Community Participation, Quality and Equity in Guinea’S Schools
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PACEEQ / RTI International COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, QUALITY AND EQUITY IN GUINEA’S SCHOOLS Evaluation Report of the PACEEQ project: 2001-2005 9 May - 16 June 2005 Maurice GARNIER, Team leader Maimouna DIALLO Moustapha DIALLO Tellivel DIALLO Arsènne KOIVOGUI Pascal LENO Mohamed SAKO PACEEQ Final Evaluation report, 12 July 2005 i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... III LIST OF COMMONLY USED ACRONYMS............................................................................ V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................ VI 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 USAID assistance........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Brief presentation of PACEEQ ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.3.1 Objectives and strategies of the program.............................................................................................................. 4 1.3.2 Organization and implementation ........................................................................................................................ 5 2 METHODOLOGY OF THE EVALUATION........................................................................ 8 2.1 Review of documents.................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Quantitative Sources .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.3 Field Work .................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3.1 Sample.................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3.2 Method of data collection..................................................................................................................................... 9 3 RESULTS........................................................................................................................ 10 3.1 Areas covered and basic demographic information .............................................................................................. 10 3.2 Institutional capacity strengthening ....................................................................................................................... 11 3.2.1 Training .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2.2 Regulatory texts and organizational capacity ..................................................................................................... 12 3.3 Community participation and partnership............................................................................................................ 14 3.3.1 Participation, Structure and Federation of Parents' associations ........................................................................ 14 3.3.2 Implication and participation of the Alliances.................................................................................................... 17 3.3.3 Implication and Participation of ONG................................................................................................................ 17 3.3.4 Locally Elected Officials.................................................................................................................................... 18 3.3.5 Participation of the School Principal .................................................................................................................. 18 3.3.6 Participation of the Educational Administration (DSEE, DPE; sub prefecture and prefecture officials)........... 19 3.4 Mobilization of resources......................................................................................................................................... 21 3.4.1 Mobilization of Intangible resources.................................................................................................................. 21 3.4.2 School Improvement Plans................................................................................................................................. 22 3.4.3 Budgets............................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Support for school quality ....................................................................................................................................... 24 PACEEQ Final Evaluation report, 15 July 2005 i 3.6 Gender equity and between rural and urban areas............................................................................................... 26 3.7 Impacts on the school and the community ............................................................................................................. 32 3.7.1 Parents' association impact on the entire primary education system .................................................................. 32 3.7.2 Transfers of acquired skills to other activities.................................................................................................... 33 3.7.3 Impact on Families ............................................................................................................................................. 33 3.7.4 School’s Impact on the Community ................................................................................................................... 34 4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 35 5 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................... 39 ATTACHMENTS ................................................................................................................... 42 PACEEQ Final Evaluation report, 15 July 2005 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several teams contributed to this report. The people who, in one way or another, work toward the realization of PACEEQ’s objectives are the first who should be thanked. Whether based in Mamou, in Kankan and N’Zererekore or in the other regions (Labe, Faranah, Boke), they must be thanked first. These people are not only competent, but they also demonstrate a remarkable devotion to their task. Each should be thanked for his/her competence which made the evaluation work pleasant. The head of the project, Mr. Seni Diop, should be congratulated. His leadership has unanimously been praised by all the project’s partners and our conversations with him confirmed his mastery of all the project’s details and also the breadth of his vision. He wished not to be involved in the evaluation in order to avoid any undue influence, but he remained available when we wished to gain access to his deep knowledge of the project. It is he who created in his team an atmosphere of openness, a sincere commitment to the objectives of the project as well as a team spirit. One indicator of the talent contained within the project’s team is telling: several team members leave the project every year to go and work elsewhere. These departures show that PACEEQ staffs have been able to acquire a know-how that is sought after by other projects. Whether employed by PACEEQ or other projects, these people contribute to the development of their country. We wish to express our gratitude to the many people who agreed to give us some of their precious time (precious because the evaluation took place at the beginning of the growing season) to talk to us about the project. The conversations often lasted much longer than anticipated, and the team members could not always arrive on time. The parents’ availability proves the importance they give to “their school”. Many people agreed to speak to us, in particular Dr. Doukoure, head of AED (hence of alliances) and the director of EDC, Mrs. Thelma Khelghati. Several members of the national bureau of the FEGUIPAE, in the midst of a self-examination, agreed to share with us their concerns as well as their hopes. The members of the USAID educational team shared with us many of its hypotheses and conclusions concerning the project in particular, and primary schooling in Guinea more generally. All these interviews took place in a cordial and open atmosphere. We are grateful to them. The evaluation team also benefited from the faultless assistance of the RTI team. Mr. Hassanne Diallo, the project’s statistician, had to be in Mamou to train local officials when the evaluation team was completing its work in Conakry. So, he provided statistical data by email, even though this work had to be done at night, after he had taken care of his obligations as trainer of regional statisticians. Mr. Ibrahima