KARACHI:United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Director for Sindh and Balochistan Michael Hryshchyshyn and Secretary Education Qazi Shahid Parvez, Secretary Education participated in a closing ceremony of Sindh Capacity Development Project (SCDP) supported by USAID. The Government of Sindh’s officials, educationists and civil society representatives were present.
Hryshchyshyn articulated that the U.S. government is proud to partner with the Government of Sindh in the joint initiative of promoting education for all. He said, “We, along with our partners from the School Education and Literacy Department, focus on improving the quality and accessibility of education. Under the umbrella of Sindh Basic Education Program, SCDP has assisted the GoS to strengthen education reforms to improve education service delivery in Sindh”. He further added “Now, it is the joint responsibility of all of us to sustain the reforms initiated under SCDP and to ensure that quality education reaches to all children of Sindh.”
USAID-SCDP is a four-year project that is completing its project life in August 2019. The project provided critical support to GoS’s Program Management and Implementation Unit (PMIU) to manage and implement USAID Sindh Basic Education Program, a $165.0 million U.S government supported program, in partnership with the Government of Sindh. SCDP also provided support to SELD’s key institutions such as MandE Directorate, Directorate of Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Public Private Partnership Node.
Qazi Shahid Parvez lauded the efforts of SCDP for providing extensive assistance to the education department. Mr. Qazi termed Non Formal Education (NFE) Policy 2017 as a breakthrough event that set the platform for further reforms in NFE. SCDP provided technical assistance to SELD in the development of the first ever NFE Policy which was approved by Sindh Cabinet under the chair of Chief Minister. SCDP also provided key support in the development of ‘PPP Guide and Toolkit’, which is now extensively being used by the government officers and development partners to strenthen public private partnerships in education in Sindh. To improve the school monitoring system in the province, SCDP also assisted the GoS’ Directorate of MandE to develop MandE Strategic Plan.