Northern Education Initiative Plus PROJECT YEAR FIVE QUARTER ONE (PY5 Q1 Report)
DISCLAIMER This document was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Creative Associates International.
Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report
Submission Date: January 30, 2020
Contract Number:AID-620-C-15-00002 October 26, 2015 – October 25, 2020 COR: Nura Ibrahim
Submitted by: Jordene Hale, Chief of Party The Northern Education Initiative Plus 38 Mike Akhigbe Street, Jabi Abuja, Nigeria
Email: [email protected]
Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report
CONTENT
PROGRAM OVERVIEW ...... 5 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ...... 6 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION ...... 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 13 QUARTERLY PROGRAMMATIC REPORT...... 15 Intermediate Result 1. Government systems strengthened to increase the number of students enrolled in appropriate, relevant, approved educational options, especially girls and out-of-school children in target locations ...... 15 Sub IR 1.1 Increased number of education options (formal, non-formal, NFLC) meeting school quality and safety benchmarks ...... 15 Sub IR 1.2. Strengthened systematic approach to school management and supervision ...... 20 Sub IR 1.3 Standardized NFLC model ensures education for vulnerable children and youth ...... 23 Sub IR 1.5 Strengthen CSO capacity to mobilize Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), SMBCs and communities around reading and access ...... 27
Intermediate Result 2. Government systems strengthened to improve reading outcomes for primary grade learners in target locations...... 32 Sub IR 2.1 State and LGEA policies, timetables, and standards for reading instruction and performance improved and implemented ...... 33 Sub IR 2.2 State/LGEA systems for development, approval, and distribution of decodable readers, teacher guides, and supplemental materials for EGR instruction improved and implemented ...... 36 Sub IR 2.3 State and LGEA systems for in-service training to teachers in public schools and NFLC in the use of the evidence-based reading materials improved and implemented ...... 39
Sub IR 2.4 LGEA systems for monitoring/coaching in-service teachers in EGR instruction improved and implemented: ...... 46
Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report
Sub IR 2.5 State and LGEA systems for EGR assessment improved and implemented ...... 47 Sub IR 2.6 State and LGEA systems for extending evidence-based reading instruction to nontraditional, non-formal schools improved and implemented ...... 52 Sub IR 2.7 State, local government, and community accountability to the public for reading instruction increased ...... 53
Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Our Journey – Pilot to Scale-up ……………………………………………..24 Figure 2: RAN Functionality Dashboard……………………………………………….51
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1. PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Program Name Northern Education Initiative Plus
Activity Start Date and End October 26, 2015 – October 25, 2020 Date
Name of Prime Creative Associates International Implementing Partner
Contract Number AID-620-C-15-00002
Name of Subcontractors Education Development Center (EDC), Florida State University (FSU), Overseas Strategic Consulting (OSC) and Value Minds
Major Counterpart FMOE, NERDC, NCCE, UBEC, NMEC, SMOE Organizations (Bauchi and Sokoto), SUBEB (Bauchi and Sokoto), SAME (Bauchi and Sokoto), LGEAs (Bauchi and Sokoto)
Geographic Coverage Bauchi and Sokoto States
Reporting Period October 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020
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ACRONYMS
AC Access Coordinator AGLC Adolescent Girls Learning Center ANCOPSS All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools ASC Annual School Census ATWG Access Technical Working Group BEMTSS Basic Education Medium Term Sector Strategy BESDA Better Education Service Delivery for All BPT Budget Planning Tool CBMC Center Based Management Committees CCs Community Coalitions CIHPs Community Initiative for Health and Peaceful Society CLA Collaboration, Learning and Adapting CLC Cluster Learning Cycle CMU Community Mobilization Unit CoE College of Education CoP Chief of Party CPD Continuous Professional Development CRC Community Reading Center CSACEFA Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All CSO Civil Society Organization CUG Closed User Group CWPM correct words per minute DCoP Deputy Chief of Party DfID Department for International Development DFS Digital Financial Solutions DPRS Department of Planning, Research, and Statistics DQA Data Quality Assurance DQA Director Quality Assurance EDC Education Development Center EGR Early Grade Reading EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment EMIS Education Management Information System EMS Education Management Suite
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ACRONYMS
ES Executive Secretary FMIS Facilitator Management Information System FMoI Federal Ministry of Information FOI Fidelity of Implementation FSU Florida State University GALA Group Administered Literacy Assessment HILWA High-Level Women Advocates HoS Head of Service ICA Institutional Capacity Assessment ICA Institutional Capacity Assessment ICT Information and Communication Technology IVR Interactive Voice Response JCCE Joint Consultative Committee on Education KYC Know Your Customer LEMA Local Education Monitoring Approach LESOP Local Education Sector Operation Plan LF Learning Facilitator LGA Local Government Authority LGC Local Government Council LGEA Local Government Education Authority M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MBEP Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning MDA Ministries, Departments and Agencies MEAR Monitoring, Evaluation, Assessment, and Research MF Master Facilitator MLA Monitoring, Learning, and Assessment MoF Ministry of Finance MoU Memorandum of Understanding MT Master Trainer MTSS Mid-Term Sector Strategy NALABE National Assessment of Learning Achievements in Basic Education NCCE National Commission for Colleges of Education NCE National Council on Education NCE Nigeria Certificate in Education NEI Plus The Northern Education Initiative Plus NEMIS National Education Management Information System
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ACRONYMS
NERDC Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council NFE Non-Formal Education NFLC Non-Formal Learning Center NIEPA National Institute for Education Planning and Administration NIPEP Nigeria Partnership for Education Project NMEC National Mass Education Commission NMEC National Mass Education Commission NOA National Orientation Agency NRARA Nigeria Reading and Access Research Activity NRF National Reading Framework NUT Nigerian Union of Teachers OOSC Out-of-School Children ORF Oral Reading Fluency OSC Overseas Strategic Consulting PES Primary Education Studies PlC Professional Learning Community PMP Performance Monitoring Plan PO Program Officer PTA Parent Teachers Association RA Result Area RAN Reading Association of Nigeria RANA Reading and Numeracy Activity RTWG Reading Technical Working Group SAME State Agency for Mass Education SBMC School Based Management Committee SDG Sustainable Development Goal SEA State Education Accounts SEPIP State Education Program Investment Project SESOP Strategic Education Sector Operational Plan SHOA State House of Assembly SOME State Ministry of Education SMS Short Message Service SRF School Reading Forum SRMs Supplementary Reading Materials SSO School Support Officer STL State Team Leader
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ACRONYMS
STTA Short Term Technical Assistance SUBEB State Universal Basic Education Board SWG State Working Group TAT Technical Assistance Team TE Teacher Educator TEGRAN Teachers of Early Grade Reading Association of Nigeria TEI Teacher Education Institute TG Teachers Guide The Initiative The Northern Education Initiative Plus TLC Teacher Learning Circle TLM Teaching Learning Material TMIS/FMIS Teacher/Facilitator Management Information System TPD Teacher Professional Development TRCN Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria TRD Teachers Recruitment and Deployment TSB Teacher Service Board TSC Teachers Service Commission TWG Technical Working Group UBE Universal Basic Education UBEC Universal Basic Education Commission UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USAID U.S. Agency for International Development
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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Commencing in October 2015 under deliver high-quality TLMs and mobilize funding from the United States Agency communities for increased enrollment and for International Development (USAID), improved reading outcomes. the five-year Northern Education Initiative Plus project (the Initiative) The project is training and equipping Colleges is strengthening the ability of Bauchi of Education (CoEs) to include EGR concepts, and Sokoto states to provide greater techniques, practice, and materials in their access to basic education especially for curriculum at states and national levels while girls and Out-of-School Children playing a key role within the education sector (OOSC) —and to significantly improve to promote EGR policy and research. reading outcomes for more than one million school-aged children and youth. An evidence-based intervention, the Initiative The Initiative employs a holistic continuously monitors program activities approach, addressing a broad range and assesses its delivery and results against of critical factors that affect learning, established targets and milestones to improve teaching, systems management, project outcomes. The Initiative is expected parental participation, and community to demonstrate significant improvement in engagement. The project strategy EGR for approximately one million children focuses on strengthening technical and in schools and more than 400,000 OOSC management capacity, commitment attending some 11,000 Non-formal learning and accountability of federal, state and Centers (NFLCs), Adolescent Girls Learning Local Government Education Authority Centers (AGLCs) and Youth Learning Centers (LGEAs) to provide effective English (YLCs). and mother-tongue based Early Grade Reading (EGR) teaching and learning
to its pupils; and, to deliver literacy,
numeracy, and life-skills to OOSC and youths and whenever possible mainstream them into formal schools. Percentage of female The project is providing innovative, learning facilitators of cost-effective ICT solutions to improve the total reached 43% the coaching and mentoring system for in Cohort 5. This is a 39% increase teachers/Learning Facilitators (LFs), compared to Cohort 4 maintaining efficient Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) supply chain and make mobile-money payments to LFs. The Initiative is building the capacity of LGEAs to plan, budget and manage schools, support and supervise teachers,
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The Initiative is implemented by Creative Associates International in collaboration with three U.S.-based international organizations— Education Development Center (EDC), Florida State University (FSU), Overseas Strategic Consulting (OSC)— and four Nigerian organizations— Value Minds, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN), the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), and more than 46 local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
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TOP FIVE FOR PY5 QUARTER ONE
The Initiative mobilized federal, state, and donor agencies education managers to discuss education financing and local sourcing of funds to finance education. Notably, the governments of Bauchi and Sokoto 1 states spent less than $50 per child in basic education. The Commissioner of Education of Bauchi State extracted key findings from the SEA and displayed it in his office.
The MEAR Unit successfully doubled the sample size of schools monitored under LEMA from 200 schools to 400 schools per state. Likewise, the number of Schools Support Officers engaged in data collection almost doubled from 40 to 70 per each state. Tablets were 2 used to collect data on LEMA indicators. Data were successfully collected at 99.25 percent of the targeted schools. This demonstrates the ability of the state to apply technology in data collection and management.
The Reading Technical Working Group (RTWG) reviewed, revised and consolidated content for both Mu Karanta! and Let’s Read! TLM into a single pupil’s book and teacher’s guide for each grade, in 3 Hausa and in English. The NERDC, along with RTWG members from both states, supported the consolidation process. The consolidation allowed the SUBEB in Bauchi and in Sokoto to secure authorization and budget to print TLMs for the 10 Initiative- supported LGAs.
Cohort 5 of Non-formal Learning Centers began with an enrollment of 4 25,000 children. Instruction is taking place and all children have textbooks.
Mobile Money is now being used in all 20 intervening LGAs providing knowledge and opportunities of Digital financial access to 5 1600 LFs, with alternative ways of receiving money and boosting their financial inclusion.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Quarter one of Project Year 5 in many ways symbolizes the adopted PY5 theme- of “All Children Reading.” All activities undertaken throughout the quarter were subjected to review by asking the following questions: How do activities contribute to reading outcomes? Do activities remain the best value for money? And, will the government make commitments to sustaining key activities? This continuous technical review allowed for efficient planning of the activities undertaken during the quarter. Highlights of major activities which chronicled this quarter follows:
Concurrent implementation of Cohort 4 and 5 NFLCs/AGLCs. The project continues to manage the existing 600 Cohort 4 NFLCs/AGLCs and established 1000 additional NFLCs/AGLCs for cohort 5. For Cohort 4, 60 MFs (40 State Agency for Mass Education - SAME staff and 20 Access and Fragility Coordinators - AFs) coached and mentored the 600 LFs (Bauchi 300, Sokoto 300) managing cohort 4 learning centers. Cohort 5 learning centers have enrolled a total of 40,559 learners in the 1000 centers and provided learners rs with 259,000 Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs). For the 1000 cohort 5 Learning Centers established, 1000 LFs (Bauchi 500 (283m, 217f); Sokoto 500 (352m,148f)) have been recruited and are managing the centers.
In formal schools, the quarter witnessed distribution of 2 million TLMs to school children and on-time training of coaches and teachers in advance of instruction for the first and second terms of the 2019/2020 academic session. The Initiative also field-tested the P1 “Big Book” materials and is preparing for finalization in early Q2 of PY5. Inception activities for the development of Igbo and Yoruba Early Grade Reading materials have commenced, including the initial Symphony analysis of high-frequency letters and words. Other activities completed during the reporting period include support for SUBEB-led procurement of TLMs. This marks continued commitments from both states to contribute a significant portion of their resources to the provision of TLMs to schools in LGAs supported by the Initiative. Additionally, both states printed, and distributed Mu karanta/ Let’s Read materials to the Basic Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA)- supported LGAs. Other achievements include supporting the use of the Budget Planning Tool (BPT) toward the development of sector strategy documents for the upcoming phase of government-led activities to improve the quality of education in each state.
In order to achieve Project Year 5 (PY5) motto of “All Children Reading,” the Community Mobilization unit reinforced its strategies toward rallying community structures to ensure children are reading at all levels, with emphasis on Early Grade
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Reading competitions were organized at NFLCs/AGLCs and formal schools with a view to motivating children to have an interest in reading. The desire to see improvements in reading prompted the Community Coalition (CCs) in all LGAs to assign members of their communities to monitor and give feedback on schools within their areas at monthly meetings. This has resulted in improved punctuality and attendance of teachers and facilitators at school and learning centers. Also, the Traditional Rulers and SBMC members have made similar efforts thereby resulting in improved punctuality amongst teachers and facilitators.
Major activities for the next quarter (PY5 Q2) will include the finalization and validation of the P1 English materials, the distribution of consolidated TLMs, and refresher training for teachers on the EGR materials (consolidated and termly) with additional training on tablet- based coaching and mentoring for SSOs. The Igbo and Yoruba teaching and learning materials development activity will fully commence with the creation of the advisory committee and development of the scope and sequence for each language. The Initiative will hold two major NRF activities, including the development of assessment framework and technical specification workshops, based on the nine (9) Nigerian network languages. The two activities will lead to the SDG 4.1.1a policy linking workshop, to set standards and benchmarks that are aligned with the global framework in English and Hausa Literacy, as well as Numeracy.
Community mobilization activities in PY5 Q2 will continue to be centered on strengthening Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and community structures work in implementing the community reading and access implementation plan, with major sensitization and advocacy activities to improve school enrollment, attendance, and girl-child education. This is in addition to promoting reading activities through School Reading Forums (SRFs) and Community Reading Centers (CRCs) and leveraging resources to support Learning Centers and schools.
In Q2, the Systems Strengthening will seek to reinforce State Education Account (SEA) activities through more engagement with government partners. This is aimed at sustaining Initiative activities by reviewing and preparing the installation of TMIS process and software, reviewing the Teacher Recruitment Deployment (TRD) guidelines, and developing of a government sustainability plan.
The M&E team will commence planning for the project endline EGRA in a high-profile meeting with USAID to review scope and data collection parameters. The M&E team will also be developing additional test items for the LEMA.
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QUARTERLY PROGRAMMATIC REPORT
Intermediate Result 1. Government systems strengthened to increase the number of students enrolled in appropriate, relevant, approved educational options, especially girls and out-of-school children in target locations
PY5 focuses on achieving results in reading and transferring key project activities to government and community structures. In PY5 Q1, the Initiative continued to support capacity development at all levels of the system, work with communities to support OOSC and youth to access quality education, and support mainstreaming into the formal system.
Sub IR 1.1 Increased number of education options (formal, non-formal, NFLC) meeting school quality and safety benchmarks
The Project continued to improve states' capacity to manage EGR activities through training of EMIS officers and management of database packages. This is already aiding policy level officials in decision making for improved educational planning and education management. Closely related, the States MOEs, SUBEBs, SAMEs and LGEAs are taking actions towards improving their standings based on the ICA midline report. This is being achieved through deliberations and implementation of a collaboratively developed action guide. TLMs were procured and distributed to all learners in the cohort 5 NFLCS /AGLCs. With this, all the Learning Centres have commenced instruction and are fully operational.
1.1.3.2 Conduct a 1-day follow-up training for EMIS State and LGEA Staff to troubleshoot Education Management Suite (EMS) with school academic data and disseminate findings to inform decisions
The Systems Strengthening team trained six (6) Education Management Information System (EMIS) officers to install the SQL1 Server and IIS2, upload and link the Access database to a dummy database and link the dummy to SQL database and report generation. They used the current scorecard and the latest annual school census of 2018/19. The updated scorecard was downloaded to all participants’ laptops and they were taken through the process of operating the software. After the training, the application was installed on the computer systems of the education Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state. Also, the sample hard copies were shared with States Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) management (Bauchi and Sokoto) for easy access in decision making.
1 SQL Server is a database server by Microsoft. The Microsoft relational database management system is a software product which primarily stores and retrieves data requested by other applications. ... SQL is a special-purpose programming language designed to handle data in a relational database management system. www.cbronline.com › what-is › what-is-sql-server-4914415
2 Internet Information Services (IIS) is a flexible, general-purpose web server from Microsoft that runs on Windows systems to serve requested HTML pages or files.
