Project profile — Strengthening Support for Child Protection in Education in Senegal – Government of Senegal



Overview 

CA-3-D001650001
$9,557,681
Government of Senegal - Ministry of Economy and Finance
2017-03-01 - 2021-12-31
Closed
Global Affairs Canada
WGM Africa

Country / region 

• Senegal (100.00%)

Sector 

• Education policy and administrative management:
Education policy and administrative management (11110) (23.90%)
Education facilities and training (11120) (28.30%)
Teacher training (11130) (9.27%)
• Primary education:
Primary education (11220) (0.73%)
Basic life skills for youth (11231) (9.27%)
• Human rights:
Human rights (15160) (14.63%)
Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (13.90%)

Policy marker 

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

Description 

The project aims to improve the well-being of children in eight regions of Senegal (Matam, Sédhiou, Kaolack, Kaffrine, Kolda, Kédougou, Tambacounda and Ziguinchor) and to offer them adequate protection during their schooling so that they can live and study within structures that ensure their safety and give them every opportunity possible to be successful. The project focuses on building the capacity of child protection and education actors, creating a safe school environment and raising students’ and communities’ awareness of children’s rights. With a view to ensure appropriate support of child protection systems in school environments, the project simultaneously works on systems, services and programs, early intervention services and prevention. Project activities include: (1) training security forces, magistrates, social workers and school authorities on legal instruments relating to child protection; (2) developing a national action plan to counter child abuse in school environments, raising school stakeholders’ awareness of preventive control measures for epidemics (e.g., Ebola hemorrhagic fever); (3) involving a number of stakeholders in awareness campaigns to discontinue early and forced marriage practices; and (4) raising economic operators’ awareness of alternative solutions to child labour in mining areas. The project is expected to directly affect 750,000 children (382,500 girls and 367,500 boys), ranging in age from 3 to 18 years and registered in 1,700 public school facilities, as well as to affect indirectly 10,000 youth who are out of school or who have no schooling (6,500 girls and 3,500 boys) from 14 to 18 years of age. This project is one of the three components of the “Strengthening Support for Child Protection in Education in Senegal” project, valued overall at $20M and jointly implemented by Plan Canada, UNICEF and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Senegal (through the Ministry of Education). It is part of Senegal’s National Child Protection Strategy (SNPE - 2013–2018) and the Program for Improvements to Quality, Equity and Transparency in Education (PAQUET – 2013–2025). As with all program-based approaches, Canada works in close co-operation with other donors and the Senegalese government to promote the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of national systems, to increase donor coordination and harmonization, and to strengthen mutual accountability. The program-based approach also favours greater policy dialogue among donors, the government and partners. This helps to strengthen efforts to obtain focused and effective aid, as well as long-term development results. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of this project is undertaken in coordination with other donors.

Expected results 

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) the government and local institutions play a more effective role in prevention and child protection, taking into account international standards and gender-specific differences; (2) boys and girls in deprived areas have improved access to a safe, equitable and violence-free school environment, which helps to protect them and promotes their effective participation in school; and (3) local actors in formal and informal protection systems provide increased protection against, and/or prevention of, labour-based abuse and exploitation for boys and girls in the targeted areas.

Results achieved 

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2021) include: (1) improved well-being of 1,113,979 children aged 3 to 18. Of these direct beneficiaries, 14,719 youth were either out-of-school or not in school. The target of 750,000 children (10,000 of whom were expected to be either out-of-school or not in school) was largely exceeded; (2) establishment of the gender and equity unit of the Ministry of National Education to strengthen the inclusion of child protection, inclusive education and gender equity issues in Senegal's education sector policy; (3) establishment of a digital platform for the reporting, referral and confidential handling of cases of violence against girls and boys in schools; (4) development of a code of conduct for school personnel and students to promote protective behaviors conducive to the prevention, detection, reporting and management of cases of violence in the school environment; (5) conducting a study on gender disparities in schools and a study on violence in schools to support the authorities' decision-making and strengthen their knowledge in the area of child protection; (6) providing material and financial support to all the local child protection structures targeted by the project, i.e., 26 departmental child protection committees. This support enables them to better play their role in preventing, detecting and dealing with cases of violence, exploitation and harmful or discriminatory practices; (7) trained 2,350 people (665 women and 1,685 men) from schools in gender equity, inclusive education and child protection. The completion rate is 261%, far exceeding the initial target of 900 people; (8) built and rehabilitated 471 schools out of the 442 initially planned. The completion rate is therefore 107%. The living conditions of students and their teachers have therefore improved thanks to the construction and rehabilitation of 60 wells, 65 water supply systems, 106 hygiene blocks and 25 fence walls. These works ensure a safe and sanitized school environment for 28,647 students (14,436 girls and 14,211 boys); (9) creation of 1,285 alternative spaces complementary to the classrooms, called "child-friendly", whereas initially only 551 spaces were planned. These spaces, intended to be places of development during recreation hours, include the construction of 25 multipurpose rooms, 235 benches and the planting of 10,776 trees; (10) supported 1,159 schools (354,884 students, including 167,419 girls and 187,465 boys) and a staff of 9,439 (2,273 women and 7,166 men) to strengthen schools and communities in the maintenance of "child-friendly" spaces; (11) 1,732,622 people, almost six times more than the initial target of 30,000 people, were sensitized through communication activities on barrier behaviors against COVID-19, stress management, and prevention of violence against children in times of health crisis; and (12) contributed to the learning of 1,748,577 people (families, children and community actors) in the prevention, reporting, referral and management of child protection cases.

Budget and spending 


Original budget $1,625,000
Planned disbursement $0
Transactions
Transaction Date Type Value
09-11-2021 Disbursement $594,412
Country percentages by sector
Type of finance Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Collaboration type Bilateral
Type of aid Project-type interventions
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