Improved access to quality education for boys and girls affected by conflicts and displacement in Kandahar province Afghanistan’s education system has been devastated by nearly four decades of war and conflicts. Despite signs of progress observed during the last years, particularly on increasing the enrollment rates, the system has been struggling to provide services to the children of the country, in particular, to ensure boys and girls could complete their primary schooling. The underlining reasons are insecurity and traditional norms and practices related to girls and women’s role in society. Other reasons can be in part a lack of female teachers, especially in rural schools, and forced displacement due to conflicts and natural disasters. COVID-19 pandemic further complicated children’s education situation in the country, where schools remained closed due to the pandemic, but also the insecurities before August 2021. The recent developments in the political sphere that has brought the country to the edge of a crisis, in particular increasing humanitarian needs of the country, the already poorest, conflict- amp COVID affected, and remote areas of the country, are the most impacted on the level of school enrollments where girls’ equal access is still lacking. Initial estimates of UNICEF indicate that while nearly 10 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, over four million children are out-of-school in Afghanistan, 60% of them are girls, which need education in emergencies in 2021. Given the current context, this figure is likely to remain constant into 2022. 
To respond to the current challenges, OCCD puts forward this action that aims to enhance access of girls and boys in the underserved communities of Kandahar province to quality education. OCCD aims to improve the access of at least 4,600 conflict and shock-affected children in the hard-to-reach areas of Kandahar province. Districts include Shahwalikot and Khakrez. The action will support the provision of: (1) temporary learning spaces (TLS) in line with the standard community-based education (CBE) package to children aged 7 to 13 (2) capacity building of teachers through teacher training (3) services, including light constructions, as well as teaching and learning materials to public schools to allow children to return and can attend their classes and (4) community mobilization and outreach to promote education rights of children. 
The proposed action is informed by OCCD’s vast experience in humanitarian and development programs in the targeted province covered by this action. OCCD has been working in Kandahar in the past decade delivering services to underserved communities. OCCD has been working in Afghanistan without interruption since its establishment in 2013, focusing primarily on the health promotion domain. Nonetheless, the NGO has been also working in other sectors such as WASH, education, and livelihoods and has a proven record of accomplishment of working with disenfranchised communities such as IDPs and returnees.
The action will be implemented in a timeframe of 12 months. This timeframe includes the time required to: ensure delivery of at least 40 TLS (153 classrooms)  covering at least 4,600 students (50% of them are girls) train at least 153 teachers through teacher training approaches on topics such as student-centered primary education curriculum delivery, safety protocols, psychosocial support, and the Teachers’ Code of Conduct for emergencies and gender considerations support 5 public schools with educational materials as well as required rehabilitation/light construction works enhancing their capacity to accommodate more students. These schools will be used as TLS to the extend possible ensuring close work with the authorities to enhance operation of the school structures.