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1.1.3.3 Support the conduct of 2-day peer tutoring from better-performing LGA through brainstorming and experience sharing sessions
The midline Institution Capacity Assessment (ICA) of education MDAs in Bauchi and Sokoto states (conducted in PY3) showed that state education MDAs have the capacity to manage EGR interventions but required further mentorship to attain full capacity (Table 1). It was also noted that significant improvement has been seen in school supports, quality assurance, and data management.
To address the capacity gaps identified at the LGEAs during the mid-line assessment, the Systems Strengthening team organized a one-day experience-sharing workshop in three clusters in Sokoto state. In attendance were 70 participants (67m, 3f: Sokoto 22m; Kware 25m, 2f and Shagari 20m, 1f) made up of Education Secretaries and management staff of the LGEAs, Directors of Planning Research and Statistics, Quality Assurance, Social Mobilization, and Schools’ Services drawn from the States Ministry of Education, SUBEBs and States Agency for Mass Education (SAMEs). The objective of the one-day workshop was to share experiences on the management techniques of the EGR intervention at the local level, to prepare the education MDAs for the end line ICA, and to refine the plan for mitigating institutional challenges. The activity in Bauchi was moved to PY5 Q2 due to participants’ engagement in other state-level activities.
The highlight of the Sokoto workshop was the development of an implementation plan matrix (Table 1) and consensus by all the Education Secretaries (ES) from the 20 focus LGEAs to:
• Identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of access and reading programs and map out mitigating strategies. • Conduct a self-assessment of their institutions in preparation for the end line ICA exercise.
The Community Mobilization unit reinforced its strategies toward rallying community structures to ensure children are reading at all levels, specifically at the early grade. This aligns with achieving PY5 goal of “All children reading,”
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Table 1: ICA Mid-line Report Implementation Plan Matrix Sokoto
Domain Issues Mitigating factors
Strategic Unavailability of Local Develop and operationalize the Planning Education Sector LESOP document: Operation Plan (LESOP) document in the LGEAs
LGEAs do not have Dissemination, extraction of the annual annual operational plans implementation plan, and departmental work plan from the strategic document LGEAs do not have a departmental work plan
Policy No concrete evidence A list of concrete evidence generated of EGR policy and by the LGE management to be guidelines implementation documented at the LGEAs.
School Inadequate synergy among States and LGEAs to scale up SSOs Support the departments in the training modules System LGEAs
Inadequate coaching and School supervision and classroom mentoring of schools and observation instruments are to be monitoring data repository made available to the QA units of the in the states and the LGEAs. LGEAs. The LGEAs to source for policy and guidelines documents on quality assurance.
Non-implementation of policy and guidelines on quality assurance at the LGEAs.
Teacher Low level of The LGEAs to source for management implementation of the Teacher Recruitment and guidelines TRD document from Deployment guidelines SUBEB for review and development of (TRD) document implementation guidelines.
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Social Absence of social List of documents and guidelines mobilization mobilization guidelines at requires to manage SMD are generated the LGEA and the LGEA management is to source for the documents and made available at the SMD of the LGEAs.
Absence of policy and The LGEAs to profile all policy guidelines on enrollment influencers and changers available drive campaign within the LGEAs. Absence of profile for stakeholders at LGA Data Inadequate facilities for Support and strengthen EMIS of the management EMIS LGA with facilities
Absence of ASC reports at Obtain ASC reports from Ministry LGEA level Obtain ASC database from Ministry Absence of ASC database at LGEA level Enhanced proper record keeping
Inadequate record-keeping
Governance Overlapping roles and Redefine roles and responsibilities responsibilities across of LGEA managers MDAs and LGEAs
Inadequate documentation Documentation of all management for management meetings meetings across the MDAs and LGEAs
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Activity 1.1.4.1/1.1.1.4.2 Procure and distribute Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) to NFLCs and AGLCs and Learning Facilitators
The Initiative distributed 259,000 TLMs to the 1000 Learning Centers (600 NFLCs, 400 AGLCs in cohort 5. Please see Table 2 for details of titles. Shipment notes and tablets used to track and trace the delivery of TLMs to the centers and can be viewed on the Initiative dashboard.
Table 2: NFLCs TLM Distribution
NFLC TLM Distribution Bauchi Sokoto
Literacy Hausa Primer 25,500 25,500
Numeracy Primer 25,500 25,500
Life Skill Primer 25,500 25,500
Literacy English Primer 25,500 25,500
Reader I 25,500 25,500
Facilitators Guide (Transition to English) 500 500
Facilitators Guide (Hausa Literacy) 500 500
Facilitators Guide (Numeracy) 500 500
Facilitators Guide (Life Skills) 500 500
129,500 129,500
A total of 40,559 learners have so far been utilizing the TLMs in the 1,000 learning centers.
Table 3: Number of Cohort 5 Learners
Cohort 5 Learners Male Female Total
Bauchi 7,123 15,514 22,637
Sokoto 6,014 11,908 17,922
Total 13,137 27,422 40,559
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Sub IR 1.2. Strengthened systematic approach to school management and supervision
Efforts towards effective management of Learning Centres for improved instruction in the quarter include a review of monitoring and mentoring tools, setting up joint monitoring teams at LGA level, developing a joint monitoring plan and conducting monitoring and mentoring visits. These are activities aimed at closely working with the state partners towards ensuring ownership and quality in the NFLCs/AGLCs, through providing support for LFs and Centre managements. To facilitate effective data management from the Centres both the mentors and CSOs were provided with tablets to conduct their monitoring and mentoring duties. The outcome from the supervision can be viewed on the Initiative’s dashboards. The MEAR component also held coordination meetings with the LGA level policy level officials where the dashboard displayed. During these coordination meetings, the LEMA results were shared and deliberated upon.
1.2.3.2 Conduct monthly Access Coordinators routine monitoring to NFLCs at LGAs/1.2.3.3 Conduct quarterly state joint monitoring visits to NFLCs (three times) with partners
The Initiative teams in Bauchi and Sokoto continued to reinforce monitoring of NFLCs/AGLCs by supporting State partners to use effective monitoring systems and tools. The Initiative also supported the development of a joint monitoring plan and shared with all the partners (LGA area organizers, LGEA School Services Directors, scheme organizers, and LGA Access Coordinators) for effective use by State partners. A performance monitoring team was set up at LGA levels to monitor the NFLCs/AGLCs, engage LGA Area Organizers, LGEA School Services Directors, scheme organizers, and LGA Access Coordinators. All the 600 Learning Centers in Cohort 4 were monitored by the LGA team, who noted learners’ ability to identify letter sounds, form syllables and words, and construct sentences.
Challenges identified in some NFLCs include poor classroom coordination and poor content delivery. To resolve these problems, CSOs mentored, coached and trained Program Officers on center management. These monitoring visits helped to track implementation progress in the Learning Centers.
The Center Based Management Committees (CBMCs) and Women Groups (WGs) have become more vibrant and are conducting house-to-house sensitization, especially with the end of the harvest period. This has played a vital role in engaging mothers to support their children’s learning.
This quarter, the Initiative reviewed its management and supervision strategy for the NFLCs to conform to the EGR best practices used in Formal schools. The Initiative concluded the review and modification of its NFLC coaching and mentoring tool, which is currently in use for observing EGR lessons and providing feedback to LFs.
21 Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report The use of technology to support NFLCs has been a very effective strategy this year. The Initiative procured additional 142 Mobile tablets and backup power banks for 142 CSO grantee program officers based in LGAs, for efficient and effective implementation of Cohort 5 activities. These include:
a) Establishment of centers, b) Recruitment of LFs, c) Enrolment of learners, d) Monitoring and coaching of LFs, e) Routine monitoring activities in NFLC and communities, f) Grants milestone reporting, and g) SBMC campaign via the MUYI MAGANA application.
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The ICT materials provided to CSO grantees staff at the community level contain mobile digital tools and contents in a ‘job aid’ that supports and enhances the implementation of access activities. The Initiative’s strategic use of ICT in improving outcomes in the Non- Formal program has empowered grantees to efficiently and effectively implement and report all major activities and milestone deliverables.
Picture 1: The innovative Teacher Picture 2: he Initiative Mobile-based MU validation and training attendance KARANTA School Monitoring and application. Photo by Anthony Udeh Coaching Application. Photo by Anthony Udeh
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1.2.3.3 Coordination with State partners 1.2.3.1a Conduct quarterly M&E meetings with MEAR TWG and key stakeholders at the state level
The Monitoring, Evaluation, Assessment, and Research (MEAR) team supported state partners to co-implement MEAR activities to ensure ownership and sustainability. A 2-day meeting of the MEAR unit was conducted to review MEAR work plan and work progress, prepare upcoming activities for Quarters Two to Four and discuss the Initiative indicators. The team reviewed progress on state MEAR sustainability plans developed during the last coordination meeting in 2018. Similarly, challenges in school monitoring and LEMA administration were discussed. Best practices from LEMA administration across LGEA were shared at the meeting. The meeting was attended by the Bauchi and Sokoto states MEAR Technical Working Group (TWG) and State partners from the MOE, SAME, State Agency for Nomadic Education (SANE), CoE, and SUBEB. The MEAR PY5 approved work plan and planned activities for Q2, Q3, and Q4 were presented to the partners.
The Initiative dashboard was presented to the participants, showing how it could be adopted by the state to support the management decision-making process. The TWG requested support to develop and provide similar state-specific dashboards. The partners highlighted that tablets were procured by the state for coaching and mentoring, school monitoring and EGR scale-up in non-focus LGAs. The TWG reported that it was mobilizing funds for the implementation of the second term (2019/2020 academic session) LEMA, disseminating results and coordinating all other LEMA activities including leading in presentations and training.
The MEAR TWG Chairman (Bauchi and Sokoto states) reported the inclusion of LEMA and some monitoring activities in the SUBEBs annual work plan for 2019/2020 and the Medium- Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) 2020-2022.
The MEAR TWG completed a Focus Group Discussion to develop an action plan for institutionalizing some key MEAR activities and planning strategies to ensure ownership and sustainability of the LEMA. The M&E technical coordination meeting provided a forum for the MEAR and state teams to discuss the sustainability of key MEAR activities beyond the project.
Sub IR 1.3 Standardized NFLC model ensures education for vulnerable children and youth
During the quarter, the project commenced cohort 5 NFLCs/AGLCs activities. 1000 NFLCs/AGLCs were established in Bauchi and Sokoto states, including the recruitment and training of the LFs on EGR and centre management. The LFs were trained by 40 MFs per state. Meanwhile, instruction and other learning activities have commenced in these new Centres, while continuing in the existing cohort 4 NFLCs (600). The Project was able to place all 1600 LFs on Mobile-moni, thereby broadening Digital Financial Inclusion. A session on the effective utilization of the Mobile-moni platform was organized for all the new
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LFs. To demonstrate ownership, community members were able to leverage resources in support of both the cohort 4 and 5 Learning Centres.
Activity 1.3.1.1 – Provide technical support to SAMEs to establish 1000 NFLCs with learner-friendly spaces was implemented
The Initiative, in close partnership with Bauchi and Sokoto States Agencies for Mass Education (SAMEs), established 50 NFLCs/AGLCs in each of the 20 LGAs (see details in Table 4). Six-hundred centers created by the Initiative in Cohort 4 are being sustained and 1000 new centers were added, some of which were from Cohorts 1 and 3. The Access and Fragility team led a 1-day orientation for 42 (21 Bauchi and 21 Sokoto) CSOs on concurrent implementation of Cohort 4 and 5 learning centers. The project resolved that no LFs managing Cohort 4 centers will be engaged in Cohort 5 centers.
More female facilitators were recruited in Cohort 5 than in Cohorts 3 or 4, making up 43 percent of the total recruitment.
About 70% of the centers are based in community structures (Quranic Schools, under shades and trees, sheds, private homes, community leader’s palace) while 30% are located in the formal school structure. In-kind support from the government and communities in the use of community structures as learning venues for 1600 learning spaces was valued at NGN 6.9 million (at NGN 5000 per month for each learning center for three months). These include about 1178 centers in community-based structures, while 422 are sited in government facilities. It was also estimated that NGN 2.4 million was saved by leveraging on government-owned facilities for training of LFs and mobile money users across the 20 LGAs in Bauchi and Sokoto.
In line with the Initiative’s objective of increasing children’s access to quality education, the Access Technical Working Group (ATWG) mainstreamed learners from NFLC to formal schools and transitioned those who want to continue with the non-formal learning system to post-literacy education. The ATWG already mainstreamed 1,032 (376M and 656F) out of 13,500 cohort three learners into formal schools, from three LGAs (Gamawa, Shira and Misau) in Bauchi. The Access team at the LGAs created a list of scholastic materials needed
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by the mainstreamed learners. The ATWG, on their own, mobilized NGN 680,358 from philanthropists and government, to purchase the required materials.
1.3.1.2 Jointly validate 1000 NFLCs, facilitators and learners enrolled based on set criteria
The ATWG across 20 LGAs in Bauchi and Sokoto held a 1-day meeting to conduct a validation exercise with emphasis on the number of learners enrolled, and centers’ learners’ friendliness and suitability. In each state, a 10-person team of government partners, program officers, and access coordinators conducted the validation. The purpose of this exercise was to verify that the CSOs had delivered in key performing areas. Each team elicited the following information to determine the implementation status: number of centers established; safe learning spaces for centers using safety standard indicators; number of enrollees and their eligibility (to verify if the learners enrolled are within the age limit as stated in the enrollment criteria).
The non-availability of female LFs was a major problem that limited the establishment of centers in some locations. Other problems included enrollment of under-age and over-age learners and male LFs posted to AGLCs. The problem of inadequate supply of female LFs was addressed by providing more time for worst-hit LGAs (like Alkaleri in Bauchi) to source LFs, by receiving them from neighboring communities or redistributing the centers to locations that met all requirements and are more accessible to female LFs. Presently, all 1,000 learning centers (500 in each state) have been validated.
1.3.1.3 Conduct 4-day refresher training for 80 (40 per state) master trainers on EGR and NFLC /AGLCs management
Eighty MT (28m 12f) were re-trained prior to stepping down the training to the LFs. The training content focused on performance areas as basic elements of systematic and explicit instruction, the 5 + 2 basic reading skills, ensuring the fidelity of implementation, and modeling. The MTs received refreshers on record-keeping, general center management, and the use of the Mobile-moni payment system. The Access and Fragility team used a guided approach that involved the combined use of practical exercises, simulation, group work, and feedback plenary sessions. To strengthen government officials’ ability to manage NFLCs, three BASAME and three SSAME staff also participated in the first and second batches of the training. This is in addition to the existing practice of drawing many of the MTs from state institutions, agencies, and departments. All the 80 MTs were posted to 20 LGAs (Bauchi and Sokoto) to step-down the training to 1000 LFs.
1.3.1.5 Conduct 9-day training (eight days for LFs and one day for mobile-money) for 1000 NFLC learning facilitators on the EGR integrated learning
The 64 trained MFs stepped-down the training on the use of EGR integrated learning model to 34 LFs in Bauchi (26m; 8f) and 30 LFs in Sokoto (29m; 1f) in the new NFLCs.
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Subsequent to this refresher training the MFs stepped-down their training to 982 Cohort 5 LFs (Bauchi 497- 281m, 216f, and Sokoto- 485- 240m;145f). Modeled on the training of the MFs, this activity used the combined delivery modes of small group work, simulation, and demonstration, with feedback provided periodically in groups and plenaries. Training content covered includes the 5+2 basic reading skills, fundamental techniques of the gradual release method, implementing scripted lessons, literacy and center management. Given that the LFs were beginners in the use of the Initiative’s innovative approaches, the training maintained high standards regarding attendance and punctuality. Included in the training were CSOs M&E Officers and Scheme Organizers who monitor the centers activities.
The Initiative, as part of the planned expansion of its innovative use of technology to increase Digital Financial Inclusion, completed the 100% scale-up of its Mobile-moni intervention in providing stipend payments to over 1600 Learning Facilitators in Cohort 4 and 5 in
100% of all LFs use Mobile- Moni
Bauchi and Sokoto States. The Initiative Mobile Money intervention has now spread to all 20 intervention LGAs in Bauchi and Sokoto States, providing digital financial services to 1600 LFs.
Figure 1
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This quarter, the Initiative supported State SAMEs in collaboration with local Mobile-moni agents and CSOs to conduct a 2-day Digital Financial Services training and Know Your Customer (KYC) setup of Mobile-moni wallets for 1000 LFs in all 20 LGAs. This brings total direct beneficiaries of the Mobile Money interventions to 3440 Learning Facilitators in largely unbanked rural communities in 20 LGAs. The Initiative has confirmed consent from LFs to receive additional companion Mastercard as they request financial services from an increasing number of Mobile Money Shared Agent networks.
Sub IR 1.5 Strengthen CSO capacity to mobilize Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), SMBCs and communities around reading and access
The USAID Forward principle and journey to self-reliance required strengthening local capacity to lead and implement major change activities. The different project components are collaborating with 42 CSOs to improve access and learning outcomes through reading instruction and promotion activities. The CSOs facilitate CCs and WGs in conducting enrolment activities and ensuring learners are retained in schools. They also carry out advocacies to community leaders and the government in support of improved learning outcomes. A change was made in the operation and management of School Reading Forums (SRFs) and CRCs to improve the outcomes.
