This week marked the culmination of many working sessions between the Ministry of Education, Unicef and our partner Ahdieh Foundation in elaborating a National programme to enhance the quality of education in the Central African Republic. For more than 15 years, our partner Ahdieh Foundation has been engaged in a process to search for a better response to the moral and intellectual educational needs of the people of the Country. Over the years, they gained several insights into areas such as raising consciousness in a community about the nature of education, training new teachers, establishing community schools, adding new grade levels each year, and building capacity in a community to sustain the livelihood of teachers and manage and administer a growing school.

Photos after the validation of tools for community engagement around schools based on the experiences of the Ahdieh Foundation. Director of Cabinet of the Ministry, school inspectors, Unicef, Director Ahdieh.

The Ministry of Education, having witnessed the impact of the foundation’s efforts and particularly how community schools have persisted and flourished over the years despite the many challenges, called on our partner to learn more about their approach. A special point of interest has been learning how communities can be mobilized in order to support the moral and intellectual education of their children. This joint collaboration with Unicef resulted in a curricular package for preschool. Several presentation meetings took place in the course of the week and a ceremony for the presentation of the curriculum was held today in Bangui.

Ceremony for the presentation of the curriculum. 

This collaboration with the Ministry and Unicef is the latest in a process in which Ahdieh is engaged to participate and contribute more systematically to the conversations taking place at the national level about primary education.