World Education, Inc.

Sangai Sakaun Sangai Badhaun/Opportunity Schools Program
Professionals in the education sector have long felt the need for programming in Nepal that not only ensures that the most disadvantaged children can access education, but that they can remain there to complete secondary school and achieve learning outcomes that enable them to secure productive livelihoods. The Sangai Sakaun Sangai Badhaun Opportunity Schools program assists children to attain an education and become economically and socially engaged. The program, focused in the Village District Committees (VDCs) of Baijapur (Banke District), Duruwa (Dang District), and Manpur (Dang District), seeks to secure not just educational access but also retention, high school completion, and meaningful learning outcomes for marginalized children.

In cooperation with local partners, World Education is working to reduce non-enrolment, dropout, and repetition rates in these VDCs, as well as increase the number of students completing grade 10; increase the percentage of children who pass program Learning Milestones in grades 3, 5, 8,and 10; and achieve gender parity. To achieve these objectives, World Education and local NGOs work to mobilize the community, provide School Management Committee/Parent Teacher Association trainings, better quality and access to early c
hildhood development centers, conduct reading promotion campaigns, promote and support child clubs, as well as conduct basic health trainings and provide income generation projects and vocational education.
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Building Better Futures
Child labor in the brick industry is one of the most harmful forms of child labor in Nepal. Children work more than 10 hours a day transporting heavy loads of baked and raw bricks and usually do not attend school. If they do attend school, their education is disrupted by their families’ patterns of migration, and their learning is stunted by lack of time for proper studying or the inability to concentrate due to exhaustion. Building Better Futures (BBF) works to remove children and families working in the brick industry from exploitative labor by giving them greater access to education and helping families diversify and improve their livelihoods. The project, funded by Humanity United, also collaborates with members of the Brickclean Network to advocate for a cleaner, less damaging, brick industry. Regionally, BBF focuses on the Kathmandu Valley and Terai district of Sarlahi.

Project activities follow the seasonal migration patterns of workers in the brick industry. During winter and spring, efforts focus on motivating and preparing families to get children in to school; helping families manage and save money; and building linkages back to home communities for work to address longer-term livelihood development. Families return to villages for the monsoon and autumn harvest seasons, during which time the project focus is on families accessing microfinance and livelihood development support to build longer term viable livelihood alternatives that will make them less reliant on exploitative labor in brick factories and forced to migrate for work. To date, 124 girls have attended Girls' Access to Education (GATE) classes; 389 people have received financial education, and 119 people have received family livelihood support or skills training
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Reintegration of Children/Youth formerly Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAAFAG) and Children Affected by Armed Conflict
After ten years of conflict from 1996-2006, the communist party of Nepal (Maoists) agreed to enter into the peace process with the government, leaving an estimated 10,000 children formerly associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG) in the wake of the violence. These children originally joined Maoist forces to escape poverty and unemployment,but faced many of the same problems after the end of the conflict. As a member of the CAAFAG Working Group, World Education promoted the rights of children and youth by supporting the reintegration and rehabilitation of CAAFAG, children affected by armed conflict (CAAC), and verified minors and late recruits (VMLR) in 11 districts across the country. Since 2007, World Education has identified over 1,200 CAAFAG, of whom around 1,000 and another 450 CAAC andVMLR have received or are receiving educational support to attend formal school, vocational training, and economic literacy to start their own business initiatives.

The identified children received educational support packages of admission and school fees, school uniforms, stationary, and a monthly stipend. Schools also received structural support through in-kind contributions of books, furniture,and sports materials. To address cross-cutting issues such as gender, the program provided nutritional and diet support, child grants, and structural support through children’s centers to female beneficiaries, especially those with children. World Education also provided capacity building for NGOs and staff working with CAAFAG, CAAC, and VMLR including trainings for psycho-social counselors, trainings on outdoor and experiential learning, and support to youth and child clubs for community-based peace building. Over 50community-based groups and 10,000 community members received orientations on social reintegration and support. Other services the program provided include food support, formal community sensitizations, and strengthened district and local-level child protection systems.
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Support for the Government to Improve the Quality of Education Through Child Friendly Schools (Phase IV)
Quality of education in Nepal is generally poor, characterized by high drop-out rates and schools that lack child- and girl-friendly facilities and child-centered learning environments. In July of 2003, World Education, UNICEF, and the Department of Education (DoE) formally established a partnership to collaborate towards the advancement of Nepal’s formal school system, increase enrollment over time, decentralize decision-making and responsibility for schools in Nepal and improve the quality of education in government schools. World Education provided non-formal,technical, and vocational education to special groups and working children to ensure they attend and stay in school.

