Strengthening Indigenous Provision of Education in Ethnic Areas of Myanmar

The education sector in Myanmar is highly diverse and heavily marred by the country’s complex and long history of conflict: while the Ministry of Education is the largest provider of education services, it does not reach all populations in Myanmar, and it is estimated that over a quarter of education services in Myanmar are provided by either Indigenous providers, the monastic system or faith-based organisations. Indigenous providers of education include the education departments of Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs), as well as Indigenous community-based organisations. They provide education services in non-government-controlled areas, as well as in many mixed administration and government-controlled areas where government education services have recently been established but often remain weak and under-resourced. Where government education services exist in conflict and post conflict affected areas, they remain inaccessible for many indigenous children when they lack linguistic and cultural relevance. Indigenous providers therefore fill critical gaps in education provision in Myanmar. However, many children are out of school in the geographical areas they reach.

In the Council of the European Union conclusions on Myanmar/Burma of February 2018 , the EU and Member States reconfirmed their strong engagement to support the country's democratic transition, peace and national reconciliation, and inclusive socio-economic development, and reiterated their readiness to continue support to ongoing reforms, specifically in the education sector. In line with this, the EU intends to provide sector budget support to the government to implement its National Education Strategic Plan (2016-2021). In complement to this, to support Myanmar’s objective of "leaving no child behind" and to ensure a conflict-sensitive and balanced EU approach to education provision in Myanmar, the EU intends to provide support to Indigenous providers of education to help them improve the quality of their education provision and expand their reach to most marginalised children and youth in conflict and post conflict affected areas, as well as to promote their engagement with the Ministry of Education (MoE) on key educational reforms.

The global objective of this call for proposals is: to contribute to a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development in Myanmar.

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is: improved access to Indigenous education service provision and improved learning outcomes for Indigenous children, youth and women living in ethnic conflict affected and post-conflict areas of Myanmar. 

The priorities of this call for proposals are: 

1. Improving standards of education provision in schools supported by Indigenous providers of education in ethnic areas of Myanmar. 
2. Strengthening Indigenous providers of education teachers’ capacities.
3. Expanding access to Indigenous education services to out-of-school children, youth and women.
4. Harmonising standards of operation amongst Indigenous providers of education.
5. Promoting progressive alignment and complementarity between services provided by Indigenous providers of education and government education services.

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 20,000,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
 

Size of grants
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 10,000,000
• maximum amount: EUR 20,000,000

Moreinfo: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?ADSSChck=1547095968405&do=publi.detPUB&searchtype=QS&orderby=upd&orderbyad=Desc&nbPubliList=15&page=1&aoref=161944