Better School Start - Better School Life for nomadic children

Project period:

01.10.2019 - 30.06.2025

Granted amount:

2,750,698,- DKK

Organization:

CICED

Partners:

Mongolian Association for Primary / Secondary School Development

Pool:

Civilsamfundspuljen

Grant type:

Udviklingsindsats

World goals:

Goal 4: Quality Education

Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Efforts take place in:

Mongolia

Overall targets

Herder’s children are well prepared for school and dormitory life is improved

Immediate targets

I. By September 2022 all soums in MAPSSD local branch areas have introduced home-based homebased early childhood development/ school preparation for herders’ children II. By December 2021 the social conditions and cultural learning options for children in dormitories improved III. By September 2022 MAPSSD and all 62 local branches have capacity to efficiently advocate for political and financial support to home-based early childhood development/ school preparation l preparation activities for herders’ children and for improving conditions at school dormitories

Target groups

The primary and direct target groups are: a) 5-year old children of herders’ families and their parents in 62 rural districts (soums). According to collated data there will annually for the next 3-4 years be 10,000+ five-year old children of which approximately 30% are estimated to come from herder families, i.e. 3000+ children b) Children accommodated in dormitories covered by the 62 local MAPSSD branches. According to collected data the dormitories annually accommodate a total of 3000+ children from herders’ families. Statistics show that there is close to a 50-50 gender balance for both target groups. The secondary (both direct and indirect) target groups are: a) Primary teachers/kindergarten teachers/local administration and local branch coordination committee members engaged in providing support and guidance for parents of 5-year old children. A total of 120+ teachers, primarily female. b) Dormitory teachers in charge of improving the socio-emotional conditions and general well-being and learning activities for dormitory children. A total of 60+ teachers, primarily female. c) Parents of pre-school children to receiving support and guidance in hope to improve focused home-based learning activities for their pre-school children. As education is valued highly by women and men alike, and as most families with pre-school age children have finished at least the mandatory 9-year school cycle and considering the tradition of task-sharing in Mongolian herder families, it is assumed that both mothers and fathers will be equally involved in the home-based school preparation activities. Approximately 3000+ herder families. d) Local MAPSSD branch members and local administration benefiting from involvement in capacity building conference, seminar and workshops and ongoing engagement in developing innovative early childhood care and education models and strategies. MAPSSD local branch coordination committees have in total 400+ members, around 70% female.

Resume

Nomadernes børn i Mongoliet har ingen adgang til nogen former for 'early childhood education'. Børnene er derfor 'bagud på point', når de som 6-årige starter i første klasse i skolen, der kan ligge et par dages ridt fra de græsningsarealer, hvor familien passer deres dyr. Nomadernes børn kan typisk kun komme i skole ved at opholde sig hele skoleåret (september-juni) i skolerne kostafdelinger. For de yngste elever (6-8 år) er det ofte forbundet med et stort socio-emotionelt pres. Nomadernes børn tegner sig for 80% af al skole drop-out i landet. Projektet vil i 62 af Mongoliets 330 distrikter udvikle og gennemføre bæredygtige 'home-based early childhood education/school preparation' modeller samt forbedre vilkårene i skolernes kostafdelinger for de yngste elever. Projektet gennemføres i tæt samarbejde med 62 lokale afdelinger af den mongolske partner, lokale myndigheder, skoler, forældre og andre lokale CSOere.