ATIMS Project Submission Form

April, 2019

NYATEFE EMMANUEL

Support to Education Sector in Afghanistan

Project Proposal

Project Title: Promoting Financial Literacy, Tumu Sissala West

community
Region: Upper West
Sector: Education
Country: Ghana
Estimated start date: 20/07/2019
Estimated end date: 20/07/2019
Executing Agency: UNESCO
National implementing
agency: Non-Formal Education Department, Ministry of Education
Sector: Education
Sub-sectors: Capacity-building, drug control, environment, gender,
HIV/AIDS, human rights, governance, peace-building

Estimated budget GHS 1500

OVERVIEW

During the past two decades, the people in Sissala East often find themselves carrying high
amounts of loans and financial burdens. Such entanglements can hinder people’s ability to
accumulate wealth. Understanding the factors that contribute to or detract from the acquisition of
financial knowledge in the Sissala West community can help us design effective interventions to
help inculcate people of Sissala West with good financial decisions and promote financial
solidity. Financial illiteracy is not only abate in the Sissala East district, but is particularly acute
among specific groups, such as women, young people and those with low educational attainment.
Additionally, financial literacy is linked to cognitive ability, time preferences, teachers’ interest
in students, parental background, and peer characteristics. We found that both educational
attainment and cognitive ability are important determinants of financial literacy, but they are not
the sole determinants. In fact, many variables continued to be important predictors of financial

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literacy, even after accounting for education and cognitive ability in the Sissala West community.
We also found that financial knowledge among the young is strongly influenced by family
background. In view of this, we have come to the discernment that; First, financial knowledge
should not be taken for granted in the Sissala East community, even among the young. Second,
financial illiteracy is particularly severe among specific groups such as minorities and women.
young women in the Sissala East district are now more likely to have education than men and
participate actively in the labor market, yet their level of financial literacy remains very low.
Targeting financial education programs to the groups that need them most could increase their
effectiveness. Third, given the influence of parents in shaping financial literacy, initiatives such
as financial literacy courses in school may be particularly helpful for those who do not have
college-educated parents or whose parents do not have experience in financial education.

In this context, financial literacy and non-formal education should serve socially constructive
purposes to prepare Sissala West people to actively participate in the process of social, cultural
and economic development. It should contribute positively towards building a culture of
financial freedom, investment and quality financial decisions among members of the Sissala
West community. Policy makers and organizations need to rethink the role of financial literacy
education so that they impart not only knowledge and skills, but more importantly, social
inclusion. The development of the Sissala East district will require a major effort to raise the
levels of financial literacy and to convey important messages through a wide range of
information channels.

The prime objective of this project, is to help the Sissala East community to establish a program
of financial literacy education for youth and adults in the context of and as a major contribution
to the community reconstruction and development and; secondly, to help the schools in the
community frame an effective strategy to promote financial literacy and social inclusion through
formal education. The focus of the project will be to organize a monthly program that will
endeavor to inculcate financial literacy in the people of Sissala East community.

This proposed project aims at harnessing strong political support from intellectuals, politicians,
civil society, NGOs, and the international community. It will also require strong communication
and information media involvement in order to disseminate financial literacy and social inclusion
values to all sectors.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the project is to provide the basis for strengthening community capacity,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of financial literacy and non-formal education.
Specific objectives are:
 To provide, in a short period of time, the knowledge-base of financial literacy through a
yearly program for the people of Sissala East.
 To support innovative projects and programs with a view to reducing the alarming financial
illiteracy rate in the community and promote financial solidity.
 To monitor projects and programs leading to financial literacy and non-formal education.
 To help the schools in the community frame an effective strategy to promote financial
literacy.

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ACTIVITIES
In order to achieve these objectives the project will:
 by the support of financial consultants provide high education on the issue of
financial literacy to the people of Sissala East through monthly programs.

 assist the community to assess rapidly financial literacy levels and identify available
support, such as consultants, teachers and learning materials and, on the basis of this
basic information, assist the community authorities to review major policies,
approaches and strategies, and in the definition of realistic objectives to be achieved
in non-formal and adult education programs, within a fixed timeframe.

 provide technical support in designing and implementing time-bound special

programs for out-of-school girls and illiterate women, and likewise for adolescent and
adult males.

 provide technical support for strengthening capacity-building for training of all types
of financial literacy personnel, including strengthening the community capacity for
face-to-face teaching, radio, and other communication channels.
 provide technical support for the development of non-formal education, linked to
financial literacy, regarding education for health, drug and mine awareness and peace-
building.

In order to realize these objectives, the vast experience of financial institutions like the
Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) etc. will be fully
harnessed. Financial institutions will provide financial consultants who will assist with efforts
aimed at creating open learning, with particular emphasis on community programs combining
financial literacy and skills training for income generation and poverty alleviation. Particular
attention will be paid to ensure active involvement and participation of young and adult people in
the process of designing and implementation of these activities.

The project will also seek cooperation of the Chiefs of Sissala East to support the annual
program and also when necessary provide the project with need-based literacy materials.

