In Nepal the ‘learning crises’ is gaining more and more attention. While the average student spends 12 years in school, they only acquire learning outcomes equivalent to seven years. The disproportion is even worse for children out of school and dropout rates are high, especially among marginalised groups.  

Politically Nepal is amid a significant federalisation process, which was initiated in 2015 when the country was declared a federal republic. This means that the Civil Society Empowerment for Accountable Education (CSE) project targets three key issues within this context: 

• The local governments now have legal authority over basic education but lack technical capacity for evidence-based governance. CSOs can play a significant role in improving this capacity, particularly by fostering mutual accountability practices and promoting evidence-based governance. 

• Connections between local, provincial, and national actors, both in government and civil society, are disjointed, leading to gaps in multi-level accountability. 

• A robust civil society focused on accountability often leaves many key stakeholders - both larger and smaller - at the periphery of national policy dialogue. 

To tackle these issues, the CSE project will strengthen civil society organisations in promoting transparency and accountability of national education sector policy and implementation.  

This will be achieved by establishing inclusive Learning Collaboratives in nine different locations, consisting of diverse groups of CSOs. The Learning Collaborative will develop a toolkit to generate actionable data for informed policy dialogues and advocacy in the education sector. This shall provide stakeholders with comprehensive knowledge, guidance, and resources for its utilisation. CSOs will also be part of enhancing citizen mobilisation, improving education data literacy, and facilitating active engagement in monitoring, advocating for transparent and accountable education policies, supported by local governments.  

During the implementation of the CSE project, main activities will include:

• Building capacities of the Learning Collaboratives through knowledge sharing sessions by experts on existing data, multi-level monitoring, and social accountability mechanisms. 

• Conducting advocacy, monitoring, and policy dialogues across multiple levels of government in collaboration with peer Learning Collaborations in other geographical areas. 

• Conducting capacity building workshops for CSOs, youth, and government stakeholders on education data literacy, national SDG 4 processes, and multi-level monitoring mechanisms by putting to use the developed toolkit. 

• Conducting awareness campaigns to emphasise the importance of citizen engagement to improve transparency and accountability in the national education system. 

These activities will help improve the transparency and accountability in national education policies, which will lead to a more equitable, inclusive, and resilient education system in Nepal. 

Before receiving a full grant, Karkhana Samuha participated in the Year Zero process of OC2. Year Zero is part of the Education Out Loud learning agenda and functions as a developmental pathway for the candidates. Read more about it here.