of classrooms. In 2019, 216 semi-permanent and permanent classrooms were constructed (135 completed, 81 in progress). The rehabilitation of 409 semi-permanent and permanent classrooms (348 completed, 61 in progress) will provide additional safe learning spaces, while the construction of 118 latrines (100 completed, 18 in progress) are expected to support enrollment and retention of students, particularly of girls. The newly-constructed and rehabilitated classrooms were provided with benches, desks and blackboards. The new classrooms reduced overcrowding and reduced the number of classes conducted in open air. The shortage of classrooms in Sudan is a major challenge for the education sector. The education sector analysis (ESA, 2018) showed a high student to classroom ratio of 76:1 in government primary schools.

In addition, 118 latrines (100 completed, 18 still in progress) were constructed with separate toilets for girls and boys. Availability of gender-sensitive water and sanitation facilities in schools contributed to the retention of adolescent girls and has significantly improved the sanitary conditions of all the schools.

One of the activities that was challenging during 2019 was the construction of schools. Construction work took long and there was little room for quality improvement. Moreover, models and specifications for school construction are not standardised. To improve this issue, UNICEF contracted three education construction engineers to work with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders on devising a strategy for innovative, durable, inclusive and safe designs. The engineers will also assist with the monitoring of ongoing construction activities. A total of 11,111 adolescents (50 per cent girls) in formal and non-formal education participated in skills-based extra-curricular activities. Psychosocial support and life skills education for 11,111 adolescents was provided through 1,169 child and adolescent clubs. Life skills content was developed under the UPSHIFT social entrepreneurship programme in partnership with implementing partner Aflatoun. The UPSHIFT programme is a global Generation Unlimited empowerment model that targets young people by equipping them with social innovation skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and social entrepreneurship skills.

Implementing the UPSHIFT programme – a social enterprise model to support marginalised and out of school adolescents (15 to 17 years of age) in using human-centered design methodologies – is an example of UNICEF’s integrated approach to address adolescent education and child protection issues. The programme focused on experiential learning and developing skills like creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration. The UPSHIFT successfully reached 2,000 adolescents (50 per cent girls) including South Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees in Kassala, Khartoum and Red Sea states, and will continue to be scaled-up to at least four more states in the new year.

Another example of an innovative project is the ‘Muntjatna project’, aimed at empowering women in the Nivasha camp for internally displaced persons by equipping them with the needed skills to develop and sell their handmade products. The UPSHIFT’s newly added component of social enterprise (with partner Aflatoun) equips the most marginalised adolescents with the skills to become financially independent.

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8 The GPE application requirements includes: A credible, endorsed education sector plan (ESP), evidence of commitment to finance the endorsed ESP, the

availability of critical data and evidence for planning, budgeting, managing, monitoring and accountability or alternatively, a strategy to develop capacity to produce and effectively use critical data.

Early marriage, child labour (household chores), especially in rural areas amongst poor uneducated families, continued to be major barriers to education, especially for girls. Reaching young women and helping them to develop life-skills is empowering and offers fresh directions for girls and young women.

OUTPUT 3.3 The capacity of the education sector is strengthened to legislate, plan, coordinate and budget the provision of equitable and inclusive education opportunities. During 2019, UNICEF continued to support governance and managerial capacity of the Ministry of Education at national and state level. UNICEF support also focused on strengthening the use of evidence-based data to better plan, coordinate, implement, and monitor the public education sector activities (formal and non-formal). UNICEF continued its role as the coordinating-agency for the education sector, under the leadership of the Minister of Education. Despite the interruptions caused by the socio-political instability, UNICEF as sector coordinator adopted diversified capacity-building approaches including the provision technical expertise and guidance which enabled partners to engage in policy dialogue and reform discussions with the new Ministry of Education employees, including mainstreaming refugee education into the national system. It is expected that this work will continue to assist the improvement, harmonisation and alignment of financial and technical support, and to hold the government accountable for key commitments. UNICEF leveraged its role as the coordinating agency for the education sector for both humanitarian and development contexts to engage in policy dialogue and reform, including discussions on the humanitarian-development nexus.

Quality and timely data With UNICEF’s technical and financial support, considerable progress was made toward timely and quality education data (one of the main challenges affecting the education system in Sudan).

