Girl Child education for livelihood Recovery

Project proposal for funding

Our budget paper is attached - select Page/Attachments above right

Executive Summary

Girl Child education for livelihood Recovery is a project of Christ Mission to the World.

Christ Mission to the World is a recognized and registered non governmental, non profit and non denominational Christian organization (registration no. 167). The organization is registered by the government of Southern Sudan to respond to suffering and critical needs of returning population of Southern Sudan after more than twenty one (21) years of civil war in Sudan which came to a close when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005.

In this project Christ Mission to the World is proposing to construct a girls boarding secondary school in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State as a result of an outcome of a community development assessment which the organization conducted in the State in August 2010. The assessment team which comprised of church, government and community representatives from the State is proposing that a girl boarding girls secondary school with two dormitories, one dining hall, four classrooms, three staff houses, a staff room, two office rooms, a laboratory room, six and a school garden be constructed in Aweil Central County to relieve girls from the burden of long hours of trekking to attend school, a practice which has in most cases exposed them to rape and other forms of sex abuses as the existed schools in the region were destroyed by the long decades of civil war.

The proposed project aims to increase the number of girl child retention in secondary schools and those who complete the syllabus marked for four years. The school will also promote gender equity and the quality and number of skilled women in the region and in the process women will access new opportunities to participate in the social and economic development. The School will increase the chances of women to access job opportunities in the region and even nationally and more so it will enable them to compete men in positions of leadership from an informed position. The project is also seen as building blocks in the communities for women living standards, reproductive health, women human rights and participation in decision making in family and community issues.

The proposed project will be implemented in two phases. Phase one will concentrate on construction/building of classrooms, dining hall, dormitory, offices, staffroom, toilets, a laboratory room and staff houses. Phase two will focus on procurement of school equipments such as text books, desks, windows, doors, laboratory materials among others.

Phase one of the project will take six months to be completed. Community participation will be their contribution in this project as they have promised. Christ Mission to the World will be the lead organization responsible for the implementation of the project work and undertake to compile monitoring and evaluation reports to Nippon Foundation as will be agreed.

In response to the problems facing the school going youth especially girls in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, Christ Mission to the World, a non governmental organization working in the region is proposing for the construction of a girls boarding school at the cost of US$120,000

Problem Statement

Sudan's 18-year civil war between Government of Sudan (GOS) military and militia forces and mostly southern Sudanese rebel groups, including the Southern Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has adversely affected Sudanese populations along the traditional North/South divide.

Populations in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State continue to suffer due to the effects of long decades of civil wars which have impacted negatively on the educational facilities in the region. During the civil confrontation the forces destroyed all the social and economic infrastructures leaving Southern Sudan completely an empty country which must just restart rebuilding it’s infrastructures following the signing of the signing of the peace agreement in 2005.

The humanitarian consequences of the nearly two-decade old conflict have been staggering. Since 1983, more than 2 million civilians died from war-related events, including fighting, famine, and disease, and an additional 4 million people were internally displaced by the conflict, the largest displaced population in the world. Sudan has experienced three periods of famine over the last 13 years; Bahr el Ghazal in 1988-1989 and 1998, and Upper Nile in 1992-1993. The most affected are the children and the old whose institutions of learning were severely damaged. Homes were too were burnt or destroyed beyond repair.

Justification

Traditionally, the education of girls in Southern Sudan was most rudimentary kind, frequently provided by a religious school, in which religious studies were taught. Such schools did not prepare girls for the secular learning mainstream, from which they were virtually excluded.

There has been a slow development of girls' education in Southern Sudan and especially in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State where parents of Sudanese girls tend to look upon girls' schools with suspicion if not fear that they would corrupt the morals of their daughters. Moreover, preference has been given to sons, who by education can advance themselves in society to the pride and profit of the family. These girls can not do; their value is enhanced not at school but at home, in preparation for marriage and the dowry that accompany the ceremony. The girl is a valuable asset in the home until marriage, either in the kitchen or in the fields due to their lack of mental ability. Finally, the lack of schools has discouraged even those who desired elementary education for their daughters.

