Use of government-to government resources to enable improved provision of decentralized school support

• In Event: Where the system meets the school: The role of middle tier leadership in supporting improved foundational literacy and numeracy

Proposal

The management of education at grassroots level and the role of school principals and teachers in improving school performance in reading and mathematics constitute a powerful lever in the Ministry of Education's (MEN) quality management system in Senegal. The education system needs to align central and decentralized capacity to support school-level efforts to improve outcomes. This presentation aims to answer a series of questions such as:
- How do actions taken at the district level (IEF) influence the leadership of school principals?
- How is the MEN building capacity at the decentralized level to support school level improvements in teaching and learning?
- How is the MEN promoting and ensuring alignment between the central and decentralized levels, with the aim of driving change to improve school results?
- Has the use of Government-to-Government funding enabled decentralized capacity for school supervision and support to be improved?
The national ministry of education (MEN) Education authorities are establishing a results-based management system that relies heavily on achievements at local level (region, district, school). The system then examined the forms of organization and the roles assigned to its various players, starting with: (i) teachers; (ii) school principals; (iii) inspectors at the district and regional levels.
Under the Lecture Pour Tous (LPT) project supported by USAID, the region of Saint Louis piloted the use of Government-to-Government (G2G) funds to support decentralized provision of school support services. Under the current USAID-supported program, RELIT, seven regions will be using G2G funding to enable them to plan, manage, and monitor school support services and the resulting improvements in teaching and learning.
The discussion will focus on examining how the region of Saint Louis was able to use G2G funds to plan for and carryout improved school support services (e.g., the provision of teacher and student materials and regular coaching of teachers). It will also examine how the experience in Saint Louis under LPT led to USAID and the Government of Senegal agreeing to expand the provision of G2G funding to six additional regions. Of interest will be:
• What enabled Saint Louis to make effective use of G2G funds?
• How consistently and with what degree of quality were school support services provided in Saint Louis?
• What capacities will need to be developed to help Saint Louis and the other additional regions make effective use of G2G funds?
A joint institutional capacity assessment carried out through collaboration between the MEN and the RELIT program revealed some constraints to systematic assurance of effective school support services at the decentralized level. For example, the assessment identified significant constraints such as the lack of clear job descriptions that emphasize school support, absence of established criteria for minimum levels of support, and individuals with limited knowledge and skills for supporting early literacy acquisition in national languages. The presentation will examine the capacity building investments proposed to address these constraints, including the framework that will be employed to monitor the extent to which capacity is strengthened and the provision of school support services is improving.

Authors

• Aby Ndao Ndeye, Directorate of Elementary Education

• Cheikh BEYE, RTI International