JJYC Bara, Nepal

Project Title: Strengthening Civil Society for Resilient and Inclusive Education Governance in Nepal (SAHAYATRA)


Short Name: SAHAYATRA
Donor: European Union
Lead Organization / Consortium Lead: VSO Nepal
Project Duration: April 2021 – May 2024
Total Budget: NPR 36,812,049.00

Overall Objective

To ensure inclusive, quality education for marginalized girls and children with disabilities (CwDs) through resilient, gender-responsive education governance, strengthened by active civil society engagement.

Specific Objectives

  1. Increase inclusive access to quality education and learning for marginalized girls and CwDs in the context of COVID-19 and the post-COVID recovery period.
  2. Enhance the accountability of local authorities for resilient and gender-responsive education governance.
  3. Strengthen civil society’s influence and engagement in promoting the right to education and advocating for resilient, gender-responsive education governance.

Key Outcome Areas

The project pursues four interrelated intermediate outcomes:

  1. Improved learning outcomes
    Increased literacy, numeracy, and life skills for marginalized girls and CwDs in Bara and Rautahat districts.
  2. School-centred civic engagement
    Promotion of school-based civic engagement in two districts of Province 2, with marginalized communities working together to reduce educational barriers.
  3. Strengthened local government capacity
    Enhanced capacity of palikas in four districts of Province 2 on disaster risk reduction (DRR), resilience, governance, inclusive education, and education data use.
  4. Empowered civil society
    Strengthened capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to contribute to good governance in education, advocacy, and DRR.

Major Interventions

  • Provide mentoring support to the most vulnerable children to help them continue learning.
  • Support child club initiatives to enhance classroom engagement, including curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities.
  • Distribute information, education and communication (IEC) materials and provide psychosocial support to protect the most vulnerable children from exploitation during the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Facilitate the implementation of the SSDP comprehensive school safety guideline minimum package by strengthening School Improvement Plans (SIPs), including school safety planning and WASH facilities.
  • Build the capacity of key stakeholders (SMC/PTA members, children, youth, and women) on climate change, resilience, school governance, and accountability.
  • Establish and strengthen a Complaint Response Mechanism to improve accountability and responsiveness.
  • Raise parental awareness and promote parental engagement to enroll out-of-school (OOS) children and support their continued learning during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Mobilize youth, including men and boys, to challenge gender stereotypes and promote civic engagement during the COVID-19 context.
  • Deliver teacher professional development on psychosocial support and gender-responsive pedagogy to reduce learning loss caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Facilitate policy dialogue and advocacy at municipal level on WASH, CPCS, school safety, climate change, DRR, resilience, and back-to-school campaigns, and support responsive, accountable governance through public hearings and gender and social audits.
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