Introduction
IDSP was a leading national partner in a South Asian innovative joint action research venture of UNESCO for piloting the community based literacy, skill and economic empowerment education project for out of school Adolescents. IDSP was one of the leading partners in national Education Sector Reforms Program in the area of education policy and planning in 8 Districts of Balochistan. IDSP provided assistance to the District Government in developing education development plans based on the citizen’s dialogues around educational issues and participation of public representatives.
The above mentioned practices and public analysis on educational issues raised concerns for out of school children for which youth of IDSP proposed an innovative approach of learning for addressing the educational and skill needs of these groups in 2005 to Japan Social Development Fund ( JSDF) by Government of Japan administrated by World Bank. It took more than three years of communication, assessment and negotiation to reach out to a final conclusion for the approval of grant. IDSP-Pakistan is one of the grantees at regional level for this innovative project “ZAANTH” for Balochistan.
Objectives
- Create, develop and professionalize human resources required for establishing educational and training as a program for out of school children and youth in Balochistan
- Create diverse learning opportunities using non formal pedagogy and practice for out of school children and youth in Balochistan
- Establish public private partnership to create and develop systems, policies, processes and structures for educating out of schools youth and children
Project Locations:
The project is implemented in five Districts of Balochistan to establish 50 community based learning centers and 5 skills and professional development centers for excluded and out of school children and youth. Following are the selected Districts:
- Khuzdar
- Noshki
- Loralai
- Lasbela
- Sibi
Achievements
- Five Professional Learning Centers have been established in Balochistan. These centers will help educate out-of-school youth and provide them skills to earn their livelihood
- 50 Community Learning Centers have been established in five districts of Balochistan. These CLCs are located in remote and undeveloped areas where opportunities for education do not exist.
- Training programs have been conducted for the capacity building of staff, mentors and more than 100 instructors at Professional Learning Centers and Community Learning Centers. These trainings have produced a cadre of trained human resource for districts of Balochistan
- A literacy book has been developed and published which aims to innovate the literacy teaching and learning methodologies
- More than 50 Community Support Groups have been established. These groups are result of extensive community mobilization and sensitization
- Partnerships & linkages with Organizations and Government departments have been formed which will enable the better execution of project and learning / sharing of effective practices
