Midterm Evaluation of USAID Senegal’s Passerelles Program

• In Event: Bridging Learning Opportunities: Evidence from a Multi-Modal Intervention to Improve Formal Education Models, Learning Environments, and Out-of-School Student Performance in Southern Senegal

Proposal

The USAID/Senegal Passerelles Activity for out-of-school children and youth (Passerelles-OOSCY) finalized its third year of implementation of its 4 main components –Classes Passerelles, Ecole Communautaire de Base, Da’ara Communautaire, and professional training. All serve as complementary basic education opportunities to communities. This 5-year project (2018-2023) aims to increase the access of out-of-school boys and girls (ages 9-16), in 4 regions in Southern Senegal, to a quality relevant education that develops essential life skills. An external midterm evaluation is timely to identify the contributions of Passerelles to several outcomes of interest.

NORC at the University of Chicago has been commissioned to conduct an external performance evaluation of Passerelles-OOSCY from November 2021 to June 2022. This evaluation focused on five areas of interest:
● Effectiveness of Passerelles-OOSCY interventions in the formal educational system at elementary to increase enrollment and retention, and bridging out-of-school interventions to promote transition and incorporation into the formal education model;
● Relevance of local educational opportunities supported by Passerelles-OOSCY to the community context;
● Timeliness of Passerelles-OOSCY to help young students and OOSCY navigate the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic;
● Adequacy of Passerelles-OOSCY to work with quranic schools and parents with preference for Community Daaras in diversifying curriculum and promoting incorporation into the formal educational model; and
● Equity in the access to educational opportunities supported by Passerelles-OOSCY.

NORC’s mixed methods approach combines quantitative and qualitative techniques required to answer a variegated group of evaluation questions related to the five areas described above. Survey data was collected from 1,278 household surveys, administrative student records of enrollment from 106 schools; 59 key informant interviews with regional and local educational inspection authorities, principals, schoolteachers, and Daara maîtres; and 32 focus group discussions with parents, youth, and the implementation team.

Primarily, the analysis focuses on identifying any differences in elementary school enrollment and retention between communities where Passerelles-OOSCY has been implemented and those where the activity has not been present, and with reference to the 2017 OOSCY Study. The midterm evaluation also compares the attitudes and perceptions community members, local religious school leaders and youth have about the educational opportunities available in their communities, also by area of intervention. By comparing measures of awareness, attitudes, and perceptions from the rich data of the 2017 OOSCY Study with the new wave of data collection, this evaluation will also document any changes on these indicators between 2016 and 2022. The study also aims to document the role of Passerelles-OOSCY in formal and non-formal education structures as tools for children and youth to navigate the economic and social challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The triangulation of results and the rich qualitative data from program participants supplemented the evaluation with important sources of program learning.

Author

• Carlos Echeverria, NORC at The University Of Chicago