OVERVIEW

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) program is led by the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan to help the government achieve its national Education for All goals. The GPE program in Afghanistan targets 40 districts in 13 provinces that are characterized by challenges such as remote location or insecurity. The goals of the Global Partnership for Education are to strengthen community activism and local governance, expand access to education through community-based education, and increase the number of qualified female teachers in areas with high gender disparities.

In order to access the Global Partnership for Education program funds, participating countries are required to hire a Supervising Entity that can help with oversight and monitoring. USAID funds UNICEF as the Supervising Entity for the Global Partnership for Education. In this capacity, UNICEF staff advises the Afghan government, and monitors implementation of the program. The GPE ensures the Ministry of Education (MoE) carries forward key activities related to Community-based Education (CBE) and Accelerated Learning Program (ALPs) in the 13 target provinces and 40 districts of Afghanistan.

The second phase of the program will be merged with the World Bank multi-donor trust fund education program, which is scheduled to start in January 2018 as the new Education Quality Reform in Afghanistan (EQRA) program. Another goal of USAID is to facilitate the smooth integration of GPE with EQRA.

OBJECTIVES

1. To provide financial support for the Supervising Entity duties of Afghanistan's Global Partnership for Education program conducted by UNICEF.
2. To increase and sustain equitable access to education in the target districts, the focus is mainly on primary and basic education and the strategic objectives address the most critical challenges in the sector.

ACTIVITIES

• Provide operational support to MoE to develop and update an operational rolling plan and monitoring framework for the GPE program.
• Provide operational support and ensure oversight to strengthen reporting and monitoring mechanisms at district, provincial, and national levels.
• Engage external auditing institution to perform the fiduciary monitoring.
• Strengthen community and social mobilization and governance systems at the local level.
• Expand and reinforce multiple pathways to education.
• Increase the number of qualified female teachers in areas with high gender disparities.
• Support 55,000 boys and girls to attend Community Based Education classes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Education's Provincial Education Departments, the District Education Offices, the GPE Provincial Social Mobilization Coordinators, and the Global Partnership for Education Program District Social Mobilizers at subnational level.
• Assisted the Ministry with amending and improving the Operational Plan and Budget.
• Through UNICEF, facilitated and assisted the MoE/GPEPCU (Global Partnership for Education Supervising Entity Project Coordinating Unit) with developing a revised operational plan.
• With USAID funding, UNICEF financed GPE end year and progress review workshops at zonal level.
• With USAID funding, UNICEF developed the GPE lesson learned documentation, generating evidence and knowledge related to GPE program implementation by the MoE Conducted field monitoring missions focused on fiduciary oversight of the program