Samoa's education sector is facing several challenges, including declining literacy and numeracy levels, high dropout rates, and a shortage of teachers. Marginalised groups, such as women and people with disabilities, are disproportionately affected, and even though civil society organisations are working to overcome these challenges, they face various obstacles that hinder their efforts. 

Samoa Education Network (SEN) is working to ensure that the voices of marginalised groups are heard in policy processes, by providing training, resources, and opportunities for marginalised groups to participate in education policy dialogues and reviews. SEN will also work to build strong partnerships with government and other stakeholders and use evidence-based advocacy to promote gender equality and inclusive education. 

To achieve the project objectives, SEN will build the capacity of its members and civil society organisations to become aware and engage in education policy dialogues and reviews to improve the shared understanding of education for all, so that no child is left behind. SEN will additionally build the advocacy capacity of civil society, in particular highlighting inclusion and quality education issues.  

A previous phase of the project was carried out between April 2022 – December 2023. The current project will build on the efforts already made and continue to build a stronger SEN that can positively affect the education system of Samoa. 

Some main activities of the current project phase will include: 

• Conducting various workshop reviews and forums and collect data on the challenges and opportunities facing marginalised groups in the education system. 

• Conducting training courses on GAPSED+ (a gender equity and inclusion framework) for government officials and marginalised groups, including youth. 

• Developing and implementing a public awareness campaign on gender inclusive education and its importance, through social media, public events, and other forms of communication. 

• Developing a ‘gender sensitive and disability inclusive guide’ in collaboration with inclusive education service providers and teachers, and the ministry of education. 

• Trainings for teachers on using gender sensitive materials, supporting schools in developing policies, and procedures to create safe and inclusive learning environments for all students. 

• Developing training materials on education policy reviews, in collaboration with civil societies, marginalised groups, including youth, and the Ministry of Education. 

• Facilitate trainings on education policy reviews for CSOs and marginalised groups to participate in education policy forums and processes. 

SEN will place strong emphasis on learning throughout the implementation process. On this account, SEN will connect with regional and global networks, processes, and spaces to contribute to and learn from larger advocacy, awareness raising, and policy dialogue processes. Together with other learning collaboratives and opportunities, SEN will develop its capacity to take part in monitoring and accountability mechanisms to better Samoa's national education system and programmes. 

To achieve sustainable results and ensure the projects impact beyond the implementation period, SEN will focus its efforts on four main strategies, namely: 

• Building strong partnerships. 

• Empower marginalised groups. 

• Use evidence-based advocacy. 

• Disseminate knowledge and lessons learned. 

A previous phase of the project was implemented 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.