Thematic Report 2013

BASIC EDUCATION AND GENDER EQUALITY

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Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................... 3

Strategic context ........................................................................................................................ 5

Results: MTSP 2006-2013 Highlights ........................................................................................12

Key result area 1 ...................................................................................................................18

Key result area 2 ...................................................................................................................23

Key result area 3 ...................................................................................................................31

Key result area 4 ...................................................................................................................39

Resources .................................................................................................................................45

Financial implementation ..........................................................................................................49

Future workplan ........................................................................................................................52

Expression of thanks .................................................................................................................55

Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................56

Endnotes ...................................................................................................................................57

Annex A: MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management Indicator ..............................58

Annex B: Additional expenditure analysis ..................................................................................66

Annex C: Appraisal of evaluation studies in 2013 ......................................................................67

Cover image: © UNICEF / BANA2013-01238 / Shafiqul Alam Kiron

Bangladesh 2013 — Children from grade 2 attend outdoor classes at Bairy Harin Mary Government Primary School at Palashbari, Gaibandha on 5 September 2013.

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Executive summary With 2015 less than two years away and 57 million children still out of school, the rate of progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals around universal primary education has stalled. Moreover, recent evidence shows that more than 250 million children – over half of whom are in school – are failing to learn even the most basic skills. This underscores the need for education systems to deliver higher-quality education and for countries to expand quality early learning programmes. With more than half of the out-of-school children living in countries affected by conflict, providing ongoing education for the most marginalized children continues to be a critical challenge – a challenge exacerbated by an increase in reported attacks on schools, students and teachers, for example in Nigeria and Pakistan. For example, the poorest girls are being left behind in terms of educational progress; over half of the 31 million girls currently out of school are expected never to enter, let alone complete, primary school. What is abundantly clear is that while efforts must continue to expand education systems, simply doing more of what has been done in the past will continue to leave behind millions of children, particularly the poorest, marginalized and excluded. Working in partnerships through its ambitious education strategy, UNICEF has been tackling these challenges and aiming to improve education outcomes for all children, particularly the most marginalized and support countries in reaching the millennium goals. Specifically, the UNICEF equity-focused strategy advances the sector in four key areas: increasing and improving early learning opportunities; expanding basic education and reducing disparities; improving the quality of education; and restoring basic education in emergencies. While UNICEF and the sector made considerable progress in each key area of the strategy, a major lesson that has emerged in recent years is that the ultimate goal of why a child goes to school, i.e., to learn, has been largely shortchanged over the past few decades. School completion rates were accepted as a proxy for quality education and data systems were not developed to measure learning outcomes. The year 2013 saw increased global efforts to advance an 'access plus learning' agenda, such as the convening of a global Learning Metrics Task Force (LMTF), which UNICEF co-chaired. With broad agreement that the 'learning crisis' must be addressed, global, regional and country-level work is underway to strengthen the use of learning outcome metrics; develop and implement appropriate assessments; strengthen the evidence base on what improves learning; and expand efforts to improve student learning. In addition to its engagement in LMTF, UNICEF took steps to advance the ‘access plus learning’ agenda through its engagement with key partnerships, such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and through its regional and country programmes. As the sector grapples with how to unblock stalled progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and how to improve learning outcomes at a time when fewer external resources are available for basic education for developing countries, the leadership and advocacy of UNICEF in education is increasingly important. The two-track strategy to strengthen education systems and expand opportunities, strengthened by an equity focus, is at the heart of UNICEF policy and programming work. With a consistent focus on how to deliver quality education to the children who are hardest to reach and the most disadvantaged (girls, ethnic minorities, the poor, children with disabilities and children affected by conflict and other emergency situations) and improve their education outcomes in 1421 education programme countries, the UNICEF strategic approach has been essential not just to making incremental progress to reach education goals but also to identifying where the sector needs to adjust policy and/or implementation. Simply put, progress has stalled because of several factors, including resource constraints; failure of policies to target the most disadvantaged children; and a shortage of cost-effective, adaptive and scalable approaches to reach the all children. Flexible, thematic funding has allowed UNICEF to address these major constraints and continue to identify the necessary ‘step-change’ strategies and approaches.

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Guided by its medium-term strategic plan (MTSP) for 2006-2013 and ongoing commitment to partnership, UNICEF continued to play significant global leadership and advocacy roles across the education sector in 2013: co-leading conversations on the post-2015 agenda with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); co-chairing the LMTF; serving as acting Chair of the GPE Board of Directors; continuing to host and engage with the United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI); member of the Steering Committee of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA); and working with United Nations Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown to accelerate progress on existing education targets, to name a few. At country level, UNICEF continued to work with key partners to drive an evidence-based equity focus in education systems analysis and policymaking. UNICEF continued efforts to expand coverage of basic education for the marginalized and to improve the quality of education. UNICEF also worked with partners to strengthen learning assessments and identify promising, innovative programmes that could be scaled up. Through its leadership and support to education policy and programs in 142 countries, UNICEF had significant achievements in 2013 including: securing more commitments and resources for early learning programming; strengthening the evidence base for equitable policy development; advancing more policies and plans focusing on girls’ education and inclusive education, particularly for children with disabilities; improving learning assessment across many dimensions and strengthening efforts to focus on and improve learning; and responding to an unprecedented number of large-scale, increasingly complex emergencies. Over the course of the MTSP period, UNICEF achievements contributed to numerous, dramatic improvements in the sector that will be described throughout this report. Overall, UNICEF contributed significantly to the growing global consensus that investing in girls’ education is one of most important investments to be made; that girls in particular contexts are more marginalized and excluded from accessing and completing an education; and that targeted policies, approaches and resources are necessary to make improvements. UNICEF, as lead agency and host of the UNGEI secretariat, also engaged in broad social mobilization efforts and advocacy to keep girls’ education and gender equality high on the global agenda. UNICEF contributed to similar growing global consensus across its key strategic areas: the importance of early childhood programming; the necessity of targeted policies and interventions to reach marginalized children; using better data about who these children are; that delivering safe, healthy and learning-conducive schools is possible; and that moving beyond the humanitarian and development divide provides more sustainable educational opportunities for all children. These achievements were possible, in part, through thematic funding which gave UNICEF the flexibility to contribute substantially to and lead partnerships and to create initiatives and tools to significantly advance the sector. These achievements are not without challenges and shortcomings, however. As 2013 was the last year of the MTSP, it was an important time for reflecting on where UNICEF fell short and on learning lessons for the future. Given the stalled progress in the sector towards reach all children, UNICEF will continue to focus on equity in education. UNICEF already has some important building blocks in place (e.g., data, frameworks, tools, partnerships) that can be built on in years to come. UNICEF intensify its focus on education outcomes and strengthen the results-focus in the sector, particularly on learning outcomes. Working with partners, UNICEF will continue efforts to strengthen learning metrics and assessments globally. At country level, although ongoing work has already contributed to learning gains, there needs to be more explicit attention paid to monitoring learning outcomes in UNICEF-supported programmes and in engagements with Governments and other partners. As the sector continues to struggle with identifying cost-effective, scalable approaches to provide ‘access and learning’, particularly for disadvantaged children, UNICEF has a role to play in scaling up field-tested education innovations. This requires, however, that UNICEF strengthen its use of evidence to monitor programmes; more rigorously evaluate promising approaches it has supported and tested around the world; and strengthen its evidence base to better understand the overall impact of its work.

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UNICEF continues to be well poised to make a significant contribution in the years ahead. With its far-reaching field presence in education in over 142 countries, UNICEF has the unique capacity to deliver concrete and practical support, while generating evidence and contributing to a global knowledge base for 'what works' in education. With more than 600 education staff on the ground, UNICEF has incredible depth and works closely with Governments, building local and national capacities for sustainable educational advances. The organization's holistic view of children and broad technical expertise facilitates intersectoral approaches within UNICEF and in Governments towards maximizing results for children. UNICEF spent $712 million on basic education and gender equality in 2013, $112 million of which was due to generous contributions to the thematic fund. Given their flexibility, thematic funds are critical to the strategic success of UNICEF in implementing the basic education and gender equality strategy. The Government of Norway has been the largest supporter of thematic funds for this strategy, with contributions reaching $646 million during the 2006-2013, providing more than twice the thematic contributions received from all other resource partners combined. Continuing the previous years’ trends, The Governments of Sweden, Brazil and Luxembourg and several National Committees for UNICEF continued their commitment to this focus area. UNICEF continues to be grateful to these donors for their support.

Strategic context With 2015 rapidly approaching and many countries not yet reaching the education-related Millennium Development Goals, the work of UNICEF to increase access and completion for marginalized children in basic education, especially girls, continued to be highly relevant. As the figure below shows, the rapid and dramatic global expansion of access in basic education that characterized the early 2000s, the period before the MTSP strategy was developed and implemented, began to slow by the mid-2000s. Progress stalled during the MTSP period, and with 57 million children out of primary school and 69 million out of lower secondary school, it is the poorest, most vulnerable, excluded children who are still left out. As an agency committed to advancing and protecting children’s rights and reaching the Goals, UNICEF and its equity focus are increasingly important to reducing disparities and improving education for all children.

Out-of-school children of primary school age, 1999- 2011

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1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

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Sub-Saharan Africa South and West Asia Rest of the world

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To bring 57 million children into school, we need not only to know where they live but to better understand who they are and why they are not in school. Half of these children will never enter school, a quarter will enter school late and therefore be more likely to drop out, and the last quarter have already dropped out before completing a basic education. The children who are out of school tend to face the greatest and multiple disadvantages: 50 per cent live in countries affected by conflict; 54 per cent are girls; most come from poor families or ethnic minority groups; and most live in rural areas. Many children with disabilities are excluded from school. The estimated number of children with disabilities ranges between 93 million and 150 million. A study in Malawi found thata child with a disability was twice as likely never to have attended school as a child without a disability. Others who drop out or who do not attend regularly are often working to help their families financially. Thus, to make progress on the Education for All (EFA) agenda and the Millennium Development Goals, more must be done quickly to expand education services and improve the policy environment to address the needs of these out-of-school children. These efforts must be approached with a strong eye towards equity to ensure progress, an area where UNICEF has played a leading role in the sector to advance equity-based policies and expand coverage, particularly for disadvantaged children. For children who are in school, another massive challenge has emerged, often referred to as the 'global learning crisis'. Mounting evidence shows that children in school are learning very little. Current estimates suggest that at least 250 million children either fail to reach grade 4, or are in school and cannot read even at the most basic level. In Mali and Uganda, for example, only 1 in 50 children in grade 2 can read. In India, even in the best performing states, fewer than half of 10-11 year-olds can read a simple paragraph and do basic math.2 The full extent of the learning crisis is not known, due to the lack of reliable data on learning outcomes in many countries.3 The reasons for such low levels of learning are numerous and systemic, such as irrelevant and outdated curricula, teaching based largely on rote memorization, insufficient multilingual education, lack of qualified teachers, inadequate assessments and standards and shortages of appropriate learning materials. Violence and instability, chronic malnutrition, poor health and discrimination also impede children’s learning. As the implications of the learning crisis are understood more fully, the sector will require stronger and higher-quality evidence of what works to improve learning and scale up cost-effective approaches, especially for the appropriately named hard-to-reach children. UNICEF, along with key partners including GPE, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), stepped up efforts to improve learning. The sector also needs stronger learning measurements. To address the heavy reliance on proxy measures, such as pupil: teacher ratios and primary school completion rates, which has contributed to an inadequate focus on measuring learning outcomes, in 2013, LMTF launched recommendations for a small set of learning indicators. The LMTF, convened by the UIS and the Centre for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and co-chaired by UNICEF, has been a key advocate for an 'access plus learning' agenda now and in the post-2015 agenda. Moving forward, the focus will be on improving measurement and strengthening the link between assessment and learning. One longstanding proven way to improve learning and keep children in school longer is through the provision of quality early childhood education, one of the key results areas of the MTSP and an area where UNICEF has worked for many years. Evidence shows that children who start school at the right age and have high-quality early learning experiences will perform better in school, and have a greater likelihood to stay in and complete school. In addition, children who come to school on time and ready to learn demonstrate greater emotional and social competencies, i.e., they adjust to the new school environment better. Yet far too many children in developing countries have no access to any form of early learning and development

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opportunities. The 2013 EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) shows that global gross enrolment in pre-primary education stands at 50 per cent, with figures as low as 18 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 17 per cent in other low-income countries. This means that most children are not entering school ready to learn, which has serious implications for how they perform and how long they remain in school. In addition, a significant percentage of children in the developing world enter school later or earlier than the prescribed age, which leads to early dropouts; if they do stay, it negatively impacts their performance. Increasingly, Governments and development partners understand the importance of early learning but need more proven, cost-effective and scalable approaches to deliver early learning to more children. The longstanding commitment and engagement of UNICEF in this area is more important than ever for addressing this barrier. While a large majority of girls now attend primary schools, disparities persist between girls and boys in terms of access, attendance and school completion across and within countries and regions. The majority of out-of-school girls live in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, accounting for 73 per cent of the total number of girls who are out of school. In South Asia alone, 27 million children aged 5-13 years are out of school due to barriers such as poverty, urban migration, institutionalized discrimination and gender bias. The transition from primary to secondary school is particularly difficult for girls, with recent estimates4 predicting that only 56 per cent of countries will achieve gender parity in lower secondary education by 2015. When gender intersects with other factors of marginalization such as ethnicity, location, language, disability or socioeconomic status, girls and women are more likely to experience multiple layers of discrimination. The roots of disparity vary by context. In South and West Asia, for example, sociocultural norms govern decisions about education in households, where boys may be educated instead of girls, and low expectations from girls or poverty drive families' choices to keep girls at home. In sub-Saharan Africa, the barriers are often early marriage practices and the prevalence of conflict-related gender based violence (GBV), which cause girls to drop out due to safety concerns. Across the world, structural barriers that can 'push' girls out of school include the lack of second-chance opportunities for pregnant girls to return to school. This ongoing situation motivated UNICEF and its partners to develop and implement regionally appropriate strategies that will be described below. Moreover, UNGEI, the leading multilateral partnership on girls’ education, continues to advocate for girls' education at all levels. Improving girls’ education continues to be central to the development agenda, including the GPE strategy, and to other UNICEF partners. The situation and statistics are far worse for children, especially girls, who are living in crisis and conflict. Humanitarian crises continue to be one of, if not the main, disrupter of a child’s education. These crises, which are on the rise globally, delay initial access, contribute to higher drop-out rates, lower transition rates and diminish learning. More than one half of children who are out of school – about 28.5 million – live in conflict-affected countries where vulnerable children suffer from compounded disadvantages. In fact, violent conflict nearly doubles the risk that girls from the poorest households will have less than two years of schooling. With some estimates suggesting that between 70 and 80 per cent of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) are women and children, girls have a much higher risk of not receiving education.5 Given that on average, situations of displacement last 17–20 years, a significant number of children, girls in particularly, are at risk of spending their entire school lives displaced. With literacy rates of only 66 per cent for young people and 55 per cent for adults in conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, addressing the educational needs of the most marginalized children is imperative to guaranteeing their rights and making the requisite gains towards the Millennial and EFA goals. Moreover, quality education is critical to overcoming the economic despair that often contributes to violent conflict. In addition, in the last five years, thousands of targeted attacks on education have been reported globally preventing children from realizing their right to education and UNICEF’s ability to support service delivery in highly insecure contexts. The majority of

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these attacks, carried out by both state and non-state groups, have involved either the bombing, shelling or burning of schools or universities or the killing, injury, kidnapping, abduction or arbitrary arrest of students, teachers and academics. The military use of schools for bases, barracks or detention centres has contributed to the recruitment of children as combatants and in many instances, sexual violence against students and teachers. In the face of these attacks, parents are understandably reluctant to send their children, both boys and girls, to school. Despite these facts, education receives an estimated 1.4 per cent of humanitarian aid. Thus the work of UNICEF and other partners to advocate for more resources for education in emergencies is paramount, along with efforts to restore education when emergencies take place. The need for more resources for education is not unique to emergency contexts. Overall aid to basic education declined by 7 per cent between 2010 and 2011 (the first decline since 2002), and although domestic spending on education has increased in recent years, particularly in low-income countries, the estimated gap in financing good-quality basic education is $26 billion.6 If progress is to be towards the Millennium Development Goals, increased resources (external and domestic), greater diversification of funding, improved efficiency and an equity focus will all be required. This is why the GPE is ever more important both to mobilize and provide necessary resources and to bring key education partners to the table to agree on the main priorities. UNICEF is a key partner in GPE, through significant engagement and leadership with the Board of Directors and through country-level coordination and implementation, and uses this position to advance strategic priorities and accelerate progress towards the global education goals. The year 2013 was important for global advocacy on many of these key issues. Worldwide consultations on the post-2015 agenda in education (co-led by UNICEF and UNESCO) reinforced the need for a dual focus on learning and equity and for the expansion of attention to include pre-primary and secondary education. Through LMTF, significant progress was made on developing learning metrics. There was growing advocacy on the need for greater attention to education in emergencies, for example through the 'Education Cannot Wait event chaired by Gordon Brown during the opening of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, and the International Day of the Girl Child in October, which focused on innovating for girls' education.7 UNICEF led or was central to each of these efforts. Lastly in 2013, continued and intensified conflicts and large-scale natural disasters affected and displaced millions of children just in Central African Republic, Mali, the Philippines, South Sudan and Syrian Arab Republic and neighbouring countries. These growing emergencies in education underscore what is now largely accepted in international development, that there is an ever-growing divide between children who can realize their basic rights and those who cannot. This ever-increasing equity divide cuts across countries and regions but is also deepening within countries. In sum, doing 'more of the same' might result in some incremental progress towards some of the education goals, but as UNICEF efforts over the past few decades have shown, this will not reverse the alarming trends of millions of children, particularly the disadvantaged, still out of school, hundreds of millions more not learning in school and growing numbers of children in crisis and conflict settings. The most recent GMR estimates that at current rates of progress in sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest girls will not achieve universal primary completion until 2086. Moving forward, tackling the dual crisis of equity and learning will require a stronger focus on early childhood education and post-primary education; a relentless focus on learning for all children; greater investment in innovation; and strategies that place equity at the heart of all education work. UNICEF is well placed to address these challenges because of its network of partnerships, country programme structure and policy expertise.

