BEST provides services in 22 provinces of the country through its Main Office in Kabul and 9 regional offices located in Kandahar, Gardez, Khost, Ghazni, Bamyan, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Kuner and Laghman. BEST in close cooperation GTZ-BEP (Basic Education Program) impmented this project in Paktia Province.

One of the sector of focus is primary education with special emphasis on girls’ education in the most neglected and deprived areas of Afghanistan. BEST gained sufficient experience by implementing various education projects for Afghan refugees in different locations in Pakistan.

In view of some developments in the security situation inside Afghanistan and complications in areas close to Pak-Afghan border, the government of Pakistan decided to relocate Afghan refugees based in the North and South Waziristan agencies. An obvious destination for these highly vulnerable and displaced refugee populations was the province of Paktia, which is in proximity. Reports from the UNHCR Pakistan indicate that more than 1070 families consisting of around 5800 individuals have repatriated in 2005 alone to the Paktia province. Among them were 1466 children including 712 girls aged between 5-12. With the basic life and support infrastructure facilities in abysmal condition, education opportunities for the newly arriving children, in terms of their re-integration into the mainstream education, were virtually non-existent. With no schools, these returning refugee children were at the risk of losing out completely.

This relocation resulted in loss of livelihoods for families and adequate education opportunities for children, which could have translated into better and improved living and livelihood conditions. Although some of the refugee children were facilitated through UNHCR refugee education systems, a vast majority was faced with enormous problems in reintegrating in the mainstream education inside Afghanistan.
           
Immediate and effective strategies were required to tackle this situation, which could help children overcome this problem and enable them rejoin their normal schools and promise gradual reintegration of returning children into the mainstream formal education.

The Catch up Education (CUE) Project aimed at integration of Pushtoon Returnee Children into Mainstream Education in Afghanistan. The initiative encompassed areas Said Karam, Ahmad Aba and the capital of Paktia province Gardiz. The implementation period of the project was August 1st, 2005 to December 31st 2005. The total cost of the project was US$ 30,000.

CUE Goals and Objectives

The project aimed at reintegration of the returning refugee children in mainstream education with particular emphasis on quality.

More specifically:

• To carry out a spotlight evaluation on returnee children with respect to their educational situation in Paktia Province
• To document the current situation of CUE projects of other donors, including the benefits and shortcomings as seen by the actors and recipients
• To analyze the data obtained, and draw out main findings and conclusions
• To train CUE trainers according to the newly developed curriculum
• To implement a new CUE program according to the needs of the returnee children in Paktia Province up to 31st December2005.