Girls Education South Sudan (GESS)

Transcription

1 Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) Quarterly Progress Report QPR Q April 2014 Government of South Sudan/ Department for International Development (DFID) Mott MacDonald, Amsterdamseweg 15, 6814 CM Arnhem, PO Box 441, 6800 AK, Arnhem, Netherlands T +31 (0) F +31 (0) W

2 Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) Quarterly Progress Report for Quarter 1, January 31 March 2014 Government of South Sudan/ Department for International Development (DFID) DFID South Sudan British Embassy Juba EU Compound-Tongping Block 3K-South Plot 82 North of Government of South Sudan Ministries Complex South Sudan Mott MacDonald, Amsterdamseweg 15, 6814 CM Arnhem, PO Box 441, 6800 AK, Arnhem, Netherlands T +31 (0) F +31 (0) W

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4 Issue and revision record Revision Date Originator Checker Approver Description Apr 2014 Nic Ramsden Apr 2014 Nic Ramsden 3. 1 May Patricia Schwerzel 2 May 2014 Nic Ramsden This document is issued for the party which commissioned it and for specific purposes connected with the above-captioned project only. It should not be relied upon by any other party or used for any other purpose. We accept no responsibility for the consequences of this document being relied upon by any other party, or being used for any other purpose, or containing any error or omission which is due to an error or omission in data supplied to us by other parties This document contains confidential information and proprietary intellectual property. It should not be shown to other parties without consent from us and from the party which commissioned it. 4

5 Content Chapter Title Page List of Abbreviations 1. Executive summary table 5 2. Challenges and lessons Cross-cutting Challenges Lessons Output 1: Enhanced household and community awareness and empowerment for supporting girls education Challenges Lessons Output 2a: Cash transfers Challenges Lessons Output 2b: Capitation grants Challenges Lessons Output 2c: Practical support to education managers and teachers to improve the quality of education Challenges Lessons Output 2d: Community schools construction pilot Challenges Lessons Output 3a: Knowledge, Evidence and Research Challenges Lessons Output 3b: South Sudan Attendance Monitoring System (SSSAMS) Challenges Lessons Financial summary Detailed narrative report Key Contextual Developments Education Sector Developments Macro-Economic Developments Political, Security and Humanitarian Developments 20 iii i

6 4.1.4 GESS Interim Strategy Cross-cutting achievements this quarter Output 1 achievements this quarter Output 2 achievements this quarter Output 2a: Cash transfers Output 2b: Capitation grants Output 2c: Quality education improvements Output 2d: Community school construction pilot Output 3 achievements this quarter Output 3a: Knowledge, Evidence and Research Output 3b: South Sudan Attendance Monitoring System (SSSAMS) Annexes 35 ii

7 List of Abbreviations AET ADRA ACROSS AY BBC MA BCC BoG BMB MM BRAC BSI Caritas CH CBoSS CED CGA CM CY DFID ECS EMIS EU FHSS FY GEE GESP GESS GPE(P) GRSS GRS HARD African Education Trust Adventist Development and Relief Agency Association of Christian Resource Organisations Serving Academic Year British Broadcasting Cooperation Media Action Behaviour Change Communication Board of Governors BMB Mott MacDonald Building Resources Across Communities Budget Strengthening Initiative Caritas Switzerland Central Bank of South Sudan County Education Department Charlie Goldsmith Associates Community Mobilisation Calendar Year Department for International Development Episcopal Church Sudan Education Management Information System European Union Food for the Hungry South Sudan Financial Year Gender Equity Through Education General Education Strategic Plan Girls Education South Sudan Global Partnership for Education (Programme) Government of the Republic South Sudan Government of the Republic of Sudan Hope Agency for Relief and Development HE His Excellency IMED Improved Management of Education Delivery JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KER Knowledge Evidence & Research LSS AI Local Services Support Aid Instrument MNO Mobile (phone) Network Organization MoEST Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (from August 2013) MoFCEP Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Economic Planning (from March 2014) MoFCIEP Ministry of Finance, Commerce, Investment and Economic Planning (from August 2013 to March 2014) MoFEP Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (to July 2013) MoGEI Ministry of General Education and Instruction (to July 2013) MoLPSHRD Ministry of Labour, Public Service & Human Resource Development (from August 2013 to March 2014) iii

8 MoTPS MTPS NEF NNGO ODI PARs PFM PSAs PTA QPR RDF RSS RS SA(s) SALF SSNLA SSSAMS SSP SSUDA TA UMCOR UNDP UNESCO UNICEF U/S USAID VfM VSO WB WFP WI Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services Ministry Telecommunications and Postal Services National Education Forum National Non-Governmental Organisation Overseas Development Institute Pupil Admissions Registers Public Finance Management Public Service Announcements Parent Teacher Association Quarterly Progress Report Resource Development Foundation for Africa Republic of South Sudan Republic of Sudan State Anchor NGO(s) Standard Action Liaison Focus South Sudan National Legislative Assembly South Sudan School Attendance Monitoring System South Sudanese Pounds South Sudan Development Agency Technical Assistance United Methodist Committee On Relief United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation United Nations Children s Fund Undersecretary United States Agency for International Development Value for Money Volunteer Service Overseas World Bank World Food Programme Winrock International iv

9 1. Executive summary table Logframe Indicator Impact 1: Gender parity index for primary and secondary schools Impact 2: Girls pass rate at Primary Leaving Examinations and South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education Impact 3: Average scores on learning achievements Next milestone target 30 Sep 2014 Pri = 0.68 Sec = 0.46 PLE = 58.5% SSCSE = 58.5% Current level of progress against milestone target at end of quarter reported on 31 Mar 2014 EMIS 2013 shows: Pri = 0.64 Sec = 0.47 Data not yet fully available Brief explanation of current level of progress (Unless otherwise stated, Q1 refers to Jan-Mar 2014, Q2 to Apr-Jun 2014, Q3 to Jul-Sep 2014 and Q4 to Oct-Dec 2014.) EMIS 2013 data is almost a year behind this report and is pre-dec 2013 conflict outbreak. With the current conflict in South Sudan enrolment of both genders likely to decrease, though boys may be hit harder if they are recruited to the army in higher years. Gender disaggregated results data for the Primary Leaving Exam (PLE) and the South Sudan Secondary School Certificate exams sat at the end of AY2013 are not fully available yet. Primary data is held at SMoE level, whilst secondary data is held at MoEST level. Data will be available to report on this indicator in the next QPR. TBD N/A Learning assessment baseline not yet completed (see Output 3.2 below). Learning quality likely to fall due to disruption of the education sector in much of Activities planned in the next quarter to continue progress (Unless otherwise stated, Q1 refers to Jan-Mar 2014, Q2 to Apr-Jun 2014, Q3 to Jul-Sep 2014 and Q4 to Oct-Dec 2014.) SSSAMS 2014 enrolment data will be available by QPR , giving a more accurate up to date picture of the gender parity index following outbreak of current conflict. Gather remaining exams data to report accurately on pass rate. Pass rate reported on will be end of AY2013 (i.e. pre-conflict pass rate). The effect of the conflict on the pass rate will only be seen in early 2015, and it will be difficult to isolate GESS impact on the pass rate, if at all. Targets to be set after completion of baseline and more rigorous analysis of the impact of the current conflict on the education sector, including 5

10 in Maths and English South Sudan since the current conflict began in Dec numbers of schools still operational, and enrolment and attendance data for Outcome 1: Weighted average promotion rate for upper primary and secondary (P5-S4) M = 75.8% F = 75.2% T = 75.5% EMIS 2013 shows: Male = 63.4% Female = 58.8% Total = 61.8% EMIS 2013 (data from May 2013) comparison to EMIS 2012 (data from May 2012) gives some information, but data is almost a year behind this report and is pre-dec 2013 conflict outbreak. 2013/14 promotion figures from SSSAMS not yet known due to delayed start of AY2014 and therefore delayed enrolment and attendance reporting. EMIS 2013 figures show considerably lower promotion rates than targeted, even before the current conflict. The promotion rate can therefore be expected to get still worse in SAs will finish getting PARs back and uploaded during Q2 so SSSAMS 2014 data can be used for more accurate reporting on this indicator. Historic data will be looked at to determine whether the target is now achievable or not in the changed context of South Sudan. Outcome 2: Number of girls enrolled in upper primary and secondary (P5-S4) P5-P8 = 87,000 S1-S4 = 18,000 EMIS 2013 shows: P5-P8 = 105,085 S1-S4 = 14, SSSAMS data being gathered (see Output 3.3 below). EMIS 2013 enrolment down from EMIS 2012 in primary and secondary. Future targets likely to be affected by consequences of the current conflict, including disruption to school term dates, destruction, closure and/or occupation of schools, large numbers of displaced students leaving some schools and enrolling in others in host communities or dropping out of schools. As above, PAR return and Data Entry is accelerating rapidly with 945 returned and 541 already uploaded to SSSAMS as at 17 Apr By end of Q2 2014, we expect to be able to give reasonably comprehensive 2014 enrolment data from SSSAMS rather than relying on the EMIS 2013 enrolment figures which date from around May Outcome 3: Average girls attendance rates at upper primary and secondary (P5-S4) TBD depends on SSSAMS success 32 schools had made a report in the last 30 days as at 17 Apr 2014, out of 541 schools with data entered in SSSAMS. (See also Output 3.3 below) Start of AY2014 delayed in many locations: schools cannot report on attendance before they have finished enrolment and completed a PAR. Reporting process streamlined to enable reporting to begin as soon as the PAR is returned. CGA has also been working with SMS aggregators to improve the reliability of the freephone lines to which schools send their reports. A strong communications push will be made in Q2 that schools cannot expect second tranche capitation grants or cash transfers to be released without attendance reporting evidence from comparison with CGA s implementation of a very similar system in Rwanda shows the strength of this incentive effect. Better data expected in QPR Outcome 4: Percentage of adults in the sample study who TBD depends on baseline being BBC MA broadcasting to an estimated 1.483m people Positive findings from two rounds of qualitative audience research (Juba Nov 2013 and Aweil Apr 2014), during which target audiences were played various episodes of Our School, reinforced the Work undertaken towards the baseline fieldwork in this quarter includes contracting an agency and training enumerators to carry out data collection, design and cognitive testing of the questionnaire. 6