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Strategic approach UNICEF continued to work across 142 countries to advance each key result area (KRA) for education: early childhood development (ECD) and education (ECE); provide access and completion for the most disadvantaged and marginalized; improve the quality of schools; and restore education in emergencies. To meet organizational targets and make progress on the KRAs, UNICEF adapts strategies to the country context and works across the education system, across partners and across levels. In the broadest terms, UNICEF works in the two main areas of education: in the policy arena ('upstream'); and through direct support to the implementation of services ('downstream'). With partnership as a key principle and mode of operating, in each area UNICEF supports three main activity areas: advocacy; capacity-building; and service delivery. UNICEF engages in the policy arena as advocate, technical advisor, funder and development partner, recognizing that education is predominantly financed by Governments and results are highly dependent on national policies and strategies. As an advocate, UNICEF works to raise awareness, spotlight issues and be the consistent voice for the protection of children’s rights. Once awareness has been raised, UNICEF can step in as technical partner, engaging directly in policymaking, planning and reviewing processes. As a funder, UNICEF supports capacity- building activities and facilitates improvements to the policy process including, for example, support to working groups, policy reviews, system monitoring exercises and evaluations. UNICEF engages in policy across levels – from global, regional, national and subnational to the school – which provide both an important 'bird's eye' view and a grassroots perspective that can positively influence and inform education policy. Depending on the context, UNICEF works with partners on a range of policy issues, from planning to budgeting, from developing policy to monitoring its effectiveness and from developing sector plans to revising curricula and developing standards. UNICEF supports programme implementation in education to improve and expand education services to meet global targets and ensure the rights of all children to a quality education. Because implementation issues differ widely within and across countries, UNICEF identifies areas where significant improvements in education outcomes are needed and supports efforts to expand coverage in areas where the marginalized are most excluded. UNICEF also works to identify promising or innovative approaches and scale them up. As a builder of capacity to improve the quality of education, UNICEF supports training for teachers, school managers, education officials and communities across a range of issues. As a partner in improving quality and expanding coverage, UNICEF supports service delivery through supply-side efforts, such as providing additional inputs into education (school supplies, books, school construction, desks and chairs) and, when necessary, supports efforts to provide education to those who are left out. UNICEF also supports demand-side efforts, for example to build community support for girls’ education or raise awareness among parents about sending children to school on time. UNICEF also invests in knowledge-building efforts (e.g., the Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI), Simulations for Equity in Education (SEE), the Monitoring Results for Equity System (MoRES), UNGEI, evaluation studies) to promote more and stronger evidence-based policymaking, to strengthen monitoring and evaluation and to build better knowledge of 'what works' in education. UNICEF shares that knowledge widely with partners and the field through publications, website hosting, development of tools and other dissemination activities. Each area of the UNICEF strategic approach and long term-partnerships with Governments work together to make UNICEF an effective, impactful development partner. UNICEF’s ongoing 'seat at the policy table' means that the rights of all children are addressed in policy and practice. UNICEF uses its experience in programme implementation to inform and strengthen its

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policy work and identify areas where government capacities needs to be strengthened. Working upstream and downstream helps UNICEF to identify crucial knowledge gaps in the sector that, if addressed, could considerably advance education outcomes. Advancing girls’ education and gender equality arou nd the world During the MTSP period, UNICEF continued to be a recognized leader in gender equality and education. The organization's leadership and commitment to promoting girls’ education runs across its strategic priorities and partnerships. UNICEF uses a mix of strategies and programmes at the national, regional and global levels to support countries in improving girls’ enrollment, retention, safety and protection to address the sociocultural, economic and structural barriers described above. As part of the child-friendly schools (CFS) framework, this includes making schools safer and healthier places for girls, raising awareness and addressing school-related (GBV), building separate toilets for boys and girls and improving ways to monitor the school environment. Through OOSCI, UNICEF provided a better picture to Governments and development partners of which girls are out of school, why they are out of school and how they move through the education system; and started the next steps to examine what are most cost-effective policies to increase girls’ retention and completion. Key strategies included advocating for gender-responsive policies and targeting interventions to get and keep girls in school. UNICEF worked to improve school quality by supporting gender-responsive teacher training and capacity-development, recruiting more female teachers, reducing violence in schools and improving water and sanitation facilities for girls. Where coverage for basic education was low or girls faced other barriers to getting to school, UNICEF provided alternative learning opportunities through non-formal education and accelerated learning programmes. UNICEF also supported innovative schemes to encourage school completion and improve rates of transition to lower secondary education through scholarships, stipends and cash transfers, which also helped to raise demand for girls’ education among households and communities. In addition, UNICEF supported community-based initiatives to address discriminatory social norms and rules that prevent girls from participating meaningfully in education. These efforts were complemented by efforts to document best practices and evaluate programmes to build knowledge on how best to advance gender equality in education. UNICEF work towards each strategic objective (KRA) contributed to the results listed below to improve policies and education plans to address girls' education and extend education coverage for girls from pre-primary to post-primary education. UNICEF also invested resources where the needs were greatest, with the majority of targeted girls’ education initiatives in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa – approximately 46 and 43 per cent respectively. The following are some of the main achievements of UNICEF work to create a stronger policy environment and bring more schooling to girls:

• 'Pro-girl' policies and plans. By 2013, 68 per cent of countries reported that their education sector plans (ESPs) addressed gender disparities, up from 49 per cent in 2005. Targeted strategies in the plans included recruitment of female teachers and use of gender- disaggregated data. UNICEF advocated for gender audits of ESPs as a first step towards effective gender-responsive planning; between 2008 and 2013, 16 additional countries such a gender audit, with the total now at 38. UNICEF led gender audits in more than half of the countries in Eastern and Southern Africa over the past five years. In West and Central Africa, South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, nearly one third of countries completed gender audits to inform education planning.

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• Greater protection for girls. In 2013, UNICEF advocacy led to the inclusion of policies to address suspected abuse, sexual harassment, violence and bulling in 77 national ESPs; 64 ESPs have actionable measures in place to address GBV in schools.

• Countries passed policies to keep girls in school . Some countries’ prohibitive policies can keep girls out of school. By 2013, 79 countries reported they had full or partial policies that pregnant girls and young mothers could stay in school, an increase of 20 countries within one year. UNICEF successfully advocated for this provision in West and Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, and now more than half of the countries in these regions have such policies in place.

• Safer, healthier schools for girls. Of the 1578 programme countries, 94 (61 per cent) adopted quality standards for primary education based on the CFS model. These standards make schools more girl-friendly as they call for provision of adequate water and sanitation, appropriate health and hygiene, HIV/AIDS curricula and recruitment and training of female teachers.

• Improved community support for girls’ education. A number of countries in West and Central Africa and South Asia have established mothers' associations or women’s groups to provide scholarships for girls. In each case, girls’ school enrolment and retention increased. In Mali, 2,200 mothers, selected by the community as the most poor, received a cash transfer which guaranteed the enrolment and retention of 2,331 children, 1,221 of them girls. The technical and financial support to 264 mothers’ associations enabled 85,800 children, mostly girls, to gain access to and remain in school. The mothers’ associations and women’s groups serve to sensitize parents, especially mothers, on the importance of girls’ education.

• Better transition rates from primary to lower secon dary level through in-school and out-of-school initiatives. In Uganda, a scholarship programme organized in partnership with the Girls’ Education Movement brought 14,662 children (59 per cent of them girls) to school. In Zambia, a peer-to-peer education programme ensured that 90 per cent of the girls in the programme moved to the next level of education, either to grade 7 or grade 9, since the programme began in 2012. In Madagascar, providing residential dormitories, scholarships and means of transport (bicycles and canoes) resulted in 66,814 girls enrolling in lower secondary school.

• More girls reached through non-formal education and accelerated learning programmes. In Afghanistan, UNICEF supported 1,749 community-based schools and 555 accelerated learning centres; 84 per cent of girls enrolled girls in the centres had never attended school or had dropped out, and 57.5 per cent of those who transitioned from grade 3 to grade 4 in 2012 were from the UNICEF-supported community-based schools. In Nepal, the Girls’ Access to Education (GATE) programme provided nine months of non-formal education to out-of-school girls aged 10-18 years, reaching 2,352 girls in 2012. By 2013, 99.5 per cent (2,341 girls) had completed the programme, and 813 girls (34.6 per cent) entered formal schools after completing the programme. The girls in the GATE programme were mainly from marginalized communities, including 1,361 girls from the Dalit community (57.9 per cent of the enrolled girls), and 531 girls from the Muslim community (22.6 per cent of the enrolled girls).

• Gender-responsive programming. A gender equality marker monitors expenditures which have an impact on gender equality. The majority of expenditures under KRA 2 (expanding access and reducing social and gender disparity) and KRA 3 (improving quality education) are categorized as having a 'principal' and 'significant' impact on gender equality – 91 and 70 per cent respectively.

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• Expanded UNGEI partnerships. As a complementary approach, UNICEF also hosts the UNGEI secretariat and four regional focal points to broker a dynamic partnership of actors at the global, regional and country levels (see UNGEI textbox under KRA 2 on page 25.) At all levels, UNGEI has expanded over the MTSP period. At the country level, this includes partnerships for girls’ education in 53 countries.

• Global and national-level advocacy to impact girls’ education outcomes. UNICEF led the main event celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child 2013, using the theme 'Innovating for Girls' Education' to stimulate debate on innovative strategies and advocate for investment in girls’ education. In Uganda, UNICEF supported a monthly newsletter, Gender Eye, to share good practices and build a network of interested stakeholders. The newsletter, which covers a range of policies and programmes in girls’ education such as combatting GBV in schools, is distributed to national and local government officials, development partners and civil society.

By contributing to a large increase in the number and type of pro-girl policies within national ESPs across the world, UNICEF has strengthened government policy responses to gender disparities and violence in schools in order to improve girls’ enrolment, retention and learning. UNICEF also contributed to more girls attending alternative education programmes. This work has not been without its challenges, however. For example, community social mobilization efforts to increase demand for girls’ education continue to face discriminatory cultural norms that hinder girls’ participation and retention in school. Ensuring that pro-girl policies that are passed are then effectively implemented and monitored also continues to be a challenge. Nevertheless, during the MTSP period UNICEF supported keeping girls’ education high on the agenda and making significant, incremental steps to improve both the policy environment and school conditions and to expand coverage of girls' education.

Results: MTSP 2006-2013 Highlights In addition to these results in promoting and improving gender equality and girls’ education, UNICEF achieved many results in education over the eight-year period of the MTSP, 2006-2013.9 Working in partnership with development agencies, Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to accelerate progress to reach the Millennium Development Goals, UNICEF set ambitious targets for each KRA – early learning, expanding access, improving education quality and restoring education in emergencies. While keeping children’s rights and a holistic view of the child front and centre, UNICEF contributed to significant improvements in the policy environment and education outcomes, particularly for marginalized children. As the results highlighted below show, UNICEF contributed to a more favorable policy environment in each KRA, improved the evidence base to advance equitable, quality education and contributed to expanded coverage. For many of the results listed below, direct causality cannot be attributed to UNICEF. This is due to the overall reporting system and to the nature of policy and advocacy work. However, it is clear that the field advanced in numerous significant ways and UNICEF contributed to these gains by advocating and supporting policy development and capacity-building efforts, by supporting partners to deliver education programmes, and by participating in and leading many key partnerships. The following are some of the major results achieved for each KRA during the MTSP period.10

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KRA 1: IMPROVE EARLY LEARNING

• Created a better policy environment for school read iness and ECD. In partnership with Governments, UNICEF made a significant contribution to the growing number of school readiness and early learning policies worldwide. Thirty-seven out of 82 countries reported they are engaged in efforts to develop and improve policies and standards to promote universal readiness for primary school. From 2008 to 2013, the number of countries with national policies on universal school readiness increased from 50 to 81, and the number of countries with early learning development standards (ELDS) from 45 to 64. For example, Ghana, Jordan, Lao People's Democratic Republic and South Africa have approved policies and standards to improve school readiness and extend early learning services.

• Increased coverage of ECD services . In collaboration with Governments and other local partners, UNICEF supported the expansion of early learning services globally. Thirty-eight out of 82 countries reported having service delivery interventions on ECD. In Uganda, UNICEF supported ECE services for 112,700 girls and boys aged 3-5 years in 1,827 community-based ECE centres and 424 registered ECE centres. In Guinea, 217 community-based ECD centres benefited 28,126 children (15,014 of them girls) in 2013, an increase of 20,728 children from the 7,398 children in the centres in 2012.

• Ensured that ECE is on the global and national poli cy agendas in years ahead. To keep ECE on the policy agenda, the work of UNICEF as global advocate, policy partner and leading service provider spans many years. Efforts in 2013 in particular helped to ensure that equitable, quality early childhood policies and programming are now part of national education plans, that these plans are financed and that ECE will continue beyond 2015.

KRA 2: EXPANDING BASIC EDUCATION, REDUCING DISPARIT IES

• Countries removed cost barriers in their policies. Cost remains one of the biggest barriers to children having an education. Through support for ongoing campaigns and engaging in the policy arena, UNICEF continued efforts to abolish school fees and remove cost barriers. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of countries reporting that they had full or partial policies to remove cost and other barriers to primary education rose from 116 to 131. In 2013, 73 countries reported having in place legislation on policies and/or guidance and a budget to address the family-level cost barriers to primary education.

• More equity-focused data are available and being us ed in the policy process. To better inform Governments on how to address the particular needs of out-of-school children, UNICEF was one of the leaders in developing and rolling out OOSCI to 26 countries, with an additional 30 countries joining in 2013. To strengthen equity monitoring, UNICEF expanded the application of MoRES in education from 30 to over 80 countries. To enhance evidence-based, cost-effective planning and policy development, education systems analysis guidelines and the SEE model are enhancing evidence-based, cost-effective planning and policy development and promoting real-time monitoring, particularly in GPE countries.

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• Increased effectiveness o f the GPE in expanding basic education and reaching strategic goals. UNICEF contributed to GPE in multiple ways, from the development of the strategic plan to leading the implementation of the strategy and participating in overall governance. The Deputy Executive Director (Programmes) represents UNICEF on the Board of Directors. UNICEF is a member of many global committees, has a managing entity role in seven countries, a supervising entity role in two countries and a coordinating agency role in 36 of 59 GPE partner countries. In these capacities, UNICEF supported many countries in developing credible education plans to access and use GPE funds to reach desired outcomes.

• More inclusive education in sector plans. Seventy countries reported programmes on inclusive education including disability screening and assessment; development of inclusive education policies and sector plans; strengthening data on children with disabilities; capacity development for teachers, education administrators, children and parents on inclusive education and public awareness campaigns. As a result of engagement with GPE and work with Governments, an increasing number of sector plans include policies, strategies and financing for these marginalized groups. In 2013, 19 countries reported work specifically on policies around inclusive education, and 37 of 70 countries reported work on capacity development on inclusive education including teacher preparation and training of education managers, officials and inspectors as well as children themselves.

• Increased coverage of basic education. Approximately 31 UNICEF country offices directly provided education services to children who were out of school or at risk of dropping out. This support included a range of services such as non-formal education and 'second chance' schooling in addition to providing education materials, desks, classrooms and water and sanitation facilities. For example, in Sudan, 44,821 previously out-of-school children, 48 per cent of them girls, were enrolled in basic education and alternative learning classes. UNICEF also supported the training of alternative learning programme facilitators and construction of six schools.

• Strengthen 'pro-girl’ policies and strategies to ge t and keep girls in school. By 2013, 68 per cent of countries reported that their education sector plans addressed gender disparities, up from 49 per cent in 2005. Targeted strategies included recruitment of female teachers, addressing school-related GBV and creating demand and community ownership for girls’ education. UNICEF strategic leadership of UNGEI ensured that girls’ education remained high on the global policy agenda.

KRA 3: STRENGTHENING QUALITY EDUCATION

• Most countries around the world have adopted the CF S framework . UNICEF advocacy efforts with Governments led to 51 additional countries adopting quality standards based on CFS, raising the number of countries with such standards from 43 in 2005 to 94 in 2013.

• More schools have a safer, healthier environment . Between 2008 and 2013, the number of countries reporting at least 50 per cent of primary schools with adequate sanitation facilities for girls rose sharply from 47 to 87; and those reporting at least 50 per cent of primary schools with adequate water supply coverage for girls and boys increased from 62 to 102.

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• Growth in the CFS learning environment. Between 2010 and 2013, an additional 216,555 schools received direct support through the CFS initiative, increasing the number of schools applying CFS standards globally from 573,043 to 789,598.

• More policies against corporal punishment and prote ction of children. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of countries with a full or partial national policy against corporal punishment in schools increased from 94 to 129.

• Improvements in life skills. Between 2008 and 2013, there was a 40-per-cent increase in the number of countries (from 66 to 90) that reported having full or partial ESPs that address children affected by HIV and AIDS. Thirty-one countries developed or improved life-skills education (LSE) (e.g., HIV prevention and health education, girls’ empowerment, peace education, employment preparation and/or social inclusion).

• More equity-focused and gender-responsive sector pl anning. The percentage of countries reporting sector plans that address gender disparities increased from 49 to 68 per cent between 2005 and 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of countries reporting that they had undertaken a gender audit of the ESP in the last five years increased from 22 to 34, in addition to 17 countries reporting a partial audit.

• Increased access to 'second chance' education. In five sample countries (Bhutan, Ghana, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania and Somalia), UNICEF supported 60,025 learners (59 per cent of them – 35,147 – girls or women) to participate in some form of non-formal education programming. In another five sample countries (Mali, Myanmar, Pakistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe), 70,426 learners received non-formal learning, including accelerated learning designed to subsequently integrate learners into the formal schooling system.

KRA 4: RESTORING EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES AND CONFL ICT

• Greater accessibility to schools during emergencies . Close to 16 million children, from early childhood to adolescence, accessed schools in the times of emergencies and conflicts. Between 2011 and 2013, these children were able to access formal and non-formal basic education in safe and protective spaces as a result of UNICEF efforts. In 2013 alone, UNICEF responded to four large-scale humanitarian emergencies in Central African Republic, Mali, the Philippines and Syrian Arab Republic and neighbouring countries. In addition, country offices supported 48 smaller-scale emergencies. More countries have plans and systems in place to respond to emergencies. UNICEF supported Governments to develop plans and provided training to build their capacities to respond. Many more administrators, teachers, NGOs and community members around the world are trained to respond, in a coordinated manner, when an emergency happens.

• More visibility in education in emergencies (EiE) t hrough global platforms. UNICEF worked with key partners such as the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) in the global campaigns to provide unprecedented visibility to EiE and, in 2013 particularly to the Syrian crisis.

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• General Assembly l resolutio n adopted. With cross-regional efforts of about 30 country sponsors, UNESCO, UNICEF and relevant NGOs, in July 2010 the General Assembly adopted resolution 64/290 of 9 July 2010 on the right to education in emergency situations. The Assembly urged Member States to ensure access to education in emergency situations for all affected populations, while implementing strategies and policies to ensure and support the realization of this right as an integral element of humanitarian assistance and response.

• Developed an innovative design of cross-sectoral pe acebuilding programme . Through peacebuilding education and advocacy, 13 countries now place greater emphasis on conflict-sensitive education and peacebuilding efforts in crisis and post-crisis contexts by identifying conflict dynamics and drivers and promoting social cohesion through strengthened education policies and practices.

Using evidence to learn and improve our work Many of the results highlighted above show that UNICEF contributed to an improved policy environment and more education programmes for children. What the results do not show is the ultimate impact of UNICEF work and whether UNICEF could have achieved more with better evidence on what is effective. Thus, in 2013, UNICEF took a number of steps to improve how it uses evidence to inform its work: (a) to assess the impact of its work, a review of existing evidence and its overall quality through a commissioned synthesis review of 113 evaluations conducted from 2007 to 2013; (b) a second commissioned evaluation of the growing area of 'upstream' policy and advocacy work during the MTSP period; followed by (c) a number of steps to strengthen the overall approach of UNICEF to monitoring. These efforts, which are summarized below, are helping UNICEF to reflect on its achievements under the MTSP and guide its evidence-generating work going forward. This will strengthen how UNICEF uses evidence to better understand the impact of its programmes and make needed course corrections. The independent synthesis review of 113 evaluations conducted from 2007–2013 in basic education assessed their quality and ranked the validity of the evidence presented. The synthesis drew preliminary conclusions about the effectiveness of UNICEF interventions, including their efficiency, relevance and sustainability. On effectiveness , it found that the majority of basic education programmes evaluated had positive effects on a range of intermediate and ultimate education outcomes in both emergency and non-emergency settings, although the strength and rigor of the findings in almost half of the evaluations is questionable. On efficiency , the study found that many UNICEF-supported programmes have difficulties achieving their implementation targets, especially in emergency situations and rural settings. On relevance and sustainability , while the majority of programmes align with the policies of national Governments and are therefore relevant, few studies address how programmes are sustained. That is, the evidence suggests that the delivery of programmes such as CFS, teacher training and the development and delivery of learning materials cannot be considered sustainable. With 28 evaluations conducted on CFS, the study found that CFS supported improvements in school environments and physical infrastructures; gender equality; parental involvement in schools; HIV/AIDS knowledge; teacher practices; school enrolment, attendance and drop-out-rates; and learning outcomes. However, only a few evaluations present findings that are rigorous or substantiate such conclusions. Evaluations of EiE found that implementation issues hindered progress on education outcomes and that the impact of education programmes on disaster preparedness and future prevention is limited.

