Increase access to safe and protective learning environments for drought affected children and youth in Galgaduud region of Galmudug state. The proposed 12-month intervention will aim to close the gap between crisis-affected children and enrolment as well as retention in schools. This is through improving access to quality education, increase access to critical WASH inputs and enhance child protection mechanisms in 15 schools that are among the priority schools for the education cluster that are at a high risk to close or have closed due to drought in Galgaduud region of Galmudug State of Somalia. These schools are: Almaamum and Balihoowd primary in Balanbale Cumar Khadaab and Lajide primary in Xeraale Tawakal, Dugsiga H/dhexe and Howlwadhaag primary schools in Abudwak Xananleey, Alma’mun, and Higlaale primary in Dhusamareeb Mucalim Ibrahim and Kobciye IDP primary in Guriceel and Kulmiye IDP, Docoley and Dayax primary in Cadaado. The identified needs in the 15 schools include water shortage, poor state of classroom and WASH facilities, shortage of teaching and learning materials, limited access to dry food rations, low attendance rate of teachers due to lack of incentives, low awareness on child protection reporting mechanisms by students and teachers, poor hygiene in the schools due limited access to clean water for drinking and handwashing. These needs have affected attendance and retention of learners in the 15 targeted schools. The main gaps in delivery of quality education services in the 15 schools include limited capacity of the Ministry of Education to provide the required education services due to budgetary constraints lack of intervention by other education partners due to the remoteness of the school that contributes to inaccessibility and security challenges to operate in these areas recurrent drought and intermittent conflict leading to loss of livelihoods for the communities in the targeted locations. The project will target to directly reach 2,315 learners out of which 1,266 boys and 1,049 are girls, 30 teachers translating to 2 teachers plus 1 head teacher per school, 30 community hygiene promoters and indirectly reach 45 CEC members. Education specific activities will include the provision of education supplies, emergency take-away food rations for students to meet their food and energy needs, emergency teacher incentives to motivate teachers to stay in the schools, and sanitary kits for adolescent girls to encourage their regular attendance at school. Specific WASH activities will include increasing schools’ water storage capacity through the provision of PVC storage tanks, water trucking to the schools to ensure a regular supply of water to the schools during drought, construction and rehabilitation of latrines, and improving hygiene practices among children through engagement with community hygiene promoters (CHPs). To ensure inclusion of students with disabilities, child, gender and disability friendly latrines will be constructed with accessibility ramps and door sizes made within the required inclusion standards to enable access by students with disabilities to these facilities. CISP will coordinate a back-to-school campaign with CECs and religious leaders to encourage school enrollment with an emphasis on children affected by drought and displacement. To ensure centrality of protection in the schools, CISP will assess the existing child protection mechanisms at the start of the project, appoint and train protection focal points in the schools to strengthen feedback and reporting mechanisms to address protection concerns in the schools., Through engagement with ministry officials such as Ministry of Education Culture and Higher Education  MoECHE Gender Focal Points,  the Ministry of Women and Human rights Development MoWHRD Regional Child Protection Coordinator and CECs, CISP will leverage the agency's apparatus and community assets to raise awareness among children on child protection and the established mechanisms which will serve to strengthen child protection in schools.