Green Partners Association (GPA)

Vision

Sustainability and equity for all – building a resilient people; resilient planet and resilient profit; to enhance a society of meaningful purpose – where ‘we all’ are able to support a balance between the competing (and most often conflicting) values of socially responsible initiatives, environmental performance and economic rationality.

Mission Statement

GPA is committed towards engaging, empowering and equipping people that suffer social exclusion; people exposed to inequalities and various forms of vulnerabilities – people deprived of basic human rights, indigenous people’s rights and children’s rights.  

Our brand-principles

• Insider Mediation: our knowledge/understanding of UNDP’s recovery insider mediation is invaluable for the effective implementation of our projects in high-risk, volatile and conflict-sensitive communities
• Credible partnerships and networks: We believe in a strategy of stakeholder engagement and multi-lateral collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that address social exclusion
• Visibility: We make sure our actions and those of our partners are noticed
• Accountable: Our credibility is linked directly to our ability to take responsibility for our actions including the actions of our collaborating partners and sub-consultants. We are committed to continually implementing mechanisms to maintain high accountability and quality.
• Quality services: Our service delivery takes into account the UN principles of neutrality, humanity, independence and impartiality. Our policies of Child Protection, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Prevention against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) enable our viability and capacity to deliver services and advice that meet the specific needs of our beneficiaries with a track record of quality services.
• Capacity skills enhancement: Facilitating a learning environment and experience base for our beneficiaries and partners is a pillar of delivering quality services.
• Competent: Our partners and staff are our greatest asset and we seek only the finest, most engaged development professionals.
• Multi-disciplinary: The nature of our organizational core commitments/humanitarian work requires a diverse approach and the skills sets to address a wide number of social, economic, environmental and humanitarian issues.
• Collaborative: Collaboration is at the core of our approach to service delivery. We recognise that our ability to positively influence partners and beneficiaries is contingent on their active participation and their engagements with us which is part of the solution.
• Proactive: Conflict sensitive education is dynamic sector with ever-changing trends: our ability to recognise needs in a proactive and flexible manner has been a cornerstone to our sustainability.
• Innovative: Difficult problems require innovative solutions. We are continually assessing innovative practices and approaches, and incorporating them into our service delivery methods.
• Sustainability: We strife at enhancing sustainable livelihoods through improvement in the productive capacity of people and the natural environment in ways that simultaneously enhance a balance between the competing (and most often conflicting) values of; socially responsible initiatives, environmental performance and economic rationality.

The Team Leader of GPA is the Executive Director, with multifaceted key roles comprising;

 Developing and directing organizational strategy in ways that is aligned with its Vision, Mission and Core Values.Board governance, leadership and management: In GPA the Executive Director role is the highest position within the organization. He is the initiator, Lead Founder, vision bearer of the organization and as assigned by the board of directors he guides and lead GPA’s leadership team, ensuring collaborating in the strategic plan’s implementation

Research Team Leader: Coincidentally the Executive Director is an experienced Action Oriented Research – he trains, guides and leads GPA’s teams during related field engagements.  

Preparing comprehensive budgets: While the Programme Coordinator is charged with budgetary preparation, the Executive Director approves a comprehensive budget

Organize and manage fundraising efforts: While other staff assist with fundraising, the Executive Director oversee and fulfill vital roles outside the office and after normal business hours to identify credible sources of funds  

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Executive Director of GPA holds a Master Degree in this domain, which gives him a distinctive CSR role – Compliance with State, Local laws and regulations; environmental compliance; employee recruitment/retention; stakeholder engagements and partnership development

Between October 2020/December 2023 GPA has had the opportunity to implement at least 8 major projects – working with multiple partners including UNICEF, Ministry of Basic Education, Ministry of Basic Education, Cameroon Educational Reform Support Project (PAREC), Save the Children, Denmark, and Local Councils. Besides this GPA owns over 20-hectare agricultural project/poultry. Within this period, we have equally had the opportunity to actively participate in over 50 workshops. GPA has equally been fully engaged in the joined Rapid Educational Needs Assessment; the Joint Educational Needs Assessment, and other organizational needs assessments/surveys.

All these partnerships/participatory engagements comprised multiple projects with competing/conflicting priorities and deadlines, yet GPA has been able to keep them on track and maintaining excellent clientele (donors/partners).

