This project aims to ensure Government Commitment to Global and national Policy on Education For Accountability and Gender Inclusivity Iimplemented through Civil Society Engagement in the education sector, and improving on quality learning at the basic and senior secondary education level.

The project will incorporate local non-state actors and civil society to advocate for effective implementation of government’s policies on girl children education as enshrined in national policy documents like; the national Education Sector Plan 2022-2026 and the Radical Inclusion Policy of Sierra Leone, March 2021.

The project will particularly emphasize the inclusion of historically marginalised groups: pregnant girls and parent learners, children with disabilities, children from rural and underserved areas, and children from low-income families. It is about creating an inclusive education system that allows all children in Sierra Leone to thrive.

The project is a call for quality learning and a meaningful and timely allocation and efficient use of resources to create a society in which both girls and boys are given equitable and appropriate support to access school and continue learning irrespective of their personal situation or socioeconomic and other status.

Historically, certain groups have been marginalised or excluded from pre-primary, basic and senior secondary education in Sierra Leone. In particular: girls, including girls who are or have been pregnant and are parent learners; children with disabilities; children from low-income families; and children from rural and underserved areas. Membership of these groups intersect, compounding the disadvantage for those children. Within the last decade, researchers found a general school completion rate of just one percent among the poorest rural girls and 56 percent for urban boys from the richest families.

Education for All Sierra Coalition will in this project utilize crosscutting engagement strategy on policy and advocacy to ensure there is adherence to government policies that provide protection for children who fall within these disadvantaged categories. The project will support capacity strengthening of the CSOs community, advocacy and campaign with high level dialogue with duty bearers and stakeholders on accountability issues related to the actions around policy, policy reviews and engagement of education stakeholders on education policies, engagement of law makers on education policies; especially policy of inclusion and marginalization, districts meetings/engagement on second chance for pregnant teenage girls back in schools at community levels, share of local education group engagement outcomes with the general CSOs community and publication and documentation, of best practices among CSOs on GPE country level programme to guard against discrimination and promote accountability that will enhance quality learning for deprived and marginalized children especially girl children.

The extension programme will also consider incomplete OC1 activity and ensure such activity has been implemented in OC2; like the conference of examination malpractices that was reviewed for meetings in examination malpractices, as a result of the restrictions cause by government regulations on large gathering. This project has considered the implementation of this activity by plotting it as an activity in the OC2 extension. Also the findings of research works concluded in OC1 will be used in OC2 for advocacy in the pursuit of accountability in education institutions.

The first phase of the project was implemented in 2020-2021 with support from Education Out Loud of 242.845 USD.