Guinea

AGSP/Guinea At a Glance:

• Program Start Date: October 2005
• Academic Focus: Primary School
• Academic Year Start: October
• Number of Local partners: 8
• Number of Scholarships to Date: 23,778 (Girls: 22,234 Boys: 1,562)
• Number of Schools: 824
• Number of Mentors: 528
• Geographic Focus: Kindia, Labé, Boké, Mamou, Conakry, Faranah, Kankan, N'Zérékoré

AGSP local partners in Guinea are Club des Amis du Monde (CAM, in Kindia and Labé), Association pour la Promotion des Filles en Guinée (APROFIG, in Kankan), Association Sauvons les Enfants Déshérités (ASED, in Faranah and Conakry), Association Guinéenne pour l'Environnement et le Dévéloppement (ADEG, in Mamou), Zalikwélé Animateurs Communautaires (ZALI–AC, in N'Zérékoré), and Volontaires Guinéens pour le Dévéloppement (VGD, in Boké).

The scholarships are comprised of school supplies, books, uniforms, a backpack, a hurricane lamp, soap and shoes. The scholars are selected through a transparent process that involves the Ministry of Education, school administrators, parents' association members, teachers, and representatives from organizations working with girls' education in Guinea.

The AGSP team in Guinea developed a mentoring orientation guide for the NGO partners. The guide addresses orientations for mentors and school club committees and includes information on roles and responsibilities, HIV/AIDS and hygiene, problems associated with girls' access to education, solutions to these challenges and how to organize career days and other activities for the girls. There are 528 mentors working on AGSP in Guinea.

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Basic Information

• School year calendar: October – July
• Assisting 7,750 primary school girls and 1,562 primary school boys
• The target areas of this assistance are Conakry, Kindia, Boké, Mamou, Labé, Faranah, Kankan and N'Zérékoré
• The AGSP team in Guinea makes frequent visits to the AGSP regions
• World Education has relationships with eight local partners (six organizations, two of which operate in two regions): CAM in Kindia and Labé, ASED in Faranah and Conakry, APROFIG in Kankan, ADEG in Mamou, ZALI–AC in N'Zérékoré, and VGD in Boké. Most recent agreement dates: September 15, 2007 to September 14, 2008

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Program Overview

In Year 1, the AGSP in Guinea provided 6,000 scholarships to girls in primary school in Boké, Mamou, Labé, Faranah, Kankan and N'Zérékoré. The program was funded by USAID/Guinea and managed through World Education's PACEEQ program.

In October 2005, the AGSP was integrated into the Year 2 regional program and will from then on be funded by USAID/Washington for the remainder of the contract. While the program is managed by World Education's office in Boston, in–country program implementation is overseen by a team of World Education AGSP staff who provide support and oversight to eight NGO partners. In Year 2, the AGSP reached 7,500 girls. The World Education team in Guinea oversees the procurement of scholarship items worth $600,000 while the NGO partners are responsible for scholar selection, scholarship distribution and mentoring and community involvement activities.

In Year 3, the program implementation model is the same as it was in Year 2: funded by USAID/Washington as part of the Region 1 contract.

In Year 4, AGSP Guinea has distributed 7,750 scholarships to girls and 1,562 to boys.

There are over 528 mentors working on AGSP in Guinea. The mentors are selected by the federated parents' associations, the alliances, the management committees and school administrators with support from NGO trainers. There are several types of mentors in Guinea:

• Role model: credible educators that live in the community
• Tutor: older students or resource people in the community
• Study group supervisors: teachers from the AGSP schools
• School club and exchange visit supervisors: people who are available in the community (mostly from parents' associations, alliances, management committees and the school administration)

In addition, preparatory activities for Year 4 have been underway since February. Because of the volume of scholarships in Guinea, as well as the challenges to scholarship procurement, the World Education team in Guinea began the procurement process in February. The Team is expecting to hear soon whether they should start making 5th year procurements preparations.

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Exemplary Practices

APROFIG Practice: Former AGSP Scholars are trained as Mentors

Scholars promoted beyond AGSP were trained as tutors and mentors. This strategy helps girls understand each other better and also builds cooperation and trust among scholars.

• The idea of building former scholars' capacity as mentors came about during a roundtable discussion involving AGSP country consultants, fieldworkers, data entry clerks, and program coordinators.
• Fieldworkers, along with members of the Parents and Friends of the School Association (C/APEAE), visited the schools to choose 7th grade former scholars with 'Bien' (good) grade status to initiate into mentoring. Former scholars are supported by the parents and NGO and are directly supervised by the 6th grade head teacher and C/APEAE president. As tutors, they help scholars with 5th and 6th grade math, social science, and French. They also talk about relevant topics such as puberty, early marriage, HIV/AIDS/STD awareness, and hygiene.

APROFIG Practice: Monitoring and Liaison Committees

The NGO organized "focal committees" in order to oversee program activities and liaise between the NGO's technical team, the executive team and other external and internal education stakeholders (school administration, Association of Parents and Friends of the School, local alliances, and national coordination of AGSP).

• Focal committees are comprised of an NGO staff member and a representative of the educational authorities (Préfectoral Directorate). Focal committees interface with the community, NGO, educational authorities, and other stakeholders to ensure that the program runs well at the NGO and community levels.
• Focal committees are responsible for establishing strategies and work plans for scholarship distribution, supporting and monitoring follow–up activities, and advocating for more community and partner involvement. Monthly meetings are chaired by the NGO focal committee and facilitated by the NGO coordinator to discuss issues of program operations, activities, and challenges and successes.

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