Additional goals include reducing the overall grade 1-8 drop-out rate from 5% to 1% and reducing the rate of late entries to primary school from 11% to 1%. This project builds on the success of Imagine1day’s Bale Out of School Children Initiative implemented with EAC in 2014, which reduced the number of OOSC by 13,801 across two districts in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region.

To create significant changes in the five targeted districts, a focused strategy and holistic and integrated activities will be utilized. A model school will be created in each district, which will serve to promote the possibilities that education can offer. Through targeted awareness campaigns and capacity building efforts of community based organizations, religious and political leaders, Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) and women’s associations, girls and other vulnerable children will be enrolled. Professional development programs for teachers and improvements in the quality of school learning environments will bring achievement and attitudinal changes to help reduce drop outs. In total, the project will benefit 260 schools and communities in the target districts.

Sustainability will be enhanced by securing commitments of key partner organizations, direct engagement of district governments, building PTAs’ leadership capacity, contributions (cash, labor, materials) of communities to build schools, and increasing the ability of families to generate income through small enterprises to pay for school.