Gender inequality is prevalent in Guinea-Bissau. Girls face significant barriers to education, including cultural norms, early marriages and limited access to schools, which results in lower female literacy rates and school enrolment rates.

Children with special needs also face numerous challenges that impede their well-being, development and inclusion in society. Victims of stigma and discrimination, these children have great difficulty access to the education system due to physical, communication or sensory barriers. This results in their marginalisation and social isolation.

In this project, the coalition will work with a special focus on access to the education system for girls and children with special needs. At the same time, we will use our mobilisation and influencing skills to increase national resources for education and to improve the social climate in the education sector.  More specifically, the project seeks to achieve three main objectives:  

• Civil society in Guinea-Bissau reinforced its commitment and contributions to strengthening political dialogue with a view to fully implementing and monitoring inclusive education policies.
• National education policies have been improved to better respond to the right to education of girls and children with special needs. 

RECEPT-GB brings together a variety of people with an interest and expertise in education, including students, teachers, parents and carers, associations supporting women's causes and the promotion of human rights. By mobilising and influencing skills to increase domestic resources for education to improve the social climate in the education sector, the project will work to enhance the access to education for girls and children with special needs. 

The project is building on the efforts made during the previous project phase, implemented between April 2022 – December 2023. During the current phase key activities will include:

• Collecting statistical data on the obstacles to the enrolment of school-aged girls in the coalition's regions of intervention.
• Participation of the coalition in relevant policy forums, sub-regional learning forums, and national meetings to reflect on inclusive education.
• Training members of civil society organisations in educational legislation for quality public education.
• Conducting a census of children with special educational needs in identified regions, as well as disseminating its results to education partners and identified communities. 
• Organising learning actions between regional centres, and workshops on civil society interventions in social conflict prevention. 
• Meetings to influence and raise awareness within government and ministry structures, as well as specialised commissions for education, on increasing the general state budget for education. 
• Conducting a study on learning outcomes in primary and secondary education and disseminating the results to education partners and educational communities in the coalition's areas of intervention.

The activities are based on the work done in recent years. Additionally, RECEPT-GB has identified that governments and communities now are better informed and prepared to accept and promote the changes needed for more inclusive quality education. RECEPT-GB has already achieved positive dialogues with government officials linked to education and been positively received by the communities in which raising awareness has been carried out. These dialogues serve as an important asset in guaranteeing the desired changes.

By fostering changes in community behaviour, empowering civil society to mediate and resolve conflicts, and involving the most vulnerable in changing the national political landscape, the longevity of the project impacts will be ensured.

A previous phase of the project was carried out between April 2022 – December 2023. The current project is part of the EOL extension phase of 2024-2026. Read more about the previous phase of the project here.