[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1135, 313], "category": "Text", "text": "shortages all over the country, despite the government and cooperating partners commitment to build new schools and upgrade existing ones – with classes sometimes exceeding 150 learners; the teacher-student ratio has thus dramatically deteriorated, despite the promise of hiring 30.000 more teachers during 2022 and 2023; the problem of over-aged children in Grade 1 has also accentuated, and the availability of school equipment and materials becoming more problematic and the inequalities between schools due to the differences in learning quality considerably increasing."}, {"bbox": [96, 337, 1135, 472], "category": "Text", "text": "These challenges come in addition to those already existing in the education sector: poor curriculum, lack of teacher training, demotivated teaching workforce, underfunding, inefficient data collection, poor transmission and analysis systems (leading to poor decision-making), lack of appropriate water, poor sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools (contributing to girls dropping out of school once they reach puberty), lack of access for learners with disability, lack of electricity (leading to impossibility of digital training)."}, {"bbox": [96, 496, 1135, 710], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed action will complement already planned government actions and existing and upcoming Cooperating Partners programmes (WB, Global Partnership for Education, etc.). Zambia joined the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in 2008. This action could serve as the trigger of the GPE Multiplier grant. The action will tackle the issues of quality of education, girl dropout rate and accessibility for learners with disabilities. This will be done mainly through infrastructure works (school and classroom, school-related WASH facilities and teachers's accommodation building/improvement) and connectivity works (water and electricity). At policy level, the actions will aim to improve the data collection/transmission and analysis systems in order to improve the quality of decision making and to advance the policy-related work at central and local level."}, {"bbox": [96, 735, 1135, 922], "category": "Text", "text": "Keeping girls in school - as an objective of this action - is a key element for fighting the high rates of child marriage and teen pregnancies (29.2%¹⁰), and for empowering girls for a more empowered and included role in the modern society. Improving school infrastructure and equipment will play an important role in gender equality – e.g. given that the scarce available seats in classrooms are usually taken by the boys, girls sit mainly on the ground, which does not foster school performance. As mentioned before, the adequate hygiene facilities will allow girls to continue learning after puberty and all the way through secondary school, avoiding unnecessary shaming and bullying."}, {"bbox": [96, 946, 1135, 1055], "category": "Text", "text": "In addition, climate smart equipment will be provided to schools, particularly in terms of solar energy powered classrooms and water pumps wherever needed (many rural and peri-urban schools are not connected to energy and water networks). Infrastructure-related activities under this action will also follow strict resilience, child-centred and environmentally friendly building standards."}, {"bbox": [96, 1080, 1073, 1135], "category": "Text", "text": "Identification of main stakeholders and corresponding institutional and/or organisational issues (mandates, potential roles, and capacities) to be covered by the action:"}, {"bbox": [96, 1146, 1135, 1386], "category": "Text", "text": "The responsibility for the management of physical infrastructure and information systems of the education systems falls entirely under the Ministry of Education (MoE) and its deconcentrated administration. The main interlocutors for the action will be the Directorates for Physical Infrastructure, for Information Systems and for planning at central level, the Provincial Education Offices, and District Education Boards (DEBs) at provincial and district level. A sustained policy dialogue will also involve the ministerial and permanent secretary levels, as well as a number of other departments under the Ministry. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development at central and deconcentrated level, as well as the larger Provincial and District administrations will also be involved in both dialogue and the action, given their mandates related to the management of community structures and the Community Development Fund (CDF)."}, {"bbox": [96, 1397, 1135, 1531], "category": "Text", "text": "The Ministry of Education has the mandate for infrastructure building, information management, policy formulation, sector resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation, coordination of sub-sectors and the general service delivery tasks falling under the ministry. To be noted that the decentralisation is presently an ongoing (though very slow) process, and the deconcentrated administration under the Ministry relies heavily on central decision making."}, {"bbox": [96, 1544, 635, 1572], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Priority Area 2 – Health/ Pharmaceutical development"}, {"bbox": [86, 1620, 653, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ Zambia 2018 Demographic and Health Survey, Summary Report."}, {"bbox": [1037, 1680, 1145, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 7 of 33"}]