The Education Thematic Programme contributes to the development objective that:
Women and men, girls and boys in rural areas use good quality education as a vehicle for their development as active citizens, able to participate fully in a representative civil society promoting social justice and sustainable change.
In working towards the development objective the programme has established the four specific objectives:
1) Democratically operating schools in rural areas form a platform for the involvement of families and the community in education and concern for the quality of children’s lives.
2) Teachers make good quality child-centred education a reality for learners in rural primary schools
3) The educational needs of the most disadvantaged, especially girls , orphans and vulnerable children are met by the community
4) The relevant civil society organisations at local as well as at national level advocate for a right based child friendly quality education, children’s rights and girls and boys equal integration in and completion of formal education
The immediate target groups for the programme are schools councils and community leaders, teachers and other education professionals, girls, orphans and vulnerable children. The ultimate target groups are children and the wider community in rural areas.
The programme will be implemented through geographically defined sub programmes in rural districts and in the capital. Initially the programme will operate in the districts of Zambezia (Milange and Alto Molocue), implementing partnership projects and activities in pursuit of programme objectives. The Maputo sub-programme will focus specifically on advocacy, campaigning and national-level networking and fundraising, using the learning created by the programme.
In working towards the four objectives the programme uses three sub-strategies:
1) To build the capacity of school councils so that they work with local communities and with government to create schools where education of good quality is achieved and which form a democratic nucleus within the rural community;
2) To promote good quality teaching and learning in rural areas by developing models of good practice, through on the job training, and relating this experience to the teacher training curriculum.
3) To support civil society initiatives in increasing access to education for girls, orphans and vulnerable children
The EDEC retains a decentralised decision-making structure
although ultimate responsibility for decision-making on the programme rests with Regional Office, it is the Programme Management Team comprising RO and the Programme Leaders (heads of the sub-programmes), that is responsible for the effective operation of the programme in accordance with Ibis Policies, Mozambique Country Strategy and Education Strategy and the development, adjustment and change of the programme.
For more information about the project please contact program director Elisa Langa, elisa@ibismz.org
Maputo
In the outskirts of Maputo lies a center, ‘Criança Feliz’, open for orphans and other vulnerable children.
Alberto* had a giant wound on his forehead, shunned glances by gazing firmly on his dirty feet and ate furtively from the trash can. He was unable to run or jump and shoed away from human contact. During the first days, a number of children visited the recently opened center. Like Alberto, some had the appearances of living in miserable conditions while others came to visit with outgoing curiosity. 
Criança Feliz lies in the suburbs of Maputo, where the city’s concrete façades become dirt roads and the houses are constructed with a mix of whatever materials happen to be obtainable. The center does not stand out from the outside with its barb wired wall surrounding it, but once the door is open, the place is warm orange and covered with children’s drawing.
Being, doing and interacting
The centre is part of IBIS’ education programme in Mozambique, working to meet the educational needs of the most disadvantaged, especially girls, orphans and vulnerable children in the community. The project reflects the reality these children face, trying to survive under harsh circumstances and the necessity of developing specific measures to support marginalized children in Mozambique. Like Alberto, most of the children that visit the center are either orphans or live with a disabled parent, thus receiving little if any support from adults.
In Criança Feliz they have the opportunity to communicate with adults and other children, learn useful skills and gain confidence in the future. The activities of the centre are conceptualized to complement the traditional family and school structures that otherwise influence the upbringing of the children. It becomes a place for play and participation. A place where they can use, or for some, re-gain, their imagination and creativity and learn basic norms for interaction, such as respect for the others, the environment and, not least, for themselves. Those children coming from abusive upbringings may not have learned how to say no.
The philosophy of the center resides in the basic guidelines to a healthy life proposed by the WHO: know to be, know to do and know to interact. By using their imagination and creativity the children may learn to visualize and develop the dream of a better future, thus know ‘how to be’. The professional teaching provides them with skills and knowhow and finally the respectful interaction with adults and children teaches them how to interact.
When it is time for the sewing class, the children drop everything and run in to join. They learn different sewing techniques and can keep the things they produce in class, such as bags or pieces of clothing. The center is equipped with a number of activity rooms, where they learn how to employ the tools correctly and create artifacts and art work for sale. The staff is compounded by professional “mestres” able to teach the children how to work with the tools and the equipments, voluntary activists and young adults able to motivate the kids to participate in the brincadeiras, art production and dancing. Each adult is assigned to the center and responsible for certain specific activities, which is all schematically stated and archived.
