Project profile — Scaling Up Access to Formal Education for Syrian Girls and Boys

This project supports Jordan’s Ministry of Education in implementing its commitment to ensure that every child in Jordan receives a formal education, regardless of their nationality. Along with other donors, Canada's contribution seeks to cover the additional costs of providing formal education for Syrian children, thereby protecting the futures of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable refugee girls and boys. As with all pooled-fund projects, Canada is working in close cooperation with other donors and the Government of Jordan to promote effective, transparent, and accountable country systems; increase donor coordination and harmonization; and strengthen mutual accountability. This project also fosters greater policy dialogue among donors, government, and partners, which helps to strengthen efforts for effective, focussed aid, and long-term development results. This project is continuously monitored and evaluated in coordination with other donors. This is one of two parts (project numbers D003790001 and D003790003) of the Scaling Up Access to Formal Education for Syrian Girls and Boys project, which has a total budget of $16 million.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved access for Syrian girls and boys to formal education; and (2) improved quality of education for Syrian girls and boys.

Results achieved by the Accelerating Access Initiative through the support of the Government of Canada and other international donors as of January 2019 include: (1) nearly 135,000 Syrian refugee children, half of whom are girls, are enrolled in Jordanian public schools; donor funding is covering tuition and textbook fees, and the additional supervision, teaching and operational costs for these children to take part in formal education; (2) an additional 3,739 Syrian refugee children, half of whom are girls, are enrolled in Jordanian public kindergartens, which are well-equipped with furniture, equipment and learning materials specific to young learners' needs; and (3) almost 3,000 Syrian refugee children between the ages of 9 and 12 who have been out of school for over three years are enrolled in an intensive catch-up program to enable them to eventually join the age-appropriate class with their peers; in addition 1,000 children have now caught up and have joined their age-appropriate class.