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As mentioned, the review also examined the quality of evidence for these results and found that approximately 40 per cent of evaluations do not present rigorous evidence to support their findings about the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the basic education interventions. Where rigorous evidence was presented, it emphasized efficiency, relevance or sustainability of the intervention, rather than the effectiveness of the intervention. This conclusion is consistent with evaluation reviews conducted by other international agencies, pointing to a larger trend that is not unique to UNICEF. That is, many evaluations in the education sector lack rigor in generating evidence. Moreover, even when rigorous evidence is generated, the sector is still assessing whether the impacts are attributable to the programme's design or implementation challenges. UNICEF aims to address this evidence gap in a few ways. One by partnering with DfID, USAID and the World Bank, among others, in efforts such as 'Building Evidence into Education'. UNICEF will also use this synthesis to improve on the robustness of the evaluations it commissions in the future. (See Annex C, Matrix of evaluation studies’ analysis for 2013.) In 2013, UNICEF commissioned an evaluation of global and country-level policy and advocacy work to examine its engagement in upstream work between 2003 and 2012. The evaluation also provides lessons for the future work of UNICEF in this area. It found that the upstream work achieved results in policy commitments and policy changes but changes further down the policy chain, such as Governments financing the policies or changing sector practices, were lacking. The study also found that UNICEF undertook more work to change education policy than to change budgeting practices or promote implementation of policies. For example, in Cambodia, the evaluation found that UNICEF made a strong contribution to the Government’s ECE policy but this did not change behaviour, as the policy was not budgeted for or implemented. In other instances, UNICEF influenced a policy change but implementation of that change was dependent on UNICEF. In Brazil, UNICEF supported the 'Literacy at the Right Age' campaign, which led to federal adoption of the learning initiatives and increased budgets to education in partnering localities. The evaluation also found that UNICEF has been increasing the amount of upstream work and that the work is generally found to be relevant to countries' needs, global priorities and partners' priorities. As the upstream work of UNICEF grew, so did the organization's efforts to build the capacity of partners to work 'downstream'. UNICEF will use the evaluation to look at ways of strengthening the upstream work and to reflect on the balance between upstream and downstream work. As the evaluation suggests, UNICEF can continue to be effective in upstream work, i.e., policy engagement, by learning from downstream work. Furthermore, continuing the downstream work of UNICEF is important, in part to support pilots and innovative initiatives, which build evidence and can influence the development of better policy. UNICEF will use these evaluations to guide its country-level work and the overall strategic direction of the new strategic plan (2014-2017). For example, based on the 'upstream evaluation' findings, engagement in the policy arena will aim to bring together policy and implementation more effectively. UNICEF also took considerable steps to strengthen its overall approach to monitoring programme results. Acknowledging the data and analytical gaps in its ability to report against performance targets, UNICEF developed a strategy to improve monitoring and reporting that is being implemented. First, with the new Strategic Plan, 2014-2017, UNICEF developed a new reporting system to build on the monitoring of lessons learned during the previous MTSP period. In particular, there were significant improvements to the indicators and guidance given to countries for collecting the data. This new approach minimizes the risk of respondents' subjectivity. Second, UNICEF has taken steps to make better use of the data collected and use evidence to improve programming. This includes, for example, the roll-out of MoRES to increase accountability and results-based programming and management. Third, UNICEF is strengthening the data and analytical capacity of staff in regional and country offices with an emphasis on learning assessment, education system analysis and cost and financing analysis.

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KEY RESULT AREA 1: Support national capacity to imp rove children’s developmental readiness to start primary school on time, especially for marginalized children

The evidence is resoundingly clear that supporting ECD and education for young children is one of the most important and effective education interventions. Yet far too few children, especially disadvantaged children, do not have access to early learning programmes, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where rates of access in some countries can be as low as 3 Per cent. In addition to lacking any exposure to early learning before joining school, these children often enter school late, leading not only to missed development opportunities during the crucial early years but also to frustrations in the early grades. In the MTSP period, UNICEF work in this area aimed to ensure that children, particularly marginalized children, started school at the right age and were prepared to learn. Since the most disadvantaged children are also those most at risk for late entry and dropout and have little chance to attend quality pre-school programmes, UNICEF focused on two main areas: (a) creating a better policy environment for school readiness and quality early learning; and (b) improving and expanding quality early learning programmes. With many more countries around the world adopting school readiness policies and developing standards and with a growing number of government supported early learning programmes, UNICEF contributed substantially to a stronger policy agenda and expanded coverage of quality early learning during the last MTSP period. Specifically in 2013, UNICEF continued to use evidence-based advocacy to strengthen the commitment to ECD globally and nationally. These efforts led to better policies, more resources for ECD programmes and more children receiving quality early learning experiences. The major expenditures used to support these advances in the sector are depicted below.

KRA 1: Early Learning

Engaging in the policy arena The attention paid to ECD and ECE has grown in the past year with the global community embracing an 'access plus learning' agenda. Yet even with this growing recognition of the importance of early learning, there is still an urgent need to expand cost-effective, scalable programmes to promote school readiness and early learning opportunities. In 2013, UNICEF continued to advocate for early learning and concentrated its policy engagement on approving and implementing early learning and school readiness policies; strengthening ELDS; improving data collection and monitoring on ECD; facilitating cross-sectoral dialogue; and securing resources for ECD. In 2013 UNICEF expenditures to continue to promote school readiness and develop ELDS amounted to $22.6 million and $14.6 million respectively.

22,6

14,2

14,6

4,4

0,2

Support to school readiness

Community-based ECCE

Standards/ asessment tools

Support organized early learning for children < 6 years

Support for Early learning prog (RO/HQ) US$ Million$

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Globally, UNICEF worked to raise awareness among development partners and humanitarian agencies on the importance of early learning. For example, UNICEF used the occasion of the opening of the General Assembly session to hold the Early Childhood Peace Consortium in September 2013. The event, which brought together many actors in the fields of ECD and peacebuilding, highlighted the importance of both ECD in emergency contexts and of early brain development and function for learning and positive social and emotional outcomes for children. Key participants at the event launched and endorsed a proposal for a General Assembly resolution on early childhood and peacebuilding. Through engagement with LMTF and the post-2015 discussions, UNICEF used its 'seat at the table' to ensure that early learning will continue to be central to the wider issue of improving learning outcomes, and that early childhood be an important part of early learning frameworks, with indicators that can be measured. Recognizing that ECD lays the groundwork for children’s long-term well-being and educational achievement, within the post-2015 discussions UNICEF recommended a specific target to be focused on ECD prior to the start of formal schooling, stressing that the early years of life are foundational for solid cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. UNICEF advocated that the post-2015 education goal should include provision for increased access to quality early learning opportunities for all girls and boys prior to compulsory schooling, with a minimum of one year of preschool as part of provision of 10 years of free, compulsory basic education. With GPE, both globally and within countries, UNICEF continued to advocate for increased attention to and resources for school readiness and early learning as part of education sector plans. Through government partnerships and engagement in local education groups, UNICEF helped to strengthen country education plans to include early learning, for example in Burundi, Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, Mongolia, Togo and Uganda. At the country level, the following examples illustrate how policy, planning and provision of early learning programmes are improving with UNICEF support. In Bolivia, UNICEF facilitated cross-sectoral dialogue between the Ministries of Health, Education and Justice which resulted in a cross-sectoral ECD strategy; the development of guidelines for non-formal early childhood care and education services; the establishment of a national ECD working group; the development of curricular guidelines for culturally appropriate community-based early learning; the inclusion of early learning programmes and coordination of ECD in the workplans of 12 municipalities; and national trainings of early learning educators. In addition to facilitating dialogues across sectors and levels, UNICEF supported a study that identified the most disadvantaged groups and the most cost-effective early learning interventions to meet their needs. The study was an essential input into this process. In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, UNICEF supported the adoption of the new law on ECD and 27 sublaws developed in 2013. The law provides for universal access to quality early learning opportunities for all children, including children with disabilities, and addresses the barriers of supply and quality by focusing on learning and development, rather than only on childcare. In 2013, UNICEF helped to secure significant resources for and expansion of early learning programmes in a number of countries. In Uganda, for example, the Government had left responsibility for early learning to parents and only 6.6 per cent of young children are enrolled in early learning programmes. Responding to this situation, UNICEF conducted highly visible evidence-based advocacy in partnership with parliamentarians, the Ministries of Education, Gender, Labour and Social Development, the National Council for Children and Plan international. As a result, 10 per cent of GPE funds – $10 million – will be used for ECE in

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Uganda. Similarly, in Tajikistan, the efforts of UNICEF and partners led to an increased government commitment to ECE. The new national education strategy outlines ECE strategies to increase access, improve quality and build a regulatory framework. The new law on preschool education and care recognizes both state and alternative ECE programmes. Thus, Tajikistan's GPE proposal placed strong emphasis on ECE, resulting in 450 new early learning centres. In addition, the Ministry of Education financed 600 new ECE centres and UNICEF supported 164 low-cost, quality early learning centres. In Bangladesh, UNICEF efforts in recent years also led to a significant change in policy and a very significant commitment to expand early learning programmes countrywide by 2014. With UNICEF support, a comprehensive and cross-sectoral early childhood care and development policy was developed with the buy-in of 17 line ministries. Once the policy was developed, UNICEF supported the development of both early learning standards and indicators and training materials for the 15,000 newly recruited teachers.

Case Study: Government-NGO partnership for early le arning in Bangladesh

In partnership with the leading NGO BRAC, UNICEF supported the expansion of pre-primary education centres in Satkhira, a south-western district of Bangladesh with some of the country's most disadvantaged children. A 2012 survey found that over 18,000 children aged five years or older in Satkhira were not enrolled in any pre-primary education programmes. The findings prompted UNICEF to quickly expand pre-primary education centres, increasing the number of centres receiving UNICEF support from 138 in 2012 to 468 in 2013. A centre management committee comprising parents and community members was formed to support each centre. Teachers selected by the communities were trained on activity-based teaching and learning approaches, with monthly refresher trainings, and were provided with basic materials to deliver pre-primary education in Bengali (the national language). To boost enrolment rates across the district, UNICEF also supported social mobilization campaigns to raise community and family awareness on the importance of early learning and targeted children with special needs, lower socioeconomic status and those from remote communities. Through these efforts, the district saw a dramatic increase in pre-primary education enrolment rates, from 54 per cent in 2012 to 85.5 per cent in 2013. The partnership with BRAC, local education authorities and other ECE providers contributed to this success by leveraging existing mechanisms to rapidly expand services and raise awareness about the importance of early learning. With government support and solid NGO partnerships, the emergent 'Satkhira model' holds significant potential to help the Government implement the policy of universal coverage of early learning in Bangladesh.

Improving and expanding quality early learning prog rammes UNICEF also worked on supply-side efforts to ensure that more disadvantaged children have access to quality early learning programmes, concentrated efforts in countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where enrollment rates are particularly low. This work, which amounted to $18.6 million in expenditures in 2013, included supporting formal preschools and community-based early learning programmes; developing and supporting child-to child approaches; and providing training for early learning volunteers and teachers. UNICEF worked to build demand for these services by supporting parent and community mobilization efforts. These efforts led to impressive gains in improvement and expansion of ECE services.

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• In Uganda, UNICEF supported early learning services for 112,700 girls and boys aged 3-5 years in 1,827 community-based early learning centres and 424 registered early learning centres. With partners, UNICEF trained 16,443 early learning volunteers; built the capacity of 446 parish chiefs in ECD data collection and submission; and constructed 50 model playgrounds through community mobilization efforts.

• In Syrian Arab Republic, UNICEF, along with the Ministry of Education and partner NGOs, reached 35,000 pre-school children through the distribution of ECD materials. This allowed the children to have access to recreational activities and play with age-relevant toys and storybooks, all of which provided the children a sense of normalcy and psychosocial support. Meanwhile, UNICEF successfully mobilized multi-year funding from key donors to support community-based ECD centres, including building the capacity of the ECD national trainers.

• In Bangladesh, UNICEF and its NGO and local authority partners provided 228,000 children aged 3-5 years, 68,000 of whom are from an ethnic minority group, with early learning services in disaster-affected areas, urban slums and other disadvantaged areas not yet reached by the Government.

• In Guinea, 217 community-based ECD centres benefited 28,126 children (15,014 of whom are girls) in 2013, an increase of 20,728 children from the 7,398 children participating in the centres in 2012. Some 31,589 parents benefited from ECD training courses. Given the growth of services, a national study was conducted to identify best practices and lessons learned from formal and community-based ECD centres to inform policy and ECD curriculum training for the pre-service teachers. The results are forthcoming and will be used in 2014.

It is worth noting the strong equity focus in UNICEF work on early learning. For example, in Republic of Moldova, 46 of the poorest communities were mobilized to create early education services for 2,300 children, including children with disabilities, and six other communities promoted inclusion of children with disabilities in general schools. The number of children with disabilities attending formal preschools increased by 29 per cent. UNICEF continued to support several promising innovations such as the well-known 'Getting Ready for School: A child-to-child approach', which develops skills in older children who are in school to work with younger children in their neighbourhoods and communities to prepare them to start school at the right age and come prepared for school. To date, the evidence suggests that this approach gets children to enrol in school at the right age through establishing the rhythm of schooling but has less impact on improving learning outcomes. UNICEF and its partners are still learning from this approach as it is being implemented across different contexts and countries, i.e., Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tajikistan and Yemen. It has seen success in some countries like Ethiopia, where non-formal community- based approaches thrive, and has not worked well in Tajikistan, which seeks a more structured approach. Building and using knowledge to improve policy and practice UNICEF also supported efforts to build better evidence and evaluate the success of early learning programmes to better inform policy and practice. For example, in 2013 in Lao People's Democratic Republic, a joint study by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education evaluated a community-based school readiness programme that was implemented in 27 remote communities with 394 children aged 4-5 years participating. The results, which came out in 2013, showed that children in the programme attended more regularly and performed better in

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grades 1 and 2 than those who had not participated in the pilot. With UNICEF support, the Ministry then revised its curriculum framework to incorporate the successful elements of the programme: providing relevant education to children in rural communities; and focusing more on language comprehension and problem-solving skills. Summary achievements and going forward How do these efforts come together to improve children’s lives? An example of UNICEF work in Mongolia demonstrates this. UNICEF began by raising awareness and collaborating with Save the Children to influence the policy agenda with revisions to the existing preschool education law. Next, UNICEF provided technical support to develop and approve the guidelines for child-friendly kindergartens. Once they had been approved, UNICEF supported the implementation of the guidelines in kindergartens in two regions, Khuvsgul and Nalaikh. Sixty per cent of kindergartens incorporated child-friendly indicators in their planning for 2013-2014 and up to 40 per cent of kindergartens created more child-friendly learning environments. The overall impact led to an increase in the preschool enrolment rate of 10 per cent in Khuvsgul and 4 per cent in Nalaikh. These examples illustrate how during the period of the 2006-2013 MTSP, UNICEF significantly contributed to the advancement of school readiness and early learning across the world. This is also reflected in the progress on the MTSP targets depicted below. With its leadership and participation in UNGEI, LMTF, GPE, the post-2015 debate globally and regionally, with its policy partnership with more than 82 Governments and with its service delivery in the field, UNICEF continued to play a leading role and contributed to a number of key results. More countries have policies and, in part with GPE support, a growing number of countries have modest, additional resources to expand early learning programmes. UNICEF played an important, collaborative role in moving countries from policy and standard development to strengthening and expanding implementation. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go. Ensuring that more countries have models of cost-effective, scalable, quality early learning programmes – and the resources to implement them – is the main challenge now and going forward. Going forward, with early learning more on the global agenda and with more policies and plans in place to provide early learning programmes, UNICEF will continue to focus on regions and countries where more work is needed to take these initial steps; on equitable provision of early learning; and on the link between school readiness, early learning and primary education learning, retention and completion outcomes. Partnerships such as OOSCI and GPE and the MoRES approach will continue to support this focus. Building on its work in 2013, UNICEF will continue to use the school readiness conceptual framework developed for CFS to advance practice, and to focus on the development of early learning and development standards across countries. Lastly, since children’s experiences in their early years have such a profound influence on their subsequent academic achievement and lifelong economic productivity, UNICEF will continue to advocate for a focus on ECD and the development of appropriate metrics in the post-2015 development goals.

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Snapshot of overall progress of MTSP targets: KRA 1

Key results area

Organizational target Progress to date Assessment

KRA 1

1. Increase to at least 60 per cent, by 2015, the proportion of countries with appropriate policy, legislation and budget allocations aimed at universal school readiness.

The proportion of UNICEF- supported programme countries with a national policy on universal school readiness increased from 34 to 52 per cent and those with national standards and assessment tools for monitoring school readiness increased from 31 to 41 per cent between 2008 and 2013.

Data from UNICEF SMQs*

● Green

KRA 1

2. Increase coverage of children attending any form of organized early learning by at least 20 per cent (over 2009 baselines) by 2013.

Gross enrolment ratio for pre-primary education increased by 22 per cent globally between 2006 and 2011.

Data from UIS** global database ● Green

*Specific monitoring questions (See Annex A) ** UNESCO Institute of Statistics

KEY RESULT AREA 2: Support national capacity to red uce gender & other disparities in relation to increased access a nd completion of quality basic education

Despite strong progress in early 2000s to meet the Millennium Development Goals, today 1 of every 11 children in the world is still out of school, girls are still at a significant disadvantage and one quarter of all children still fail to complete even a full course of primary education. Early efforts to improve access focused on expanding education systems by building more schools and deploying more teachers; these efforts enabled millions of children to go to school for the first time, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These efforts did little, however, to help children who face insidious barriers such as discrimination on the basis of sex or ethnicity; the inability of families to pay the hidden costs of education; the inability of schools to cater for children with special needs; the long distances to school in sparsely populated areas; or the disruption caused by conflict. It is these ‘hard-to-reach’ children who are still the most likely to be out of school. With 2015 rapidly approaching and progress on reaching the Goals slowing down, the UNICEF experience over the past two decades has shown that the needs of these children will not be met solely by continuing 'business as usual'. Thus the UNICEF response during the MTSP period has been to work with partners to continue to expand basic education and to bring a consistent equity focus to the table to reduce disparities and get the most marginalized into school. UNICEF engages in global advocacy and partnerships, helps to build national capacities and supports equity-focused policies and interventions that bring marginalized children into school. This work includes engaging with GPE, hosting and supporting UNGEI, co-leading the post-2015 education discussions and supporting the development of country-level tools to advance equity-focused policy and planning. While progress on key targets is mixed, these efforts have

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led to some significant achievements. In 2013, UNICEF supported equity-focused strategies in at least 70 countries to improve and provide basic education. UNICEF contributed to a greater number of funded ESPs that included a focus on girls' education and inclusion for children with disabilities. UNICEF also engaged in global efforts to accelerate progress to reach the education-related goals. In 31 countries, UNICEF provided education services to marginalized children who are out of school or at risk of dropping out. The major expenditures that contributed to these achievements are depicted below.

