[{"bbox": [96, 153, 1166, 365], "category": "Text", "text": "equitable access to education - especially for girls, children with disabilities, and children affected by emergencies. There will likely be a focus on four provinces that are particularly vulnerable to climate risks and conflict - Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Sofala⁹. This component will focus on activities that address the causes that hinder children living in the most vulnerable situations from accessing school or learning effectively in pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary and alternative education. It will also support capacity building among the central and provincial authorities in planning, implementing and monitoring programmes/interventions which mainstream and prioritise equity issues and build school and system resilience. This component will be implemented via indirect management through an international organisation."}, {"bbox": [96, 377, 1166, 511], "category": "Text", "text": "This action has a budget of EUR 60 000 000 and will have a total duration of 72 months. It will benefit from synergies with various actions under the Annual Action Plan 2022: ÁguaNorte Programme on access to sustainable safe water and sanitation services, including 15 schools in northern Mozambique; the ResiNorte - Resilience for the North, including Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) activities for girls and women and VaMoz Digital supporting digital skills of the most vulnerable."}, {"bbox": [96, 521, 1166, 682], "category": "Text", "text": "SER is in line with the **e-Youth Team Europe Initiative**, contributing directly to support young men and women's knowledge and skills, creativity and dynamism so that they are the drivers of change. This includes preparing the education system to address 21st century challenges such as conflicts, the digital transition and climate change issues. SER contributes to the **EU-Africa: Global Gateway Investment Package on Education & Training**, through the investment in quality education, paying particular attention to the inclusion of girls and other vulnerable groups. It will lay the foundation for a more sustainable, inclusive and peaceful future for the children and youth of Mozambique."}, {"bbox": [85, 723, 323, 754], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 788, 234, 814], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [96, 847, 1135, 981], "category": "Text", "text": "Mozambique remains one of the bottom ten countries in the world in terms of human development, aggravated by increasing inequality in recent years¹⁰, including significant gender differences¹¹ and regional disparities. There are higher levels of poverty concentrated in the centre and the north. Poverty and inequality have been further exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing approximately two million people more into poverty in 2020 alone."}, {"bbox": [96, 999, 1135, 1185], "category": "Text", "text": "In a country with a young population and high demographic growth – 46.6% are under 15 years old, future challenges can be expected in terms of **population growth**, the labour market, and climate change¹². With now some 28.9 million habitants¹³ and one of the highest fertility rate in the continent, it is expected that the population will reach over 50 million in 2040. This will put under growing pressure basic social and environmental services such as education, health, social protection, access to natural resources and basic infrastructure. In the education sector, **this implies a massive need for teachers, school facilities and sound school management**, in a context of budget restrictions and very low capacity for school construction¹⁴."}, {"bbox": [96, 1205, 1135, 1391], "category": "Text", "text": "Mozambique has achieved considerable progress towards universal access to schooling. There has been progress on gender parity as well as a timid expansion of pre-schooling. Yet, **school completion rates remain low**: over 50% of Mozambican children do not complete primary education¹⁵, particularly in rural and urban poor areas. Mozambique ranks among the worst in Southern and Eastern Africa in terms of the number of children out-of-school. There were over 2.4 million children out-of-school in 2015. The overall illiteracy rate of 39% is among the highest in the region with substantial disparities between men (27.2%) and women (49.4%). Only 17% of the population has Portuguese as mother tongue, the official instruction language in Mozambique."}, {"bbox": [85, 1444, 1144, 1482], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹These indicative four provinces were selected based on: (i) lowest basic social indicators, (ii) vulnerability to risk (climate change, disasters) and (iii) vulnerability to conflict."}, {"bbox": [85, 1482, 1028, 1502], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ Gini-coefficient rose to 0.56 (2014/15) from 0.47 (2008/9), placing Mozambique among the most unequal countries in Sub-Saharan Africa."}, {"bbox": [85, 1501, 637, 1521], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.39 for women compared to 0.44 for men."}, {"bbox": [85, 1520, 898, 1540], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² Global Climate Risk Index (2014) ranks Mozambique as the third most vulnerable country in Africa to natural disasters."}, {"bbox": [85, 1540, 284, 1560], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ Mozambique Census 2017."}, {"bbox": [85, 1560, 1144, 1599], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁴ In 2021 only 40 classrooms were built under FASE. The 2022 school construction campaign was not included in the new activity plan as previous campaigns are still to be completed."}, {"bbox": [85, 1599, 811, 1619], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ National retention rate in grade 3 is 70%, in grade 5 is 50% and only 1 out of 3 children make it to grade 7."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 29"}]