Supporting Access to
Girls' Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (SAGSE)
We have been diligently executing the "Supporting Access to Girls' Secondary Education" (SAGSE) program in remote regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. Forming a strategic partnership with Hoshyar Foundation USA in 2008, our efforts have expanded over a decade, enlisting support from a consortium of national and international partners, including the Maria Helena Foundation Canada, Circle of Women, the Waterloo Foundation, Friends of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited Foundation, ICI Foundation, and Government's Education Departments at provincial and district levels, to champion girls' education. The SAGSE program follows a well-defined and successful strategy by establishing community-managed girls' secondary schools in marginalized areas where girls are out of school (OOS) after completing primary education due to the lack of secondary schools in their vicinity. Over time, the Government Education Departments take over these community-based schools, and we gracefully step back after the handover. The SAGSE program's successful implementation has been witnessed in districts Mansehra and Torghar of KP Province, Pakistan, with six school buildings for girls' education also constructed through the collective support of consortium partners.
We, in partnership with UNESCO, launched a programme "Girls' Lower Secondary Education Programme (GLSEP) in three Districts of Indus Kohistan and District Mohmand newly merged District in KPK." This program aimed to improve girls' transition from primary to lower secondary level education in three districts: Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Koli Palas and District Mohmand. By supporting formal and non-formal school facilities, enhancing the learning environment through teacher and PTC (Parent-Teacher Council) trainings, and fostering collaboration between schools and education departments, we worked to enhance the enrollment, retention, and overall quality of lower secondary education for girls in the region.