**Abdirizak M. Ali

Bossaso, Northeast Somalia ('Puntland'), August 2005 - Fifty-seven thousand out-of-school children have since June 2005 been registered in a UNICEF-supported Child-to-Child Registration initiative in Northeast Somalia ('Puntland').

Conceived as part of an advocacy and social mobilization strategy to boost enrolment in the Back to School Campaign, the core aim of the initiative was to find out the number of primary school age children (6-14 years) who are out of school in Puntland. Through its findings, UNICEF and partners will explore opportunities to provide education to the children.

The initiative in Puntland targeted Bossaso, Gardo, Galkaio, Garowe, Burtinle and Goldogob towns and six villages - Wa'iye, Dangoraio, Hafun, Bargaal, Bursalah and Ballidhidin. So far, the registration has been taken place in Bossaso, Gardo, Garowe, Galkaio, Hafun and Dangoraio. It has registered 57,000 out-of-school children (of whom 53.5% are boys and 43.5% are girls). With nearly 450 settlements in Puntland it is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 children are out of school.

The idea of child-to-child registration arose out of consultations between UNICEF and the Puntland Ministry of Education, women's, youth and student associations; school mentors, community education committee mobilizers, and international and national NGOs.

Action

The mayors of each town played a significant role in the town mapping exercise. Registration forms for data collection were designed and photocopied and continually improved as data collection progressed. In every town enumerators were selected from upper primary and secondary school pupils. These young enumerators were trained for a day and had a chance to provide input into the design and creation of information categories in the forms.

Student associations and clubs played a leading role in organizing, coordinating and guiding the enumerators. School mentors, teachers and head-teachers supervised the exercise. Local radio stations broadcast announcements of the impending exercise three days before it commenced. The announcements helped win the support of the public, parents and guardians of the children to be enumerated.

The students, teachers and organizers worked solely on a voluntary basis. UNICEF in turn provided refreshments and rented vehicles for team leaders to supervise the exercise. Eventually, all data will be segregated by location, section of town, gender and age.

Follow up

UNICEF has initiated discussions with teachers, head teachers and community elders in Gardo and Dangoraio to provide free schooling for out-of-school children during the June – September holiday break. UNICEF will in turn provide education supplies and nominal financial support to the host schools. The children will be taught Somali language and mathematics. Thereafter they will write exams to enable them join school in the coming academic year which starts in October. UNICEF will continue to undertake advocacy and social mobilization campaigns to sensitize parents on the importance of educating their children. Similar activities will be organized in collaboration with communities in Bossaso, Garowe and Galkaio.

Lessons Learned

The child-to-child initiative has brought out important lessons to the fore: students can be effective in carrying out data collection and enrolment campaigns; data obtained gives a realistic picture - before the campaign the perception was that out-of-school children were few in urban areas; the number of out-of-school children in urban areas was actually greater than expected; and the number of boys and girls who are out of school is equally significant and emphasis should be on getting both girls and boys to school in equal measure.

For more information contact: Noel Ihebuzor, Head of Education Programme, UNICEF Somalia. Email: [email protected].

**Abdirizak M. Ali is UNICEF Education Project Officer, Northeast Somalia ('Puntland')