Since the program’s inception, World Education has:
-Developed and expanded the Welcome to School Campaign (WTSC) to increase enrollment and retention of children/students at schools. This effort was a major contributor to the increase of 1.9 million students at basic and secondary levels from 2002 to 2010.
- Developed and piloted 30 Quality Education Resource Package (QERP) modules to address quality in schools. In so doing, QERP materials have been delivered to all1,050 Resource Centers (RCs) and Educational Training Centers (ETCs).
-Provided direct support to more than 7,000 schools (including schools supported through this collaboration and schools supported through World Education alone) to address various aspects of quality in schools.
-Provided training to the staff and trainers of government line agencies, UNICEF and I/NGOs on the use of QERP to build effective child friendly schools.
-Supported the enhancement of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to enable 75 districts, 32,000 schools and central level staff to use data for effective planning purposes. The piloting of student tracking systems is an example of this effort. The collaboration on preparing 5-year District Education Plans also corresponds to this support, by improving the equitable distribution of resources.
-Worked in collaboration with national and district level government including DoE, National Center for Educational Development (NCED), District Education Officers (DEOs), and the Curriculum Development Center. This includes collaboration with the NCED to deliver trainings to Resource Persons, School Supervisors, Head Teachers and teachers, as well as consulting with the DoE on district level coordination with DEOs.
-Helped design and endorse Child Friendly School Initiative (CFSI) National Framework to be implemented at the school level and established Minimum Enabling Standards, and worked in collaboration with the NCED and DoE to deliver CFSI trainings to teachers.
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Nepal Human Anti-Trafficking - Human Liberty Initiative
To address the root causes of intra- and internationall trafficking to the sex industry and exploitative child labor, the Geneva Global-funded Human Liberty Initiative (HLI) works to relieve poverty, increase access to education, and build communities’ capacities to engage in prevention efforts. HLI work targets the Tamang communities in Nuwakot and Makwanpur who have historically been exploited and trafficked to India for commercial sexual activity; the Muslim communities in Rautahat and Sarlahi who are trafficked to India and the Kathmandu valley for zari work; Janajatis who are trafficked for domestic labor; and Tharu and Dalit communities who work in the brick industry.

To support access to education, the HLI establishes non-formal education programs for working and at-risk children; supports madrassas by mainstreaming them to the national curriculum; and provides vocational training and Self-employment and Economic Education Program (SEEP)classes for adolescent girls who are too old to enroll in school. In working towards poverty alleviation, HLI trains families in microfinance and livelihood development. The HLI also supports protection for victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation by forming child protection committees and supporting drop-in centers that provide psycho-social counseling and referrals for medical care and legal services. As of 2012, HLI has put 4,120 women and children innon-formal education classes, provided 847 trafficking victims with access to rehabilitation services, and reached 18,444 people through Safe Migration Campaigns.
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Social Safety Net Project to Improve Food Security Livelihood and Nutrition (2010 - 2011)
Darchula District is a remote area of Nepal marked by food insecurity and instable agricultural conditions. Working with the World Food Programme to build on past investments to increase food production with farmers in Darchula, World Education provided technical assistance to agencies at the district and local level in 5 communities.


The technical assistance provided enabled the District to create community assets such as water systems, rural access roads and to develop skills using Farmer Field Schools (FFS), 'food for work' and 'cash for work' approaches while addressing the conservation of watersheds adversely impacted by climate change. In total, 2168 community projects were completed benefiting 2253 households with 12,617 people.
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Combating Trafficking in Persons
Trafficking in persons (TIP) is a serious and widespread problem in Nepal, characterized by high rates of cross-border, international and internal trafficking of women, men, and children. While most attention is focused on the exploitation of women and children, cross-border and internal trafficking of men and boys is also a growing concern. Men and boys are often recruited to migrate for work in Gulf States, but are then trafficked into forced labor in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of those trafficked are met with wages and conditions considerably below that which was promised and as a result become victims of debt bondage or worse. With funding from USAID and in collaboration with the Asia Foundation and 11 local partner organizations, the Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) project is designed to prevent TIP, protect and provide for victims, and prosecute traffickers while producing measurable results.