Activity 1.5.1.2 Monitor the implementation of the Action Plan developed during round table discussions with Local Government and community education stakeholders around improving reading outcomes. And, 1.1.1.1 Hold 2-day LGEA education stakeholders dialogue (to include SBMCs, CBMCs, CCs & WGs) on improving learning outcomes (parental support, attendance, retention, safety and conflict sensitivity)
The Community Mobilization and Access and Reading Units held a 1-day cluster meeting, in three different locations for 258 (205M, 53F) participants. These meetings stemmed from a series of community dialogues held with various actors (LGA, LGEA, CSOs, SBMCs, CBMCs, and WGs). They were also aimed at mitigating gaps and challenges identified by several ICA, LEMA and GALA exercises. Participants discussed the level of implementation of agreed activities. These include teacher/pupil punctuality and absenteeism, and time on task, as well as other issues related to poor learning outcomes highlighted in the PY4 action plan (i.e., lack of effective teaching, poor sanitary facilities, lack of school security, misuse of the school reading centers). The meeting created an opportunity for participants to convey community expectations to LGA education managers and to positively influence educational decisions. The activity also facilitated the development of action plans to address the identified challenges.
The Initiative established forty-two CSOs 1000 CBMCs and 42 WGs for Cohort 5 activities and continued to work with the existing CCs and SBMCs. An orientation was carried out for the newly formed CBMCs on their roles and responsibilities. The training focused on proper center management to ensure safety and a conducive learning environment for the learners, as well as house-to-house outreach, follow-up on absent learners and LFs, and the importance of resource mobilization.
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The orientation led to a series of courtesy calls to solicit the support of traditional leaders, which yielded positive results. Specifically, the district head of Bunun Dange Alhaji Nasir Dan Galadima (Bunun Dange) and Village Head of Dambuwa Community of Dange Shuni LGA and Alhaji Nasiru Dangaladima provided six centers in Dange town with the construction of six toilets, mats for seating, water containers, cups, kettles, and chalk. Community influencers, Dange LGA, politicians, and community members also provided funding for the toilets and other items. This community support and funding has further promoted the ownership and sustainability of the Initiative’s learning activities.
The CSOs supported and monitored community structure’s (20 CCs, 1600 CBMCs, 42 WGs, and some SBMCs) monthly activities and meetings in Bauchi and Sokoto States. In turn, the community structures monitored activities in formal schools and NFLCs. These include carrying out observations on learning activities, attendance, and identifying absent learners/LFs. Feedback on observations of NFLCs and formal schools were reported to the community leaders and LGA TWGs. Teachers found to be absent were summoned by the LGA TWGs chairman for discussion and potential disciplinary measures. Meanwhile, the WGs followed-up on absent learners during house-to-house outreach, by discussing with parents the importance of education and the danger of missing classes. These WGs have been successful in convincing parents to bring back such children to the NFLCs.
CSOs organized meetings with community influencers, community leaders, and youth organizations through palace-based dialogues. In total, the CSOs held 3,800 meetings with CBMCs, 126 meetings with WGs and 42 meetings with CCs in PY5 Q1 in Bauchi and Sokoto States. These sessions offered a platform to give the community leaders and influencers feedback on progress at the NFLCs/formal schools. The CSOs have started project close-out discussions with community members on the sustainability of the intervention following Cohort 5’s completion.
WGs established for Cohort 5 NFLCs engaged village heads to create awareness on the importance of education. The WG reached a total of 40,320 households (Bauchi and Sokoto states) within three months, with messages on enrollment, the importance of girl-child education, retention, and hygiene. For example, in Gwaram village, low learner attendance has been a challenge, especially during the harvest season. The CBMC Chairman in collaboration with the WG conducted household visits to discuss with parents the importance of learner attendance and retention in the learning centers. Thereafter, mothers have shown improved interest in getting their children ready on time, to attend classes at the newly established NFLCs in their communities.
1.5.1.4 Conduct monthly monitoring and mentoring of CSOs to improve reading outcomes
CSOs intensified resource mobilization efforts to support attendance at NFLCs and for mainstreamed learners. The Initiative participated in meetings of CSOs with community structures, such as WGs and CCs, to mentor and coach the CSOs and address identified gaps.
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The CSOs called for a change in the socio-cultural practice of parent/caregiver marrying girls off at an early age of 15-16 years. WGs visited households to talk to parents about the importance of education and the need to allow their children to complete the NFLCs/AGLCs.
In Ningi village, the community leader checks on all pupils and follows up on those who are absent from the NFLC.
Monitoring visits conducted in centers also showed an increase in the number of female learners’ attendance in centers managed by the female facilitators. In many communities, CCs purchased exercise books, sandals, biros, sharpeners, and school uniforms for over 600 learners.
Activity 1.5.1.8 Conduct community mobilization unit coordination meetings on CRCs and SRFs
The Community Mobilization unit held a 2-day coordination meeting for 22 (16m, 6f) technical officers from Abuja, Bauchi and Sokoto offices of the project. The meeting focused on updating participants on the new approach for Community Reading Centers (CRCs) and School Reading Forums (SRFs).
Major outcomes of the meeting include:
• An action plan with specific roles, responsibilities, and strategies covering the following areas: activity type, task, persons responsible, strategy and steps to be taken, location, collaborators, expected results and implementation, monitoring & evaluation timelines, and resources needed. There was a shared understanding of the new approach/strategy and way forward. The new approach is expected to propel the CRCs and SRFs towards achieving the desired result, ‘all children reading.’ • A common understanding of the operation and management of CRCs and SRFs was reached with CSOs including the Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN). • The team reviewed the special activities calendar, ‘how-to-do’ manuals, discussed data capture for the use of supplementary readers and analyzed and utilized CRC data to improve reading outcomes. • The Initiative staff will support CSOs in reporting of data using tablets. Other areas of support include planning activities, coordination, and follow up meetings with CSOs and CCs. The plan also includes providing technical support to SUBEBs, SAMEs, and LGEAs during monitoring visits to ensure states are effectively promoting EGR through community-based activities.
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1.5.2.1 : Conduct 3-day orientation on coaching and mentoring tools for new Master Facilitators
The Initiative developed a standardized coaching and mentoring tool for the NFLCs/AGLCs facilitators through continuous collaboration with the Bauchi and Sokoto SAMEs. The Initiative invited two Scheme Organizers from the 20 LGAs for training on the coaching and mentoring strategies as well as the use of tools. The training is expected to improve the coaching and mentoring process of the Sokoto State Agency for Mass Education (SSAME) and Bauchi State Agency for Mass Education (BASAME) staff, using tablets.
Main Highlights of the Coaching and Mentoring Training
• The first major issue that the trainers observed at the commencement of this exercise was that some of the Scheme Organizers have not been previously trained on EGR. Therefore, the trainers included a brief review at the beginning of the training. • Despite the use of visualizations, interactions, simulations, and hands-on-exercises around the use of tablets for coaching and mentoring, some participants struggled with the training content. Participants were subjected to Pre- and Post-Training Tests (48 participants wrote the tests with 21 as the highest obtainable score. Of the 48 participants, 36 (76 percent) obtained an average score of 10.5 (or 50 percent) and above. The three participants with the top post-test gains were all new MFs, including one that was initially struggling with the training content.
1.5.2 Learning Facilitators coached, mentored and monitored
Coaching and mentoring are strategic teacher support activities meant to provide on-the-job support to the LFs. This was conducted by 80 MFs (30 MTs of which are Area Coordinators and Scheme Organizers as well as 10 Access and Fragility Coordinators) as a follow-up to face-to-face training for LFs managing the instructional process in the non-formal centers. During the visits, the team observed the quality of instructional delivery, tracked the use of learner-centered teaching strategies (using a structured classroom observation tool) as well as checked on the learners’ workbooks. An interactive session followed the lesson delivery where coaches and mentors (MFs) explained areas of strength and weaknesses to LFs and offered solutions.
The Access team also held a meeting with BASAME LGA Education and Social Mobilization Development Directors, who pledged support by providing transportation Area and Scheme Organizers to visit learning centers. This will promote the sustainable implementation of coaching and mentoring activities for the 1600 facilitators (800 per state) in both cohort four & five non-formal learning programs. Sokoto will hold the same meeting in the next quarter.
1.5.2.4 Receiving and Verification of LF CVs and Engagement Letters
All newly recruited LFs for Cohort 5submitted their engagement letters and curriculum vitae, which was verified by Grant’s unit before approval for training and related project activities.
31 Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report This ensures that quality LFs are engaged to facilitate the centers and that the actual persons who submitted CVs are the ones finally engaged and trained for the work. It was discovered that most CSOs had difficulty receiving CVs from LFs and that some employed LFs without CVs. Insistence on obtaining and reviewing CVs for recruiting LFs is a best practice the project is institutionalizing.
1.5.2.5 Receive, Review and Payment of Milestone
It was expected that milestone 3 deliverables (Orientation of CCs, WGs, CBMCs and SBMCs on their roles and responsibilities; conduct house to house visit 4 times in a week; WGs, CCs, CBMCs, and SBMCs conduct monitoring visit to Leaning Centres and formal Schools in order to identify absent learners/pupils and facilitators/teachers; Advocacy effort of CCs to address issues of teachers/facilitators absenteeism and resource Mobilization; Identification of teachers and facilitators that have high record of attendance and performance; WGs, CCs, SBMCs and CBMCs weekly mobilization of learners to the reading centers; Support reading quiz competition in Leaning Centres and schools) would be received, reviewed and completed in November 2019. The milestone 3 review did not happen as planned because some of the activities that will yield the deliverables, especially those that have to do with Cohort 5, had not been completed. Some CSOs submitted their Milestone 3 reports, but reports were returned to them as they did not include deliverables for Cohort 5. By the second week of December 2019, all CSOs had submitted their reports to the review team. By the 6th of December, milestone reports for six (6) CSOs were ready and hard copies sent to Abuja. Thereafter, it was directed that subsequent milestones reports would now be scanned, uploaded to and paid through the SMART platform. Therefore, all milestone reports for the remaining CSOs were scanned and uploaded on SharePoint for final review by the Grant Manager before uploading to SMART platform.
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Intermediate Result 2. Government systems strengthened to improve reading outcomes for primary grade learners in target locations
The Initiative provided technical support to states and federal partners toward the development and adoption of reading enabling policies, including providing support to the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to lead the development of a National Reading Framework (NRF).3 In November, coaches were trained to support and monitor teaching in both states. Further, increased investment in the enhancement and application of best practice strategies to support and sustain Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of teachers and those who support them (i.e., coaches) will be a hallmark of PY5 activities.
The Initiative supported the SUBEB to train Master Teacher Trainers in both states to provide training for EGR teachers. Several of the 17 states supported by the World Bank- funded er Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) initiative selected NEI Plus instructional materials to procure and distribute to their schools for P1. These included pupil’s books and teacher’s guides, as well as books in English adapted use in both Hausa and non-Hausa speaking states.4
Key achievements in reading include the procurement of more than 2 million TLMs by the SUBEB in Bauchi and Sokoto states, respectively, in November 2019.
New, colorful Big Books for developing oral English language skills in P1 were successfully field-tested in Bauchi and Sokoto and well-received by pupils and teachers.
At the federal level, USAID selected Nigeria to participate in an international policy linking activity to test a new approach to assess and compare outcomes in reading between countries throughout the world. This led to two separate meetings with the government and implementing partners to sensitize and coordinate the policy linking process.
3 For both for Initiative-supported and non-supported LGAs. See sub IR 2.2 below for details. 4 Ebonyi (Igbo speaking), Bauchi and Sokoto.
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Picture 3: Field Testing of P1 English Materials - Students excited about the Big books – Photo by Adebisi Adetunji
However, some key activities, including training for additional coaches to use tablets to support and monitor EGR instruction, were carried over to Q2 of PY5, due to procurement delays or scheduling issues.5 The present section describes these and other achievements for the reporting period.
Sub IR 2.1 State and LGEA policies, timetables, and standards for reading instruction and performance improved and implemented
The activity under this Sub IR was implemented by the reading and system strengthening component. The Reading team completed training activities for SSOs on coaching and mentoring using tablet-based applications. Progress towards development of the National Reading Framework (NRF) and policy linking activity to SDG 4.1. Meetings were organized to sensitize cognate education MDAs and implementing partners on the policy linking objectives, coordination and process. While reaching concrete decisions with NERDC on the coordination, process and schedule for the NRF assessment framework and technical specification workshops. In addition, a State Education Account III and IV dissemination meeting provided an opportunity to engage with the state and federal governments on prioritizing basic education expenditure with reference to access, quality, and management.
5 For example, logistics support for QA staff at SUBEB and LGEA levels to visit, monitor, and support schools. See below.
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2.1.1.6 Support NERDC to hold meetings to inform federal and state stakeholders on National Reading Framework (NRF)
As it relates to the National Reading Framework, the focus in the last quarter was to re- strategize with stakeholders and identify a new point of departure for the project. This involved working closely with the international consultant to organize five interrelated meetings with NRF stakeholders and relevant government MDA’s. Accordingly, a meeting attended by 25 (8 male, 17 female) participants from civil society, government MDA’s and academia was held on September 26, 2019.
The purpose of the meeting was to intimate participants with SDG 4.1.1, the draft version of UNESCO’s global proficiency framework on reading and to discuss the reporting implications of the foregoing in Nigeria.
On October 4, 2019, a follow-on meeting was held to discuss Policy Linking, its inter- relations to NRF and potential next steps for the country. In total, 33 people were in attendance (12m, 21f). There were three major outcomes from these meetings: 1) The need to develop an inclusive and comprehensive governance structure for the management of the NRF, 2) The need to identify assessments and politics and, 3) resolutions about communication preferences and strategies for the group.
On October 2, 2019, a meeting was held with members of the Education Policy Research and Development unit at the Ministry of Education to seek their collaboration for Policy Linking and the NRF. Attributes of a viable and inclusive governance structure for the project were discussed. Six people from the ministry were in attendance (1m, 5f). Four people (2m, 3f) represented NEI Plus. Members of the ministry pledged their support for the project and promised to provide a draft governance framework for consideration.
Beyond meetings, numerous planning sessions were held with the Director of Language Unit of NERDC on the development of the NRF. These planning sessions resulted in an agreement about project scope (3 major Nigerian languages and English), the development of a draft action plan, including proposed dates for NRF workshops and related activities, a compilation of prospective workshop participants and a draft budget.
On December 10, 2019, a meeting was held with five members of the NERDC team (2m, 3f) and 4 members of the NEI Plus team to discuss NERDC’s concerns with the submitted draft action plan and to determine a way forward. The major concern was the language coverage of the proposed activities vis-a-vis the intended geographical coverage of the proposed activity – “national”. The NERDC team suggested that conducting the proposed NRG workshops in four Nigerian languages is not representative of the entire nation, as such the activity output cannot be termed “national.” In turn, they asked for the global proficiency framework to be developed in and for 10 languages (9 Nigerian network languages and English Language). According to NERDC, the proposed language scope is more representative of Nigeria’s diverse population.
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On December 17, 2019, a follow-up meeting was held with NERDC to agree on the terms on which the scope of work will be expanded and to develop a work plan. At the meeting, a revised action plan was created, new workshop dates were settled on, and timelines were agreed upon. The meeting resulted in several resolutions which include: NERDC taking a leadership position in the NRF, NERDC writing officially to USAID asking for a project scope expansion and NERDC providing a list of proposed participants by December 31, 2019. In parallel, a collaboration with RANA and the Federal Ministry of Education – NIPEP is being explored for the NRF activities.
2.1.2.1 Support the conduct of a 3-day quarterly training of local levels EMIS personal and dissemination of dashboard findings to LGEA management
Capacity building of policymakers, education managers, and technical partners is one of the strategic foci of the system strengthening unit. A two-day capacity development training and dissemination of project findings session was conducted, in attendance were 24 male participants drawn from the state education MDAs and the local level. The Education Secretaries (ES) in Bauchi and Sokoto states were presented the current status of education outcomes using statistical evidence from their respective LGAs. Participants received training on techniques of trend computation and Education Development Index (EDI), review of data visualization, and navigating the project dashboard for informing data-driven policy and decision making. An action matrix for data utilization and reporting at the LGEA level was then developed at the end of the training.
The highlights of the two-day training are:
• The LGEA EMIS officers are better able to generate school-level data from the ASC Access database to calculate education indicators and compute EDIs. • The EMIS officers’ skill has been further enhanced in translating the traditional spreadsheet data tables from the Annual School Census (ASC) data into intuitive and visually compelling charts and figures. • The EMIS officers updated the back-end of the application and attached the current database to the application for dissemination and utilization.
