EQUIP2 Final Report.pdf - Education Policy Data Center

For partnerships to really work, it has to be in everyone’s interest, and
there has to be an incentive to collaborate. The inevitable rule of the
universe is for the primes to retrench. Maybe there needs to be more
direction from higher above, but it’s a constant challenge to make sure
that agreements are revisited and revised to stick with the spirit of
meaningful engagement by more than a handful of organizations. People
are always changing, both organizations and roles.
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Conclusions
EQUIP2’s experience is not unique, and it highlights the challenge of
developing strong partnerships among organizations that are competing for
the same funding. Perhaps then, the lesson is to limit the length of time that
partners are expected to work together before redefining the boundaries with
a new and different agreement.
Consistent, collaborative leadership from USAID and AED/FHI 360
allowed the Leader award’s research agenda to have both breadth
and depth.
EQUIP2 was fortunate to have consistent leadership from both USAID and
AED/FHI 360 for the entire nine-year duration of the Leader award. Nearly
all members of the education policy expert team cited this unusual situation
as critical to the development of a research body characterized by both
breadth and depth. Changes in leadership, which is more typical during an
award’s life cycle, can be extremely disruptive to productivity as new leaders
seek to make changes, forcing staff into periods of uncertainty. It is clear
from the description of EQUIP2’s nine years of research that not only was
there a great deal of consistency in leadership, but also that the leadership
was responsive to changing priorities and new ideas. Additionally, USAID
and AED/FHI 360 shared responsibility for determining the research agenda,
responding not only to the needs of USAID but also to the larger field of
international education. This shared responsibility allowed EQUIP2 to
produce policy, systems, and management research that was useful within and
outside of USAID.
EQUIP2’s research on achieving EFA goals provides a great example of the
kind of breadth and depth that is possible with consistent, collaborative
leadership. Though the research began primarily within the context of accessdriven
goals, it evolved according to the changing needs and priorities of the
global community, first shifting towards school quality and then towards
student learning. When secondary education appeared to be the “next big
thing,” researchers responded with research, publications, and conference
presentations. When USAID began to move towards learning, specifically in
regards to reading outcomes, the Opportunity to Learn (OTL) research also
examined these areas, developing tools to correlate time loss with reading