Despite our staff strength in 2022/2023 of 10 administrative staff (with 6 expert professionals serving as Project Leads); 8 focal points, 64 sub-divisional supervisors and 750 community facilitators, we have been exposed to tight deadlines, looming tasks, and heavy workloads that have been very intimidating leaving Project Leads almost overwhelmed and stuck.  Ironically this has been the source of our success mystery and strength in handling competing/conflicting priorities and deadlines within our organization

Prioritization is a powerful skill that has helped us take control of our workflow and optimize efficiency and efficacy - breaking the cycle of missed deadlines, last-minute rushes, and procrastination. 

The Executive Director of GPA is highly equipped with Prioritization Skills defined as the reasoning, arguments, and tools used to decide which things to focus on and complete first – he has equally handed it down to his down-line Project Leads – making it a regular capacity-skill enhancement subject matter (during staff meetings). We consider prioritization very  invaluable to resource optimization, time management, stress reduction, quality control, professional growth, long term planning, and adaptability.

GPA’s Team Lead and supporting team members are well-positioned to effectively support the LEAP Project, given other priorities within our organization. We are not only conversant of the fact that our Team Lead and organization’s senior-level staff shall commit 3-4 hours of work per week on this research-intensive project over the course of the 12-week LEAP Project sprint, but I in my capacity as Executive Director have already prioritized this project as 'URGENT' - the most invaluable Action Oriented Research project  that will path the way for several interventions at resolving the education crisis in the conflict affected Anglophone (NW/SW) regions of Cameroon. I equally consider this project a high need to the Ministries of Basic/Secondary Education, the Cameroon Education Cluster Strategy, UNICEF, UNESCO, etc.

I am therefore prioritizing and classifying this LEAP Project at top of the list of potential projects based on its:

Urgency (with specific deadlines);

Impact/Relevance:its substantial benefits are invaluable to learning;

Dependencies:we shall be depending on external team of researchers whose timeline is already set;

Needs of clients/stakeholders: its implementation directly affects education stakeholders and;

Level of effort: tasks demand greater effort and focus.

The Executive Director of GPA shall personally lead this LEAP Project

Support conflict affected school-age children deprived of relevant learning opportunities to regain access to quality, safe and equitable learning opportunities

Providing non-formal education to conflict affected out-of-school children through Radio education program in a safe learning environment was meant to address the problem of deprivation of children from their basic right to education and restoration of human dignity in these school-age children whose well-being, security and future was already being disrupted by a ‘senseless war that unfortunately targeted education’. Unfortunately the root and immediate causes of this war were directly related to education. Since over 30 years Anglophone students and teachers have consistently agitated/protested against claims of assimilation of their Anglo-Saxon System of education by the dominant Francophone Government of Cameroon, which they often term “Francophonization” of Anglo-Saxon Educational System.

In 2016 another similar Anglophone Teachers/Lawyers strike (still over claims of marginalization and assimilation) was poorly managed by government security forces escalated into an uncontrollable crisis (till date) between State Security Forces (SSF) and Anglophone Separatists Non-State Armed (Militia) Groups backed by massive support from the Anglophone Diaspora. Unfortunately these Militia Groups targeted education on the bases that, if Anglophone education was still continuing under the Cameroon French dominant control, they would rather imposed and enforce total shut-down in schooling. Since 2017 till date the government has not been able to engage into any constructive dialogue or succeeded to protect school resumption.

According to the Cameroon Education Cluster Strategy pertaining to the conflict situation in NW/SW Cameroon (2023/2024), 1.3M children are out-of-school, with 225, 000 school-age children internally displaced; and 6,155 schools (54% schools) remaining closed. Besides the closure of schools, the war led to forced displacement of communities (including children) and insecurity that has significantly impacted access to education for children.

Evidence

1) According to a UNICEF report published in 2023, an estimated 1.3 million children in Cameroon were out of school due to the crisis, with a disproportionate number of these children located in the conflict-affected regions. The lack of access to education has wide-ranging consequences, including increased vulnerability to exploitation, limited opportunities for future advancement, and a loss of critical developmental support for children in crisis-affected areas.

2) Cameroon Ministry of Education Data: During the 2021-2022 academic year, 66% of schools in both regions were still closed, and for the 2022-2023 school year, 54% of schools still remain closed; causing the displacement of about 200,000 school-aged children, most of who remain out of school.. This data highlight the urgent need for interventions to address the educational needs of out-of-school children in these areas.

