OFFICE OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Afghanistan: Scope of Work for an Education Needs Assessment

G2G Education Toolkit

Version: February 2014

G2G Education Toolkit

G2G Education: Afghanistan: Scope of Work for an Education Needs Assessment

This scope of work solicited an assessment to determine the capacity of relevant Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) institutions to develop, manage, and evaluate a nationwide early grade reading, math, and school management improvement program. USAID partnership with the Ministry of Education to design and conduct the needs assessment built government ownership and sustainable commitment to improve learning and school management outcomes in the country. Data from the assessment would serve as the evidence base for policy dialogue and reform, assisting the GIRoA, USAID, and the donor community to design and implement a scalable program of early grade reading, math, and school management within the realities of a conflict environment. Additionally, recommendations would be made as to which aspects of the three program components could most appropriately be delivered onbudget or off-budget based on the assessed capacities and commitment of the various departments in the Ministry of Education.

Education Office Economic Growth, Education and Environment

February, 2014

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FOREWARD

Government-to-government Education Toolkit

In line with the compelling policy guidance of USAID Forward, Agency education officers are currently exploring, developing and implementing new government-to-government (G2G) modalities in education projects. An immediate need exists for tools and training materials that will assist Education Teams as they design, implement, and monitor G2G activities to achieve USAID Education Strategy Goals. Under the leadership of the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment's (E3) Education Office, the G2G Education Toolkit has been developed to provide this support. The Toolkit includes a literature review; an analysis of lessons learned and best practice; an analytic framework and roadmap; operational tools; and case studies. Additionally, sample G2G operational documents from Missions currently undertaking government-to-government activities will be available to guide field staff.

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Introduction

USAID implemented three major basic education interventions that aligned with the Mission's intermediate result to increase equitable access to quality and relevant education.1 Among these three programs, two of the interventions were on-budget and the other was supported through the ARTF.

1. Community-Based Education (CBE) With the goal of increasing access to education for hard-to-reach children, USAID launched a community-based education program in 19 provinces (out of a total of 34 provinces) in 2006-2011 through the PACE-A project. Through this project, over 100,000 children attended class, the majority of which were girls and children in rural communities and conflict-affected areas. In addition, a targeted number of CBE schools received early grade reading assessments and interventions that proved effective. At project end, this program was transferred over to the General Education Department at the Ministry of Education through USAID-provided onbudget support to continue and expand the number of CBE classes.

2. Teacher Education USAID/Afghanistan's teacher education support was implemented under EQUIP II in a partnership with the World Bank through ARTF. The objectives of EQUIP II were to: (a) increase access to primary and secondary schooling; (b) strengthen the management capacity of communities to better manage teaching and learning activities; (c) institutionalize district-based teacher training activities nationwide; and (d) prioritize education for girls through a household scholarship scheme and the provision of high school teachers in underserved schools. USAID targeted funds to the Teacher Education Department (TED), supporting pre-service and inservice teacher training to increase the level of professional knowledge and skills of educators throughout Afghanistan. In-service training included modules of early grade reading and math instruction.

3. Textbooks To help the Ministry of Education provide textbooks for students, USAID financed the MOE's printing and national distribution of primary grade textbooks through the BELT (Basic Education, Literacy, Technical and Vocational Education and Training) project. Since 2012, this G2G activity financed printing of approximately 47 million textbooks in the core subject areas (Language, Math, Life Skills, and Art) in both Dari and Pashto.

Strategic and Opportune Timing

While access and rebuilding the education system has been the primary focus of the National Education Sector Plan II (NESP II), the MOE wanted to increase focus on improvement of the quality of education in the upcoming NESP III which begins in 2014. This is a strategic and opportune time for USAID to collect quality data in early grade reading, math, and effective school management, providing sound evidence and research to support the MOE and inform policy dialogue and guidance for the development of the next National Education Sector Plan.

1 Goal 3 of the Education Strategy

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C2. Purpose

The overall purpose of this task order is four-fold:

1. To conduct a needs assessment of the capacity of relevant Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) institutions in the current conflict-affected operating context, to develop, manage, and evaluate a conflict-sensitive nationwide reading, math and school management effectiveness improvement program;

2. To use the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), Early Grade Math Assessment (EGMA) and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness (SSME) tools to assist policy dialogue with GIRoA and other education stakeholder on the critical need to focus on early grade reading, math, and school management effectiveness;

3. To build the capacity of the MOE, particularly the Planning Department in designing and conducting the needs assessment and implementing the EGRA, EGMA and SSME; and

4. To provide a strategic analysis paper that explores various combinations of the most effective conflict-sensitive early grade reading, math and school management effectiveness interventions based on a low, medium and high budget scenario. In addition, the paper will provide recommendations on what aspects of early grade reading, math, and school management effectiveness should be on-budget or off-budget given the commitment and capacity of the various units of the MOE.

USAID expects the process of partnering with the MOE to design and conduct the needs assessments and to implement the EGRA, EGMA and SSME will ensure the GIRoA's ownership and sustainable commitment to improve early grade reading, math and school management outcomes. Inevitably, the results from these assessments will support strategic policy dialogue with GIRoA, donors, and other education stakeholders on how to best improve the quality of early grade reading, math and school management effectiveness policies and systems. The combination of both the results of the needs assessment and the set of early grade learning outcomes and school management effectiveness indicators will provide a clear sense of the key policy, resource, and capacity opportunities and barriers to early grade reading, math, and school management system improvements. This critical information will assist GIRoA, USAID, and the donor community to design and implement an effective early grade reading, math, and school management effectiveness program that is rooted in the current realities of Afghanistan and directly linked to improving early grade reading and math achievement at scale.

C3. Scope of Work

There are four sets of services required in this task order I. Needs Assessment

The first set of services relates to tasks that assess the needs and capacity of relevant GIRoA institutions to develop, manage, and evaluate a conflict-sensitive nationwide early grade reading, math and school management effectiveness improvement program. The needs assessment will assist GIRoA and USAID to determine future assistance and programming in early grade reading, math and SSME that is sensitive to the conflict-affected context. The objectives of the needs assessment are:

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