Project – Overall objective: Secondary schools in which all students can – and – do successfully demand accountability from the educational institutions/officials they rely on.
Donor: Global Partnership for Education
Grant Agent: OXFAM IBIS
Budget: USD 858,942
Period: January 2022 – June 2024
Specific objectives :
- By the end of 2024, 50 senior education officials, 6 civil society organizations and 10 parliamentarians are working closely with CERC to embed anti-corruption and accountability protocols in the education sector;
- By the end of the project, 2250 (14–19-year-old) students engaged and supported to become active agents of positive change championing anti-corruption and accountability behaviour and to demand that education reforms meet their needs;
- By the end of the project, supported 150 secondary schools embed Integrity Clubs to ensure long term sustainability of anti-corruption and accountability efforts in the education sector;
- Student-led advocacy and campaigns attract wider support and demand for anti-corruption and accountability measures in education
Summary
This project responds to the impact that corruption and lack of transparency is having on young people’s access to education and motivation to participate civically in their communities.
Part of the solution to the lack of transparency in education is to have students more involved in education. They can help generate data, as, without data, the learning crisis remains invisible, goals cannot be set, and policy efforts cannot be guided or monitored for impact.
Working with secondary schools, this project focuses on the delivery of the DRC Education and Training Sector Strategy 2016-2025 reform in 6 municipalities of South Kivu and 6 municipalities of Kinshasa with the goal for students, especially girls, to receive accountable, inclusive and equitable quality education services.
We will do this by ensuring that (a) Students, teachers, and parents can successfully demand that the reform meets students’ needs; (b) Integrity Clubs (ICs) is established in the education system. (c) Education authorities are committed and have the capacity to implement quality change, and d) the approach to transparently consult and collaborate is institutionalized in South Kivu and Kinshasa and replicated across DRC.
CERC will train 2250 14-19-year-old students in Kinshasa and in South-Kivu, to monitor the implementation of the DRC Education and Training Sector Strategy 2016-2025, specifically monitoring the delivery of education services and infrastructures and working together with education officials and other key stakeholders in order to drive improvements for vital education services accessed by Congolese youth.
Improving accessibility of education infrastructure and improved quality of education services will lead to better education outcomes for youth, which directly tackles an underlying cause of poverty and inequality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition to bringing improvements to education services, the project aims to improve responsiveness and accountability from education service providers, encouraging an open and transparent education system that is receptive to students’ needs.