Reem Abbas Despite several challenges this year, the UNICEF-led school enrolment campaign for children has been very successful in Gedarif State, in eastern Sudan. The campaign was also an opportunity for UNICEF and Ministry of Education to mobilize the communities to send and keep children in schools.  “We engaged all communities, neighbourhood-based communities, women committees and community leaders. And they helped us tremendously with the registration process," says Yahya Adam, a coordinator from the Ministry of Education and Guidance in Gedarif State, who was part of the team that worked on the school enrollment campaign.  But a successful enrolment campaign can also be a burden, as the large number of registered children must be absorbed into the school system. Communities across the state are stepping up to be part of the solution, with some opening Alternative Learning Programme (ALP) classrooms through fundraising with UNICEF to provide learning supplies, training of teachers and learners textbooks.  Improving access to quality education and protection for out-of-school children with a focus on girls  Since 2018, UNICEF has worked with the Federal Ministry of General Education to implement its Education Sector Strategic Plan (2018–2023) towards achieving education for all and realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 5. This specific project – Improving access to quality education and protection for out-of-school children with a focus on girls – aims to increase access to learning and life skill opportunities and realize the protection for at least 16,000 children aged 6 to 14 in Eastern Sudan.  The project targets sixty disadvantaged communities across all three states of Eastern Sudan, Kassala, Red Sea and Gedarif, considering their low school enrolment and high dropout rates.  The project has so far targeted 30 schools with functioning ALP centres in some of the most vulnerable communities, using a whole child approach. This approach leverages UNICEF experience across different programmes to provide children and their communities with integrated services across education, water and sanitation and child protection.    Ninety (90) ALP facilitators were trained on ALP curriculum delivery and another 40 teachers on child-centred teaching methodologies. The trainings built the capacity of participants in classroom management, COVID-19 safety and prevention measures for children and participatory teaching methodologies.    The ALP is an alternative venue of learning for children and adolescents who missed the opportunity to join schooling or have left the official school system at some point, including children affected by emergencies and conflict.  Sudan has increased the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for basic education from 71.1 to 73.5 per cent between 2009 and 2018, with UNICEF and partners increasing efforts to achieve and sustain Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Education for All (EFA).  “The GER in basic education has been stagnant around 73% for several years due to structural issues in Sudan.The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis have made progress difficult, but we understand the challenges and design the programmes factoring them in,” said Abdel Rahman El Rehiema El Dood, an Education Specialist at UNICEF Sudan.   The project is designed to get children into school or ALP and keep them learning. This is achieved through several ways.  “We invest in the school environment, community empowerment and in training teachers to make the school a better learning environment. We also invest in students by providing them with education supplies and school uniforms,” said Abdel Rahman.  Education supplies are crucial to lessening the burden of families facing a deteriorating economic situation. In addition to education supplies, UNICEF works with the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide nutritious meals for students.  In Eastern Sudan, the number of students starts decreasing from upper grades of 6,7 and 8, as boys drop out to support their families through employment and girls due to child marriage.  The project addresses these barriers impacting girls by raising awareness on the importance of education and advocating against child marriage through school activities.   “Engaging directly with the community is important because it gives us data on child marriage and this allows us to tailor our interventions to be specific to their challenges,” says Yahya.  Through this project, UNICEF reached 6,000 children in Eastern Sudan with essential supplies. UNICEF has so far provided 300 education kits to students and 60 kits to teachers as well as 60 recreation kits and 3,000 school uniforms. This in addition to 1,750 dignity kits which includes buckets, soap and menstrual hygiene management items including multi-purpose cloth and pads, for girls. Changed with below.  Through this project, 2,681 out of school children (54% girls) were enabled to access education in schools and ALP.  By the end of the two-year project, 16,000 vulnerable out-of-school children in Gedaref, Kassala, and Red Sea states, especially girls, will have increased access to quality education and life skill opportunities in child-friendly, protective environments in regular basic schools and ALP centres.  The improving access to quality education and protection for out-of-school children with a focus on girls project is only possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of Canada.  

