A Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) grant agreement for the Mainstreaming Inclusive
Education project, designed to improve the quality, accessibility and relevance of basic education in six rural provinces of Cambodia, was signed September 13, 2005 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the World Bank and Voluntary Service Overseas Cambodia (VSO). The $1.8 million grant, provided by the Government of Japan, through the World Bank, will help to finance the new project which has a particular focus on inclusion of girls, children with disabilities and other marginalized groups to basic education services.
JSDF was established by the Government of Japan and the World Bank in June 2000 as an untied mechanism for providing direct assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in eligible member countries of the World Bank Group. As of March 2005, the Government of Japan had provided over US$250 million to the JSDF and over 160 grants, amounting to more than US$180 million had been approved. “I am pleased that, as seen in our support to this project, Japan plays a pivotal role in helping Cambodia in the field of education. Education is one of the top priorities in Japan’s assistance policy for this country as the basis of its development,” said H.E. Takahashi Fumiaki, Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia. “I believe that the future prosperity of Cambodia intrinsically depends upon the education for its young people.
The project is also meaningful from the viewpoint of human security, to which Japan attaches importance. I sincerely hope that the assistance we committed to today will ensure poverty reduction as well as the welfare for all the people in Cambodia, by further contributing to the economic and social development of the country.”
“The Cambodia Education Strategic Plan gives special attention to girls, children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, who have had unequal access to basic education in the past,” said
H.E. Im Sethy, Secretary of State for Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS). “This project will help our Government to carry out its goal of achieving ‘Education for All’ by addressing the needs of these vulnerable groups through the public education system. By supporting these groups, the project will complement other work ongoing in enhancing the education sector and will help improve overall education outcomes.” These outcomes include increased enrolment and ‘flow through’ (promotion, repetition and dropout) rates in basic education in each target province, disaggregated by gender and children with disabilities.
This four year project aims to focus its efforts in four specific areas in six provinces – Mondulkiri, Rattanakiri, Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Koh Kong, and Kampot:
- Promoting inclusion of disadvantaged children by training education officers and teacher trainers; mainstreaming inclusion into the work of the Teacher Training Colleges (TTC), Provincial Offices of Education (PoE), and District Offices of Education (DoE); providing small grants to promote innovations for greater inclusion; and improving school effectiveness through grassroots peer-led reflective networks at district and provincial level.
- Supporting Teacher Professional Development in Provincial and Regional Teacher Training Colleges in the six pilot provinces to coordinate and enhance the delivery of pre-service and in-service teacher training, which will include encouraging the use of child-friendly and child-centered teaching practice; building capacity to improve institutional management; and embedding inclusive approaches within the curriculum.
- Strengthening civil society engagement through supporting the NGO Education Partnership (NEP) and their advocacy efforts; using VSO’s “Valuing Teachers” research to enhance inclusion of teachers’ voices in decision-making; supporting the NGO Disability Action Council; and ensuring that the project’s management systems enable and encourage all stakeholders to support and influence the project’s design, implementation and strategic management;
- Establishing a monitoring and evaluation system that will focus on changes in the practice of organizations and changes in the lives of school children, in particular girls, children with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups; establishing opportunities for reflection and planning; and establishing documentation and information sharing strategies to ensure learning between partners and stakeholders.
“The project supports one of the main goals of the Rectangular Strategy,” said H.E. Kong Vibol, Secretary of State for MEF, “ and addresses one of the key challenges in Cambodia’s human resource development needs, which is to achieve Universal Basic Education for All. We are committed to providing support to the MoEYS and VSO as we work together to meet the project’s intended objectives – helping thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged children to have access to a better education and with that, a better future.”
James Whitehead, Country Director of VSO said: “By supporting the Mainstreaming Inclusive Education Project in six rural provinces, more children, especially the children from marginalized groups will be able to have access to school and their parents and their communities will get benefit from it. VSO is proud to be able to implement this project in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport for the benefit of disadvantaged groups in Cambodia.”
Mr. Ian Porter, World Bank Country Director for Cambodia commented, “The World Bank is pleased to working in partnership with Japan to support this project which will help improve the lives and opportunities of some of Cambodia’s most disadvantaged children. This project is in line with our new Country Assistance Strategy for Cambodia, which aims at helping Cambodia improve the access and quality of education in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We appreciate the assistance of Japan’s Social Development Fund in supporting this project.”
(Source: The World Bank Cambodia Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 10, October 2005)
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