SESEA was a five year project which started in 2013 funded by Aga Khan Foundation (AKF). The SESEA project had three components designed to strengthen, over time, the performance of the overall education system in the target areas and beyond.  These included:

1. Developing skilled and competent teachers at the pre-primary and primary levels through accredited professional development programmes;
2. Strengthening education support systems and institutions by building accountable leadership, management and technical capacity within the education systems;
3. Sharing evidence based knowledge and learnings, which will allow policymakers and civil society organizations to make better-informed decisions about education reforms and interventions to improve educational outcomes.
   

While SESEA has incorporated strengthening gender responsiveness within education systems, it was recognized that more advanced and intensive support was required in the West Nile region. SESEA project activities has been enhanced under component two to comprehensively integrate gender mainstreaming in all operations of existing school structures.  Strengthening gender focus through the civil society activities will contribute towards the achievement of SESEA learning and teaching results in literacy and numeracy for both boys and girls with the following outcomes:

1. Strengthened teacher education and support systems by CSOs to improve and sustain learning outcomes for girls.
2. Improved capacity of selected CSOs to mainstream gender in internal operations and education interventions.
   

Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) recognized that sustainable improvements in education depend on the involvement of civil society to mainstream gender in schools and classrooms to ensure that boys and girls have equal access to and participation in education.  Education-centric CSOs have an important and unique role to play in improving the status of education, specifically in reducing barriers to girls’ education. Institutions such as CSOs, School Management Committees (SMCs), and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) can mobilize communities, school authorities, government and other stakeholders to address the gender norms that impact girls’ education. 

Hence, SESEA relied on strong partnerships with these stakeholders to ensure impactful, sustainable outcomes, particularly through the selection of Lead Civil Society Organizations (LCSOs) to provide leadership in this area. A Lead Civil Society Organization (LCSO) is an organization that has been selected through detailed assessment and evaluation and has been recognized as a leader in their district.  It was on this account that Hear International (HI) was selected through detailed assessment and evaluation to be the Lead Civil Society Organization (LCSO) to implement SESEA project in Arua District, West Nile region in Uganda.

As part of the SESEA project, Hear International (HI) was entrusted with responsibilities to provide leadership, mentorship and support to School Management Committees (SMCs), Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), and Head Teacher Associations (HTAs) in 50 primary schools (approximately 35,000 pupils) in Arua District to streamline gender mainstreaming in the education system while simultaneously increasing organizational capacity.  The purpose of the participation of Hear International (HI) was to not only build capacity and strengthen its own internal processes, but also to impart skills and knowledge in gender mainstreaming, community mobilization and policy engagement to strengthen education systems as a whole in Arua District, West Nile region, Uganda.

Year of Implementation: 2015-2016
Project funded by: Aga Khan Foundation-Uganda (AKF)