The government of Mauritania, with the support of GPE, has been building “proximity schools” in areas with large populations where higher numbers of children, especially girls, were not transitioning to lower secondary school. From 2014 to 2018, GPE supported the government of Mauritania with a US$12.4 million grant, with a special focus on promoting equitable access to lower secondary education for girls by building “proximity schools” in six of the most disadvantaged districts.

At the end of the GPE program, 52 new lower secondary classrooms in 13 schools had been built in these regions, making possible the enrollment of more than 3,000 girls. Overall in the six targeted districts, the program led to more than 26,000 girls enrolling in lower secondary school.