The project objectives and requirements is to ensure that National Education Coalitions (NECs) in Gambia are more inclusive, particularly for marginalized and local groups and their capacities are increased, particularly in relation to engagement in policy dialogues.

It also aims to increase Civil society capacities, participation and strategic influence in formal education policy processes; establish Learning collaborative to generate lessons learned for institutional strengthening of civil society organizations and to ensure that NECs are active in monitoring and accountability mechanisms of public national education to ensure the delivery of transformative policies and programmes that accelerate access, learning outcomes, and gender equality, leaving no one behind.

EFANet is constrained with membership regulation particularly in monitoring and tracking of the Coalitions membership which proves difficult to coordinated and synergies their efforts and strengths in influencing government policies. Also, there is no specific database for EFANet members which make it difficult to identify the training needs of the members. In addition, there is also in adequate capacities amongst the members to monitor and influence policies.

Furthermore, there are also visible challenges in the National Education Policy which makes it also difficult to achieve all the policy pronouncements in the policy.

The project EFANet’s overall goal is to strengthen national civil society engagement to contribute to a gender-responsive education planning, policy development and monitoring to strengthen advocacy and to ensure transparency and increased effectiveness in national educational policy and implementation processes in The Gambia.

As specific objectives, the project aims to ensure that EFANet members will become the effective voice for marginalized and vulnerable groups, visible in their presence and with measurable inputs to important education policy-making and that the Secretariat is effectively managing the Coalition along well-laid down organizational structures and systems, that facilitate member monitoring of accountability mechanisms for public national education. In addition, the project will also ensure that EFANet advocacy efforts are based on lessons obtained from evidence-based research and systematic sharing among the Coalition members and with local and international partners.

Through this project, EFANet will be more inclusive by having a more diverse membership with the recruitment drive to recruit more marginalized and vulnerable groups by working with organizations that advocates for the plight of these marginalized and vulnerable groups. EFANet members’ capacities will also be increased particularly in relation to engagement in policy dialogues and strategic influence in formal education policy processes.

Also, EFANet will establish Learning collaborative with new organizations and will continue collaborating and learning from the already established learning partners as well as trained the members to actively take part in monitoring and accountability mechanisms of public national education to ensure the delivery of transformative policies and programmes that accelerate access, learning outcomes, and gender equality, leaving no one behind.

The direct bebeficiaries of this project are EFANet members, non member Civil Society Organizations, government, policy makers, mothers’ clubs, parents, teachers, schools, students, EFANet Board and secretariat staff, School Management Committees, marginalized and vulnerable groups and EFANet Regional Chapters.

The first phase of the project was implemented in 2020-2021 with support from Education Out Loud of 260.155 USD.