KRA 2: Expanding Basic Education

Advancing equitable education: global partnerships and policy engagement The global, regional, and national advocacy and policy work of UNICEF drove an equity-focused agenda that included strategic planning, data collection, policy design and service delivery, all to support significant progress towards education goals and to reduce disparities for marginalized children. In 2013, UNICEF continued to be a central partner and leader in the global education community, through participation and leadership in GPE, continued support and leadership with UNGEI, work with UNESCO in defining the post-2015 agenda, and work with the Office of United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown and the 'Education Cannot Wait' campaign. Working in partnerships is the key approach of UNICEF, as described below. In 2013, UNICEF played a leadership role in GPE both globally and in an increasing number of countries. In addition to her participation as a member of the Board of Directors, the Deputy Executive Director (Programmes) served as the interim chair of the Board. UNICEF also participated in a number of key working groups focusing on the governance restructuring process, and plays an active role in emerging communities of practice on fragile States, inclusive education and girls’ education. Of the 59 GPE country partners, UNICEF acts as coordinating agency in 35, managing entity in 8 and supervising entity in 1. UNICEF uses its engagement in GPE processes to strengthen ESPs, secure more resources for education and support the expansion of education services, particularly to the most marginalized. UNICEF helped to secure additional resources to expand early learning for children in Togo, provide education for girls in Afghanistan, improve learning in Uganda and deliver and rehabilitate education in Yemen. UNICEF facilitated country processes to access GPE funding and strengthen sector plans in Bhutan, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, among other countries. In Pakistan, as coordinating agency for Sindh and Balochistan, UNICEF provided technical assistance for the development of the sector plan and the preparation of the GPE grant proposal, with a heavy focus on girls’ education. In Djibouti,

6,2

51,2

0,2

35,1

1,2

40,1

1,4

0,0 20,0 40,0 60,0

School fee abolition initiative

Alternative learning opportunities

Literacy programmes

Girls' education

UN Girls' Education Initiative

Education sector planning

Violence in schools/ gender-based violence US$ Million

25

also as coordinating agency, UNICEF worked with the Ministry of Education to develop a national preschool education strategy. As GPE coordinating agency in Sudan, UNICEF supported the development of sector plans in 17 states, a national school construction strategy (using CFS standards) and a national teacher education framework. UNICEF continued to serve as GPE supervising entity in Afghanistan and took the same role in Yemen, securing $82 million for the ESP. With these funds, UNICEF will help to rehabilitate 139 schools damaged by conflict serving around 50,000 students, and to develop a contracting scheme for female teachers. In the north, UNICEF will help to provide 44 temporary learning spaces for children affected by conflict. UNICEF is the lead agency and hosts the UNGEI secretariat at headquarters, and also supports focal points in its regional offices to take forward partnerships and advocacy on girls’ education. The UNGEI is a multi-stakeholder partnership and its work is guided by its Global Advisory Committee, a multi-stakeholder committee which includes UNICEF.

United Nations Girls' Education Initiative

UNICEF provides strategic leadership and technical and financial support to UNGEI to advance the global agenda on girls’ education. The UNGEI partnership works at global, regional and country levels to engage in advocacy, improve the availability of evidence needed to underpin programming in girls’ education, strengthen partnerships and collaboration and promote education as a channel for girls’ empowerment. UNGEI made important progress in 2013 in accelerating momentum on girls’ education and ensuring its centrality in the post-2015 agenda. The year 2013 also saw UNGEI put the results of the 2012 evaluation into action. Some of the key achievements of UNGEI were:

• UNGEI used the evaluation results as the basis of a reform process which includes:

a. a targeted approach to policy advocacy at every level for gender equality;

b. revision of the UNGEI website to become a knowledge centre for evidence on girls’ education and gender equality;

c. focused efforts to expand strategic partnerships and strengthen country-level networks including through investment in capacity-building and other resources.

• UNGEI developed and agreed on its main policy advocacy agenda to:

a. enhance the focus on marginalized and excluded groups;

b. reduce and eliminate school-related GBV;

c. improve learning outcomes for girls;

d. increase the number of girls transitioning to secondary education and accessing post-primary opportunities.

• UNGEI engaged in key initiatives and partners including the Commission on the Status of Women, the Learning for All Ministerial Roundtable, the International Day of the Girl Child, the United Nations Global Education First Initiative, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and the discussions on the post-2015 agenda. UNGEI also established a new partnership with Education International to support the leadership of teachers in reducing and eliminating school-related GBV.

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• UNGEI launched the 2013-2015 Knowledge Management Action Plan with a focus on evidence-building and dissemination, including development of learning briefs and working papers on school-related GBV, teaching and learning, and monitoring gender equality. UNGEI also launched Fund for Documentation of Good Practice in Girls' Education and Gender Equality;

• UNGEI co-chairs the GPE thematic working group on girls’ education. This included: coordinating the development of the GPE implementation plan for its strategic plan, to ensure that girls complete primary school and continue to secondary education (a GPE strategic objective), and initiating a capacity-building process to support gender- responsive sector planning at the country level.

• At the regional level, UNICEF drew on the experience of UNGEI partnerships in its work with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger in addressing school-related GBV. A subregional workshop in Ouagadougou highlighted good practices in addressing this issue in West Africa and facilitated exchanges of knowledge and experience.

In 2013, UNICEF and UNESCO led the global thematic consultation on education in the post-2015 development agenda, including hosting the 'World We Want' online consultation, which elicited views from over 22,000 people from 100 countries. Regional and national consultations brought together over 500 participants ranging from youth to academia, teachers, parents and government representatives. These consultations and related advocacy generated wide-ranging support for education as a stand-alone goal in the broader post-2015 development agenda and as a cross-cutting area for other development goals. There is now an emerging consensus on the overarching goal to 'ensure equitable, quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030', and processes are underway to develop feasible indicators for access, learning and equity. To bring the voices and input of youth in the post-2015 agenda, UNICEF has been a strong supporter of the Youth Advocacy Group (YAG) of the Global Education First Initiative. With UNICEF support, this group of young leaders from around the world led the 'youth takeover" of the United Nations General Assembly in July 2013. The idea to hear from youth and instigate a ‘youth takeover’ was spearheaded by the Office of Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown and supported financially by UNICEF. This event celebrated Malala Yousafzai’s appeal for a greater focus on education, particularly for girls and children affected by emergencies, and resulted in the 'Youth Resolution: the Education We Want'. YAG members also facilitated capacity-building sessions for youth and were speakers in all of the thematic and skills sessions, spurring a growing movement of young leaders in education. YAG members have been key participants and facilitators in the Learning for All country meetings, the World Economic Forum, the Global Education and Skills Forum and the global thematic consultation on education in the post-2015 development agenda, where the YAG collated youth perspectives on education from 70 countries. UNICEF engaged in key global partnerships to strengthen the focus on children with disabilities. In 2012, UNICEF was a founding member of the Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities (GPcwd), which has over 500 members representing Governments, United Nations agencies, research institutions, NGOs, disabled people’s organizations and individuals. UNICEF acts as secretariat of the GPcwd and co-leads its Education Task Force. In 2013, based on the recommendations of the GPcwd, UNICEF continued to work on three main priorities: improving data; increasing school accessibility; and preparing teachers for inclusive education. This work included engaging with the GPE and influencing its implementation plan to incorporate inclusive education.

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UNICEF both advocated for a stronger equity focus in education policies and plans around the world and supported capacity-building efforts to do so. This area of work accounted for over $40 million in expenditures in 2013. Here, UNICEF continued to build the capacities of partner Governments to strengthen their evidence bases and analytical capacities to make education plans equitable and have stronger monitoring mechanisms. These efforts included, for example, the development of guidelines for ministries of education to conduct equity-focused education system analysis; support for better data on out-of-school children through OOSCI; strengthened system monitoring through MoRES; and improved decision-making through SEE analysis. The examples below illustrate how these efforts are making a difference in the policy arena. Since the launch of the first phase of OOSCI in 2010, 26 countries have conducted studies to examine the number of out-of-school children and the barriers they face, and identify the changes in policy or practice necessary to address these barriers. In doing so, OOSCI compares existing data sets (e.g., Education Management Information System (EMIS) versus household surveys) to bring to light 'invisible' children who are not represented in many monitoring systems. The findings of OOSCI studies are leading to better education strategies in a range of UNICEF partner countries such as Indonesia and Viet Nam. In Ghana, which is furthest along, a SEE pilot analysis conducted as the final step of OOSCI showed, for example, that cheaper in-service for teachers in marginalized areas could lead to 87,000 children passing the national learning exam, compared to only 61,000 passing the exam through more expensive pre-service training. The analysis was also used in 39 districts in the Upper East and Northern regions of Ghana to further develop the capacities of the planning and statistics officers in results-based planning. Similarly, in 2013, UNICEF, together with GPE, UNESCO and the World Bank, finalized the guidelines for conducting education system analysis, which will improve the preparation of education sector plans and policies. UNICEF supported Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Togo in applying the newly developed guidelines for education system analysis, strengthening planning and budgeting for equity and improving access, governance and management in education. Togo used the new education system analysis to prepare its new ESP and proposal to GPE and as a result, has specific targets to reach marginalized children, including girls, and for inclusive education for children with disabilities. The guidelines will be adopted by GPE as a tool for future education sector planning. Expanding access and reducing disparities In addition to its work to bring an equity focus to the policy arena, UNICEF also supported extensive 'downstream' work to more immediately expand coverage and reduce disparities among the most disadvantaged children and build demand for inclusive basic education. Approximately 31 UNICEF country offices directly provided education services to children who were out of school. They included a range of alternative and second-chance education activities including non-formal education, accelerated learning, community-based education and adult literacy classes. UNICEF also supported improvements to basic education through provision of learning and teaching materials, education kits and desks; construction of classrooms and water and sanitation facilities; recruitment of tutors or facilitators; training; and direct support to children, mothers and families. This area of work amounted to over $50 million in expenditures in 2013. Expenditures specifically targeted at addressing disadvantaged girls amounted to $35 million in 2013. The following are examples of this supply-side work in 2013.

• In Ethiopia, UNICEF supported 97 new alternative basic education centres, benefiting a total of 13,000 learners, and transformed 47 centres into formal primary schools. Some 16,059 girls in primary and secondary schools have been supported with 'girls’ selected packages' and schemes promoting income-generating activities to keep girls in school.

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• In Afghanistan, UNICEF supported 565,531 children through community-based schools, accelerated learning centres and newly constructed schools. A rigorous independent impact evaluation (i.e., a randomized control trial) found that these schools significantly increased enrolment and test scores, particularly for girls. Girls’ enrolment increased by 52 per cent and, on average, increased 0.65 standard deviations on test scores.11

• In Sudan, 44,821 previously out-of-school children (48 per cent girls) were enrolled in basic education and alternative learning classes. UNICEF also supported the training of alternative learning facilitators and construction of six schools.

Expanding access for children with disabilities

In Bhutan, UNICEF support to the Ministry of Education has been instrumental in galvanizing comprehensive, multipronged efforts to provide educational opportunities to children with disabilities. Based on a groundbreaking study that provided critical prevalence data on children with disabilities, UNICEF supported the Ministry in drafting a policy on special needs education. At the same time, UNICEF worked with the Government to raise awareness of how to meet the education needs of and improve schooling for children with disabilities. This included supporting pre-service teacher training programs on special education and conducting training on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other topics for teachers and education officials. These efforts are yielding results:

• A plan to provide education for the deaf has been developed and approved for implementation.

• A steering group (including teachers, education officials and members of civil society organizations) has been established to promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

• Two special units and eight schools are now officially recognized as inclusive schools, offering education for 424 children with disabilities across the country.

• Better monitoring tools have been developed. Rapid neurodevelopment assessment and the rapid functional assessment have been integrated in the monitoring practices of education and health personnel and early childhood programme facilitators.

The impressive momentum in Bhutan has been recognized as a model in the South Asia region and beyond. In 2013, UNICEF Bhutan, the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia and the Ministry of Education organized a seminar on inclusive education, focusing on children with disabilities. This regional seminar provided a platform for sharing knowledge and good practices from Bhutan and across the region, and it provided a concrete set of recommendations to participating countries.

UNICEF also supported demand-side efforts such as back-to-school campaigns and promoting community dialogues on the importance of education for girls and children with disabilities. In Ethiopia, for example, a back-to-school campaign led to the enrolment of 167,000 out-of-school children. In Cambodia, a targeted campaign focused on enrolment of children with disabilities and minority children led to a dramatic increase; in the four worst-performing districts, the average rate of enrolment for six-year-olds in grade 1 increased from 66 per cent (2011-2012) to 89 per cent (2012-2013).

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Building knowledge: improving evidence-based policy and interventions In 2013, UNICEF supported numerous efforts to build knowledge, evaluate approaches and strengthen system monitoring. Increasingly, UNICEF works through partnerships with UNESCO, World Bank, UNGEI and GPE, among others, to conduct this knowledge-strengthening work and provide better evidence for the field.

Improving data, strengthening equity-based policy: the Out-of-School Children Initiative

Before OOSCI was launched by UNICEF and the UIS in 2010, most Governments calculated the number of girls and boys who were out of school by comparing the number of children in school, using EMIS, with the total number of children in the country according to a population census. Although this approach produces a reasonable estimate of the number of out-of-school children, it masks many ‘invisible children’ such as those in institutions for the disabled, children living or working on the street and children from nomadic families, and provides little information on the characteristics of out-of-school children. OOSCI was designed to address this weakness and compare the different data sets to include more complete information about the most marginalized children in the policymaking process. In the 26 participating countries, OOSCI starts with an analysis of all available data, including household survey data that has been collected through Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. With more detailed data profiles than are available from data from ministries of education, OOSCI makes it possible to identify the key barriers keeping girls and boys out of school or pushing them out before they have completed their basic education. OOSCI studies enable Governments to identify the changes in policy and practice needed to eliminate barriers to children's education and thus increase both enrolment and retention. During the first phase of OOSCI between 2010 and 2013, some 20 country studies and seven regional studies were completed. With support from GPE, the second phase of OOSCI was launched in 2013, with an additional 30 countries joining the initiative. In Viet Nam , an OOSCI study by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Training revealed important findings on the profile of out-of-school children and the education barriers they face. Viet Nam has adjusted net attendance rates of 96.3 per cent for primary education and 82.93 per cent for lower secondary education. The OOSCI study revealed a much different picture for ethnic minorities, showing that 33 per cent of Mong girls and 21 per cent of Mong boys are out of school. This difference increases in lower secondary school, with over 55 per cent of Mong girls out of school compared to 28 per cent of boys. At the same, the study showed a disproportionately higher number of secondary-age boys than girls in primary schools, which suggests that boys who transition to secondary schools tend to make slower academic progress than girls. The existence and severity of such ethnic and gender disparities might have remained unknown without the OOSCI study. UNICEF used the study to engage key stakeholders in efforts to address the barriers and bottlenecks faced by the out-of-school children and identify potential actions. A range of potential interventions are being considered, including exempting certain children from school fees, improving local-level capacities for data management, providing mother-tongue instruction for ethnic minorities and launching campaigns to prevent early marriage. The study continues to inform the both the UNICEF approach and the Government’s efforts to provide equitable basic education.

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To strengthen education monitoring, UNICEF supported countries to improve EMIS. In Sudan, UNICEF assisted in the development of a functional EMIS to support sound evidence-based education sector planning at national and state levels. After 78 federal and state-level education officials and 132 school headmasters were trained to use EMIS, data collection was conducted in 13 of 17 states. Working at subnational level in Indonesia, UNICEF supported the community-based development of information system in four districts to monitor access and retention of adolescents in basic education and to identify inequities in education. In 2013, a technical guidance document was developed, based on a review of 40 EMIS systems, to strengthen the inclusiveness of disability in EMIS. The guide, to be piloted in 2014, aims to improve the availability of administrative data on children with disabilities and schools' inclusiveness of these children. In Guatemala, UNICEF partnered with the Ministry of Education to develop a decision-making process based on the MoRES approach. As a result, more systematic use of data on equity issues and the bottleneck analysis now form the basis for policymaking. Guatemala is also working to improve real-time monitoring at local level and the MoRES application has been expanded from eight to all 334 municipalities across the country. Summary results and going forward Despite the stalled progress in the sector to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the results of UNICEF efforts to influence and improve equity-focused and cost-effective policy and planning and expand coverage and reduce disparities suggest it had some success in reaching its goals. While significant numbers of children are still out of school, with UNICEF support the sector has better data on these children and in a growing number of countries is taking steps to address their needs and bring them into school. During the MTSP period, UNICEF identified innovative approaches, such as OOSCI or accelerated learning programmes that will continue to drive progress to reducing disparities. UNICEF also contributed to more sector plans including specific efforts to improve girls’ education and education inclusion. These are mixed successes, however. As the figure below depicts, UNICEF did not meet all the organizational targets it set out to achieve in the MTSP. Since UNICEF did achieve considerable results in this KRA, performance against the organizational targets must be put in context. At the time these targets were set, the overall growth trajectory of the education sector was greater than the rate of progress that occurred during the MTSP period. While some highly populated countries(Bangladesh, Ethiopia and India, for example) continued to make incremental progress towards getting all children into school and meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged, other countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan) continue to have large numbers of out-of-school children. In these high-burden countries, where the largest numbers of out-of-school children live, few domestic resources are allocated for basic education and progress to get children into school essentially has stalled. Moreover, UNICEF implemented this strategy during a time that external aid for basic education also shrank considerably. Lastly, UNICEF uses UIS data to monitor progress against these organizational targets. Since UIS data have a time lag of up to two years, UNICEF does not have the most recent figures and, as discussed above, these data do not adequately capture the number of children who are out of school. The children who are out of school are appropriately named the ‘hardest to reach’ as they are the most marginalized and often live in countries, regions or areas affected by conflict, where schools frequently are occupied by combatants or come under attack. This is why the UNICEF strategy has been to advance a stronger equity-focused evidence-base and identify innovative approaches to reach these children and bring them into school. The UNICEF equity focus and engagements with key partnerships are essential to its work with 142 countries to address this challenge head on and continue to develop better policies and programmes to bring quality basic education to all children.

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Going forward, globally UNICEF will continue to use its strong equity-focused advocacy to make as much progress as possible to reach the Millennium Development Goals and to make the needs of the most marginalized children central to the post-2015 global education agenda. Within countries, UNICEF will continue to work with partners to support stronger evidence-based policy and planning through efforts such as OOSCI and SEE. UNICEF will continue to strengthen equitable education, using the knowledge gained from its policy tools and programmes to propose new policies and strategies that will reduce disparities and get more children into school. Finally, to ensure the rights of all children to an education, when needed UNICEF will continue to provide basic education services, including in countries affected by conflict, and continue to evaluate the effectiveness of this work.

Snapshot of Overall Progress of MTSP Targets: KRA 2

Key results area

Organizational target Progress to date Assessment

KRA 2

3. Reduce proportion of primary-school-aged children who are out of school by at least 80 per cent.

Proportion of out-of-school children of primary school age reduced by 10 per cent globally between 2006 and 2011

Data from UIS global database

● Red

KRA 2

4. Increase transition rates for girls and boys in primary to post-primary education, with a focus on disadvantaged children, in order to achieve 80-per- cent transition rate by 2013.

Transition rates increased from 94 to 96 per cent for girls and unchanged at 93 per cent for boys globally between 2006 and 2010.

Data from UIS global database

● Green

KRA 2

5. Improve the gender parity index (GPI) in primary and secondary education, to be on course for achieving full parity by 2015.

GPI globally improved from 0.96 to 0.97 in primary and 0.95 to 0.97 in secondary between 2006 and 2011.

Data from UIS global database

● Yellow

KRA 2

6. Increase proportion of grade 1 cohorts (especially girls) who reach at least the last grade of primary school to 90 per cent by 2013.

Survival rate to last grade of primary education increased from 74 to 75 per cent globally between 2006 and 2010.

Data from UIS global database ● Red

KEY RESULT AREA 3: Support national capacity to imp rove educational quality and increase school retention, completion and achievement rates

With mounting evidence revealing the magnitude of the global learning crisis, the work of UNICEF to improve educational quality is essential, especially as the emerging data show a disturbing equity dimension to this crisis, with wealthier children far outperforming the poorest children. Myriad solutions are needed to address this learning crisis alongside continued efforts to improve school retention and completion rates, and during the MTSP period, UNICEF set targets and adopted strategies to advance policies and practices to advance many of the

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solutions. The results of its work are significant but mixed. One the one hand, globally, the sector has adopted more child-friendly policies and quality standards and done more at the school level to improve the safety, health, quality and inclusiveness of the school environment. On the other hand, there have been fewer and more uneven successes across countries in terms of improving student learning. Nevertheless, around the world, UNICEF has contributed to improved policies, healthier and safer school environments in almost 800,000 schools and stronger retention and completion rates through the CFS approach. Advocating for this type of holistic, child-centred approach in policy design, education planning and service delivery, UNICEF contributed to a number of changes in the policy arena in a diverse set of countries such as Burundi, Cambodia, China, Republic of Moldova, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Viet Nam and Yemen. Not only have a majority of countries adopted the CFS approach, but more policies exist in more countries to protect girls, reduce corporal punishment and make schools healthier and safer places. These are all positive and significant changes that contribute both to better schools and improved retention and completion rates. What is not yet known is how well the CFS approach improved student learning outcomes. In 2013, UNICEF worked to strengthen the CFS approach to assessing learning outcomes, to identify strategies to improve learning, and to support government-led efforts to strengthen national and regional assessments. This work was complemented by a continued focus on a holistic approach to promote standards for school quality, inclusiveness, democratic participation and safety. UNICEF continued to support teacher training and provision of the necessary inputs to assure quality education. The figure below shows the major expenditures in 2013 to support to these achievements.

