Japan Social Development Fund: No Bangsamoro Child Left Behind in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)

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In BARMM, a long history of deprivation and under-funding in education has resulted in profound levels of learning poverty, well above the national average, which has further exacerbated due to the long school closures (due to the COVID-19 pandameic) across the country and slow reopening of face-to-face classes, particularly in BARMM. While many parents and out-of-school youths and adults (OSYAs) see the value of education, financial constraints and societal conflict dynamics are contributing factors to the high rate of school dropouts in BARMM. The share of OSYAs among the 16-30-year-old population is about 45 percent in BARMM, double the national average. These staggering numbers indicate a significant crisis which must be addressed. The proposed project seeks to improve learning outcomes of re-enrolled out-of-school-children (OOSC) and retain at-risk children in pilot elementary schools in project-supported divisions. The project is alignment with the Philippines Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, and the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY2020–2025. The proposed project consists of three components. Component 1 will support community mapping to identify OOSC and at-risk students and root causes for dropping out. It will also support the development of a dropout prediction model and standard mitigation measures to reduce dropouts. Component 2 will support the development and implementation of community-based school dropout mitigation measures aimed at reducing dropouts and retaining children at-risk in 100 pilot schools. Sub-component 2.1 will develop and provide training programs for school principals, teachers, and community-leaders on the community-based sub-grant scheme and the support for community livelihood and food enhancement program. Sub-component 2.2 will provide sub-grants for 100 pilot schools to implement small community-driven sub-grant projects to reduce dropouts, including from the list of standard mitigation measures (such as provision of books and school supplies; and development of teaching and learning materials in local languages, amongst others). Sub-component 2.3 will finance the implementing sub-grant projects for the community livelihood and food enhancement. The sub-grants can finance food production inputs, inter alia, seeds, and brood livestock for raising chickens. It will also support minor renovation of school canteen/kitchen facilities to ensure compliance with hygiene and food safety regulations. Part of the produce will be cooked and served as supplementary school meals for children, while the remaining can be sold in market to provide incomes for participating households. The sub-grants can also finance other income-generation activities such as weaving, earnings from which can purchase food for school children.Component 3 will support the project management and monitor and evaluate the implementation of the sub-grant programs. The project will publish the findings of the evaluation and conduct dissemination events for more active and wider outreach, contributing to increasing the knowledge repository on activities aimed at reducing dropout in BARMM.