Community and Education Program in Aceh (CEPA)

Background

Significant numbers of schools and education facilities in Aceh were damaged or neglected, and the quality of education diminished, as a consequence of nearly 30 years of conflict in Aceh province. Available statistics indicate that more than 600 schools were damaged during the conflict leaving about 55,000 children with reduced educational opportunities. With the support of all levels of government, many schools were rebuilt during the conflict period. However much remains to be done.

Following the signing of the peace accord between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian Government on 15 August 2005, AusAID began developing a program of assistance in conflict-affected areas in the education sector, to be delivered through the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD). The program builds upon AusAID's existing strengths and experience in the Islamic education sub sector and will be in addition to Australia's contribution of approximately A$33 million under the Education Rehabilitation in Aceh (ERA) Program.

Description

The objective of CEPA is to contribute to strengthening communities through rehabilitating schools and improving education quality in conflict-affected areas of Aceh, specifically in the districts of Pidie and Bireuen.

AusAID is developing an integrated program of assistance with a balance between improved infrastructure, teacher training, curriculum development, school resources provision, and management support. Program activities will focus on rebuilding and improving basic education (at primary and junior secondary levels in Islamic and other schools) and will include:

• rebuilding destroyed or damaged schools, classrooms, and offices, and improvement of sub-standard classrooms and student accommodation based on community and school consultations using block grants;
• curriculum improvements that embrace national requirements and regional needs;
• initial and ongoing training of teachers to upgrade capacity to match curriculum change using formal institutional, school-based, and other modes of professional development ;
• equipping school leaders and school committees to actively manage the responsibilities arising from the above changes;

This encourages communities to take leadership and ownership in the rebuilding and development of their schools. Their engagement is important to achieving sustainable educational outcomes and also helps strengthen the peace process at the community level. CEPA works closely with the education and religious affairs offices, religious organisations, education supervisors, and school leaders and committees.

Achievements/outcomes to date

• Phase I of the Program, which focuses on piloting and developing the original program design, commenced in 2006. The pilot developed and tested the conflict analysis, conducted school mapping and provided the basis for working with communities to develop and implement school improvement plans.
• The program is currently in the design-implementation phase. Activities have commenced with 7 schools in the Bireuen district. The full program will be rolled out following the contracting of the activity during 2007.

This page was last updated on 25 January 2007

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