The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is pleased to announce a US$5.6 million grant for Puntland. The grant will be implemented by the Puntland Ministry of Education to address the north-eastern state’s wide ranging education needs and challenges. UNICEF is the grant agent, and the European Union is the coordinating agency for the GPE across Somalia.

The grant will focus on strengthening the Ministry of Education through capacity building and technical support to provide effective and efficient services to the most marginalized children in Puntland. It aims at strengthening the quality of teaching and learning through teacher training, producing much needed learning materials, and addressing financial barriers to access education with scholarships.

“The support from the Global Partnership for Education is highly appreciated by Puntland,” said Puntland’s Minister of Education and Higher Education, Professor Abshir Aw-Yusuf Isse. “It will help us realize our vision of a quality education system that guarantees and fosters success for learners regardless of their abilities, and responds to and recognizes the potential of all learners, enabling them to make fulfilling life choices.”

The grant will support 2,650 children from the poorest households, thereby helping families.

“This key investment in educating children in Puntland is critical for their future well-being and for building a prosperous and peaceful Somalia,” said Steven Lauwerier, UNICEF Representative in Somalia. “There is a huge demand for education. Families know how important it is and we are moving forward with building on our positive partnership with the Puntland Ministry of Education.”

In recent years, primary school enrollments have increased, but with larger numbers of children entering school and limited capacities in the school system to absorb all children, more needs to be done to ensure every child gets a quality education. In Puntland there are still some 200,000 children not in school, and who need to be reached.

“GPE’s work in Somalia and Puntland focuses on strengthening their capacity to improve equity and access to quality education, and improving teaching and learning,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education. “This grant will help thousands of children in Puntland go to school, stay in school and learn with qualified teachers.”

Somalia has been a Global Partnership for Education partner since 2012. Since then a total of US$14.5 million was allocated to Somalia for 2013 to 2016. The current GPE funding for Somalia is almost US$33 million for the entire country, with US$ 9.6 million for Somaliland, US$ 5.6 million for Puntland and US$ 17.9 million for the Federal Government.