1 Relevance and Sustainability Clear establishment of roles and responsibilities, and timely management processes and planning in activity design are critical when utilising a short-term TA input model of support. Without local counterparts (e.g. CDD management and PCDOs) completely buying-in to the activity approach, output delivery (including the important but time-consuming iterative process for development of learning materials) and being appropriately consulted on their availability, short-term support is unlikely to be truly successful or sustainable (i.e. TA will not be used efficiently). This issue was noted during activity implementation in respect of poor time and project management by CDD managers. To mitigate, a broader suite of support that includes mentoring in project and human resource management is needed within MEHRD divisions (similar issues are common across SIG departments so this lesson is widely relevant), and should be a core requirement of any future support in curriculum development specifically. MFAT should engage in-depth and early in the planning and development stages of the next SI education sector activity design and early in implementation to foster greater buy-in and ownership of sub-activities with relevant divisions of MEHRD, planning short-term TA as part of a wider supporting packages. Isolated projects can only achieve limited success. “Hold” or review points should be built into short-term activities to ensure issues delaying implementation can be resolved. Closer monitoring of progress and enactment of timely risk mitigation strategies related to delays and capacity building by IDG Activity Managers in collaboration with partner organisation management is a wider learning from this activity that can be applied across other activities in order to better manage or reduce cost overruns and/or delays in implementation. 2 Communication regarding availability of materials was poor. Investing time in distribution and training (i.e. the full development, production, and delivery cycle) should be considered for any future phases. Agree distribution and training in use of materials should be at the centre of any future investment in curriculum material development.
3 Teachers need further support to implement learner-focused and outcomes based education; development of materials alone will not ensure they are used as intended. As also appropriate levers could be considered to foster buy-in across all curriculum development processes and generate greater ownership of teacher training and development (e.g. contractual arrangments identify completion of payment milestone processes and targets, including evidence of material delivery and evaluated teacher training). Strategic support for critical influencers (support of complementary systems, processes and projects) should be included in Activity design and scope to support sustainability and impact. Recommendations for MFAT We recommend the following: No. Recommendation Programme response 1 MFAT modifies or develops a funding package for future support to CDD that is coordinated with MEHRD areas of greatest need in quality education and opportunity for impact on student achievement. The package should encourage efficient delivery and effective, sustainable results as a funding condition (utilising contractual ‘levers’), ideally aligning and coordinating funding streams to promote systematic, sustainable approaches while managing redundancies and overlapping work. Support beyond 2014-15 for CDD will be considered in the design process for the 5th phase of our education sector support (2016-2020). This will include consideration of recommendations from the curriculum development supplier (contractor Uniquest) and this evaluation undertaken by Allen and Clarke. Post recommends that no further support is provided for curriculum material development until the MEHRD restructure has been completed and core roles are filled by local staff, as this will contribute to the strategic leadership that was identified as the major constraint under this activity. The evaluation team are in agreement with Post’s recommendation. 2 CDD develops and implements quality review and management processes and procedures with employees to improve consistency, timeliness, appropriate, linked content across curriculum materials and enable monitoring efficient and effective use of TA and funding. 3 MFAT and MEHRD clearly define and manage roles and responsibilities of TAs and counterparts, ensuring buy-in of individuals and management partnered with the MEHRD division, identifying and using appropriate project management and employee management practices
Lesson 2: If engaging if further curriculum development activity, invest resources in communication and distribution. No immediate action; appropriate conditionality/funding levers around MEHRD and EA teacher support to be considered as part of education design**. E.g. incentivise delivery of materials and training through partial payment up front, followed by staged payment on delivery of resources and completion of teacher training. Education Activity design team By June 2016 Time, design TA contract value Lesson 3: Teachers need support to implement outcomes based education; development of materials alone will not ensure they are used as intended. Rec 1: MFAT modifies or develops a funding package for future support to CDD that is coordinated with MEHRD areas of greatest need in quality education and opportunity for impact on student achievement. Support beyond 2014-15 for CDD will be considered in the design process for the 5th phase of our education sector support (2016-2020). This will include consideration of recommendations from the curriculum development supplier (contractor Uniquest) and this evaluation undertaken by Allen and Clarke. Post recommends that no further support is provided for curriculum material development until the MEHRD restructure has been completed and core roles are filled by local staff, as this will contribute to the strategic leadership that was identified as the major constraint under this activity. The evaluation team are in agreement with Post’s recommendation. Education Activity design team By June 2016 Time, design TA contract value Rec 2: CDD develops and implements quality review and management processes and procedures Rec 3: MFAT and MEHRD clearly define and manage roles and responsibilities of TAs and counterparts, ensuring buy-in of individuals and management