The Ministry of Education at national and state levels improved data availability for evidence-based planning and management. Twelve targeted states produced 2018-2019 education management information system (EMIS) statistical yearbooks, which is a marked improvement over last year. However, the national yearbook is still not issued, which accounts for the education sector reporting on 2017/2018 data for outcome indicators. Over 73 state-level Ministry of Education staff and headteachers have enhanced skills in data collection, entry, analysis and reporting. However, despite the issuance of the twelve statistical reports, data quality remains a concern as staff use different data sources to compile the annual statistical reports. Sources include state reports, the rapid survey, and online EMIS data, which weakens the reliability of indicators. Outdated population projections from the 2008 population census is also a constraint for data reliability, particularly in regions with high population mobility such as the Darfur states. UNICEF’s investment in strengthening school-level data monitoring is one way of addressing this issue. While government partners demonstrated capacity to prepare the education sector analysis (ESA) and the sector strategic plan (SSP), there remains a gap in capacity to steer the strategic plan formulation process. High turn-over of government officials during the period of civil protests and transition challenged education sector achievements.

Additional funding and support from the Global Partnership for Education In its role as coordinating agency, UNICEF assisted the Ministry of Education (in collaboration with the World Bank and the European Union) to meet the requirements and successfully apply for three main Global Partnership for Education (GPE) grants including the programme implementation grant, the accelerated funding grant, and the main education sector

programme implementation grant8. This followed the approval of 2018/19−2022/23 Education

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Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) by the education partners’ group in which UNICEF plays a lead role. Sudan was considered eligible for the multiplier funding and received an additional USD 3.6 million. The main grant of USD 59 million will be reviewed by the GPE committee in early 2020. Advocacy and consultation were the main features of the application process, which led to a consensus on the financing priorities between the partners and the Ministries of Education and Finance. Implementation of the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2018-2022 After the successful completion and approval of the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2018-2022, the plan was meant to be implemented. However, with the changes within the new Ministry of Education – including the hiring and replacement of staff and rethinking of the new vision for Sudan – implementation of the overall strategic plan was temporarily put on hold, while core functions of the Ministry of Education continued.

One of the anticipated constraints towards implementation of the developed ESSP is the low public expenditure on education. The available evidence suggests that meager resources are allocated to education (nine per cent of the government public resources), which stretches the household burden and increases the school drop-out rates. Despite the Government of Sudan’s commitment to dedicate additional resources to basic services, the current economic downturn is expected to hamper the allocation of public resources towards implementation of the ESSP. Besides, poverty levels are expected to increase significantly. It is expected that the national currency devaluation will further increase poor families’ education opportunity costs and negatively impacts enrollment and retention. However, with the recent political changes in the country and the imminent education reforms there is an opportunity to have strengthened government leadership and coordination capacities. The new transitional government identified the education sector as one of the transitional period priorities and in consultation with the development partners are exploring means to offset the direct cost paid by families through innovative approaches such as school grants. Additional UNICEF support to education in Sudan ▪ Pre-school teacher training manuals: In 2019 UNICEF started to support the Ministry of

Education to revise their early childhood development strategy and their pre-school teacher training manuals. However, with the change of ministry staff and recent announcement of a new pre-school curriculum, UNICEF put its assistance temporarily on hold to allow sufficient time for development of the new curriculum, and for fresh ideas about a more integrated early childhood development and education strategy. UNICEF will then assist with further modification in line with the new curriculum, and ensuring the manuals take into account practical teaching needs.

▪ Out-of-school report: UNICEF supported a national workshop on the validation of the out-of-school children update report, which led to a shared understanding of the situation and the finalisation of the report.

▪ Integration of refugee children in the education system: Access to quality education and integration of refugee children into the national system was addressed in the refugee education group that was constituted with UNICEF support. The group is chaired by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and includes members from various UN agencies and affiliated government agencies.

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Partnerships In 2019, UNICEF partnered with more than thirty local and international organisations, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) at the national and state levels, to increase access to quality education among school-aged children. In 2019, UNICEF partnered with Addition For Disaster Assistance and Development, Autash Association For Peace And Development, Catholic Relief Services, Collaborative For Peace In Sudan, Danish Refugee Council, Friends of Peace And Development Organisation, Global Aid Hand, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Jebel Marra Charity Organisation For Rural Development (JMCO), Mubadiroon Organisation For Prevention Of Disaster And War Impacts, Peace Bridge Association, Practical Action, Sadagat Charity Organisation, Save The Children Sweden, Students Organisation For Literacy, United Methodist Committee On Relief, War Child, World Relief Khartoum Sudan, World Vision International, Youth Forum Organisation and other national and international organisations .

Strategic partnerships with both financial and non-financial partners, including the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the European Union, the Governments of Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States (Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration), as well as several other private sector partners in the Netherlands and the United States, in addition to UN agencies, the World Bank, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations all contributed to the achievement of results. UNICEF’s partnership with the European Union was strengthened through a significant financial support for both education in emergencies (ECHO) and the Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP) implemented in coordination with SOFRECO, Save the Children, Expertise France, and the British Council. The German Cooperation – through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)-KfW Development Bank – supports critical multi-year education initiatives in eastern Sudan with a holistic, multi-partner entry-point. Information shared by partners on results monitoring during coordination meetings at the Ministry of Education shaped programming and contributed to achieving results. An integrated approach with child protection, education, health, nutrition, water and sanitation aspects were brought together in a package for making schools more child-friendly.

