Context 

The local population in Nepal’s Siraha district mostly works as low-paid agricultural laborers. In Siraha, 2,969 girls remain out of school. Lower value is placed on girls’ education, girls are over-burdened with household chores, and poor quality of education and the environment in schools lead to frequent school dropouts. Family care and child marriage also play significant roles in girls dropping out of school. 

National government strategies prioritize educational access for girls, but local governments struggle to implement them due to their own limited capacities and resources. Each community should operate a Community Learning Center which provides educational services to out-of-school individuals, but many remain non-functional. This project will embed its accelerated learning model into these centers, strengthen their capacities, and assist municipal officials to design inclusive education plans. 

The project will contribute to processes of change by encouraging tangible efforts to value and enable girls’ education, and by promoting livelihood opportunities for older girls, to thereby increase gender equality and address harmful social norms in Siraha.  

The project addresses these through transformative activities designed to create opportunities for community-wide development. The project will: (a) increase girls’ access to accelerated learning through the Udaan model and promote retention in schools through catch-up classes and strengthened support networks with peers and teachers; (b) raise awareness of, and change attitudes toward, harmful social norms which keep girls out of school and lower the value placed on girls’ education; (c) increase local government’s ability to create more gender-inclusive plans to improve education through community participation and structured planning support; and (d) provide skills and material support to older girls to begin income generation activities with a view towards a more secure livelihood. By addressing girls’ educational enrollment and attainment, as well as livelihoods, the project will create opportunities for girls to become more equal and active contributors to inclusive development in Siraha district. 

Objectives 

• Poor and marginalized adolescent girls are equipped to enter and remain in formal education; 
• An enabling environment for girls‘ learning is promoted at the home, community, school and municipal level; 
• Poor and marginalized adolescent girls build their entrepreneurial skills. 

Main Activities 

• Establish and operate three Udaan centers for one 11-month cycle; 
• Strengthen the capacity of accelerated learning instructors; 
• Provide life skills support and opportunities for leadership development to girls; 
• Offer catch-up classes on key subjects through a Homework Club model; 
• Organize sessions to promote the value of girls’ education and gender transformative approaches among (a) parents and (b) community leaders; 
• Facilitate community involvement and input into two Municipal Education Plans; 

• Update existing business plans based on local job and income opportunities; 
• Provide referral and tuition payments for girls to attend vocational training courses as per their business plans; 
• Provide skills in financial literacy, business management, and entrepreneurship; 
• Form groups of adolescent entrepreneurs who meet regularly, support each other, and link to other services providers in the community. 

Participants 

• 341 poor and marginalized adolescent girls (aged 10 to 19 years old) from two municipalities in Siraha, including girls from Dalit, Muslim and indigenous communities; 
• 3 teachers to receive capacity strengthening on the Udaan curriculum and child-friendly teaching methodologies;  
• 75 parents of girls enrolled in the Udaan centers (estimated one parent per girl) to participate in awareness-raising activities on gender equality and girls’ education;  
• 50 community leaders, including religious leaders, representatives of local mothers’ groups and youth groups, and other influential members of the community who will participate in awareness-raising activities;  
• 150 government officials representing two municipal and provincial governments in the target area involved in the revision of the Municipal Education Plans; 
• 1,070 people reached via street drama, girls’ campaigns, community dialogues, and engaged as ‘Big Sisters’;  
• 1,000 other family members excluding parents; 
• 3,000 participants reached by girl-led social campaigns;  
• 200 families of community leaders;  
• 10,000 students and school personnel at two formal schools benefiting from improved Municipal Education Plans.