Abstract for:Building capabilities and social accountability within rural school communities: Increasing inclusive education equity and quality in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Vulnerable children—especially students with disabilities—experience many structural barriers that impede learning. School-based interventions around the globe have stuck to standardized learning assessments that focus on numeric thresholds of achievement, such as test scores and enrollment, rather than looking at how the influence of non-cognitive or psychosocial skills impact learning in the classroom, in addition to the teaching and evaluation of cognitive skills. The Education Equity and Quality in Afghanistan and Pakistan (EEQAP) research project uses Community Based System Dynamics to propose innovate, interdisciplinary steps to push the development and implementation of community-driven and capacity-building interventions to address increased inclusive learning in the classroom. A randomized control trial is conducted in 216 research schools at baseline and endline, with GMB sessions, action plan development workshops, and Inclusive Education trainings being conducted in the 108 intervention schools, aiming to identify social accountability mechanisms and interventions to be upheld and implemented by each school community with the support of NGO partners. Preliminary findings have shown a myriad of variables impacting learning in the classroom in addition to increased autonomy and excitement towards collaborative change. Expected analysis methods will include graph analysis and other mathematical and simulation tools to identify if a generic structure of learning exists from the 400+ CLDs generated.