Khartoum Abdulrahman Al Duma spent much of November harvesting sesame and peanuts on her farm in the Darfur region in Sudan. In Darfur, land can be hard to sow, parts are semi-arid and prone to droughts, which are becoming worse amid the climate crisis. The region has been beset by conflict for the past two decades, compounding the challenges for its inhabitants. But Al Duma's crop turned out to be a bumper one. That's thanks in part to training she received under an initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Called the Wadi El Ku Catchment Management Project, it trained Al Duma and dozens of other women on how to harvest, store and market their produce. For women in the region, many of whom have been widowed due to the conflict, peanuts and sesame flowers are an important source of income. We believe knowledge is our weapon to fight climate change. Mariam Abubakr, Wadi El Ku project team "After selling our products and getting the money we have many things to do, including sending our children to school and starting a small business," said Al Duma. The training she received was part of a larger UNEP effort to create economic opportunities in Darfur, especially for women, and to help the region cope with a fast-changing climate. Perched on the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert, in a region known as the Sahel, Darfur has seen rainfall dwindle in recent years. The Wadi El Ku project, which is concentrated in a river valley near the city of El Fasher, has also supported the construction of weirs to conserve and regulate rainwater. In existence since 2014, the project has won plaudits for supporting local livelihoods and reducing conflict between nomadic livestock herders and farmers. "Women are able to make a difference in several fields, including agriculture. But they need support and empowerment," said Mariam Abubakr, part of the Wadi El Ku project team. "We believe knowledge is our weapon to fight climate change and harvesting season proves that. I'm glad to see these women reap the fruits of their effort." In 2020, more than 60,000 native seedlings were planted in the region to act as a buffer against the desert. Project teams also helped residents build weirs, or low dams, to conserve rainwater and protect against flooding. More recently, teams worked in the villages of Ed-Elbaida, Bahr-Omdurman, Sag-Elnaam, Wad-Kuta and Wada to train women in modern farming techniques. The women are working a 30-acre plot of land donated by local sheikhs. The project helped get the farms up and running, preparing land, providing ploughs, and donating groundnut, sesame and sorghum seeds. That support helped the women-led farms weather a dry growing season better than many in their area. "We have acquired new agricultural skills and practices through the season, and we are committed to train other women during the next season," said Abdelrahman The Wadi El Ku Catchment Management Project is funded by the European Union and implemented by UNEP in partnership with the Government of Sudan and the non-governmental organization Practical Action.

By Ararat Babayan in El Geneina, Sudan  Mukhtar Ahmed smiles proudly as he stands in the middle of a lush, green garden. The 47-year-old Sudanese looks content with the thriving greenery around him that he tends to carefully every day. He works as a gardener at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s compound in El Geneina, in Sudan’s West Darfur state. He got the job just in time, after his contracts with UNAMID – the previous UN mission in Darfur – and War Child, ended. “I never received any special gardener training. I just happen to know a lot about plants since I was a child,” he says with a smile. Working here has been refreshing for Mukhtar who has spent years living in uncertainty due to the recurrent bursts of violence and fighting in West Darfur, causing him to be displaced thrice in the last 20 years. “A lush green garden can offer peace of mind and a welcome relief during turbulent times.” Currently living in a site for internally displaced people (IDPs) in El Geneina, the father of 12 was first displaced in 2000, when conflict drove him from his home in Kuka village, east of El Geneina, to Chad. They returned to Sudan in 2001 and settled in Zahawa village in West Darfur, where Mukhtar started teaching in an elementary school. In 2004, his family was displaced again after the conflict in Darfur erupted, this time to Krinding IDP camp in El Geneina. “I struggled to find a job because there were none,” he recalls. “I didn’t complete my university as I didn’t have money for fees and this made the search for work even harder.” He found odd jobs now and then, even working as a translator for a BBC film crew at one point. He later found work with various NGOs in the State such as HelpAge International, War Child and UNAMID, working as a community worker and a field officer in Azernei and Jebel Moon localities. After his contracts ended, he returned to El Geneina, unemployed. Unfortunately, Krinding IDP site was attacked by armed men in January this year, forcing Mukhtar and his family to flee to the relative safety of the urban center in El Geneina, seeking refuge in schools, government offices and other places. Their current stay in the State’s Youth Ministry IDP center is barely ideal as the centre is congested and the security situation in the area remains precarious.  “The situation is unpredictable, but people are trying to cope and live as normally as possible,” he says, adding that the community has established an IDP committee, with Mukhtar as its secretary. Sudan hosts about 3 million IDPs, majority of them concentrated in the five Darfur States. West Darfur has particularly witnessed recurrent sparks of intercommunal violence since the start of the year, displacing about 300,000 people across 40 different locations. According to IOM’s latest data, there are over 115,000 displaced people in nearly 100 temporary sites in public buildings such as schools in El Geneina town and its outskirts. Together with the local authorities and partners, UNHCR is prioritizing security and peacebuilding efforts to prevent further tensions among communities and to avoid violence hampering projects. As a fragile calm return, around 1000 families have gone back to Krinding and more are ready to return, once they receive the necessary support. Mukhtar is hopeful that things will get better and that his children, including himself, will be able to return to school. “It’s not too late for me. I wish for a chance to finish university. I believe that educated communities can find a way to settle their differences and live in harmony. This is the way to move our country forward.” For now, he finds solace in his gardening. “Jasmine is my favorite plant, with its delicate fragrance and elegant white and yellow flowers,” he says. “I feel that a lush green garden can offer you peace of mind and a welcome relief during turbulent times.”

By Josephat Mukhanji Tucked away in a remote village in El-Radoum village in South Darfur state in Sudan is Beliel Mixed Basic Education School. Established in 2018 to cater to about 100 students, the school now boasts of 783 students, including 124 South Sudanese refugees and 430 IDP children.   “My education was disrupted when I left South Sudan. I was in grade 1 when we left. After I arrived here, I stayed out of school for one year. Then I heard representatives from the government and UNHCR announcing that refugee children could join Beliel Mixed Basic Education School.  That was a new beginning for me because I believe it is only through education that I that I can change my life. If I go back to South Sudan, I will have my education. If Sudan remains my permanent home, the education I receive will help me adjust to life here and find something productive to do to make my own life and that of my family and community better,” says Nasra Rizig, a seventh-grade student refugee student at Beliel Mixed Basic Education School.  The school faced serious challenges especially in staffing. “The government doesn’t have enough teachers to teach all the children. The school cannot do so because we cannot afford it,” says Sharaf Salih Adam, the school principal and teacher of mathematics and science. To address the gap in teaching staff, the school has recruited other teachers who are paid through the fees paid by students. But the fees are not enough to cover other school expenses like buying teaching and learning material and supplies and other running costs. “Many times, there is failure to pay the teachers. Like many other schools in Sudan, this leads to absenteeism among teachers. Many teachers also quit to look for other jobs with guaranteed salaries, even if it’s less than what we were paying. Many children also drop out when they come to school and there are no classes,” adds Sharaf. “In a week I would miss over five lessons because the teachers were not in school. I used to hear that it was because the school was not paying their salaries. These days the absenteeism among teachers has reduced and we learn better. I thank whoever has stepped in to address the situation,” observes Nasra. With funding from the European Commission, UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education, UNHCR and the Commission for Refugees is implementing Integration and mainstreaming of refugee children into the Sudanese education system (IRCSES) and improving the quality of education which is a project to support three refugee and IDP hosting schools by paying the salaries for 55 teachers in Elradoum and Beliel localities in South Darfur. The schools are host to over 1,500 students comprising of 1,139 refugees, 430 IDPs and 229 host community children. In addition, the schools will benefit from school infrastructure development, provision of scholastic material and other supplementary teaching and learning resources, training of teachers and school committees to build their capacity to provide quality education in an inclusive, safe, and protective environment. “We thank UNICEF and the European Commission for supporting us to pay salaries for teachers in these schools and ensure that emergency-affected children are able to access uninterrupted quality education services,” noted Abdalla Salih Al Tahir Amir, the Director of the Emergency Education in South Darfur Ministry of Education in Nyala.   There are still challenges because teachers are still under-paid, and the salaries are not equal across “We hope the government will take over the payment of salaries for all teachers in all learning institutions. This way, the schools will be able to use the income from student fees to address other critical needs such as construction and repair of classrooms, purchase of additional teaching and learning material,” concludes Abdalla.