Since 2002, World Education has worked in Prey Veng Province to develop and implement interventions that aim to increase educational access and retention of vulnerable girls, children and youth aged 6 to 17 in quality education programs through the EPSSEG and OPTIONS Programs. After five years, program evaluations concluded that OPTIONS has developed effective models that have the potential for replication on a larger scale and can be sustained through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) funds.
Through the support of UNICEF, World Education implemented the one-year Quality Approach to Mainstreaming Best Practices program which focused on larger scale replication with the aim to mainstream its more effective education interventions under the national Child Friendly School framework and the national Education for All strategy.
The following results were achieved through this program:
- Gender Sensitive Responses: World Education technical teams worked with District Training and Monitoring Teams (DTMTs) to introduce and monitor gender-sensitive responses with a focus on Girls’ Support Networks as a means of addressing the high drop out and low transition rates for girls in Grades 5 and 6 in 15 clusters of twelve districts and twelve lower secondary schools
- Local Life Skills: WE technical teams worked with DTMTs to introduce Local Life Skills curriculum development and teaching approach to 15 clusters in the twelve districts
- My Better Future Nonformal Education Program:WE worked with the MoEYS Nonformal Education Department and expanded the national level MBF working group. Sixteen MBF classes were implemented in two districts.
- Scholarship Support for Girls at Risk and Referral Children:Scholarship support was given to 257 students (147 girls) enrolled at the secondary level and 1,073 at-risk and referral children (990 girls) who re-enrolled in primary school for the new school year.
Activities were implemented in Prey Veng Province in twelve districts among a total of fifteen clusters of schools. Approximately 92 primary schools and twelve lower secondary schools were reached.