ABEL2

Advancmg BasIc Education and Literacy Phase 2

Improving Capacity , for Pobcy Analysis and Planning In the Cambodian Ministry ofEducatIOn, Youth, and Sport

1997

Conducted by Conducted for , The ABEL 2 Consortlum BasIc Education and Learnmg Systems Academy for Educational Development Center for Human CapacIty Development With Creative AssocIates International Inc Bureau for Clobal Programs Field SuppOrt and Research Education Development Center Inc US .Ags:ncy for International Development Honda State Umverslty Harvard Institute for lnternat&mal Development and Research Tnangle InstItute AdvancIng BasIc EducatIon and Llt~racy , Phase 2 ofthe AdvancIng Basic EducatIon and LIteracy Project (ABEL 2) seeks to Improve basIc educatIon 10 developIng countries Smce 1989, the US Agency for InternatIonal Deve10pment has provIded assIStance to USAID mISSIons.. natIOnal governments, and nongovernmental orgamzatlons through ProjeccABEL Wlthm Its broad mandate, the pro ect focuses on the folloWIng purposes

• strengthenmg the capacIty ofeducatIon systems and 1OstItutIons • dlssemmat10g effectIve educatIon practIces • supportIng pohcy dIalogue and reform • promot1Og gIrlS' education • applymg learnmg technologIes

'-" Project ABEL IS funded by the Center for Htinan Capacity Development ofUSAID's Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support, and Research, USAID regIOnal bureaus and USAID field mISSions ABEL 2 activities fall IOtO three major categones techmcal aSSIstance and IOformatlon dissemInatIOn, research, pIlot projects, and evaluatIons, and traInIng

Techmcal and manag~ment services are provIded by the Academy for EducatIonal Development as pnme contractor WIth subcontractors Creative AssocIates InternatIOnal, Inc, Education Development Center, FlOrIda State UmversIty, Harvard InstItute for InternatIOnal Development, and Research Tnangle Institute

ABEL pubhcatlons are dIstrIbuted through the ABEL 2 ClearInghouse for BasIC EducatIOn For further mformatlon on ABEL actiVities and pubhcatlOns, contact the CleannghQuse for BasiC Education

ABEL 2 Cleannghouse for BasiC EducatIon Academy for EducatIonal Development 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW SUite 900 WashlOgton, DC 20009-1202 telephone, 202-884-8288 fax 202-884-8408 e-maIl abel@aed org

The findIngs conclUSIOns, and recommendatIOns expressed 10 ABEL docurnents are the authors' and do not necessarIlv reflect the opmlOns ofany ofthe 1OstItutlOns assocIated WIth Project ABEL or the LS Agency for InternatIOnal Development

Matenal may be reproduced If full credit IS given

Project number 936-5832 Contract numbers HNE-5832-C-00-4075-00 (core) and HNE-5832-Q-4076-00 (requirements)

/ Improving Capacity for Policy Analysis and Planning in the Cambodian Ministry ofEducation, Youth, and Sport

by

Christopher Wheeler Kay Calavan Melmda Taylor

Report prepared for USAID/Cambodla by the Advancmg BasIc EducatIOn and Literacy (ABEL 2) Project

1997 Table ofcontents

Acknowledgments

~ro~~ II ExecutIve Summary and RecommendatIOns 11l IntroductIOn 1 InstItutIOnal AnalySIS 1 Ongms 1 HIstOry ofthe Planmng and AId CoordmatIOn Urnt (PACU) 1 HIstOry ofthe Program Management and Morntonng Urnt (PMMU) 2 Summary 3 Current FunctIOns and Role ResponsIbIlIties 4 Where PolIcy Comes From 4 PolIcy and Planmng FunctIOns 5 DelIneatmg ResponsIbIlItIes 8 Current PACU CapaCIty and StaffDevelopment Needs 10 PACU's Overall OrgarnzatIOn 11 EMIS Center 12 EducatIOnal Planmng Office 13 AId CoordmatIOn Urnt 14

