ANNUAL REPORT January - December 2001 Submitted to USAID for Cooperative Agreement .. No. 624-A-OO-97-00067-00 Education Groupe Pivot/Sante Population Sikasso Health Microfinance Commercial GardeninglWells Democratic Governance f Save the Children. Save the Children USA I Sahel Field Office B.P. 3105 Bamako B.P. 328 Kankan B.P. 642 Ouagadougou Mali Guinee Burkina Faso Tel. +22471 0725 Tel. +226 36 41 19 • Tel. +2232261 34/2348 98/23 48 99 Fax: +226 36 41 21 Fax: +223 22 08 08 Fax : +22 4 71 07 25 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail : [email protected] Sapone: TetiFax: + 226 40 56 09 .----------------------------------~~--~~~~~~~~~ 31 January 2002 Mr. Timm Harris Agreement Officer Technical Representative USAID B.P.34 Bamako, Mali Dear Timm, With this letter, I am pleased to submit 15 copies of our 2001 Annual Reporlforthe projects included in the umbrella grant: Cooperative Agreement 624-A-00-97 -00067 -00 As always, I want to express our tremendous appreciation for the spirit of collaboration we feel with each of the USAID teams. Without exception, individuals and teams have gone out of their way to respond to our questions and sUPP'ort us in our efforts. We hope everyone, therefore, will take pride in the positive results outlined in this report. We look forward to your reactions and ongoing discussions. Very sincerely, derer I Field Office Director cc: sula Nadolny (4 copies) III Jo Lesser (3 copies) Dennis McCarthy (3 copies) Anna Diallo (3 copies) Annette Tuebner (1 copy) Working to make lasting positive change in the lives of disadvantaged children in the United States, Africa, Asia, Latin America. the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Newly Independant States. ,iii 2001 Annual Report Save /he Children CA No. 624-A-00-97-00067-00 Executive Summary This past year's themes have include the synthesis of lessons leamed to strengthen programs as well as to ensure a structural base for sustainability, and taking some of those lessons learned to the nationalle'vel to impact policy. As we approach the end ... of this cooperative agreement, we are amazed at how much has been accomplished as well as by how much we've learned and adapted along the way. Though we may have facilitated these results, we also humbly recognize that our role is just that­ facilitation. The strength of the accomplishment is a reflection of the energies, commitment, and skills of all of the partners in these efforts: USAID, Save the Children, Malian NGO partners, Malian officials, other PVOs and, most of all, the .. people of the communities in which we work. With an eye towards greater impact as well as sustainability .... and to address the ever present challenge of communities' expectation of per diem to participate in trainings and workshops, we introduced the concept of « relais )} to our DG teams. The « relais )} as village volunteers have the magical combination of credibility and availability. They are able to provide both training and ongoing support to community organizations in their villages. Similarly, « relais )} have been trained as literacy teachers, enabling many more people, particularly women, to learn to read, write, .. and calculate. Always looking for innovations, the DG team invested in theatre this year and found it to be an extremely powerful tool in provoking reflection, community discussion, and behavior change around key issues from citizen rights and responsibilities, to sound management of COs, to women taking a more active role in decision making. We are now thinking of ways to use this medium in promoting sustained behavior change around health practices. Recognizing the effectiveness of rural radio in influencing opinion (and behavior), we increased the frequency and the scope of the messages in both our Sikasso Health and Democratic Governance programs. By working to change the beliefs and attitudes of communities, we believe that rural radio can play an important role in long-lasting behavior change through both changes in personal behaviors and changes in the types and quality of services that the community demands from its local government and health institutions. With stronger, more sustainable models in communities, during 2001 SC teams increasingly used those models to influence national policy. Using funding from USAID Washington and CDC and in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, the Sikasso Health team began efforts to study, document and expand the successful USAID-funded village pharmaceutical bank model. The Sikasso Health team continues to present the Positive Deviance nutrition model at public forums in Mali and the region. Successful TBA work funded in Bougouni through USAID Will serve as one pillar supporting the Saving Newborn Lives team's efforts to advocate for the integration of TBAs into the national health system. SC's voice and capacity to Executive SummaI}' Page 1 of2 3 2001 Annual Report Save the Children CA No. 624-A-00-97-00067-00 influence was acknowledged through being included as the only NGO on the national Neonatal