COVID-19 response
Allocation: US$11 million
Years: 2020-2021
Grant agent: UNICEF
Key documents:
The US$11 million COVID-19 grant supports:
- students’ access to distance learning services during school closure (development and dissemination of print, radio, TV, online learning materials, provision of radios to households, mobile phone credit for teachers)
- a safe environment when students return to school, with school disinfection, and access to sustainable and resilient education services
- activities that benefit the most vulnerable children such as the visually and hearing impaired with Braille textbooks and sign language interpretation during lesson broadcasts
- girls through distribution of hygiene kits to vulnerable households, and help to parents in supporting continued learning at home.
These initiatives are based on the Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 response plan.
In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Côte d’Ivoire received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education. With the funds, the ministry was able to launch in a very short timeframe free courses on TV and radio.
Education in Côte d'Ivoire
As the country emerged from a period of prolonged conflict in 2011, the education system has been expanding rapidly. Over the past six years, it has been possible to increase access to schooling by simply increasing access in underserved areas.
However, as the primary system approaches universal access and, eventually, universal primary completion, it will need to significantly improve the quality of education as well as adapt the access to schooling to accommodate children who live in isolated rural communities, in “encampments” and work on plantations, or in national forests, these in addition to children who have special needs.
The country implemented a Transitional Education Plan (TEP) for the 2012–2014 period, extended its implementation through the 2015–2016 prior to the adoption of the new ten-year strategy.
The ten-year Education and Training Sector Plan (Plan Sectoriel Education/Formation 2016–2025) was appraised in 2016, adopted by the government in May 2017 and endorsed by the development partners.
The sector plan's costed multi-year action plan covers the period 2017–2020 and includes a total of 19 sources of external funding.
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The Education Service Delivery Enhancement Project (ESDEP) aims to increase access to preschool and improve learning outcomes in beneficiary primary schools in participating districts.
The project intervenes in six of the country’s 31 regions at both the preschool and primary levels. It is designed to complement two ongoing IDA-funded projects aimed at poverty reduction and social safety nets.
The project aims to bring 90 rural community preschools up to minimum quality standards, increase from 6% to 15% the proportion of second graders with “intermediate or high” scores on EGRA reading tests and from 24% to 35% on EGMA math tests, increasing the proportion of teachers applying new teaching practices.
The main indicators are disaggregated for gender, and the program activities are designed to improve gender equality at preschool, primary enrollment and primary learning outcomes levels.
Component I- Improve conditions for improved learning outcomes: (i) pilot a community-based preschool model with support for adapted training for educators and establishment and monitoring of minimum standards; (ii) in-service teacher training, pedagogical advisor support and student learning assessment to support improvements to reading and mathematics learning in primary schools.
Component II- Strengthen education sector management and accountability: (i) cash transfers to local schools to facilitate improvements and local decision-making, (ii) cash transfers to schools based on students’ performance on standardized tests, and (iii) support for targeted studies, policy notes and sector documents for enhanced capacity for education policy and service delivery.
Component III- Improve teaching and learning environment for beneficiary schools: Support infrastructure improvements in primary schools using a community-managed approach.
Component IV- Project implementation and evaluation: (i) funding of the project implementation unit, and (ii) support to evaluations both of project implementation and randomized impact evaluations.
The variable part (linked to results) of the grant is as follows:
- Equity: The share of children in preschool education who are enrolled in a community-based facility will increase from the current baseline of 1.1% in 2016 to 10.1% in 2021.
- Efficiency: The average weekly number of hours taught by lower secondary teachers will increase from 15.6 to 18.1.
- Learning: The standardized learning assessment test scores in reading and mathematics for grade 3 and grade 4 will increase from 35.6 to 50.
Grants
All amounts are in US dollars.
| Grant type | Years | Allocations | Utilization | Grant agent | |
| Multiplier | 2022 | 15,000,000 | 0 | WB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | 2020-2021 | 11,000,000 | 10,088,128 | UNICEF | |
| Program implementation | 2018-2024 | 52,100,000 | 42,237,591 | WB | Progress report |
| 2012-2017 | 41,349,656 | 41,349,656 | WB | Completion report | |
| Sector plan development | 2016-2017 | 220,219 | 220,219 | UNICEF | |
| System capacity | 2021-2025 | 700,000 | 0 | UNICEF | |
| 2022 | 112,984 | 0 | UNESCO | ||
| Program development | 2022 | 200,000 | 199,608 | WB | |
| 2018-2019 | 97,277 | 97,277 | WB | ||
| 2017-2018 | 200,000 | 170,195 | WB | ||
| Total | 120,980,136 | 94,362,674 |
As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting the Réseau ivoirien pour la promotion de l’éducation pour tous (RIP-EPT) for the 2019-2021 period.
This builds on 11 years of Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) support to national education coalitions for their engagement in education sector policy dialogue.
GPE had provided the Réseau ivoirien pour la promotion de l’éducation pour tous (RIP-EPT) with a grant from the CSEF to support its engagement in education sector policy dialogue and citizens’ voice in education quality, equity, and financing and sector reform.