SAFE AND IMPROVED LEARNING IN SCHOOLS (SAILS) PROJECT
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Safe and Improved Learning in Schools (SAILS) Project is a three-year project, which focuses on retention and progression of boys and girls in elementary school through sustained dialogue on harmful practices and the importance of education, involving all key duty bearers. The project takes ‘a whole school approach’ to gender based violence (GBV) and other forms of abuse in school, while also tackling key causes of dropout at community level.
The approach empowers girls and boys through school clubs to grow in confidence and knowledge so they can speak out, report abuse, and feel safer. It activates duty bearers to take up their responsibilities to address the causes of dropout through dialogue and capacity building, by strengthening existing structures, collaborating with others and through advocacy and awareness raising.
Agreeing and implementing community bylaws will prevent bush schools conflicting their schedules with mainstream schools, so parents send their children to school. Faith leaders will reinforce the importance of education and safety through sermons, visits, dialogues and by contributing buildings and resources.
Their congregations will engage in Bible studies that help them understand their mandate to help vulnerable children, so they take part in project activities. LUMDS will also enable families to link up with government schemes and personnel and with other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that can support them in livelihoods and in mitigating climate change, so they can pay school costs.
In school, Parent Teachers’ Associations (PTAs) will be a focal point for bringing together school leadership with representatives from teachers, mothers, fathers and school clubs. They will set up reporting mechanisms and pathways for response, to ensure cases are addressed and referred. They will develop and monitor school plans on safety, school attendance, and GBV and resource mobilization. They will also link with school clubs and mothers’ groups to mobilize resources to improve the school environment, raise awareness in the community and advocate for government support. The project will develop Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials to support community awareness-raising campaigns. Local government District Education Officers (DEOs) will monitor teachers’ code of conduct (including attendance) and schools’ compliance with government policy, e.g. ON readmission of child mothers.
Where will the project be implemented?
The Safe and Improved Learning in Schools Project will be implemented in the Panta Kpaai Educational District, Bong County, Liberia that is one of eight districts in Bong County. It combines two existing districts, Panta and Kpaai, with a total population of just over 40,000 inhabitants
SAILS Project impact and outcome goals:
This three-year project will ensure 4,500 children (3000 girls and 1500 boys of 6-14 years) in 15 community elementary schools in Panta Kpaai Education District in Bong County (rural Liberia) stay, and learn progressively, in a SAFE and supportive environment.
The overarching goal will be to achieved through pursuit of two primary and related outcomes: