Public Policy Pathway : Partnering with UNICEF Armenia for Gender Equity
In 2019 , Teach For Armenia ’ s Alumni-Ambassadors partnered with the United Nations International Children ’ s Emergency Fund ( UNICEF ) and Armenia ’ s MoESCS to implement an in-service teacher training program focused on the inclusion of students with special needs . At present , this same team of Alumni-Ambassadors is leading the way on an expansion of this initiative , with special focus on gender mainstreaming . The aim of the project is to propel the modernization of Armenia ’ s in-service teacher training efforts for the promotion of gender equality by leveraging the development and implementation of a Teacher Training Toolkit .
Started in September 2020 , the gender mainstreaming program will be completed in the course of nine months . At the close of 2020 , the modules were designed and piloted in five regions of Armenia . Ultimately , the objective is to develop the capacity of 52 training-mentors so that they can then cascade professional development to their peer groups . In total , 1,065 teachers in Yerevan as well as the Shirak and Aragatsotsn regions will be beneficiaries of the program . We estimate that 20,000 students will be positively impacted due to the scope of this project .
The initiative also has a focus on community impact , with 5,000,000 AMD in the budget for ten Teach For Armenia Teacher-Leaders to implement projects that promote gender equality . The design and implementation of these Community Impact Projects will begin in February 2021 . To support teachers in creating gender-sensitive Community Impact Projects , we will also develop a suite of self-guided modules that will eventually become open-source for all teachers across the system .
The Alumni-Ambassadors leading the project are joined by external consultants , Teach For Armenia staff , as well as a UNICEF representative in order to : 1 ) Write a teacher capacity development concept paper ; 2 ) Develop and pilot a teacher training module for gender-responsive pedagogy ; and 3 ) Create a toolkit to support mentorship on the topic of gender inclusion . All materials have been adapted for online and distance learning in response to COVID-19 , but also to ensure that the resources can be used at scale . A MoESCS working group , especially created for this initiative , is reviewing our output for approval and further utilization .
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