11 place importance on sending girls to school (N.B. Baseline to be conducted in Q ) determined through a partner network of ten radio stations across seven states in five languages. potential impact the programmes may have on individual attitudes towards education and encouraging key supportive practices (particularly IPC). Output 1.1: Number of adults reached with girls education radio outputs No target for 2014; 1.4m by 30 Sep 2016 Based on current audience estimations radio broadcasts are reaching 1.483m people through ten radio stations in seven states. (This does not include stations in Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei, which have been off air in Q ) Radio programmes went on air from w/c 10 March. Broadcasting is now weekly on ten radio stations across seven states in five languages. Seven state producers completed two episodes each: The benefits of education and How to budget for education. Each episode was broadcast at least twice, making 28 broadcasts by the end of Q1. Two phone numbers are provided for people to phone or text into the programme. This is to enable audience interaction and immediate feedback. The partner radio stations are collecting this feedback and reporting it to BBC MA. SAs were trained in how to facilitate listening groups, provided with solar powered MP3 radios, and given the radio programmes to play in community settings in their states to improve the reach of the programmes. Negotiations are ongoing with Radio Miraya to broadcast the Arabic programme through their nationwide relays the whole country, as are negotiations with Internews to broadcast on Radio Mingkaman to reach IDPs in Lakes State. Jonglei FM expected back on air by July 2014 and will be included in the network of broadcast partners. Twitter account for Our School to be launched, linked to programme downloads: better access by social media users as well as other national and international stakeholders. Mobile strategist to be recruited to design a mobile phone outreach strategy. All available partner radio stations to participate in five day workshop to produce PSAs on capitation grants and cash transfers giving them the capacity to produce PSAs from the end of Q2 on health and education topics, to be widely and regularly broadcast. Output 1.2: Number of bomas reached with community mobilisation activities 20% of bomas Community Mobilisation (CM) activities had not really started in Q All progress towards this target will be in Q2 and Q Four SAs have submitted full CM strategies to date. The remaining four SAs set out their strategies in a more simplified quarterly work plan, which has been reviewed and commented on by BBC MA. State Anchors trained in March on establishment and facilitation of listening groups; provided with a facilitator s manual and discussion guides for the Recruitment of a full time national staff member and an international consultant to produce a CM strategy for the entire GESS project. Recruitment of a dedicated outreach expert to work with BBC MA team and SAs on the development of SA CM strategies and work plan for the strategies implementation. 7

12 accompanying programmes; introduced to techniques to turn content from radio programmes into street theatre/dramas in community settings or facilitated discussions, and how to use IEC material provided by UNESCO. Pre- and post-training evaluation forms completed, showing increased understanding of the different types of outreach activities, and specifically how to facilitate a listening group. State Anchors will be provided with up to eight original programmes for use with their listening groups. Output 1.3: Percentage of people in the sample study who demonstrate awareness and understanding of elements of the school system that support girls education Baseline TBD; no target for 2014; +5% from baseline by 30 Sep 2016 BBC MA broadcasting to an estimated 1.483m people in the seven states which are virtually conflict free. Positive findings from two rounds of qualitative audience research (Juba Nov 2013 and Aweil Apr 2014), during which target audiences were played various episodes of Our School, reinforced the potential impact the programmes may have on building audience knowledge and awareness of key elements of the school system. Episodes of Our School which were broadcast this quarter include themes on how and when to register a child, what are the benefits of education and how to budget for education. Contracting an agency and training enumerators to carry out data collection, survey tool design and cognitive testing of the questionnaire will move baseline work forward. Fieldwork will start in June First quarterly discussion programme is scheduled for May 2014, focusing on understanding capitation grants, while an episode of Our School will look at how schools are using the capitation grants. Further episodes in Q2 will look at the ways in which school mentors can help support girls staying in school. Output 2.1: Cumulative number of unique, individual girls receiving one cash transfer 50,000 (all paid by GESS) 144 girls received cash transfers in the pilot in Lainya County, CES, in late SSSAMS data is identifying girls eligible for cash transfers. The lack of Mobile Money regulations/formal exemptions for pilots is forcing GESS to move to back-up payment execution options for Due to delays to M-Money regulations, GESS is now working on the basis that most payment execution in 2014 will be either through school bank accounts or using banks and money transfers as payment agents. A cash transfers operationalisation paper, updating the strategy for the details of rolling these payment execution methods out at scale, is being finalised and will be presented to the Technical Committee in early In Q2, girls in eligible year-groups identified through SSSAMS enrolment will be enrolled and verified as recipients before receiving transfers. Payments releases will be through the monthly approvals meeting already being used for Capitation Grants. SAs will be trained on details of Cash Transfers processes in early May. SAs will only be involved in payment execution as a very last resort. GESS is looking at the option of GESS contracting the Mobile Money regulations to speed up the process. 8

13 May 2014 for approval. Output 2.2: Cumulative number of schools receiving one capitation grant 2,800 primaries (paid by GRSS); 200 secondaries (paid by GESS) To date: 1,463 primaries; 113 secondaries; 1,576 schools in total have been approved for capitation grants. 552 schools had received the first tranche of their grants as at early April Schools in eight out of the ten states have been approved for capitation grant release already; PARs (2013 or 2014) have been uploaded for 2,758 schools, and budgets had, at early April, been received for 440 schools that needed minor amendments before approval. MoEST has waived the bank account requirement for schools in the three severely conflict-affected states, to ensure maximum opportunity for them to benefit from this national programme, and are also making adaptations to allow Low-Cost Private Schools, which are an increasingly important part of the education landscape, particularly in urban areas, to access capitation grants. GESS will continue to work with SAs and SMoEs to support schools in passing the hurdles for capitation grants, and in using the funds and accounting for them well. GESS is supporting MoEST on engaging with MoFCEP re budget provision for capitation grants for FY , and on options to allow schools to continue to access 2014 capitation grants in the second half of 2014 (i.e. within FY a relaxation of the arrangement planned in the strategy paper, reflecting the delayed and uncertain start of Academic Year 2014). Output 2.3: Cumulative number of schools receiving full package of community-based school improvement programme No target for 2014; 1,000 schools to receive all five pillars of the package by 30 Sep 2015 >2,100 schools with school governing bodies (SGBs) + developing school development plans (SDPs). Other activities yet to start. Emphasis was put on preparing schools to access school capitation grants and enable the schools to lead their own development. Activities related to the other pillars of this output are still at the development stage, and are planned to reach schools throughout the rest of Continue to set up and build capacity of SGBs to undertake school development activities linked to improved learning outcomes. Prepare school mentoring programme to roll-out. Finalise analysis of TNA and begin development of a school-based teacher professional development programme. Collect examples of low cost teaching and learning materials used and developed by schools Map Payam Education Supervisors and develop a capacity building strategy for them. Output 2.4: Cumulative number of classrooms constructed using community pilot school No target for 2014; 20 classrooms by 30 Sep 2015 No classrooms constructed to date The Community School Construction Pilot (Output 2d) has effectively been on hold since December This is due to (i) lack of a Steering Committee since 1 Nov 2013 to allow discussion of the proposed method between MoEST and DFID, and (ii) the current conflict prompting DFID to suggest de- A Steering Committee will be held in Q2 at which DFID plans for de-programming this output and re-allocating funds to other areas of GESS will be discussed with MoEST, and a decision reached on whether to proceed as planned or not. 9

14 construction model Output 3.1: Cumulative number of relevant research and evaluation studies conducted and disseminated to policy makers Output 3.2: Maths and English Learning Assessment administered to representative sample of schools programming this output. 3 studies In progress As at early April 2014, the schools survey is in progress, with fieldwork on schedule to be completed (at all accessible schools) in early May Payam and County survey tools have been prepared and are being rolled out. Education baseline national PFM survey fieldwork will be completed in April 2014, and the results will be presented to Education LSS TWG in early May The household survey tool is being finalised, and will be rolled out in May learning assessment conducted Assessment not yet conducted Due to the timing of school terms, the most suitable time for a comparable learning assessment across South Sudan is the start of Term 3, i.e. September As a result, the achievement of this target may slip slightly by one month, owing to the constraints of the academic year. Schools survey first-cut report due by early May 2014, covering the seven accessible states and those parts of the other three that SAs deem safe to reach. The PFM survey will be completed in April 2014, with a draft report to be presented in early May 2014 to LSS Education TWG. During Q2, Forcier will devise and roll-out the state-level survey tools. During Q2, arrangements will be finalised for a new team to take over the Learning Assessment following EfC s withdrawal from the programme (see previous QPR) after successful piloting of all tools, including Learning Assessment materials, save state-level survey. Output 3.3: Percentage of primary and secondary schools with SSSAMS reporting attendance of pupils and teachers regularly (at least twice in the previous month) 50% of schools where SSSAMS is established Of the 2,700 (61% of the total) schools enrolled on the SSSAMS system, 305 made at least one report in schools had made a report in the last 30 days as at 17 Apr 2014, out of 541 schools with data entered in SSSAMS. (See above for progress in PAR distribution, return and upload.) Registration in some schools, and entry of data, is ongoing, and reporting to date reflects this. The low number of reports from 2013 is unsurprising, as the majority of schools enrolment data was received after the end of the school year. New tools to speed up both uploading and data entry have been designed. First reports from schools are expected before end April from at least seven states. CGA expects to see well over 3,000 schools data uploaded by end Q2. As set out above, capitation grant and cash transfers requirements give increasingly strong leverage for schools to report regularly and truthfully on SSSAMS, and SAs are now well-experienced and resourced to support this. 10

15 2. Challenges and lessons 2.1 Cross-cutting Challenges The changed security context of South Sudan in early 2014 was the greatest challenge that affected all GESS outputs in some way for full details see below sections, GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun 2014, and CGA Operationalisation of Cash Transfers note. Women and girls have formed a disproportionately high percentage of the displaced people following the conflict, which will most likely have a major negative impact on girls education. See following sections for details on the effects to the various GESS outputs likelihood of remaining on time and on target. The disbursement of GESS staff to different locations outside of Juba in January and February 2014 made Interim Strategy planning and coordinated implementation of the programme extremely difficult from a management point of view. Weekly Management Meetings (WMMs) ceased in their usual form, although various meetings were held in BMB Mott MacDonald HQ in Arnhem, Netherlands, as well as in Kampala, Uganda. WMMs have only really begun again in Juba towards the end of Q1 as increasing numbers of GESS staff returned permanently to their duty station. GESS monitors have not been able to make any field visits to GESS implementation sites outside Juba in Q1, though constant contact has been maintained with SAs by phone and meetings in Juba. State Anchors were also affected in similar ways to the above two points. SAs covering the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr El Ghazal regions managed to open their state capital offices more or less on time following the Christmas holidays in mid-january However, those SAs covering the Greater Upper Nile region have not been able to return permanently to their state capitals or counties to date: o In Bor, FHSS is using office space in the UNMISS compound at the airport having had their office completed destroyed and looted. FHSS are heavily involved in the humanitarian effort with non-gess funding, so are ensuring as strong a presence back in Bor as possible. o In Malakal, the FHSS office was similarly destroyed and looted. FHSS personnel have been returning only sporadically as the security situation allows, using UN accommodation. Renewed fighting in Upper Nile towards the end of Q1 became another setback to normalisation of operations. o In Bentiu, the Windle Trust office was destroyed and looted. Windle Trust is not a humanitarian NGO, but still sent first staff in to assess the situation in early February Remote management of the Unity State programme by their Juba-based offices/staff has been the norm though, especially after renewed fighting in Bentiu at the end of Q1 and start of Q2. Relations with MoEST at national level have remained strong, and national MoEST officials have been understanding of the setbacks to GESS to date. However, MoEST has suffered cuts to some of its budget and the desertion of close development partners such as VSO. The assumption that GRSS will play its counterpart role in some programme areas such as school inspection and supervision policy development has therefore fundamentally changed, 11

16 and GESS cannot replace all lost capacity and support without a serious look at its own staffing and budget. It has been difficult for some State Anchors to maintain close contact with their SMoE counterparts in some places, other than by phone. SMoE relations in a few cases have been strained due to the delay in GESS implementation for political, security or other reasons of physical inaccessibility. For example, the Western Equatoria SMoE was highly critical of the political delays to confirmation of GESS continuation in early January, whilst the Unity SMoE has been putting Windle Trust under pressure to return to Bentiu, despite the highly volatile situation Lessons Interim management arrangements, by management personnel not permanently in Juba but often in remote locations outside of South Sudan, for a programme as complex as GESS is not really a viable long term option, and should be avoided in future if the security situation allows for it. Face-to-face sharing and coordination meetings are essential for smooth, agreed, coordinated implementation, whether happening in usual duty station or elsewhere. A permanent GESS management team in place from May 2014 will help enormously in this regard. SAs understanding of the complexity and interlinked nature of the different GESS outputs has been vastly improved in Q through a series of face-to-face briefings and meetings with the GESS Secretariat: individual meetings in late January followed by training sessions in February and an all-sa workshop in March following by more individual planning and budgeting meetings in late March. In future SAs will be brought together once a quarter for experience-sharing and planning, whilst all planning and budgeting meetings must contain Output Leads and Financial staff together for joined-up SA understanding of GESS intentions. 2.2 Output 1: Enhanced household and community awareness and empowerment for supporting girls education Challenges The conflict which began in December 2013 caused relocation of international and local staff. The BBC MA office opened formally with a full staff complement on 11 Feb In this period there was a suspension of production of the Our School radio programme in compliance with DFID requests for low-key activities only. Production of the programme resumed in late February. Conflict has forced some of our radio station partners off air, or to suspend local language programming due to the sensitive nature of broadcasting in single languages, especially Nuer. Conflict continues in the three states of Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei. This has significantly affected the three staff members who are the producers for these states. The state producer for Jonglei is relocated to Juba as of January The state producer for Unity was in hiding until able to travel to Juba at the beginning of April 2014 while a third, the producer for Upper Nile, remains in hiding in northern Jonglei. Low capacity of nationally recruited producers remains a challenge which is being addressed on an on-going basis. Due to the suspended operations, a development workshop scheduled for January 2014, focused on the radio programme production, was postponed. To strengthen our response to this challenge, in this quarter BBC MA s London-based editorial development team were mobilised to provide more intensive assistance with production, taking account of the changing nature of the context. Lack of staff to work specifically on Community Mobilisation (CM). CM specialists to work on the overarching GESS CM strategy and to provide CM direction and support to the SAs will be recruited in Q2. Research to measure the baseline was delayed due to the conflict. This resulted in the time available for fieldwork being pushed into the wet season. A solution is now being developed 12

17 in order that the research can proceed at an earlier date. Field work will be conducted in June 2014 and the baseline data will be available in September Lessons Mobilising international production support to ensure the quality of the programmes at an early stage in production in order to compensate for the low level of skill in-country. Developing editorial and technical quality assurance processes further to make them more robust. Ensuring the radio programmes more visibly support other areas of GESS while bearing in mind the BBC s need for editorial independence to safeguard impartiality. The schedule of broadcasts now includes a programme on capitation grants and cash transfers and a discussion programme on capitation grants. The radio outputs are also working in tandem with the mentoring programme so that both radio and IEC materials can be used by mentors to address common themes. Further discussion is needed with Output 2, specifically 2c, to find synergies and shared strategies. Supporting State Anchors more in terms of input to their strategic plans, operational work plans and budgets. This has been carried out in an ad hoc way with BBC MA assisting for example our Research and Learning team training State Anchors in late March on facilitating listening groups. A UNESCO trainer taught SAs how to use IEC materials in peace building and life skills. Further discussion is needed with the education cluster to ensure we are not duplicating CM efforts and to share materials where possible. The need to develop an overarching CM strategy for the consortium and discussions are being held to move this forward quickly and effectively. First actions have already been taken to identify national and international expertise to support the production of a CM strategy. The need for MoEST to be more systematically included in the programme reviews, and such inclusion has resulted in some good feedback; consortium members need give quick, constructive feedback to BBC MA to ensure that any concerns are tackled early. 2.3 Output 2a: Cash transfers Challenges The primary challenge is the delay in the development and issue of Mobile Money regulations by MoFCEP, CBoSS and their technical support from the World Bank: a 45-day consultant was due to be appointed in November 2013, following an advert in October GESS has so far waited against assurances of progress that proved not to be worthwhile, and will now move forward with alternative payment execution options, as well as looking into directly funding the consultancy work to support MoFCEP and CBoSS in making the regulations. GESS has also had discussions with CBoSS re a specific exemption to allow GESS to act as a trial for M-Money. Current enrolment and data entry will show, by end-may 2014, how the crisis has affected the prospects of achieving the 50,000 girl milestone target for Sept We know that women and girls are disproportionately represented among the internally displaced and refugees. Some of the internally displaced will have found new schools to enrol in, but some will certainly have dropped out of schooling. An option that has been raised is to extend the programme to include P5 pupils, given the dramatic drop-out after P5 shown in historic EMIS data: however, the much larger scale of P5 than P6 means that this option would have significant affordability consequences for GESS and increase the affordability challenge of transitioning cash transfers to GRSS funding in the latter years of the programme and for the future. 13