2.1.7.1 Facilitate a 1-day workshop on the implementation of SEA III & IV recommendations and dissemination for planning and budgeting process
The State Education Account (SEA) III and IV assessments were conducted in PY4 to map the flow of funds and determine the amount expended by financing sources in the state education sector. The SEA IV was a sub-account that focused on Bauchi and Sokoto States for the school years 2015/16 and 2016/17. Data was collected by the State Working Group (SWG) from all the tiers of government to encourage ownership of the process and build in- state capacity for the conduct of future SEAs.
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In PY5Q1, the initiative organized a one-day joint dissemination workshop of the SEA III & IV, to dialogue with the states’ education managers and policymakers on the utilization of the SEA report, to inform policy direction. The meeting provided an opportunity to engage with the state and federal governments on prioritizing basic education expenditure with reference to access, quality, and management. In attendance at the meeting were 32 male participants, 19 from Sokoto and 13 from Bauchi state, drawn from state and federal education MDAs, donor agencies, State House of Assemblies, and USAID.
“SEA enables me to follow resources in the ministry to efficiently save for other purposes.”
- Dr. Aliyu Tilde, Bauchi State Commissioner for Education
The highlights of the dissemination workshop include:
• Bauchi and Sokoto State Governments pledged commitment to provide a budget- line for conducting the State Education Accounts (SEA) study. • The two states jointly decided to write a memo to the Federal Ministry of Education through the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) to seek approval for SEA Reports to be part of Annual Budget Processes. • The State House of Assemblies of Bauchi and Sokoto states committed to using the SEA report as a guide for appropriations to MDAs. • The states expressed willingness to re-prioritize allocation and expenditure patterns within education by needs and population. • The state developed an implementation plan to guide the use of SEA recommendations. • The Federal Ministry of Education commented on the need to replicate the SEA study in other states and its adoption at the federal level.
Sub IR 2.2 State/LGEA systems for development, approval, and distribution of decodable readers, teacher guides, and supplemental materials for EGR instruction improved and implemented
The Basic Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) activity is replicating NEI Plus EGR best practices in non-intervention LGAs in both Bauchi and Sokoto states. P1 TLMs were printed and distributed to pupils in the non-intervention LGAs and training conducted for teachers on the EGR materials. In addition, the two states were able to meet funding obligations for the printing of TLMs for the NEI Plus intervention LGAs. The states were further to review the existing 2017-2019 MTBESP and produced the 2020-2022 MTBESP using the automated Budget Planning Tool (BPT).
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2.2.2.4 Support SUBEBs and LGEAs to distribute and monitor TLM delivery and accessibility in schools
The Initiative supported the Bauchi state SUBEB to print and distribute a total of 114,0006 copies of P1 Mu Karanta! Pupil’s Books for Terms 1, 2, and 3 to non-intervention LGAs during the reporting period. This effort supports the expansion of the Initiative’s highly successful EGR program to improve learning outcomes across the state. All LGA stakeholders, including TWG members, community groups, and RAN supported the distribution of P1 TLMs down to the school level. SSOs played a major role in monitoring the process to ensure relevant materials earmarked for each school reached the beneficiaries prior to the start of the school year. Additionally, 4,816 copies of P1 Teacher’s Guides for P1, 2, and 3 (totaling 14,448) to 3,346 teachers were distributed to 1843 out of 1847 schools in the 10 intervention LGAs.
Although this figure constitutes less than half of Sokoto’s commitment under the MOU, it is by far the greatest quantity of TLM the state government has contributed.
As part of the Bauchi government’s commitment to providing 70%7 of the TLM needs for the year, the SUBEB procured 1,307,286 copies of Mu Karanta! P1-3 Terms 1-3 and Let’s Read! P2-3 for Terms 2-3 at the end of Q1 The SUBEB also procured an additional 800,000 copies of TLM for non-intervention LGAs. This figure includes approximately 62,000 Mu Karanta! TLM for P1 under the BESDA initiative.8
Sokoto State SUBEB is in possession of approximately 52,000 TLM (Mu Karanta! and Let’s Read)9 for the 10 Initiative-supported LGAs. The quantity of TLM to be provided by the state represents about 30% of the total required for the 2019-20 academic year. Although this figure constitutes less than half of the state’s commitment under the Initiative,10 it is by far the greatest quantity of TLM the state government has contributed to the total need in a single year of the program. The state has also procured 65,235 copies of Mu Karanta! TLM for P1 pupils and teachers under the BESDA initiative.
6 As reported by the state SUBEB. NEI Plus does not collect data on activities or inputs in non-intervention LGAs. 7 As specified in the MOU signed between the US and Bauchi State Governments. 8 Figures provided by the state SUBEB. 9 TLM quantity currently on hand in SUBEB stores. 10 Per the MOU between the US and Sokoto State Governments.
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Picture 4: Girl reading Mukoyi Karatu! textbook at AGLC – Photo by Erick Gibson
The Initiative continues to utilize the technology for effective and efficient allocation, distribution, and reporting of usage and uptake of TLMs in formal schools and NFLCs. The Initiative, as part of ensuring sustainability, integrated its mobile-based TLM Track-N-Trace book distribution system into the Local Education Monitoring Module application for SSOs. The LGEA SSOs used mobile devices to distribute, track, and report TLMs delivered and allocated to pupils in their respective schools under their routine supervision. This improved strategy helped to ensure the effective and efficient distribution of TLMs. The TLM tracking data is transmitted in real-time to the Initiative TLM dashboards accessed by the State and LGEA Technical working groups and NEI Plus M&E for reporting.
Sub IR 2.2.3.4: Support the development of 2020-2022 MTSS/MTBESP document using the BPT
The initiative is developing a functional strategic document and state action plan that incorporates the project thematic unit-costed activities with departmental responsibilities to ensure sustainability. The Initiative supported the government of Bauchi and Sokoto states to review the existing 2017-2019 MTBESP and produced the 2020-2022 MTBESP using the automated Budget Planning Tool (BPT) in a five-day joint workshop. The product of the workshop was a three-year rolling MTBESP document (Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) and the Departmental Work Plan (DWP)). The three priorities are, access, quality and inclusiveness, and management of basic education using the state-approved education budget envelope. In attendance at the workshop were 40 participants (Sokoto (17m 2f) Bauchi (18m 2f)) drawn from the state education MDAs, MBEP, state colleges of education, state planning commission, and development partners.
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The UNICEF strategic planning unit participated in this workshop, thereby improving collaboration among development partners. This led to the harmonization of development partners’ support in the state action plan document and reduced overlap and wastages.
The EMIS staff of the Planning Department in the SMOE, SUBEB, and SAME led the use of BPT to develop a Medium-term Basic Education Sector Plan (MTBESP). These state technical staffs have developed considerable skills in the development process and took ownership through cost-sharing. Having built the capacity of states, the technical teams will henceforth lead the review and development process of the MTBESP. This will reduce the turn-around time for the development of the MTBESP and ensure the sustainability of the project.
Sub IR 2.3 State and LGEA systems for in-service training to teachers in public schools and NFLC in the use of the evidence-based reading materials improved and implemented
Under this Sub IR, the initiative completed training on EGR and teaching strategies with emphasis on pair work, pupil engagement, and re-teaching for MTs and SSOs in NEI Plus intervention LGAs. To make learning concrete and interesting, the training employed NEI Plus developed audio/video instructional strips. Under BESDA, SSOs and teachers were also trained in non-intervention LGAs using the NEI Plus trained MTs. The initiative organized an experience sharing activity with all the six (6) BESDA implementation teams that opted for the NEI Plus EGR approach, to review the progress made in the implementation of the EGR best practices with respect to the fidelity of implementation and to identify areas of further supports. Furthermore, a meeting focused on reflecting and adapting lessons learned during the implementation of project activities was held with the TWG.
2.3.1.3 EGR approach-based training for the MTs and SSOs
The Initiative is focusing on the establishment of a sustainability mechanism for the full development of teacher quality. One key activity completed during this quarter in Bauchi was an EGR approach training for 25 MTs and 323 SSOs (308m, 15f) on teaching strategies. Key strategies emphasized were pair work, pupil engagement, and re-teaching. An additional training program was conducted by Bauchi SUBEB in the BESDA LGEAs to 246 SSOs on Coaching and Mentoring strategies using NEI Plus Master Trainers and materials. The training was aimed at equipping the SSOs with skills in classroom observation. In November 2019, the SUBEB also trained about 3,386 early grade teachers on the EGR approach in 9 of the non- intervention LGEAs in order to improve pupil performance on EGR across the non- intervention LGEAs using BESDA funds.
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2.3.1.4 Support the quarterly coordination meeting between BESDA and NEI Plus technical team
The Initiative provides Technical Assistance (TA) to SUBEBs in Bauchi and Sokoto States to strengthen their respective education systems. Under a newly expanded scope of NEI Plus, the project provided technical assistance to SUBEBs in developing and reviewing work plans that are consistent with Mu Karanta (Let’s Read) methodologies and materials. The technical assistance supported six State SUBEBs namely: Borno, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe, Sokoto and Yobe, all of which requested technical assistance in preparing their annual work plan to be submitted to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) under BESDA. Targeted TA focused on reading and access to education in the following key elements: Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs), Teacher Professional Development (TPD), and School Support (SS). This support follows best practices while leveraging on the existing NEI Plus program, materials, and implementation strategies to quickly consolidate and finalize states’ individual plans for successful implementation of the BESDA program.
Picture 5: BESDA States Panelist Discussing Implementation Experience Based on Support from NEI Plus. Photo by Salawu Saheed
The initiative organized a one-day experience sharing activity with all the six BESDA implementation teams to review the progress made in the implementation of the EGR best practices with respect to the fidelity of implementation and to identify areas of possible further supports. In attendance at the activity were the USAID education team, the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), UBEC, the World Bank BESDA technical team, UBEC/BESDA technical staff, and Initiative staff. In attendance were 32 participants (22 m 10 f).
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Highlights
• Denise O’Toole, the USAID Education Director, underscores the importance of Early Grade Reading (EGR) and as a foundation block for the achievement of higher educational outcomes. • Dr. Jordene Hale, the CoP, NEI Plus, further elaborated on the Initiative’s model focusing on EGR using mother tongue, teaching, employment of right text and making available rich learning materials in the hands of pupils and teachers as well as time on task and how the above has a significant impact on EGR outcomes.
Table 4: BESDA TA Feedback: Workplans, Implementation Guides, Budgets, PMP, Implementation Structure, Resources (Training, TLMs & Coaching/mentoring and Challenges
State Situational Analysis and Achievements TA Support Required
Borno No structure on the ground for the TA support on coaching implementation of BESDA activities before and mentoring in EGR the TA. Achievements include budget review possible because of the consultants TA; completion of implementation guide and dissemination of PMP; visits to stakeholders such as Shehu of Borno, Chief Imam, and other religious leaders. 8000 orphans mobilized in mega schools (model high enrollment and capacity schools).
Bauchi The achievements include high powered -Need for dashboard advocacy to governor and the declaration of a state of emergency on OOSC; immediate -Need to include Zaki appointment of SUBEB chairman to hasten the implementation of BESDA activities; LGA as an intervention implementation opened a gap on work plan TA support on coaching which was quickly addressed. With respect and mentoring in EGR to result areas, the achievements include employment of learning facilitators for both M & E Plan and digital girls and Almajiri for BESDA Result Area tracking of BESDA (RA) 1 implementation
TLMs for year one have been produced and distributed successfully.
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Ebonyi RA1 achievements include the involvement Reading material in Igbo of 76 LGA coordinators by the governor for the campaign of OOSC. However, for Continuous intervention RA2 the achievements include training of by the consultant to 20 master trainers on EGR, the printing of support activities 27,000 copies of pupils’ book (Let’s Read) as well as printing of 700 teacher’s guides TA support on coaching and mentoring in EGR
M & E Plan and digital tracking of BESDA implementation
Yobe In RA2, achievements include training of Need seasoned trainers master trainers, the printing of to assist in the training of supplementary texts, the printing of teachers for NFLC TLMs 65,000 “Mu Karanta” and 65,000 thousand “Mukoyi lissafi” M & E Plan and digital tracking of BESDA implementation
Sokoto Achievements under RA1 include The continuous community mapping in nine LGAs, 42,000 intervention of the OOSC targeted while for RA2, refresher consultant to support training for MTs conducted, TLMs activities production completed (Mu Karanta with Let’s read on 80% completion. Under RA3, TA support on coaching the achievements were printing of ASC and mentoring in EGR forms as well as training of enumerators in the pipeline. Nevertheless, the challenges M & E Plan and digital include administrative bottlenecks i.e. delay tracking of BESDA in the approval of changes made on the implementation work plan to accommodate coaching and mentoring
2.3.1.3 System Strengthening Meetings with Technical Working Groups (TWG) to streamline the activities of the project
A one-day engagement meeting focused on reflecting and adapting lessons learned during the implementation of project activities was held with the TWG. A major outcome of the meeting was the need for the state partners to take lead in activity implementation. The progress report on PY5Q1 activity implementation was discussed and the TWG’s were advised to keep the momentum in engaging and informing the current administration. The meeting provided an opportunity for brainstorming and developing strategies on how best to achieve the set target for PY5 Q2, to mitigate any unplanned challenges that could affect project deliverables and promote ownership and sustainability of the project activities. The
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effort was to engage with the TWG as one of the mechanisms for ensuring skill transfer, local ownership, and sustainability of the Initiative support to the state. The activity was conducted in Sokoto (in attendance were 10 participants comprising of Chairmen and Secretaries of the Access, SEA, MEAR, and Reading TWGs members).
The achievement recorded, key take-away and major resolutions from the meeting include:
1. The State TWG has shown a level of commitment and demonstrated capacity to lead and take the driver’s seat in implementing key activities of the project (i.e., ownership and implementation of LEMA, TLM production, in the state). 2. The State TWG has acquired skills and knowledge for engaging the policymakers in supporting and sustaining the project activities. 3. At the end of the meeting, the TWG resolved to write officially to the project and request key relevant documents and processes on various thematic units and activities undertaken within the project for sustainability and replication beyond the life of the project in their respective states.
2.3.2.12 Support SUBEB to provide two, 2-day training on coaching/mentoring and monitoring of EGR teachers
Picture 6: Masters Training and Coaching-Group presentation and pair work. Photo by Nura Faggo
A three-day training for EGR coaches was organized in Sokoto in each of the 10 NEI Plus- supported LGAs in November 2019 for 367 (335m, 32f) SSOs. Bauchi organized its training of coaches that same month; 343 SSOs (331m, 12f) participated in the training, representing the 10 LGAs in Bauchi. The training activities featured a review of EGR teaching strategies, including pair work and re-teaching. Training sessions made use of new classroom video segments on EGR instructional strategies, which were produced at the end of PY4. Demonstration and practice sessions, including how to conduct effective classroom observations and provide constructive feedback to the teacher, were an integral part of the training workshops in both states.
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Workshop facilitators administered pre- and post-tests at the start and end of the training activities, both to support participants’ learning and to evaluate the workshop’s effectiveness. The results showed some improvement in the participants’ knowledge and skills in EGR and coaching. In Sokoto, for example, the test results showed some improvement (about 10 percent) in the participants’ understanding of constructive feedback and the importance of frequent, regular coaching to support EGR instruction. However, some participants are yet to fully understand the concept of re-teaching as a tool to support learning, and of the need for some learners to receive added support. Further training is needed, and planned, in the coming quarter.
Activity 2.3.2.1311: Support SUBEB to provide two, 4-day EGR training workshops to teachers, using video/audio tools
The Initiative was able to complete teacher training workshops in both Bauchi and Sokoto states in PY4, with one exception. Sokoto’s reading team had to delay the school cluster-level training activities due to delays in the teacher validation process. Unfortunately, teachers in the state lack a unique identification number to verify their status.12 As a result, SUBEB officials did not immediately respond to the Initiative’s request to provide a list of certified teachers in the 10 LGEAs supported by the program. The Sokoto team had to further delay the training because of the large numbers of teachers who provided incorrect or incomplete information to the team of enumerators who were responsible for monitoring and supporting the validation process on the ground. However, the Initiative expected some delays, since the validation process was new, and the most rigorous process the program had introduced. Despite these delays, the validation was effective, helping to strengthen teacher accountability as teacher training activities included only those teachers who successfully completed the validation process.
As a result of the delays in the validation process, the Sokoto team trained a total of 2,830 (2,250 male, 680 female) P1-P3 EGR teachers in October (instead of September, as planned) 2019. These teachers completed the four-day training workshop by mid-October with minimal interruption to the school calendar.
Activity 2.3.2.14 Support SUBEB to provide two, 3-day training of MTs to train (non- ICT equipped) SSOs on coaching/mentoring and monitoring (see Activity 2.3.2.7)
The Initiative supported SUBEB to provide coach training to master trainers in Sokoto in November 2019. These master trainers, in turn, stepped down the training to SSOs in project locations/LGAs in both states. A total of 39 (M=23, F=13) master trainers from Bauchi 22(M=12, F=10) and Sokoto 17 (F=3, M=14) converged in Sokoto for the training. The purpose of the training was to address gaps identified in SSOs coaching knowledge and skills. Therefore, MTs were trained on EGR, classroom observations and coaching.