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Teacher Rani’s class in East Darfur

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CHALLENGES ▪ The country is currently in transition from the 30-year dictatorship. The transitional

period with a new majority civilian-led government has meant a reshuffling of the leadership in the different line ministries posing a challenge on the pace of programme implementation;

▪ While promising progress has been made, the situation in the wake of ongoing socio-economic and political transition in Sudan is changing and education needs are increasing. The entire education system is fragile and overstretched at all levels; the monitoring and data reporting system remains a big challenge considering data quality and timeliness concerns. UNICEF is working to support capacity-building of ministry staff to strengthen the education management information system (EMIS), as well as to develop some additional monitoring tools to collect data on a more regular cycle at the field level;

▪ Schools across Sudan were closed for more than fifty school days (out of 210 school days) due to insecure access and continuous demonstrations. Floods in some states also forced the closure of schools. As a consequence, children in Sudan missed at least one fourth of schooling time.

▪ With the changes of staffing within the Ministry of Education, comes both optimism for educational reform (e.g. to update the curriculum more suited to 21st century skills), as well as the challenge of having new staff sufficiently knowledgeable to develop effective and efficient long-term systemic processes. UNICEF is helping to support this institutional support by providing two senior advisors (one in curriculum development, and the other in the related area of teacher education) to be embedded within the Ministry of Education in 2020 to provide the necessary guidance on the overall processes, specific next steps and quality assurance mechanisms;

▪ School construction is one of the core activities to open up more learning spaces for students. However, the process was hindered in 2019 with many issues including slow procurement and poor coordination processes, limited cash availability for contractors and insufficient regular monitoring. UNICEF hired three engineers to provide more direct support for the ongoing processes and monitoring and reviewed the coordination issues to better streamline this process for 2020.

LESSONS LEARNED

▪ Integrated programming is essential to develop safe and child-friendly learning spaces for children. For example, teachers need to be aware of the impact of school violence and work with children, staff and families to eradicate this, along with water facilities and gender-sensitive (separate) toilets, which are kept clean and private. This requires planning and cooperation with other sectors such as child protection and the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors;

▪ Within classrooms, there is also a need for close integration of classroom learning (e.g. providing learning materials for students, having teachers trained on how to use these materials) and school leadership strengthening as they interfaces with parents and the communities and provides the direction for school improvement planning. As a result, the UNICEF team reviewed how better to provide a ‘full package’ of support to vulnerable communities. The goal of this support is to stay engaged with the communities for longer durations to see full cohorts of students complete their schooling and providing capacity-building to the parent-teacher associations related to school improvement planning;

▪ Providing cash assistance is one means to help both incentivise families to send their children to school as well as to offset some of the costs of schooling which lead to students not staying in school. However, the timing of the cash needs to be aligned with the timing of school opening to better link the purpose of the cash;

▪ At present, the timing of enrollment campaigns, which occur about two weeks after the start of the new school year, works well. However, the UNICEF teams have been working to ensure that some of the critical elements to keep children learning in

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9 Education in emergencies preparedness framework includes the components of education in emergency preparedness planning that should be done prior to an emergency including collection of baseline data, rapid assessment planning supply planning, emergency education curriculum and training planning, planning coordination and partnerships planning as well as resource mobilisation.

school are there before conducting the campaigns (e.g. sufficient classroom space and available teachers) to ensure children are supported to stay in school. Otherwise the result of the campaigns is lost;

▪ Alternative learning programmes have proven effective for those children who either have never enrolled in school or who have dropped-out as a means to bridge back into formal schools. However, the team learned that sometimes because conditions are better in the alternative learning programme (ALP) centers, some children are actually leaving formal schooling to attend the ALPs. Therefore, it is imperative that the formal schools are supported to make these more effective, and without school violence, so that students will continue with meaningful education in these also.

FUTURE WORK PLAN UNICEF Sudan developed a new country programme (2018-2021) which builds on the previous country programme results. In line with the Government of Sudan’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (2018-2022), and the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018-2021, the country programme of cooperation aims to achieve equitable outcomes for the poorest, most in need and hardest-to-reach children. In support of efforts to reach the sustainable development goals (SDG), this will be achieved through addressing development as well as humanitarian needs while building resilience of families and communities against future shocks. In 2019, UNICEF has initiated the process of the mid-term review of Country Programme 2018-2021. Based on the review UNICEF’s education team will pursue the following planned results:

A total of 195,000 previously out-of-school children, especially girls and those in the most vulnerable situations, access quality pre-primary, primary and alternative learning opportunities with UNICEF support.

