The Back2School Project: Scaling an accelerated learning model for out-of-school girls in rural communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania

Despite worldwide commitments to provide universal primary and secondary education, there has been little progress in reducing the number of out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa. This issue is expected to be further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic with many children not returning to schools. It is particularly prominent among rural girls who — facing cultural, systemic, and structural barriers — either never enroll or drop out before completing their education.

The Back2School Project will address this issue among girls in rural communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania by refining the accelerated learning model for out-of-school children called Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET). The project will review and improve the COBET model, generate evidence about the effectiveness of its key elements across the three countries, and produce knowledge about how the key elements could be adapted and scaled in Ethiopia and Kenya.

This project is part of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, a joint endeavour between IDRC and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to strengthen national educational systems in GPE member countries.