GUIDELINES



South-South Cooperation Fund (SSC Fund)

Implementation Status Report

2010

Region/Country: Arab States

Project Title: Development of regional reference guide on monitoring and evaluation of literacy and non-formal education programmes

Project budget: US$ 40000

Other funds: CapEFA regional support for LIFE countries

Date of the project initiation: May 2009

Completion of the project field work: June 2010

Responsible Sector/Division:

UNESCO Beirut Office and UNESCO Rabat Office

Name of the project officer(s): Min Jeong Kim (UBO) and Abdellatif Kissami (URO)

Submitted by: Min Jeong Kim and Abdellatif Kissami

Date: 16 March 2010

Distribution: UNESCO Paris

1. Introduction

1. Rationale

In the face of global concerns for expanding and diversifying education and training, there is an urgent need for sound policies and plans, as well as effective mechanisms and capabilities for monitoring, coordinating, and managing non-formal education and literacy programmes. The importance of collection and supply of timely, reliable and comprehensive information on non-formal education as strategic resources to decision-making is considered at the forefront of priorities.

Progress has been made by a number of countries to address this concern in the region. Morocco, for example, has successfully developed an NFE Monitoring and Information System (NFE-MIS) and is sharing its knowledge and tools with Mauritania. Along with Jordan and Palestine, Morocco is also piloting the tools to assess literacy levels through the UNESCO Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) managed by UIS. It has been observed, nonetheless, that there is still a general deficiency in systematic and standardized collection of information on non-formal education and training activities, both for out-of-school children and youth as well as adults in the region.

As a matter of fact, at the CONFINTEA VI Regional Preparatory Conference for the Arab States held in Tunis in 2009, participants acknowledged that current non-formal education systems are affected by the non-availability of reliable and timely data. Among the recommendations that emerged from the Preparatory Conference was “the integration of systems of monitoring and evaluation including standardization, national and regional mechanisms to be established by the Arab States, as well as common international mechanisms to be established by regional and international organizations (UNESCO, ISESCO, ALECSO, and ABEGS).

This South-South Cooperation project, therefore, aims to build on the tools and methodologies that have already been developed for the benefit of other countries in the region.

2. Development goal

To support Member States in the Arab region, in particular the 6 LIFE countries (Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen), to accelerate progress towards the achievement of EFA Goals 3 and 4.

3. Immediate objectives

• To take stock of current practices in monitoring and evaluation of literacy and non-formal education in the Arab States and to learn from existing practices in the region.

• To provide countries with tools and methodologies in the form of a regional reference guide to review their existing NFE monitoring and evaluation systems and to develop robust systems which would be able to cater to the information needs of all NFE and literacy stakeholders.

• To strengthen the exchange of intra-regional knowledge and experience through South-South cooperation, particularly among the LIFE countries in the region, to improve NFE-literacy provision especially to girls and women.

2. Implementation and Activity Progress

2.1 Statement of progress (under each component)

Component 1:

Stocktaking of current practices and innovative approaches in areas of literacy and NFE policies and strategies including data collection, assimilation and analysis.

Component 2:

Compilation of experiences in the region and development of a regional reference guide for monitoring and evaluation of literacy and NFE programmes.

Component 3:

Piloting the adaptation and use of the regional reference guide.

2.2 Factors of impediment

The implementation of the project was significantly delayed following the retirement of the Programme Specialist in UNESCO Beirut Office, who had initially prepared the project proposal approved by the SSC Steering Committee.

2.3 Sustainability

In order to sustain, broaden and expand this project in the framework of South-South Cooperation, a proposal has been submitted under the 35 C/5 CAP to conduct the following interventions:

1. Compilation and documentation of regional experiences in planning, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of literacy and NFE programmes:

a) Asia Pacific: NFE-MIS, LAMP, national systems for planning, management and monitoring of programmes (Bangkok Office, UIS, UIL)

b) Africa: National systems for planning, management and monitoring of programmes (BREDA, UIS, Pole de Dakar, UIL)

c) Arab states: supplement documentation of the Moroccan experience with the existing systems in other countries (Tunisia, Syria, Saudi Arabia)

2. Inter-regional meeting of experts on the monitoring and evaluation of literacy programmes for the development of a framework and tools for the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the literacy and NFE programmes for the Arab states region.

3. Inter-regional seminar for certain countries in Africa, Arab states, and Asia Pacific:

a) Exchange of national experiences in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of literacy and NFE programmes;

b) Endorsement of the framework and tools for the planning, monitoring, and implementation of literacy and NFE programmes.

4. Editing and reproduction of the framework and tools for the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of literacy and NFE programmes.

3. Assessment of project progress

3.1 Qualitative analysis

Component 1: Stocktaking of current practices and innovative approaches in areas of literacy and NFE policies and strategies including data collection, assimilation and analysis.

In order to establish synergies between the various on-going initiatives and interventions in literacy and NFE, this component was mainly funded by the Capacity-building for EFA (CapEFA) regional support programme.

