Launch of the multi-year education resilience programme in the Central African Republic

The Government of the Central African Republic launched the US$40 million multi-year resilience for 2023-2026 in partnership with Education Cannot Wait (ECW), UNICEF, NRC and Plan International.

Since 2012, the country has suffered a series of recurring crises that negatively impacted its education system, especially in rural and peri-urban areas, causing a lack availability of qualified teachers to provide quality education. In consequence, 1 in 4 children at Basic 1 level do not attend school, out of which half are girls. Half of Fundamental 2 students drop out while half of Secondary level also students leave school before the end of the academic year.

The multi-year programme will provide a safe and protective learning environment for children through the improvement of the teaching quality, and the strengthening of communities and masters-parents’s capacities, focusing in particular on parents and teachers’s associations and building on community dialogue to encourage the enrollment of children, especially girls and children with disabilities, in school.

The programme also aims to reduce the number of out-of-school children and will provide access to education for more than 92,000 students, including preschoolers, girls and children with disabilities.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of National Education, His Excellency, Aboubakar Moukadas-Noure said: “This programme funded by Education Cannot Wait aims to meet the most urgent needs in education and we are thrilled about it as it takes into account all categories of learners: young people, girls, preschoolers and children with disabilities. It’s a truly inclusive programme and students have high expectations, which we are responsible for.”

For this part, the Deputy Director of Education Cannot Wait, Graham Lang, explained that « this new multi-year programme builds on the lessons learned from the first phase. It takes a more holistic approach and prioritizes children and youth in the most vulnerable areas of the country, from preschool to high school. It also goes beyond just improving access, putting learning and well-being at the centre, and promises bold progress on gender equality and inclusion for children with disabilities.”

UNICEF Representative to the Central African Republic, Ms Meritxell Relaño, reiterated her gratitude to ECW: “We are grateful for the continued support to the education of children in CAR. Every child has the right to education and quality learning opportunities. Each and every one of them has aspirations and dreams. This programme ensures that children in crisis affected areas, especially young girls, have access to the needed tools to turn their dreams into reality one day.”

The launch was preceded by ECW’s announcement of an additional funding of US$40 million to extend its multi-year resilience programme in the Central African Republic for four years. The first cycle of the programme reached a quarter of a million children, built, and rehabilitated more than 500 classrooms and provided financial support to thousands of teachers across the country.