Project Title:
Enabling Relief & Rehabilitation Through Education
UNICEF
1st Quarter Report
Technical Progress Report
as on
28 February 2006
By
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Public Trust
UNICEF PROJECT REPORT
1.PROGRAMME SUMMARY
1.1.Project Title: Enabling Relief & Rehabilitation Through Education
1.2.Location:AJK: Muzaffarabad and Bagh Districts
1.3.Reporting Period:November 01, 2005 –February End 2006
1.4.Date of Report:February 28th2006
1.5.Programme Duration:6 Months : Nov. 2005 – April 2006
1.6.Implementing Agency:Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) Public Trust
1.7.Person responsible for completing the report: Abu Bakr and Baela R. Jamil
- OVERALL PROGRESS REPORT
It is only appropriate to state at the outset that this has been a challenging period for ITA to meet the ambitious targets that were provided by ITA both, quantitatively and qualitatively interms of complex programming. Besides appointing a special emergency team at Islamabad office, two new offices were set up for this work in Muzaffarabad and Bagh districts and ITA decided to hire local teams from AJK as a capacity building and livelihood initiative. This was critical to fostering locally based commitment, capacity and solutions. Fortunately UNICEF support was timely as common positions and costs on finance, admin, support staff and rentals could be shared and paid appropriately. Both challenges have paid off but only due to the diligent and highly committed work of AJK teams and technical support by ITA personnel as well as specialised volunteers for transfer of skills and systems.
2.1.Objectives:(Objectives as stated in the approved project document)by the end of the project
1.Provide relief and rehabilitation to 120 schools (85% govt. 15 % private) in the districts of Muzzafarabad and Bagh through phase wise effective learning and education programs
2.Design an integrated relief, safe play, life skills/health and inclusive education program through a consultative process with local beneficiaries and government/civil administration
- Organize and register 30 local youth/community groups for implementation of interventions and multi-sectoral linkages through technical support by ITA teams
- Hire para teachers (1 per school) in 120 schools as per need of each school from the local area for temporary support of six months and data provided to the Dept. of Education.
5. Provide training support to 380 teachers and 40 youth animators in education, care and lifeskills with particular sensitivity to girls and women.
6. Provide institutional strengthening and planning support to the Government of AJK (relevant departments)
7.Monitor the interventions through a database and monitoring system for a well integrated information system linked to the macro relief efforts for AJK and access to other cluster groups for linkages in shelter, health, water and sanitation and livelihoods.
- Undertake area specific household survey to ascertain emergency needs for a transparent relief and rehabilitation package. (Survey already underway)
- Participate fully in networking with all partner groups (both government and civil society) in the education sector for optimum coverage
2.2.Overall Summary:
Intended Program Beneficiaries :
Schools = 120
Children 120 schools x 150 children = 18000
Teachers 120 schools x 5 teachers= 600
Trained Teachers = 360 (subject to hiring)
Indirect Beneficiaries families 18000x 8 aprox. = 144000
Table 1: UNICEF Progress Summary Feb 2006
Sr # / Title / Muzzafarabad / Bagh / Total / Variance : Total1 / Schools Operational / 68 / 56 / 124 / + 4
2 / School Enrolments / 9091 / 6801 / 15,892 / - 2108 (these are increasing)
3 / Teachers Hired / 15 / 49 (-3) / 64
4 / Teachers Trained / 316 / 247 / 563 / - 37
5 / CBOs formed / 55 / 52 / 107
6 / Others Trained DoE, NGOs and Community / 40 / 30 / 70
7. / Institutional Strengthening DoE AJK /
- Directorate of Training engaged in Training of ITA
- Participation in International Conference &Presentation
- Inst. Strengthening of DoE initiated through participatory methods and first workshop designed for execution on March 29th, 2006
- ITA’s placement process of 5-6 educators in USA
Table 2: Gender Disaggregated Data
Sr # / Title / Muzzafarabad / Bagh / TotalMale / Female/mixed / Male / Female/mixed
1 / Schools Operational / 20 / 48 / 23 / 33 / 124
2 / Enrolments / 4565 / 4526 / 3212 / 3589 / 15,892
3 / Teachers Hired / 3 / 12 / 15*
4 / Teachers Trained / 316 / 247 / 563
* Up to end Jan, 2006.
