Meet 18 year old Pili Nyairaa one the many success stories coming out from the Mara Out of School programme. Pili lives with her grandmother who survives on cattle farming and was forced to leave school in order to help on the farm and with other household chores until 2017 when she got an opportunity to join Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET). Today, her grandmother is very proud of her performance and understands the importance of her granddaughter acquiring an education and becoming a doctor in future.
Pili is one of the many children who have been transitioned into the mainstream education and is now attending secondary school. She continues to motivate particularly girls in her village to attend COBET. The Principal of Remagwe, where Pili is a student, shared how Pili has become an active advocate for COBET, encouraging girls in her village and surrounding areas to join. At least three girls from her village have since joined COBET in 2019 due to her efforts. This shows the importance of peer to peer advocacy and how the learners themselves have an opportunity to change the lives of other children in their communities.
The journey is far from over for Pili. She notes that there are still a number of challenges that can potentially limit more girls getting access or pursuing an education. Some of the challenges that Pili raised were the distance from home to school that is quite long. She also noted the lack of role models to motivate children to attend and remain in school. She explained how most of the children do not see the value of an education and do not believe it can make their lives better.
Pili continues to bring hope and encouragement in an environment where the education of girls is not a priority. Despite the odds against her, Pili continues to persevere towards achieving her dream of becoming a doctor and appreciated the opportunity that has opened the doors to help her break out of poverty.
About the Mara out of school programme:
The Mara out of School Programme aims to get more children who have dropped out of school back into the education system. To date, the project has managed to set up a total of 421 centres in 9 Local Government Authorities in that and trained 786 teachers, paraprofessionals and government trainers on the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) and Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET) models. It successfully registered a total of enrollment of 23, 487 out of school children, of whom 28% are female (6,541) and 72% are male (16,946) and learners are transitioning to the mainstream education. The project also purchased and distributed 12,195 COBET books, 60,000 learnersâ books, 7,200 facilitatorsâ books and 8,300 teachers and learnersâ kits to COBET centres.Â
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The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trustâs goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a motherâs health and social economic conditions, the early years of a childâs life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.