18 2.3.2 Lessons The review of the Lainya pilot found that girls receiving cash transfers spent them on education-enabling items, and had received minimal interference from relatives in how they spent the funds. Almost all the girls who received cash transfers in the pilot were found back to school in 2014, and all said that they wanted to remain in school. One girl who received a cash transfer has been forced to drop out of school and get married due to pregnancy, but said that she would return to school after delivery. 2.4 Output 2b: Capitation grants Challenges Due to the security situation and issues of accessibility, some states are lagging behind in numbers of schools approved for capitation grants, with a small number of schools approved to receive in Unity State, and none in Upper Nile and Jonglei states. Efforts need to be made to ensure that the largest possible number of schools are able to access capitation grants, both for the direct educational benefits, and to maintain the national character of the programme. The security situation has not only affected schools ability to qualify for capitation grants, but for schools in Unity State it has also affected their ability to physically receive the funds safely. Following the destruction and looting of banks in Bentiu in December 2013, no electronic fund transfer has been available in Unity State in Q Those schools in Unity State that qualified for capitation grants have therefore had their funds deposited in their accounts, but the accounts have been inaccessible in Bentiu, leading to consideration of option of withdrawing funds from banks in neighbouring Warrap State and physical carrying of cash to Bentiu. MoFCEP-GRSS decision to transfer capitation grant funds through State Ministries of Finance, rather direct to schools (as GESS does for secondary schools) is delaying the process of schools accessing their money after its release from the National Treasury; in some places, charges are being incurred due to the transfer of funds between multiple bank accounts. While the quality of budgets submitted has been generally excellent, logically many of the most competent schools were among the quickest to submit: at present, while more than 1,500 schools have had their grants approved, as at early April 2014 more than 400 further budgets had been received but not yet recommended for approval, either because they did not balance or contained unit costs that needed revision. South Sudan continues to have uniquely limited access to financial services, with no M- Money and few bank branches, making it challenging for schools to access their grants. Engagement with the commercial banks on capitation grants has driven forward branch openings and outreach work by banks, and has secured remarkable commercial data, showing that, for no more than USD 40,000 per branch coverage of upfront costs, it would be possible to secure from at least one commercial bank the opening of a branch in any secure County town. The team have worked hard to draw this opportunity to the attention of potential funders, given its potential to be transformative not only for the education sector but also for economic development of South Sudan Lessons Education officials (at National, State, County and Payam levels) enjoy being associated with grants that improve the educational environment, giving them an incentive to keep working with schools on capitation grants. Their involvement in the process has led to a feeling of ownership, in turn promoting transparency due to added checks and balances on schools. Public communications on capitation grants, led by MoEST rather than the project, have created a virtuous circle in this regard. 14

19 Capitation grants are having a self-evident impact, effectively addressing the needs of schools and giving motivation to parents, pupils, teachers and education officials to work to improve education quality. Early indications are that parents remain willing to contribute to schools as a way of complementing capitation grants. Early indications are that, where capitation grants were secured early, and registration fee removal was thus straightforward to achieve, enrolment has increased in some instances dramatically as a result of minimised registration fees and increased investment in schools. Kajo-Keji County saw an exceptional performance by the SA County partner, ECS Diocese of Kajo-Keji, in getting school budgets submitted in January from almost all 101 schools in the County, and has seen strong enrolment growth, successful removal of registration fees, and schools also growing enrolment as IDP families move to Kajo-Keji from less tranquil parts of the country. The two-tranche method of disbursement motivates schools to spend their first tranche well in expectation of receiving the second tranche: the quality of reports and ledgers produced by the pilot schools in Lainya was good, and their second tranches have now been approved. In order that all school may have a good chance of accessing a second tranche, GESS is working with GRSS colleagues to make minor but important revisions to arrangements on disbursement timings, so that AY2014 capitation grants can continue to be disbursed in July- December 2014 (part of FY ). MoEST has taken steps to make it easier for schools that are open in conflict-affected areas to access funds by waiving the requirement to have a bank account for these schools for State Anchors support to schools physically accessing their money will need to increase in conflict affected areas and those areas remote from bank branches for example Bentiu schools that qualified for capitation grants requiring money to be brought to them from Warrap State, and IDP schools in Awerial County of Lakes State requiring money to be brought to them from Rumbek. Heavier levels of SA oversight will be required to correctly monitor the increased fiduciary risk situation. 2.5 Output 2c: Practical support to education managers and teachers to improve the quality of education Challenges Working at distance slowed down progress, as well as weakened participation of the government in development of various components of the programme. Momentum in developing the school supervision component has been lost (due to distance working and working in the absence of other development partners supporting the component namely VSO and GPEP). Progress on finalising the Teachers Needs Assessment (TNA) also slowed down, and governmental participation in finalisation of the research instrument was impossible at a distance. The TNA will now be completed in Q2 rather than Q1 as originally foreseen. Production of the mentoring manual has been postponed to enable revision of the content to align it to the post 15 December 2013 context i.e. include information on how to mentor possibly traumatised, displaced or orphaned pupils. The manual will now be finalised in Q2 rather than in Q1 as originally foreseen. More information on the changes to be made to the content can be found in the GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun Lessons Coordination of efforts with development partners and various stakeholders brings value to GESS: o Teachers Needs Assessment design was reviewed by a number of partners; this resulted in improving the quality of the research instrument, as well as the content of it. It 15

20 also allowed the GESS team to strengthen coordination with partners working on teacher training. o Review of the mentoring programme and mentoring manual with participation of development partners resulted in a decision to review the manuals so that they include instruction and practical advice on how to use available visual materials on topics included in the mentoring programme produced by other development partners. This revision will result in slightly delayed production of manuals for the mentors, but will also allow the GESS team to avoid duplication, expand the use of existing materials and take the mentoring programme a step beyond the traditional thinking that only girls are at risk, and include guidance on topics relevant to all learners: how to choose a career, how to negotiate time for homework, how to access funding for education, how to stay focused on learning in a challenging context, how to resolve conflicts, etc. o A wide range of perceptions sought during development of the Policy on School Governance was helpful in developing a well-rounded and accessibly written policy document. Inconsistence in governmental participation in Technical Working Groups hinders progress and capacity building efforts. Planning in advance can help in avoiding inconsistent participation of stakeholders in meetings. 2.6 Output 2d: Community schools construction pilot Challenges The theory of a community school construction pilot is still controversial within MoEST, being opposed by some, supported by others, and misunderstood by many who assume that it is a large permanent-buildings construction component of GESS, which it is not. The conflict since 15 December 2013 has prevented time being set aside when MoEST and DFID can discuss their differing views on this output ad agree a way forward. Given the magnitude of the crisis now affecting South Sudan, and DFID s political shift towards support of the humanitarian effort, there is mounting opinion that this output should be de-programmed and funds utilised elsewhere on the more immediate needs of the most affected areas of the country. However, as stated above there has been no opportunity yet to properly discuss this to date. Progress has therefore been lacking, and little action taken in this output to date Lessons If components of the original design are to be changed, adequate time needs to be set aside for these decisions to be made through the correct channels, with DFID taking a strong lead in partnership with MoEST. There is also an opinion that the full portfolio of activities originally conceived as the GESS design is too complex to implement simultaneously, especially given the changed context and re-emphasis on the humanitarian. De-programming this output would therefore serve to reduce the scope of simultaneous work required by GESS and the State Anchors and would free up staff time to concentrate on doing fewer things better in future. 2.7 Output 3a: Knowledge, Evidence and Research Challenges Education for Change (EfC), who had in Q announced their intention to hand over KER work, chose not to return to South Sudan in 2014 because they did not believe this was viable for them in insurance terms following the outbreak of conflict. As a result, responsibility for KER activities transferred on an interim basis to the CGA team, and then to Forcier Consulting slightly earlier than planned. 16

21 Some schools in the School Survey sample are not currently accessible: many of the surveys due to take place were in schools in the Greater Upper Nile area that are now inaccessible to SAs. Some SA training of CLOs in baseline surveys has been delayed due to not being able to mobilise CLOs to a suitable training location, for reasons of security. It is important that these schools remain in the sample, so that they can be included in 2016 and 2018 midline and endline, but this is going to affect confidence level and representative character for While in many areas the school year began on schedule, in some states schools have been later to start (owing either to insecurity or to normal seasonal migration patterns), with many continuing registration until the end of April This has delayed the roll-out of the school baseline survey in some states, either because schools were not open, or because critical path SSSAMS work needed to be prioritised. Payam and County surveys in the Greater Upper Nile Region will be not be able to be conducted in all Payams and Counties for security reasons, but will go ahead in Governmentheld counties, where possible Lessons The handover from EfC to Forcier has been comprehensive, and the transition smooth. Now that the handover is complete, swift movement on Output 3a is expected. Active engagement with the KER Sub-Committee is required throughout the programme, with the Sub-Committee meeting on a regular basis. The KER Sub-Committee will meet again, after a period away, in April A key lesson for GESS and MoEST from both the above points has been the need to work not only with direct counterparts, but to build an organic team with institutional memory. Two key MoEST KER contacts have moved on to new roles, one out of the country, making knowledge transfer to junior/rising staff from the planning team very crucial. Serious malaria also put one key Forcier staff member out of action, but Forcier were able to be resilient and deploy a junior member of staff to act up successfully. 2.8 Output 3b: South Sudan Attendance Monitoring System (SSSAMS) Challenges Some SAs have had staff absent from their states for some time in Q1. In the Greater Upper Nile region this has been largely to do with security (see above), but for others this has been due to staffing issues (BRAC in Lakes State, FHSS staff overstretch in Jonglei and Upper Nile) and having personnel in trainings in Juba. This has led to some states having a more difficult start to 2014, with limited support from their SAs for SSSAMS roll out. School calendars remain significantly different between the states (in particular, in pastoralist areas, rural schools generally do not open until the rainy season starts in earnest, and some schools are further delayed in starting the academic year due to the security situation), and state officials do not reliably encourage schools to follow the national policy and guidelines on term dates. Organisational capacity in schools is low, and in many areas, schools seem to be unable to combine teaching with ongoing pupil registration, only planning to commence classes when registration is complete (and thus leaving many children bored and idle). There remains no free SMS service on the Vivacell and Gemtel networks, which may discourage teachers using those networks to report though the SSSAMS team makes compensatory credit transfers; there are also some schools with no network coverage at all owing to their remote location, leading to paper registers having to be collected by SA personnel and uploaded in areas with mobile phone signal or internet. 17

22 2.8.2 Lessons Given the low capacity and negative incentives to SMS reporting of attendance, for April and May 2014 GESS has instituted a policy of a bounty of 1 SSP for every accurate report, and a double your money bonus for every school that sends five correct reports in a week. This illustrates the flexibility of the SMS reporting mechanism incentives can be adjusted in real time to ensure targets are met. Long term solutions still need to be found as to how to normalise attendance reporting cycles in schools where there is network coverage. SAs need clearer instructions on how to support SSSAMS operation in these areas, and more thought needs to be given to the sustainability of the system in these areas. 18

