SFS kick-starts Mobile library project in Puntland
Somalia has recently been referred to by The Economist as “the worst place in the world to be a woman,” and by Save the Children’s Child Development Index as “the worst place in the world to be a child.” From the very start of their lives, girls are locked out of obtaining the basic health and education services they need to survive. The figures speak for themselves thus SFS recognizes the need to advocate for the empowerment of youth, especially girls and it will do so in this project in partnership with Relief International. While targeted schooling children’s access to quality education is low, pastoralist girls’ participation and achievement in education is significantly less than those of boys. The rural learners often have no access to library (15% of pastoralist women have not attended formal schools5). The net primary attendance ratio for girls is 10%, lower than anywhere else in the world6. Simply stated, inclusive and quality education for girls in Puntland is direly needed to address this gap, SFS proposes to use a gender-sensitive approach to all components of its proposed programming, paying close attention to specific barriers that discourage girls’ education (safety, distance, sanitation, etc). This approach would therefore help achieve UN’s Millennium Development Goal #3 (Women Empowerment), in addition to Goal #2 (Universal Primary Education).
The project will target the most marginalized girls – specifically girls in IDP camps, in urban slums, in rural areas, and in locations where minority clans congregate. In some cases, we will look inside and outside these population clusters to find individual girls who are being further marginalized – such as the disabled and the orphaned.
The project will also engage the parents and community stakeholders to give the girl-child the appropriate library materials both printed as well and services for the overall growth and development of the personality of the targeted children as an individual.
SFS will be utilizing the existing education structures in these regions in order to maximize the desired goals of the providing access to credible, quality of information services and also winning the heart and minds of the target children of these communities by increasing the reading culture.
The purpose of the project is to assist the Ministry of Education (M.o.E) in managing the huge financial, infrastructural, human and material resources and the logistical implications of working towards a fully functional library and information service for schools by piloting mobile library for the targeted schooling children. In addition to the move to increase access to mobile library and information services, its SFS commitment to increase access to high-quality learning materials; starting by providing textbooks/reading resource for every learner/child in schooling system of the targeted schools.
The project will conduct the following as benchmarks;
I. Community mobilization and sensitization Campaigns in collaboration with MoE and parents/guardians and all education stakeholders towards improvement of literacy level in targeted school in Garowe and Galkacio.
- Improve access and quality of education of the targeted school-going children through promotion of reading culture and reading skills.
- Mould a well informed, knowledgeable and responsible leaders of tomorrow who alone will be able to contribute to progress and advancement of better Puntland through inculcating ICT lab construction
The project will therefore benefit two regions of Puntland (Garowe and Galkacio). These two regions have big land coverage and are predominately inhabited by urban poor, IDPs, Coastal (Fishermen-Eyl) and pastoralists with majority of these communities having families with each an average number of six children in the household who need to access to improved and quality education regardless of their geographical location, economic status and clannish.
The mobile library will target all school-going children who include, children from the targeted regions who are in the schooling system. In addition, girls are also targeted by this innovative project to enhance inclusive and gender mainstreaming.
Parents/guardians are also targeted by the project because parental Illiteracy have negative consequences on the whole family, for this reason, a parent that hasn’t received an education, is not able to promote reading culture/habit within his/her family thus there is need to bring them board to improve reading skills of their schooling children.
- Adventist Development and Relief Agency
- Books For Africa
- Counterpart International
- Diakonia, Sweden
- Education Development Center
- International Labour Organization
- National Endowment for Democracy
- State of Minnesota Department of Human Services
- UN Political Office for Somalia
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- United Nations Population Fund
- World Movement for Democracy