Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSC) Project
Education provides a solid foundation in one’s life and can transform it in more than one way. To bring the national Education for All (EFA) goals to fruition, the program Reaching Out-ofSchool Children (ROSC) has been initiated in 2008 by the Government of Bangladesh through the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, co-funded by the World Bank. Aiming to reduce the number of out-of-school children through improved access, quality and efficiency in primary education, especially for the disadvantaged children, Bangladesh Center for Communication Program (BCCP) has been involved in implementation of the Social Awareness and Community Management (SACM). In addition to the existing 15000 Ananda Schools established in 60 upazilas in the first phase of ROSC project, 7500 more Ananda Schools have been formed in 30 new upazilas in the extension project.
A bottom up approach has been adopted for this project and thus community members become active agents of change i.e. Center Management Committee (CMC), mobilizing communities and enabling them to exercise their agency and have ownership of the project. BCCP raises awareness through appropriate strategic communication and media campaigns and aims to increase student enrolment. In addition, BCCP builds the capacity of CMC and facilitates their participation in the school’s overall development planning and management.
Media advocacy
Consultative Meeting with Head of News / News Editors
Through strategic and extensive engagement with media personnel, BCCP aims to promote positive and responsible mass media reporting on ROSC. To sensitize reporters, a meeting was held on September 18, 2011 with the News Editors of print media and Head of News of electronic media. The objective was to enlighten them about the project and create an enabling environment at the national level, as well as reinforcing community support at the local level through media leveraging. A total of 14 senior media professionals from the group of News Editor and Head of News of print and electronic media attended.
Media Personnel Visits to Ananda Schools
A visit to Ananda Schools by some media staff was facilitated by BCCP to encourage them to publish/broadcast news features in their respective dailies and TV channels. In addition, BCCP encouraged the local level media personnel to visit field level activities to maximize their awareness of the project.
Media Coverage of Award Ceremony
To encourage students to perform well academically, an award reception was organized. With the effort of ROSC-BCCP collaboration, it was widely covered by various media including The Independent, The Daily Star and the Daily Sun, along with the national news and radio channels.
BCCP facilitates broadcasting/publishing news features in electronic and print media at the national and local level for publicity of ROSC project and highlights the success stories for policy makers, civil society members and other relevant stakeholders of the Ananda Schools in order to get their support in raising social awareness. As a result, a total of forty eight news/features were broadcasted/ published through mass media.
Building of the CMC members
Orientation for Trainers on CMC Training and Parents Gathering
BCCP organized a two-day orientation for the Trainers on Basic Training of the CMC members and organizing Parents Gathering held from June 2011. Four Trainers, Program Coordinator, Program Officers attended the orientation, which had two key components; the first part constituted of training provided by a resource person about the content and methodology of each of the sessions. The second part had a provision to get participants into the practical sessions. The sessions contained role play, comments, and criticisms to enhance the skills of the participants.
Basic Training for Selected CMC Members
As part of capacity building initiative, the first phase of basic training for the CMC members started in the month of October, 2010. BCCP trainers were divided into two teams and deployed in the intervening upazilas The selected participants for the basic training include Chairperson of CMC, Member-Secretary (Teacher of Ananda School), representative from ESP and the AUEO.BCCP had developed and used pictorial PVC flipchart as part of visual aides for imparting effective training through field teams to make the key messages simple and comprehensible
Parents Gathering
BCCP organized and conducted Parents Gathering at 52 Upazila in order to promote community ownership and value of education. In accordance with the action plan, BCCP organized an additional six Parents Gathering in Nokla, Bokshiganj, Lama, Taragan,j Ukhiya and Rowangchhari. These events were participated by a large number of people including stakeholders from government and non-government sectors, elected members of local government, social elites, ESPs, ERP and guardians of the learners of Ananda Schools. Guardians of learners of Ananda School expressed their gratitude to the ROSC Project for creating an opportunity for their children’s education.
Communication Materials
Print Materials
A Leaflet, Poster, SMS, as well as a signboard and a guideline for ERP office were designed and developed to highlight the rules of enrolment of children who are genuinely out-of-school and for the smooth operation and management of Ananda Schools by the community, BCCP has also developed and disseminated a ROSC guideline to support the establishment of Ananda Schools in 30 new upazilas.
For effectiveness in basic training and to convey clear messages to CMC members, BCCP employed visual aides to develop a PVC pictorial flipchart. A banner was also designed for CMC teams.
Video Documentary
Communication is a process and requires consistency and replication of the interventions. With this view in mind, BCCP is in the process of developing a video documentary containing the entire SACM intervention to help sustain lessons learned and replicate the Parents Gathering, Courtyard Meeting and CMC meetings and replicate/continue them at the local level by UEO, ERP, and CMC. The video documentary will remain as an orientation piece that local ROSC stakeholders can use as model before they cascade these programs afterwards in their community.
Community Level Advocacy
Upazila Advocacy Conference (UAC)
In order to introduce upazila level stakeholders to the ROSC project and to create a platform and advocate base at upazila level for it, BCCP organized a series of ‘Upazila Advocacy Conference’. Through this program the relevant stakeholders at upazila level were informed about the management of Ananda Schools, established links between ROSC and community stakeholders, identified the support that was needed from them in promoting quality of education and determined their role as stakeholder of the Ananda Schools. BCCP developed a guideline in consultation with the ROSCU and prepared a presentation to provide information and develop discussions.
Union Advocacy Meeting
BCCP organized a series of ‘Union Advocacy Meeting’ which will enable the active involvement of the relevant stakeholders for wider social mobilization, to create awareness in the parents of left-out/drop-out children and to seek support of community leaders for community ownership. The participants of these events were the relevant stakeholders of the community such as Union Parishad Chairman and Members, AUEO, teachers, religious leader, field workers of nongovernment organization, ESP supervisor and guardians.
Monitoring Visits
In order to assess the impact of SACM activities, BCCP conducted monitoring visit on a random basis. These visits have helped assess the impact of SACM activities in the ROSC catchments areas and continue or re-adjust certain interventions considering its effectiveness in the program. BCCP sincerely acknowledges the support and suggestions made by the ROSCU officials, local level stakeholders and the beneficiaries of the project.