The protection component provides shelter-based services for migrants who have been victims of trafficking and works to improve the policy framework and procedures for victim care and protection. Under the prosecution component, anti-trafficking laws and policy implementation are strengthened as well as implementing victim-centered approaches in prosecution. World Education has taken the lead role in the prevention component, directly implementing awareness-raising and safe migration activities with six partners in six districts of Nepal. World Education also increases the capacity and commitment of government, civil society, schools, media, and the private sector by conducting trainings in topics such as resource mapping; safe migration, trafficking, and reintegration practices; and providing vocational skills and financial planning packages to at-risk populations. In year two of this program, World Education has supported the formation of Safe Migration Networks, built the capacity of local partners, and provided trainings in entrepreneurship to 147 men and women, and skills training to 128 people.
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Youth on the Move
Youth on the Move (YOTM) is World Education's regional safe migration initiative and is currently in three countries in Asia: China, Nepal and Cambodia. The Initiative centers on addressing the education and wellbeing needs of migrant youth, and vulnerable youth who are potential migrants, through interventions such as literacy, post literacy, life skills, specific workplace preparation and livelihood development programs for out-of-school youth; extra curricula activities, teacher training, school management capacity building and curricula enhancement for in-school youth; child protection system strengthening; policy and advocacy; and local capacity building.

Through Youth on the Move, World Education engages local partners working in youth-focused services in a process to identify the factors that make migrating youth vulnerable, assess current intervention gaps, and design and implement new activities. Through carefully evaluated implementation, practitioners acquire an evidence-based understanding of what works to improve migrant and potential migrant youths' life options and reduce the incidence of sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

In Cambodia, World Ed implements the Initiative directly, working with government staff of Provincial and District Offices of the Ministries of Education, Women's Affairs, Social Affairs and Labor. World Education provides training and on-the-job technical assistance to support local working groups at the community and district level. In Nepal and China, World Ed partners with local NGOs and provides technical assistance.
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Good Return- Economic Education and Livelihoods Skills for Economically Disadvantaged Women in Nepal
Limited economic opportunities and lack of proper financial education contribute to the extreme poverty that people face in Nepal. Good Return is an innovative social enterprise established by World Education Australia to address poverty issues in the Asia Pacific region through microfinance and micro loans.

In Nepal, Good Return partners with Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited to provide loans to groups of poor women living predominantly in the southern Terai region of the country. World Education also provides technical assistance by delivering trainings in areas such as financial literacy and business, technical and vocational skills for income generation especially to women. In 2011, 1,394clients took basic literacy classes, economic education classes, or participated in livelihood workshops. For more information about the Good Return project please visit: http://www.goodreturn.org/
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New Path New Steps/Naya Bato Naya Paila
In Nepal, the worst forms of child labor (WFCL) are a significant problem. Nepal’s lack of compulsory education, low minimum working age, and inadequate enforcement of labor laws all contribute to this problem.

Naya Bato Naya Paila (NBNP), or New Path New Steps, is a project funded by the US Department of Labor and aims to eradicate child labor in Nepal by working within school systems to provide alternative vocational opportunities; engaging the government to strengthen policy and capacity for involvement in child labo
r issues; increasing access to case management systems for children; and increasing public knowledge on child labor-related issues. It is one of the largest anti-child labor projects currently being implemented in Nepal.

Building on the DOL-funded Brighter Futures Project, NBNP takes on key gaps in existing child-labor programming by drawing on World Education’s thematic expertise in prevention and removal, and regional experience in districts with some of the highest rates of child labor. Where the Brighter Futures focused primarily on removing and protecting children, NBNP picks up with a more holistic approach that includes partnering with government organizations to strengthen policy implementation and existing child protection systems. NBNP targets the brick making, domestic labor,mining, portering, and zari/embroidered textile industries, as well ascommercial sexual exploitation of children.

To date World Education has achieved the following cross-cutting results:
· 14,905 beneficiaries, including both children in WFCL and Children at Risk, have received educational services;
· 8,688 children have been withdrawn from WFCL;
· Over 682 families have received family livelihood support;
· 1,051 children of working age have participated in vocational education or practical skills training including apprenticeships,use of skill training centers, and the Self-Employment and Economic Education Program (SEEP).

NBNP also engages the government to strengthen policy and capacity for involvement in child labor issues. In response to the upcoming government school reforms which will include vocational orientation in basic education (Grades 1-8), NBNP team members are working with local schools and the Department of Education as well as the Curriculum Development Centre to develop an integrated pre-vocational education curriculum for school students. The pre-vocational curriculum places emphasis on learning the soft skills needed to make a vocational choice viable.

