Girls' Education South Sudan Phase 2 (GESS2)

Findings from the BBC end-line survey conducted in September December 2023 indicate that the Our School radio programme reached 2.8 million people aged 15 and above with information on the benefits of education to girls and children with disabilities. Regular listeners continue to demonstrate higher levels of knowledge about education and positive attitudes towards the education of girls and children with disabilities compared to non-listeners. A total of 255 new school communities were reached through community mobilization (CM) activities in January - March 2024. The cumulative total of school communities reached since the beginning of GESS2 is 3,537. The procurement of the 2023 cash transfers (CTs) payment execution service provider was completed, with the Cooperative Bank of South Sudan emerging as the most commercially viable tender. The bank and its network of pay agents facilitated the 2023 CT payments between November 2023 and December, with some remaining schools being paid by the end of March 2024. As a result of this payment, 1,226,788 unique girls have received a GESS2 CT payment since the inception of the project's second phase. This represents 110% of the year 5 target. During the 2023 CT cycle, a total of 439,224 girls in 5,182 schools were validated in 2023 and eligible to receive the payment. Out of these, 427,534 girls in 5,153 schools were paid. Of these, 47,700 girls were candidates who received South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) 32,000, while 379,834 were non-candidates and received SSP 25,600. As a result of this payment, the cumulative CT payments issued in GESS2 to date are 2,489,507, representing slightly over 100 % of the year 5 target. Throughout 2023/2024 (year 5), GESS donors continued to fund secondary school capitation grants (CGs) despite the lack of reciprocity by the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP) in paying primary school capitation grants. It should be noted that a total of 257 secondary schools that received CGs under GESS1 have received CGs under GESS2 as well. This represents 99% the year 5 milestone. Further, approximately 237 secondary schools that have received CGs are unique to GESS2, i.e., they never received CGs under GESS1. This represents 115% of the year 5 milestone. Although the increased number of secondary schools receiving CGs demonstrates the expansion of secondary schools in South Sudan, the total number of secondary schools remains quite low, especially when compared to the number of primary schools. This significantly impacts on learners' transition from primary to secondary school as it often implies increased travel distances. During the reporting year 2023/2024 the Public Financial Management (PFM) team demonstrated notable achievements across all its sub-outputs. The team reached more State Education Transfers Monitoring Committees (SETMCs) and cascaded its capacity strengthening efforts and findings to the newly established County Education Transfers Monitoring Committees (CETMCs) with the aim to achieve greater impact of accountability at the lower levels of the education strata. The success of the programmes PFM component is attributable to closer collaboration with GESS donors and the cordial working relationship with the Ministry for General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) to the extent that MoGEI deployed its officials to support the roll out of PFM activities across the country. The GESS2 programme continued implementing Accelerated Secondary Education Programme (ASEP) in 51 schools, reaching 2,370 participants (n=763 female) enrolled in the programme, administering more than 18,258 ASEP lessons and facilitating 1,995 learners to sit for the South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education (SSCSE) examination. The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Team continued to provide programme oversight through regular visits to field locations to ensure that programme implementation remained on track. This was done through joint monitoring with MoGEI officials. The Disability Inclusion Team continued to support the mainstreaming of disability inclusion (DI) by working closely with all outputs. At the policy level, the team supported MoGEI in profiling disability inclusion at global events and in global reports. GESS continued to keep abreast of the key activities in the education sector through participation in the Education Transfers Monitoring Committee (ETMC), the National Education Cluster, Local Education Group (LEG) and collaborated with MoGEI Flagship Programmes in education, namely, Global Partnership in Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait. Engagement with flagship programmes in the education sector in South Sudan ensured improved coordination, pooling of resources as well as information sharing. The monthly meetings with consortium partners (CPs), i.e. BBC Media Action, Montrose, Leonard Cheshire, and Windle Trust International, has added value and offered dedicated time for both the GESS senior management team (SMT) within Mott MacDonald and the CPs to raise and discuss important technical, managerial, and budgetary issues. Also, the introduction of weekly security meetings with the Mott MacDonald duty of care agent, Trubshaw, has improved the State Anchors (SA) responsiveness and awareness of the security issues in their respective states. Due diligence renewal was conducted on all partners during the year 2023/2024. No significant issues were discovered, and all partners have updated their policies and insurance as required. There are several political, security, humanitarian, programmatic, fiduciary, and reputational factors affecting the Programme, for which mitigating measures have been put in place to ensure that these risks do not hinder Programme delivery. Risks have been effectively identified well in advance, avoiding potential risks from developing into situations requiring mitigation. FCDO and Mott MacDonald started discussion on a potential extension phase for GESS2 to bridge the gap between project closure in March 2024 and the start of the newly designed Education for All South Sudan (EFASS) programme. The activity period for Sida's support to FCDO and GESS2 ended on 31 March 2024. The overall GESS2 programming is soon coming to an end and indicators show that results have been achieved in a highly satisfactory manner.

The aim with this intervention is to contribute to an increased number of South Sudanese children (particularly but not exclusively girls) whose life chances are transformed through education (impact). The outcomes of the program is an improvement in girls' educational attainment from that already achieved in GESS1; building further gains on school enrollment, reducing barriers to education and promoting equity in access for all children. The outputs of the program are as follows: Output 1: Communication to girls, boys, women and men to shift attitudes and behavior related to the education of girls and children with disabilities. Output 2: Cash transfers to girls to improve enrollment, retention, transition and completion rates. Output 3: Capitation Grants to schools to improve learning environment for all learners. Output 3B: Strengthened Public Financial Management systems in the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) and improved policy formulation and implementation. Output 4: Quality of Education, Learning Groups & Resilience to contribute to improving learning outcomes. Output 5: Building a knowledge base for support to girls' education.