Review of Norwegian Support to Basic Education in Zambia through Civil Society Organizations

Background:
Norad has been supporting the education sector in Zambia through various Norwegian Non- Governmental Organisations. Norwegian Church Aid is one of those Organisations who started receiving support towards its education programme from the Norwegian Embassy in 2003. The NCA educational programme has had strong focus on raising awareness.

Purpose/ Objective:
Norad engaged an internal team to undertake a mapping and review exercise of basic education in Zambia, through civil society organizations supported by Norad and the Norwegian Embassy in Lusaka. The findings will be used by NORAD to recommend and analyse proposals and reports on educational sector from Norwegian Non-Governmental Organisations.

Methodology:
Field visits with semi-structured interview guides were used by the review team in meetings and discussions with NGOs and partners to acquire information throughout the field visit. Interviews of local representatives from the NGOs, schools, PTAs and authorities were carried out
The team also observed classroom activities and acquired knowledge through program documentation. Meetings were also held with the Norwegian Embassy, UNICEF and the key development partners as the Dutch and Irish Embassy.

Key Findings:
In terms of value added by NCA to the education sector, the evaluation reveals that NCA had strong capacity to support the Organisation’s education strategy. The NCA programme filled in the gap not met by Government in the education sector through church societies by supporting church led schools and the concept of community schools. The lack of the education as strategic priority in NCA global strategy has been viewed as a weakness on the part of continuing the programme in Zambia.

In terms of cost efficiency, the low cost approach to community school infrastructure with communities contributing a certain amount towards construction made the education programme efficient in terms of material usage, i.e. cost of constructing a community school using the cost sharing approach was less than the approach by Government for putting up similar structures.

Recommendations:
• The model of using community schools is an efficient way of meeting dire needs of schools and  teachers in rural areas but the approach must be defined through an agreed upon framework and guidelines and follow a legal framework.

• Norad should continue to supporting the Norwegian NGOs who are still working in the education programme as education is fundamental to the fulfilment of national development, human rights good governance and poverty reduction

Comments from Norwegian Church Aid (if any):
The statement to say the educational capacity is no longer in NCA is not a true reflection of the situation in the Zambia country office. Similarly talking about the phasing out strategy, NCA has provided a gradual phase out strategy through private donor support to some community schools after phasing out from the education programme. In terms of school infrastructure development, NCA still has the capacity to monitor construction works as before, or rather, better than before.