USAID / Aprender a Ler (Apal)
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USAID / Aprender a Ler (ApaL) Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY 2013 1st Quarterly Progress Report: October-December 2012 1. Project Duration: 3 years with additional option year USAID/APRENDER A LER Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY2013 Q1 Progress Report Date of Submission: February 7, 2013 Page | 1 Acronyms & Key Terms ApaL Aprender a Ler (Learn to Read) AWP Annual Work Plan CLIN Contract Line Item Number IEG Impact Evaluation Group MINEC Ministry of Foreign Affairs MINED Ministry of Education DPEC MINED Province Level (N-Nampula, Z-Zambézia) SDEJT MINED District level UTSA University of Texas - San Antonio USAID United States Agency for International Development WEI World Education Inc. IFP Teacher Training Institute USAID/APRENDER A LER Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY2013 Q1 Progress Report Page | 2 Table of Contents 1. General Project Information ........................................................................................... 4 1.1 Project Duration: 3 years with additional option year ............................................................... 4 1.2 Start Date: July 18, 2012 ............................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Life of project funding: $16,200,000.00 ..................................................................................... 4 1.4 Geographic Focus: Nampula and Zambézia provinces .............................................................. 4 2. Project Objectives .......................................................................................................... 4 Key expected results ......................................................................................................................... 4 3. Summary of the reporting period ................................................................................... 5 3.1 Period Highlights: ....................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Key Challenges this Quarter: ...................................................................................................... 5 4. Project Performance Indicators ...................................................................................... 6 5. Major Implementation Issues ....................................................................................... 18 6. Collaboration with other donor projects ....................................................................... 19 7. Key Activities Planned for Next Quarter ....................................................................... 19 8. Evaluation/ Assessment Update ................................................................................... 22 9. Administrative Update: ................................................................................................ 22 10. Success Stories and photos: .......................................................................................... 23 11. Financial Information: .................................................................................................. 25 USAID/APRENDER A LER Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY2013 Q1 Progress Report Page | 3 USAID/Aprender a Ler (ApaL) Project FY 2013 1st Quarterly Progress Report: October-December 2012 1. General Project Information 1.1 Project Duration: 3 years with additional option year 1.2 Start Date: July 18, 2012 1.3 Life of project funding: $16,200,000.00 1.4 Geographic Focus: Nampula and Zambézia provinces 2. Project Objectives The overall goal of the USAID/Aprender a Ler (ApaL) – Learn to Read – project is to improve reading outcomes of students in grades 2 and 3 in over 1,000 urban and rural target schools in the Zambézia and Nampula provinces. The project will be implemented using participatory and learning-by-doing approaches, based on the many years of WEI experience, to strengthen the technical and organizational skills of a wide range of local counterparts in line with established structures and processes to ensure the sustainability of the project. An ultimate measure of the success is that the institutions at the provincial and district education levels will be able to continue the project activities by the 2015 school year. Thus, the project is aligned with the efforts of the Mozambican authorities to improve quality of education as stated in the Strategy Plan for Education 2012-2016. Key expected results Improved quality and increased quantity of reading instruction in grades 2-3 in target schools Improved in-service teacher training and coaching in reading instruction Increased availability of learning materials to students and teachers in grades 2-3 Improved in-service school director training and strengthened school management To achieve these goals, USAID/ApaL will: 1) train over 5,000 teachers in early grade reading instruction and continuous learning assessment in reading and over 1,000 school directors in school management to increase classroom reading time; 2) develop high-quality reading and instructional materials for students and teachers; and 3) develop and adapt summative and formative assessment instruments to measure improvements in reading ability, instruction quality, and school management skills. USAID/APRENDER A LER Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY2013 Q1 Progress Report Page | 4 3. Summary of the reporting period 3.1 Period Highlights: Active involvement of local education institution personnel in the development of ApaL project materials and instruments, including DPEC Planning Department personnel involvement in EGRA and SMA pilot testing (training participation and data collection), and close involvement of IFP teacher trainers in development of teacher and school director training modules. During this quarter, ApaL completed the timely adaptation, pilot testing, and final submission of the Early Grade Reading Assessment and School Management Assessment instruments to the Impact Evaluation Contractor for review. In October the ApaL team and UTSA representatives held Workshops #1 and #2 of the book development series for the first Cohort of Teaching and Learning Aids. In this workshop, local teachers, teacher trainers, and education officials learned how to write stories appropriate for use in teaching young children to read. The workshop resulted in a total of 27 draft stories which will later be refined by ApaL and UTSA reading experts as books distributed to schools in the 2013 school year. This workshop was an exciting process for the participants (see success stories section below) and drew positive attention to ApaL activities in the provinces. In November, South African illustration expert, Vusi Malindi, an associate of the UTSA team, traveled to Nampula to hold a capacity building workshop with local illustrators. This workshop strengthened their skills in creating illustrations that help explain a text and further children’s ability to understand it. ApaL plans to move forward with illustration contracts for project books in the next quarter. A task analysis exercise was conducted with school directors and teachers to inform development of training materials and assessment instruments. This participatory process also helped introduce ApaL to school directors and begin a process of self-reflection regarding school management practices. All project expected staff were hired in all provinces and are working 100% time on their areas of responsibilities. The Local Education Institution Capacity Building position has been replaced and additionally the project hired the M&E National Coordinator, both of whom started working in December. During this quarter the process of registration was finalized and WEI was issued an approval to operate in the following provinces: Maputo, Nampula and Quelimane in Mozambique. Due to the many administrative and bureaucratic requirements for this, registration is usually a lengthy process. ApaL’s proactive approach which achieved a rapid completion of the registration process is considered a prominent success. ApaL’s receipt of authorization from MINEC supported a smooth registration process in Nampula and Zambézia provinces, despite initial resistance from local entities. 3.2 Key Challenges this Quarter: The replacement of the Local Education Institutional Capacity Building Specialist caused delays in implementation of institutional gap analysis activities. The postponed activities have been planned for the following quarter and will be supported by WEI experts in Boston to ensure timely completion of the IGA instruments per Year One AWP requirements. Contractual and administrative delays at UTSA have resulted in delays in the book development process. Delivery of draft and final versions of Cohort 1 books was repeatedly delayed by the USAID/APRENDER A LER Contract No. AID-656-C-12-00001 FY2013 Q1 Progress Report Page | 5 UTSA team, causing further delays in the finalization of the books and the development of associated Teachers Guides. ApaL has experienced significant delays in work completed by international subcontractor, UTSA, in addition to time-consuming administrative and contractual disputes. Due to UTSA’s unwillingness to agree to contract terms regarding copyrights for ApaL materials and exclusive branding requirements (included in the subcontract per requirements contained in USAID Direct Contracting Procedures and ApaL’s approved Branding Strategy and Marking Plan), a full subcontract has yet to be executed with UTSA. Work progressed during this quarter