The Impact of Technical Assistant Project on Improved Capacity and Performance of the Education Systems in Nigeria

• In Event: Localization in Education and International Development

Proposal

The technical assistant (TA) approach is one of the social/community development approaches. It relies mostly on experts to support the partners at the conceptualization phase, planning phase, implementation phase, evaluation phase, scale-up phase, or through all these phases. The project is an educational support project with a TA approach funded by an international development agency to facilitate the strengthening of the education system toward a sustainable improvement in reading outcomes in early grade classes in public schools.

The project approach is to work with the whole national system (state, LGEA, community, school, teacher, child) through planning, mentorship, monitoring for efficiency, well-being, and motivation to attendance. To ensure effectiveness, there is a need to review and strengthen the institutions, organizations, and individuals within the national and sub-national systems. The project will be contributing to the global indicator, CBLD – 9, through a self-assessment approach of the educational institutions in Bauchi, Sokoto, and Adamawa States. The assessment is conducted through a triangulated approach combining a review of background documents (desk review), interviews, onsite organizational systems review, and focus group discussions.

The Institutional Capacity Assessment provides a general overview of institutional capacity to support Early Grade Reading reforms. This was conducted through a participatory process and facilitated government institutions to identify areas within their own organizations that require support to foster the performance and sustainability of EGR reforms. The tool gathers data on an organization’s capacity along a broad range of performance parameters, called domains. A total of 54 institutions are assessed across three states, and the assessment is to be conducted at the baseline, mid-line, and end-line every two years. A capacity measurement index will be used to classify the performance capacity of the institutions using domain weight. The effect is that the process allows for self-reflection and a means to empirically gather information as well as determine progress.

Authors

• Saheed Salawu, USAID LEARN to Read by CREATIVE Associates

• Amy Deal, Education Development Center EDC