2.3.Progress towards Objectives and activities undertaken
Objective 1.Provide relief and rehabilitation to 120 schools (85% govt. 15 % private) in the districts of Muzzafarabad and Bagh through phase wise effective learning and education programs
Activities undertaken: Target of 120 schools has been duly met and exceeded by 4 additional schools where the need assessment had already been undertaken. The process for support to schools started with filling out of the needs assessment forms, followed by community mobilization. Phase one of establishment is complete. However, quality consolidation has just begun. Para teachers were hired on a need basis and this was done through tests, interviews, contracts all undertaken simultaneously and transparently with local community participation and in the case of Bagh districts with full participation of AEOs/DoE. This target has been achieved in spite of delay in books and relevant school material other then tents and school in a box. Textbooks have been a major bottleneck with UNICEF on account of a misunderstanding that these can be provided by the Punjab Textbook Board rather than that of AJK. Only books for classes 9 and 10 pertain to the PTBB.
The total break down of schools by level is graphically illustrated below :
Title / Target / Achievement
Schools Operational / 120 / 124
Teachers Hired / 600 / 64
Teachers Trained / 360 / 563
Title / Enrollment
Male / 7777
Female/mixed / 8115
Total / 15,892
Target / 18000
Category / Numbers
Government / 107
Private / 17
Details of SCHOOLS
School Category / Muzaffarabad / Bagh / Total
Primary: / 27 / 22 / 49
Middle: / 13 / 20 / 33
Secondary: / 15 / 10 / 25
Private all Co-Education / 13 / 4 / 17
Total / 68 / 56 / 124
* 1 MiddleGovernmentGirlsSchool upgrade to SecondaryGovernmentGirlsSchool
Detail of Schools (Gender wise)
School Category / Boys / Girls / Total
Primary: / 17 / 32 / 49
Middle: / 14 / 19 / 33
Secondary: / 12 / 13 / 25
Private Schools / 0 / 17 / 17
Total / 43 / 81 / 124
* 1 MiddleGovernmentGirlsSchool upgrade to SecondaryGovernmentGirlsSchool
UCs in Muz District : Therian, Muzaffarabad, MCM, Chattar Kalas, Chattar Dumail, Danna, Chella Bandi, Matyai, Tariqabad, Niazpura, Bandway
UCs in Bagh Districts: Beer Pani, Naar Sher Ali Khan, Chirala, Dhirkot.
ITA is working through a clustered approach for proximity and supervision. The focus is primarily on primary schools as suggested by UNICEF, although there is need for middle schools support as well.The data reflects percentage of middle and higher schools, and these include sections of primary and prep within them. This was due to the selection criteria with a minimum enrolment of 40-45 children per school.
As per the project document, it is agreed that all school supplies, including, tents, books, note books, stationery, health kits, SRM’s, latetrines, clean drinking water supply will be provided by UNICEF itself, where as Individual Assessment Profiles, Sports kit and some teachers’ kit items are to be mobilized by ITA.
So far, ITA has provided all the relevant school items to the above mentioned schools.Where as, tents, mats and school in boxes are provided by UNICEF. In Bagh district, some items still remain to be delivered as it has experienced more weather and infrastructure/road related problems comparative to Muzaffarabad district. A critical issue to be stated is, due to various problems in logistics, supply availability and transport not all the items in the school package have reached at the same time making repeated trips necessary and also expensive. ITA’s staff has been thus doubly burdened, but have discharged their duties most admirably, especially in areas where there are no roads and schools have been identified by the Department of Education for urgent outreach.
Supplies received and distributed to schools by district is as follows:
UNICEF’S MATERIAL - Bagh
PROGRESS SUMMARYUpdated on Mar. 28, 2006
TENTS RECEIVED=78SIB RECEIVED=170MATS RECEIVED=300
No / Description / Delivered in UNICEF / Delivered in SC UK / Balance
Deliveries / Schools / Deliveries / Schools
1 / Tent / 42 / 32 / 12 / 5 / 78-54 = 24
2 / SIB / 140 / 57 / 21 / 13 / 170-161=19
3 / Mats / 154 / 56 / 300 -154= 146
4
UNICEF’S MATERIAL – Muzaffarabad
PROGRESS SUMMARYUpdated on Mar. 28, 2006
TENTS RECEIVED=143*SIB RECEIVED=323MATS RECEIVED=240
No / Description / Delivered in UNICEF / Delivered in SC UK / Balance
Deliveries / Schools/Camps / Deliveries / Schools
1 / Tent / 91
29 / Schools=66
Camp=22 / 15
2 / 12
Camp=1 / 0
2 / SIB / 109
30 / 68
Camps=23 / 20
4 / 17
Camps=2 / 323-163=160**
160-3=157
3 / Mats / 93
29 / 66
Camp=22 / 15
2 / 12
Camp=1 / 240-122=118
* As per instructions by UNICEF 2 Tents were received by Education Dept.