▪ To reduce the high number of out-of-school children in Sudan, UNICEF will support the establishment of alternative learning programme (ALP) centers to provide second-chance learning opportunities in emergency and non-emergency situations. The education programme seeks to intensively engage in mobilisation and outreach towards communities. Based on the premise that informed and empowered decision-making is the basis of sustained behaviour change, UNICEF and its partners will seek to provide holistic information to decision-makers and children within vulnerable communities about opportunities for education and development, through community enrollment and ‘come to school’ campaigns.

▪ To address the disproportionate deprivations affecting children in internally displaced and refugee communities, nomads, children in rural areas, girls and children with disabilities, UNICEF and its partners will work at the policy level to promote the protection, education and integration of marginalised children into the public education system. More than half of out-of-school children are from conflict-affected areas; therefore, UNICEF will continue its education in emergencies advocacy and programmes9. Technical assistance for institutional staff capacity-building will be provided at all levels for development of gender-responsive, conflict and disaster-resilient service delivery models to improve the quality and continuity of primary education, including during conflict and disasters, and to reach the most marginalised and excluded girls and boys through such approaches as child-friendly schools and gender-responsive teaching and learning methods. These will include development of emergency preparedness plans, teacher training packages that will include disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emergency aspects. In addition, UNICEF will support capacity building of sectoral ministries and departments to assist them in developing integrated action plans and advocate for increased resource allocations to reach the most vulnerable children.

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▪ Investment in pre-primary education and integrated early childhood development (ECD) as a means to further increase enrollment into, and learning achievement in, primary education. Short-term and non-formal early education can result in improved school readiness of grade one entrants. UNICEF Sudan will advocate for the development of a revised national ECD cross-sectoral strategy to ensure that services for children under-five are better coordinated. UNICEF will provide technical and financial support for the finalisation of the ECD policy and development of early learning and development standards based on revised early learning student outcomes.

▪ ▪ UNICEF will support social assistance initiatives aimed at decreasing the costs of education for

poorer families through free distribution of education supplies (e.g. textbooks, uniforms, dignity kits). This will off-set, at least partially, the real and opportunity costs to families who have children at school.

A total of 250 schools have safe and inclusive school environments and educators have improved knowledge and skills to contribute to quality learning. UNICEF will contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning at school level, increasing demand and reducing financial barriers for enrollment and retention into (formal and non-formal) education for children between five and sixteen years of age. Quality education is crucial to keep children in school. Providing such quality services throughout the continuum of formal or non-formal schooling, from pre-primary, to primary, and into secondary school, significantly increases the likelihood of having good learning outcomes for children. UNICEF will invest considerably in improving quality of learning outcomes through various interventions that will include:

▪ In-service teacher trainings through clustering of schools; ▪ Development and scale-up of an early grade reading programme; ▪ Improving student achievements in key subjects of language, math and science

through enhancing teachers’ skills in gender-responsive and learner-centred approaches;

▪ Scaling-up of support to parent-teacher associations (PTAs) for school improvement planning and monitoring, including gender-sensitive water and sanitation facilities in schools;

▪ Scaling-up of the e-learning innovation ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ to reach girls and boys in remote and conflict-affected areas as well as nomadic communities without access to schools;

▪ Construction and rehabilitation of safe learning spaces and separate water and sanitation facilities for girls and boys, including accessibility adjustments for children with disabilities, in addition to equipping the schools with the necessary learning and recreational materials;

▪ UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Education will further develop and scale-up a comprehensive package of adolescent and gender-friendly life skills and citizenship education relevant to the Sudanese context, which will be mainstreamed into national school and teacher education curricula. Some of the work will continue through children and adolescent clubs in schools;

▪ UNICEF will support a range of communication for development (C4D) approaches, which will be used to inform and engage children, adolescents and their families and communities on adolescent girls’ and boys’ rights and the effect of harmful social practices including child marriage. Through the expansion and strengthening of existing participation platforms (youth and adolescents clubs and social media networks), adolescents will be empowered to voice their concerns, access information, and demand and use services, avoid risky behaviours and engage as active agents of change. Families and communities will be informed and mobilised to contribute to an enabling environment that protects children’s rights.

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The capacity of the education sector is strengthened to legislate, plan, coordinate and budget the provision of equitable and inclusive education opportunities.

