The participation of civil society and communities is not always guaranteed. Taking into account the demands of the communities becomes at times uncertain due to the omission of this participation which, however, should make it possible to highlight and address the demands in order to improve the results in education.

Ineffective and weak community and civil society participation/engagement in policy dialogue has been identified as a key problem constraining the achievement of education goals. This project aims to strengthen community and civil society engagement and participation in improving access to quality, inclusive education and financing of education with increased and sustainable domestic resources.

The overall goal is to help ensure that all girls and boys receive a full course of quality primary and secondary education, free of charge, that leads to meaningful learning with public funds.

To achieve this, three specific objectives have been identified:

• Strengthen civil society and the Coalition to be more inclusive and alert to policies and programs that improve access, learning outcomes, gender equality and inclusion in the 5 target provinces.
• To consolidate community and civil society participation in education monitoring and policy dialogue towards widespread citizen demand for free access to quality, equitable, inclusive and gender-sensitive education at the national level and in the 5 target provinces.
• Capacitate civil society to influence the government at the national level and in the 5 targeted provinces to increase domestic funding for education and commitments made in London in 2021.

The aligned activities will contribute to the achievement of the following results:

1. 10 Organizations of vulnerable groups including people living with disabilities, women, youth are active and integrated within the Coalition which is being established in 3 new provinces.
2. The skills of communities and CSOs on gender mainstreaming and inclusive schools are strengthened and good practices are shared.
3. Communities and CSOs are engaged in sector policy dialogue and monitor the implementation of policies and programs related to access, learning outcomes, gender equality and inclusion.
4. Citizens, communities exercise citizen watch for increased domestic funding for education.

It should be noted that the activities to be carried out will focus on community and citizen engagement; increasing the demand for accountability in the implementation of key policies, programs, reforms and sustainable domestic financing of education.

The first phase of the project was implemented in 2020-2021 with support from Education Out Loud of 284.116 USD.