Conclusion

The Radio education program in Cameroon plays a crucial role in addressing the educational needs of out-of-school children in crisis-affected areas, offering a lifeline for continued learning and development

The Radio Education Program introduces a new approach to remote learning, breaking down barriers to education through a narrow casting that reaches even the most remote and hard-to-access constraint communities affected by the crisis. Children, regardless of their physical location or disability status, have equitable access to educational content and resources. Notably this programme is organized within neighborhoods of close proximity to accommodate both able and children living with disabilities  

The program provides a personalized learning experience for children’s interests, and learning styles. Through a variety of educational content, including lessons, quizzes, and interactive segments, the Radio Education Program engages learners in a dynamic and interactive learning process that promotes active participation and knowledge retention.  

Community Engagement and Empowerment: Beyond traditional classroom settings, the Radio Education Program fosters community engagement and empowerment by involving families, caregivers, and community members in the educational process. By encouraging participation, feedback, and dialogue, the program creates a sense of shared responsibility for education, promoting a culture of learning and support within communities affected by the crisis.

Language friendly and Inclusiveness of the programme: Besides its disability friendliness the programme has a special content for children 2-5 years – whereby their own lessons are designed in the common local language (Pidgin) understood/spoken by both illiterate/literate parents. The parents listen to these lessons and become teachers of their own children.  

Holistic Curriculum and Life Skills Development:The program goes beyond academic learning to encompass a holistic curriculum that addresses life skills, well-being, and resilience-building in the face of adversity. By integrating themes such as conflict resolution, empowerment, parental education (comprising WASH/Nutrition) the Radio Education Program equips children/parents with essential life skills.

The consequences of “school closure” in the crisis context are mitigated:  in June 2019 UNICEF observed that "Targeting of education is putting the future of an entire generation of children at risk, children who, with the right support and opportunities, can build a more stable and prosperous future." One of GPA’s major motivations to providing non-formal education to conflict affected out-of-school children was not only to provide learning opportunity (literacy & numeracy) but beyond this was to distract/disassociate children from consequences of the absence of schooling, which encompass a major security threat to schoolchildren. The absence of already deprived over 700,000 children from their essential right to education including adolescents that were already exposed to vulnerability to sexual violence, transactional/survival sex, drug abuse, child labor, child soldiers, early/forced marriage, unplanned and precocious pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Opportunity to continue schooling: Initially our Radio Education Programme was only intended to provide basic literacy and numeracy hoping that schools would resume soonest. However, by 2021 (5 years into the war) we develop a strategy to intensify learning to over-grown children so as to prepare them for national certificate exams into secondary school. Fortunately in 2022 558 boys and 725 girls competitively passed this exam. Between 2021-2023 Radio Education Programme (REP) enrolled provide learning to over 50,000 children in the North West region of Cameroon.

Formative research

Due to the unprecedented protracted crisis in the Anglophone (North West/South West) (NW/SW) Regions of Cameroon with over 4,000 schools closed in 2019, putting more than 700,000 children out of school, communities expressed their interest in the implementation of non-formal education for unschooled children affected by the crisis in these two regions. With lessons learnt about the successes of Radio Education Program in Niger, Burkina Faso, DRC, Chad and Central African Republic, GPA planned a Radio Listening Survey in 2019 as prelude to an intended Radio Education Programme for unschooled children.

With the financial support of UNICEF, GPA partnered with the Children Radio Foundation (CRF) from South Africa to conduct the first Radio Listening Survey 1(RLS 1) in December 2019 in 3 conflict affected communities in the North West Region including Mbengwi, Guzang and Bamendankwe  

1. Study Objectives

The study was designed as a user-friendly formative research tool that radio partners and community stakeholders could assist to implement. Its purpose was to better understand target audiences and caretakers’ radio listening practices, and to gather data about access to radio education in the targeted conflict-affected areas, prior to the broadcast of the radio education scripts. The set objectives for the mission were the following:  

1.1. To pilot and conduct the first phase of the audience research study to understand target audiences and caretakers’ radio listening practices and a baseline about their current access to educational information.

• Green Partners Association (local implementing partners) with the supervision of UNICEF field officer was successfully involved by CRF in a preparatory methodology training session. A review of the listenership study and pre-test questionnaires for children and parents was conducted together, with a check for sensitivity and localization of the questionnaires template.
• Local partners successfully conducted the fieldwork as researchers and CRF did the data quality control and data analysis.
• The study was successful in providing key data to support further programme decisions.

1.2. To test 3 scripts: one for 10-17 years children, another for 6-14 illiterate children (in English) and a third for parents with children under 5 years (in Pidgin).