23 3. Financial summary Financial Overview Spending GBP Approved spending 1 Apr Sep ,050,000 Actual spend 1 Apr 2013 end of current quarter 31 March ,909,792 Proposed spending in next quarter 1 April June ,759,996 Cumulative spend to date 31 March ,909,792 Cumulative balance to date 45,140,208 For a detailed financial forecast for the lifetime of the project, reference is made to Annex 3. The overview also includes information of spending against forecast during this quarter. Financial overview spilt per sub-output GBP Output 1 Output 2a Output 2b Output 2c Output 2d Output 3 Total Approved spending Actual spend to end of current quarter, 31 March 2014 Proposed spending in next quarter 1 April 30 June 2014 Cumulative spend to date Cumulative balance to date 5,324,285 16,052,457 13,402,847 9,621,028 2,454,812 3,194,571 50,050, , , , ,069 53,148 2,096,114 4,909, , , , , ,035 2,759, , , , ,069 53,148 2,096,114 4,909,792 4,466,490 15,475,415 12,406,224 9,291,959 2,401,664 1,098,457 45,140,208 19

24 4. Detailed narrative report 4.1 Key Contextual Developments Education Sector Developments Much of MoEST s regular work and progress that was being made on a number of fronts in late 2013 has been delayed or has almost entirely ceased due to the conflict which began on 15 December Whilst it was publicly announced that schools would be re-opening in early February 2014, in practice many, especially in the three worst affected states of the greater Upper Nile region, still remain closed to date. Others have opened much later than scheduled, meaning enrolment data from these schools will be delayed further, especially from those that have been displaced to a new geographic location. Of the major education sector areas that have ground to a halt, the most significant for GESS is the area of school supervision and inspection policy development that was being heavily assisted by VSO before 15 December All VSO programming in South Sudan has now ceased, so MoEST will receive no further assistance in this area. GESS will of course continue to assist MoEST where it can and work with what is decided, but it cannot replace all development partners that have chosen to leave South Sudan without a serious look at staffing levels and budget. MoEST has also suffered from the re-assignment of GRSS funds originally earmarked for the education budget into the security sector, for example capital expenditure allocations to state and counties. The budget allocated to capitation grants to schools has, however, been ring-fenced by MoFCEP, which is highly welcomed by GESS. MoEST is making efforts to minimise the impact of the loss of earmarked resources on education delivery by lobbying GRSS who agreed to allocate funds to conduct a crisis assessment of education, to ensure that capitation grants are again budgeted for in FY , and together with Education in Emergency (EiE) partners push for payment of displaced teachers who cannot physically visit their home county HQ for paying by the military-guarded payment committees that have been set up. As a result, guidelines and procedures to pay teachers in IDP settlements and Protection of Civilian (PoCs) sites are being developed, and payment committees are being formed prioritising payment of displaced teachers on the payroll who are actively teaching, as well as payment of a standard allowance to EiE Volunteer Facilitators Macro-Economic Developments The conflict, which began in December 2013, has resulted in a generalised decline in economic activity and re-prioritisation of GRSS budget and expenditure, which in turn has impacted the delivery of some aspects of social services. GRSS funds have been redirected to address security concerns and some civil service salaries are being paid at reduced percentage and delayed for up to two months in some cases. With the interruption of oil production GESS expects the economic situation to worsen. It is not certain that GRSS will continue to allocate budget to the proper payment of teachers, operational costs for SMoEs and CEDs or capitation grants, despite current signs still being positive that they will Political, Security and Humanitarian Developments The political crisis and current conflict has added another dimension to an already challenging social services delivery context in South Sudan. Politically, the first quarter of 2014 has been dominated by efforts to resolve conflict and provide humanitarian assistance to those affected. A cessation of 20

25 hostilities agreement was reached on 23 rd January, however the situation remains volatile and unpredictable as fighting continues in some pockets of the country specially the Greater Upper Nile region, and ongoing historic seasonal intra/inter-communal conflicts continue in for example Lakes and Warrap State. With regards to humanitarian impact, by the end of March 2014 an estimated 800,000 people have been displaced internally and another 270,000 have been displaced to neighbouring countries. In early February 2014, South Sudan was declared a UN Level 3 emergency operation, which resulted in the UN and other development partners downsizing operations, reducing numbers of staff in country and redirecting funds to humanitarian assistance. As a whole, 3.7 million people, a third of the population of South Sudan, are at risk of starvation and disease as they were unable to plant this year and are exposed to the elements. For the education sector particularly, about 204,000 pre-school children, school-aged children, teachers and education managers were directly affected, either due to displacement, destruction of school infrastructure or use of school buildings as shelter or storage. Education institutions and partners were in no way prepared to provide the needed assistance, however efforts to set up Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS) in IDPs settlements and PoCs are ongoing despite concerns about funding gaps for EiE. As at the end of March 2014 only 11% of the affected 204,000 have been supported. Education partners have reported delays in the start of 2014 academic year due to the crisis, as well as a reported noticeable drop in enrolment and attendance of pupils, with girls participation, enrolment and attendance being even lower than normal, obvious reasons being displacement and/or concerns for their safety. In other affected areas where schools have managed to open, there is no or very little teaching taking place, as teachers have been displaced and/or have been resisting to teach due to lack to payment of salaries GESS Interim Strategy In response to the crisis, and on DFID s approval of the GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun 2014, the team has made efforts throughout Q1 to coordinate with MoEST and EiE partners to operationalise the interim strategy: State Anchors had the situation explained to them in late January None have been forced to return to anywhere they do not wish to be for security reasons, though all have been enthusiastic to return to doing what can be done, where safe to do so, as soon as possible. From February 2014, in seven out of the ten states (Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr El Ghazal), SA offices were open and operating as normal. In the remaining three states of Greater Upper Nile, SAs have been operating on a county-by-county basis depending on the security situation at the time, being highly flexible and security-conscious. GESS compiled a county-by-county assessment of the impact of the crisis on SAs, SMoE, CED and PEOs, which was shared with DFID and MoEST. Several re-planning and re-budgeting meetings were held with the SAs between late January and the end of March 2014 to ensure plans were aligned with the Interim Strategy and budget was available to carry out these changes to the programme. GESS has actively participated in EiE Cluster meetings at national level, and has strongly encouraged SAs to do so at SMoE level. The changes to the programme proposed in the GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun 2014 were discussed in a GESS Technical Committee (TC) meeting and a separate TC Working Group meeting to agree and make recommendations on how GESS is to address the humanitarian side of the crisis within its existing strategies. Below is a summary of the recommendations made. (For detailed information on how the GESS modalities will be altered to fit the new circumstances, see the relevant output section below, the GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun 2014, the March 2014 TC meeting minutes, and the CGA note on Operationalising the Cash Transfers.) 21

26 Output 1 a) Proposal: Radio programmes and community mobilisation activities to include peace-building messages. TC recommended: mainstreaming peace-building messages in radio programmes and community mobilisation activities in all the ten states. Output 2 a) Proposal: Cash transfers to be extended to vulnerable boys to de-incentivise recruitment in the army. TC recommended: as the possibility of doing harm by creating further conflict over receipt of funds and the possibility of boys purchasing weapons with cash was so great, this policy would not be pursued further. b) Proposal: Capitation Grants flexibility as regards the percentage parameters of expenditure to enable schools to deal with impact of crisis by spending on what they require e.g. support to IDP pupils/students, rebuilding of infrastructure, etc. TC recommended: flexibility on expenditure margins of capitations grants to schools affected by the crisis, as long as schools can provide a justification; waiving the requirement for Greater Upper Nile schools to have a bank account to qualify for a grant c) Proposal: Mentoring and other components to include trauma/psychosocial elements to support both girls and boys and provision of teaching and learning material to TLS as appropriate. TC recommended: this is a good way forward when and where relevant. d) Proposal: Community-based school construction funds to be re-programmed to support humanitarian response. TC recommended: further discussion on this proposal to provide reasonable justification for reallocation of funds under this output. Output 3 b) Proposal: SSSAMS to be extended to IDP settlements and TLS. TC recommended: moving forward with this immediately. 4.2 Cross-cutting achievements this quarter Steering Committee (SC) and Technical Committee (TC) meetings SC and TC meetings occurring this quarter Date of meeting Brief summary of agenda discussed 7 th TC 4 March 2014 General updates from each Output. Interim Strategy sub-meeting of the TC No SC this quarter A specific look at Greater Upper Nile the changed operating environment and how Interim Strategy proposals can be best addressed by the SAs in these three states. Further discussion of this was delegated to a sub-meeting on this topic specifically. Formation of a sub-group to meet specifically to approve or reject elements of the Interim Strategy. Further Q&A on capitation grants process by the TC. 7 March 2014 All proposals of the Interim Strategy discussed. Some approved for immediate go-ahead, others rejected, others require more evidence and planning. See above section and the meeting minutes for details. DFID, as co-chair of the SC, is reconsidering how the SC will work in future, given the political issues surrounding the UK s engagement with more political levels of GRSS than those involved in the TC. 22

