Programme for Education Results in Zanzibar (PERZ)

The Government of Zanzibar has applied to Sida for funding of 50 million SEK to support the implementation of the Zanzibar Education Development Plan (ZEDP) during the Tanzanian fiscal years 2021/2022 to 2025/2026. The intervention is a result-based program in education that is expected to contribute to keep children in school and to improve learning outcomes by strengthening the national education systems. The payment for results approach means that payments are made retrospectively against certain predetermined results. The extent to which the results, which are measured through so-called Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs), are achieved determines the size of the disbursements. The disbursement-linked indicators have been chosen based on the assumption that certain factors in particular contribute to achieve improved education results. The indicators are well aligned with the national priorities as stated in the  the Zanzibar Education Development Plan (ZEDP). The three key Results Areas identified are: RA1) Improved learning environment in schools by supporting schools to meet minimum requirements to function properly RA2) Institutional Strengthening and capacity building of implementing Ministries, Departments and Agencies RA3) Implementation of the new Curriculum and learning assessment approaches These identified areas, with their associated disbursement-linked results (DLIs) will strengthen the functioning of systems as to ensure efficient, equitable and evidence-based planning that delivers necessary inputs to schools and ensures continual improvement in learning outcomes. The DLIs are expected to lay the foundation of systemic results-based management approaches and systems for education service delivery. As disbursements are linked to the achievement of tangible and verifiable results, this approach provides the government with incentives to achieve key program results and improve performance within the sector overall. The intervention is aligned to priorities in the Strategy 2020-2024 which includes the result "Inclusive and gender equal education and quality lifelong learning, focusing particularly on girls and young mothers". The intervention supports the theory of change that Sida developed as a starting point in the operationalisation of the strategy: Through a strengthened education system, girls, boys, women and men, will have better knowledge and competence which gives more life choices, possibilities to make informed decisions and conditions to provide for themselves and their families, as well as becoming active, democratic citizens. The Swedish strategy allows limited cooperation with state actors, which in this case is assessed as necessary to support the development of a sustainable education system in Zanzibar. Working through the government system in this program implies that the Swedish support will reach approximately 320 000 children in pre-primary- and primary schools in Zanzibar. The intervention’s total budget is 50 million SEK, which equals to 3% of the total required basic education development budget during the five-year program. The main recurrent budget provided by the central Government for the sub sector is teacher remunerations.