• The series 1 “Ready to Learn” script designed for 10-17 years old children was tested
• The 2 scripts for the children were recorded in English and the one for the parents in Pidgin. The lesson one used for the testing was recorded with presenters from the Bamenda area.

in English. The Series 2 “Learning Together” targeting the illiterate children was tested in English and the Series 2 section designed for parents was tested in Pidgin

1.3. Refresh the partners on the Pilot Learning Study.

CRF organized an online (zoom) refresher training on pilot learning methodology and pre-test and post-test administration, grading, and reporting.

The study included the following key activities:

- Local partners refresher training on RLS methodology

- Fieldwork – Focus group discussions with children and parents

- Sample script pre-testing for series 1 and series 2

- Data quality control and analysis

The data collected from the Action-Oriented research/studies (summary, below) enable/motivated the mobilization of funds and provision of Learning opportunities (through Radio Education (Narrowcasting) to conflict affected out-of-school children

Series 1 script “Ready To Learn” Interest

After listening to the samples lesson, 72% of children participants found it interesting and the same percentage expressed interest in listening to such a radio education program. The majority (61%) thought that it would be appropriate to listen to it with their families.

Children’s understanding

Overall, participants demonstrated a good comprehension of the English spoken in the lesson. 72% said the English was easy to understand no one found it difficult to understand. 22% of the children found the presenters voice pace too fast while 41% found that the presenter spoke at the right pace and the rest did not have an opinion.  

Series 2 script “Learning Together”

Interest

93% of the children found it interesting while 100% of them expressed interest in listening to such a radio education program.

77% of the parents thought their illiterate children from 6 to 14 years old will understand the program and 89% of them thought the target children will like such a program.

Children’s understanding

13% of the children said the presenters’ speech pace was too fast while 74% said the voice was at the right pace.

As for the exercises, 46% of the children said they were at the right level, 7% said they were too difficult, 15% said they were easy,

89% of the parents with 6-14 years old illiterate children said their children will understand the content of the series 2 program

Parents’ series 2 script

77% of parents found the program interesting and the same percentage expressed interest in listening to that program.

89% of the parents prefer the two parts (children and parents) of the series 2 to be broadcasted separately in order to ease the learning process for children. Also, 83% of the parents understood the Pidgin spoken in the lesson that was tested.  

Conclusions

The content of the two tested series is rated interesting and easy to understand by parents

and children. The 10-17 years old children found the English in the series 1 easy to understand.

Parents and children said it is appropriate to listen to the programs together.

Children have limited access to radio programmes for children.

Radio is not very popular medium in these communities and promotional efforts or other alternatives need to be put in place in order to reach more children and parents.

Only 43% of the children have a radio set at home and 39% listen to radio. This suggests that other broadcasting options need to be explored. It can be community listening groups or radio distribution.

The respondents don’t have the habit to listen to radio in the afternoon and the morning.

They prefer the radio education programs to be broadcasted in the evening both for parents and children.

Children (Series 1 and 2) understand English and parents understand Pidgin.

The outcome of the Radio Listening Survey demonstrated a highly demanding need for learning opportunity that motivated mobilization of resources by UNICEF, planning and implementation of the first phase of the through Radio Education Programming (narrowcasting) in 2021/2022 in the North West/South West regions of Cameroon led by GPA.

General Objective

To bridge the widening gap between out of school children, children studying in very unfavorable conditions in the hard-to-reach crisis affected areas and those studying under normal formal learning conditions in other parts of the country. The program had an initial target of 15,000 children, 53% of whom were girls. 

Specific objectives;

1) Carryout community mobilization to identify and register 15,000 children for the Radio Education Program

2) Recruit and train facilitators, supervisors and focal points for the REP

3) Establish and maintain a relationship with the community leaders for the effective implementation and sustainability of the program

4) Provide radio education program to conflict affected children in non-formal learning systems of education

5) Monitor and report the effectiveness of the radio education program

Expected results

As every action has a foreseen consequences or result, so same was the Radio Education Program and included;

• Community acceptance and sustainability of the program
• 50 supervisors,8 focal points and 600 facilitators are trained for the REP
• Crisis affected children are provided education and are hopeful for their future despite their current status
• Children have access to basic learning materials and dignity kits to guarantee effective learning

Planned Activities

• Community mobilization for REP
• Identify and train 50 supervisors, 600 facilitators and 8 focal points
• Distribute radios to supervisors
• Distribute learning/didactic materials and dignity kits

• Crisis affected children are provided education through REP and are hopeful for their future despite their current statute
• Monitor listening groups within the subdivisions
• Conduct RLS post-test to evaluate learning outcomes

The REP has proven its worth since 2021, but there is increasing need for an upgrade - reasons for the LEAP Project's inevitability especially in the context of the Anglophone Crisis that has exacerbated the falling standards of education in these two Anglo-Saxon regions of Cameroon.

