Yei Education Programme

Background

ACROSS is a Christian NGO operating exclusively in Southern Sudan. It first came into existence in 1972, and over the years it has changed its approach focusing on capacity building and training. The various activities it currently carries out e.g. Education, Community Health, Household Food Security, Radio, Publishing, Theological Education, Adult Literacy, and HIV/AIDS Awareness, are an effort to empower the churches and communities and help promote transformational development.
Yei Education Programme was started in 2001 after an assessment done in November 2000 which identified two main needs in the education sector: need for trained teachers and school materials. According to the assessment, most of the teachers were volunteers who had very little or no training. The schools were under-staffed, especially in areas where teacher support was poor. Yei education programme was therefore started in response to the needs mentioned with the following objectives:
To establish a consistent quality Teacher Education and Training Programme in Yei River County and develop local expertise to sustain it
To improve the performance of teachers and the quality of teaching in the primary schools
To decrease the lack of school materials in primary schools and help them to function better
To improve performance of the primary school supervisors of the Yei River County and enable them to do a quality job, as well as assist in the monitoring process.
To ensure Christian witness cuts across all the activities of YTTC.

Purpose/objective

To assess the results or factors leading to impact and sustainability in relation to the programme While there was a plan to have the programme evaluated after completing the first two phases in order to inform the future strategic direction, but after signing of the comprehensive peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and SPLM, there was a need to remain relevant in the rapidly changing environment to be dynamic and proactive in addressing the emerging needs in the education sector.

Methodology

Participatory approaches were used, with different stakeholders involved in the evaluation. Methods used included document review, interviews, focus group discussions and stakeholders' workshop.

Key findings

(a) Effectiveness
Majority of the programme objectives have been met, namely:
- Yei Teacher Training College (YTTC) building has been constructed
- 134 teachers have received in-service teacher training courses (134 have completed phase I, 90 have completed phase II and 46 have completed phase III)
- Teacher-train-teacher local workshops have been conducted and many teachers have benefited. (For example 531 teachers were trained after the 1st phase II teacher training course)
- Up to 40 supervisors have been trained on supervision of schools, monitoring system and school management.
(b) Relevance
Yei Education programme interventions have been relevant to the communities and beneficiaries. Analysis of the current needs also confirm that the same needs the programme has been addressing are still there and remain relevant to the beneficiaries.
(c) Efficiency
The view of the evaluation team is that the programme resources have been utilised efficiently and for the purposes intended.
(d) Impact
Yei Education Programme has made positive impact in the area they were to cover. However given the vastness of the area covered and magnitude of the needs the programme has been addressing, the impact would have been greater if the area of interventions was more focused.
(e) Sustainability
The communities, church and other stakeholders have been involved and participated in some aspects of running of the programme. There is a sense of ownership of YTTC by the stakeholders. These are good signs and this is likely to lead to sustainability.

Recommendations

1. YTTC should conduct Organizational Development with clearly defined Management and Governance structures in preparation for handover.
?? Develop a Vision, Mission and Core values of YTTC
?? Prepare a long-term plan, taking into account the rapidly changing environment
?? Develop clear policies and systems
?? Set up a functioning office separate from that of the base.
2. Transform the current Advisory committee into a full Board of Governors, which is more inclusive and build their capacity
3. Expand YTTC capacity in line with the agreed strategic direction
4. Review the staff terms and conditions of service to ensure good HR practice is maintained
5. Revise the current courses offered by YTTC in line with Secretariat of Education policies
6. In order to have more impact, it may be necessary for YTTC to consider focusing on few selected schools and cover a manageable area. At the moment YTTC is a bit thinly spread.
7. YTTC considers expanding by networking and collaborating with other NGOs in the areas relating to the Education Sector. YTTC may need to initiate a networking forum where they could share/discuss issues of common interest and benefit in the Education Sector.

Comments from the organisation

After submission of the final report, a follow up visit was made in May 2006 to discuss the evaluation findings at individual organizational level with the project stakeholders. It was also agreed that the findings be shared at a workshop among all the seven education partners of Strømme Foundation in Southern Sudan which was later moderated by PRECISE Communications, the consultant for the evaluation in order to find ways to correct the shortcomings as well as incorporate good practices into the work plans in 2007. Further training, facilitation, administration and technical support needs were identified for further action for the partners including developing new strategies to meet the challenges. This process has been very useful as it involved partners in understanding their performance levels and ways to improve.