The stocktaking exercise was done through two interventions:

First, as part of efforts to provide support to the LIFE countries in the region, which have not yet received support from the Capacity-building for EFA country support, in-depth reviews were launched in Iraq and Sudan. Preliminary reports are available for Iraq, including the Kurdistan region, and Sudan review will be completed in the near future while Yemen will initiate its review in the coming weeks.

Second, some 35 heads and staff members of literacy departments from Egypt, Iraq (Baghdad and Erbil), Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen were invited to participate in the Joint ISESCO-UNESCO Experts Meeting on Literacy and NFE Strategies and Policy Options, in Damascus, Syria, from 16-18 November 2009. The participants presented their experiences and, within the context of this project, NFE-MIS experts from Morocco presented and facilitated the working groups on literacy assessment through standard setting and improved data collection and analysis, monitoring and evaluation.

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Among the recommendations from the Regional Experts Meeting was the request for UNESCO and ISESCO to “support the monitoring, follow-up and assessment systems in the Arab countries” as well as the “standardization of literacy terminology for a common understanding and communication”. The second recommendation is critical as any attempt to monitor or measure literacy without it would be less than successful. For this reason, promotion of active South-South Cooperation among the countries in the region is an excellent modality to realize this endeavour.

Component 2: Compilation of experiences in Morocco, Mauritania and Iraq as well as development of regional reference guide for monitoring and evaluation of literacy and NFE programmes.

The compilation work is currently still ongoing and is due to be finalized by early April 2010 and a framework for the regional reference guide will be developed to be further elaborated by a group of experts to be identified from the following countries: (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia). The reference guide will be finalized based on the inputs and recommendations of the experts group.

The ongoing work of compilation is being carried out in close collaboration with the national authorities concerned in Morocco (Direction de la Lutte Contre l’Analphabétisme) and in Mauritania (Direction des Projets Education et Formation).

From the Moroccan experiences in NFE-MIS, the following outputs are expected :

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• Framework of reference for the management of literacy and non-formal education programmes.

• Tools for data collection of different actors involved in the provision of literacy and non-formal education programmes.

• Information system for the data and analysis of indicators for the management of literacy and non-formal education programmes.

Furthermore, the reference for literacy assessment based on the experiences in Morocco and Mauritania is expected to yield the following outputs:

• Presentation of the purpose of assessments and their role in planning literacy and non-formal education programmes.

• Methodological framework for assessment, modalities, as well as data analysis and application in decision making processes. .

• Assessment tools in the form of questionnaires and guidelines.

• Indicators for planning and presentation of statistical data.

Given that the current project of South-South Cooperation also benefits from UNESCO’s support within the framework of LIFE in the Arab region, its objectives and future initiatives were also shared with the partners in Mauritania at a national seminar organized on 9 March 2010 in Nouakchott to launch the results of the literacy assessment conducted in Mauritania.

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The reference guide to be developed will build on the compilation of experiences currently underway and will also include the various experiences of the countries in the region to be invited to the meeting of experts. The reference guide will include the following components:

- Objectives of the reference guide and modalities of utilization.

- Planning tools for literacy and non-formal education programmes: reference framework, indicators for planning, assessment methodology, questionnaires, system for data analysis and application.

- Monitoring and evaluation: reference framework, tools for data collection and an adaptable system for data analysis and application. .

Component 3: Piloting the adaptation and use of the regional reference guide.

For the purpose of piloting the reference guide, a regional training seminar will be organized in June 2010 with priority given to LIFE countries in the region. Funding for this activity will be supplemented by the CapEFA regional support programme. The training seminar will also enable UNESCO to receive feedback on the regional reference guide from a broader range of practitioners and providers of literacy and non-formal education in the region. This will enable the further improvement and finalization of the reference guide.

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3.2 Overall assessment and lessons learnt

The meeting in Damascus was highly appreciated by the participants as it brought together countries at different levels of educational development with a wide range of experiences in literacy and NFE policies and strategies. A lesson learnt from this meeting was that although countries faced with similar issues and concerns have much to share and learn from each other, a broader group involving countries at different levels of educational development can also be inspiring for all. In this regard, South-South Cooperation should be understood within a more expanded definition to be more inclusive of countries at advanced stages of educational development.

The relatively low financial implementation of this project can be explained by e the fact that the first component of this project was largely implemented through other funding sources (CapEFA). Regardless of the funding source, the objectives of this South-South Cooperation project was maintained and never lost sight of in the implementation process. A lesson to be learnt from this is that in implementing projects with limited resources, pooling funds and ensuring synergy among interventions with similar purpose and objectives is often more cost efficient and effective.

4. List of project personnel

Abdellatif Kissami, UNESCO Rabat Office

Min Jeong Kim, UNESCO Beirut Office

5. National counterparts

| | |

|Directors of Literacy Departments | |

|Directors of Statistics Departments | |

|NFE-Literacy Programme Planners and Providers | |

6. International experts

|Kaoutar Soussi Ahmad: NFE-MIS |

|Taoufik BAHIL: Literacy assessment and planning tools |

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