KRA 3: Strenthening Quality Education

Global advocacy and policy dialogue on learning In 2013, with the 'access plus learning' agenda taking centre stage in the global policy arena, UNICEF played a key leadership role in continuing to advance quality basic education. In the global policy forums where UNICEF participates and leads, including the discussions on the post-2015 agenda and EFA, LMTF, the Global Education First Initiative's 'Learning for All' meetings and the GPE 'All Children Reading' efforts, UNICEF advocated for improved learning metrics, including – but not only – early grade literacy and numeracy. Throughout 2013, UNICEF co-chaired LMTF, organized regional consultations and participated in task forces. In East Asia, regional efforts led by UNICEF are underway to develop a regional

6,7

39,4

12,7

1,7

14,3

98,6

53,9

12,5

12,3 US$ Million Life skills based education/ HIV prevention

Learning achievement standards

WASH and hygiene

Child friendly schools

Community participation and school management

Children with disabilities

School health, nutrition and non-education

Teacher training

Education technology and learning/teaching resources

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set of primary learning metrics on global citizenship, numeracy and literacy/reading. During their regional consultations, LMTF members heard from teachers about the need for a classroom-based learning measurement tool that assessed the seven domains of learning. As part of the Global Education First Initiative, 'Learning for All' ministerial meetings took place in April during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and in September to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly session. Targeting countries where large numbers of children are out of school, these meetings brought together ministers of education and finance, development partners, with high-level engagement by the Secretary-General, President of the World Bank, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education and the UNICEF Executive Director, who co-chaired some of the sessions. Together they discussed concrete steps to accelerate progress towards ensuring that all children start school and complete an education. At country and regional levels, UNICEF continued to work towards better policies for quality education and in 2013 in particular, strengthened its focus on learning and stronger learning assessment. In Rwanda, because the Government lacked a system for measuring literacy and numeracy outcomes, UNICEF, in collaboration with UNESCO and the Government, supported the development of the learning assessment in Rwanda's schools system. A pilot assessment was conducted in 2013 and a baseline was established for literacy and numeracy levels for children in grade 3. UNICEF supported a team to design, conduct and analyze the learning assessment. In Zimbabwe, UNICEF continued to support the early learning assessment programme, including a capacity-building component to help the national examinations body take more responsibility for planning and for collection, cleaning and analysis of data collection. UNICEF also supported the third regional student learning achievement assessment in Latin America. UNICEF staff from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay served as observers to guarantee the quality of the assessment process. Results from the 15 participating countries are comparable with each other and comparable over time. In addition, the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office supported studies to look at the robustness of country assessments and how they address key issues such as bilingual education. Improving learning outcomes and quality education i n schools UNICEF supported improvements in learning and the delivery of quality education through learning enhancement programmes and promotion of CFS school-wide approaches to improve the learning environment and increase student retention and completion rates, especially for girls. UNICEF supported innovative approaches to quality service delivery, such as 'Let us Learn', and to strengthening system monitoring, for example through 'Edutrac', a real-time monitoring system using mobile phones. UNICEF also continued to improve learning and enhance quality education by focusing on teachers and providing them training and additional teaching and learning materials. A key way in which UNICEF has contributed to learning improvements is to support mother-tongue instruction or bilingual education. To address the needs of linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples, in countries such as Belize, Bolivia, Cambodia, Peru and Viet Nam, UNICEF worked to implement relevant policies, plans and standards by supporting curriculum development, teacher training and parental education. In a number of countries, UNICEF supported mother-tongue or home language initiatives. In Belize, for example, an innovative learning enhancement programme introduced the Mayan language into schools to improve learning and promote inclusion among indigenous Mayan boys and girls. This project led to the integration of 'intercultural bilingual education' (IBE) as a component of quality child-friendly schools. In 2013, the work continued in five schools and introduced activities such as the 'Spelling Maya' competition through which over 600 indigenous children participated in a

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spelling competition to raise local awareness around the importance of IBE and advocate for more schools to develop school improvement plans that incorporate IBE. To address the full range of learning outcomes, UNICEF partnered with the Government of China to identify a successful model to teach 'social emotional learning'. The pilot aimed to develop and test a locally relevant, yet widely replicable, model to teach social emotional learning particularly to vulnerable rural children, specifically to improve children’s self-confidence, develop positive relationship with others and deepen problem-solving skills. The initial results in 2013 show that 60 per cent of trained teacher are implementing interactive teaching/learning methods and child-friendly assessment methods. While results on learning outcomes are being assessed, the next step in the pilot will be taken in 2014 as 250 additional schools start teaching at least 20 per cent of the curriculum using new teaching methods. The work of UNICEF in Myanmar illustrates how efforts combine to strengthen literacy, numeracy and life skills. Following policy and advocacy work, LSE was integrated into the formal secondary curriculum, reaching 916,000 lower secondary school students. The curriculum was used by 20 education colleges and to date, over 7,550 teacher trainees are learning LSE methodology and peer-education strategies for HIV prevention and reproductive and sexual health. Over 11,750 primary school teachers have been trained on CFS. Myanmar's assessment of life-skills curricula showed significant progress in social and emotional learning but less progress in health information. To support mother-tongue learning and literacy, six bilingual children’s books were tested and printed and an additional 28 books for adolescents on peacebuilding (developed by graduates of the non-formal education programme) were also drafted. The measuring learning achievement tool was used to assess learning achievement in Burmese language and in math. Myanmar is using these efforts and emerging evidence to inform educational planning and improve teachers' effectiveness. Since teachers are the single most important resource in a child’s education and biggest driver to improve learning, UNICEF continued to invest heavily in training of teachers to improve school quality and improve student learning, with $39.4 million or 10 per cent of expenditures in this area. In 2013, for example, in Burundi, Cambodia, China, Moldova, South Africa, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF provided teachers and school managers with training on various aspects of CFS, including child-centred pedagogy and social emotional learning. In Republic of Moldova, training focused specifically on improving school management and leadership, including how to get sufficient support from the district. Specifically to improve learning, in Chad and South Sudan teachers were trained in appropriate curriculum and assessment systems for children in early grades, when the most vulnerable are in danger of dropping out. UNICEF continued efforts to advance quality improvements specifically for girls’ education through approaches such as the innovative 'Let Us Learn' programme. This programme aims to improve educational outcomes for most disadvantaged children, particularly girls, by providing flexible programmes and carefully monitoring the results. Five countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Madagascar and Nepal – used the programme to target children who live in remote areas, have disabilities or face social and educational exclusion. Some examples include: ensuring that girls in Afghanistan have a second chance at completing primary school though accelerated learning programmes; building essential computer literacy and other twenty-first century skills of adolescents in Liberia; empowering girls to transition to junior secondary school in rural Madagascar; and creating multiple pathways to learning for out-of-school minority children in Nepal. Over the past two years, 'Let Us Learn' has reached over 80,060 girls, mostly adolescents, in three ways: non-formal education, including accelerated learning programmes; school-based support; and school-wide CFS and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). 'Let Us Learn' is being evaluated to examine improvements in learning outcomes and equity.

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Madagascar: reducing gender disparities in secondar y education

In Madagascar, a mere 25 per cent of students make the transition from primary to junior secondary education, less than half of them girls. The many reasons for such low enrolment include rural poverty, discriminatory beliefs, sexual exploitation and early pregnancy and marriage. The girls who are permitted and can afford to go to school still face challenges of long distances (often the closest junior secondary school can be 30–50 kilometres away) and overcrowded classrooms. UNICEF supports several approaches to help these disadvantaged girls attend and succeed in junior secondary school. To improve access, UNICEF provided scholarships, direct cash transfers and transportation such as bicycles and canoes, and supported the construction of dormitories. To help these girls succeed, UNICEF engaged in: (a) teacher development by providing teachers additional training and by creating teachers’ networks; (b) development and distribution of gender-neutral teaching and learning materials; and (c) enhancement of school environments (e.g., adding libraries, constructing toilets, school enclosures, sports fields and vegetable gardens). With this support, more than 6,000 girls received scholarships and transportation assistance and more than 1,500 teachers strengthened their teaching methods, including learning gender-sensitive practices. A review of the programme showed a high demand for scholarships; that the bicycles helped increase motivation and on-time arrival at school; and that overall, 70 per cent of the scholarship recipients passed their junior secondary school exams and finished the cycle. The target districts showed a narrowing of the gender parity gap and higher completion rates for girls in junior secondary schools. By working with regional and local education authorities, UNICEF contributed to their regional workplans and also noted a significant government effort to improve junior secondary schools, especially the experience of girls. This is a real success story. UNICEF continues to advocate with the Government to accelerate efforts for girls’ secondary education to try to bring this type of success to more girls in Madagascar.

Promoting safer, healthier and more inclusive schoo ls, particular for girls In addition to supporting learning improvements, the ongoing downstream CFS work of UNICEF comes together to support safer, more inclusive and healthier schools. School-wide quality improvement efforts include teacher training, LSE to prevent violence and make healthy choices, strengthening school-based monitoring and improving the school infrastructure, often with support from WASH programmes. This is where significant expenditures were made in 2013. The largest area of expenditure was CFS, with $98.6 million spent to support the adoption and implementation of a holistic framework and integrated set of actions to improve the school environment and support quality education. Complementing this, the $53.9 million in WASH expenditures significantly improved school health and safety. In Cambodia, UNICEF supported the roll-out of a programme to improve inclusive education in schools. Teachers were trained on an approach that aims to develop emotional safety and social emotional learning in addition to the overall CFS approach. In those schools, UNICEF demonstrated how an integrated CFS intervention also supported quality inclusive education. These efforts resulted in a greater number of children with disabilities enrolled in schools, increasing from 70,648 in 2012 to 71,225 in 2013. In Ghana, the Special Education Division, with UNICEF support, engaged a group of experts to develop an inclusive education monitoring tool to monitor and improve understanding and work on inclusive education throughout the

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country. To implement the tool, 47 government officials from 12 districts were trained on its three key components: creation of an inclusive culture; school environment; and evolving inclusive practices. Additionally, 100 circuit supervisors, EMIS and NGO representatives were trained on the tool and with skills to provide effective guidance on monitoring to head teachers and to teachers on how to screen children. In 2013, this work increased adherence to CFS standards in three northern regions to 20 per cent, up from 14 per cent. UNICEF also worked to make schools safer for girls by improving accountability. One strategy used is to develop a system for case management and monitoring by teachers. In South Africa, UNICEF supported an online training for a teachers' monitoring system for GBV incidents. This online training, covering the legislative environment on GBV for adolescents in terms of the sexual offences act, homophobic bullying and sexual harassment, has been developed to support teachers in addressing GBV in their schools. The training will be rolled out in 2014, targeting 180,000 teachers in 20 districts. Additionally, with over 500,000 members, there is a growing movement in South Africa among girls and boys to make their schools safer. Through life-skills curricula in music, art and sports, these children learn safe and positive social interactions and have joined the Girls and Boys Education Movement. UNICEF provision of WASH facilities and promotion of hygiene in schools, to ensure that children have adequate water, sanitation and hand-washing facilities at school, covered some 90 countries in 2013. WASH benefits children’s health and education and protects girls and thus helps them remain in school. With water and toilets in schools, children can also practice what they learn in health and LSE. In State of Palestine, the construction/rehabilitation of WASH facilities in 81 schools, including accessible toilets, benefited 32,772 students, and an additional 47,932 students in Gaza will benefit when construction is completed. In Ghana, UNICEF interventions on the ground resulted in 111 schools (about 33,000 schoolchildren) having access to improved water facilities. Myanmar's Ministry of Education invested funds to build 72,000 toilets in over 35,000 schools. Several countries incorporated guidelines for menstrual hygiene management in their WASH school programmes. In Assam, India, a facilitators’ module was developed and distributed. In Nigeria, 158,075 women received information on effective management of menstrual hygiene via training and communication activities. In United Republic of Tanzania, 49,000 children in 49 schools were provided with WASH facilities that included appropriate management of menstrual hygiene.

Using innovation to improve learning outcomes

UNICEF defines innovation in education as a programme, product, service, process or partnership in education that has three characteristics:

a. It is effective . It improves performance in equity, access and learning outcomes, and robustly uses monitoring and evaluation to assess progress and results;

b. It has traction . A true innovation is adopted rapidly because it solves a real need in a simple way;

c. It matches solutions to the scale of the problem . Large, system-wide problems require solutions that, by design, can be taken to scale without compromising quality and cost-effectiveness.

The following examples demonstrate the types of innovations UNICEF supports and the difference they are making.

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'Edutrac' improves accountability with real-time monitoring using mobile phones. Employing SMS messaging, this simple tool provides critical data on enrolment, attendance, textbook delivery, etc. to the Government and has a feedback loop. 'Reporters' – head teachers, student representatives, community members – send information via SMS and receive alerts with questions like 'Did your teacher attend school today?’ Once received, the SMS information triggers a government response, for example, to protect children from abusive teachers, speed up school construction and reduce teacher absenteeism. Edutrac generated a dynamic of dialogue between the community and the Government, increasing accountability in 21 districts, covering more than 2,000 schools in Uganda. Other countries including Peru and Tunisia, are planning to test a customized version of Edutrac in some of their school districts. In Afghanistan, a similar SMS-based monitoring system is being developed to improve communication between teachers and supervisors in the most deprived and insecure provinces. 'Technogirls' . To increase girls’ participation in typically male dominated careers in science, technology, engineering and math, the South African Department of Education launched Technogirls, an initiative that identified more than 10,000 high achieving 15-18 year-old school girls from disadvantaged communities and placed them in corporate mentorship and skills development programmes. By linking what girls learn in school with skills needed to succeed in the work place, Technogirls helps girls make informed career choices. A 2010 survey of Technogirls participants showed that 94 per cent have a better understanding of the workplace and the skills required in the careers they were exposed to. The results so far are positive: 40 per cent of Technogirls alumnae received university scholarships in engineering and technology-related courses of study . PLAY . Mobile playgrounds bring play to extremely vulnerable children. Research shows that ‘play activities’ are fundamental to a child’s overall development, especially creativity, innovation and collaboration. For children affected by trauma, violence and deprivation, play has the power to rebuild communities and promote feelings of confidence, safety and self-esteem. In early 2012, Bangladesh and Haiti began to test the effects of mobile playgrounds on vulnerable children aged 3-12 years who were encouraged to design their own course of play and then simply create and play. The project is being evaluated to determine its impact on children and communities recovering from crises. If successful, PLAY would be incorporated into the standard UNICEF response for children living in communities affected by crisis.

Knowledge-building to improve learning and child-fr iendly school practices UNICEF supported a range of activities to build evidence on effective approaches to improve education outcomes. One of the best examples comes from India where for years, UNICEF has been supporting the implementation of activity-based learning (ABL) in several states. This approach is now implemented in more than 250,000 schools in 13 states and has transformed classroom processes, putting the child at the centre. Although several evaluations of ABL have been conducted, including some supported by UNICEF, there is insufficient rigorous evidence on how the ABL approach impacts learning outcomes. To address this gap, UNICEF commissioned a major evaluation that is being conducted in 840 sample schools across seven states of India. This comprehensive study evaluates the impact of ABL versus traditional teaching methods on both cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes of children. Since ABL has been rolled out across India, this is a very significant evaluation. It will be is guided by an expert and practitioner advisory panel and completed by June 2015. Also in India and with

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UNICEF support, the NGO Pratham undertook a longitudinal study over 15 months that tracked 30,000 rural children enrolled in grades 2 and 4 in 900 schools across five Indian states. The comprehensive study examined factors related to schools, classrooms and families that correlate with children’s learning outcomes and found that there is an urgent need to shift the focus from tracking enrolment to tracking and understanding school attendance and class participation. (See 'Policy Brief: Key Findings from the Study Inside Primary Schools: Teaching and Learning in Rural India'.). As these examples show, UNICEF uses evidence (or the lack of it) to strengthen knowledge-building efforts which should ultimately inform its programming work. An example from Papua New Guinea demonstrates how UNICEF used evidence to strengthen the CFS approach. A review conducted in 2012 revealed that none of the CFS assessed had set standards and indicators against which to measure improvements. Schools were implementing only some CFS components while overlooking others, and teachers were unaware of the principles of CFS and how to integrate them in schools. Based on these findings, in 2013 UNICEF supported the development of an in-service training manual on CFS and developed a framework to complement CFS with a school learning and improvement project. Integrating CFS with this project will support schools in using the CFS approach and bring a holistic approach to learning. With such adjustments to CFS and efforts to strengthen learning assessments, 2013 was a significant year to consolidate what has been learned and to identify more effective evaluation approaches. In addition to these efforts, UNICEF also committed itself to strengthen the evidence base on learning by supporting community-based assessments. Community-based (or civil society) assessments are household-based learning assessments that focus on basic reading and math and are conducted by volunteers. The results are disseminated broadly and used to raise awareness of and increase accountability for learning among parents and community members, as well as Governments and other interested stakeholders. During the MTSP period, the education sector saw considerable growth and spread of citizen-led assessments in India and Pakistan and in Africa. Known widely as 'ASER' and 'Uwezo', these assessments received considerable attention because of the scale on which they are implemented (in every district in a country, mobilizing tens of thousands of volunteers) and because of the extent to which they shed light on the learning crisis within countries and globally. In recognition of their growing importance, UNICEF added an organizational target to KRA 3 to support these important efforts. Yet with the exception of India, where UNICEF provided modest support to a long-term partner Pratham to implement ASER, UNICEF did not actively support the expansion of community-assessments around the world. Instead, UNICEF continued to support government and regional assessments to continue to strengthen the education system’s ability to measure and monitor student learning. UNICEF also embarked on a partnership with GPE to promote school report cards, which include a school-based learning assessment, to strengthen accountability for learning in and around the school. Summary of results and going forward With many impressive results achieved in this area of work, UNICEF saw mixed success across the results targets set in the MTSP. Through UNICEF advocacy efforts and partnership with Governments, countries across the globe adopted the CFS approach and took steps to make schools a more conducive learning environment, as the chart below illustrates. Within schools, the CFS approach has been successful in a large number of schools in retaining girls through improving school conditions in health and sanitation. With changes in the policy environment accompanied by expansion of CFS, the WASH programme and work to support management of menstrual hygiene, an ever increasing number of schools are providing better conditions for girls and other marginalized groups, helping them to remain in school. The challenge now is knowing whether these school-based efforts have an effect on student learning.

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As described above, UNICEF did not advance community-based assessments around the world as its key strategy to strengthen learning assessments. UNICEF did support efforts to better measure life skills and to strengthen national and regional learning assessments, often in regions where other development partners do not work. Thus, UNICEF does not have sufficient data to report on progress on this organizational target. In addition, as the sector better understands and grapples with the learning crisis and the lack of adequate monitoring systems, UNICEF also does not know the effectiveness of its significant support to teacher training on improving learning outcomes. UNICEF recognized this gap and took steps to change course in 2013 through, for example, its participation and leadership in LMTF and the post-2015 discussions; looking internally at a strategic shift in the CFS approach; strengthening country-level metrics and assessment work; and learning from existing support to improve learning. Going forward, UNICEF is uniquely positioned to influence both national and school-based policies aimed at improving learning and measurement of learning outcomes, while keeping a holistic view, given its long history of promoting CFS and support to policies and systems that prioritize evidence-based approaches to learning. UNICEF will continue to build the evidence base to improve learning, identify effective teacher training programs, develop and promote better, child-friendly instructional practices, and, in general, continue to identify and disseminate good practices to support quality education and learning enhancements.