11 Replaced Activity 2.3.2.5. See the PY4 work plan document for details. 12 See PY4 Annual report (activity 2.3.1.3) for further details.
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As part of the Initiative’s two-phase approach in conducting training which “coach” and support SUBEB partners during the initial set of training in Q1 PY5, representatives from SUBEB teacher professional development and Quality Assurance departments were part of the training. This two-phase approach, when combined with regular, joint monitoring visits to schools between SUBEB and NEI Plus personnel, will further ensure the sustainability of EGR inputs and outcomes beyond the life of the Initiative.
Activity 2.3.2.16: Support SUBEB to update teacher validation and register teachers prior to EGR training for teachers
The MEAR unit supported the Reading Unit with pre-registration of teachers in formal schools for the teacher training planned for December 2019 to January 2020. Only teachers that were not captured during the previous teachers’ training pre-registration were captured at this point.
The innovative approach depends on a highly advanced artificial intelligence algorithm in its application flow to detect and prevent duplicate teacher validation, ensuring that persons who are not valid teachers are not allowed to register for the teacher’s training. The system generates a unique 5-digit Teacher Training Code for each teacher to use for all subsequent teacher trainings. This code allows for the tracking of each individual teachers’ professional development training received.
The application features include;
• Duplicate entry prevention • Unique ID • On-Screen signature • GPS tracking • Real-time tracking • Dual photo capture for daily attendance • Morning and evening attendance
As part of the efforts of sustainability, the initiative trained SUBEB LGEA QA officers in using the system to validate and record teacher’s attendance in both states. The Bauchi SUBEB has recently relied on and utilized the data and reports generated from the use of this innovative system to plan and initiate recent teacher data validation activities. The systems have also been adopted in the recent validation and training of 1000 learning facilitators recruited to teach in 1000 NFLCs in cohort five.
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Sub IR 2.4 LGEA systems for monitoring/coaching in-service teachers in EGR instruction improved and implemented
This Sub IR is concerned with major milestones achieved in the implementation and sustainability of mentoring/coaching activities to support EGR teachers in schools. These include a review of monitoring schedules with SSOs and training on the tablet-based monitoring/coaching technique. The SSOs were also equipped to use the pocket-sized pico project for coaching purposes, with NEI Plus developed audio/video model instructional videos.
Activity 2.4.1.1: Support SUBEBs and LGEAs to revise the EGR (Mu Karanta! Let’s Read!) mentoring and coaching visit schedule with LGEAs (use PQAOs and SSOs as coaches)
In collaboration with the LGEAs, the Initiative supported the review of the Term 1 (October – December 2019) and Term 2 (January – April 2020) mentoring schedules. For both terms, the Initiative’s technical team supported SSOs to schedule 10-13 visits per month to all the schools under their supervision. The LGEA and Initiative possess copies of the SSOs schedules for their respective LGEAs. A total of 525 mentoring visits were conducted by 50 SSOs who were equipped with tablets for mentoring and coaching. During each visit, the SSOs observed Mu Karanta! and/or Let’s Read! complete lessons and gave feedback to the teachers. Each SSO made 10-13 visits per month to all schools under his/her supervision.
The Initiative trained 320 SSOs and MOE QA officers in Bauchi and Sokoto State on the use of the tablet-based school monitoring tool. The training covered the key EGR instructional delivery skills and how to use the mobile devices to conduct live classroom observation providing real-time coaching and mentoring feedback to Teachers via Tablets connected to Pico projectors and portable speakers.
The Innovative use of technology in school monitoring and supportive supervision has improved the quality and frequency of school supervision. The Initiative now can access and provide insights into the outcomes and quality of instruction delivery through its real-time project dashboard.
2.4.1.2 : Conduct quarterly system strengthening coordination meetings
To promote ownership, skills transfer and sustainability, the system strengthening component conducted a 3-day coordination meeting with the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics (DPRS) department of the education MDAs, Value Minds, and SEA consultants. The objectives of the coordination meeting were to discuss the PY5Q2 implementation of the activity with the state partners, review the activities conducted in PY5Q1, share the cost of activities implemented with the state partners, and jointly develop the PY5Q2 activity concept notes/budgets for effective collaborations and common understanding. The Value
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Minds representative presented the Education Management System (EMS) suite at the Coordination meeting.
The highlights of the coordination meeting include:
1. Capacity development exercise for the state partners on report writing skills. The Directors, PRS of the education MDAs now coordinates the development of activity reports. 2. State partners requested support on the establishment of M&E units in the state ministry of education, SUBEB, and SAME.
Sub IR 2.5 State and LGEA systems for EGR assessment improved and implemented
Under this sub IR, progress on the implementation of the Language of Instruction Transition activities were reported. Assessors were re-trained to collect the required EGRA data. EMIS officers from the 20 focus LGAs in Bauchi and Sokoto states participated in the training, for gradual hand over of the implementation of the EGRA process. The data collection was conducted, data cleaning and analyses are presently on-going. The LEMA approach continues to receive support from the States through the funding of data collection, while the Initiative continues to support capacity development and data usage.
Activity 2.5.1.3 Conduct refresher training and data Collection for mini EGRA and textbook quality for the language of an instruction transition study
During PY5 Q1, the Initiative continued the implementation of the Language of Instruction Transition Study. The study aimed at collecting data on pupil reading outcomes, quality of the EGR pupil’s textbooks and teacher guides. The collected data will feed into the language of transition study which will be used to assess and provide policy recommendations on the appropriate grade at which English is a suitable language of instruction.
A two-day refresher training of assessors on the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) administration was conducted in Bauchi and Sokoto States. The shortlisted assessors were re-oriented on EGRA test items, classroom observation domains, teacher proficiency reading questions, textbook quality, pupil interview questions, teacher interview questions, survey administration protocols, tracking of previously assessed pupils using the sampling sheets, tips for data solicitation, as well as planning logistics for data collection. Forty assessors were trained in Sokoto (30m, 10f) out of whom 30 (21m, 9f) were deployed for data collection. In Bauchi, 41 assessors were trained (28m, 13f) out of whom 30 (24m, 6f) best assessors were engaged in data collection. All data collectors passed the interrater reliability (IRR) test with at least 90% agreement to the gold standard. However, only the best 30 assessors in each state were deployed for data collection.
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Picture 7: Cross-section of Bauchi State EMIS officers during the ICT mobile data collection platform management training in Bauchi. Photo by Anthony Udeh
Data collection was conducted for two days in both states. In Bauchi, data was collected from October 9-10, 2019, while in Sokoto it was collected from October 16-17, 2019. Assessors were grouped into 10 teams for the 10 LGEAs in each state. Each team comprised of two EGRA assessors, one class observer, and one supervisor. Supervisors were drawn from MEAR TWG (employees of SUBEBs, SAMEs, MOEs, and COEs). Each team visited two schools for data collection in two days within the same LGEA. The Reading Coordinators and supervisors coordinated data collection ensuring teams visited the right schools and all logistics arrangements were in place. At each school, twelve pupils, previously assessed, were tracked using the enrollment registers and sampling sheets. Sampled pupils got replaced if they cannot be tracked because of absenteeism or drop-out. One English lesson was observed in primary 4 in each school. The teachers whose lessons were observed also were administered a reading proficiency assessment test in Hausa and English. An interview was also conducted for the teacher to get contextual data regarding the pupil textbook and teacher guide quality.
EGRA was administered to primary 4 pupils who were also assessed when they were in primary 1 and primary 2. EGRA was conducted in two schools in each of the 10 LGEAs per state totaling 20 schools. Thus, a total of 40 schools were visited in both Bauchi and Sokoto states.
During data collection, Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR) was integrated into the process to ascertain the reliability and accuracy of data collected by the assessors. Assessors first paired up to conduct IRR on the first child before proceeding with individual data collection. Data collection activities were monitored by the MEAR unit of the Initiative, and co-trainers. All assessment and interview data were successfully uploaded to the server daily during data collection. The initiative MEAR team at the back end provided feedback for monitoring visits on daily basis examining the quality of data collected by each assessor.
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2.5.3.2 Support the state to conduct termly Schools Sampling for Local Education Monitoring Approach (LEMA) Administration
In preparation for data collection for term 1 Local Education Monitoring Approach (LEMA) exercise, the Initiative organized a 1-day public forum for school sampling on November 29, 2019, in both Bauchi and Sokoto states. Participants selected for the sampling forum included the MEAR Technical Working Group members, LGEA Education Secretaries, Reading Coordinators, and NEI Plus MEAR and Reading staff. The purpose of the public forum was to select sample formal schools where LEMA data collection would be administered. For a school to be included in the sampling frame, it had to be a mixed-gender school with a minimum enrollment of 30 pupils in Primary 3. A deliberate effort was made to ensure that both rural and urban schools were included in the sample. Experience has shown that most high performing schools are from urban areas, hence the approach ensured that both high and low performing schools were represented. The Annual School Census (ASC) 2018/2019 data was used to determine the sampling frame. The minimum required sample size for schools per LGEA under the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAs) methodology stands at 20 schools. However, due to the variation in the number of schools across the LGEAs, a deliberate approach was used to sample more schools in LGEAs with a higher number of schools while retaining the minimum required sample size. Thus, the Initiative used the probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling technique to determine the number of schools sampled per LGEA. Once urban and rural strata were identified, schools were randomly selected within the strata according to the allotted number as determined by the PPS. The table below shows the number of schools sampled per LGA.
Table 5: LEMA Schools Sample Size by States and LGAs
Bauchi Sokoto
LGA Qualifying Sampled LGA Qualifying Sampled Schools Schools Schools Schools Size Size
Alkaleri 144 40 Dange Shuni 64 45 Bauchi 247 70 Gada 82 60 Darazo 130 35 Gwadabawa 61 45
Gamawa 109 30 Shagari 46 35 Ganjuwa 141 40 Sokoto South 27 20
Itas/ 79 20 Tambuwal 63 45 Gadau Misau 103 30 Tangaza 59 45
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Ningi 142 40 Wamakko 45 35
Shira 102 25 Wurno 51 40
Toro 262 70 Yabo 41 30
Total 1459 400 Total 539 400
2.5.3.2 : Support state partners to conduct termly refresher training for LEMA administration
The Initiative organized a two-day refresher training on LEMA and Group Administered Literacy Assessment (GALA) administration in both Bauchi and Sokoto states. The training, which was conducted from November 30 to December 1, 2019, targeted SSOs and LGEA EMIS Officers and LGEA SUBEB Quality Assurance Officers. SSOs are engaged in data collection, SUBEB Quality Assurance Officers are entrusted with supervisory responsibility, while EMIS Officers are responsible for supporting the management of remote data collection using tablets and data analysis.
The training was facilitated by NEI Plus staff and co-trainers from Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and Aminu Saleh College of Education Azare. A practical approach was used during training to ensure more engagement with participants. Brief presentations were followed by simulations, role- playing, and practical sessions. Since data collection was by tablets, all participants were provided with a tablet to reinforce practice and learning. Participants were organized into groups according to their LGEAs and were paired by level experience, thus a much more experienced assessor was paired with a less experienced assessor. The pairing of assessors encouraged learning from each other and practice beyond the hours of the training. The training cover aspects of data collection using the Commcare platform, protocols for LEMA and GALA administration, managing logistics in the field, and supervision for data collection.
A total of 173 education officials were trained (86 from Bauchi and 87 from Sokoto). The table below highlights the number of officials participating in the LEMA training.
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Table 6: Number of Participants in the LEMA refresher training
Sokoto Bauchi
Cadres Male Female Total Male Female Total
School Support 64 7 71 63 7 70 Officers
EMIS Officers 9 0 9 9 1 10
MEAR TWG 7 0 7 4 2 6
Total 80 7 87 76 10 86
2.5.3.3 : Support state partners to conduct termly data collection for LEMA in formal schools
Following the LEMA and GALA refresher training, the team of trained SSOs and EMIS Officers was deployed to sampled schools in the Initiative-supported LGAs for data collection. A total of 80 assessors (SSOs and EMIS Officers) in each state were engaged to collect LEMA and GALA data. The number of assessors deployed in each of the 10 LGEAs per state varied according to the number of schools sampled in each LGA.
The final analysis will still retain the 20 schools per LGA principle for Lots Quality Assurance (LQA) sampling analysis, while the rest of the data will be used by the Initiative to provide a deeper analysis beyond the LQAs classification analysis
In both states, data collection in formal schools commenced on December 2 and concluded on December 6, 2019. EMIS Officers were assigned as team leaders in each LGA and were further tasked with the responsibility of synching the tablets, reporting challenges and communicating with the designated state-level supervisors. Data was collected from 400 schools across the 10 focus LGAs, which was double the number of schools compared to the previous LEMA. The Initiative deliberately collected data from more schools to increase coverage in LGAs with a high number of schools. The final analysis will still retain the 20 schools per LGA principle for Lots Quality Assurance (LQA) sampling analysis, while the
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rest of the data will be used by the Initiative to provide a deeper analysis beyond the LQAs classification analysis.
This quarter the Initiative expanded its use of technology sustainability effort to support LGEA implementation of the LEMA and GALA. This use of technology has helped to improve the data collection and increased the reporting timeline of the LEMA and GALA outcomes. The Initiative and LGEAs can access the LEMA outcomes on the Initiative LEMA dashboard.
As part of sustainability, the Initiative in this quarter, supported Bauchi State to establish its own mobile data collection platform and trained over 25 EMIS Officers at the MOE, State, and LGEA levels on the management and sustainability of its innovative ICT data collection processes and platform.
The Officers were trained on the following ICT skillset;
a) CommCareHQ Platform management b) Basic Application Building and Design c) Data Collection Management d) Data Management e) Data Analysis of the LEMA and GALA tools on the platform.
The trained EMIS officers went ahead to lead the training and supervision of 71 SSOs in Sokoto and 70 in Bauchi during this quarter’s 1st term LEMA and GALA.
Sub IR 2.6 State and LGEA systems for extending evidence-based reading instruction to nontraditional, non-formal schools improved and implemented
The Initiative provided technical assistance to the BESDA Project, Sokoto State in establishing in 1429 NFLCs modeled after NEI Plus Centers. Eleven CSOs trained by the Initiative were engaged by the State to train other facilitators, already 71,450 learners aged 8- 12 years old have been enrolled (see Sokoto BESDA replication under the sustainability section of this report).
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Sub IR 2.7 State, local government, and community accountability to the public for reading instruction increased
Activities reported under sub IR 2.7 covers the redesign of the management structures of SRF and CRCs for improved learning outcomes. RAN is now focused on SRFs, while CSOs manage CRCs. The CSOs and RAN were trained using the tablets and Pico projectors for outreach activities in schools and CRCs.
Activity 2.7.1.5 Train RAN and CSOs on tablets, PICO projector to conduct outreach and monitoring of reading activities (wrapped around CSOs orientation meeting)
In line with the project design, RAN was initially engaged to establish CRCs and SRFs. RAN established 200 CRCs and 800 SRFs spread across the two intervention states. Each state has 100 CRCs, and each of the LGA has 10 CRCs and each ward in the LGA has one CRC. Similarly, each state has 400 SRFs, and each of the LGAs has 40 SRFs and each ward in the LGA has 4SRFs.
The new thinking on CRCs and SRFs implementation enabled RAN to continue to manage the 400 SRFs while the 100 CRCs will be managed by the other CSOs. Each CSO takes over or establishes five CRCs close to the cohort four and five NFLC locations.
Figure 2: RAN Functionality Dashboard
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A 3-day joint orientation training workshop was conducted to train participants on;
i) using tablets for data collection and PICO projector to conduct community outreach, ii) facilitating SRF to improve children’s reading, iii) gaining state-level recognition and support for SRFs, iv) inclusion of SRF in the SSOs routine monitoring and feedbacks, v) strengthening the synergy amongst RAN, RCs, SSOs and community mobilization.
The 90 (75m, 15f) participants for the workshop were drawn from RAN staff, government partners (four Directors from SUBEB Bauchi and Sokoto states, 20 Head of Sections from LGEAs of Sokoto and Bauchi), and staff of the Initiative.
The orientation provided a better understanding of grants compliance requirements and sections of grant agreement such as activity title, duration, budget, reporting, applicable terms/condition, and donor requirement were discussed. Similarly, lines of communication and common challenges in managing partnerships were explored. Further discussions were held on the use of SRF “How To Do Guide,” Calendar of Monthly Special Activity and demonstration on the use of Mu Karanta! Song and weekly reading activities in SRF. Other issues treated at the orientation workshop:
• An overview of ICT tools and processes with the introduction of ICT materials for cohort 5 activities. • The RAN PO/APOs and MEO are expected to report the status of the program, monitor development over time, offer a possible cause and disaggregate the number of males and female patrons in the SRFs. • Determining the functionality of SRF could be through registration, attendance register, and rate of book borrowing. • Group discussions on state ownership and governments’ plan for ownership and sustainability of SRF.
