Equitable Quality Education in Iraq: Improved Teaching and Learning and Enhanced Educational Management

This project is part of a financing agreement signed with the Iraqi government in 2022, titled ‘Support to durable solutions for Iraq’s displaced populations: integration into the national labour market and national systems for education and social protection’. The agreement objective in terms of supporting the Education Sector reform in Iraq is to improve quality, equality and digitalisation of the education system including technical education and vocational training.

In order to achieve this objective, the EU launched the “Equitable Quality Education in Iraq: Improved Teaching and Learning and Enhanced Educational Management” programme. This programme is 46 months long programme with a total budget of EUR 24 million that will be implemented in collaboration with UNESCO and UNICEF through a joint programme under UNESCO's leadership.

The programme is designed so that its outcomes make a difference to the learning opportunities of Iraqi children, both in terms of equitable access and quality learning. Thus the four outcomes combine to put the education system in a position to play its role in society, realising human potential and building human capital, in a more effective and efficient way by:

• Enabling evidence-based decision-making and improving learning by means of the application of digital resources to education data processing and classroom instruction (Outcome 1);

• Enabling schools to be more responsive to the local context through strengthened governance and active student engagement in addressing environmental and civic issues (Outcome 2);

• Raising the quality of teaching and learning through systematic teacher professional development and support (Outcome 3);

• Expanding the impact of civil society in advocating for the right to education and providing community-based perspectives in educational policy debates (Outcome 4).

The programme designed on the basis of consultations with the government and other stakeholders which sets the priorities adopted in the programme, drawing on the analysis and findings of Iraq’s National Education Strategy. This process provides the foundation for full and sustained partnership with government and its educational departments and institutions.

The programme also builds on the interventions already funded by the EU including the following:

• British Council (funded by the European Union, 2017-2022): Capacity building programme in primary and secondary education: improving quality and equality in Iraq. The current programme references the Developing School Model implemented in primary and secondary schools and builds on and extends the capacity developed at school level in human rights education, counselling, and the integration of vulnerable children (the focus was on children with disabilities), and mainstream the role of the ‘Critical Friend’ as an element in teacher continuous professional development.

• UNESCO (funded by the European Union, 2019-2022): System building and capacity strengthening of the Ministry of Education and its sub-national Directorates of Education for the effective delivery of quality education outcomes. The project produced a set of three documents: a Ca¬pacity Needs Assessment Report for the Federal Ministry of Ed-ucation; a 5-year Capacity Development Plan; a 3-year Implementation Plan for the Ministry at national, governor¬ate and school levels. The current programme draws specifically on the analysis of capacity needs at the three levels, and more generally on the previous project’s focus on building institutional capacity for self-sustaining transformation of the education system in Iraq.

• UNESCO (funded by the European Union, 2017 – 2021):  Access to inclusive quality primary and secondary education for IDPs, returnees, remainees and refugees in crisis-affected areas in Iraq. The project directly benefited 163,344 IDPs, returnee, remainee and refugee learners in six governorates of Iraq – Anbar, Salah al Din, Ninewa, Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimaniyah – through educational support and services based on their needs. In doing so, the project supported enhancement of the capacities of civil society organizations active in the provision of educational services for the IDP and refugee population in Iraq for project implementation, put in place an emergency education policy framework developed with unified crisis-response implementation mechanisms approved by GoI and KRG in partnership with civil society organizations, established a coordination mechanism for a unified crisis response with representation from GoI, KRG, local authorities and education sector partners, ensured availability of adequate learning content and learning materials ensured for IDPs and refugees, increased number of trained teachers deployed with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the needs of IDPs and refugees (eg. MHPSS) and improved transition from primary to secondary, vocational, technical and higher education for enrolled IDP students. The current programme particularly draws on the experiences and lessons learnt on engaging with CSOs in the provision of access to quality teaching and learning.

UNICEF (funded by the European Union 2019 – 2022): System building and capacity strengthening of the Ministry of Education and its sub-national Directorates of Education for the effective delivery of quality education outcomes. The project played a vital role in partnering with the DGoEs and schools at the downstream level to expand the EMIS roll-out to more than 3,500 schools, develop key strategy documents including the Governorate-Level Education Sector Plans and capacity development implementation plans in selected governorates, and deliver teacher training in e-Pedagogy to 4,000 primary school teachers.

EU Contribution                      EUR 24 million

Start-End                                 Jan 2024- Oct 2027

Location                                  Erbil and Duhok (KRI)

Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa, Salah-al-Din, Anbar, and Najaf (Central Region)

Basra, Qādisiyyah, Dhi Qar, Missan and Muthanna (Southern Region)

Targeted Population               Teachers and learners in all primary and secondary schools, as well as parents and school counsellors in some schools 

Technical and administrative officers within the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Directorates of Education (DoE) both Federal and KRI

Implementing Partners           UNESCO (Lead Agency) and UNICEF

Funding Instrument                Development and Cooperation Instrument