▪ ▪ UNICEF Sudan will contribute to enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Education

and institutions to effectively use evidence-based data to plan, coordinate, implement, and monitor public education sector (formal and non-formal);

▪ In partnership with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders, UNICEF will contribute to the development of relevant policies, strategies, action plans, curricula and standards. Specifically, UNICEF will provide technical and financial support for the development of the national early childhood development (ECD) policy and actions plans, revision and operationalisation of the ‘national teacher training strategy, including pre- and in-service training;

▪ Strengthening education management information system (EMIS) and reporting frameworks in order to promote accountability for children;

▪ UNICEF will also continue to play a coordinating role in education sector development in Sudan.

Given that 65 per cent of the Sudanese population are under 25 years of age, getting things right for children, adolescents and youth in the immediate and longer term, will to a great degree determine how successful Sudan will be in the future. Urgent action is needed to make a critical difference in the most vulnerable children’s lives in the next months, and years to come.

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CASE STUDY: IMPLEMENTING AN INNOVATIVE E-LEARNING PROGRAMME

Purpose of the e-learning programme The Can’t Wait to Learn e-learning programme aims to provide a viable alternative to traditional education methods. The project uses education technology as part of a model of education that offers certified, curriculum-level content through applied gaming and personalised student engagement. The programme uses a range of innovative, results focused approaches: (I) combining context specific applied gaming and community-based facilitation; (II) a strong innovation management staged approach to growth with rigorous research; and (III) focusing on getting the right partnerships in place to ensure sustainability of outcomes, and embedding of ‘e-learning education’ in the National Education System of Sudan. Following successful trials on numeracy and literacy, the project proves to be empowering, flexible, innovative and cost-effective, even at scale.

The overall goal of the ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ e-learning education for out-of-school children is to develop a scalable education alternative for conflict-affected and other marginalised and vulnerable children currently excluded from the traditional education opportunities. The programme, alongside other alternative learning programmes which UNICEF supports, is helping to close the gap of around three million out-of-school children aged six to thirteen years in Sudan.

To ensure the sustainability of the project and to build for a country wide scale-up of the project, UNICEF decided to implement the project directly with the Ministry of Education (at national and state-level). This will ensure that all e-learning education initiatives – including the Can’t Wait to Learn project – will be adopted by the accountable national government counterpart. The project is supported by War Child Holland and other partners, including local implementation organisations, are expected to join in due course. Currently 36,000 out-of-school children are targeted in the Sudanese states of Blue Nile, Kassala, and White Nile. Implementation Since January 2019, UNICEF completed the recruitment and deployment of project staff to the three selected states. The staff immediately started an orientation process for their respective state ministries of education. By February 2019, all state-level work plans were set and agreed with the state ministries of education, including the development of e-learning units in each of the states. In the period between March and April, e-learning staff for the Ministry of Education was recruited. They attended – along with UNICEF team – the first Learning Directors and Information Technology training delivered by the War Child Holland team in April 2019. Immediately after the training, state teams in collaboration with the Ministry of Education carried-out an assessment, which included more than 20 localities and 150 communities and aimed to assess their feasibility to be included in the first Can’t Wait to Learn roll-out. By mid-2019 UNICEF raised the purchase orders for solar power units (that charge the e-learning tablets), received the in-kind donated tablets from War Child Holland, and supported the construction of e-learning units and community centers in the three targeted states of Kassala, Blue Nile, and White Nile (the communities themselves are asked to construct an e-learning space to increase community ownership). In September 2019, UNICEF in collaboration with the State Ministry of Education in Kassala started the first e-learning class in Tamantay village. Immediately after the launch in Tamantay, another centre was launched in Matataib Masqa village (also in Kassala state).

By the end of December 2019, about 5,843 children were registered in 79 e-learning centres using 2,370 tablets in the three states. The 79 centres are well established in terms of buildings, availability of tablets with accessories, trained facilitators and solar power units. The centres work with a double shift system (two sessions a day) for 30 children per session. So far, approximately 2,500 children already started utilising the tablet-based educational games with more children expected to start learning soon.

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Risks A number of risks were identified, mostly related to the inherent innovative nature of the project and the recent contextual changes in Sudan. To ensure that strategic, operational and financial risks are being identified, recorded and addressed in a timely manner, the project focuses on close coordination, and collaboration with partners, and government counterparts.