27 GESS management and programme coordination Remote working in early Q1 Management and coordination suffered from the disbursement of the GESS team to different locations following the outbreak of conflict on 15 December Instead of reopening the GESS office in Juba on 6 January 2014 as planned, many staff remained outside South Sudan until late January or even February due to the threat of further violence in Juba and duty of care issues: BMB Mott MacDonald National staff kept the Juba office compound operational throughout and continued to support GESS throughout. International GESS staff remained outside South Sudan until 27 January 2014, though continuing to work remotely either from home or the Arnhem HQ. Meetings were convened in Arnhem in early January and much attention was given to Duty of Care arrangements before staff returned to Juba. All international staff did not return until late February BBC MA International GESS staff remained outside South Sudan until 27 January 2014, working from London before then and attending a coordination meeting with Mott MacDonald in Arnhem. National staff in many states were displaced to Juba or elsewhere and one is still in hiding. CGA National staff kept the Juba office open throughout and continued support to GESS throughout. A limited number of international staff returned to Juba on 6 January 2014 as planned, making short visits in-country at first. International staff also attended a coordination meeting with Mott MacDonald in Arnhem. Winrock All international staff were not allowed to work in South Sudan throughout Q1. National staff withdrew to Kampala, Uganda, in early January 2014, but thereafter returned from late January. Staff were not able to attend meetings in Arnhem and coordination was affected as a result. This early disbursement of staff made Weekly Management Meetings (WMMs) impossible to conduct in the same way as before 15 December 2013, and regular coordination was affected as a result. Weekly updates were sent by the Team Leader to the whole team from mid-january, following a coordination meeting in Arnhem, Netherlands, chaired by the Project Director. Once enough staff had returned to Juba in mid-february, meetings began to happen again in Juba on an ad hoc basis. Full regular management meetings will not really start again until Q Security and Duty of Care GESS takes this very seriously in the current circumstances. Since the end of January, Operations Manager Kate Louwes has acted as Security Focal Point for GESS in Juba, ensuring that the team, whether in Juba or outside the country receives the latest information on the fighting, the political situation, incidents in Juba, and where is safe to travel in country. Whilst each consortium partner has their own security policies and arrangements in place, information is shared between all organisations, and SAs have assisted in gathering more detailed information from the field from time to time. Field visits by GESS Secretariat personnel did not occur in Q1, though with adequate provisions such as travel in pairs, all land transport in GESS vehicles, and additional satellite phones, it is hoped that field visits to the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr El Ghazal regions will begin again in Q2. For detailed information on BMB Mott MacDonald s security procedures and Duty of Care arrangements, see the GESS Interim Strategy Jan-Jun State Anchor management SA coordination and briefing has improved in Q through more regular meetings with SA representatives, who were on the whole quicker at returning to South Sudan than the majority of the GESS team itself, showing the flexibility and resilience of the GESS design. Update and planning meetings were held with each SA individually in the last week of January 2014 in Juba, followed by trainings for KER in February. In March, all SAs were called for a two-day workshop in Juba for 23

28 sharing their experiences to date, outlining areas of concern to GESS, and more detailed briefings from the GESS Output Leads on expectations and plans going forward. All feedback received was highly positive. This was followed by further individual planning and budgeting meetings with SAs in the last week of March to finalise Q2 plans and budgets, taking into account relevant aspects of the Interim Strategy (see above). Community Mobilisation training was also conducted in the last week of March in Juba. In general, SAs now appear to have a much stronger knowledge and understanding of how the different GESS activities fit together, where they have flexibility and where they must await direction from GESS, and the overall aims of each of the designed outputs. Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring has been affected by the conflict. Duty of Care considerations have come before the need for field visits to implementation sites, and it has been difficult to induct the SAs to properly use the online Panoptic Reporting Tool (PRT for more info on how this works, see the GESS M&E Strategy Paper) due to pressures on them to re-plan their activities and urgently implement in a more challenging environment. Most M&E in Q1 has been conducted through verbal or contact between the GESS monitors and the SAs in Juba, though it should be noted that CGA personnel have been traveling extensively in the Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr El Ghazal regions that are largely unaffected by the conflict. All SAs did submit QPRs to GESS on time in early Q2 (see Annex 6 for a summary of each SA s progress by state), though it is taking more time to get them into the habit of uploading data to the PRT. This will be a major area of focus for Q2. The PRT itself has also been going through continuing stages of development in Q1, with indicators being adjusted and the information the system will display being decided upon. By QPR it is hoped that data on programme progress against logframe indicators will be available on the GESS website via the PRT, as well as key quantitative data on progress against targets being widely available for reporting in Annex 6 alongside the qualitative data and judgements that are currently available. DFID Annual Review In mid-march 2014 GESS was reviewed by DFID in its first Annual Review. Due to the conflict an independent reviewer did not travel to South Sudan to conduct the review, and instead the review was carried out internally by DFID Senior Education Adviser Richard Arden. GESS supplied Richard with up to date reports and material concerning programme progress, and Richard met with all GESS consortium partners individually, as well as with MoEST officials, to gather more information on progress. Overall GESS was graded A (on track), though Output 1 was graded C (significantly behind target) due to the delays in baselining and therefore inability to report against targets to date. There were a number of further extremely helpful recommendations. GESS has put together an action plan to move the Annual Review recommendations forward (for details, see this separate document). Management staffing changes in Q At the end of Q the interim management staffing put in place in October 2013 came to an end. Nicholas Ramsden, who has been Team Leader for the past six months in an interim capacity, will be handing over to a new senior management structure consisting of incoming Programme Coordinator Sally Haiselden, incoming Advocacy and Governance Coordinator Akuja de Garang, and incoming Deputy Programme Coordinator Emma van der Meulen. The splitting of the former Team Leader role between these exceptionally qualified and highly experienced women will ensure that the complex and numerous areas of GESS management will be more strongly supported by increased management time and expertise from Q2. All three GESS senior staff will be full time in Juba Coordination with other development actors IMED The EU s IMED programme, originally planned to give TA support to MoEST in Juba whilst supporting schools in the four states of Greater Bahr El Ghazal, was delayed by three months throughout Q1 due to the conflict, but towards the end of Q1 it became apparent that it would restart in Q2. As Mott 24

29 MacDonald, trading as Cambridge Education, has been selected as the management agent of IMED, this represents a major opportunity for joined-up education programming. Nick Waterman, incoming Team Leader of IMED, was in fact assisting the GESS programme during Q1, so is perfectly positioned to ensure excellent coordination. Discussions to date have proposed that some IMED funds are used for capitation grants to secondary schools in the four states of Greater Bahr El Ghazal, therefore freeing up GESS funds that were to have been used on these grants to potentially extend cash transfers to girls in P5 (though a proposal would be required from GESS on exactly how these funds should be used). Whilst the EU will not pay grants directly to schools as GESS does, an arrangement may be possible whereby the EU separately contracts the four SAs in the Greater Bahr El Ghazal states to pay these grants. Discussions are ongoing, but highly positive. GPEP Most UNICEF staff that were working on GPEP have been either absent from South Sudan during Q1, or unresponsive. Staff are slowly returning to South Sudan, and GESS will ensure contact with them once they are available, especially as GPEP is likely to have multiple demands on its funding from MoEST in the current circumstances. Room to Learn USAID has officially delayed RtL by a year, with activities now set to commence in AY2015. Realising that a lot of coordinated work will be happening in the education sector by then, RtL are keen to learn from GESS and coordinate with GESS activities. GESS is in a convenient position to coordinate with RtL as Winrock, management agent for RtL, is part of the GESS consortium. GESS staff were invited to an RtL planning workshop in Washington DC in early Q2 to share initial thoughts, and as Winrock international staff will be returning to Juba in the course of Q2 2014, and GESS will heavily engage with them then to map out a precise way forward toegther. Qatar Foundation There is a possibility of linking up with Qatar Foundation funding for girls mentoring through Western Equatoria State Anchor partner, Africa Education Trust (AET). This will be investigated further in Q2, though would represent a major victory in linking a DFID programme up with a non-oecd donor partner. Qatar Foundation also have funds for school construction, which will be interesting to try and link into at some point in the future. 4.3 Output 1 achievements this quarter No. Planned activity Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q in work plan 1. Review of programme content for Our School and development of PSAs BBC MA met the education cluster in Juba to gather information for a range of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for a back to school campaign. However, in light of the directive from DFID for GESS activities to stay low key, these were broadcast by GESS but the scripts were offered to our partner radio stations. PSA scripts were also written to support the capitation grants roll-out, and training is planned for our partner radio stations to be able to make their own education PSAs next quarter. A BBC trainer from the UK will lead a workshop that includes nine partner stations to make PSAs, specifically around capitation and cash transfers, but more generally on education. The workshop will result in two PSAs completed and ready for broadcast on each of the partner radio stations, and long lasting capability to support GESS with other PSAs. 25