The project has also conducted action research and rapid assessments on specific program issues which contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of the project. The MIS Tracking system has been an integral part of tracking beneficiary progress and the system contains individual data on over 130,000 beneficiaries from child labor projects alone. The research and data from these efforts strengthens larger information systems that provide more reliable information and data for use in planning.
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Youth on the Move: Strengthening the Response to the Needs of Vulnerable and Migrant Girls in Nepal
Faced by stagnant rural economies and limited income generation opportunities, vast numbers of youth and their parents across Asia are leaving their communities in search of work. They often leave without the appropriate knowledge, skills, health-related behaviors, and support networks to keep themselves safe, healthy, and free from abuse and exploitation. The increased vulnerability of youth is evidenced by the soaring rates of sexual and labor exploitation, sexual abuse, trafficking, poor health status, sexually transmitted infections (STI), and HIV infection among migrant youth across this region. The Youth on the Move Project, funded in part by the Oak Foundation, is improving the learning and life outcomes of vulnerable migrant and potential migrant youth in China, Cambodia, and Nepal.

World Education’s activities ensure that youth who are migrants, as well as those who are likely to migrate, can equip themselves with the core knowledge, skills, and healthy behaviors that reduce their vulnerability. In Nepal, the project centers on addressing the education and well-being of migrant and vulnerable youth through interventions such as literacy, post-literacy, life skills, specific workplace preparation and livelihood development programs for out-of-school youth, extracurricular activities, teacher training, school management capacity building and curricula enhancement for in-school youth, child protection system strengthening, policy and advocacy, and local capacity building. In 2012 alone, Youth on the Move Nepal enrolled 428 out-of-school children (388 girls and 40 boys) in non
formal education classes. Additionally, the program has assisted mothers, youth, partners, schools, and local leaders to mobilize their communities and address issues related to girls’ education, child labor and child protection.
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Schools As Zones of Peace - Terai in Transition
In 2006, Nepal emerged from a decade-long civil war which had major impacts on education in the country. Though much of the violence had ended, the Terai region was still experiencing considerable political turbulence after this time. The UNICEF-funded School as Zones of Peace (SZOP) project aimed to increase children’s access to quality education by ensuring peace in the schools most affected by civil unrest and political activities. World Education worked with local NGO partners and government counterparts in nine Terai districts to address the impacts of political conflict in these regions and build capacity to implement quality education initiatives and plan future programming. Currently, World Education works in 800 schools with 300,000 students through SZOP.

Key elements of the SZOP project included developing a Code of Conduct for each school which was approved by local and district government bodies; mobilizing civil society to keep the conflict out of schools; and advocating for the official endorsement of schools as zones of peace at cabinet and parliamentary levels. This resulted in more than 180 days of schools remaining open for education; the end of school grounds being misused and mismanaged (ex. being rented out for wedding functions, etc.); improved school governance by School Management Committees and Parent Teacher Associations; a reduced presence of armed forces in schools;and the official adoption of Schools as Zones of Peace at the national level in 2011.
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Nepal Family Health Program II, Literacy and Life Skills
Public health in Nepal, while improving, suffers due to inadequately trained and supervised staff and a lack of consistent supplies of essential drugs, resources, and equipment; access to proper facilities; and knowledge about healthy behaviors and habits. World Education and its NGO partners implemented the (LLS) component of the Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP II), implementede by [url
]www.jsi.com,JSI Research & Training Institute[/url] and funded by USAID from 2007-2012 to help improve maternal and child health outcomes. Literacy and Life Skills aimed to empower girls and women to change their health behaviors and access health services. It also worked to build the capacity of Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHV) to facilitate health education.

Literacy and Life Skills had four activities:

• Learning Circles, a one-year program which targeted mothers groups to teach proper maternal health practices and was facilitated by FCHVs;
  
• Health Education and Adult Literacy (HEAL), a nine-month program cycle focusing on improving healthy behaviors and targeting 15-45 year old women;
  
• Small Grants Support Programs (SGSP) for HEAL groups to conduct health education activities in their communities; and
  
• Girls Access to Education (GATE), a nine-month program cycle for out-of-school girls between 10-14 years or age, teaching them about health and preparing them for school and their adolescent years.

