Development of Community Institutions
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WORLD EDUCATION Development of Community Institutions FINAL REPORT June 2003 USAID Cooperative Agreement NO.624-A-00-97-00069-00 Submitted to: USAID - MALI BP 34 - Bamako Submitted by: World Education-Mali BP 2137 Bamako September 2003 - TABLE OF CONTENTS STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE: YOUTH 3 Education.. ................................................................... 3 QualityIEquity Initiative ........................................ 2s Literacy. ........................................................... 3 1 HIVIAIDS Initiative.. ............................................ 42 Health.. ............................................................ 45 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE: SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC 50 GROWTH . Jigyaso Ba.. ....................................................... 50 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE 55 Civic Group Program.. .......................................... 55 ANNEX A ANNEX B ANNEX C Final Reporr June 2003 ad De\:elapmerrr ofConmr~rnin insrir~~nons Page i ofii - GLOSSARY ...... ...... ............. ...................... pour la Promotion.. des Jeunes ............... nale d'hvestissement des Collectivites Tenitonales ................... ............................. .... ................. ........ ........ .. .- ............ ......... .... ..p-................... - .................. -- .. erche-Action Lour le Developpement -. -- - ..................................................... -........... -., CS Community- School -- _ .-- EES Evaluation de I'Environnement .p---...-...----..... Scolaire ................ ........................... ........... -.ERO Evaluation Ra-sanis$onnellennellennellennelle.... --- ...... - ........ FAPE - ~kdbationdesAssociations-. Parents ....... d3E16ve .......... FDS Fondation pour le Dkveloppement. au Sahel .- ....... GRADE-B G;oupe de Recherche Action pour le Dkveloppement. ........... Banlieues ................... .- -IEF Institut de 1'~nsei~iGent- Fondamental - .................... KAP Knowledge Attitudes, Practices .......................... .... .... _ L___-- ... NGOs -~Non-uovernmental -9 Orgg,angat.ions_-- SEEP Small Enterprise Education STD Sexually ~r&smittedDisease .-- USAID United States Auency2.- for International. D VHC ~- Village Health Committee .... ........................... WE World_ Education _ . ............... Final Reporr June -7003 De~elopweiirof Commuiiin-I~srirurions Page ii ofii 1 INTRODUCTION - This is the Final Report on World Education's implementation of USAID Cooperative Agreement No. 624-A-0097-0069-00, Development of Community Institutions. nbich began on September 30. 1997 and ended June 30.2003. As the name of the a\\ard suggests. the goal of this program was to build and strengthen local institutions so that they could bener sewe their communities. This is in keeping ~vithWorld Education's institutional mission to build strong. self-sufficient adaccountable local institutions. Community institutions targeted in this program include grassroots institutions across sectors: parents' associations. health centers, civic groups, and women's credit unions. The development of these grassroots level institutions was complimented by development of federations. In the education sector, parents associations (Association des Parents d'Eleves or APES) be,oan 10 see the value-and the challenges--of working in federations. first at the commune level. then at the cercle, and now beginning at the regional level. The same became true for the ~vomen'scredit associations who proudly formed their own federation to act more effectively in the microfinance environment in Mali. In the last two years of the program, the focus has consciously broadened to include community interaction with the public sector. The now stren-&ened and confident community organizations are interacting more with elected officials. with officials of the Minist5 of Education. and with other branches of the government. They are defending their rights. expressing their needs. and advocating for more resources to meet these needs. World Education is committed to the sustainability of its efforts. Because of this commitment. World Education 'i%orkedthrough local Malian NGOs. building their capaciv to deliver trainings and services, while concomitantly strengthening them as institutions. Through support from this project. our NGO partners have developed capacities to provide training and technical assistance. to coordinate and facilitate activities involving all levels and sectors of Malian socie~.and. at the same time. to develop their own capacities as viable and sustainable institutions. The accomplishments that are described in this report are in no small part a result of the commitment and investment of Malian NGOs in contributing to the development of their country. ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT The Cooperative Agreement received financial support from three Strategic Objective Teams of USAID Mali: I) the Youth Team which included both Education and Health. 2). the Sustainable Economic Growth Team and 3) the Democratic Governance Team. This document reports on the activities. accomplishments. and impact as a result of the support from each of these teams. The report is organized by Strategic Objective for clarity sake. honever it should be remembered that each component of the project follows the same approach to institution stren~hening. -- -- - - Fino1 Report June 2003 Developmenr ofConmniunrg' Ir~rrrurrorrr Page I of65 Furthermore, each componEint builds on the achievements of the others to reach the overarching goal of developing community institutions in Mali. Several annexes are included at the end of this report: Annex A provides a timeline of the major developments and modifications in the Cooperative Agreement. Because the Cooperative .4greement was modified ten times. including extensions. expansions. and their corresponding changes in targets and budgets. Annex A provides a quick reference point for the contractual changes that took place. Annex B provides maps of the intervention zones and identifies the cornmunit? institutions with which the Program worked. Annex C provides a selected set of success stories World Education wishes to thank USAIDMali for its support and guidance throughout the implementation of this Program. The impacts are the results of all of our efforts. Finof Reporr June 2003 Developmenr of Comnnrnin Insrirurior2s Poge 2 of65 I USAID STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE: YOUTH During the strategic phase in which the Cooperative Agreement was in force. US.4ID;Wali had a strategic objective for youth which encompassed education and health programming. Kith the support of this Cooperative Agreement, World Education implemented a large pro-pm including several pilot initiatives. A small, action-research progam for health is also described below. I EDUCATION 1 To appreciate the success and the impact of the Education Program of the Cooperative Agreement. it is useful to recall the contest out of which it emerged. the \yay in which it developed. and the accomplishments-both detailed and global-that it has achieved. CONTEXT OUT OF WHICH THE EDUCATION PROGRAM EMERGED After the coup in 1991, economic and social conditions in Mali were horrible, and morale \vas particularly low in the urban centers, especially among unemployed youth who had been instrumental in the coup. With the concern to "do something", USAID approached K'orld Education, who had recently opened an office in Bamako. The idea was to get day wages into the urban quartiers for communal effort. At the time, World Education initially chose "urban clean up" as the focus of efforts because it would involve large amounts of manpoxer and little investment in equipment or supplies. World Education established partnerships uith 60 local NGOs and began very modest training in community development. Fundamental to the approach with the communities was to ask xvhat urgent needs they had that might be addressed with the limited resources a~ailable.Ever)$ single quartier mentioned their school as a priority. usually number one. and even communities \vho refused to work together on anything else asked for help in improving their primary school. Although the APE system had been in place for years. it had no credibility with the communities because of corrupt liaison with the former regime. Therefore, consulting with our XGO partners and advisors, World Education decided to try and rebuild the APE system. One reason to xvork with the APE system was that primary schools were an expressed priority. Another equall?- valid reason was that the original legislation creating APES that dated to Independence was surprisingly appropriate in the environment of decentralization and democratization, actually specifying guidelines of civil governance which people were re-discovering in 1991. IYorld Education submitted an unsolicited proposal to USAID for APE training which USAID funded in 1992 on a "pilot" basis for Commune V in Bamako and the rural cercle DioTla. Final Reporf June 2003 Development ofCon~n~lrninI~lsriruriom Page 3 oi6j Through this pilot project aiid a subsequent agreement in 1995. World Education and its partners identified the principles and approaches to serve as the foundation for scaling up and expansion that was supported by the Cooperative Agreement. They developed a vision of strengthening APEs to establish community schools while at the same time working with the public school system to enable it to become more responsive and responsible for education at all levels. Furthermore. they established the credibility