This rather dismal situation has obstructed a number of girls who have shown interest in education both formal and informal thus resulting to majority of them resigning to early marriages.

The Project objective

To construct 1 secondary school for 500 girls in Bahr el Ghazal State and fully equip with relevant learning and teaching materials in one year.

Implementation Methodologies

a) Conduct inception meetings with local leaders (Aweil Central, Aweil South, Aweil East, Aweil West and Aweil North County Commissioners, Chiefs, Religious leaders, teachers, payam administrators, local farmers and other community leaders) at Aweil town

b) Reaching out and mobilizing communities, organizations, work places and institutions and sensitize them on the construction of primary health care center. in the five Counties of Aweil Central, Aweil South, Aweil East, Aweil West and Aweil North.

c) Formation of community primary Health Care Committee in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.

d) Procurement of construction materials from Juba, Khartoum and Aweil town and transport to the construction site.

e) Pay administrative costs to a coordination team of 5 staff according to the months worked.

f) Launch and start of the project work of building the proposed Secondary school in Aweil Central which should be completed after three months of intensive work.

g) Reach out, mobilize and sensitize communities on the construction of Secondary school in the region.

h) Form Parents Teachers Association (PTA) in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.

i) Procure of construction/building materials

j) Pay administrative costs to a coordination team of 5 staff according to the months worked.

k) Launch and start of the project work of building the proposed Secondary School in Aweil Central which should be completed after three months of intensive work.

l) Continuous monitoring and evaluation of activities in the project area from the time of conducting inception meetings to the end of the proposed project. This will be done by the project Manager assisted by two field coordinators who will be very instrumental in the preparation of monitoring and evaluation reports

Expected outcome

• One community Secondary school constructed and operational.
• Eight teachers hired and working in the school
• Text books, desks and laboratory equipment supplied to the school.
• number of public meetings held
• number of people attended public meetings
• numbers of senior staff and casual workers identified and attended induction training
• number if construction items purchased
• quality and quantity of items delivered to project team
• number of housing units in the school constructed
• Availability of head teacher in the School
• monthly and quarterly reports
• number of topics covered

Beneficiaries

This project will target:

• Villages: Rumpaleu, Pangomaihiai, Aweil Town County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in Southern Sudan.
• Villages: Luethwek, Mabok and Machar in Aweil East County Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in Southern Sudan
• Villages: Dong, Amouidit and Rumakok in Aweil South County Northern Bahr El Ghazal State in Southern Sudan

Monitoring and Evaluation

The purpose of monitoring and evaluation will be to find out what is hampering the effective implementation of construction of the proposed secondary school project in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State in Southern Sudan. Some of the concerns will be dealt with as soon as they as they are identified. The methodologies to be used will include:

The first phase, will consist of informal meetings with key people that are tasked with the duty of service delivery by the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State, such as the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State Ministry of Health, NGOs who work in the region in the sector of education and Ministry of welfare. The second phase will involve questionnaires which all personnel, service providers as well as the public will fill out.

In some instances the Christ Mission to the World staff will observe the interaction of personnel and community members during the provision of their services. The last phase will involve scrutinizing the records of the service providers.

Interviews with the constructors - as the constructors are at the fore front doing the construction work, the Christ Mission will need to establish if they are equipped enough to handle such work, whether they are able to build the proposed project as it appears in the paper.

Random Sampling will be used to reach out to the entire target region through representation to gauge the level of change or project impact on the community. 1050 persons will be randomly selected from 10 villages in Aweil Central County and interviewed.

The public interview - Stakeholder’s analysis will be used to determine the feeling and understanding of the community about the progress of the project. We will engage members of local communities, NGOs, Churches, Schools and governments through structured interviews, brainstorming and focus groups to clearly dissect the work done by the NGO in the community.

Conclusion

The proposed project is seen in the light of breaking away from the past traditional practice where girls were denied equal opportunities to attend school.