Project profile — Gender Responsive Education and Skills Program in Chittagong Hill Tracts

• Bangladesh (100.00%)

• Education policy and administrative management:
Education policy and administrative management (11110) (5.00%)
Teacher training (11130) (25.00%)
• Basic Education: Primary education (11220) (10.00%)
• Secondary education:
Secondary education (11320) (15.00%)
Vocational training (11330) (10.00%)
• Human rights:
Human rights (15160) (5.00%)
Ending violence against women and girls (15180) (30.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (principal objective)
• Indigenous Issues (principal objective)
• Disability (significant objective)

This project aims to improve learning outcomes and employability for vulnerable and low-income Indigenous and Bengali girls, adolescent women and women, including the disabled, in Bandarban and Rangamati in the Chittagong Hill Tracts district of Bangladesh. Project activities include: (1) improving access to quality learning for dropouts and providing gender-responsive subject matter training to teaching assistants to teach dropouts in their indigenous language and bridge them into primary school; (2) reducing gender-based violence to ensure safe and secure communities and institutions, education administration and training officials to recognize signs of harassment; (3) developing adolescent women’s leadership skills to set up co-curricular activities in secondary schools; (4) establishing community watch groups to prevent child marriage, gender based-violence and sexual harassment; (5) enhancing employment skills, training girls and women on market-driven trades followed by job placement and informing employers on best practices creating decent work environment; and (6) raising community leaders’ awareness on the benefits of women’s participation in the labour market. This project expects to benefit 30,000 indigenous and Bengali primary school students and 15,000 secondary students. Also, this project is estimated to reach 410 teaching assistants and 50 school management committees; and 1,230 women and men participate in skills training supported by 375 master crafts persons.

The expected outcomes for this project include: 1) increased equitable provision of quality, inclusive education and learning for girls and adolescent women, including those with disabilities in government primary schools (grade one to five) and in non-government secondary schools (grade six to ten); 2) enhanced community and institutional practices to eliminate gender-based violence against girls, adolescent women and women in specific districts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT); and 3) increased equitable, gender-responsive and demand-driven employability for quality jobs and business opportunities for women and adolescent women, including those with disabilities, in specific districts of the CHT.

Results achieved at the end of the project (March 2024) include: (1) contributed to increase academic performance by 52% in government primary schools and by 50% in non-government secondary schools; (2) oriented 10,802 secondary school students (50% girls) and 2,074 teachers (30% women) on gender-based violence (GBV), sexual harassment, and child marriage and made aware on the early warning signs of violence against women and children (VAWC); (3) oriented 806 school administrators and school management committees members on awareness of the early signs of harassment, sexual harassment, GBV and child marriage and 93% of them identified acts of gender-based violence and sexual harassment behaviours; (4) trained 952 teachers and head teachers on subject-based training that improved their competency, enabling them to better support struggling students and deliver higher-quality instruction, leading to improved academic performance; (5) due to gender training, 77% of government primary schools teachers and 61% of secondary schools teachers (652) identified at least 3 ways their teaching or leadership style had changed; (6) 50% increase in institutional actions (target 5%) and 40% increase in actions taken by decision-makers and community members (target 10%) against GBV, sexual harassment and child marriage, compared to no reporting in secondary schools at the beginning of the project; and (7) 881 young women graduated out of 889 (target 960) who enrolled for skills training, and 45 women learners with disabilities graduated (target 48) out of 73 who enrolled for skills training.

• Proactive disclosure