UNESCO will assist the NFE Department of the Ministry of Education in over-all coordination
of the project activities, provide logistic support, establish a time-frame, manage project funds,
prepare training materials, disseminate information, case studies under the project activities,
organize national and sub-national technical meetings, liaise with the national authorities and
ensure follow-up activities. The involvement of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs will also be
promoted.

UNESCO will provide technical support and assist the MOE in reviewing past experiences and
on-going models of non-formal education including those in use by NGOs. It will help the
Ministry in identifying and training a core group of literacy planners and promoters with a view
to first undertake a country-wide literacy survey and then assess implementation strategies on

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making the system work particularly for out-of-school girls and women. Another critical activity
which is foreseen in this project is to explore ways and means for intensive advocacy to persuade
political leaders, policy-makers and administrators to reform the system. The core group of
literacy planners and promoters, in close cooperation with provincial decision makers and, will
be in charge of conducting the survey, undertake advocacy activities and plan the implementation
of the first phase of the literacy and NFE programme.

UNESCO will help the Ministry in promoting human rights approach by ensuring advocacy for
the right to education and grounding educational development of Afghanistan for the
marginalized within their lived realities. It will help revitalize the concept of literacy and non-
formal education and emphasize its relevance to the needs of the rural population and
specifically the excluded such as women. It will lend its support to the development of reforms,
policies and appropriate programmes complementary to the formal school system. It will help the
Ministry in identifying strategies and comprehensive approaches focusing primarily on women,
young girls, marginalized youth, people with special needs, with a permanent focus on the
complex tribal/ethnic and linguistic situation in the country.

UNESCO will assist the MOE to develop a plan for the development of community-based and
demand-driven approaches to literacy and NFE for those who missed and cannot return to formal
education due to a variety of reasons. It will assist the government in identifying policy measures
for bridging the gap between maddrasa-based and modern education system.

Based on the success of Community Learning Centres in the Asia-Pacific region (Bangkok
Bureau’s experience of CLCs in 18 countries of the Asia-pacific region, for example), UNESCO
will facilitate networking for promoting better policy dialogue and more cooperative and
collaborative approaches for eradicating poverty and reducing illiteracy, having greater impact
on the government’s decisions at the local sub-national and national levels with a focused
attention to the re-insertion of girls and women into educational life.

The project will thus consist of a national planning meeting, technical expert meeting, national
training workshops, case studies and at a later stage a national follow-up and evaluation meeting.
In summary, UNESCO’s contribution will include:

 Technical assistance for training and monitoring;

 Development and distribution of prototype training/learning materials;
 Establishment of national and sub-national networks;
 Helping with the creation of a favourable environment conducive to poverty alleviation;
promotion of informal and community-based approaches capitalizing on capacities of the
rural poor and aiming at self-reliance;
 Assistance in the development of a holistic community information system (NFE-MIS
and NFE-GIS) to enable “one-step” access to relevant data and information;
 Encouragement of bottom-up, people-centred community initiatives, alternative modes of
education (e.g. multi-purpose comprehensive community learning centres), and social
support services;

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  Harnessing the support of media such as radio, for the support and development of
literacy and NFE activities, by paying full attention to the linguistic and ethnic diversity
of the country; and
 Networking and sharing among government and non-government institutions and
community-based organizations.

Specific Activities:

 National Planning Meeting on the planning and management of literacy and NFE
programmes and activities will be organized to (i) clarify the main issues and
conceptual/operational framework of the project; (ii) share the national experience
and review the state-of-the-art of and progress made in the policies, approaches and
strategies for planning and implementing literacy and NFE programmes and activities
(frequency, quality and reliability of NFE data collection and analysis – NFE-MIS);
and (iii) initiating networking among NGOs and other NFE stakeholders.
 Identification and training a core group of literacy planners, trainers and promoters to
undertake a rapid survey i) on literacy levels (random- survey and other techniques),
if possible in all provinces and regions of the country, ii) available teacher potential,
iii) available local facilities, and iv) enlisting local support from elders and village
leaders for literacy programmes. The work results of these literacy promoters and
pioneers, especially their advocacy achievements, will be crucial for the further
success of the literacy-NFE programme.
 Scanning Exercise of already existing NFE and literacy programmes will be
undertaken to identify projects and programmes with potential for scaling up or for
dissemination of lessons learnt. Based on the scanning exercise, some selected
projects will be subject to an in-depth analysis for providing inspiration and models
for “how to do it”. The results of the survey and the scanning exercise will both be
used for assisting the national authorities with developing a realistic national literacy
plan, with short and medium term objectives.
 Technical Workshop will involve the development of a set of “guiding materials” for
training literacy personnel and community development agents in the planning and
management of integrated literacy and NFE programmes as the key strategy for value
creation for promoting democratic social cohesion, building a culture of peace,
solidarity and tolerance within a framework of multi-ethnicity and cultural diversity
and for poverty alleviation.
 Implementation of Literacy and Non-Formal Education Programmes will begin from
an early stage through support to existing innovative programmes that are willing to
work within the parameters described above, including curricula promoting social
cohesion, peace-building, health etc, and linkage to media such as radio programmes,
and with a community-based approach. The national programme will subsequently
be developed based on policy criteria developed by the Department of Non-Formal
Education.
 NFE Data Collection and Analysis mechanisms will be set up as the project develops,
but only after the initial phase of the first survey and first literacy activities have been
undertaken and concluded; it is planned to identify and train a core group of planners,
statisticians and data collectors, so as to lay the foundations for a comprehensive

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 NFE-MIS system, enabling the national NFE planners and administrators at a later
stage, to collect, assimilate, analyse and report systematically both the quantitative
and qualitative information for the planning of NFE follow-up activities at various
levels of administrative hierarchy.