▪ Embedding of e-learning education into the national education system is a process of trial, error and correction. It is dependent on the Ministry of Education’s (at national and state level) ability to push forward decisions to ensure children are able to transit from e-learning education to the formal education system. Any changes in the structure of the Ministry of Education, or turnover of senior personnel can affect the process of embedment and impact the e-learning project. Therefore, creating ownership – both at national, state and community level – is crucial for the sustainability of the project;

▪ The project aims to put the right partnerships in place, to ensure that the most vulnerable and marginalised children are reached and included. However, new and emerging partnerships bring about new agendas, which may affect the direction and methodology of the project. This in addition to the changing dynamic in the overall context in-country and across the targeted states;

▪ Findings of both literacy and numeracy trials show positive learning outcomes for children enrolled in e-learning classes. However, due to the time limitation of the two studies, a continuous student monitoring component was not included. Learning outcomes and academic performance of children transiting from e-learning to formal education system has not yet been systematically recorded and evaluated.

Risk mitigation

▪ The project is implemented in close collaboration with the Ministries of Education (at national and state level), with UNICEF continuously providing technical support. To ensure the strategic direction for the project remains vigilant of the project outcomes, the contextual changes and the needs of children, UNICEF ensures that the Ministry of Education is involved (and that the outcomes of each discussion is shared within all levels of the ministry - including at state level). The aim is to ensure that the project continuous to present and address a viable need through a proven methodology.;

▪ The project steering committee ensures that any request for change or any new partnership will not cause substantial changes to the planned outcomes of the project;

▪ To ensure monitoring of students learning outcomes and transition to formal education, the project conducts a continuous monitoring and reporting mechanism through each locality’s educational office (Ministry of Education offices in each specific locality), supported by the Adult Education Department (AED) and e-learning unit team in each targeted state.

Future plan UNICEF Sudan aims to further expand and scale-up the project to reach more out-of-school children with this innovative education programme. In collaboration with the Ministries of Education (at national and state level), UNICEF will continue to provide technical support to ensure adoption of e-learning education in the national education system. This will ensure sustainability of the project outcomes and benefit the over three million out-of-school children in Sudan. UNICEF will continue to build partners (technical) capacity. This will be done through several training sessions for community-based facilitators. The e-learning unit team will implement a close monitoring and reporting system, to ensure children are attending and learning in safe learning environments while supervised by qualified facilitators. The project will collect information on children’s learning outcomes and quality of learning by processing data available through the tablets, users’ feedback collection and facilitators review sessions. This way, War Child Holland and UNICEF will be able to continue developing and adopting the game to better fit children’s educational needs.

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STORY: SMILE, WE CAN’T WAIT TO LEARN

In Sudan - the third largest country in Africa - more than three million children are out-of-school. They live in remote villages, conflict-affected areas, or they lead a nomadic lifestyle. These boys and girls can’t wait to learn how to read, write and count.

Today is unlike any day before in the small village of Tamantay in the east of Sudan. At eleven in the morning the whole community has gathered in front of the only brick building in the village (and the far surroundings). The adults - all men - are sitting and standing in front of the brightly painted building. A colour I would recognise everywhere. Bright blue: the colour of hope, the colour of education, the colour of UNICEF. Inside the building there are around a hundred girls, their eyes fixed on us. Eyes full of curiosity and hope. It’s their first day, ever, in a classroom.

Up till now the children spent their days collecting water and firewood, herding sheep and goats, preparing food. From now on, they will still support their families with these chores, but they will also learn to read, write and count. They will be the first people in their community to get an education, and what kind of education.

Can’t Wait to Learn The Can’t Wait to Learn programme offers out-of-school children an innovative education programme. Not regular lesson with books and pens, but an e-learning programme on solar-powered tablets. One game teaches girls and boys, aged seven to nine, to read and write the Arabic language. Another game teaches them mathematics. The programme uses solar-powered tablets (Sudan has an average of ten hours of sunshine per day!). Local facilitators support the children in their learning. They receive a special training that includes child-friendly teaching and the technical aspects of the game and tablets. Stories and videos are used to explain the different exercises, as many children cannot read or write. Instruction videos have been recorded by the children themselves, and children's drawings are used to illustrate the lessons. This simple, child-friendly design makes the games recognisable for boys and girls living in remote areas - like this village - in Sudan.

The results are promising, within a year the children participating in the programme learn more than children of the same age learn in other alternative education programmes.

Back to the classroom in Tamantay… The plan was for thirty girls to participate in the first e-learning class. The room, however, is full and buzzing with the voices of dozens of excited children. Yet, silence falls when the first tablet is unpacked. A girl, in front of the classroom, has the honour to get hold of the first tablet. From the moment the facilitator helps her put her headset on she is completely engaged in the first lesson. When I look around, I see children who have never learned the alphabet write curly letters on their screens. Like all children, they seem to become familiar with technology at a rate astonishing to adults like me. Many of them have never held a pen before, but they quickly teach each other how to swipe through the game.

Although they don’t speak Arabic (yet), their smiles speak a thousand words: we finally learn, and we love it!

