UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

Published purpose

The project “Protective Learning and Nurturing Environments for Girls Education" (PLANE) aims to address the individual barriers that girls face in and out of school in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This is done by ensuring that they have access to a safe space that offers them protection and safety, both physically and psychologically, as well as opportunities for learning. The project also aims to ensure young and adolescent girls who are out-of-school, at-risk of dropping-out, internally displaced and returned migrants, have access to continue their learning, uninterrupted, by providing flexible, relevant and alternative learning opportunities. An essential component to the method is that alternative learning leads to recognized certificates and enables re-integration into formal schooling or safe employment. While young and adolescent girls are the focus of the project, the policies and many activities that benefit girls, may also support boys : such as well-trained teachers, inclusive and gender-responsive teaching methods that work for all students, a high-quality and relevant curriculum, and a focus on ensuring safe and secure learning environments for all children and adolescents. Project activities include: (1) setting-up physically-safe learning spaces; (2) establishing and strengthening safe spaces that offer opportunities to support the social and emotional wellbeing of girls through the provision of trained staff, peer exchanges, links and referrals to protective services, and alternative learning; and (3) empowering girls to seek available support services and to know and realize their rights. This project is expected to reach 180,600 persons under the age of 18 (126,420 girls and 54,180 boys), and 31,326 teachers, Ministry of Education officials, and education committee members.