30 2. Further production work to finalise programmes; forward planning for radio producers 3. Pilot of BBC MA research into community behavioural impact of radio and CM in early April; full-scale field research at the end of April/start of May 4. Feedback reviews and forward planning with GESS consortium, MoEST and stakeholders BBC MA brought in an experienced radio production journalist to Juba for three months from March to work more intensively on the day-to-day quality of the production. This has led to a revised format that includes more voices representing the target audience, is more engaging and better meets the standards of the BBC and GESS. Producers were brought to Juba in February 2014 for a low-key week of training and forward planning on the new topics. The first programmes went on air w/c 10 March 2014 and have been running every week on a total of 10 radio stations in seven states. BBC MA will continue to employ a senior producer to oversee the editorial and technical integrity of the production. A workshop in April 2014 bringing together UNICEF, UNESCO, the education cluster and the GESS consortium will look ahead to the next round of programmes and discuss what that content could be. Producers will return to Juba for a week of forward planning and training in May. It s hoped that at least two new radio stations will take the programme, while discussions with Miraya are still ongoing. BBC MA will work with partner radio stations A discussion with consortium members resulted in and state anchors to find and coach guests, capitation grants being decided on as the first topic for a finalise a discussion guide and talking points quarterly discussion programme. A draft of a discussion for the programme. guide was circulated to consortium members. This referred to the longitudinal qualitative baseline Work undertaken towards the quantitative BBC MA had planned for at this time. Research tools baseline fieldwork in this quarter includes and a questionnaire had already been developed, ready contracting an agency and training for fieldwork. However due to requests from DFID and enumerators to carry out data collection, the consortium to prioritise the quantitative survey, we design and cognitive testing of the have delayed qualitative fieldwork until the quantitative questionnaire. Fieldwork to start in June is finished in October On the quantitative, the six agencies which bid for the contract have been reviewed and a shortlist of three drawn up. A first draft of the questionnaire has been finalised. BBC MA has also contributed to the household and school survey being undertaken by EfC/Forcier. BBC MA has worked consistently with the social and behaviour change sub-committee of MoEST to provide input into the radio programmes. During the quarter BBC MA met three times with the sub-committee, sharing audio and scripts for each of the first three programmes. A further working group (including a member of the secretariat) met and listened as a group to the first two programmes and provided their input. The consortium takes part in a workshop on forward planning; monthly meetings will continue to be held with the MoEST subcommittee and consortium on radio programmes. 26

31 5. Community Mobilisation roll out Four State Anchors submitted CM strategies and received feedback input from BBC MA in Q4 2013, before the conflict. In Q1 2014, State Anchors were asked to review their strategies to take into consideration DFID s additional concerns around those who have been displaced. BBC MA has commented on these work plans and provided input where relevant. State Anchors (a CM focal point and CLO from each state anchor) participated in a workshop on facilitating a listening group and using IEC materials. They were trained by the R&L department of BBC MA and a UNESCO master trainer on how to use peace building and other life skills material. State Anchors were to return to their states, carry out a training of facilitators. State Anchors were given five radios each loaded with the first two programmes and discussion guides for both. An international consultant will be recruited to work with a national consultant to define and design an overall GESS Community Mobilisation Strategy, combining State Anchor plans with further suggestions. State Anchors will continue to roll out listening groups and other CM activities with input and advice from BBC MA team. 4.4 Output 2 achievements this quarter Output 2a: Cash transfers N o. Planned activity in work plan Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q

32 1. Review experience on identification and verification of girls in Lainya, whilst continuing to plan/advocate for cash transfers with GRSS, CBoSS and M-Money providers 2. Agree with stakeholder ministries on process of identification, verification and transfer of cash to girls GESS has supported MoEST on working with MoGCSW, and have helped them on providing material for the draft GRSS Social Protection Policy, setting out how cash transfers fit in with the wider set of plans of MoGCSW. Lainya pilot review: transfers were made towards the end of the academic year, and thus the pilot focused mainly on testing payment execution techniques, and the yearto-year retention effect, rather than in-year attendance. All but one of the girls are reported to have returned to school this year. SSSAMS enrolment data is identifying girls eligible for cash transfers. The focus in this quarter has been on SSSAMS progress, as critical path for this output see 3b below for details. The lack of Mobile Money regulations/formal exemptions for pilots is forcing us to move to back-up payment execution options for Before Christmas, CBoSS, MoFCEP and the World Bank shortlisted consultants to draft the legal framework for Mobile Money, but no one has been contracted to date. GESS is now working on the basis that most payment execution in 2014 will be either through school bank accounts or using banks and money transfers as payment agents (each school will be able to choose preferred method most logically through individuals receiving at banks/money transfer agents for urban, through school bank account for rural), building on the success of both these methods in the late-2013 pilot in Lainya. A cash transfers operationalisation paper, updating the strategy for the details of rolling these payment execution methods out at scale, has been prepared and will be presented to the early May Technical Committee for formal approval. SSSAMS remains the basis of identification of those eligible for cash transfers. Enrolment in SSSAMS remains strong (see Output 3b, below, for more information), with a projected 1m enrolments, across more than 3,000 schools, in Academic Year 2014 (to be delivered by end Q2 2014); of these, a targeted at least 50,000 will be girls enrolled in In Q2, girls in eligible year-groups identified through SSSAMS enrolment will be enrolled and verified as recipients (using the basic triplicate Cash Transfers Enrolment Form, and including verification of relatives receiving on behalf of U-18s) before receiving transfers. Payment releases will be through the monthly approvals meeting already being used for Capitation Grants. Releases are expected to begin from May SAs will be trained on details of Cash Transfers processes in early May but SSSAMS is the core way in. In April and May 2014, the GESS team will design training materials for SAs and SMoEs on Cash Transfers. GESS field staff will be trained as super-trainers and then through them SAs/SMoEs will be trained for full roll-out of cash transfers, repeating the cascade already successfully applied for SSSAMS, Capitation Grants and KER in SAs will only be involved in payment execution as a very last resort. While M-Money remains the best option for transfers, until regulations are finalised and the system is established, cash transfers will be made through school bank accounts. We are also looking at the option of GESS stepping in to contract the M- Money regulations directly. We have also had discussions with CBoSS about a possible exemption to regulation to enable GESS Cash Transfers to be a test implementation of M-Money. We will monitor and further support the process of cash transfers to girls, working with all stakeholders: SA, media, all levels in MoEST and MoFCIEP, Financial institutions. Organisational changes to the GESS team including Akuja de Garang s new government and public liaison role, and having added Jessica Gregson s extensive communications experience to the CGA team, puts GESS in a stronger place to deliver clear and positive communications. Roll-out of validation and verification ( Know Your Customer or KYC) processes for all eligible girls and monitor execution as per the cash transfers operationalisation paper to be presented at the early May Technical Committee. Discussion is ongoing with both GRSS and DFID with regard to expanding eligibility to girls enrolled in P5. The principal arguments in favour of doing so 28

33 P6 to S4 and thus eligible for cash transfers under the current model. EMIS 2013 showed 73,000 girls in these year groups, and a yearon-year reduction in enrolment across the board including attrition for non-compliant schools, this target is therefore potentially quite challenging. Discussion with MoEST of possible inclusion of vulnerable boys in the cash transfers programme, as a diversionary technique for keeping boys out of formal or informal militarisation, led to the conclusion that the risks of actively doing harm exceeded the potential rewards on offer. are that i) there may be / have been a drop-off in enrolment due to insecurity, ii) that this extension may be necessary to reach targets and counteract the current downward pressures on enrolment. A key issue to be discussed with GRSS is the extent to which extending eligibility might create a future affordability problem for GRSS, which is due to take over some transfers in , and may wish/come under pressure to continue transfers thereafter. As an example calculation, the cost in SSP of the cash amounts actually paid out in 2018 might be of the order of 23m SSP for P6-S4, and the additional cost of adding P5, of the order of 6-10m SSP Output 2b: Capitation grants N o Planned activity in work plan Train SAs and SMoEs on ToT for cash manageme nt for schools; transfer of tranche 1 / 2 / 3 capitation grants to eligible schools follow actual transfers ensure accountabili ty to SGBs of tranche 1 / 2 / 3 through SMoEs, CEDs, CLOs Progress in Q Resources at GESS and MoEST level have been focused on the implementation of capitation grants, with clear success in getting schools over the hurdles and receiving funds and accounting for them. GESS and MoEST are now moving swiftly to put in place systems and cycles for monitoring and analysing not only how funds have been spent, but what they have bought and the effects on enrolment and retention: this is a natural consequence of an agile implementation approach, rather than one characterised by lengthy up-front planning, and the highly transparent structure of the website lends itself to this incremental analytical sharing. GESS has been highly successful in the area of working with banks to further school bank accounts, with a number of SAs reporting that commercial banks are, at their own expense and risk, driving to schools to help schools set up bank accounts, and offering special products. Eden Bank have been particularly active in this regard, and have also responded to the increased resources going to Counties as a result of capitation grants with a programme of County Branch opening, which, in the last few months has included Mvolo, Renk, Terekeka, Tombura, and will shortly include Magwi and Kapoeta. GESS has also achieved the striking financial inclusion opportunity, from discussions with commercial banks, of assurances that for a maximum of USD 40,000 as compensation for upfront costs, a bank branch can be opened in any County Town. We have tried to matchmake between this potentially transformative financial inclusion offer, and institutional donors, so far without success. A report on the Lainya capitation grants pilot is being finalised, as now that 2014 enrolment data is coming in GESS is able to analyse the effect of investment on enrolment for pilot and control schools. Preliminary reports from Holy Cross and Lokurubang schools showed enrolment increases Action in next quarter Q GESS will continue to support the monthly approvals and monitoring process with analytical and secretariat services. Processes not only for accounting for funds but for reporting what they have purchased are being put in place. A managed cycle of follow-up and support visits by SMoEs, CEDs and SAs, with a sampling cycle of inspection visits by MoEST and central GESS, is also being put in place. First and second tranches of GESS-funded capitation grants are presently planned to be paid out to 30 September. There will then be a firebreak of three months, to ensure 2014 grants are all accounted 29

