ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: The USAID-funded Education Sector Reform Assistance Programme (ESRA) has announced the first awards under its $25 million (Rs1,450 million) grants programme.

According to a press release, the notification of awards was made in Islamabad on August 30 by Dr Brian J. Spicer, Chief of Party, ESRA.

ESRA is a programme being implemented by a consortium of international and national partners under the aegis of the “Research Triangle Institute” of North Carolina, UDA. The objective of ESRA is to support the government of Pakistan’s education sector reforms.

Financial and technical assistance is provided to facilitate work in various areas of the education sector, including educational policy development and planning, the ongoing professional development of teachers and education administrators, literacy (especially for women), and public- private and public-community partnerships in support of improvements in education. The USAID support through this programme totals $60 million (Rs3,480 million).

The Grants Programme is designed to support the overall work of education sector reform within the ESRA framework by providing grants to local and national organizations, including the NGOs and the CBOs, for large-scale as well as for grass-roots initiatives.

The first grants, totalling nearly $4 million (Rs232 million) have been awarded to organizations with the expertise and experience to strengthen capacity within the existing education system through expansion of ongoing initiatives and activities that achieve the following: i) Improving education sector policy, planning, management, administration, and decision making. ii) Improving the capacity of education professionals including teachers and administrators. iii) Producing functional, sustainable literacy among adults, out-of-school youth, and women. iv) Promoting and facilitating partnerships among the public, private, and community sectors to improve educational access, quality, and delivery.