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

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Increased sector leadership from MOE and coordination/integration of cooperating partner contributions: The Ministry of Education now leads sector planning, monitoring and policy review/dialogue activities with donor development partners offering hybridized financial and technical support with most sector activities are driven through Ministry channels. The reform period saw the evolution of the MOE-donor (now Cooperating Partner) working relationship. MOE now leads regular planning, review and monitoring activities that are informed by systems inputs and data, are inclusive of key stakeholders and mindful of donor capacities, interests and potential contributions. There remains regular debate and, at times, significant tension over Ministry policy direction and sector management. Additionally, a narrative of low institutional capacity, transparency, and accountability in the Ministry remains a part of the reform dialogue. Some argue that this is a narrative that needs to be heard; others suggest that highlighting this narrative is damaging to the relationship of trust between stakeholders at the donor and Ministry Headquarters levels. Despite the continuing capacity issues, however, donors and Ministry staff have sought to work within the realistic constraints and toward a partnership with clear expectations and roles. During the reform period, donor support to discrete activities that extended beyond a normal project lifecycle (e.g. EMIS, Community Schools, Decentralization, Policy and Research) have been integrated into the MOE Institutional Framework as MOE has developed systems, capacity and interest to support them. Projects remain a mechanism through which donors, including USAID, have supported, and have been seen as useful in offering timely, flexible, and targeted technical and systems strengthening support. In several cases, these projects played a role in initiating, or stimulating change, and demonstrated an understanding of the political or institutional environment. Donor activities that have not been sustained or found an institutional home within the MOEST include input or resource-heavy activities, or those that did not find a constituency within the MOE. While valuable or technically sound (e.g. aspects of ZATEC or one of the many reading /literacy programs), these projects often focused on the technical without appreciating the institutional or political levers required to support their integration into the system. Decentralization: BESSIP decentralization activities supported the establishment of District Education Boards (DEBs) in 72 districts, decentralization of payroll and implementation of a school grants program. Initially DEBs were not seen as having the resources or capacities required for them to carry out new roles. And in 2004 and 2005 implementation of large procurements was recentralized and concerns about absorptive (and spending) capacity became a part of the policy 118 SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES
dialogue. Even so, there is general agreement that within the context of ongoing devolution, capacity at the local levels has grown. Schools and zones increasingly look to DEBS (as opposed to the central ministry or division offices) to address problems, planning, and capacity needs. Despite these changes, several of the incentives and drivers in the education system are not oriented toward increasing students’ learning outcomes. Factors that did make a difference at the school level: school grants, increase in teacher supply, schools built, decentralization of payroll and establishment of DEBs have not been proven to improve learning outcomes. Zambia remains fairly described as a ‘low cost, low quality’ system; Zambia regularly ranks among the lowest in SACMEQ in reading and math. A new regular standards testing regime, the Grade 4 pupils reaching desirable levels in English and math. Even so, it is notable that no deterioration in learning outcomes was observed during the expansion period, and community school students, though a highly diverse group, have posted test scores that have surpassed, or closely aligned with those in government schools. Zambia Education Indicators Indicator 1991 1999/2000 2006 Number of Primary Students 1,510,000 2,460,000 2,446,000 GER Primary 93% 80% 117% NER Primary 78% 68% 92% Completion Primary - 56% 78% Survival to Grade 5 - 81% 89% GER Secondary 15% 20% 30% teacher Pupil Ratio - 47:1 51:1 Gross Intake Rate—Primary - 84% 122% Gender Equity Ratio (Girls:boys)—Primary - .92 .98 Repetition Rate–Primary - 6.1% 6.9% Education as % of Government budget 7.1% - 15% Education as % of GNP 2.7% 2.0% 2.1% $ Per Pupil $55 CASE ANALySIS: DIMENSIONS OF REFORM Technical Dimensions The BESSIP and post-BESSIP periods have been described as suffering from ‘reformitis’—the disease of having too many reforms. Chileshe et al note “MOE has been a particular victim of this ailment as not only did SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES 119
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The Power of Persistence Education
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table of Contents Acknowledgments F
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generously granted us their time an
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Foreword The United States Agency f