REP has been invaluable in providing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy to out of school children. However general feedback from target beneficiaries demonstrate diminishing enthusiasm - with a general need to scaling-up learning content  - the 72 literacy/72 numeracy lessons repeatedly to same children since 2021 require new support programmes.

Another remarkable lesson learnt during our field surveys is that learning in the formal learning environment has equally been very ineffective - while our project was focused on out-of-school children our observations drew our interest to carry out a survey within this learning setting. The survey revealed ineffectiveness in teaching/learning resulting to extreme poor performance - for instance at least 10% of children of the final year of primary school could not spell their names correctly on the Test Sheets during our survey. These concerns have equally been confirmed by the authorities of the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education in Cameroon.

What evidence exists on the effectiveness of ongoing learning programmes to support children’s educational access, quality of learning, and wellbeing in the context of Anglophone Crisis?

What (if any) are the emerging concerns from these programmes?  

What other alternative innovative Education in Emergencies (EiE) programming can be promising trends to improve the fallen standards in education in these conflict affected Anglophone (North West/South West) regions of Cameroon?

Based on GPA’s desired outputs of the 12-week LEAP Project, I consider all three research types relevant.  

Foundational research

Literature Review is indispensable – the LEAP Project requires objective, concise, critical summary of published research literature on the education concerns in the project area. Much has been documentation  on the education crisis in Anglophone Cameroon that will provide an opportunity to see and even evaluate previous successful and unsuccessful assessments in field.  

One of the relevance of previous Foundational Research to the LEAP project is that its knowledge gaps provides context and background information, guides methodological choices, and prevents duplication and plagiarism, builds theoretical frameworks, and formulates research questions.  

Literature review would equally ease the LEAP Project in the development of a theoretical framework.  

Formative Research

This involves gathering useful data for the development and implementation of intervention programs and therefore an integral concern of the LEAP Project; considering that this project entails assessments to identify the current state of learners' knowledge and skills; make changes in instruction so that school-age children meet with success; create appropriate lessons, activities, and groupings; and inform-decisions about children’s learning progress to help education stakeholders set goals.

This type of research is relevant to enable the LEAP Project identify potential obstacles to field operations, such as participation barriers, and develop solutions to minimize or eliminate such obstacles – helping to bridge any gaps between LEAP Project’s current knowledge and what they need to know to move forward.  

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor learning outcomes to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by learners to improve their learning – this is inseparably linked to that of the LEAP Project, which is to provide solutions to learning problems.  

Two of the most common approaches used in formative research are focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs), both of which are invaluable for the LEAP Project to gain insight into the perspectives, attitudes and practices of target populations and how they view the world or the community around them.  

Summative research

This will provide data for the LEAP Project to analyze quantitatively and qualitative and, ideally, extrapolate the target beneficiaries from the total population. Summative assessments will provide the LEAP Project cumulative snapshots to evaluate and report on children’s learning.

Summative data could help the LEAP Project to illuminate areas of strength and gaps in curriculum and instruction / teaching and learning.

Summative assessments may equally offer assessment data (based on clear and effective measurement of learning outcomes) that is typically required to track children’s learning progress (based on their age and abilities) over time – this takes cognizance to specific instructional period, learning progress and achievement, and the effectiveness of educational programs.

Finally, its key element – to evaluate children’s learning outcomes up to that point in time, is required by the LEAP Project to facilitate comparison (with their previous performance and/or with external standards and/or with other learners).

My organization consider the output following the conclusion of this LEAP Project sprint invaluable to achieve three main objectives;  

Re-engaging Learners by bridging learning gaps for the most under-served children (ages of 5 and 18) so they can thrive and succeed  (children in this part of the world have missed schooling between since 2017.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, over 700,000 children were already out of formal school setting with over-representation from girls and young people in conflict zones, or internally displaced to other parts of the nation. The Anglophone Crisis has exacerbated the poverty-related school drop-out

Faced with the increasing economic uncertainty and persistence of the crisis within their families, hundreds of thousands of adolescent girls and boys are being pushed into child labour, child soldiers, child marriage, child survival sex and trafficking instead of returning to school. Put together, these factors mean that far too few young people between the ages of 5 and 18 are afforded the space, time, or resources to build foundational and durable skills. Nor do they have the ability to explore their academic, extracurricular, and creative passions, or meaningfully engage with their peers and communities. 