An indicative time frame for the activities to be implemented during the project is shown
below.

May/June 2002 National Planning Meeting;

Training of core group of literacy planners, trainers and
promoters, and beginning of country-wide survey;
Beginning of advocacy work for literacy in provincial capitals,
joint meetings with village and tribal elders;
Establishing of literacy/NFE committees and centres in provincial
capitals.
Review of survey results, and development of framework of
literacy and NFE programme at the national, provincial and district
levels.
Cooperation with REACH and other radio-based programmes to
improve literacy/NFE messages.
Training of first batch of literacy trainers, using available learning
materials two-week courses, in all provincial capitals.
Aug-Dec 2002 Technical expert meeting for strengthening NFE Department
(Assessment of hardware, software furniture, stationery and other
logistic support), designing/redesigning the national literacy and
NFE framework, materials production and for developing
teaching-learning resources for CLCs.
Sept 2002 onwards Trial of innovative approches in selected CLCs and other literacy
centers, as identified in first survey; focus will be to multiply these
centers as much as possible.
Dec 2003 onwards Building national capacity of NFE planners, administrators,
teachers/volunteers/facilitators and community leaders.
Dec 2003 – Mar 2003 Design/redesign the national literacy and NFE framework and
develop teaching-learning resources for CLCs.
Apr 2003 Evaluation and synthesis of project activities during the first six
months. Launch of a nationwide literacy and non-formal education
programme, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education,
Department of Non-Formal Education.

OUTPUTS

The proposed project is a modest effort in analyzing and identifying critical issues and problems
related to the education of millions of children, youth and adults, particularly girls and women,
who are not or have not been enrolled in the formal school system. The project intends to provide
a first hand account of issues and challenges related to planning and management of NFE,

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identifying projects that work and can be easily scaled up and disseminated. In particular the
results and outcomes of this undertaking, linking both upstream and immediate implementation,
will include:

 The preparation of large scale project and programme proposals which are likely to
attract and mobilize sufficient funds and which will be based on (i) amore detailed needs
analysis; (ii) analysis of existing literacy/NFE mechanisms - what works in literacy/NFE
in Afghanistan; and (iii) as assessment of the capacities of Afghan governmental and non-
governmental organizations, provincial and local capacities and needs.
 An in-depth analysis of problems and issues related to access and quality of girls and
women education and innovative initiatives to be taken for their integration in the
mainstream of schooling;
 A reference document for consultation with the national planners and policy-makers,
selected academia, NGOs, private bodies, UN and other bilateral development partners
for raising and seeking technical and financial commitments;
 Multimedia literacy/training materials developed, specially by involving radio and
developing existing projects such as REACH;
 National/sub-national networks strengthened;
 Holistic information/data collected on literacy and NFE experiences and development
opportunities; locally specific development needs of the poor assessed; and
 Local and national facilitators of community-based literacy/NFE programmes trained and
retrained;
 Consolidation of on-going literacy/NFE programmes and initiating of innovative pilot
projects and a national literacyand NFE programme.

BUDGET

US $
1. National Planning Meetings 10,000
2 Training of core group of literacy planners/trainers 100,000
3 National survey and advocacy 120,000
4 Establishing provincial literacy centers 100,000
5 Review of framework of literacy and NFE programme
at the national, provincial and district levels. 10,000
6 Training of first batch of literacy trainers 90,000
7 Technical expert meeting for strengthening
NFE Department, 10,000
8 Printing and distribution of materials 300,000
9 Hardware, software, furniture, and
other logistic support toNFE Department. 120,000
10 Trial in selected CLCs and developmentof CLCs . 20,000
11. Capacity building for NFE planners, administrators,
Trainers and teachers 40,000
12. Development of NFE-MIS and NFE-GIS 30,000
13. Developing specific radio programmes for Literacy 120,000

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 14. National studies 50,000
15. Reporting and miscellaneous costs 80,000
16. Transport and security 200,000
Total (2 years): $1,400,000
Total, Year One: $700,000
Total, Year Two: $700,000
(These are preliminary estimates and are open for revision based on the negotiations with the national
authorities and the current prices and inflationary trends in Afghanistan)

.
Beneficiaries
 Basic education planners, administrators, and project managers, practitioners, trainers and
facilitators at all levels.
 Key policy decision-makers, trainers, leaders of NGOs and village elders and /or tribal
leaders who are involved in designing and implementing, monitoring and evaluating literacy
and NFE programmes
 Rural and urban poor and vulnerable, specially adolescent girls and women, and marginalised
or ex-combatant adolescent boys and men.