In addition to UNICEF’s overall role to promote girls’

In addition to UNICEF’s overall role to promote girls’ education in the national context, the strategies and approaches above will be implemented through specific UNICEF supported interventions to promote and accelerate girls’ education in Bangladesh.

The following are the core education programmes which underpin Unicef Bangladesh girls’ education strategy:




Improving the quality of and access to formal primary education: Through parallel funding UNICEF will support PEDP II with an emphasis on quality improvement and equity. Building on IDEAL initiatives, support will focus on effective in-service training of teachers, local level planning, social mobilisation and community involvement and the development of innovative initiatives to reach excluded children. A number of initiatives which proved effective in IDEAL Project will be implemented nationally. Direct support from UNICEF will be given for the development and small scale implementation of new and related interventions. Direct coverage will be of a few thousand children. However, successful interventions will be implemented in PEDP II throughout the country with a potential coverage of over 17 million children. The result should be more girls and boys who achieve the expected competencies of the primary cycle and who are adequately prepared for secondary school.


Education for working children: A new project (Basic Education for Urban Working Children) will be undertaken in 2004. Implemented by the government through NGOs, the project will provide nonformal education and life skills for 200,000 children (60 percent girls), impart livelihood skills training for older adolescents and undertake social mobilisation activities to raise awareness of child labour issues and to advocate for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. A special focus will be on domestic girl workers.