GPA is therefore hoping to use the outcome of this LEAP Project to mobilize funding to;

• Enable and improve learning for learners who have experienced disruptions in schooling and missed foundational milestones.
• Ensure equity in learning for all children.

• Facilitate meaningful social-emotional learning among under-served children
• Support timely and manageable assessments for under-resourced communities.
• Support professional development to teachers/facilitators   

Make learning more inclusive and equitable, while improving outcomes for all learners

Cameroon faces persistent gaps in learning and educational opportunities. While two regions have suffered school closure since 2017 (with over 1.300.000 children out of school) 8 other regions are learning effectively; yet all of them have to seat the same National Certificate Exams.

GPA seeks exceptional solutions leveraging innovative learning approaches such as TaRL (Teaching at the Right Level) to address equity gaps in learning that will:

• Use inclusive design to ensure engagement and better outcomes for challenged learners.
• Provide children with adequate skills that people need to thrive.

Enhance access to quality, safe, and equitable learning environments

The Protracted Anglophone Crisis has crippled the entire education systems in NW/SW Cameroon, with over 1.3 million learners’ education disrupted; over 4,000 schools remain closed; teachers targeted by Militias - formal schooling shutdown and replaced with non-formal learning opportunities; exacerbating per-existing education inequalities. Primary and secondary school learners have shown incredible resilience in the face of these challenges, yet if not addressed, unfinished learning could represent a lost future.

GPA is looking for technology-based solutions that ensure all school-age learners have access to quality, safe, and equitable learning environments by:

• Increasing engagement of learners in remote, hybrid, and physical environments (with strategies/tools for parental support, peer interaction, and guided independent work).
• Enabling access to quality learning experiences in low-connectivity settings.
• Ensuring the physical safety and mental health of learners.
• Supporting adaptation of teachers alongside constant dynamic learning conditions

Till date GPA is the major implementing partner of UNICEF  providing Education in Emergencies to out-of-school children affected by school closure since 2017, in the crisis affected regions of NW/SW Cameroon. Yet we have had enormous challenges in scaling up due inadequate evidence. We are hoping that this 12-week LEAP Project would help my organization to establish a stronger culture of evidence, demonstrate the effectiveness of our ongoing solution, and accelerate the solution’s impact on learners by embedding insights and results from the research.

One of the most remarkable usefulness of the outcome of this 12-week LEAP Project is its relevance to education stakeholders in Cameroon; most especially the government whose position to alternative education learning opportunities in the context of the Anglophone Crisis has not been very positive and decisive (until pressure from international partners). We long desired to scale-up our current Radio Education Programme to integrate TaRL (Teaching at the Right Level) yet this requires access and acceptability by education stakeholders, which must of course be based on demonstrable evidenced-based research such as this 12-week LEAP Project

TaRL relevant desired long-term outcomes of the 12-week LEAP Project. This is a kind of of special Foundation Literacy and Numeracy programming into regular forma learning environment. While GPA has previously been focused on conflict affected out-of-school children in the non-formal learning environment, we have equally had an opportunity to observe the ineffectiveness and poor performance in formal learning environment in the context of the on-going Anglophone Crisis. In one of our surveys desired to ascertain the effectiveness of teaching and learning in formal schools within the crisis context the results were alarming. For instance we found several children in the final year of primary school that could not write down their names correctly, which is due in part to the several years of school closure.

In the 2 Anglophone (NW/SW) regions of Cameroon, 41% (2,875) of schools are still not functional in 2023, compared with 54% (6,970) of schools registered for the 2021/2022 school year in the formal learning environments, while over 1.033.000 out-of-school children are in non-formal learning opportunities. Education stakeholders continue to dependent on Education in Emergencies support since 2017 (till date) that requires scale-up strategies due lack of adequate Foundation Literacy and Numeracy, as identified by Green Partners Association in a survey. Evidently such interventions are largely require external support, which equally rely on credible independent research findings that demonstrate evidence to accelerate the solution’s impact on learners by embedding insights and results from the research. Unfortunately  such research findings might not be available now.

Education (Basic most especially) is in desperate need for external education solution, which however requires an evidenced-based research report that details tailor-made research recommendations (study designs, strategies, frameworks, and/or monitoring/evaluation tools) that inform an approach to strengthen the evidence base of  the education solution (needed for the two Anglophone regions affected by the conflict). This requires the participation/supported of key education stakeholders, including the government of Cameroon and civil society (besides others).