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Executive Summary EQUIP2 Education
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local points of contact. In fact, b
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Namibia has successfully developed
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Sustainability in the context of sy
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• Manage policy engagement and re
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After more than 50 years of develop
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to the point of functional literacy
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An obvious question for donors is
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• Was the investment in education
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A final perspective on ownership, a
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and recipients. The World Bank has
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the term differently. Donors someti
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Country commitment to improving pol
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The importance of these insights, b
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Table: Simple, Complicated, and Com
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Basic principles of systems thinkin
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Among the many aspects of systems t
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EQUIP2 Education Systems Reform Fra
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may or may not be influenced by the
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• There are no magic bullets. Par
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These case studies look at educatio
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El Salvador Egypt Namibia Nicaragua
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eform support during the 1980s and
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system. In the same year, the USAID
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CASE ANALySIS: DIMENSIONS OF REFORM
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increased during this period, parti
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militant groups (at least until 199
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the growing political will and capa
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political will and experience in bo
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EgyPT TIMELINE
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El Salvador: Summary COUNTRy CONTEx
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financing, and ensuring adequate le
Page 82 and 83: Impact Structurally, the education
Page 84 and 85: CASE ANALySIS: DIMENSIONS OF REFORM
Page 86 and 87: 2005, USAID assistance further stre
Page 88 and 89: EDUCO’s success exemplifies a tec
Page 90 and 91: workshop with representatives of bo
Page 92: • The continuing commitment to th
Page 95: El Salvador Time Line Before 1988 1
Page 98 and 99: Strategies Especially in the early
Page 100 and 101: In terms of quality, the impact on
Page 102 and 103: The second aspect is that the profe
Page 104 and 105: • The complex and holistic nature
Page 106 and 107: efforts have been studied closely,
Page 109 and 110: NAMIBIA TIMELINE
Page 112 and 113: Nicaragua: Summary COUNTRy CONTExT
Page 114 and 115: ASP won the support of donor agenci
Page 116 and 117: Nicaragua Education Indicators Indi
Page 118 and 119: Though the strong leadership of Min
Page 120: eform. Starting from the early 1990
Page 123: Nicaragua Time Line Before 1986 198
Page 126 and 127: growth; primary enrollment expanded
Page 128 and 129: accountability and corruption led d
Page 130 and 131: Selected Reform goals, Policy Chang
Page 134 and 135: it have to cope with major governme
Page 136 and 137: management and administration that
Page 138 and 139: the education system and have limit
Page 140 and 141: help an overextended MOE to meet se
Page 143 and 144: ZAMBIA TIMELINE
Page 146: 3 summary Findings and Conclusions
Page 149 and 150: In addition to an EFA-inspired emph
Page 151 and 152: from political changes. After 15 ye
Page 153 and 154: ased management, but were limited t
Page 155 and 156: is not necessarily limited to indiv
Page 157 and 158: sector limited the agenda-setting m
Page 159 and 160: and every new government seeks its
Page 161 and 162: 8. USAID and other donors have been
Page 163 and 164: CONCLUSIONS This review of five cou
Page 165 and 166: Ownership It is a central tenet of
Page 167 and 168: actors is a never-ending process. T
Page 169 and 170: was beyond the mandate of the Minis
Page 171 and 172: IMPLICATIONS FOR USAID POLICy AND P
Page 173 and 174: Bibliography general References Alv
Page 175 and 176: UNESCO. 2007. EFA Global Monitoring
Page 177 and 178: Healy, F. & Crouch, L. (2007, Novem
Page 179 and 180: Sidhom, S. & Al-Fustat, A. (2004, J
Page 181 and 182: Crouch, L., J. Gillies, A. Florez.
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LLECE, “Conclusiones del estudio
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Miller-Grandvaux, Yolande and Karla
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1875 Connecticut Ave., NW Washingto
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