For more stories, please check UNICEF Sudan’s website: stories

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Two girls are engaged in their e-learning class in Kassala.

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EXPRESSION OF THANKS

UNICEF Sudan would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our donors who continued to support us or even scaled-up their support during the remarkable year 2019 in Sudan. UNICEF and partners reached millions of girls and boys with often lifesaving interventions, which would not have been possible without the generous funding received. Thanks to the support, UNICEF can continue its mission to meeting the needs and fulfilling the rights of the most vulnerable children, their families and communities. Thematic or flexible funding against the Country Programme for UNICEF’s education interventions is crucial as it provides us with greater flexibility to respond to the needs of children, particularly in emergencies. It allows us to have a bigger and more effective impact on the lives of vulnerable and marginalised populations in a highly volatile, complex and dynamically evolving context like Sudan.

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feedback. The form is available on line at this link: English version or French version.

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FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

TABLE ONE: Planned education budget for 2019 (in US dollars)

Intermediate Result Funding Type Planned Budget

Output 3.1 More out-of-school children, especially girls, and those in the most vulnerable situations, access quality pre-primary, primary and alternative learning opportunities.

RR 377,000

OR 3,607,005

ORE 11,564,024

Total 15,584,029

Output 3.2 Education providers, parents and communities have improved knowledge and skills to contribute to quality learning in inclusive safe and protective school environments.

RR 377,000

OR 3,607,005

ORE 11,564,024

Total 15,584,029

Output 3.3 Capacity of education sector at subnational and national levels is strengthened to legislate, plan, coordinate and budget the provision of equitable and inclusive education opportunities.

RR 188,500

OR 1,803,502

ORE 5,782,012

Total 7,774,014

Total RR 942,500

OR 9,017,513

ORE 28,910,060

Total 38,870,073

TABLE TWO: Thematic contributions received for education in 2019 (in US dollar)

Donors Grant Number* Contribution Amount (USD)

Programmable Amount (USD)

SIDA - Sweden SC1899040102 642,792

Total 642,792

TABLE THREE: Thematic expenses for education in 2019 (in US dollars)

Organisational targets Other Resources - Emergency

Other Resources - Regular All programme accounts

22-01 Equitable access to quality education 989 639,351 640,340

22-02 Learning outcomes 1,158 265,285 266,443

22-03 Skills development 54 10,969 11,023

Grand Total 2,201 915,605 917,806

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TABLE FOUR: Expenses for education in 2019 (in US dollars)

Organisational targets

Other Resources - Emergency

Other Resources - Regular

Regular Resources All programme accounts

22-01 Equitable access to quality education 3,442,776 1,461,117 496,414 5,400,307

22-02 Learning outcomes 3,263,929 2,647,857 288,512 6,200,298

22-03 Skills development 147,505 135,249 7 282,761

Grand Total 6,854,210 4,244,223 784,933 11,883,366

TABLE FIVE: Expenses by specific intervention codes in 2019 (in US dollars)

Row Labels Expense

22-01-01 Provision of (formal and non-formal) early learning / pre-primary education (including in temporary learning spaces)

656,899

22-01-02 Provision of parental education for school readiness (including in temporary learning spaces)

-62,499

22-01-03 Provision of (formal and non-formal) primary education (including in temporary learning spaces)

2,530,089

22-01-05 Provision of (formal and non-formal) multiple-levels or alternative pathways of education (including in temporary learning spaces)

85,943

22-01-06 System strengthening - inclusive education for children with disabilities 111,699

22-01-07 System strengthening - inclusive education for other vulnerable children poorest quintile, ethnic/linguistic minorities, migrant children, non-citizens/undocumented children etc.

123,384

22-01-08 System strengthening - risk informed programming, including climate, resilience, disaster, conflict, and emergency preparedness

12,652

22-01-09 Peacebuilding education 459,524

22-01-10 System strengthening - gender-responsive access (excluding SRGBV) 795

22-01-11 Other activities for equitable access to quality education e.g. school feeding, school grants

28,988

22-01-12 Education analyses including OOSCI, Education Sector Analyses, etc. 37,979

22-01-13 Education humanitarian cluster/humanitarian sector coordination 36,788

22-01-14 Education Management Information System (EMIS) (excluding learning assessment systems)

32,841

22-01-15 Education sector planning including coordinating role, SDG 4, etc. 89,755

22-01-16 Public finance management for education 6,004

22-01-99 Technical assistance - Equitable access to quality education 512,254

22-02-01 Provision or procurement of early learning / pre-primary education learning materials

20,521

22-02-02 Provision or procurement of primary education learning materials 1,345,124

22-02-07 Provision of early learning / pre-primary education teacher training 110,268

22-02-08 Provision of primary education teacher training 2,151,547

30

22-02-12 Provision of training of school communities e.g. parent teacher associations, school management committees

942,259

22-02-13 Provision of training of other education staff excluding teachers (e.g. inspectors, district, ministry staff, etc.)

29,401

22-02-14 System strengthening - early learning / pre-primary policy, leadership, and budget 3,933

22-02-17 System strengthening - curricula and learning materials design (excluding early learning / pre-primary)

1,815

22-02-21 System strengthening - community participation and social accountability, e.g. school management committees

215,268

22-02-24 Education humanitarian cluster/humanitarian sector coordination 9,721

22-02-26 Education sector planning including coordinating role, SDG 4, etc. 13,407

22-02-28 School Related Gender-based Violence (SRGBV) 5,497

22-02-99 Technical assistance - Learning outcomes 615,124

22-03-02 Provision of skills development for adolescents (10-19-year-olds) (including in temporary learning spaces)

52,457

22-03-03 Provision of skills development for multiple age groups (including in temporary learning spaces)

109,531

22-03-99 Technical assistance - Skills development 94,160

26-01-01 Country programme process (including UNDAF planning and CCA) 190

26-01-02 Programme reviews (Annual, UNDAF, MTR, etc.) 7,234

26-01-03 Humanitarian planning and review activities (HRP, RRP, UNICEF HAC) 426

26-02-01 Situation Analysis or Update on women and children 6,386

26-02-03 Data architecture and use 33

26-02-04 Stimulating demand for and capacity to use data 860

26-02-06 Analysis of data 5,034

26-02-08 Programme monitoring 30,380

26-02-09 Field monitoring 8,932

26-02-10 Humanitarian needs assessment 2,305

26-03-01 Advocacy and partnership-building for social behavior change 446

26-03-03 Children, adolescent and youth engagement and participation 93,555

26-03-04 Community engagement, participation and accountability 39

26-03-07 Strengthening C4D in government systems including preparedness for humanitarian action

2,522

26-03-99 Technical assistance – cross-sectoral communication for development 21,232

26-05-06 Building global / regional / national stakeholder evaluation capacity 2,343

26-05-11 Building global / regional / national stakeholder research capacity 4,433

26-06-04 Leading advocate 187,971

26-06-06 Supporter engagement 17,945

26-07-01 Operations support to programme delivery 955,691

27-01-06 HQ and RO technical support to multiple Goal Areas 6,085

27-01-15 CO programme coordination 7,107

27-01-16 CO advocacy and communication 27,802

28-07-04 Management and Operations support at CO 110,428

Grand Total 11,882,509

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TABLE SIX: Planned budget for 2020 (in USD) *

Output Funding type planned budget funded budget shortfall

Output 3.1: Access to Education RR 290,290 211,138 79,152

ORR 4,209,594 660,346 3,549,248

ORE 1,000,000 1,206,598 (206,598)

Total 5,499,884 2,078,082 3,421,802

Output 3.2: Learning Outcomes RR 290,290 5,000 285,290

ORR 4,209,594 5,843,631 (1,634,037)

ORE -

304,801 (304,801)

Total 4,499,884 6,153,432 (1,653,548)

Output 3.3: System Strengthening/Policy RR 145,145 6,314 138,831

ORR 2,104,797 306,204 1,798,593

ORE -

58,793 (58,793)

Total 2,249,942 371,311 1,878,631

Output 4: Technical Support RR 216,775 216,775

ORR 3,143,528 3,143,528

ORE -

Total 3,360,303 - 3,360,303

Education total RR 942,500 222,451 720,049

ORR 13,667,513 6,810,181 6,857,332

ORE 1,000,000 1,570,192 (570,192)

Total 15,610,013 8,602,824 7,007,189

All expenses are provisional and subject to change

32

33

Contact Address Nafisa Binte Shafique

Deputy Representative

Tel: + (249) 23013122 Email: nbshafique@unicef.org

UNICEF Sudan

P.O Box 1358, Khartoum, Sudan

34

United Nations Children’s Fund

Sudan Country Office

PO Box 1358

Gerief west [Manshiya],

First District H, Plot 6/3

Telephone: +249 (0) 156 553 670

Facsimile: +249 (0) 183 587 741

www.unicef.org/sudan

© United Nations Children’s Fund

(UNICEF)

United Nations Children’s Fund

Sudan Country Office

PO Box 1358

Gerief west [Manshiya],

First District H, Plot 6/3

Telephone: +249 (0) 156 553 670

Facsimile: +249 (0) 183 587 741

www.unicef.org/sudan

© United Nations Children’s Fund

(UNICEF)