Access to basic education for children in the IDP settlements and their surrounding host communities in Herat province Multiple, overlapping challenges including drought, decade armed conflict, political instability and waves of COVID-19 infections resulted in 18.4 million1 people requiring humanitarian assistance in 2021. In addition, Afghanistan has faced severe drought with impacts across all regions of the country that was officially declared by the previous Government of Afghanistan on 25 June 2021.Afghanistan is experiencing a humanitarian crisis as violence and insecurity have brought more suffering and internal displacement for thousands of Afghans. Over half a million people have been internally displaced in 2021 alone – and the number of people forced to flee continues to rise. This recent insecurity and displacement have prompted a humanitarian crisis for the Afghan people, who have already suffered more than 40 years of conflict, as well as increasing natural disasters, chronic poverty and food insecurity. The resilience of returnees, the internally displaced and host communities is being stretched to the absolute limit.

While children’s education was already compromised due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole of Afghanistan Assessment led by OCHA in 2021 findings indicated that only 51 per cent of school-aged boys and 41 per cent of school-aged girls were enrolled in school on average across all provinces surveyed. Approximately 927 schools and CBEs were closed due to the insecurity prior August 2021. Following the recent events and Taliban takeover of Afghanistan the situation for girls’ education remains uncertain, as adolescent girls are out-of-school in most provinces, pending policy change. Due to the socio-economic collapse, families are now at higher risk of resorting to negative coping mechanisms which deprioritize education, including child labor, early marriage, and other forms of exploitation and abuse. 

More than three decades of conflict have devastated Afghanistan’s education system. Completing primary school remains a distant dream for many children, especially in rural areas as well as for girls in poor and hard-to-reach areas of the country. It's estimated that between 3.2 and 3.7 million primary and lower-secondary aged children (ages 7 to 15) remain out-of-school (60% are girls), drop-out rates are high, and 22 percent of children who are on the enrolment book are permanently absent in primary grades ECW MYRAP-Afghanistan 2018-2021. The western region of Afghanistan, in addition to the long-term conflict, insecurity, remoteness, the drought conditions have further compounded challenges resulting in the high number of out of school children (OOSC) particularly girls. 

WVA's COVID-19 assessment conducted late in 2020 indicated 48% of children (60%) girls) in Herat province are not attending school however, this rate is as high as 80% in the conservative and hard to reach (HRT) areas of the province. Amongst other reasons, poverty, shortage of teachers especially female teachers, lack of teaching and learning materials, displacements and cultural norms (which deprioritize education for girls and long distances to schools for many children) are attributed to the high number of OOSC in general across Herat province. 

To address the needs, WV Afghanistan proposes to provide community based education to 5,250 (60% girls and 40% boys) out of school children (OOSC) at least 70% IDPs and 30% host communities in (Injil, Ghoryan and Kohsan) districts in Herat Province.