Project
Regular Programme
The programme supports the Ministry of Education (MoE) mainly in two areas: a) strengthening the MoE’s position in relation to the teacher professional development; and b) enhancing the capacities of the youth in peace education.
Strengthening the MoE’s position in relation to the teacher professional development
Till date, UNESCO Kabul Office was successful in responding to the request from the MoE, to provide technical support in the development of three position papers related to the Quality Section of the Teacher Policy. Namely, the position papers were developed for, a) teacher competencies and credentialing system, b) teacher assessment and appraisal, and c) academic supervision. The positions papers provided policy recommendation for the MoE in relation to the quality section of the teacher policy. Taking the recommendations into account, the MoE finalized the teacher policy.
UNESCO will continue providing technical support to the MoE based on the emerging need related to the sector-wide policy and planning. This support will contribute to UNESCO’s global C/5 Expected Result 1: Sector Wide Policy and Planning, improved national education policies and plans to advance access to equitable and quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), primary and secondary education through a system-wide lifelong learning approach.
UNESCO consulted development partners, including the World Bank, in developing the three position papers related to the teacher policy. Since the development of the teacher policy was a prerequisite for the disbursement of the funds related to the Disbursement-Linked Indicator (DLI) 4 of the programme, the insights from the World Bank as well as other stakeholders were key in making the policy recommendations to the MoE. Separate ad-hoc meetings were held in the process to seek inputs and insights from the development partners.
Enhancing the capacities of the youth in peace education
UNESCO Kabul Office in collaboration with (UNAMA) is implementing Local Peace Initiatives (LPI) in Fayzabad and Herat on peace education in collaboration with local universities. The initiative aims to develop capacities of local youth/students at the universities on peace education and thus promote social cohesion in the society.
The country has a youth bulge and the youth might be more vulnerable to a narrative inclined towards violence and competition among scarce resources. It is important to channel the energies of youth to the all-important agenda of peace in the country.
The LPIs are based on a Training of Trainers (ToT) model, whereby UNESCO Kabul Office would train a group of selected university professors and lecturers as trainers in each university, who would then run capacity development workshops with university students/youth. The trained youth would then engage in debates, interactive activities and some action projects to concretise their learnings. The project will culminate in a Peace Conference or Festival at each university to share the final outputs of the project. University professors and lecturers are expected to continue to develop capacities of youth to continue to engage in peace activities at the local level.
The project was initiated in June 2021 with a training needs analysis of the youth and university teachers. UNESCO develops a training module for youth and a Training of Trainers (ToT) module for university professors and lecturers taking into consideration the ground realities and the conflict situation in the country. The training modules aim at building a comprehensive understanding of peace with aspects like understanding the concepts of identity and values, conflict resolution skills including dialogue, inner and outer peace. It also trains university professors and lecturers basic facilitation skills. ToTs will be delivered in the third quarter of 2021 with the Peace Conference/Festival being organised in the fourth quarter.
While UNAMA is the major partner, the project is being executed in close cooperation with , , , Office of the Provincial Governors, the provincial Departments of Hajj and Religious Affairs and local civil society organisations. A collaborative effort with all partners will help deliver an enriched and multi-faced project to the youth of Afghanistan.
Based on the evaluation of these LPIs in terms of its impact and the lessons learnt, the vision is to design a large-scale project on engaging youth in peace education, in partnership with UNAMA and other relevant UN agencies. The plan is to scale up the LPIs to other cities in Afghanistan, thus making the youth a major stakeholder and contributor to peace in the country.