Through the Learning Circles program, 1,619 FCHVs were trained, and 31,285 women of reproductive age participated in the program. GATE saw 4,316 adolescent girls participate, of whom 2,824 went on to enroll informal school upon completion of the program. Of the 10,814 women of reproductive age who participated in the HEAL program, 4,854 in 221 SGSP groups became actively involved in carrying out health promotional activities. The Literacy and Life Skills component increased participants’ awareness about health, turning it into action as well as advocacy for health services. Pre- and post-tests show that the health knowledge of participants increased after HEAL courses, and use of contraception, antenatal check-ups, and health facilities also increased. In addition, the program built the capacity of FCHVs as well as NGO partners.
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Starting New Lives   (2006 - 2008)
Nepal has a long history as a source country for young girls and women being trafficked for sexual exploitation in India. In fact, in recent years there has been a growing awareness that there is also internal trafficking for sexual exploitation in the entertainment industry and for child labor. Many Nepali adult prostitutes in India enter the profession at the average age of 14-16 years as a result of trafficking and are kept enslaved and in debt bondage for approximately three to five years. Children are trafficked from Makwanpur and other Tarai districts to work as circus performers in India. Domestically, girls and young women are trafficked for work in massage parlors and cabin and dance restaurants in Kathmandu; while these girls are neither bonded or enslaved most have been the victims of deception as to the nature of the job. The conflict in Nepal also had a major role in increasing the numbers of girls migrating from the villages in search of employment who end up in these working places. In most cases, very few of these young women return to their villages due to the stigma and discrimination associated with their work and the lack of alternative income generating activities.

The Starting New Lives Project was funded by USAID to complement work being carried out by World Education for child victims of trafficking.

Education was the main strategy used both to support trafficking survivors and to prevent girls at risk from being trafficked. Other interventions included safe shelter and outreach into entertainment establishments where trafficking victims work.

There was a special focus on the Dalit and Tamang communities that have been more susceptible to trafficking.

World Education successfully implemented the Starting New Lives Project from 2006 to 2008. For further information about this project's activities, please contact wei@worlded.org
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Brighter Futures Program (2005 - 2009)
In Nepal, one of every three children is a child laborer, with an estimated 2.6 million children between the ages of five and fourteen working on farms, in factories, in businesses, or in other people's homes. World Education implemented a four-year project to combat child labor through education. World Education's Brighter Futures Program worked closely with the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor in Nepal. Brighter Futures activities were carried out at two levels: in communities where children come from or where they currently live and work; and at the policy level with government and international agencies.

World Education and its government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners used what they learned from project implementation at the community level to help inform existing and new government policies related to child labor. World Education and its partners worked to increase children's access to education, and to improve the relevance and quality of education and training for children rescued from abusive forms of child labor. This included provision of nonformal and vocational education opportunities, the strengthening of community based education, and the strengthening of monitoring and supervision systems used in primary education and nonformal education programs. Brighter Futures engaged policymakers in the continuous review of lessons learned from program implementation and the study of specific barriers to children's participation in order to formulate and improve educational policy on child labor.
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Swasthya Chautari (2004 - 2007)
In Nepal, most young mothers live with their extended families and bear a disproportionately large share of the household chores, agricultural tasks, and other livelihood duties. In order to address health education needs among young mothers, the Ministry of Health (MOH) relies on the use of mass media (radio and television) and interactions by Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) with the mothers. The FCHVs are the first contact that families have with the health service delivery system, and they play an integral role in the health education process, especially by referring the mothers to health facilities. However, these young mothers have little access to the mass media, and there is a significant disconnect between the knowledge of the FCHVs and that of surveyed mothers.

Through the Swasthya Chuatari program, World Education worked in collaboration with JSI Research & Training Institute's Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP), the MOH, and its nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners to provide better health education to the women from the most disadvantaged communities. In Nepali, the Chautari is the village meeting place under a tree where members of the community come to discuss issues, rest, and socialize, while Swasthya means health. Thus, the translated meaning of Swasthya Chautari is "health forum." The goal of World Education's Swasthya Chuatari program was to provide young women with the opportunity to develop their knowledge of essential health issues and practical life skills by creating a safe, open environment for such learning to occur. The program also aimed to build the capacity of FCHVs so that they can be more effective health educators of young women. This was done through the use of World Education's GATE and HEAL curricula. The women and girls also participated in monthly learning circles and listening circles around various health topics in order to reinforce and enhance their health knowledge, and in community awareness activities in order to share that knowledge.
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Resunga Mahila Project (2003 - 2009)
In rural Nepal, women do not have access to credit from banks. If they borrow money from village moneylenders, they are forced to pay back the loan at unreasonably high interest rates. It is rare to hear of female community members saving money and investing those savings into livelihoods improvement because there is no mechanism for them to do so at the local level, especially in remote areas where there is little access to local markets and services.

