The assessment is that EPforR contributed to the development of new systems, data collection and analysis. The programme helped put in place strategies, guidelines, systems, procedures, and tools that support the institutional strengthening of MoEST and PO-RALG. MoEST and PO-RALG both reported that the programme has significantly increased their focus on results and the use of evidence-based data in that regard. The fact that the EPforR has supported the collection and management of actual data has reportedly mitigated against the fear of failure amongst Government employees by ensuring that relevant data are now publicly available.
One of the key successes of the programme has been the integration of the Cambridge
Education Technical Assistance Support (TAS) team within the Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology (MoEST) and the Presidents Office, Regional Administration
and Local Government (PO-RALG). This provides support for a sustainable institutional
development. The TAS team's experience demonstrates that working side-by-side with
ministry people on challenges in the education system prove more effective than advising
at distance from the donors office. The programme has become well
embedded in MoEST and PO-RALG and continues to remain aligned with GoT
administrative systems. This creates strong ownership and thereby improves the potential
for sustainable results.
While the achievement of different DLIs have varied, especially with the fee-free
education policy having a large abrupt effect, the trend for total released funds have been
increasing. The improvement is both due to better education systems and quality
education, but also a result of the learning curve for managing Results-based financing
and utilizing foundational DLIs. Therefore, it is expected that investments both in
capacity development and in systems building during the first years have an exponential
effect on the release of funds later on in the programme. The quality of data used in the national education system has improved and the EMIS (Education Management Information System) is now one of the best in the East Africa region. Before EPforR began in 2015, the EMIS suffered with problems such as accuracy, duplication, simplicity. Data was simplified and did not offer a basis for improving the following school year. With specific DLRs introduced with the
programme, there was a clear incentive to collect comprehensive information through an
annual school census exercise. These data sets would then be used for the of the annual
Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR), which contains information and analysis
of a number of key decision-making metrics.
Improvement in the system for distributing the capitation grant where the grant now
goes directly to the schools, in a timely manner as a rule (almost 20 000 schools). This has
made it possible for schools to plan ahead according to their individual needs, improving
the quality of education. The system of disbursing the grant on a set date each month has
embedded and will prove very difficult to be reversed in the future.
The programme has put and remained the focus on the learning and results of the
students. One example is the improvements in early grade learning outcomes with
national average for reading correct words per minute (cwpm) in Oral Reading Fluency
assessment among Grade 2 students increasing from 17.9 to 22.3 cwpm between 2013
and 2019, another being learning outcomes in numeracy skills with the percentage of
students achieving Grade 2 minimum numeracy skills increasing from 8.2 percent (2013)
to 17.1 percent (2019) (data from co-founding partner World Bank implementation
report on Big Results Now in Education, 2022).
With the fee free education policy being put in place in the early years of the programme,
it was evident how quickly classrooms and schools became over-crowded. 3,700 new
classrooms and 6,500 new toilets have been built - but carried into the second phase of
the programme was the understanding that this is nowhere enough.
