Improving access to the promise of secondary education in Senegal – Evaluation of a USAID Middle School Construction Program

• In Event: Comparing Equity and Access

Proposal

Education provides an opportunity for individuals and their families to improve their living and working conditions. While estimates of out-of-school children in Sub-Saharan Africa remain high, initiatives since 2000, including the Education for All Fast-Track Initiative made significant progress towards goals of complete, quality, primary education for all children (Theunynck, 2009). At the same time, increased demand has resulted in strained capacities, particularly, infrastructure (Theunynck, 2009). While much attention has been paid to the construction of primary schools (see studies that include Lehman, 2003; Theunynck, 2009; and Kazianga, Levy, Linden & Sloan, 2012) there has not been as much focus on the subsequent level. Attention to the middle school level is particularly essential. Without sufficient and appropriately located middle schools, even the most successful students may not have the possibility to continue their studies and attain a brighter future. This presentation highlights a middle school construction program in Senegal that represented a unique government-to-government partnership between USAID and the Senegalese ministries of Education and Finance.

The Fixed Amount Reimbursement Agreement (FARA) school construction activity in Senegal operated between 2007 and 2016 and. One of the requisites for constructing a middle school complex within a given community was the pre-existence of a school utilizing temporary structures such as borrowed elementary classrooms, warehouses, and/or community constructions of questionable quality that might also be made of plant-based materials. The program constructed 46 new middle school complexes and the established 30 water points in 11 regions of the Senegal. School constructions followed a holistic standard school model with administrative offices, classrooms, laboratories and separated bathrooms.

This final evaluation sought to understand how the construction and equipment of new middle schools and the establishment of water points may have affected the access and retention of students at the secondary level. This presentation will focus solely on two of the five evaluation questions most pertinent to the conference theme of problematizing in/equality:

a. Question #1: What evidence is there that the FARA mechanism is pertinent in building the capacity of the education system?

b. Question #5: To what degree has the FARA activity favored access to and continued attendance at middle schools for boys and girls? What has worked well? What has not worked?

Research Methods

The evaluation utilized a mixed-methods design that focused on half of the middle schools (23) constructed with USAID funding as part of the FARA school construction activity including 10 that received water points. At these schools, the team spoke with principals and conducted observations of the school buildings and water points to gain perspective about the maintenance of the structures. At 12 of the 23 schools, the team facilitated several additional qualitative activities that allowed a deeper understanding of collaboration and community engagement. In addition to visiting the schools, the evaluation team met with key informants at ministries and with USAID/Senegal. In total, the evaluation team discussed the effects of the school construction program with over 350 stakeholders. This evaluation also paid special attention to how these newly constructed middle schools and water sources may respond to the differing needs of girls and boys. To the extent possible, the evaluation team disaggregated data by gender.

Results

Analysis of findings demonstrates that the school construction activity improved the capacity of the educational system to respond to the needs of surrounding populations by providing high quality and efficiently constructed physical structures, thereby resulting in the increased safety and comfort of students and school personnel. The number of students attending the middle schools involved in the program improved greatly when compared with the student population previous to construction. Part of the program’s success is also due to the provision of equipment to schools. Increased capacity and closer ties to the local community have allowed some schools to reincorporate children who had previously left school. At the same time, problems persist at many of the schools that limit the positive effects of the schools. Most notably, in many cases, student populations continue to exceed the appropriate classroom capacity of the new constructions, requiring temporary structures. Similarly, upkeep and maintenance issues pose serious threats to the sustainability of school complexes.

Significance

This evaluation makes a significant contribution to the field in providing information about a unique program that aimed to address a crucial gap in middle school access while simultaneously actualizing government-to-government collaboration. Lastly, the evaluation results provide information to USAID, as well as other funding organizations, about strong practices as well as actionable recommendations for future school construction programs.

References

Lehman, D. 2003. Bringing the school to the children: Shortening the path to EFA. Education notes. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/791691468743692215/Bringing-the-school-to-the-children-shortening-the-path-to-EFA

Kazianga, H., Levy, D., Linden, L., Sloan, M. (2012). The effects of "girl-friendly" schools: Evidence from the BRIGHT school construction program in Burkina Faso, Discussion Paper series, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, No. 6574. Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor. Accessed from http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-201301213963.

Theunynck, S. (2009). School construction strategies for universal primary education in Africa: Should communities be empowered to build their schools? Washington, DC: The World Bank. Accessed from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/109291468007863249/School-construction-strategies-for-universal-primary-education-in-Africa-should-communities-be-empowered-to-build-their-schools.

Author

• Karla Giuliano Sarr, SIT Graduate Institute