Snapshot of overall progress of MTSP Targets: KRA 3

Key results area

Organizational target Progress to date Assessment

KRA 3

7. Increase to 60 per cent by 2015 the number of programme countries with national quality standards for primary school based on CFS or similar models.

The number of UNICEF- supported programme countries that have adopted quality standards for primary education based on CFS or similar models increased from 33 to 61 per cent between 2005 and 2013.

Data from UNICEF SMQs

● Green

KRA 3

8. Promote school- and community-based assessment services and support development of national standards for numeracy, literacy and life skills-based education.

Not enough evidence to assess progress against this target. See discussion above.

KEY RESULT AREA 4: Restore education after emergenc ies and in post-crisis situations

The Millennium Development Goals cannot be reached unless the needs of children in countries affected by natural disasters and conflict are addressed, given that 28.5 million children who are out of school face these conditions. UNICEF work to restore basic education, to ensure that an integrated humanitarian response includes education, and to strengthen education systems to respond to emergencies continues to be central to meeting the Goals and protecting the rights of all children. As the need to respond both to natural disasters and conflicts has become ever more common, increasingly complex and protracted, during the MTSP period UNICEF efforts in

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this area focused on global advocacy for inclusion of and adequate funding for education as part of all humanitarian responses; strengthening emergency preparedness across countries; supporting and coordinating the EiE response; and building systemic and community resilience to create minimal disruption to children’s schooling. Globally in 2013, UNICEF responded to four large-scale humanitarian emergencies in Central African Republic, Mali, the Philippines and Syrian Arab Republic, and country offices supported education responses in an additional 48 smaller-scale emergencies. In 2013 alone, close to 3.6 million children from early childhood through to adolescence were able to access formal and non-formal basic education in safe and protective spaces as a result of UNICEF efforts. The direct response of UNICEF to a humanitarian emergency includes capacity support and training for various levels of government; training of teachers and other education actors; distributing teaching and learning materials; supporting education programmes in temporary learning spaces; responding to children’s needs for psychosocial support; and mobilizing communities around the importance of education. As a result, more countries have plans in place to respond to an emergency and many more administrators, teachers, NGOs and community members are trained to respond, in a coordinated manner, when an emergency happens. Through the Peacebuilding Education and Advocacy in Conflict-Affected Contexts Programme (PBEA), UNICEF and partners increased conflict-sensitive education and peacebuilding efforts. Thus, UNICEF results in this area are extensive. Where the work has fallen short, however, is in strengthening demand for education in emergency settings to ensure that children regularly attend school and in strengthening implementation of education programmes. The following chart depicts the major expenditure areas contributing to the 2013 results.

KRA 4: Restoring Education in Emergencies and Confl ict

Improving policy through partnerships and building skills in emergency response To continue to bridge the development and humanitarian divide, UNICEF plays a leading role in the sector as an advocate and key partner in EiE. In 2013, UNICEF worked with key partners, including INEE on the 'Education Cannot Wait' campaign, as part of the Global Education First Initiative, to bring more visibility to EiE. The campaign stimulated greater commitment to ensure that education sector plans and budgets include emergency prevention, preparedness and response; called for an increase the share of humanitarian funding for education from 2 to 4 per cent; and also called for strengthened measures to protect children, teachers and educational facilities from attacks. Besides raising the visibility of EiE broadly, the campaign highlighted the far-reaching impact of the complex protracted Syrian crisis on education, setting in motion plans

1,2

17,7

55,0

4,7

5,1 US$ Million Education cluster coordination

Lifeskills for adolescents, young children and care-givers

Education interventions for out of school children

Education preparedness plan

Peace education

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for a multi-year support for Syrian refugees and vulnerable children in Lebanon affected by the crisis. Since the event, UNICEF has worked closely with the Office of the Special Envoy for Global Education and other partners to launch the 'No Lost Generation' strategy, which aims to mobilize champions across the globe for Syrian children, secure the $1 billion required to provide education, psychosocial support and peacebuilding for millions of Syrian children, and maintain quality education for all across the region. Knowing that responding to emergencies cannot be done by any single agency, UNICEF engaged in numerous partnerships during the MTSP period. The establishment in 2006 and maturing of the IASC Global Education Cluster is a prime example of the importance of partnerships to UNICEF to advance EiE and ensure well-coordinated, equitable provision of education. The Global Education Cluster, which UNICEF co-leads with Save the Children, is now recognized as an integral part of humanitarian response not least because of its demonstrated response capacity and ability to mobilize stakeholders to reach collective goals. Through the efforts of the various country-level education clusters to strengthen national government capacities for emergency response over the past seven years, there has been a marked increase in the number of programmes within ministries of education to prepare for and respond to emergencies. A number of education clusters, while still functioning in a crisis context, have been successfully transitioned into government-led sector working groups. In 2013, UNICEF led or co-led 57 country-level education clusters or sector working groups. For example, the Education Cluster helped the Central African Republic to create an information management system to help the Ministry of Education and its partners manage data that are critical for ongoing planning and response. In 2013, the Education Cluster set up a rapid response team of three experts who can be deployed within 48 hours to support education coordination in emergencies. The team responded to emergencies in the Central African Republic, Jordan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia and Syrian Arab Republic. In another key partnership, UNICEF is a founding and steering committee member of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack. With the coalition partners, UNICEF played a key role in efforts to prevent and respond to attacks on education, to improve monitoring and reporting and to advocate for stronger international norms and standards and increased accountability. As result of this work, in July 2011 the Security Council adopted resolution 1998 (2011), recognizing schools and hospitals as safe havens for children. In Syria, UNICEF played a leading role in advocacy associated with the monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM) on grave violations of children’s rights in situations of armed conflict including attacks on schools. This included establishing a UN Country Task Force which in December met with government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee. During 2013, the UNICEF Education and Child Protection Sections have been working closely with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations UNESCO and the World Health Organization to develop tools and guidance to better support field-based colleagues in the application of the MRM for grave violations of children's rights. Another key partnership is with INEE, with which UNICEF continued to build and share knowledge for the field. For example, in 2013, the INEE Conflict-Sensitive Education Toolkit was launched and several key guidelines on conflict-sensitive education were made available in a range of languages. In addition to leading and supporting these partnerships, UNICEF strengthened the knowledge and skills of its own staff and of partners in critical EiE areas, such as basic supply provision and risk-informed programming and planning and ways to build more resilient education systems. Much of this work took place through trainings that focused on issues such as disaster reduction risk (DRR), needs assessments and humanitarian coordination. A few examples illustrate how the work of UNICEF comes together-with that of its partners for policy support and capacity-building to improve a country’s response. In Haiti, UNICEF supported the Ministry of

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Education to create an EiE unit and initiated a capacity-building project. To date, 50 government staff have been trained on the technical aspects of contingency planning and emergency preparedness and response. The training will eventually reach 350 inspectors, 2,300 teachers and directors and approximately 15, 000 children. Additionally, in partnership with Plan International, UNICEF implemented a 14-school project to reinforce school infrastructure and build knowledge by providing DRR training for 3,000 children, 84 teachers and 14 administrators. Over the past five years, UNICEF has made demonstrated progress in building the capacity of Governments in DRR, so that an increasing number of countries have adopted DRR provisions as part of education planning. In Ecuador, UNICEF provided technical assistance to the Government in 2011 and 2012 which laid the groundwork for the design of a national DRR policy. This policy included action plans for public investment and the development the National Directorate of Risk Management, which now operates throughout the country. In the area of policy implementation, UNICEF supported training of over 3,000 school administrators and teachers, representatives from various levels of government and students, parents and community leaders on proper procedures related to DRR in education. UNICEF continues to provide technical assistance to the National Directorate of Risk Management to develop a long-term vision for DRR in the Ministry of Education. In Papua New Guinea – a country with frequent and severe earthquakes, mud slides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions and limited response capacity – UNICEF supported a disaster preparedness and response programme to prevent school-aged children from losing access to education in case of a disaster. Teachers, staff and students were trained in simple rescue and first aid techniques to serve as first responders. To strengthen awareness and increase resilience in schools, teachers from 25 primary schools in five vulnerable provinces and the staff from the Red Cross, medical service and fire services participated in emergency preparedness and response training. Because this innovative pilot included all relevant sectors in the training, service providers and the schools became more aware of each other’s roles and responsibilities and were able to practice coordinated responses. Mock earthquake drills were undertaken by 4,600 primary school students, including those with special learning needs. Disaster preparedness and response plans were developed by all 25 schools and special education resource centres, and plans were developed by medical and fire services and the Red Cross in those provinces. In 2014, training will be provided to all primary-school teachers and students across the country. In 2013, UNICEF also advanced PBEA, a 14-country cross-sectoral programme with the aim of strengthening resilience, social cohesion and human security in conflict-affected contexts. Through accelerated programming in Somalia, for example, activities were linked to a conflict analysis exercise including the construction and rehabilitation of child-friendly learning spaces, enabling 7,862 children (3,160 girls) in 36 schools to continue attending school in improved classroom conditions. By June 2013, a total of 77,602 children (31,817 girls) in 317 target schools had received education supplies. The UNICEF humanitarian response: ensuring that edu cation continues For UNICEF, the number of emergencies and scale of response was unprecedented. In addition to the four major emergencies, country offices supported emergency education in 48 smaller-scale emergencies, for a total of 52. (In comparison, UNICEF led education responses in 49 countries in 2012 and 46 in 2011.) In 2013, 3,584,769 children – from early childhood to adolescence – accessed formal and non-formal basic education in safe and protective spaces. This accounted for $55 million in expenditures in 2013. Thematic funds were provided to Central African Republic and Iraq to bolster critical education programming in these underfunded crises,

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with resources supporting much needed safe learning spaces and psychosocial support. In Iraq, the funds contributed to increased access to safe school facilities for Syrian refugee boys and girls in camps and host community schools, and improved teachers' capacities to apply improved pedagogical and child-centred methodology and psychosocial support skills in camps, urban locations and host communities. The addition of 300 tents as temporary learning spaces and the construction of a prefabricated classroom in Domiz camp meant that over 1,200 children have been able to enrol in grades 1-9 in schools in the camps. The provision of learning spaces and teaching and learning resources also increased access to and quality of teaching for a further 720 children in non-camp settings. Through 'Back to School' initiatives, UNICEF supported access to education for children living in crisis-affected countries around the world. UNICEF and partners helped to ensure that more than 570,000 boys and girls in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey returned to school through support to ministries of education and programme delivery. In Syrian Arab Republic alone, more than 290,000 children participated in school clubs and remedial education programmes. UNICEF Lebanon and partners supported the enrolment of 66,679 Syrian children in the formal education system. These children were provided with a school bag, stationery and payment of fees for the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years. An additional 36,420 children, 50% of whom were girls, who could not be accommodated in the formal system were supported to enrol in non-formal education programmes in temporary learning spaces including schools, community centres and Informal Tented Settlements. Non-formal education activities were improved through training of 1,286 teachers on child-centred pedagogy, active learning, positive discipline and basic psychosocial support. Some 58,190 children were provided with psychosocial support and structured recreational activities within UNICEF-supported education programmes. In countries hosting Syrian refugees, UNICEF efforts led to a significant reduction in the number of out-of-school children: in Lebanon from 78 to 64 per cent, in Jordan from 76 to 45 per cent, in Turkey from 70 to 40 per cent, in Iraq from 70 to 56 per cent and in Egypt from 45 to 10 per cent. In the Philippines, 1,320 temporary learning spaces were set up to provide safe learning environments for about 124,000 children affected by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Teachers and school heads were trained in how to transform schools into healing and responsive learning environments and how schools can support community reconstruction efforts. UNICEF supported the national Education Cluster and two subnational education clusters to strengthen the planning (including resilience), coordination and monitoring of the response to the typhoon. In Mali, UNICEF and Save the Children, as co-leaders of the Education Cluster, supported the Ministry of Education in facilitating a coordinated response nationally and in northern regions, where the highest concentrations of IDPs are. UNICEF provided technical support to improve the skills of relevant ministry officials and 60 humanitarian partners in areas such as assessment, planning, monitoring and evaluation of interventions. UNICEF worked with the Ministry to facilitate dialogue with government counterparts in neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger related to a harmonized approach to learning certification and curricula. Working with relevant ministries of education in the region, UNICEF supported about 143,142 children affected by the crisis to the return to school. In the Central African Republic, UNICEF and partners collaborated to support approximately 76,000 children to attend basic literacy and numeracy classes in safe and protective spaces. UNICEF provided additional funds to bolster programming in this underfunded crisis, with resources supporting much needed safe learning spaces and psychosocial support. A good example of the complexity of EiE and how UNICEF builds on synergies in programming across the continuum from emergency to transition and into development comes from the work with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The work of UNICEF in Lebanon is designed to support both

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Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese children in host communities. The programme combines a humanitarian response with longer-term strategic policy work to adapt the existing ESP to better reflect the needs of affected populations. The majority of Syrian refugees have settled in the traditionally deprived Northern and Bekaa regions of Lebanon, exerting additional pressure on an already overburdened public sector and contributing to potential tension between children in refugee and host communities. UNICEF is working to address the challenges around language of instruction, curricula and certification issues, for example, and relies on the contributions of partners to further support children and adolescents with non-formal education activities and psychosocial support. Key activities of a three-year programme proposal, led by the Government of Lebanon, include supporting double shifts in public schools, non-formal education opportunities and system strengthening. Summary of results and moving forward UNICEF efforts to prepare for disaster, prevent or mitigate conflict and restore education when an emergency hits produced significant yet mixed results. As the snapshot below shows, during the MTSP period UNICEF supported efforts to ensure that approximately 16 million children received education support and services, almost meeting its organizational target. While UNICEF and partners made great strides in supporting children in crisis contexts, efforts to reach the children most affected by these crises with quality, ongoing education interventions still fall short. Many efforts to support education for out-of-school children translated into distribution of teaching and learning materials rather than efforts to provide quality, sustainable schooling. Myriad factors contribute to the mixed success in this area- some relate to the capacity of UNICEF to respond to emergencies and others are contextual. For example, parents and community members are less likely to send their children to school if they are not convinced that schools are safe and secure. UNICEF needs to emphasize more demand–side interventions and focus on improving the protective nature of school environments to address this challenge. Given the current funding environment for EiE, mobilizing resources over the long term to address complex, protracted crises and to continue strengthening the policy environment will remain a challenge. Going forward, UNICEF will strengthen these areas of work and continue its efforts to bridge humanitarian action and development assistance in education, particularly in conjunction with ongoing work to build and promote resilience in education. The PBEA has shown how education can make a positive contribution to building a culture of peace and social cohesion. Over the lifespan of the programme, at least 370,000 vulnerable children and young people will gain access to conflict-sensitive education services. UNICEF also contributed to the development of the INEE conflict-sensitive education tools which were designed to support practitioners and policymakers to be sensitive to underlying causes of conflict and promote more resilient education systems. Work in this area will expand as UNICEF and partners continue to build evidence of what works in education for peacebuilding.

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Snapshot of Overall Progress of MTSP Targets: KRA 4

Key results area

Organizational target Progress to date Assessment

KRA 4

9. In humanitarian situations, girls and boys access safe and secure education and critical information for their own wellbeing.

Estimated 73 per cent of school-aged children and adolescents had access to formal and non-formal basic education (including temporary learning spaces and play and early learning for young children) within UNICEF supported programme countries in 2013

Data from UNICEF SMQs

● Yellow

Resources From 2006 to 2013, several donors chose to give flexible funding to thematic pooled funds for the five focus areas of the MTSP and humanitarian response. In 2013, UNICEF received almost $112 million in thematic contributions for basic education and gender equality, amounting to 31 per cent of total thematic contributions received in 2013 ($359 million) for the five focus areas and humanitarian response.

What is thematic funding?

Thematic funding was created after the adoption of the MTSP 2001–2005 as an opportunity for resource partners to support the goals and objectives of the MTSP and to allow for longer-term planning and sustainability of programmes. While regular resources continue to be preferable, thematic contributions are the next best option because they have fewer restrictions on their use than traditional ‘other resources’. From 2006 to 2013, resource partners could allocate thematic funds to the five MTSP focus areas and humanitarian response as follows:

• Focus area 1: Young child survival and d development • Focus area 2: Basic education and gender equality • Focus area 3: HIV/AIDS and children • Focus area 4: Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse • Focus area 5: Policy advocacy and partnerships for children’s rights • Humanitarian response

Thematic contributions are provided at the global, regional or country level. Contributions from all resource partners to the same focus area are combined into one pooled-fund account with the same duration, which simplifies financial management and reporting for UNICEF offices. As funds are pooled, UNICEF cannot track individual resource partners’ contributions. A single annual consolidated narrative and financial report is provided that is the same for all resource partners. Due to reduced administrative costs, thematic contributions were subject to a lower cost recovery rate: 5 per cent (compared to the standard 7 per cent) during the 2006-2013 MTSP period.

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Thematic contributions to MTSP focus areas and huma nitarian response, 2013: $359 million

Due to the extraordinary response to the funding appeals for the Syrian crisis and for South Sudan in the latter half of the year, two fifths of thematic funding in 2013 was for humanitarian response, with the majority of contributions made to the new 2014-2017 thematic funding pool which opened on 1 October 2013. Total thematic funding for the five MTSP focus areas in 2013 was $211 million, 6 per cent more than the corresponding amount in 2012. This narrow funding base continues to be a challenge for UNICEF, as resources and efforts have necessarily shifted to preparing project proposals and reporting for earmarked contributions. The thematic funding received for basic education and gender equality in 2013 represented a decline of 9 percent decline relative to the 2012 contribution of $122 million, the most significant drop in contributions since the pool’s peak of $129 million in 2010. In 2013, 85 per cent of the contributions were from Governments, 14 per cent from National Committees for UNICEF, with private sector fundraising by field offices and Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi accounting for the remaining 1 per cent. Norway was the largest thematic resource partner for this focus area, providing 77 per cent of thematic funding, followed by the Republic of Korea, Brazil, the Norwegian Committee for UNICEF, Sweden and Luxembourg. Norway has been the largest supporter of basic education and gender equality throughout the 2006-2013 MTSP period, with contributions reaching $646 million, more than twice the thematic contributions received from all other resource partners combined. Continuing the previous years’ trend, Sweden, Brazil, Luxembourg and several National Committees for UNICEF continued their commitment to this focus area.

Basic Education and Gender Equality

$112m — 31%

Child Protection from Violence, Exploitation and Abuse

$17m — 5%

Young Child Survival and Development

$64m — 18%

Policy, Advocacy and Partnerships for Children's Rights $8m — 2%

HIV/AIDS and Children

$10m — 3%

Humanitarian Response

$148m — 41%

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Thematic contributions by resource partners to basi c education and gender equality, 2013

Resource Partner Type Resource Partner Amount (in US$)

Government

Norway 85,470,000 Republic of Korea 4,493,556 Brazil 2,842,260 Sweden 1,400,429 Luxembourg 1,017,638

National Committee

Norwegian Committee for UNICEF 2,199,587 Swedish Committee for UNICEF 1,987,077 Korean Committee for UNICEF 1,585,014 Dutch Committee for UNICEF 1,365,824 Italian Committee for UNICEF 1,012,247 United States Fund for UNICEF 1,005,462 Belgian Committee for UNICEF 675,529 Spanish Committee for UNICEF 611,030 Australian Committee for UNICEF Ltd 574,463 French Committee for UNICEF 565,121 German Committee for UNICEF 560,148 Danish Committee for UNICEF 442,357 Czech Committee for UNICEF 435,294 United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF 353,006 Finnish Committee for UNICEF 318,175 Polish Committee for UNICEF 263,575 Austrian Committee for UNICEF 235,892 Japan Committee for UNICEF 194,557 Canadian Committee for UNICEF 173,594 Portuguese Committee for UNICEF 161,057 Turkish Committee for UNICEF 131,461 Hungarian Committee for UNICEF 123,900 Hellenic Committee for UNICEF 84,515 Irish Committee for UNICEF 73,218 Slovakian Committee for UNICEF 55,921 Icelandic Committee for UNICEF 27,580 Israeli Fund for UNICEF 25,192 Swiss Committee for UNICEF 23,985 Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF 20,759 New Zealand Committee for UNICEF 4,558

Private Sector Field Office Fundraising

UNICEF China 297,569 UNICEF United Arab Emirates 88,280 UNICEF Croatia 68,967 UNICEF Thailand 62,306 UNICEF India 44,347 UNICEF Malaysia 41,014 UNICEF Romania 25,347 UNICEF Bulgaria 17,240 UNICEF Algeria 12,437 UNICEF South Africa 3,174 UNICEF Dominican Republic 2,828

UNICEF Russian Federation (14,114) Other Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 401,768 Grand Total 111,565,141

Negative amounts are due to adjustments to contributions from previous years.