Before embarking on the assessment of SRFs, the RAN officials held a series of meetings with 400 Headteachers and 220 Government Partners — SUBEB, ES in the LGEs in the two states. At the meetings, partners were informed about the need for support from the headteachers and government. Other requests made include collaboration with government partners during the monitoring of the SRFs.
The government officials (ESs) present at the workshop promised to assign their staff to accompany RAN in monitoring school reading forums, in order to become better acquainted with activities of the SRFs. They further agreed to participate and take over activities at the SRFs such as weekly reading activity, spelling bees, organizing debates and quizzes and reading competitions after the exit of the project.
55 Northern Education Initiative Plus - PY5 Quarter 1 Report RAN revalidated and established 800 school reading forums (SRFs) status across the 20 LGEAs in Sokoto and Bauchi states. Each of the LGEAs has 40 SRFs, 4 SRFs in each ward. NEI Plus ICT experts installed a data-based package to capture the functionality of the SFRs as an application on tablets. The Initiative provided the tablets to RAN officials to capture and profile the SRFs.
ICT & Reading Forums
This quarter, the Initiative introduced technology in ensuring evidence-based data is provided in all activities of Reading association of Nigeria (RAN).
The Initiative provided RAN with 24 Mobile devices and a tailored application module to validate and establish existing and new School Reading Forums.
The Initiative trained 26 RAN officers from Bauchi and Sokoto state on use of the technology application in capturing evidence- based data in determinant of the existence and functionality of 800 School Reading Forums.
It also provided in the application, modules to track and report all reading activities at the SRFs by the RAN officers every week. The system allows for qualitative and quantitative data collection and reporting of live and weekly activities.
To ensure utilization and efficiency, the Initiative designed a real-time dashboard connected to the mobile application to visualize functionality and key activity indicators as it occurs in the SRFs.
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The information gathered was uploaded to the Initiative’s server for analysis. Data gathered showed that 639 SRFs were functioning, 76 SRFs were not functioning and 65 SRFs are newly established based on the shortfall.
Based on the assessment result, RAN is now implementing the following criteria to address the functionality of SRFs in the two states:
• No building/infrastructure • No teachers / patrons / matrons / facilitators /Arabic teacher issues • No pupils at all in the school • No SRMs in the schools • No furniture / charts / reading space • Not safe (insurgency issues)
In addition to the profiling of the SRFs, RAN will continue to:
• Sustain advocacy and sensitization to stakeholders like Education Secretaries, SBMCs, LGEA staff, parents and guardians (PTA forums) for recognition and support for SRFs; • Engage village heads and community members on issues of the functionality of SRFs. • Carry out advocacy visits to LGEAs and SUBEBs towards the provision of more teachers in schools; • Engage volunteers to manage SRFs, where necessary sourcing from the immediate environment of the schools’ location, including appointments of Patrons and Matrons for the SRFs; • Carefully place newly created SRFs in schools with the feeding program; and • Supply Supplementary Reading Materials (SRMs) and other reading materials to schools.
RAN revalidated and established 800 school reading forums (SRFs) status across the 20 LGEAs in Sokoto and Bauchi states.
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MONITORING & EVALUATION
This section presents tasks and activities by the MEAR unit and is organized into two sections. The first section presents activities that cut cross-across Initiative components and includes M&E system maintenance and routine monitoring. The second section presents MEAR unit activities that fall under specific IR components and includes support for the special research, training, collection, and dissemination of education data from formal and non-formal schools, and support for collaborative activities with Initiative components, States and LGAs.
M&E system maintenance
During the period under review, the MEAR Unit revised the Activity Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP). The revised AMELP has 28 indicators, which include 12 standard and 16 custom indicators. The total number of indicators has increased from 18 indicators from the previous AMELP to 28. The revised AMELP has been approved by USAID and targets have been revised in the Monitor Dashboard. The Initiative also revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the training of NFLCs facilitators. The SOPs ensure that only qualified facilitators are trained, and they are tracked after being deployed to their various Centers. The SOPs have been fully applied during the NFLC facilitators training that was conducted during the reporting quarter. In collaboration with the Reading Unit, the MEAR Unit also worked towards updating the system for getting closer to accurate estimates for teaching and learning materials. New forms were developed and all the public schools in the supported LGAs were visited to determine enrollment numbers through enrollment registers. It is, however, important to note that enrollment is an ongoing process and keeps on changing, thus an allowance was included to get close an accurate estimate.
Update performance data
The Initiative provided the PY4Q4 and annual performance data to USAID on a timely basis. The data was also uploaded to the Monitor dashboard, and the reporting rate was 100%. Furthermore, the Initiative responded to all USAID data requests in a timely manner.
Maintenance of project database
The Initiative MEAR Unit continues to ensure that all data collection and management SOPs are duly followed. This ensures that data integrity and reliability are always maintained. Each indicator data has specific requirements, and these have been updated and documented under the Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS) of the revised AMELP.
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Routine monitoring
During the reporting period, the MEAR unit conducted several routine monitoring activities as highlighted in the below sections.
Conduct data quality assessments
The MEAR Unit conducted a mini DQA exercise in Sokoto state to determine the extent of TLM coverage in formal schools. This exercise was necessitated due to the conflicting reports from the state on the adequacy of Term One materials for formal schools. This exercise aimed at determining the adequacy of Term One TLM distributed to Sokoto state. A total of eight out of 10 LGEAs were sampled, out of which 73 schools were visited, verifying enrollment and books distributed in a total of 216 schools.
The exercise revealed that state books distributed to the state were adequate, however, some irregularities were observed. A major irregularity was that some schools received more books and others fewer than their actual enrollments. In one instance, the school was given more books for one grade and less for the other. 78 percent of the visited schools had more books compared to enrollment whereas 22 percent of the schools received fewer books. The MEAR unit recommended that a verification exercise be instituted in all the schools and books to be redistributed from those with excess to those with a shortage. Based on these findings, the verification and book redistribution exercise were conducted in Sokoto.
Conduct sample-based monitoring of the Initiative activities
During the period under review, the MEAR unit conducted sample-based monitoring for NFLC facilitators training and TLM distribution. The Unit shared the monitoring findings with State and Abuja teams. In some cases, the M&E teams provided on the spot technical support or feedback depending on the nature of the issues observed.
Support state partners to validate teachers training
The MEAR unit supported the Access and Fragility Unit to validate the LFs prior to the LFs training. This exercise allowed the Initiative to ensure that all LFs included in the training met the minimum criteria set for the recruitment of the LFs. The exercise also ensured that only the LFs that have passed, met the criteria and duly engaged by the CSOs can participate in the training. All the qualifying LFs were pre-registered before the training. Pre-registration exercise allows for smooth implementation of the training, as less time was used for registration during the training, hence more time was dedicated for training purposes.
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The MEAR unit also supported the Reading Unit with pre-registration of teachers in formal schools for the teacher training planned for December 2019 to January 2020. Only teachers that were not captured during the previous pre-registration were captured at this point.
Conduct bi-monthly M&E learning forum with IPs
This activity will be conducted in PY5 Q2.
Support state partners to monitor the distribution of TLMs
The MEAR unit monitored TLM distribution for NFLCs as well as that for Term One in formal schools. Reports on TLM distribution were shared with all parties involved during the distribution. In addition, TLM distribution was tracked through the TLM dashboard providing a timely and up-to-date status of TLM distribution.
Conduct Coordination Meeting with Bauchi and Sokoto MEAR TWG
The MEAR quarterly coordination meetings are aimed at providing a platform for the state MEAR Technical Working Group (TWG) members from Bauchi and Sokoto to interface with the Initiative MEAR technical staff. These meetings are primarily technical, focusing on M&E work progress, planning for activities as well as sharing of best practices between the states of Bauchi and Sokoto. The last MEAR coordination meeting was held in December 2018, hence this meeting reviewed progress on MEAR activities planned by the states in 2018 and those planned by the Initiative MEAR component. The meeting was attended by the state MEAR TWG as well as senior staff from the Bauchi and Sokoto Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning. These included Directors from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Ministry of Education, State Agency for Mass Education (SAME) College of Educations, Arabic and Islamic Education board, and State Agency for Nomadic Education (SANE).
The meeting with the State partners and MEAR TWG reviewed the progress of PY4 planned activities and to plan for PY5 activities. Additionally, it provided a forum for sharing experiences in implementing the monitoring and assessment functions of the reading and access program in Bauchi and Sokoto states. Furthermore, the two states explored sustainability options for M&E activities beyond the life of the project. The PY5 Q1 calendar of MEAR activities and priority activities for MEAR sustainability was developed.
Provide support to state and LGA partners to conduct M&E meetings
This activity was not conducted during PY5 Q1 because most of the activities including the LEMA were held towards the end of the quarter. It is scheduled to hold beginning Quarter 2 of PY5.
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Conduct 3-day data entry workshop for CSOs, M&E to capture cohort five enrollments
This activity will hold during the second quarter of PY 5. The MEAR Unit waited for the CSOs to finalize preliminary data entry before holding the workshop, which will validate all the entered data for accuracy and completeness and ensuring that all errors are fixed.
INTEGRATION OF CROSSCUTTING ISSUES AND USAID FORWARD PRIORITIES
Sustainability Mechanisms
To sustain the activities of the project by the stakeholders and institutions in the state, the system-strengthening component continued to provide technical support for improving the capacity of state education institutions towards ensuring sustainability. The FMIS application deployed to SAME, ASC date validation and entry conducted by state partners with technical support from system strengthening/EMIS officer during the period under review demonstrated willingness and commitment on the part of the state and LGEA to drive the process, own and sustain the activities of the Initiative beyond the project year. There has been improved synergy and coordination between the Initiative, UNICEF/GEP3/EAC and NIPEP with everyone working to support the state in achieving Basic Education Service delivery in the state.
The Access and Fragility activities are being sustained by SAME from the effort put in place by the trained MFs through the cost-free cohort four coaching/mentoring visits and training of cohort five LFs on EGR. The replication of the NFLCs tools, adapting/printing of NEI plus NFLC TLM, enrollment form and criteria for selection of LGA learner summary template used for BESDA program by SUBEB further indicated sustainability of Access activities in the state.
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Gender Equality and Female Empowerment
Many girls have limited or no access to education in northern Nigeria due to socio- cultural practices such as early marriage
and household dependence on females
for income generation. The Initiative is
committed to gender inclusivity and therefore provides basic education and EGR through the AGLCs for girls aged 13 -17 who have never been enrolled in school or dropped out before completing basic education. This includes girls with disabilities in accessible communities in Bauchi and Sokoto States. So far, 10,000 adolescent girl learners enrolled in 200 NFLCs of cohort five with 200 female facilitators newly recruited to teach in NFLCs and AGLCs in Bauchi and Sokoto Picture 8: Adolescent girls reading during a encouraged gender inclusion. lesson at an AGLC – Photo by Erick Gibson
The Initiative, through gender mainstreaming and integration, is focusing on increasing girls’ enrollment in formal schools, NFLCs, AGLCs and providing reading opportunities for all children. This is further emphasized with the PY5 theme: All Children Reading.
Evidence shows that the Initiative has made conscious efforts in empowering women and girls and providing equal opportunity to all through the NFLCs and AGLCs. The Initiative focused on education for girls and boys and this was reflected in the enrollment of both girls and boys in the NFLCs.
The CRCs and SFRs have created more inclusive spaces for learners by providing a reader- friendly environment for all, has been sensitive to girls’ needs, giving equal treatment and making available gender-sensitive materials and stories. Females and males are made to feel comfortable using reading facilities.
The establishment of the AGLCs is an indication of the Initiative’s efforts to ensure more females can read and write. In cohort five, the Initiative recorded a large increase in the recruitment of female LFs in both Bauchi and Sokoto States. Bauchi has 216 and Sokoto 150, making a total of 366 female facilitators for the established 1000 Centers in both states. This is a remarkable improvement from cohort four where there were 121 for Bauchi and 68 for Sokoto.
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Bauchi has 216 and Sokoto 150 making a total of 366 female facilitators for the established 1000 Centers in both states
Continuous sensitizations in communities on the value of education have motivated female learners to continue learning even after they are married. Examples of such learners are cases from Alkalari (4), Gamawa (4) in Bauchi State. The adolescent girls, on completion of the program, transited into clear and supported pathways to further training, income generation or continuation of formal education. As a result, the girls and their families acquired skills and have increased access to financial resources.
Through the promotion of gender equality by the Initiative, communities have adopted more positive gender attitudes and taken actions to support and protect girls. The project works with local communities, education partners at the state and LGA levels enabling communities and schools to sustain learning, access, and reading skills after project close-out.
LGAs are beginning to show commitment by responding to safety issues affecting girl’s attendance to the centers by providing a secure and convenient environment. This was demonstrated in the construction of toilets, drilling boreholes, construction of additional classrooms and learning shades.
Shira LGA has demonstrated commitment to the education of female learners by providing uniforms to adolescent girls mainstreamed to Jarkasa Upper Basic School; a First Aid box to Lambu AGLC; and water containers and locally fabricated seats to Buga AGLC.
The Initiative actively participated in joining the world to mark global gender campaigns. As is the case with all gender-focused campaigns, The Initiative, through its social media platforms, participated in the commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender- Based Violence, an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. Staff identified with the campaign by wearing orange regalia’s and clothing with a touch of Orange throughout the 16 Days. The campaign message became part of training and activity messages: #Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape.
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Success Stories
• https://www.creativeassociatesinternational.com/stories/reading-project-praised-by- nigerias-vice-president-at-education-conference/ • Providing Basic Education for the disadvantaged Adolescent Girl – The story of Aisha Adamu • Local Government Councilor Distributes 2,000 Exercise Books at Kwargaba • Big Books Enhance Reading through Classroom Innovation • Radio Program Promotes Literacy by Encouraging Beginning-of -term Attendance • Non-formal learning Center Propels Rural Student to school • Non-formal Learning Center creates Path to Formal Education in Rural Area • Beyond Inclusion, Digital Financial Services a Window to Self-Reliance and Livelihood • State successfully conducted and disseminated the third term LEMA findings • Local Education Monitoring Approach incorporated in Media Term State Strategy (MTSS) • States planned to conduct second term and third term LEMA 2020 • Capacity building of EMIS Officers and Quality Assurance Officers on ICT based LEMA/School data collection, database management, and reporting
Partnerships and Collaborations
To achieve successful implementation of EGR programs the MEAR unit collaborated with state MEAR TWG, State partners from State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), State Agency for Mass Education (SAME), State Agency for Nomadic Education (SANE), College of Education (COE) and other education implementing partners.
Stakeholder Participation and Involvement
The Access and Fragility component collaborated with SAME to monitor 500 NFLCs/ AGLCs establishment process. The 9-day training of 500 cohort five LFs were conducted with the SAME training MTs taking the lead in close collaboration of the initiative Access and Fragility component. The 300 Center facilitators from cohort four were coached and mentored by the trained SAME MFs in the state. LFs training venue was provided by LGCs in the six clusters identified and used for the LF training.
The available opportunity in the state is the 30 trained MTs and MFs on EGR. The BESDA result for area one is an opportunity for effective collaboration and replication of the Initiative’s laudable best practices.
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LESSONS LEARNT
1. The use of ICT in the conduct of LEMA has improved the time frame for data collection and increased the quality of our data through minimized data lost when paper-based tools were used. 2. Involving more female facilitators showed commitment and dedication in NFLC activities, and this improved learners’ willingness to finish classwork. 3. NFLCs that have adequate CBMC support do not experience dropout and late coming; they embrace the non-formal program as an alternative for the absence of formal systems in their communities and are willing to support them. 4. Feedback from the recent SSO visits revealed that more SSOs are willing to work with ICT based materials for classroom observation, coaching and mentoring tool. Some requested that the software for data collection be installed on their android phone to be more effective in coaching and mentoring tasks. This will improve the implementation of the EGR program across the intervention LGEAs
Implementation Challenges
• Poor documentation and reporting from the CSOs activity report. • Poor attendance of learners due to the harvest period, hawking and errands, and Maulud celebrations. • Transfer of trained and qualified teachers and SSOs from schools by the Ministry of Education affected the fidelity of implementation of LEMA administration.
Recommendations
• Avoid discrepancies by ensuring that the number of centers established, and details of learners enrolled documented on the paper tool aligns with that of the digital tablet for capturing the data.
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OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT
Personnel/HR
The activities of the HR unit included the hiring of thirteen staff members to replace staff moved to other projects. Compliance with established policies and procedures was ensured. The procurement process for consultancy agreements, and receipt of all related approvals, was initiated as requested.