The children that visit the center on a regular basis are registered as well. The registration includes formal data, but also a continuous observation of their well-being and evolution. Everybody receives a daily meal, partly cooked with the vegetables they have the responsibility of cultivating themselves. 
In the future, Criança Feliz will expand the current activities and buildings in order to continuously develop the activities for the children in the area. Hence, the center will set up an internet café, where the children learn how to gain access to the internet and seek information. Furthermore, there will be a library, and a theater workshop as an ongoing activity, which is to conclude twice a year with a play or musical. Moreover, a psycho-social counselor is attached to the center.
Criança Feliz works in cooperation with teachers, principals and school councils within the same are. What is more, the children will have the opportunity to participate in the democratically run center. They may have suggestions for changes or other recommendations for further planning of activities and are generally invited to speak their opinion. The idea is that their participation will be more formally manifested in a weekly or monthly assembly, where they will have elected representatives. These can also be divided into representing smaller groups within the center. For instance, the girls may have their own spokespersons or each mini-office can be individually represented in the assembly. This will hopefully give them a greater feeling of belonging to the center, knowing that they can influence the activities carried out, and, at the same time, this procedure teaches them how to take responsibility and participate in the democratic society in which they are citizens. Hence, one of the focus points of Criança Feliz to teach and protect the rights of the child.
The overall results for the community and the orphans are still to become evident, but as it is now, there has already been a visible change in many of the children. Alberto, for instance, is better nurtured, he plays with the other children and, of great importance; he laughs continually.
In order to achieve local ownership and sustainability, the center is placed in the area where many of the vulnerable children live. An important aspect of the consolidation of the project is to secure the involvement of local partner organizations in the caring for the orphans and vulnerable children in the community.
For more information about the project please contact program director for Education Elisa Langa, elisa@ibismz.org
Zambezia
This is Ibis’ vision about a happy school in Mozambique
Creation of Happy Schools 
In a Happy School, it is not enough to have a building with classrooms, an office for teachers and a chair and a table for each student. We recognise that this is also required for a good learning environment. However, Ibis is generally concerned with what happens inside the school; the process of teaching-learning and the involvement of the community in life at the school.
Ibis is therefore working for the creation, within its Education Program (EDEC), of Happy Schools in several ZIPs, creating the possibility of experiencing, at the local level, what a quality education can be in the Mozambican context: democratic management of the school, active participation of the population in school life, teaching staff engaged and more capable to stimulate learning and focusing teaching on the needs of the child, children actively learning and playing in and outside the classroom. The district Education officers are also aware of the value of these models as means of expanding the understanding of what can be achieved in and outside the Education sector.
Please clic here and read more about The vision – the dream
From dream to reality
The activities carried out so far include:
Promotion of the enjoyment of reading.
Acquisition of children’s books for school mobile libraries
Acquisition of bicycles and trailer to move the mobile libraries from school to school in the ZIP where happy schools belong
Extra-curricular vocational activities for orphan children (sewing, embroidery and needlepoint; arts and crafts; pottery.
Support to the activities of the Children’s Parliament centres at the happy schools
Capacity building of teachers and school council members on the local curriculum
Promotion of school recreational and educational activities for children (sports, singing and dancing, painting).
In addition, there are activities related to training/capacity building of teachers, school councils and development of local organizations of civil society.
Location
Ibis is currently developing Happy Schools in the districts of Alto Molocué and Milange, in the province of Zambezia:
Primary School Complete of Mutala
Primary School Complete of Moloumbo
Primary School Complete of Tengua
Primary School Complete of Mangassanje
Primary School of Nimala
Primary School of Mogessa
Primary School of Chissulo
Maputo
Working through partnership is a core programme strategy. Partnerships are based on common or shared values and objectives. The programme includes both Civil Society and Education Sector partners working to achieve the common goal of an education for all. It is recognized that only through the close involvement of Education Sector partners can the changes and advances in the quality of education and school governance, promoted by the thematic programme, be institutionalized in the education system and thus be extended to benefit the greatest number of our target group the members of the rural communities.
