The long lasting conflict in Somalia has caused a lot of displacement which resulted in the establishment of IDP settlements in Kismayo with no education services provided by either the government or other partners. Some of these IDP settlements area located near formal primary schools in Kismayo, however not all IDP children have access to education in these schools because of poverty, lack of local community’s understanding of importance of education for IDP children, and lack of parents’ understanding that their children need to go to schools even if they are currently living in the area far from their homes.

In order to address this inequality of an educational opportunity, SFS has developed a project to be funded by CERF that will aim to ensure the provision of essential education services to children from the most vulnerable community enabling them to access education in protective and safe learning environments.

The project will support out-of-school children to assess education and at the same time will strengthen the schools where these children will be enrolled. The 6 formal primary schools that this project will focus on are Gananep Primary School, Rugta primary School, Salihudin Primary School, Fanole Primary School, Mohamed Jama Primary School, Khalid Bin Walid. These schools are currently being rehabilitated by UNHCR and Mercy Corps, and SFS will strengthen these schools by implementing capacity building, advocacy and sensitisation activities.

The project will be implemented over the period of 6 months and will aim to support 2,000 out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group residing in and around IDP settlements to access formal primary education.

The target beneficiaries for this intervention include 2,000 out-of-school children from vulnerable communities (mainly IDP settlements in Kismayo) and 3,544 school age children in 6 formal primary schools, 99 teachers, 42 CEC members, and 49 CtC club members.