48

Top 15 resource partners to thematic Focus Area 2: Basic education and gender equality, 2006-2013*

Resource Partner 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total 2006-2013

in US$ thousands

Norway 72,129 83,216 64,340 77,870 80,645 91,695 90,926 85,470 646,291

Spain 6,345 14,749 32,384 29,586 25,413 (291) 108,186

Sweden 13,590 13,693 15,332 11,094 10,143 11,721 9,371 1,400 86,344

Korean Committee for UNICEF 600 853 584 765 915 11,412 2,008 1,585 18,722

Brazil 100 485 3,012 2,623 2,793 3,086 3,445 2,842 18,386

Luxembourg 948 1,200 2,118 1,969 1,050 1,056 996 1,018 10,355

United States Fund for UNICEF 342 495 406 1,165 643 1,106 1,463 1,005 6,625

Italian Committee for UNICEF 868 1,296 16 26 1,955 45 1,012 5,218

Spanish Committee for UNICEF 362 331 7 303 1,180 1,016 1,216 611 5,026

United Kingdom Committee for UNICEF

353 524 136 218 362 1,809 1,316 353 5,071

Republic of Korea 4,494 4,494

Dutch Committee for UNICEF 175 233 581 1,031 1,011 1,366 4,397

Danish Committee for UNICEF 274 507 602 785 487 543 564 442 4,204

French Committee for UNICEF 17 11 2,089 73 1,153 565 3,908

Denmark 618 1,378 881 281 215 3,373

*Change in accounting policy from United Nations System Accounting Standards to International Public Sector Accounting Standards on 1 January 2012 does not allow comparisons between 2012 figures and prior years.

49

Top resource partners to thematic Focus Area 2, Bas ic education and gender equality, 2006-2013*

*Change in accounting policy from United Nations System Accounting Standards to International Public Sector Accounting Standards on 1 January 2012 does not allow comparisons between 2012 figures and prior years.

Financial implementation In 2013, UNICEF expenditure in focus area 2: basic education and gender equality was $712.6 million, representing 19.9 percent of the organization’s total programme expenditure.

Expenditure by funding type for basic education and gender equality, 2013

Funding type Expenditure (in US $ million) Expenditure (%)

Regular resources 137.0 19.2%

Other resources–regular 452.0 63.4%

Other resources–emergency 123.5 17.3%

Total 712.6 100%

This reflects an increase in expenditure compared with the $604.5 million spent on focus area 2 in 2012. However, expenditure on basic education and gender equality held relatively steady as a percentage of total programme expenditure, at 19.9 per cent in 2013 as compared with 20.6 per cent in 2012.

- 100 000 200 000 300 000 400 000 500 000 600 000 700 000

Norway

Spain

Sweden

Korea NC

Brazil

Luxembourg

United States NC

Italy NC

Spain NC

United Kingdom NC

Republic of Korea

Netherlands NC

Denmark NC

France NC

Denmark

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

In US$ thousands

50

Total expenditure by MTSP focus area, 2013 (all fun ding sources)

MTSP focus area Expenditure (in US $ million) Expenditure (%)

Young child survival and development 1,991.8 55.5%

Basic education and gender equality 712.6 19.9%

HIV/AIDS and children 111.9 3.1%

Child protection: preventing and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse

399.3 11.1%

Policy advocacy and partnerships for children's rights 294.6 8.2%

Other 77.4 2.2%

Total 3,587.5 100%

Total expenditure by MTSP focus area, 2013 (in US$ millions)

Total expenditure: $3,587.5

Young Child Survival and Development

56%

Policy Advocacy and Partnerships for Children's Rights

8%

Other — 2%

Child Protection: Preventing and

Responding to Violence, Exploitation and Abuse

11%

HIV/AIDS and Children — 3%

Basic Education and Gender Equality

20%

51

Total expenditure by region and funding source for basic education and gender equality, 2013

Region Regular resources

Other resources (regular)

Other resources (emergency)

Total expenditure

Total expenditure (%)

(in US$ millions)

Eastern and Southern Africa 35.7 145.8 27.4 208.9 29.3%

West and Central Africa 42.3 90.9 20.8 154.0 21.6%

South Asia 20.0 51.0 15.7 86.7 12.2%

Middle East and North Africa 8.6 40.4 42.5 91.5 12.8%

East Asia and the Pacific 12.8 58.5 2.5 73.7 10.3%

UNICEF headquarters (HQ) 9.0 12.5 -.9 20.7 2.9%

Latin America and the Caribbean 4.8 30.3 8.2 43.4 6.1%

Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

3.9 22.5 7.4 33.7 4.7%

All regions 137.0 452.0 123.5 712.6 100.0%

Expenditure by region and funding source for basic education and gender equality, 2013

ESAR WCAR ROSA MENA EAPR HQ TACR CEE/CIS

Regular resources Other resources (regular) Other resources (emergency)

52

Expenditure by key result area for basic education and gender equality, 2013

Key result area Expenditure (in US $ million)

% of focus area expenditure

KRA 1 - Support national capacity increase children's access to quality early childhood care and education in order to improve children's developmental readiness and to ensure that children start primary school on time, especially for marginalised children

73.0 10.2%

KRA 2 - Support national capacity to reduce gender and other disparities in relations to increased access and completion of quality basis education (including transition from pre-primary and primary to post-primary)

133.6 18.8%

KRA 3 - Support national capacity to improve educational quality and increase school retention, completion and achievement rates

380.5 53.4%

KRA 4 - Restore education after emergencies and in post-crisis situations following sudden onset humanitarian crisis and/or during protracted crisis

111.6 15.7%

Cross cutting* 13.8 1.9%

Total 712.6 100%

*Figure includes funds used in a cross-thematic manner or to cover operational costs. Without such cross-thematic and operational usage, outcome area results would often be compromised or not achieved

Future workplan The UNICEF overall impact on basic education around the world is dramatic and impressive. UNICEF succeeded in getting and keeping key issues, such as early learning, girls' education and EiE on the global policy agenda. In partnership with UNESCO, the World Bank and GPE, among others, UNICEF successfully advanced the education field’s ability to plan and programme for more equitable, evidence-based education. Because of UNICEF support, millions of children, particularly girls, attend safer, healthier, more child-friendly schools around the world. Additionally, UNICEF efforts ensured that millions of children received education support even while they were living in and through conflict and crisis. The year 2013 was particularly crucial for the education sector as development partners and Governments worked to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, reflect on why targets were missed and start to plan the way forward. UNICEF led in each of these areas while continuing its work at country level to make significant improvements under each KRA. Still, UNICEF had mixed success in achieving key targets in each KRA and has been taking steps to strengthen its work going forward. These efforts, particularly in 2013, illustrate how UNICEF continued to reflect on what works, to be critical when it fell short and adjust and improve its work to ensure better education outcomes for all children. Going forward, under the Strategic Plan, 2014-2017, UNICEF will contribute to shaping a future vision for education that is more sharply focused on equity – ensuring that all children, regardless of their circumstances, have equal opportunities in education; and learning – ensuring that children secure such basic skills as literacy and numeracy, and a wider range of social, emotional, and cognitive skills necessary to equip them to not only survive but thrive in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Equity and learning will be pursued simultaneously.

53

On a country-by-country basis, children with the lowest learning opportunities will be identified and strategies developed to support them into learning, recognizing that poverty, rural location, gender, ethnicity or having a disability all remain significant barriers to quality education. In countries where girls’ education lags behind that of boys, there will be an increased focus on strategies to improve regular attendance and learning outcomes of girls, from early childhood through to adolescence, in line with the UNICEF Gender Action Plan. UNICEF will seek to increase participation in school of the children from the lowest poverty quintile as an indicator of education equity, recognizing that education net attendance rates of the poorest quintile are below 80 per cent in over half the countries where UNICEF works. Equity and learning will also be pursued in humanitarian contexts, which account for half of the world’s out-of-school children. In all circumstances, UNICEF will work with partners to support schools that are safe, child-friendly and inclusive, with learning at the centre. Programming in 2014-2017 will underscore the importance of multiple and alternative pathways to accessing and completing education for disadvantaged and marginalized children and youth, recognizing that children and youth need an education that will equip them with the skills and capabilities to decipher and shape a world in which knowledge is global, but experience is local. In order to achieve this vision, UNICEF will work at community, national and global levels to improve the enabling environment for education, through support to standard setting, policy development, data, knowledge management and capacity-building. Particular attention will be paid to improving the monitoring of learning outcomes. UNICEF will seek to increase demand for good-quality education and strengthened accountability between communities, including children and adolescents, and service providers. Delivery of education services including through intersectoral programming, will be undertaken in targeted areas and emergency situations. UNICEF will place increased emphasis on strengthening monitoring and evaluation, and through its programming, generate new and robust evidence on innovative, scalable and cost-effective strategies to improve education outcomes for the most marginalized children. UNICEF will focus on results in the following areas:

a. Early learning : essential foundations for the future; b. Equity : with a focus on girls’ education and inclusive education; c. Learning : child-friendly schools and improving learning outcomes; d. Education in emergencies: emergency and disaster preparedness and building

resilience. Key implementation strategies will include:

a. Sector analysis, planning and monitoring : UNICEF will support upstream work with Governments and in coordination with other development partners, so that government education plans are based on evidence and data, meet the needs of disadvantaged children and are supported coherently by UNICEF and other partners. UNICEF will support countries to undertake risk assessments and put in place mitigation measures that contribute to conflict prevention and citizen’s ability to recover from natural and man-made disasters. In GPE partner countries, UNICEF will play an active role in local education groups, and support processes to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of education sector funding to achieve maximum results for children.

54

b. Partnerships : Working in partnership is an essential strategy for the UNICEF education programme. Priority will be given to those partnerships with genuine potential to accelerate education results for the most vulnerable children. Existing and potential partners include national and local governments, NGOs and civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, bilateral donor agencies, United Nations agencies, the academic community and the private sector. Critical partnerships include those with GPE, Educate A Child, UNGEI, Global Education First, Global Partnership for Children with Disabilities, the Global Education Cluster and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. UNICEF will continue to work with the wider United Nations system to shape the post-2015 development agenda for education.

c. Strengthening data and evidence : Education data – especially on learning outcomes – are weak, which undermines the ability to report results and to enhance social accountability at school level. UNICEF will seek to strengthen the relationship between interventions and results, through generating and using more robust evidence of what works in education, having strong baselines and improving the monitoring/tracking of programmes in order to report on achievements in both development and humanitarian contexts. Lessons from critical programmes such as the PBEA work will inform future programming.

d. Intersectoral approaches : the education programme will seek intersectoral linkages where they will contribute to the overall achievement of the Strategic Plan. This will include holistic approaches to ECD, contributions to the Gender Action Plan, and work with communication for development in increasing demand for and utilization of education services.

e. Innovation – including but not only technology – has the potential to accelerate education outcomes for children, strengthen education systems, create efficiencies and transform experiences for learners. There have also been a great many failures in education innovation, which is a necessary part of innovating, but can be costly, so it is important to learn from past failures. The UNICEF approach to innovation in education will stem from the ability to develop local solutions to local problems, assess potential against global prior experience, incubate, test and support to scale. Central to this approach will be the need to design interventions so results can be accurately measured.

f. Service delivery : in targeted areas, and humanitarian situations, UNICEF will work with local partners to deliver education services to vulnerable and excluded groups. This will include the provision of essential materials, training of teachers and day-to- day support for formal and non-formal education settings.

g. Technical capacity : UNICEF has approximately 600 staff working on education programmes at any one time. The ability to deliver on the UNICEF education programme depends heavily on the technical expertise, knowledge and experience of staff to advise Governments, work with partners, manage programmes and report on results. New challenges within the education programme – particularly around use of data and evidence, sector analysis and monitoring learning outcomes, and the increased demand for EiE – will require new and existing staff to invest in professional development. Key strategies will include developing and rolling out a small number of ‘flagship’ development courses; technical guidance, face-to-face and web-based training; facilitating peer reviews and knowledge exchange; and new knowledge management tools. There will be up-front investment in increasing the talent pool of qualified candidates available for posting across UNICEF education programmes.

55

Expression of thanks UNICEF expresses its sincere appreciation to all resource partners which contributed to the work on basic education and gender equality throughout the 2006-2013 MTSP period through this thematic funding window. It is because of thematic funding that UNICEF has been able to provide technical, operational and programming support to countries in all regions both for upstream work, to improve education systems, and the more targeted and strategic interventions that help to deliver quality services to marginalized children and communities. Thematic funding provides greater flexibility, longer-term planning and sustainability of programmes. It reflects the trust resource partners have in the capacity and ability of UNICEF to deliver quality support under all circumstances and has made possible the results described in this report. Special thanks go to the Government for Norway for its partnership and consistent and generous contributions to achieve results in basic education and gender equality.

56

ACRONYMS

ABL Activity-based learning CFS Child-friendly schools DfID United Kingdom Department for International Development DRR Disaster risk reduction ECD Early childhood development ECE Early childhood education EFA Education for All EiE Education in emergencies ELDS Early learning development standards EMIS Education Management Information System ESP Education sector plan GBV Gender-based violence GMR EFA Global Monitoring Report GPcwd Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities GPE Global Partnership for Education IBE Intercultural bilingual education IDP Internally displaced person INEE Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies KRA Key result area LMTF Learning Metrics Task Force LSE Life-skills education MoRES Monitoring Results for Equity System MRM Monitoring and reporting mechanism MTSP Medium-term strategic plan NGO non-governmental organization OOSCI Out-of-School Children Initiative PBEA Peacebuilding Education and Advocacy in Conflict-Affected Contexts Programme SEE Simulations for Equity in Education SMQ Specific monitoring questions UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNGEI United Nations Girls' Education Initiative USAID United States Agency for International Development WASH Water, sanitation and hygiene YAG Youth Advocacy Group (of the Global Education First Initiative)

57

Endnotes 1 Of the 157 UNICEF-supported programme countries, 125 reported education activities through including organizational targets

from the MTSP, with an additional 17 reporting substantial education activities in their 2013 annual reports, bringing the total to 142 countries. The remaining 15 countries either had very limited or no education activities.

2 Uwezo 2011, Early Grade Reading Assessment 2009; ASER 2011

3 Global Partnership for Education Board paper; data Strategy for Improved Education Sector Planning and Monitoring November 2013

4 EFA GMR 2013

5 IDMC (2007) Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and Developments in 2006, April 2007. Geneva: IDMC. Available at http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/%28httpInfoFiles%29/9251510E3E5B6FC3C12572BF0029C267/$file/Global_Overview_2006.pdf

6 EFA GMR 2013/4

7 www.unicef.org/gender/gender_66021

8 For this particular specific monitoring question, 157 countries received support through CFS initiatives during the year.

9 At the end of the first MTSP period (2002-2005), UNICEF developed the new MTSP for 2006-2009 (subsequently extended to 2013) which included basic education and gender equality among its five focus areas. This focus are has four KRAs: (a) improve children’s developmental readiness to start primary school on time; (b) reduce gender and other disparities in relation to increased access, participation and completion of quality basic education; (c) improve education quality and increase school retention, completion and achievement rates; and (d) restore education in emergencies and post-conflict situations. Each KRA has organizational targets (OTs) which support achievement of the KRA results, which are measured by the indicators in the specific monitoring questions (SMQs) against each OT.

10 For monitoring progress against the MTSP, UNICEF uses an in-house questionnaire (Annex A of the country office annual report) which asks specific monitoring questions against progress of OTs to be answered by UNICEF country offices. The SMQs are the source of most information on the key results. Other achievements give examples of numbers reached in efforts to expand coverage during MTSP.

11 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2013, 5(3): 27–40, Bringing Education to Afghan Girls: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Village-Based Schools† By Dana Burde and Leigh L. Linden.

58

Annex A MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management I ndicators

KEY RESULT AREA 1:

KRA 1: IMPROVE EARLY LEARNING

MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management Indicators Global Summary - 2005 (baseline) to 2012

Basic data - Number of countries

UIS Data

(Global figures)

Organizational target Indicators SMQ#

Specific Monitoring Question /

Management Indicator

Year Total responses

Net Total responses (not counting "n/a"

or "Not Known")

Yes No Partially Not Applicable

Not Known / No Data

% 'yes' of Net Total

responses / Total

Rate

1. Increase to at least 60%, by 2015, the proportion of countries with appropriate policy, legislation and budget allocations aimed at universal school readiness

1.1. Proportion of countries with universal school readiness policy

9a Is there a national policy on universal school readiness?

2013 157 157 81 40 36 0 0 52%

2012 155 155 73 43 39 0 0 47%

2011 156 156 71 47 38 0 0 46%

2010 146 146 65 45 36 0 9 45%

2009 148 148 61 53 34 0 7 41%

2008 146 146 50 72 24 0 9 34%

1.2. Number of countries with quality national standards and assessment tools for monitoring school readiness.

9b

Are there national standards and

assessment tools in use for monitoring school readiness?

2013 157 156 64 50 42 1 0 41%

2012 155 154 63 52 39 1 0 41%

2011 156 155 60 56 39 1 0 39%

2010 146 145 63 50 32 1 9 43%

2009 147 146 51 65 30 1 8 35%

2008 146 146 45 75 26 0 9 31%

2. Increase coverage of children attending any form of organized early learning by at least 20% (over baselines of 2009) by 2013.

2.1. Adjusted Net intake rate for primary education (disaggregated by sex)

UIS, most recent data (estimated)

2011 Male 86%

2011 Female

85%

2011 Total 86%

2005 Male

85%

2005 Female 84%

2005 Total 84%

2.2. Proportion of children aged 3 – 6 years attending some form of organized early learning

Proxy indicator - GER Pre-primary, UIS most recent

data.

2011 50%

2005 40%

59

KEY RESULT AREA 2:

KRA 2: EXPANDING BASIC EDUCATION

MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management Indicators Global Summary - 2005 (baseline) to 2012

SMQ Data - Number of UNICEF programme countries UIS Data (global figures)

Organizational target Indicators SMQ# Specific Monitoring

Question / Management Indicator

Year Total responses

Net Total responses (not

counting "n/a" or "Not Known")

Yes No Partially Not Applicable

Not Known / No Data

% 'yes' of Net Total

responses / Total

Rate or Index

3. Reduce proportion of primary-school-aged children who are out of school by at least 80%.

3.1. Net enrolment rate and net attendance rate for primary and secondary schools (disaggregated by gender and other disparities).

Net enrolment rate, primary, total

UIS, most recent data

2011 89%

2005 87%

Net attendance rate, primary, total

Childinfo.org, most recent data

2005-2010* 80%

Net enrolment rate, secondary, total UIS, most recent

data

2011 63%

2005 58%

Net attendance rate, secondary, total

Childinfo.org, most recent data

2007-2010* 51%

3.2. Number of countries that have developed policies accompanied by concrete strategies /mechanisms and adequate budgets to address cost and other barriers to primary education.

17

Has the country put in place legislation

policies/guidance and budget to address

barriers at the family level related to

school fees to other costs to primary

education?

2013 155 132 73 27 32 9 14 55%

18i

Has the country developed policies,

accompanied by concrete

mechanisms and adequate budgets, to

address cost and other barriers to

access by families to primary education?