Procurement
The following were the main procurement activities for the PY5Q1:
Table 7: Procurement Activities for PYQ1
S/N PROJECT DESCRIPTION QUANTITY AMOUNT AMOUNT STATUS UNIT (NGN) (USD)
1. Reading Printing of 517,274 167,139,667.5 464,276.9 Vendor Consolidated selected, TLM printing on- going
2. Access Printing of 40,820 5,677,761.5 15,771.6 Vendor Cohort 5 TLM selected, printing on- going
3. Grant In-kind mobile 142 16,614,000 46,150 Delivered to devices for Abuja office CSOs
Table 8: Proposed Procurements for Next Quarter
S/N PROJECT UNIT DESCRIPTION QUANTITY AMOUNT AMOUNT (NGN) (USD)
1. Operations 15,000 TBD TBD Vendor Initiate the process for selected, printing the TLMs for Teacher printing on- Education Institutes in Nigeria going (NCCE)
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Security
In the last quarter, the Project Security Manager conducted a security assessment of Initiative operations in Bauchi State. A series of investigations related to fraud and harassment were conducted. The outcome of the fraud investigation led to the dismissal of the Procurement and Logistics Officer in Bauchi. A detailed report has been sent to USAID OIG.
Field trips were made by project security to offices in Bauchi and Sokoto, as well as project LGs in the States. Security support was also provided for Initiative activities such as the USAID Mission Director’s visit to Bauchi. Physical security components of Initiative facilities in Bauchi, Sokoto, and Abuja are intact.
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Financial Report
Creative Associates International CLIENT: USAID/Nigeria Contract: AID-620-C-15-00002 TITLE: Northern Nigeria Education Initiative Plus (NEI+) Activity Period of Performance: October 26, 2015 - October 25, 2020 Date: 01/30/2020
Financial Report
Line Items Budget 5 Years Actuals through Projections Total Actual + December 31, 2019 Projections Costs Accrued* FY2020
Projected Q2 (Jan - Mar) Projected Q2 (Apr - Jun)
SALARIES AND WAGES 6,562,910 5,293,657 415,788 415,788 6,125,234
FRINGE BENEFITS 2,333,184 1,856,901 153,444 153,444 2,163,788
ALLOWANCES 2,891,069 2,356,354 95,552 95,552 2,547,459
CONSULTANTS 462,571 428,386 21,078 - 449,464
TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND PER DIEM 1,397,404 1,049,104 60,553 61,107 1,170,765
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES 1,052,807 929,274 10,500 10,500 950,274
SUBCONTRACTS 23,688,682 18,599,284 1,795,409 1,600,473 21,995,165
SUBGRANTS 6,850,000 4,123,624 450,077 519,526 5,093,227
PARTICIPANT TRAINING 13,020,487 10,396,492 620,000 195,000 11,211,492
SECURITY COSTS 520,756 442,171 30,220 30,220 502,612
OTHER DIRECT COSTS 3,376,528 2,307,749 121,720 121,720 2,551,190
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TOTAL DIRECT COSTS 62,156,397 47,782,997 3,774,342 3,203,331 54,760,670
INDIRECT COSTS 14,146,698 11,341,279 871,822 746,932 12,960,033
TOTAL ESTIMATED 76,303,095 59,124,276 4,646,164 3,950,263 67,720,703 COST
FIXED FEE 5,898,068 3,128,126 242,037 201,679 3,571,842
TOTAL 82,201,163 62,252,402 4,888,201 4,151,942 71,292,544
Picture 9: Class lesson at Non-formal Learning Center, Bauchi - Photo by David Rabinovitz
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Grants Management
Grant-supported activities under the Initiative include: collaboration in conducting situational analysis, collaboration with state and local government structures to conduct advocacy and outreach work amongst local communities to promote EGR in schools and NFLCs; supporting community structures to create an enabling environment to launch non-formal learning activities while building trust and ownership among stakeholders; establishing and implementing effective NFLCs, creating CRCs and expanding understanding in their communities about the importance of enabling equitable access to quality, safe and practical education.
Drafting and Execution of Modification 1
41 grants agreements were modified in October for the following reasons:
• To modify the final approved amount • To modify the period of performance • To modify the milestone schedule • To modify the project description and include cohort 5 activities • To modify the project budget • To modify In-Kind contributions
SMART Training
The Initiative’s Grants Unit attended the System for Management of Activities, Reporting, and Tracking (SMART) in November 2019. This training engaged new staff members on the use of the SMART application. The process of using SMART for processing payment is already in place. The 41 modified grant agreements were uploaded on SMART.
Review of Milestone and Learning Facilitators Payments
These are routine activities carried out in the months of October, November and December 2019. Although some delays were experienced in the submission of the milestones and timesheet, all the due payments were made and documented.
Verification of LF CVs and Engagement Letters
The unit reviewed and confirmed all newly recruited LFs for cohort five engagement letters before the training of the LFs to ensure the quality of people engaged to facilitate at the various centers
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Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN) Orientation Meeting
The objectives were to orient RAN on the terms and conditions of the grant agreement as well as the roles and responsibilities of relevant stakeholders. With the modification of the agreement to include Cohort 5 activities, the grant unit provide clarification to RAN on what has changed and the expected outcome of the grant activities.
Quarterly Access Technical Coordination Meeting
The Access and Fragility Unit held a coordination meeting with other components to ensure for a common understanding of implementation plans and strategies, particularly as they relate to ongoing Cohorts 4 and 5. A major output of the meeting was that addressing the delay of milestone and LFs payment, and solutions on how to mitigate the problems were agreed upon.
PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT QUARTER (PY5Q2)
Sub IR Situational Analysis and Achievements TA Support Required
1.2.2 Assist LGEAs in Conduct quarterly Access Technical coordination meeting strengthening SBMC/ CBMC management Conduct quarterly state-level Access team coordination capacity to understand meetings and use benchmarks
1.2.3 Use the Conduct monthly Access Coordinators routine monitoring to Education Risk NFLCs at LGAs Reduction Index (ERRI) as a monitoring tool in all The Initiative-assisted schools
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1.3 Standardized Conduct quarterly state joint monitoring visits to NFLCs NFLC model ensures (three times) with partners. education for vulnerable children and youth
1.3.1. Develop and Conduct quarterly state joint monitoring visits to NFLCs implement NFLC (three times) with partners. model with child- friendly spaces and Train 30 SAME Scheme Organizers on monitoring coaching, expected literacy, mentoring and establish dashboard numeracy, and life skills outcomes Conduct monthly facilitators cluster learning cycle meetings
Monthly coordination and feedback meetings with LGA Access Coordinators, mentor facilitators, and LPOs.
Conduct a mobile money user experience survey across current and past cohorts
Conduct a 1-day dissemination of findings and best-practice workshop on the project Mobile Money experience survey
Develop an exam scores database, analyze and report for NFLC and AGLC terminal examinations
Conduct Access technical working group meeting to address performance, retention and graduation of NFLC learners
1.3.2 Identify and Conduct 2-day workshop to support community structures support pathways for (CCs) to sustain Access related best practices (center NFLC students to establishment etc.) enter formal schools and vocational Conduct joint Access Abuja, State, and LGEA level NFLCs education. visits
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1.5.1 Identify, Conduct a 5-day communication and community mobilize, and train mobilization meeting to compile, review and package CSOs to strengthen materials to facilitate knowledge management and transfer PTAs, SBMCs, CBMCs, and Monitor the implementation of the Action Plan developed communities during round table discussions with Local Government and community education stakeholders around improving reading outcomes
Provide technical support through mentoring and coaching to the government on implementing their sustainability strategy in promoting reading outcomes
Conduct monthly monitoring and mentoring of CSOs to improve reading outcomes
Finalize development of a traditional institutional framework, translate the framework into the Hausa language, validate with education stakeholders and disseminate for improved reading outcomes
Support CC’s to implement the traditional institutional framework, mobilize resources and coordinate with other structures to effectively use CRC to improve reading
Conduct training on mainstreaming gender in community engagement (LGEAs, CCs, and WGs)
Conduct community mobilization unit coordination meetings
Conduct monthly check-in and compliance meetings with grantees
Monitoring of activities implemented by CSOs against targets (e.g., EGR)
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1.5.2 Learning Develop and deliver pedagogical, curricular messages and Facilitators two-way SMS/IVR data collection to support facilitators/ coached, mentored teachers and monitored to implement curriculum Identify and support Reading Champions to promote reading
Develop and Produce Radio/TV program (‘Read us a story’) to promote reading culture
Produce, print and disseminate a variety of publicity materials (infographics, experience papers & compendium) promoting reading achievements
Produce video documentary on implementation best practices Provision and deployment of 60 Mobile Devices for Technology Supported innovation for SBCC
Provision and deployment of 60 Mobile Devices for Technology Supported innovation for SBCC
Develop and Conduct round table evidence-based advocacy workshop implement for budgetary allocation and fund release in managing EGR institutional prioritization scorecards for reading instruction and Conduct a 5-day policy dialogue workshop to finalize the Initiative sustainability framework and costed strategy performance (Activity (SMoE, SUBEB, SAME, LGEA, CSOs, MBEP, Community 2.1.2). structures)
Produce and print project close-out system strengthening – “How to guide materials.”
Support NERDC to collect data from stakeholders on the National Reading Framework
Support NERDC to finalize NRF to present to NCE for validation and launch
Conduct LGEA round table meeting with community leaders, education managers, and CSOs on the mobilization of local resources to support EGR using evidenced-based reports from the project
Conduct 2-day quarterly training of state and local levels EMIS personnel on the dissemination of LEMA dashboard findings, data management, TLMs tracking and school support dashboard to LGEA management
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Develop, validate, Support RTWG to organize a workshop to review and revise and apply standards reading benchmarks based on midline EGRA frameworks for student performance Support SUBEBs to organize 1-day orientation to disseminate (Activity 2.1.3). revised reading standards and benchmarks
Strengthen Facilitate 2-day workshop on the Implementation of SEA III appropriation & IV recommendations and dissemination for planning, and and disbursement budgeting processes processes within states and LGEAs Develop SEA fact sheets and disseminate to states for (Activity 2.1.4) evidence-based decision-making and resource allocation
Strengthen Training of policymakers on expenditure tracking, forecasting appropriation and supporting evidence-based decision making and resource and disbursement allocation processes within states and LGEAs Track state government budgetary allocation, fund release (Activity 2.1.7) and expenditure for basic education
Work with appropriate Support SUBEBs and LGEAs to distribute and monitor TLM agencies to update, delivery and accessibility in schools validate, produce, and distribute teacher guides for P1-P3 (Activity 2.2.2).
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Collaborate with Support 2018/2019 Annual school census processes (Pre- SUBEBs and Planning, Data collection, Data entry, Validation and LGEAs to produce, Dissemination) print and distribute teaching and learning Support the development of 2020-2022 MTSS/MTBEP materials; incorporate document using the BPT recurring costs into state/LGEA SESOP Provide technical support to the reactivation of TMIS and MTSS plans application in the state (Training needs and deployment) (Activity 2.2.3). Coordinate TMIS functionalities dissemination to policymakers and education MDAs (cost share)
Leverage on bi-monthly SUBEB ES platform to disseminate findings in managing EGR
Organize a study tour of federal partners to Bauchi and Sokoto state in showcasing initiative models, successes, and lessons learned.
Hold 2-day state workshop with managements of States Agency for Mass Education, SUBEB, MBoSE, and LGEA on sustainability road map implementation for ongoing management and support for technology-supported project Innovations
Work with LGEAs, State participate in quarterly IPs meetings on SUBEBs, and CSOs implementations synergies (EGR related) to research and develop a sound Support the quarterly coordination meeting between BESDA program of in-service and NEI Plus technical team teacher training (Activity 2.3.1). Support SUBEB to provide two, 4-day EGR training workshops to teachers, using video/audio tools
Support SUBEB to select and provide two, 4-day ICT-based training workshops on coaching/mentoring and monitoring to MTs (replaces 2.4.1.26)
Support SUBEBs to provide two, 3-day training of MTs to train non-ICT equipped SSOs on coaching/mentoring and monitoring
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Collaborate with Collect data for end-line assessment of EGR in TEIs NCCE and COEs to develop pre-service EGR syllabi and instruction courses (Activity 2.3.4).
Develop, validate Facilitate 3-day PLC workshop to reinforce community and implement post- outreach activities and sustainability Graduate Course on early grade reading Develop and produce communications tools (e.g., radio for key federal and journals) to promote and sustain PLC-based community state officials (2.3.5) outreach activities
Training workshop on how to set up and run a Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Support the NCCE and state TEIs in development and utilization of management plans for the technology-enhanced EGR resource rooms
Facilitate the establishment of EGR ICT-equipped center in NCCE
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Collaborate with Support SUBEBs and LGEAs to revise the EGR (Mu LGEAs and states to Karanta! Let’s Read!) mentoring and coaching visit schedule develop, improve, with LGEAs (use PQAOs and SSOs as coaches) to sustain and implement school support for EGR EGR instruction, monitoring, and Support the SUBEBs to deploy PQAOs to visit and support coaching, including SSOs on EGR (Mu Karanta! Let’s Read!) implementation criterion-referenced tools and methods Support quarterly review meetings with LGEAs QA staff and (Activity 2.4.1). management on gaps and strategies to sustain EGR inputs
Support SUBEBs and MoEs to train LGEAs EMIS officers, MTs, SSOs, HoSS and HDQA on implementation of a scalable pilot of Mu Karanta! Mobile-based school monitoring, EGR classroom observation, coaching, and mentoring.
Present the report on ICT-based implementation in PY4 and the final SSOs coaching and monitoring framework to the RTWG and recommend scale-up
Conduct NEI Plus LGEA/LGA coordination meeting on EGR support, implementation and sustainability
Conduct meeting with LGEAs/LGA SSOs/Scheme Organizers on monitoring findings
Provide continuous support to carry out and sustain coaching and mentoring support to SSOs and teachers in schools
Produce an audio recording of Mu Karanta! songs with voice over artist, including female artists (equal representation)
Develop non- Organize 3-day review workshop on the TRD guideline monetary incentives documents to reward effective EGR teachers Conduct quarterly System Strengthening unit coordination (Activity 2.4.2) meetings
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Collaborate with Support close-out dissemination of project-based research states and LGEAs findings and strategies such as the LEMA (Time on task to create item data study; the language of instruction transition study) banks and generate and administer EGRA Conduct public forum for the sampling of centers for cohort 4 assessments (Activity NFLC EGRA post-test 2.5.2). Conduct refresher training for cohort 4 NFLC EGRA post- test
Performance Progress Collaborate with states and LGAs to implement the Local and Institutional Education Monitoring Approach (LEMA) and report findings Capacity Monitoring to inform fidelity of implementation (Activity 2.5.3). Support state partners to develop test item banks for Group Administered Literacy Assessment (GALA)
Support state partners to review LEMA Instruments
Support state partners to conduct a public forum for sampling schools for LEMA administration
Support the states to conduct termly refresher training for LEMA administration
Support the state to conduct termly LEMA data collection in formal schools
Support State partners to prepare LEMA reports
Support the state to conduct termly dissemination of LEMA results at quarterly Education Secretaries meetings
Conduct training of EMIS Officers and State Master Trainers on ICT based LEMA/School data collection, database management, and reporting
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Build capacity in Work with CSOs to implement activities promoting early CSOs to train PTAs grade reading by raising awareness, mobilize children, and SBMC/CBMC parents and community members to CRCs to support children to provide EGR reading instructional support and monitoring (2.7) Work with CSOs to Inherit or establish new CRCs sources for materials for existing and proposed new CRCs, identify community volunteers for CRCs
Work with CSOs and RAN to conduct reading competitions, spelling bees, debates, song, folk tales, fun fares, rallies, carnivals, open days, etc. in RCs
Promote activities at CRCs/Reading Corners
Picture 10: School Girl sitting in class and listening to her teacher – Photo by Adebisi Adetunji
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ANNEXES
USAID NIGERIA MISSION DIRECTOR, STEPHEN HAYKIN’S STATE VISIT TO NORTHERN EDUCATION INITIATIVE PLUS (NEI PLUS) PROJECT SITES, BAUCHI
Picture 11: USAID Mission Director's visit to the government house- Sen. Bala Mohammad and his cabinet, NEI Plus team – Photo Adebisi Adetunji
In December 2019, the USAID Nigeria Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, on a working visit to Bauchi state, visited the Northern Education Initiative Plus (the Initiative) project sites (formal school and NFLC) and partners (Community leaders, Education officers, the governor, and state officials). On arrival, the Mission Director, Mr. Haykin held a meeting with USAID-funded project leadership in the Education and Health sectors at the Initiative’s Bauchi office where he met with Chief of Party Dr. Jordene Hale, State Team Lead Mustapha Mohammad, and other project staff. In Bauchi State, since the inception of the USAID funded project four years ago, there has been increased access to education for OOSC, especially for girls, improvement in reading skills of pupils in formal schools and the state’s educational system has been strengthened.
The Commissioner for Education, Dr. Aliyu Usman Tilde, while receiving Mr. Stephen Haykin and the Initiative team in his office, expressed delight at the results achieved through the NEI Plus contribution to education in the state. “Reading has been a difficult process for our children, and we appreciate the contributions of NEI Plus in introducing a systematic approach of teaching to help our children read in 10 LGAs in the state,” said the Commissioner. He added that the impact of the early grade reading program in formal schools and NFLCs across the state’s LGAs will still be felt 20 years to come.
