The Global Partnership for Education’s Board of Directors approved a US$5.76 million grant enabling Zanzibar to strengthen its education system and give more of its children access to quality schooling.
The four-year funding will allow more children from marginalized communities to have access to quality education and is in line with Zanzibar’s commitment as part of its Education Policy and Strategic Plan and builds on the previous GPE grant that ended earlier in 2017.
“GPE has been an essential partner in Zanzibar’s educational progress since 2013,” said, Riziki Pembe Juma, Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Zanzibar. “The critical resources we receive from GPE allow Zanzibar to carry out our long-term vision to provide all our children, today and for generations to come, the schooling they need and deserve to thrive and contribute constructively to their own communities.”
Zanzibar has significantly increased its national education budget to more than 20% of the overall budget in 2016. It also enjoys strong primary retention and completion rates (89% for girls and boys), and nearly 96% of its children move up to secondary school. Enrollment in pre-primary and primary schools is near gender parity, though at the secondary school level, girls outnumber boys.
“Zanzibar’s growing commitment in recent years to educating its children has yielded tangible and encouraging results,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education Secretariat. “With this new grant, the Global Partnership for Education is pleased to help Zanzibar continue on this trajectory, as it builds a more effective and inclusive education system.”
Previous funding from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) of US$5.2 million from 2014 to 2016 contributed to the implementation of the Zanzibar Education Development Program (ZEDP), Zanzibar’s long-term education plan. The funding specifically supported the expansion of pre-primary education programs, distribution of high-quality science and math textbooks to more schools and students, creation of safe learning environments and enhanced accountability of the overall education system.
The newly approved grant, which will begin in April 2018, supports priorities outlined in a second strategic plan, or ZEDP II. It focuses on giving more children in Zanzibar two years of pre-primary education, helping schools and teachers meet inclusive education standards and expanding the use of high-quality, timely, and evidence-based education monitoring tools.
Both the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), GPE’s grant agent supervising the grant implementation, and UNICEF serving as the GPE coordinating agency in Zanzibar, have supported the GPE program, which helped to strengthen Zanzibar’s education system.
Results include the establishment of 120 community-based early childhood education centers where children learn through play and radio instruction facilitated by an instructor. GPE funding also helped train 280 mentors and more than 520 primary teachers who are now prepared to teach pre-primary classes. The program also distributed children books for pre-primary to ensure a ratio of one book for two children.
The Governments of Senegal and France will host the third Global Partnership for Education Financing Conference on February 1-2, 2018 in Dakar, Senegal. GPE is asking for US$3.1 billion in donor contributions and for commitments from developing country governments to increase their education spending to 20 percent of their overall budgets. With a full replenishment, GPE will be able to provide education support to 870 million children in 89 countries, including Tanzania and Zanzibar.
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Related content:
Photo story: How Zanzibar includes children with disabilities in its classrooms
Story: Zanzibar is investing in young learners
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Media contacts:
In Zanzibar/Tanzania: Manisha Mishra; Chief, Communications Advocacy and Partnerships; mamishra@unicef.org
In Washington, D.C.: Alexandra Humme; ahumme@globalpartnership.org
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Find more information on the work of the Global Partnership for Education in Tanzania/Zanzibar