The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

The second aspect is that the professional development program was strongly
supported over a period of more than 10 years by a major donor partner,
USAID. This reliable, collaborative donor-government relationship significantly
contributed to the development of widespread capacity in the operational levels
of the Ministry. The USAID financing and technical assistance enabled the
relatively intensive regional workshops that were an essential part of developing
deep ownership. The USAID assistance also financed and trained the position
of Resource Teachers, an innovation that enabled the circuit teams to provide
the necessary level of support to schools. Ultimately, these positions were
institutionalized in the regions.
The importance and impact of the deep learning and capacity development
achieved in the Northern regions during the BES II period was demonstrated
after the SIP/SSA policies were adopted as national policy. The successful
scaling up of the SIP/SSA activities in the North, and the concomitant capacity
building of the Circuit Support Teams, was achieved with Project support and
regular regional and intra-regional workshops that developed ownership of
the reforms through constant refinement and capacity building. This created
not only the skills needed, but also a culture and deep understanding of the
principles and practice of school support. When the responsibility for nationwide
implementation was assigned to a Ministry office and Project support ended,
much of the central characteristics of the SIP program in the North were lost as
it expanded to new areas. The character of the visits from Resource and Advisory
teachers began to revert to traditional supervision instead of adopting the
capacity building function developed in the North. The School Self Evaluation
process began to emphasize control and reporting rather than empowerment.
However, Education Officers, Circuit directors, and resource teachers in the
North have begun to resist this revision of the program, and are promoting
national workshops to reestablish the culture of professional reflection and
capacity building that had been so successful in the North. In some ways, this is a
classic “implementation dip” as the program moved from the control of a small,
well trained group to general usage. Ultimately, the successful scaling up of the
original program will depend on the capacity developed in the Northern teams.
Political Dimensions
The somewhat flexible nature of a relatively new system, despite the country’s
recent history of apartheid, became an enabling feature for education reform in
Namibia. As noted above, the weak institutional capacity of the education system
in the young democracy was unequal to the demands of quickly developing and
implementing reform policies and absorbing the donor support. Nonetheless, the
capacity constraints were more than offset by political will and leadership at the
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SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES