Second phase of Girls' Education South Sudan programme launched

Continuation of the GESS programme will transform the education of a generation of children in South Sudan, especially girls.

The Honourable Minister of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI), Deng Deng Hoc Yai, is delighted to announce the start of the second phase of the Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) programme. Funded by UK aid, the programme will deliver £70 million of aid over five years.

The Honourable Minister stated, “We must now continue the important work of GESS that provided critical support to the education sector. During the first phase, the programme reached almost two million citizens and helped to change the narrative of girls’ education in South Sudan. We thank the UK government for their continued support and pledge to work alongside UK aid to build on past success.”

The second phase of GESS will build on the achievements of the first, which reached over 3400 schools with cash grants, 295,000 girls with cash transfers and two million South Sudanese through radio broadcasts. This phase of the programme will see a larger emphasis on low secondary school enrolment rates, especially the drop-out and retention of girls, as well as a focus on ensuring that children with disabilities can access education.

Managed by Cambridge Education, the programme will also support the new curriculum by placing a heavy focus on the quality of education, and improving learning outcomes at both primary and secondary levels across the country. Alongside improvements to the quality of education, cash grants to schools will continue to allow school management bodies to identify and improve upon areas of greatest need.

Gary Preece the UK aid programme lead said, 

“We are proud to continue working alongside the Ministry of Education to continue this transformative package of support to the education sector. This is part of UK aid’s commitment to giving children the best possible start in life, especially hard-to-reach girls. Education has the force to empower marginalised girls and women to lead change within schools and their wider communities, playing a transformative role in post-conflict recovery. The UK is investing in South Sudan to ensure that a generation of children do not miss out on an education.”

Catherine Palmier, Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Canada to South Sudan also expressed Canada’s support for the GESS programme, to which it will be contributing up to an additional Can$15 million over three years.