Annual report Helpcode Italia - EN

WHAT WE DO
Education
In the countries where we work, we strive to ensure access to primary and secondary quality
education and school participation both through direct intervention (for example with the
distribution of school kits) as well as with projects that aim to improve the economic conditions
of families. In fact, chronic poverty is often the main reason for absenteeism and school dropout,
which was aggravated during the pandemic.
As already in 2020 and again in 2021, periods of lockdown and restrictions for containing the
pandemic caused a crisis of global proportions in terms of access to school and missed learning
opportunities, also for psycho-physical health and social development and nutrition for children.
Over the course of 2021, with the regular reopening of schools in the majority of countries where
we work, we found we had to deal with an increase in school drop-out rates and early marriages,
and even difficulty for teachers and children to recuperate a year of lost education. The crisis
linked to Covid has moreover contributed to increasing inequality in the sector of education all
over the world, including in Italy.
This has meant having to re-think support activities for schools and adapt them to new
scenarios including furnishing material for cleaning and disinfecting, masks and hand sanitizer
liquids, installing hand-washing stations, providing support materials for teachers, improving
school infrastructure, with special attention to latrines. We initiated campaigns for increasing
awareness for returning to school.
We have continued in this way to make as many schools as possible safe, strengthening existing
partnerships and extending our work to new areas.
Our goal for 2021 has been to bring as many children as possible back to school: we reached
the goal with an increase in children who had access to school services from 21,374 (in 2020)
to 27,108 (+27%).
IN
2021
27,108 children had access to education thanks to
• distribution of school kits
• purchase of school uniforms
• payment of school fees
• distribution of hygiene and disinfectant materials
• support for safe mobility of girl students
• consciousness-raising activities on importance of access to school
• training of School Councils
• distribution of kits for teachers
28 school infrastructures benefitted from rehabilitation and improvement:
• 24 primary schools
• 4 secondary schools
ANNUAL REPORT 2021 57