This project supports UNICEF in strengthening the Ministry of Education and Human Development’s capacity to implement its gender equality strategy to address gender barriers and sexual and reproductive health and rights in education. Project activities include: (1) training of up to 100 education officers, planners and staff responsible for promoting gender equality in order to address gender barriers in education; (2) developing guidelines on menstrual hygiene management and providing gender-appropriate sanitation facilities in up to 28 targeted schools; and (3) mobilizing up to 500 communities in Tete and Zambezia, two of the poorest provinces with a significant number of school-aged children, to reduce gender-based violence, foster safe learning environments and combat child, early and forced marriages.
The expected outcomes for the project include: (1) increased capacity of up to 100 education officers, planners and staff responsible for promoting gender equality at the national, provincial and district levels to address gender issues in education; (2) increased mobilization of up to 500 school communities in Tete and Zambezia to address issues of early pregnancies, early marriages, and gender-based violence; and, (3) improved access to sanitation facilities and menstrual hygiene management in approximately 28 schools to increase retention of girls.