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A courtesy call was made to the State House where the Governor of Bauchi state, Sen. Bala Mohammed and members of his cabinet received the USAID Mission Director, Stephen Haykin accompanied by the NEI Plus team. While speaking, Sen. Bala Mohammed, stated that 1.3 million OOSC are in the state as a result of insecurity and migration. He appreciated the support of USAID through the NEI Plus project in providing basic education and promoting a reading culture among Bauchi state children. Sen. Bala Mohammed articulated his government’s plan to look inwards to see what can be done to further consolidate and sustain the results of the EGR program. The USAID Mission Director appreciated the many years of fruitful collaboration with the Bauchi state government in the area of Education and Health.
The NEI Plus team and the USAID Nigeria Mission Director also visited an Adolescent Girls’ Non-formal Learning Center (AGLC) at Wuntin Dada Local Government Area in Bauchi, where they observed a lesson session. Many children in Wuntin Dada do not attend formal schools, girls in particular. The NFLC brings basic education close to the doorsteps of these girls in their community where they learn to read and write.
NEI Plus and the team of the USAID Mission director also visited the Kofar Wuse primary school. “Before the NEI Plus program intervention, Kofar Wuse Primary School experienced low school attendance with only 700 children enrolled in primary 1-6 classes, said the headteacher, Hauwa Garba. Mr. Stephen Haykin interacted with teachers and students while visiting the school.
INVESTMENT IN EARLY GRADE READING RESOURCE CENTERS
The commitment to boost the Early Grade Reading program in the three-state Tertiary Institutions: College of Education Kangere, Aminu Sale College of Education Azare and Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, was received with great enthusiasm, demonstrated commitment and funding from the state. The Initiative has provided Technical inputs in training Master Trainers from these Institutions and supplied essential facilities and materials for the takeoff of the resource Picture 12: EGR Resource Room, ATAP. Photo rooms. by Adebisi Adetunji
These investments are part of the efforts to institutionalize EGR to produce teachers and expand the skills beyond the training venues.
One significant achievement recorded at the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic was the provision of two rooms, fully equipped with furniture, bookcases, extra teaching and learning materials, in addition to the facilities supplied by NEI Pus. The college also employed a technician to manage and support teachers and students in the utilization of the equipment supplied at the center.
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Currently, the college has invested about NGN 2 million in furniture and NGN 1.5 million in the renovation of the two rooms to cater to teacher preparations, meetings, and instructional activities. The college management is keen on using the facility for pre-service programs to cater to all teachers prepared for the basic level. The College Registrar stated that, “we are indeed appreciative of NEI Plus for supporting us in putting this facility in operational use. We shall provide additional funds through our budget to supply more equipment and books for reference.” The Dean School of Management Studies, where the Center is located, promised to maintain the rooms and open to all teachers and students wishing to consult the materials for reference and lesson development, “we welcome the center and we shall encourage patronage and monitor utilization.”
In an earlier visit by the USAID team led by COR Nura Ibrahim, Mr. Ibrahim commended the college for their efforts in providing additional facilities to make the center useful. The team commended the State Government for supporting the college in its bid to improve learning outcomes.
Before the NEI Plus’ program intervention, Kofar Wase primary school experienced low school attendance with only 700 children enrolled in primary 1-6 classes.
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SOKOTO BESDA REPLICATION OF NORTHERN EDUCATION INITIATIVE PLUS (NEI PLUS) NON – FORMAL LEARNING CENTERS MODEL IN 23 LGAS OF THE STATE
Picture 13: A student engaged in reading during a class lesson at Kira’atul Qur’an Wa-Hadith NFLC – Sokoto. Photo by Adebisi Adetunji
The BESDA team requested for technical support from the Initiative team in Sokoto to implement a plan to establish 1, 429 NFLCs after the initiative’s model. The BESDA team met with the AFO to develop strategies on how to implement NFLCs activities from its work plan. The team agreed to adopt the NEI plus NFLC model. The agreed Initiative model adopted by the team includes:
• Engaging CSOs to support mapping or assessing the existing NFLCs in the targeted communities using the validation form. • Establishment of the NFLCs using the NEI plus model where there is a pool of out-of- school boys and girls, in collaboration with community members and gatekeepers. • Identifying, assessing, testing and recruiting LFs for established centers and reporting the center profile using the NEI plus template. • Conducting enrollment using NEI Plus enrollment forms to ensure all 50 learners (Boys and Girls) per center enrolled and captured in the database. • Train Master Trainers on EGR to prepare for facilitators step-down training at LGA level using NEI Plus training manual. • Support the MTs to train facilitators using NEI Plus facilitators training manual • Train coaches and MFs on the NEI Plus coaching and mentoring tool using tablets • Conduct monthly coaching.
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The outcome of the planning meeting
The BESDA team agreed to:
• Use NEI Plus enrollment forms to conduct enrollment on the identified centers. The team requested and was provided with the form. • Use the NEI Plus ‘Center Profile’ template to report LFs and center information. The e- copy has been issued to the team. • Work with CSOs currently working with NEI Plus in Sokoto for the center establishment, enrollment, and reporting using NEI Plus Enrollment summary forms. The team identified, selected and engaged 12 CSOs out of the 21 CSOs working with the Initiative. • Adapt the NEI Plus MTs/LFs training manual. A team of 30 MTs/MFs has already been trained • Scale-up the NFLC model in 1,429 communities targeting out-of-school boys and girls • Engage the CSOs with the sum of NGN 24 million to validate/establish 1,429 NFLCs, test and recruit 1,429 LFs, and enroll 71,450 boys and girls into the NFLC program. The orientation of the 345 CSO field staff on the use of the NEI Plus adopted enrollment form was conducted by the Initiative-trained CSO senior staff.
Other areas of training support provided to the BESDA team include:
• 8-day EGR Master trainers training • 8-day training of LFs on EGR at LGA level • 6-day Coach/Mentor facilitators training using tablets • 3-day quarterly review meeting with BESDA LGA coordinators
The BESDA team requested for technical support from the NEI Plus team in Sokoto to implement a plan to establish 1,429 NFLCs after the Initiative’s model.
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PMP UPDATE
The attached performance data table provides a summary of achievement towards PMP indicators. Please note that out of the 28 indicators, only two indicators are reported on a quarterly basis to the USAID Monitor Dashboard. Additionally, most of the indicator data is reported on an annual basis, hence, there was no data for most of the indicators for quarters 1, 2 and 3.
Performance Monitoring Indicators and Quarterly Data Sources FY 2020, Quarter 1
No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
ES.1-3 Number of learners in Method: NFLC Enrollment Record and EMIS Record Annually Data will be reported in primary schools or equivalent non- Review Quarter 4 school-based settings reached with Data Source: NFLC Records, EMIS USG education assistance Unit of measurement: Number of learners Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type
NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
Custom 1: Number of learners Method: NFLC Enrollment Record and EMIS Record Annually Data will be reported entering the entry grade/year of the Review in Quarter 4 targeted educational opportunity Data Source: NFLC Records, EMIS (access) Unit of measurement: Number of learners Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type
NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
Custom 2: Number of primary or Method: NFLC Enrollment Record and EMIS Record Annually Data will be reported secondary school learners from Review in Quarter 4 underserved and/or disadvantaged Data Source: NFLC Records, EMIS groups benefiting from USG Unit of measurement: Number of education assistance specifically learners targeted at reducing inequity Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type
NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
Custom 4: Number of primary Method: NFLC Enrollment Record and EMIS Record Annually Data will be reported school learners in USG-assisted Review, locally defined criteria in Quarter 4 school’s/learning environments Data Source: NFLC Records, EMIS, locally defined criteria with staff and communities trained Unit of measurement: Number of learners in safety awareness and promotion Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type
NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
Custom 3: Percentage of students Method: Sample, student test Years 1,3, Data will be reported who, by the end of three grades of Data Source: Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) 5 in Quarter 4 primary schooling (or equivalent), Unit of measurement: Percentage of learners demonstrate that they can read and Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type understand the meaning of English grade level text NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
ES.1-1 Percent of learners targeted Method: Sample, student test Years 1,3, Data will be reported for USG assistance who attain a Data Source: Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) 5 in Quarter 4 minimum grade-level proficiency Unit of measurement: Percentage of learners in reading at the end of grade 2 Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, school type
NFLCs Male Bauchi
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
Formal Male Bauchi Schools
Sokoto
Total males
Female Bauchi
Sokoto
Total females
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
ES.1-13 Number of parent teacher Method: Project Record Review Annual Data will be reported associations (PTAs) or community- Data Source: Data from project documents in Quarter 4 based school governance structures Unit of measurement: Number of SBMCs/ CMBCs engaged in primary or secondary Disaggregation: State, LGEA, school type education supported with USG assistance NFLCs Bauchi
Sokoto
Formal Schools Bauchi
Sokoto
Custom 5: Number of CSO and Method: Record Review Annual 44 41 Data will be reported local organizations mobilizing Data Source: Checklist, project documents in Quarter 4 PTAs/SMBCs and communities to Unit of measurement: Number of CSOs/local organizations support reading and/or access Disaggregation: State, LGEA, CSO type
CSOs Bauchi 25 22
Sokoto 22 22
Custom 14: Number of learners Method: Record Review Annual Data will be reported reached in reading programs at the Data Source: Checklist, data from project documents in Quarter 4 primary level Unit of measurement: Number of learners Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, grade, school type
NFLCs Bauchi
Sokoto
Formal schools Bauchi
Sokoto
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
Custom 6: Percent of teachers Method: Sample, observation, interview Years 1,3, Data will be reported using scripted lessons and Data Source: SCOPE teacher observation tool, 5 in Quarter 4 other evidence-based reading questionnaire instructional approaches, including Unit of measurement: Percent of teachers appropriate formative assessment Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, grade, school type and homogeneous grouping
Custom 7: Number of laws, Method: Document, record review Annually Data will be reported policies, regulations, or guidelines Data Source: GON and state records, in Quarter 4 developed or modified to improve The Initiative program records primary grade reading programs or Unit of measurement: Number of laws/policies increase equitable access) Disaggregation: Federal, state, policy type
Govt. Level Federal
State Bauchi
Sokoto
ES. 1-49 Number of primary or Method: Record Review Quarterly 1,052,005 secondary textbooks and other Data Source: The Initiative records of materials delivered to teaching and learning materials each school (TLMs) that are inclusively Unit of measurement: Number of teaching and learning representative provided with USG materials assistance Disaggregation: State, LGEA, type, language
NFLCs Bauchi 129,500
Sokoto 129,500
Formal Schools Bauchi 620,471
Sokoto 431,534
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No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Comments Frequency
ES. 1-6 Number of educators who Method: Record review, Interview Quarterly 3,912 Q3 Report include complete professional development Data Source: Attendance records from teacher trainings the NFLC instructor activities with USG assistance Unit of measurement: Number of teachers training in Bauchi Disaggregation: State, LGEA, sex, grade, teacher type, while Sokoto will start training on 1st day off school type July
Formal School - Bauchi Male Teachers
Female
Sokoto Male 2,250
Female 680
Formal School - Bauchi Male Head Teachers
Female
Sokoto Male
Female
NFLC Instructors Bauchi Male 281
Female 216
Sokoto Male 340
Female 145
Custom 8: Number of LGEAs Method: Survey, observation Annual Data will be reported using criterion-referenced Data Source: Survey of LGEAs, a survey of headmasters in Quarter 4 classroom monitoring and coaching Unit of measurement: Number of LGEAs to support and monitor early grade Disaggregation: State, LGEA reading instruction
Number of LGEAs Bauchi
Sokoto
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Custom 9: Number of LGEAs Method: Record review, survey Annually Data will be reported assessing early grade reading Data Source: Survey of state/LGEA officials; project records in Quarter 4 outcomes per established M&E Unit of measurement: Number of states/LGEAs requirements (at least every two Disaggregation: LGEA, type of assessment years)
Number of LGEAs Bauchi
Sokoto
No. Indicator Method, Data Source, Frequency Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Frequency
ES. 1-12 Number of education Method: Record review Annually 942 administrators and officials who Data Source: Program records; oversight committee records complete professional development Unit of measurement: Number of teachers activities with USG assistance Disaggregation: State, LGEA, school type
Number of Bauchi Male 445 Administrators
Female 36
Sokoto Male 425
Female 36
Custom 10: Percentage of costs Method: Record review, Annually Data will be reported of teacher and learning materials Data Source: State budgets; SEA report; NEI Plus Budget in Quarter 4 procured and distributed by GON Unit of measurement: Percentage of costs Disaggregation: State
Percentage of Costs Bauchi
Sokoto
Custom 11: Number of individuals Data will be reported reached through community in Quarter 4 outreach and/or advocacy activities that promotes access to education and/or early grade reading
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Custom 12: Number of people Data will be reported reached with messages promoting in Quarter 4 access to primary education and EGR through radio, video and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messages
ES. 1-48: Percent of learners Data will be reported targeted for USG assistance in Quarter 4 with an increase of at least one proficiency level in reading at the end of grade 2
Custom 13: Percentage of students Data will be reported who, by the end of schooling in in Quarter 4 Non-Formal Learning Centers demonstrate that they can read and understand the meaning of Hausa grade-level text (equivalent to grade 2 level Hausa in formal schools)
ES. 1-50 Number of public and Data will be reported private schools receiving USG in Quarter 4 assistance
ES. 1-46 Percent of individuals Data will be reported who transition to further education in Quarter 4 or training following participation in USG-assisted programs
Custom 16: Number of primary Data will be reported or secondary school educators in Quarter 4 who complete professional development activities on peace education, conflict sensitivity, or conflict transformation with USG assistance
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ES. 1-45 Percent of primary- Data will be reported grade learners targeted for USG in Quarter 4 assistance who have the appropriate variety of decodable, leveled, AND supplementary readers in the language of instruction with inclusive representation of diverse populations
Custom 15: Number of primary Data will be reported school educators who complete in Quarter 4 professional development activities on implementing evidence-based reading instruction with USG assistance
ES. 2-1: Number of host country Data will be reported higher education institutions in Quarter 4 receiving capacity development support with USG assistance
ES. 2-52: Number of individuals Data will be reported affiliated with higher education in Quarter 4 institutions receiving capacity development support with USG assistance
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Training Title Male Female Total Coordinat Training State Duration Start Date End Date eing Unit Venue (Days)
1.3.1.5 Conduct 9-day training 281 216 497 Access LGA Bauchi 7 2019-11-21 2019-11-27 (8 days for LFs and 1 day and Fra- Clusters for mobile money)/ for 1020 gility NFLC learning facilitators on the EGR integrated learning. (445 LFs and 80 state partners)
1-3-1-4 Conduct 5- day refresher 26 8 34 Access Chartwell Bauchi 5 2019-11-04 2019-11-08 training for 80 (40 per state) master and Fragil- Hotel trainers on EGR and NFLC/AGLCs ity Management Bauchi
2-3-2-16 Support SUBEB to 331 12 343 Reading LGEA LGEA 3 2019-11-20 2019-11-22 provide 3-day training of MTs to train (non-ICT equipped) SSOs on coaching / mentoring
2.3.2.14 Support SUBEB to select 214 29 243 Reading ATAP Bau- Bauchi 4 2019-12-16 2019-12-19 and provide two, 6-day EGR chi trainings to qualified MTs (replaces 2.3.2.7)
2-5-3-9 Conduct training of EMIS 18 3 21 MEAR Chartwell Bauchi 3 2019-10-31 2019-11-2 Officers and state master trainers Hotel on ICT based LEMA / School data collection, data management and reporting Bauchi
1.3.1.5 Conduct 9-day training (8 340 145 485 Access LGA Clus- Sokoto 9 2019-11-27 2019-12-05 days for LFs and 1 day for mobile and Fragil- ters money)/ for 1020 NFLC learning ity facilitators on the EGR integrated learning.
1-3-1-4 Conduct 5- day refresher 29 1 30 Access Dankani Sokoto 5 2019-11-04 2019-11-08 training for 80 (40 per state) master and Fragil- Guest Pal- trainers on EGR and NFLC/AGLCs ity ace Management Sokoto
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2-3-2-5 Support SUBEB to provide 2250 680 2930 Reading Reading LGEA 4 2019-09-30 2019-10-08 4-day Continuous Professional Cluster Development on EGR for teachers (Round based on the evidence gathered 1&2) Sokoto
2-3-2-16 Support SUBEB to 387 35 422 Reading LGEA LGEA 3 2019-11-09 2019-11-11 provide 3-day training of MTs to train (non-ICT equipped) SSOs on coaching / mentoring
2-3-2-16 Support SUBEB to provide 14 3 17 Reading Dankani Sokoto 4 2019-11-11 2019-11-14 3-day training of MTs to train (Non- Guest Pal- ICT equipped) SSOs on Coaching/ ace Mentoring and Monitoring Sokoto
1.3.1.3 Train 30 SAME Scheme 28 2 30 Reading Tahir Guest Kano 3 2019-12-11 2019-12-13 Organizers on monitoring coaching, and Ac- Palace mentoring and establish dashboard cess and Fragility
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