Status Report on Key PohcylProgram Areas Needmg AttentIon 14 Range ofDonor Programs 14 Gaps m Coverage 16 Pre-ServIce Teacher TraIrnng 16 CommunIty Involvement m EducatIOn 16 PolIcy StudIes to Address CntlCal Issues 17 Program Overlap and MIxed MoEYS SIgnals 18 The Need for More EffectIve CoordmatIOn 18 Can the Current EducatIOnal System Respond to Change? 21 PohcylProgram Areas Needmg More AttentIon 21 The DecisIOn-Makmg Process for Proposed Donor Programs 21 IncentIve Payments 22 The Need for EvaluatIOn Data for Projects WIth Diffenng Approaches 23 Changmg the Culture ofthe School to Focus on Improvement 23 New Roles for CambodIans Who Have Upgraded SkIlls 24 CommunIty Involvement Expandmg Local Control and ResponsIbIlIty for EducatIOn 24 Lmkmg Schools and Commuruties Around Issues and ApplIcatIOn of Concepts Learned m the Classroom 25 ABEL 2 Trammg Program Abel 2 Support 27 Staff Development Strategy 27 Two Levels ofStaffTrammg 27 Anticipatmg Pollcy Effects 28 ActIve Learnmg Trammg Format 29 Semor Admmistrator Semmar (Levell) 30 Techrucal Trammg Course (Level 2) 30 Encouragmg and Measunng PartIcIpant Performance 30 Other Issues 31 Issues for Staff Development 32 The ImtIaI Trammg SeSSIOn Usmg AMIS Data 32 Other Staff Development TOpICS 32 OrganIzatIOn of SeSSIOns and Role ofthe ABEL2 AdVIsor 34 Other Issues Calendar ConSIderatIOns 35

Documents ReViewed and References 36 Acknowledgments

The team WIshes to express Its appreCIatIOn to the many IndIVIduals who assIsted us WIth thIS project From the MInIStry ofEducatIOn, Youth and Sports, we would especIally hke to thank the Mlmster, H E Mr Tol Lah, the Secretary ofState, HE Mr Kea Sahan, the Duector of the Planmng and AId Coordmator (PACU), Mr Duy Pheng, and the DIrector ofthe Programme Management and Momtonng Umt (PMMU), Mr Seng Kan We also apprecIate the assIstance of PACU staff for the InfOrmatIon they provIded us

We are Indebted to DavId Leong, ChIef ofthe USAID-CambodIa Pnmary EducatIOn Office, for hIS support and gUIdance dunng our work, although he IS probably delIghted not to have to cntique yet another draft Others who found time from theIr busy schedules to provIde advIce and feedback on vanous drafts ofthe report mclude Mr Duy Pheng, PACU, Mr Seng Kan PMMU, Ms Kuy Phala, ChIef, EMIS (PACU), Mr Sam Sereyrath, Cluef, EducatIOn PlannIng Office (PACLT), Dr Klun Maung Kywe, UNDPIUNESCO, Dr VIn McNamara, AusAID Dr Anne Dykstra, UNICEF, Mr Jean-MIchel Le Pecq, EUIPASEC, Dr MIchael RatclIffe, PMMU, and Mr James Lee, PMMU In one ofthe appendIces to thIS report we lIst meetmgs wIth a number ofother IndIVIduals WhIle too numerous to mentIOn here, we want to thank them for the InfOrmatIon they proVIded us They were always WIllIng to find tIme and were open and candId, WhICh we very much apprecIated A number ofthese mdlvlduals also read and proVIded helpful suggestIons durIng dIScussIons held In mId-December on a final draft ofthe report We want to thank Sophany Ob, secretary to DaVId Leong, for her cheerful reactIOn to our chart on donor actIVItIes We gratefully acknowledge her skIlled handlIng oftlus task We also apprecIated the assIstance ofManan Stoll for the final preparatIOn ofthe report

The efforts ofall these people made thIS report pOSSIble They have Improved our work sIgmficantly through theIr helpful comments, and we have tned to respond to theIr many suggestIOns

ThIS publIcatIon was made pOSSIble through support prOVIded by the USAID/Cambodla Office ofPnmary EducatIOn (CambodIa ASSIstance to Pnmary EducatIOn (CAPE) actIVIty), Bureau for ASIa and the Near East US Agency for InternatIOnal Development, under the terms of Contract No HNE-5832-Q-OO-4076, DelIvery Order No 12 The opIllions expressed herem are those ofthe authors and do not necessanly reflect the VIews ofthe US Agency for InternatIOnal Development Acronyms

ABEL2 Advancmg BasIC EducatIOn and LIteracy, Phase 2 ACE AustralIan Center for EducatIOn ADB ASIan Development Bank AIT ASIan InstItute ofTechnology AusAID AustralIan Agency for InternatIOnal Development CAPE Cambodia Assistance to Pnmary EducatIOn CBC CambodIa-Bntish Centre CCC CooperatIOn Comlmttee for CambodIa CDC Cambodian Development CounCIl CrnT Centre for Bntish Teachers EMIS Education Management InformatIOn System EU European Umon ICORC InternatIOnal CommIttee for the ReconstructIOn ofCambodia IIEP InternatIOnal Institute for EducatIOn Planmng 10 mternatIOnal orgarnzatIOn JICA Japanese InternatIOnal CooperatIOn Agency JOCV Japan Overseas CooperatIOn Volunteers MoEYS Mirnstry ofEducatIOn, Youth and Spor