In Nepal, "green roads" use environmentally friendly, labor-intensive construction techniques to build roads that link isolated, rural village development committees (VDCs) with district centers. In hill districts, green roads have been promoted for the development of secondary road systems to improve access to markets and services for remote VDCs. Green roads bring immediate economic benefits to communities along the road corridor. A skeletal network of "green roads" was developed in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi Districts that linked the district centers to more remote VDCs. As part of this initiative, expansion of microfinance and economic education activities were implemented to ensure that these new routes brought economic benefits to the families that surrounded them.

To take advantage of those benefits, World Education worked with its NGO partners in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi to reach older women with little or no literacy skills, while at the same time provided opportunities for women with limited formal education to receive relevant nonformal education. By using the Women's Economic Empowerment and Literacy (WEEL) package along the "green roads" corridors, women increased their literacy skills, and especially their math skills, so that they were better prepared to participate in savings and credit groups and gain knowledge and skills for improving their livelihoods.
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Farmer Field Schools in Nepal - The Next Generation   (2002 - 2005)
The reality for young women and out-of-school youth in rural Nepal is that agriculture is a major focus of their lives. Over 82% of Nepal's population is supported by agriculture. Rapid population growth has meant that although agricultural production is increasing, levels of malnutrition are still rising. World Education worked with older girls graduating from its Girls Access to Education (GATE) Program and out-of-school youth in its Brighter Futures Program by linking them to farmer field schools (FFS).

World Education worked with its nine NGO partners to identify girls and out-of-school youth who have not entered school or who have dropped out. When a community was interested, they formed groups of parents and daughters or youth interested in attending a FFS. Once groups were formed, the NGO FFS trainer conducted a Farmer Field School that lasted for approximately 18 weeks, or a full cropping season. During FFS, participating farmers gathered in a village field each week to compare their own standard farming practices to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. The primary learning curriculum was the paddy field itself, where most learning activities take place. At the end of the season, girls, out-of-school youth, and their parents shared what they had learned with the community through a Farmer Field Day. This was their opportunity to show (and show off to) the rest of the community. Farmers could proudly share what they had learned with their families, neighbors, friends and peers. Through sharing, they also recalled the whole Farmer Field School experience and reinforced their own learning.
Read the following success story about the program: Taking on the Future: Building a Better Life through Education and Agriculture

World Education successfully implemented the FFS project from 2002 to 2005. For further information about this project's activities, please contact wei@worlded.org
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Girls' Access to Education (GATE) Program
In rural Nepal, two-thirds of adolescent girls are not enrolled in formal schools. These illiterate, out-of-school girls are destined for lives of low status and limited opportunities. In 1998, World Education began the Girls' Access to Education (GATE) Program by developing a nine-month literacy curriculum that integrates adolescent health and girls' empowerment information with literacy training. As girls learn how to read, write and do basic mathematics, they learn about basic nutrition, reproductive health, the consequences of early marriage, early pregnancy, unsafe sex, STIs, and HIV/AIDS. World Education developed a series of booklets for the program that focus on the dangers of trafficking, child rights, and safe migration.
Out-of-school girls who participate in nonformal education programs like GATE achieve a basic primary education. This is an extraordinary and life-changing accomplishment for a low-status, illiterate girl, but it is only half the story. Many GATE graduates re-enroll into the formal school system or participate in vocational or practical skills training to continue their education.

In some of the districts where GATE classes are being given, parents have the opportunity to participate in local Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs). As these PTA members gain management skills and learn how to help students maximize their learning, they are in a position to assist the GATE graduates who transition to the formal school system. Recently, the GATE Program has also developed practical vocational training alternatives for girls who graduate from GATE, but who choose not to enroll in school. Included among these alternatives is the Self-Employment Education Program (SEEP), which teaches girls basic savings and credit principles, and gives them capacity to start their own small businesses.

Read the following success stories about the program: Preventing Trafficking and Violence through Education, A Dream Fulfilled, and How Mina Escaped from Being Sold
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