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The EFE programme of Ibis West Africa entered the Bole District in November 2004 with a three-fold objective of expanding access to basic education for out of school children, deepening the quality of basic education and improving governance and accountability in the basic education system. Since 2005, EFE and its partners embarked on the following projects in the two districts
The EfE programme is implementing a Complementary Education Programme (CEP) through a local Non-Governmental Organization known as Partners in Participatory Development (PAPADEV). The CEP is being implemented in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, where over 60% of children of school age are out of school.
The CEP, which is a 9-month mother tongue literacy programme, targets children who are aged between 8 and 14 years and who have never been to school. 325 children in 13 Vagla Communities are currently attending the classes.
The programme applies child-centred teaching methods, in order to equip the beneficiaries with literacy and numeracy skills to make them functionally literate thereby integrating them into the formal school system after they have been tested and certified by the Ghana Education Service.
They are being taught by well trained and motivated facilitators through a specially designed curriculum and textbooks.
The classes are held in the afternoon between 2-5pm – to allow the children to assist their parents with household chores or farming activities during the morning. Thirteen local committees, each made up of three women and two men were also set up and trained in the 13 Vagla communities to ensure community participation, monitoring and supervision.
The EfE programme is partnering the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to implement a girl child education campaign in the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts.
The EFE programme has provided financial support for the GES to embark on sensitization of 40 communities on the importance of formal education and why it is important to give formal education to girls. Presently, primary school enrolment has shot up in the 2 districts and it is not far-fetched to mention that the sensitization contributed to this high enrolment.
The programme has also supported the NCCE to conduct a study to identify the underlying causes of high school drop out rate within the 2 districts. This followed by community gatherings to discuss the findings of the study. The NCCE will soon start training of peer educators who will be used to encourage more girls to go to schools.
As a first step to address this problem, the EfE provided funding support to the GES to train circuit supervisors in the 9 educational circuits in the districts on monitoring and supervision. The supervisors have acquired new knowledge and skills and it is expected that this will help improve some of the quality problems facing basic education in the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts. The EfE programme will continue its partnership with the GES to tackle other major obstacles to quality basic education in the area.
The Ghana AIDS Commission has revealed that the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Ghana is on the increase in border towns in Ghana . Bole District shares borders with the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, and apart from this the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the district is higher than the current national average of 3.1. Statistics also show that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is very high among the youth. As a result, the EfE programme is implementing a school-based HIV/AIDS programme through its partner PAPADEV. Quizzes and debates have been organized around HIV/AIDS issues and the programme has enabled an interaction between school children and people living with HIV/AIDS. The programme is making positive impact since many school children now know that AIDS is real are beginning to make positive behavioural changes in terms of their sexual lifestyles
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In partnership with GES, the EfE programme organized a sensitization programme in 30 communities within the Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts on community people's participation in school governance and management.
On accountability, the EfE programme is supporting the Northern Network for Education Development (NNED) to improve accountability in the educational system. A civil society group known as District Education for All Team (DEFAT) has been established by NNED in the Bole District and this team has begun the work of ensuring that there is accountability in the educational system. For example, from October to December 2005, DEFAT undertook a tracking exercise on the disbursement and utilization of the capitation grant.
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