Community Activism for Improved Access to Quality Education and Local Accountability’ is a 12-month initiative to empower communities to raise voices for improving access to quality education, accelerate the process of community led accountability for improvement in school conditions and learning outcomes, and support community actions for enrolment of out-of-school children. The project will focus on political advocacy as a tool to invoke accountability of the responsible in the education sector.
The constitution through Article 25-A obligates the state to provide free and compulsory quality education to all children between five to sixteen years of age. In addendum to its own Constitution, Pakistan being signatory to several international commitments and treaties to achieve global development targets under education is committed to provide inclusive and equitable quality education for all by the year 2030. The dismal state of education despite commitments needs a vibrant civil society and proactive right holders at the grassroots levels.
Three-tiered social mobilisation approach of the Rural Support Programmes (RSPs) – involving community institutions from the household to union council level (COs, VOs and LSOs) – would work for social accountability through establishing ‘Parent Ittehads’ at district level.
These Ittehads would mainly work at two levels, a) they will take stock of the stakeholders i.e. grass tops to influence the education scenario of the identified supply side issues for improvement, and b) they will take stock of the education issues of the target union councils to develop ‘Charter of Demand’ (CoD). The CoD of each district will be developed on the basis of data collected by LSOs in their respective union councils.
Media (print, electronic and social) will be engaged to highlight the identified issues. Text messages to the authorities especially District Education Officers, Deputy Commissioner Offices and relevant Parliamentarians to seek attention towards pressing education issues in the constituency will be the regular feature of the project.