* UNICEF took back 4 Tents
** 3 SIB are in Lhr. Mzd. & ISB for Display purposes and training of trainers.
There has been an oversupply of SIBs and Mats from UNICEF. In Muzaffarabad this has been absorbed in the Camp project which will be reflected in the Camp Quarterly report to be submitted shortly by April 7th, 2006. In some schools as the enrolment is increasing with camps closure and returnees there will be need to provide extra SIBs.
Objective 2:
Design an integrated relief, safe play, life skills/health and inclusive education program through a consultative process with local beneficiaries and government/civil administration.
Activities undertaken
From the inception the program was envisaged in an integrated manner and through partnerships. For ITA education and protection are concurrent needs and programming principles. The orientation to ITA’s newly hired teams was provided through a rooted training program in Life Skills, Health, Safe Play in which ITA’s own Resource Persons trained in these areas as well as Alif Laila and an independent trainer participated. On disabilities the data reveals limited evidence thus far on special needs in target schools both through needs assessment as well as directly in schools Trauma training and trauma management has been a target activity since December 2005 through local and international trainers. All field activities had to be initiated through dialogues with the local community, mobilization for rehabilitation through education, an agreement that they will become a CBO with specific roles and responsibilities (annex B). The government has been kept in the loop since the beginning both specifically through providing list of schools, agreeing on UC cluster based approach, list of trainers to work alongside ITA teams, participation in the conference and generally through the UN Cluster meetings. However, on account of little coordination between training and administration and vice versa as well as a new team finding it was hard to juggle between program delivery and relationship building in public sector this has not been the most consistent aspect up to early Feb. but of late this has been fully integrated.
Objective 3:
Organize and register 30 local youth/community groups for implementation of interventions
andmulti-sectoral linkages through technical support by ITA teams
Activities undertaken:
Whilst local youth groups have been mobilized and formally partnered with in all locations, a target of 30 groups is being selected for registration as NGOs. The process has been initiated with the government and will be a focused activity in the next reporting period. A two day training program is being designed on strengthening of SMCs in AJK schools where the local youth groups mobilized will be a critical group of participants other than teachers and headteachers. These groups are to be trained for managing and sustaining the interventions for quality education in emergencies and transitional periods.
Objective 4:
Provide training support to 380 teachers and 40 youth animators in education, care and lifeskills with particular sensitivity to girls and women.
Activities undertaken:
A training strategy was developed by ITA (annex) and implementation was undertaken/being undertaken accordingly. The backbone of the training strategy is trauma management, survivors support, and managing of classes and curriculum within tent schools.
The strategy is anchored in cyclical approach of TOT on a specific category of training followed up by implementation in clusters. To date four orientation and TOT trainings have been held on core elements of programming, Trauma Management (Psycho Social Assistance without Borders: PAWB), How to Set up and Manage a TentSchool and finally to deal with the ending of acedamic year on Curriculum, assessment and examination. The Directorate of Training in AJK has nominated 10 trainers to work alongside ITA as well. At least six are very active. The first round of cluster based trainings has been completed which is held in a host school in a cluster. A target of up to 30 participants is planned. All arrangements for training are managed locally by host school and CBO including training location, refreshments and other facilitation for participants.
Under UNICEF the trainings thus far have had the following categories of trainees:
i.ITA’s newly hired field staff
ii.Master Trainers of the Government as well Senior Govt. Officials and AEOs
iii.Teachers, Head teachers and Community Members from government and some private schools
iv.NGO representatives
v. Donors Agencies including UNICEF itself and Save the Children UK.
