Community Owned Primary Education Programme

COPE Programme (Nep/99/009):

Strategies

The COPE programme seeks to promote effective community participation in order to create a greater sense of ownership, and hence responsibility, within people towards their children’s education. It builds upon an already established base of community organisations, fostered by other UNDP-assisted programmes such as the Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP), Local Governance Programme (LGP), Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP), Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) and Micro-Enterprises Development Programme (MEDEP), as well as by other community-based development projects.

The programme, therefore, leads to greater decentralisation at the local government level and to greater involvement of the communities in building a quality primary education system that is accessed and managed by the people themselves.

Key principles and strategies of COPE are as follows:

demand-driven establishment of schools
community management and ownership of schools
targeting girls and poor, disadvantaged children
preparation and recruitment of women teachers
institutional partnerships at local, district and national levels
capacity building of local government bodies and community organisations
close monitoring of schools by parents and communities
cost-effective and self-sustainable interventions
cost-sharing for quality and cross-subsidy for equity
child-friendly and stimulating school environments
activity-based teaching and joyful learning.