Innovative approaches for CBE in rural and remote Afghanistan

• In Event: Pathways to Sustainability for Community-Based Education in Afghanistan

Proposal

Throughout the last year, CRS analyzed past project results and consulted with national stakeholders to identify the most crucial changes in approach or implementation of CBE that would have the most impact on sustainability. This presentation will discuss the two most identified changes in approach and implementation: professionalization and certification for female CBE teachers from remote rural communities and an alternative to the cohort enrollment model of CBE. The discussion will include the distance and financial barriers that female CBE teachers have faced in accessing Teacher Training Colleges, which have prevented them from earning their teaching credentials, and challenges to the widespread model of CBE which enrolls all children aged 7-9 in grade 1, moves them through elementary school, then starts a new cohort of 7-9 year olds in grade 1 when there is a critical mass. CRS will then identify the long-term impact that these two changes could have on CBE including the possibility for professional, qualified teachers to be incorporated into the Provincial Education Department’s budgeting and planning, and the leveraging of existing structures and projects to achieve the goal of more certified teachers. CRS will conclude with a discussion of alternative implementation approaches for CBE including the development of a multi-grade approach that can be scaled up to other CBE implementers and outreach classes handed over to the Afghan Ministry of Education.

Authors

• Jason Mcgaughey, Catholic Relief Services

• MaryJo Aerts, Catholic Relief Services