Initially the programme will operate in the districts of Zambezia (Milange and Alto Molocue), implementing partnership projects and activities in pursuit of programme objectives. The Maputo sub-programme will focus specifically on advocacy, campaigning and national-level networking and fundraising through partnerships.
Below you can read more about the different partners of EDEC:
The Movement for Education for All
School councils
Children’s Parliament
MEPT (The Movement for Education for All) is a forum which brings together NGO’s (non-governmental organizations), associations and individulas who are involved with or interested in education, with the objective of strengthening the actions of civil society for Education for All (EFA) and working together to contribute positively to development in education. Ibis Mozambique is a partner of MEPT.
MEPT emerged in 1999 in the build up to Mozambique’s participation in the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000. The vision of MEPT is to participate in the on-going construction of a country where all children, young people, and adults have access to quality basic education without any type of discrimination.
MEPT is a member of ANCEFA (Africa Network Campaign on Education for All) and GCE (Global Campaign for Education), and functions mainly as implementer of Global Education Action week. In 2007, MEPT major funding source was CEF, although it has established strategic partnerships (with action plans) with several major educational INGOS (Actionaid, Oxfam, Concern) and launched two national research studies, one on quality in education and the other on orphans and vulnerable children. Provincial and District level MEPTs now exist. MEPT participates as the voice of civil society on education in meetings of and in the annual review of Education Sector performance (RAR).
To know more about MEPT: http://www.mept.org.mz/engl/home.html#oque
The major thrust of civil society participation in education has been through an increase in effectiveness of the School Councils, where members of the community, parents and others, become involved in the running of the school. Manuals for School Councils and School Directors have been introduced to improve quality of performance, trialed and revised with input from Civil society groups (including Ibis).
In 2003 new system of school financing, ADE (Apoio Direito as Escolas,) was introduced giving direct funding to schools. As yet however the school councils have no experience of management of this direct school support. An important lesson learnt from the previous education program, ECRC, in view of the increasing politicization of civil society associations, is the need to ensure that school councils do not allow themselves to be used as instruments of any political party, especially once control of funding is in their hands, and that the school council remains an open space for Civil Society to express its voice.
Successful models of school council capacity building have been established. This can be measured by pride of members, appreciation by the school directors and staff, involvement of the communities, by wish of district education authorities that the approach be adopted in all schools.
To build the capacity of School Councils to develop the community’s involvement in education, to practice democratic governance and promote education of good quality, the Education programme will further develop, document and support the institutionalization of a methodology for developing well-operating school councils, and work with collaboration with government and other NGOs to ensure the large-scale adoption of this form of support and thus the sustainability of the intervention. 
Work with School Council has considerable strategic value. Democratic and effective school councils ensure the involvement of communities in education, providing a platform for them to realize their rights and responsibilities. They form the interface between the community and school and encourage the wider involvement of the community in the promotion of education for all, in particular the rights to education of girls and orphans and vulnerable children. Devolution of governance and funding to the level of the school provides the school council with hands on experience in holding higher levels of government accountable and the tracking of government spending. Established on the basis of democratic elections they embed democratic practice in the heart of the community and become an effective example of citizenship. The first page of Ministry of Education School Council manual, revised with the participation of Ibis sums this up this clearly “The school being the patrimony of the community needs active and democratic participation of society in its management”.
Working with school councils affords a clear basis for synergy with the Ibis Citizenship thematic programme as the fundamental principles on which it operates are described as to respect the laws of the country and the rights of the child, citizenship, education of girl children, universal access to good quality basic education and transparency and participative management
It is equally conceded by government that the activities of the school council should include decision making about school management and the creation of a school development plan. The main thrust of Ibis facilitation will be to ensure a clear understanding among all parties concerned of the roles and responsibilities of civil society members, school directors and local education authorities, in such a way as to ensure their commitment and capacity for action. It is furthermore important that the CEs acknowledge that they on the one hand have an accompanying role but the teachers maintain the professional authority and responsibility.
An important part of Ibis strategy is to ensure school councils are equipped to take the lead increasing the community’s capacity to come to terms with the impact of HIV/AIDS, and in particular to provide adequate support for the large number of orphans and vulnerable children created largely as a result of this pandemic, many of whom may lose their chance of entering or continuing in education. The programme will therefore incorporate a part of this sub-strategy the school council training initiatives proposed in Ibis Circles of Support project in Milange.