and Maternal Mortality taskforce. Also with USAID funding. Groupe Pivot continues its extraordinary advocacy work in a number of fields. As an example. Groupe Pivot and Sikasso Health jointly hosted the Child Survival Technical Support (CSTS) workshop "Planning for Sustainability in Child Survival Programs" for PVOs and their government partners coming from throughout francophone Africa. " The Community School model developed by Save the Children, World Education, Africare and others with support from USAID is becoming an essential part of Malian Education policy. Education for All, low cost, community-management, gender parity, use of the mother tongue and learner-centered approaches- all these community school principles have gained acceptance at the national level during 2001. During 2001 we continued to look towards the future to develop other sustainable models in the field which have the potential to impact policy in the long-term. I have always felt that the challenges which we encounter in our Community Schools program are a direct result of its success. A challenge dealt with this year is how to continue schooling opportunities for the growing number of learners who have passed their CEP. As is detailed in our Education section, the community of Bohi (with the support of Save the Children private resources) has started construction of a « college communautaire)}. Sustainability of the schools, particularly multiple ... classes, given the finite capacity of the small villages supporting them, remains a cosmic challenge with ethical dimensions. The World Bank/MOE efforts through PISE to support the salaries of community school teachers represents at least a temporary and policy-based contribution to meeting that challenge. Both Groupe Pivot/Sante Population and Soro Yiriwaso took the courageous steps to complete autonomy this year. Save the Children will continue to have official ties to each of them, through sub grants and technical support. Recognizing the critical role of Malian civil society working through local institutions and NGOs in program implementation and policy development, Save the Children invested in a full time NGO capacity building coordinator position. This person was responsible for leading an effort to analyse and address our NGO partner needs for capacity development. Save the Children and World Education jointly planned and implemented three highly valued sessions, at least one of which was attended by USAID staff who, impressed by the need, organized a highly acclaimed "Toolbox for NGO Management" workshop. We reflect back on the intent of this cooperative agreement when it was conceived and accorded - to provide access to education, health, and economic opportunity to marginalized populations in the third region .... and to empower them to express their voices in matters affecting their lives. Though we are sometimes frustrated by the pace of accomplishment and feel we should be doing more. the data presented in this report are indeed impressive achievements. We feel privileged to be a . participant in the activities described in this report, are inspired by the results. and look forward to a stimulating and challenging final year. Executive Summary Page 20'2 COMMUNITY SCHOOLS Annual Report for the period January 1 - December 31, 2001 Save the Children/USA CA NO. 624-A-00-97-00067-00 2001 Annual Report CA No 624-A-00-97-00067-00 Table of Contents List of Acronyms I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. RESULTS 2001 3 IR2.1 Increased Access to Basic Education Including Life Skills 3 IR2.2 Improved Quality of Basic Education 5 IR2.3 Promotion of Basic Education Programs that Respond to Client Needs 8 iIIi IR2.4 Increased Capacity of Basic Education Programs that Respond to Client Needs 11 ... III. IMPACT OF ACTIVITIES AND SUCCESS STORIES 13 IV. CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED/LESSONS LEARNED 17 Gender Equity 17 Phasing over more Responsibilities to CAPs and Communal Councils 17 Teacher Development and Support 17 V INTERSECTORAL SYNERGIES 18 Sponsorship 18 School Health 18 Democratic Governance 19 Commercial Gardening and Wells 19 ill VI. PARTNERSHIPS 19 VII. PLANS: January - June 2002 20 Annexes IiiI A Workplan FY 2002 21 B. USAID Proposed Indicators 23 C. Comparative Charts 1999-2001 D. Progress Towards the Action Plan /Mid-Term Evaluation Community Schools 2001 Annual Report Save the Children CA No. 624-A-00-97-00067-00 LIST OF ACRONYMS CEP Certificat d'Etudes Primaire (6th grade leaving exam) DAE Direction d'Academie d'Enseignement Ecom Community School (Ecoles Communautaire) CAP Centre d'Animation Pedagogique CNE Centre National d'Education MOE Ministry of Education SC Save the Children SMC School Management Committee .. SAGE Strategies for Advancing Girls' Education FACETS Family and Community Empowering Training Systems PC Pedagogie Convergente PISE Programme d'investissement dans Ie Secteur de I'Education .. PRODEC Programme Decennal de I'Education (Education Ten Year Plan) III Community Schools 1 2001 Annual Report CA No.