Evaluation of the UNICEF Education Programme in Uzbekistan Final Report
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Evaluation of the UNICEF Education Programme in Uzbekistan Final Report Contract no.: 43292733 January 2021 Prepared by: Zehra Kacapor-Dzihic, Team Leader Dr. Johann (Hans) Schustereder, International Education Specialist Shukrat Amanov, National Evaluator Herma Majoor, Quality Assurance Contractor: EPRD Office for Economic Policy and Regional Development Ltd. Szkolna 36A Street 25-604 Kielce, Poland DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNICEF or the Government of Uzbekistan. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of tables ........................................................................................................................................... 4 List of acronyms .................................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 7 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 11 2. Background and context ............................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Country context .................................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Contextual issues affecting education in Uzbekistan ....................................................... 12 2.2.1 Policy issues ......................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Institutional issues ............................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.3 Enrolment ............................................................................................................................................ 13 2.2.4 Socioeconomic issues.......................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Sustainable Development Goals and education reform in Uzbekistan................................. 14 2.4 Recent legal initiatives in education ......................................................................................... 14 3. The UNICEF Education programme ......................................................................................... 16 4. Purpose, Objectives and Scope of the Evaluation ..................................................................... 20 4.1 Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation ......................................................................... 20 4.2 Intended Uses of Evaluation and key stakeholders- users of the evaluation .................. 20 4.3 Evaluation scope .................................................................................................................. 21 4.4 Stakeholders analysis .......................................................................................................... 21 5. Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 22 5.1 Evaluation design and approach ......................................................................................... 22 5.2 Evaluation criteria and questions ....................................................................................... 23 5.3 Data collection methods ..................................................................................................... 24 5.4 Data Analysis Methods ........................................................................................................ 25 5.5 Ethical considerations ......................................................................................................... 26 5.5.1. Protocols for Safety, Confidentiality, and Data Protection and mitigation measures .................... 26 5.6 Limitations and mitigation measures ................................................................................ 28 6. Evaluation findings ....................................................................................................................... 29 6.1 Relevance ............................................................................................................................. 29 6.1.1. Alignment of the programme with global, regional and national priorities in education sector, including SDGs (EQ 1, EQ 2, EQ 3) ............................................................................................................ 29 6.1.2. Relevance of the programme implementation strategies (EQ 4) ................................................... 31 6.2 Effectiveness ......................................................................................................................... 32 6.2.1. UNICEF’s contribution to strengthening of evidence-based legislative and policy frameworks to improve access to equitable and inclusive quality pre-school and general secondary education services (Original Output 2.1/revised Output 2.1 (also relates to original outputs: 2.5, 2.6) .................................. 33 6.2.2. UNICEF’s contribution to enhancement of government capacity to provide increased access to inclusive and quality early learning services (Original Output 2.2 and 2.3/revised Output 2.2) ................. 35 6.2.3. UNICEF’s contribution to enhancement of tools and skills to better formulate and implement programmes for inclusive and quality general secondary education for all children (revised output 2.3/original outputs 2.2; 2.5; 2.6) ................................................................................................................. 37 6.2.4. UNICEF’s contribution to enhancing tools and skills to promote safe behaviour practices among children and communities before and during emergencies (revised Output 2.4/original output 2.7) ........ 37 6.2.5. Consideration of gender and vulnerability in programme planning and implementation ............... 39 2 6.2.6. Unintended negative and positive outcomes and their management ............................................. 41 6.2.7. Factors contributing to and hindering the delivery of outcomes ................................................... 41 6.3 Efficiency .............................................................................................................................. 43 6.3.1. Review of UNICEF’s implementation strategies (EQ 9) ................................................................. 43 6.3.2. Adequacy and cost-efficiency of financial, material and human resources to meet the programme objectives (EQ 10 and EQ11) ...................................................................................................................... 45 6.4 Sustainability ........................................................................................................................ 48 6.5 Impact .................................................................................................................................. 50 6.6 Coherence ............................................................................................................................ 50 6.6.1. External coherence (EQ 16) ........................................................................................................... 50 6.6.2. Internal coherence (EQ 17) ............................................................................................................ 51 7. Conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations ............................................................... 53 7.1. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 53 7.1.1. Relevance ........................................................................................................................................ 53 7.1.2. Effectiveness .................................................................................................................................... 53 7.1.3. Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................... 54 7.1.4. Impact ............................................................................................................................................. 54 7.1.5. Sustainability .................................................................................................................................... 55 7.1.6. Coherence ...................................................................................................................................... 55 7.2. Lessons learned .................................................................................................................... 55 7.3. Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 56 8. List of Annexes ............................................................................................................................ 62 3 List of tables Table 1. Ethical Issues and Mitigation Measures ............................................................................... 27 Table 2. Overview of the fulfilment of UNICEF roles (implementation strategies) ................