PEQIP: Ministry experts on site certification mission for school construction and Wash installation

A team from the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship has been on a mission since April 8 in four administrative provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assess and certify school sites designated for new construction or renovation, as well as the installation of WASH facilities. This mission is part of the Primary Education Quality Improvement Project (PEQIP). It will run until April 21. Its objective is to promote the inclusion of girls and children, as well as students living with disabilities, in a quality learning environment. Through this initiative, the project aims to conduct a preliminary environmental and social assessment, incorporating aspects related to mitigating the risks of gender-based violence (GBV), sexual exploitation and abuse/sexual harassment (SEA/SH) in school settings. This environmental and social certification and screening initiative will cover 70 primary schools and 200 WASH facilities in the provinces of Ituri, Kasai, Kasai-Central, and Kasai-Oriental. Through this mission, PEQIP is implementing the first of its four components, namely: 1. Improving access to learning environments; 2. Improving teacher effectiveness; 3. Strengthening systems and project management for social inclusion, project management, and quality assurance; 4. Conditional emergency response. It should be noted that this mission is led by the National Directorate for the Construction, Maintenance, Rehabilitation, and Management of School Infrastructure (DINAC) and the PEQIP project support team. Willy Kambulu