Education for Children and Youth Project Quarterly Report No. 6

The project aims to support the Ministry of Education (MoE) in its efforts to extend education access to children and youth who live in areas with rates of violence and crime in El Salvador. The project is coordinated and supported with MoE in response to the need to better education quality through the practice of inclusive, pertinent, and safe learning environments. The project initiated January 2, 2013, and will end December 2018. It will be implemented in 25 municipalities of the 54 with the highest violence rate. The project's partner is the Ministry of Education (MoE). USAID has signed an agreement with the Foundation for Integral Salvadorian Education (FEDISAL), as the local partner who has a partnership network comprised by six organizations: Salvador del Mundo Foundation (FUSALMO), Salesian Association Institution (AIS), Education and Work Foundation (EDYTRA), Don Bosco University (UDB), Pro-Education Foundation of El Salvador (FUNPRES), and an international partner, Family Health International (FHI 360). The project has made substantial advancements on the two components and key activities for project implementation as well as in the administration of the sub-agreements. Specifically, there have been negotiations with MoE's new administration to continue supporting the education policy and boosting the expansion of the EITP model. The project has supported the development of activities to promote the EITP and education policy continuity, including sectorial roundtables and the preparation of a reference document with UNICEF and MoE to finance a study that will provide an education roadmap for the new government. The project has also expanded its technical assistance to 409 selected schools and supports the implementation of the pedagogic approach from the Integrated Systems and Education Networks to improve education quality in lower secondary education. To date, a total of 63,238 lower secondary students from the supported schools have benefited, and there has been an improvement in coexistence environments for 122,038 students from other education levels enrolled in 2013. The project's actions have strengthened teachers who apply active methodologies and written resources to learn Mathematics and Language, and have formed skills and meet the needs of lower secondary students with special education needs (SEN). The project has also trained 1,992 educational actors (1,043 women and 949 men) in topics related to the improvement of lower secondary quality education, special education needs, creative conflict resolution, and safe environments. 21 new inter-learning circles have been created, bringing the total to 29. The project has also supported the capacity of school management of Departmental Directorships by providing pedagogic support to Departmental Directorships, improvement Teams, and Pedagogic Technical Assistants in 8 departments. The project's success has been demonstrated through the improvement in coexistence environments for 122,038 students from other education levels enrolled in 2013, and the training of 1,992 educational actors in topics related to the improvement of lower secondary quality education, special education needs, creative conflict resolution, and safe environments. The project's actions have also strengthened the capacity of school management of Departmental Directorships and have promoted the use of active methodologies as a strategy to teach in Integrated Systems and supported School Networks.