Education and Training in Ethiopia An Evaluation of Approaching EFA Goals

The objectives and strategy of the reform and the ESDP itself are based on the Educationand Training Policy (1994). The ESDP project supports particularly the following policygoals: (2.2.1) to promote relevant and appropriate education and training through formaland non-formal programmes; (2.2.5) to satisfy the country's need for skilled manpower byproviding training in various skills and at different levels; (2.2.6) to make education,training and research appropriately integrated with development by focusing on research;and (2.2.13) to gear education towards re-orienting society's attitudes and valuespertaining to the role and contribution of women in development.Three subprojects of the ESDP project contributed to the implementation of these policygoals and to the processes of decentralization and ESDP: (1) training teachers and othereducational personnel by increasing the pedagogical and management capacities ofteachers and school principals, regional, woreda- and zone-level educational authorities,and teacher educators; (2) developing and evaluating relevant and quality curricula andinstructional materials for pre-primary, primary and special education; (3) reforming theorganization and management of education by improving the material and technicalresources of educational institutions.Based on the MoE’s recommendation, the ESDP focused on two very different regions,Amhara Region and Benishangul-Gumuz Region, where no other donor piloted the ESDPin a large scale. In addition, the educational indicators of GER were below the nationalaverage in these regions. The main beneficiaries of the results of the project were RegionalEducation Bureaux, REBs, zonle and woreda officers, school administrators and out-offschoolgirls in the remote areas of Benishangul-Gumuz Region.Project EffectivenessIn collaboration with the Ethiopians the purpose of the ESDP project was to train teachersand school staff, develop curriculum support materials and to prepare regional and woredaadministrative staff in particular for the reform and change of the ESDP. The ESDP projecthad the aim of building the capacity of the staff of the central government, regionalbureaux, woreda- and zone-level offices and teacher education establishments, a focushighly relevant to the process of the ESDP and the educational reform. The results of theirefforts to promote good governance were observable while interviewing the representativeof the regional and zone-level offices. The active collaboration with other donors organizedby the project leader of the ESDP project ensured that Finland avoided engaging inoverlapping activities in the educational sector. Because the ESDP office became aninformal locus of information exchange between donor agencies, it was often visited byinternational review delegations.The Ethiopian stakeholders were involved in implementing the project, which contributedto their commitment and dissemination of the project results. The following achievementsof the project were identified in the midterm evaluation 4 :• improved capacity of the REBs and educational institutions due to the largenumber of skilled staff trained by the ESDP project;• produced the training materials and manuals;• improved participatory planning and project management at the REBs;• developed a curriculum for pre-school, primary and non-formal education;4 Report of the Mid-Term Review of the ESDP in Ethiopia. First draft 30.10.98. MFA80