Objective 5
Provide institutional strengthening and planning support to the Government of AJK such as District or
UC level Education Planning
Activities undertaken
a.ITA according to its commitment will be undertaking strengthening of the Dept. of Education in AJK according to its needs. A needs assessment was initiated on Feb. 20, 2006 to be followed up by a workshop on Institutional Strengthening which is AJK wide. A design has been developed for this by the ITA adviser on AJK and she will be the principal facilitator (annex).
b.Four senior members of the DoE were invited to attend a conference “Local Governance Texts and Contexts: Perspectives from South Asia” on Feb 1-2 in Lahore ( for exposure to alternatives from within South Asia on regional initiatives for local governance in education and quality. The participants were:
- Additional Secretary Education (Planning)
- DPI – EE
- Coordinator Camps DoE
- Director Training
c.The options for DoE and Do P&D strengthening could be in the areas of local level planning, school based, UC level based or district based education planning in the post earthquake scenario.
d.ITA has already formally engaged with the Directorate of Training to identify 10 trainers who can be associated with the entire training strategy. Not only have these master trainers attended the training of training but are also being engaged as resource persons for the field based cluster trainings. This is critical for legitimacy, credibility and systems linkages. The institutional strengthening of DoE is a critical area which needs to be undertaken collaboratively.
e.ITA is supporting the DOE for capacity building in USA for a five week program June –August 2006. The process has already begun with a formal exchange of letters. (Described in detail, Section 5.II below)
Objective 6: Monitor the interventions through a database and monitoring system for a well integrated information system linked to the macro relief efforts for AJK and access to other cluster groups for linkages in shelter, health, water and sanitation and livelihoods.
Activities undertaken
A school based survey has been undertaken for each school, providing a baseline or a monitoring plan.
The design on the monitoring system is to be finalized in March 2006.It needs to alignment with the monitoring indicators provided by the UN Cluster for the Integrated Monitoring Matrix (IMM) (annex J).
Education
- UNICEF - / Schools operational / No.
Children enrolled (boys/girls) / No.
Teachers assigned (m/f) / No.
Teachers trained / No.
School-in-a-Box kits delivered / No.
Textbooks delivered / No.
There are other indicators finalized under Protection:
Protection
- UNICEF - / Most vulnerable population
registered / No.
Women friendly spaces and community groups established / No.
Child friendly spaces functional / No.
Beneficiaries of psych-social
care and support / No.
Vulnerable people with access to referral services / No.
The IMM covers for AJK the following areas:
Bagh / Poonch / Neelum / Muzaffarabad
Neelum / Jhelum
Bagh / Dhir Kot / Haveli / Abbaspur / Hajira / Rawalakot / Athmuqam / Muzaffarabad / Hattian
From ITA’s point of view where the two areas of education and protection are completely interlinked our major challenge is to make a Project Monitoring Plan which corresponds to both. For coordination on earthquake ERRA, FRC, HIC etc. are all emphasizing correspondence to P Code reporting etc. this is an additional area for the PMP that ITA will devise supported and endorsed by UNICEF. There are bound to be child sensitive indicators including participation of children that may be included as well.
Objective 7:
Undertake area specific household survey to ascertain emergency needs for a transparent relief package.
Activities undertaken; This survey which was designed initially in Oct 2005 by ITA on household level was quickly replaced to a school based survey for needs assessment on pre and post earthquake baselines. For each school this is the first step undertaken (annex A) and is preserved in the school file/folder for record and to match needs against proposed actions…
3.CHILD PARTICIPATION
Please describe children’s involvement in your activities
From the inception, all work undertaken on Needs Assessment, TNA in camps and schools, training demonstration has been done through children’s participation. This remains a central principle of all pedagogic activity of ITA’s programs. Especially in emergencies children are kept at the centre of all the activities.
In the middle and high Schools ITA is initiating in the second reporting period participation of senior students Classes VIII, IX and X in the SMCs so that their voices may also be heard. Meanwhile all pedagogy is through child centred methods and school enrichment programs which are being introduced through the nature of supplies and training already being extended to AJK schools.
4.PROBLEMS/ISSUES MATERIALLY IMPAIRING THE ACHIEVEMENT OF PROJECT
OBJECTIVES, PROPOSED SOLUTIONS AND ACTIONS TAKEN OR TO BE TAKEN
Ser # / Problems / Mitigation – Opportunities and Possibilities1 / Provision of Books by UNICEF :
This became a major issue at the outset as UNICEF was having problems and misunderstanding about the correct and relevant text books taught in AJK / Keeping in view the scope and desperate need of books in school, ITA managed to provide some of the SC-UK procured books to UNICEF schools, especially one set for the teachers so that there shouldn’t be any delay in teaching due to books. SC-UK was entirely happy and ITA assured that this was critical in an emergency especially where there is excess and ITA had reached the 124 schoolt, ITA would return to stock as soon as possible. Action was taken in Feb. 2006