Project profile — Back to School Better: Increasing Gender-Responsive Education for Refugee and Displaced Girls

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased knowledge of the value of education for refugee and displaced girls by parents/caregivers and community members; (2) increased ability of refugee and displaced girls to advocate for their right to education and make their voices heard in decision-making processes that affect them; (3) improved ability of education officials to integrate refugee and displaced girls into formal and non-formal education systems, in the context of COVID-19; and (4) improved knowledge and ability of teachers and social workers to design and deliver quality gender-responsive teaching and safe, inclusive learning spaces, in the context of COVID-19.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (August 2021) include: (1) improved awareness and attitudes towards girls' education of 31,115 community members, parents and caregivers (14,790 women and 16,325 men) in project regions; (2) increased awareness of 36,637 refugee and displaced girls’ right to education and their role in decision-making processes; (3) participation of 33,195 refugee and displaced girls in peace clubs and training in life skills, including gender-based violence (GBV). Also, adapted 720 of these clubs to a COVID-19 context; (4) trained 1,666 education officials (463 women and 1,203 men) in the integration of refugee and displaced girls into learning approaches in the context of COVID-19; (5) registered 109,598 girls in the national education system in the context of COVID-19; (6) provided 2,148 teachers (746 women and 1,402 men) access to learning platforms and digital resources to design and deliver quality gender-responsive teaching and safe, inclusive learning spaces in the context of COVID-19; (7) reached 4,358,534 community members (approximately 50% women and 50% men) through outreach sessions to explain and advocate the importance and value of refugee and displaced girls' education in times of crisis; (8) reached 654 communities with back to school campaigns and advocacy on the importance of education for refugee and displaced girls; (9) trained 5,898 community members (2,680 women and 3,218 men) on COVID-19 prevention measures and trained 4,108 community members (1,686 women and 2,422 men) on GBV prevention and referral to legal and psycho-social services; (10) provided 11,334 girls in humanitarian situations with GBV risk mitigation, prevention or response interventions; (11) reached 56,489 refugee and displaced girls with gender-responsive re-entry and enrollment campaigns, of which 11,829 enrolled in school or distance learning; (12) provided 38,588 girls in humanitarian situations with access to safe spaces created or adapted to the COVID-19 context with inter-sectoral programming; (13) provided 7,794 refugee and displaced girls with solar radios, tablets and workbooks to support remote learning; (14) facilitated the development of three gender-responsive COVID-19 plans by education officials in Burkina Faso and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also, reached 651 girls through the U-Report online platform designed as part these new plans; (15) trained 2,598 teachers and social workers (847 women and 1,751 men) on gender-responsive remote learning and psycho-social support for refugee and displaced girls; (16) established 820 safe, inclusive and gender-responsive formal and non-formal learning spaces; and (17) distributed 2,783 water, sanitation and hygiene kits 12,928 menstrual hygiene management kits and 8,000 guides and awareness booklets on menstrual hygiene management in formal and non-formal learning spaces.