2012 155 151 74 20 57 4 0 49%

2011 156 149 68 24 57 7 0 46%

2010 146 142 63 26 53 4 9 44%

60

4. Increase transition rates for girls and boys in primary to post-primary education, with a focus on disadvantaged children, in order to achieve 80% transition rate by 2013.

4.1. Transition rate of girls and boys from primary education to secondary education.

UIS, GMR 2012 & 2009

2009 Male 93%

2009 Female 97%

2009 Total

95%

2005 Male 92%

2005 Female

94%

2005 Total 93%

4.2. Enrolment, attendance and completion rates in secondary education (disaggregated by sex).

Gross enrolment rate, secondary UIS, most recent

data

2011 Male 72%

2011 Female 69%

2011 Total

71%

2005 Male

66%

2005 Female 63%

2005 Total 65%

5. Improve the gender parity index in primary and secondary education, to be on course for achieving full parity by 2015.

5.1. Gender parity index (at primary and secondary levels).

GPI for gross enrolment rate,

primary UIS, most recent

data

2011 97%

2005

95%

GPI for gross enrolment rate,

secondary UIS, most recent

data

2011 97%

2005 95%

5.2. Number of programme countries with education sector plans that aim to reduce gender and other disparities.

Does the national education sector plan

include specific measures to reduce gender disparities?

2013 157 150 102 14 34 7 0 68%

10

2012 155 148 103 18 27 7 0 70%

2011 156 150 102 18 30 6 0 68%

2010 146 138 90 19 29 8 9 65%

2009 147 135 93 17 25 12 8 69%

2008 147 134 87 25 22 13 8 65%

2007 144 135 74 37 24 9 11 55%

2006 134 123 68 33 22 11 20 55%

2005 133 119 58 40 21 14 21 49%

6. Increase proportion of grade 1 cohorts (especially girls) who reach at least the last grade of primary school to 90% by 2013

6.1. Survival rate (cohort flow) of boys and girls to the last grade of primary school.

UIS, most recent data

2010 Male 74%

2010 Female

76%

2010 Total 75%

* Data refers to the most recent year available during the period specified. See: http://www.childinfo.org/education_netattendance.php & http://www.childinfo.org/education_secondary.php

61

KEY RESULT AREA 3:

KRA 3: STRENGHENING QUALITY EDUCATION

MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management Indicators Global Summary - 2005 (baseline) to 2012

Basic data - Number of countries Additional calcula tions for selected questions

Organizational target

Indicators SMQ#

Specific Monitoring Question /

Management Indicator

Year

Tot

al

res-

pons

es Net Total

responses (not counting "n/a"

or "Not Known")

Yes No

Par

tially

Not

A

pplic

abl

e

Not Known / No Data

% 'y

es' o

f N

et T

otal

re

spon

ses

Ave

rage

Med

ian

(for

se

lect

ed

indi

cato

rs)

High Low

No.

at

zero

N

o. e

qual

to

or g

reat

er

than

50%

No.

equ

al to

or

gre

ater

th

an 7

5%

No.

at

100%

7. Increase to 60% by 2015 the number of programme countries with national quality standards for primary education based on ‘child-friendly schools’ (CFS) or similar models.

7.1. Number of programme countries adopting quality standards for primary education, based on CFS or similar models.

12

Has the country adopted quality standards for primary education based on “Child-Friendly Schools” or on similar models?

2013 157 154 94 16 44 2 1 61%

2012 155 153 85 19 49 2 0 56%

2011 156 153 88 20 45 3 0 58%

2010 146 146 80 23 43 0 9 55%

2009 147 147 69 29 49 0 8 47%

2008 147 147 61 43 43 0 8 41%

2007 143 142 62 35 45 1 12 44%

2006 134 133 54 36 43 1 20 41%

2005 133 132 43 55 34 1 21 33%

7.2. Number of programme countries with education sector plans that address issues of children affected by HIV and AIDS by 2011.

11a

Does the national education sector plan address issues of children affected by HIV and AIDS?

2013 157 151 58 61 32 6 0 38%

2012 155 150 58 57 35 5 0 39%

2011 156 151 56 60 35 5 0 37%

2010 146 141 49 61 31 5 9 35%

2009 148 142 50 62 30 6 7 35%

2008 146 142 35 76 31 4 9 25%

7.3. Number of countries undertaking gender audits of education sector plans (increase from 10 in 2008 to 40 by 2011).

11b

Has the country undertaken a gender audit of the education sector plan in the last five years?

2013 157 152 34 101 17 2 3 22%

2012 155 153 38 100 15 2 0 25%

2011 156 153 32 102 19 3 0 21%

2010 146 143 31 98 14 3 9 22%

2009 148 144 27 103 14 4 7 19%

2008 145 141 22 106 13 4 10 16%

7.4. Number of countries with policy and enforcement procedures against corporal punishment in schools.

18g

Is there a national policy against corporal punishment in schools?

2013 157 156 112 27 17 1 0 72%

2012 155 154 106 30 18 1 0 69%

2011 156 152 103 29 20 4 0 68%

2010 146 143 93 30 20 3 9 65%

2009 148 145 92 34 19 3 7 63%

2008 146 144 79 50 15 2 9 55%

18h

If yes, are there active enforcement procedures against corporal punishment in schools?

2013 157 135 56 41 38 22 0 41%

2012 155 127 54 35 38 28 0 43%

2011 156 125 55 32 38 31 0 44%

2010 138 117 55 31 31 21 17 47%

2009 145 107 48 30 29 38 10 45%

2008 141 91 49 23 19 50 14 54%

62

7.5. Number of countries with environmental education or climate change adaptation plans integrated into national curricula.

18e

Have environmental education or climate change adaptation plans been integrated into the national school curricula at the primary level?

2013 157 156 84 18 54 1 0 54%

2012 155 154 90 19 45 1 0 58%

2011 156 154 81 24 49 2 0 53%

2010 146 145 73 28 44 1 9 50%

2009 148 147 66 41 40 1 7 45%

2008 143 134 47 49 38 9 12 35%

7.6. Proportion of primary schools with adequate water supply and sanitation facilities for girls and boys (in 60 WASH priority countries).

18a

What is the estimated proportion of primary schools with adequate water supply?

2013 157 133 1 23 69% 100% 3% 0 102 69 29

2012 155 130

0 25

71%

100% 5% 0 102 68 29

2011 156 130 0 26 71% 100% 9% 0 100 69 31

2010 110 110

45

70%

100% 4% 0 85 54 28

2009 98 98 57 65% 100% 0% 4 71 45 23

2008 89 89

66

63%

100% 0% 6 62 38 21

18c

What is the estimated proportion of primary schools with adequate sanitation facilities for girls?

2013 157 124

0 33

67%

100% 4% 0 87 56 29

2012 155 124 0 31 68% 100% 5% 0 92 58 29

2011 156 123

0 33

67%

100% 5% 0 88 61 31

2010 99 99 56 67% 100% 5% 0 73 45 28

2009 84 84

71

64%

100% 0% 4 60 38 23

2008 76 76 79 59% 100% 0% 6 47 31 21

18d

What is the estimated proportion of primary schools with adequate sanitation facilities for boys?

2013 157 125 0 32 68% 100% 5% 0 91 56 29

2012 155 126

0 29

69%

100% 5% 0 93 59 29

2011 156 124 0 32 68% 100% 6% 0 91 63 31

2010 100 100

55

68%

100% 6% 0 75 45 28

2009 84 84 71 64% 100% 0% 4 59 37 23

2008 72 72

83

59%

100% 0% 6 46 30 20

8. Promote school and community based assessment services and support development of national standards for numeracy, literacy and life skills-based education (LSBE).

8.1. Number of countries which have produced and used community-based learning assessments.

FA2.19

n206

Does the local community participate in assessing learning in schools?

2013 155 138 18 90 30 2 15 13%

2012

2011

2010

18j

Has the country produced and used community-based learning assessments?

2012 155 146 11 123 12 7 2 8%

2011 156 147 9 119 19 9 0 6%

2010 145 140 11 111 18 5 10 8%

63

KEY RESULT AREA 4:

KRA 4: RESTORING EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES

AND CONFLICT

MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management Indicators Global Summary - 2005 (baseline) to 2012

Basic data - Number of countries Additional calcula tions for selected questions

Org

aniz

atio

nal t

arge

t

Indi

cato

rs

SM

Q#

Spe

cific

M

onito

ring

Que

stio

n /

Man

agem

ent

Indi

cato

r

Yea

r

Tot

al

resp

onse

s

Net

Tot

al

resp

onse

s (n

ot c

ount

ing

"n/a

" or

"N

ot

Kno

wn"

)

Yes

No

Par

tially

Not

A

pplic

able

Not

Kno

wn

/ N

o D

ata

% 'y

es' o

f Net

T

otal

re

spon

ses

Ave

rage

Med

ian

(for

se

lect

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9. In humanitarian situations, girls and boys access safe and secure education and critical information for their own well-being.

9.1 Number and proportion of school-aged girls and boys, including adolescents, accessing formal and non-formal basic education (including temporary learning spaces, play and early learning opportunities for young children)

701o

Estimated number of targeted school- aged children including adolescents accessing formal and non-formal basic education (including temporary learning spaces and play and early learning for young children)

2013 157 52 105 0 68 938 12 110 576 707 0 3 584 769

2012 155 49 106 0 72 608 25 741 764 649 199 3 557 788

2011 156 46 110 0 190 635 34 979 3 072 000 500 8 769 231

E.4p n710

Number of school- aged children including adolescents targeted to access formal and non-formal basic education (including temporary learning spaces and play and early learning for young children)

2013 157 51 106 0 96 559 15 000 600 000 0 4 924 525

2012

2011

Estimated % of targeted school- aged children including adolescents accessing formal and non-formal basic education (including temporary learning spaces and play and early learning for young children)

2012 155 42 113 0 61% 63% 100% 3% 27 19 10

701p 2011 156 37 119 0 72% 80% 100% 8% 29 20 11

9.3 Number and proportion of girls and boys, including adolescents and children with disabilities, with access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in their learning environment.

Estimated number of targeted children with access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in their learning environment

2013 157 43

114 0

62 270 12 440 582 325 0

2 677 616

701q

2012 155 47

108 0

59 720 19 200 480 000 50

2 806 817

2011 156 38 118 0 269 865 14 619 6 403 744 501 10 254 877

701r

Estimated % of targeted children with access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in their learning environment

2012 155 42

113 0

65% 62% 100% 7%

32 16 10

2011 156 33 123 0 67% 80% 100% 8% 24 17 10

64

NON-ALIGNED QUESTIONS:

NON ALIGNED QUESTIONS

MTSP Specific Monitoring Questions and Management I ndicators Global Summary - 2005 (baseline) to 2012 Basic data - Number of countries Additional calcula tions for selected questions

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FA2.4

11

Does the national education sector plan include specific measures to reduce other relevant disparities (e.g. due to poverty, ethnicity, disability, as relevant)?

2013 157 157 132 8 17 0 0 84% 2012 155 154 128 8 18 1 0 83% 2011 156 152 122 6 24 4 0 80%

2010 146 144 116 5 23 2 9 81% 2009 147 144 121 4 19 3 8 84% 2008 147 144 110 9 25 3 8 76% 2007 144 141 86 18 37 3 11 61% 2006 134 130 75 16 39 4 20 58% 2005 134 128 74 20 34 6 20 58%

FA2.5 202

Does the national education sector plan include specific measures on inclusive education for children with disabilities? (If yes or partially, please briefly describe measures in the 'remarks' column)

2013 155 139 78 22 39 0 16 56%

FA2.6 n

203

Does the country have a policy that children should be taught in their mother tongue language in the early years of school? (If yes, please comment on UNICEF’s specific contribution in the ‘remarks’ column)

2013 156 135 53 58 24 7 14 39%

FA2.8 14 Is there a formally-recognized United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) partnership in the country?

2013 157 137 38 86 13 20 0 28% 2012 155 136 39 83 14 19 0 29% 2011 156 136 43 80 13 20 0 32%

2010 146 127 44 70 13 19 9 35% 2009 147 128 42 70 16 19 8 33% 2008 147 125 41 66 18 22 8 33% 2007 142 120 37 68 15 22 13 31% 2006 137 116 37 71 8 21 17 32% 2005 137 116 34 74 8 21 17 29%

FA2.17 18k Estimated number of schools that received support through the Child-Friendly School initiative during the year, associated with the work of UNICEF

2013 157 96 61 0 8 225 240 470 000 2 789 598 2012 155 103 52 0 5 980 270 470 000 2 615 935 2011 156 106 50 0 5 462 231 470 000 1 578 994 2010 89 66 6 439 204 470 000 1 216 555 573 043

FA2.18 200

Does the country have policies or measures to address suspected abuse, sexual harassment, violence and bullying? [Placeholder field starting in 2012, data field for previous year(s)]

2013 2012

2011 156 148 52 36 60 6 2 35% 2010

FA2.18a 200a

Does the country have policies to address suspected abuse, sexual harassment, violence and bullying?

2013 157 154 77 28 49 2 1 50% 2012 155 150 67 29 54 3 2 45%

65

FA2.18b 200b

Does the country have measures to address suspected abuse, sexual harassment, violence and bullying?

2013 157 154 64 29 61 1 2 42%

2012 155 149 57 29 63 2 4 38%

FA2.19

208 Does the country have a policy that pregnant girls and young mothers can continue their education? 2013 155 135 49 56 30 3 17 36%

gh Does the country guarantee that pregnant girls and young mothers can continue their education?

2012 155 142 59 53 30 7 6 42%

2011 156 139 48 59 32 11 6 35%

FA2.18

205

Does the country have national standards for literacy (reading and writing)? 2013 155 143 86 37 20 1 11 60%

FA2.6

Does the country have a policy that children should be taught in their mother tongue language in the early years of school? (If yes, please comment on UNICEF’s specific contribution in the ‘remarks’ column)

2013 155 134 53 57 24 7 14 40%

FA2.18 205

Does the country have national standards for literacy (reading and writing)? 2013 155 143 86 37 20 1 11 60%

FA2.20 Does the country have life skills education in the national curriculum? 2013 155 146 80 28 38 3 6 55%

E.4r

711

Number of children targeted to access safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in their learning environment 2013 157 43 114 0 87 581 14 900 719 600 0 3 765 982

E.4aa Number of teachers trained as part of emergency education response (i.e. emergency education, life skills and classroom management etc.)

2013 157 36 121 0 978 178 8 015 15 35 198

E.5c

80c

Did the Country Office lead or co-lead Education sectors/clusters in the reporting year? 2013 157 78 55 20 3 79 0 71%

E.6c Where UNICEF is leading/co-leading a cluster, does the office have a full-time dedicated Cluster Coordinator (without UNICEF programme responsibilities) in Education ?

2013 157 63 12 46 5 94 0 19%

E.7c 82c

If yes to E.6, and for newly activated or re-activated Education cluster/sector coordination mechanisms only, how many days (from the official activation date) did it take for a UNICEF cluster coordinator to be put in place?

2013 157 12 145 0 3 0 30 0 11

66

Annex B — Additional Expenditure Analysis — Global programmatic expenditures in education, 2013

proportions of programmatic expenditures globally o n thematic areas in 2013

Areas of Expenditures and %

Specific Intervention Codes (SIC) covered by catego ry

Child-friendly schools, 20%

Child-friendly schools including safety in schools; Education for children with disabilities; Community involvement in and participatory school management

Out-of-school children 10%

Support to alternative learning opportunities for out- of-school and excluded children; Support for parent, adult and female literacy programmes; Support to school fee abolition initiative

Girls’ education, 6%

Girls’ basic education; UNGEI; Violence in schools including gender-based violence.

Note: Gender is mainstreamed through all interventi on areas.

Early learning, 10%

Support to school readiness; Community-based early childhood care and education; Develop standards and assessment tool to monitor school and developmental readiness; Support organized early learning for children below age 6 years; Support for early learning programmes from regional offices and headquarters

Teacher training, 10%

Teacher training and support for basic education; Education technology and other learning/teaching resources for education; Learning achievement standards

Education Sector Plan, 7%

Support to poverty reduction strategy/ medium-term expenditure framework and Education Sector Plans

WASH in schools and health education, 14%

School sanitation, water supply and hygiene education; School health, nutrition, food and other non-education interventions; School health, nutrition, food and other non-education interventions; Life skills based education including HIV prevention

Education in Emergencies, 14%

Education preparedness plan in humanitarian action; Education interventions for out-of-school children in humanitarian response and post-crisis recovery; Life skills for adolescents, young children and care-givers in humanitarian response and post-crisis recovery; Education Cluster coordination in humanitarian action; Peace education

Staff and Operational costs, 8%

Staff costs (including specialists, managers, temporary appointments and consultancies); Operating costs to support for multiple organizational targets within Focus Area 2 (Basic Education and Gender Equality)

Other costs, 1%

Support for Education programmes from regional offices and headquarters; and support to communication for development interventions for multiple organizational targets within Focus Area 2 (Basic Education and Gender Equality);

WASH in schools and health education

14%

Early Learning — 10%

Out Of School Children — 10%

Girls Education

6% Education in Emergencies — 14%

Staff and Operational Costs

8%

Child Friendly Schools

20%

Other Costs

1%

Teacher Trainings

10%

Education Sector Planning

7%

67

Annex C Appraisal of Evaluation Studies in 2013

ANNEX C: Appraisal of Evaluation Studies in 2013

Country Year Title Thematic Areas Types of Evaluation

Quality of Evidence on Impact of Programme

Comment

High Low Min

Azerbaijan 2013 "Out of the Box": A Formative Evaluation of Active Learning Policy and Practice.

Teacher training Policy level analysis x

It has a high evidence on the policy level analysis and low evidence in the impact evaluation. There are no baseline data for the outcome measures. Impact evaluation

X

The Gambia 2013 Evaluation of the Gender Training for Teachers and School Management Committee Members in Upper River Region.

Teacher Training (gender) Impact evaluation

X

There are no baseline data for the responsiveness of the teacher force or girl's access to schooling. The sample size is too small for an impact evaluation.

Global 2013 Evaluability Assessment of the Peace-building, Education and Advocacy Programme.

Education in Emergencies Impact evaluation

x

The conclusion that the programme cannot be evaluated is based on the finding that programmes have not started their implementation yet. Contrastingly, the evaluability of the programme is high if implementation has not started yet because a baseline is possible.

Iraq 2013 Improving Access to Quality Basic Education in Iraq: Mid-Term Evaluation.

Child Friendly Schools (Revision of Curriculum)

Process evaluation

x The sampling strategy has been biased by the security situation and sampling choices of the Ministry of Education in Iraq.

Lao People's Democratic Republic

2013 Education Sector Development Plan 2011-2015: Review and Update Final Report.

Education Sector Planning Descriptive studies

x

The conclusion is not based on careful data analysis: this is not a study and/or an evaluation.

Serbia 2013

Final Project Evaluation: Expanding Early Learning Opportunities for Vulnerable Children.

Early Learning Impact evaluation

x

It does not use a comparison group without participation in and/or access to the programme.

Somalia 2013

Integrated Capacity Development for Somali Education Administrations (ICDSEA) Programme: Final Evaluation Report.

Capacity Development

Process evaluation

x

It has a high evidence of policy analysis. The implementation of the scholarship programme for girls was not addressed. It does not report the percentage of girls participated in the scholarship programme.

Policy level analysis x

South Africa 2013 Formative Evaluation of Textbooks and Workbooks.

Distribution of Textbooks and Workbooks

Process evaluation x

It has a high evidence of policy analysis. The workbooks and textbooks as an effective tool for teaching. Almost 75 percent of the teachers indicate that the students use the workbooks every day.

Turkmen-istan 2013 Turkmenistan Child-Friendly School Initiative. Child Friendly Schools

Process evaluation

x

The researchers collect qualitative data but the sampling strategy has been determined by the Ministry of Education and was thus not based on methodological criteria. Policy level analysis x

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