34 (almost 20% at Holy Cross) and funds well spent. The majority of the pilot schools accounted for their funds by the end of March 2014, and have been approved to receive their second tranches. Training on cash management and accountability has been rolled out by a CGA team to each State, cascading through SMoE/CED/SA CLOs. States were trained as the first schools in the State were approved to receive funds from January Training on school governance bodies, school development plans, school budgets and cash management has now been undertaken in seven of the ten states. Schools will receive additional training on cash management prior to their receipt of funds. To date, 1,576 schools (1,463 primary, 113 secondary) in eight of the ten states have met the necessary requirements relating to accountability, transparency and financial management to be eligible for capitation grants, and 552 schools had received the first tranche of their grants as at early April A rigorous, transparent and inclusive process has been followed, in which data has been uploaded to budgets individually reviewed by the GESS team s financial specialist, and a monthly presentation made to the MoEST Approvals Committee, the body that approves schools for payment. For GESS-funded capitation grants, the GESS Secretariat finance manager then reviews the uploaded material before releasing funds to the secondaries. MoEST and GESS and MoFCEP (formerly MoFCIEP) teams have worked closely and successfully to ensure that capitation grants are prioritised for payment execution, nothwithstanding the current difficult fiscal circumstances. When SMoF-CES made a process error, our team spotted it promptly, and ensured that funds reached schools on time and in full, at a cost of just USD 60 of additional bank charges. MoFCEP has, in the fiscal circumstances, been remarkably prompt in honouring its obligations for primary school capitation grants, having paid out those approved in January and February, and expected to honour at least March grants before end April. GESS needs to keep pace in paying its grants to secondary schools. Work has taken place to review some of the hurdles for schools affected by conflict, to enable them to access capitation grants quickly for repairing conflict-related damage and catering for increasing pupil numbers due to displacement. In particular, the requirement for schools to have bank accounts has been waived for Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei, due to vandalisation and closing of bank branches in these three States. For those schools currently receiving tranche 1, the requirement to be reporting through SSSAMS was temporarily lifted, as most of those schools 2013 PARs had only been uploaded. Capitation grants are uniquely able to respond to increased pupil numbers due to displacement. SAs have been advised to instruct schools receiving large influxes of IDPs to submit details of newly arrived pupils to SSSAMS particularly promptly, so that capitation grants can be based on latest enrolments. for and closed out before Academic Year We are working with GRSS colleagues to ensure that second tranche capitation grants can continue to be paid out in this period, rather than there only being a six month Jan- June period (where FY and AY align) for payments out, as per the original design: this proposed change reflects the external delays to the programme in early 2014, but also allows a less peaked cashflow requirement, and makes it easier for SAs to spread their support workload. We will work to support MoEST and MoFCEP in preparations for Budget , including assessing whether an increase in the provision for capitation grants above 60m, to reflect projected enrolment growth, is needed. We have facilitated the process for an ODI Fellow, Duncan Cook, to join MoEST on a 60% time basis, on release from National Bureau of Statistics. He increases MoEST s resources for planning, budgeting and analysis, and will be key to the Budget process. Plans are in hand to simplify the school development plan template. 30

35 4.4.3 Output 2c: Quality education improvements No. Planned activity in work plan Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q Conduct inventory of school governing bodies. Draft School Governance Policy Continue setting up school governing bodies. Continue elaboration of school development plans. School governance policy drafted with participation of MoEST, CE SMoE, GPEP, headteachers and teachers. School governing bodies have been established in 2,131 schools. School Development Plans were elaborated in 2,131 schools. 5. Map school supervisors. Mapping of school supervisors coordinated with the baseline study (namely with County and Payam surveys). Mapping initiated Review of Teacher Needs Assessment (TNA) instrument. 8. Review mentoring programme and manuals for school mentors in participation of development partners, including Africa Education Trust (AET). 9. Initiate collection of samples of low-cost and no-cost learning materials already available at school level Draft capacity development strategy of SMoE and CED. Pilot Capacity Building Needs Assessment (CBNA) for SMoE and CED. TNA reviewed by MoEST, and development partners including RtL, UNICEF, ConnectTeaching, Education for Change, and independent consultants. TNA instrument finalised and prepared and approved for pilot. Discussions with development partners including AET, UNICEF (peacebuilding, life skills and communications teams), UNESCO and UNAIDS on mentoring programme conducted. Information on the possibility of inclusion of visual materials related to topics identified for the mentoring programme circulated within the partners. Visual materials produced for UNICEF life skills and peacebuilding curriculum, UNESCO EiE curriculum and UNAIDS reviewed and mobilised (but not in needed quantities yet). SA informed about the need to collect samples of low-cost teaching and learning materials already available at schools. CBNA instrument developed. CBNA instrument piloted. CBNA reviewed. Work on developing strategy for building capacity of SMoE and CED initiated. School governance policy to be validated with the decentralised government, and printed. School governance toolkit to be developed. Mapping of Payam Education Supervisors (PESs) to be finalised. Capacity building of a small number of PES to be conducted. Capacity building strategy for PES to be developed. Handbook for PES to be drafted. TNA approved by MoEST and conducted. TNA analysed. Operational plan for mentoring programme developed. Set of visual materials supporting mentoring sessions collected/developed. Manual for mentors on how to use available materials and how to discuss the topics included in mentoring programme developed. Samples of low-cost / no-cost learning materials for literacy and numeracy collected. Discussions with GPEP on learning materials for literacy and numeracy initiated. CBNA for SMoE and CED finalised. Working relationship with IMED and synergies between the two programmes established. Strategy for building capacity of SMoE and CED developed. 31

36 4.4.4 Output 2d: Community school construction pilot. No. Planned activity in work plan Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q No specific activities were planned in this quarter following holds-ups in the discussion process on this output s future. N/A A Steering Committee will be held to discuss the future of this output. 4.5 Output 3 achievements this quarter Output 3a: Knowledge, Evidence and Research N o. Planned activity in work plan 1. Train remaining SAs in baseline Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q Forcier Consulting took over KER from EfC, following EfC s difficulties in returning to South Sudan in 2014 due to insurance limitations. Forcier Consulting, by contrast, is based in South Sudan and has previously undertaken similar work. As other activities were higher priority in Q1 and CGA did not want to put too much pressure on the State Anchors at any one time, the School Survey rollout was not carried out in Q1 but will be carried out in early Q2. State-level enquiry tools will be developed in April/May The Household survey tool has been revised by Forcier, and will be finalised in April. A first-cut analysis of the School Survey will be available in mid-may, with the final report being produced in Q After six SAs were trained on school surveys in December 2013, the remaining four were trained in February 2014, in trainings led by the CGA team, in the interregnum between EfC and Forcier. SAs are conducting surveys and uploading to formhub throughout March and April 2014, with the first-cut report expected in May. 32

37 2. Roll out KER baseline in all the states, starting with four at first The baseline school survey has been rolled out in all accessible areas as schools have opened. As at the time of writing, at least one survey element had been uploaded for 140 of the 288 schools targeted, with more to come from Western Equatoria and Western Bahr El Ghazal states. First-cut results are due in mid-may. County and Payam survey tools are ready and being rolled out. The first annual Literature Review update has been completed and shared; the major development in the literature has been further studies showing the efficacy, particularly in African contexts, of cash transfers. Forcier is to administer the Household survey starting May County and Payam surveys are to be rolled out by SAs presently, and will be completed in Q2. Fieldwork for the PFM baseline survey will be completed in April 2014, and results will be briefed to LSS Education TWG in May PFM baseline survey report will be used to inform any possible modifications to cash transfer and capitation grants processes. No Output 3b: South Sudan Attendance Monitoring System (SSSAMS) Planned activity in work plan Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q Printing PARs The PAR template was revised for 2014, now linking pupils with the previous year s record, speeding up data entry and tracking retention or movement of pupils. Completed in Jan Distribute PARs to SAs 3. SA refresher training on PARs; continue to complete 2013 data entry PARs and DARs for 2014 have been distributed by SAs to schools, and are being returned. SSSAMS is being rolled out to new schools/temporary Learning Spaces in IDP camps, through the State Anchors. Data entry of 2013 PARs completed at the end of February 2014, and accessible for on-demand comparison on the SSSAMS website. No further action required No further action required. Data entry for 2014 projected to be complete by the end of May. No further action required 33

38 No. Planned activity in work plan 4. Support the process of SA distribution of PARs, collection of completed PARs, data entry of PARs, reporting of schools on SSSAMS through SAs, SMoEs, CEDs, CLOs and payam supervisors (ongoing, but should slowly be handed over to government counterparts). Progress in Q Action in next quarter Q SAs were briefed on SSSAMS 2014 in January 2014 in Juba. PAR and DAR distribution was begun promptly, and the CGA field team has spent extended periods in the field supporting, and in a few instances where necessary, capacity-substituting, SAs. SAs have been supported successfully to assume responsibility for data entry and upload processes. CGA has therefore disbanded its data entry factory some personnel have joined the CGA team working on GESS as junior consulting staff, others have moved across to provide experienced staffing to SA Data Entry teams. The Panoptic Reporting Tool (PRT online GESS database for quantitative monitoring of all outputs) was fully operational in January 2014, and SAs were trained on it in February Reporting of attendance for 2014 began on 3 March SSSAMS tools have been developed so that schools can start to report as soon as they have filled in their PAR i.e. before the PAR has been uploaded, provided that the PAR has been checked and an SMS sent by a State Anchor admin user. Free SMS reporting is available using MTN and Zain networks, with the cost of SMS sent from other two networks (Vivacell and Gemtel) is refunded through credit texted back to the sender. Vivacell are carrying out technical work to enable free reporting. Gemtel has changed staff and are starting SMS improvements. SAs have been asked to target for early support those schools with large pupil increases due to IDPs, so that schools capitation grants can be based on the increased numbers. SAs will be supported in ensuring that schools report regularly; solutions for schools in areas without network coverage (monthly catch-up reporting, paper reporting) will be rolled out with more support. Reporting rates need to increase to hit targets, and reporting incentives have been raised accordingly. The extension of SSSAMS to IDP camps, schools and TLSs is underway; EiE partners and the Education Cluster have been briefed, and SAs are planning roll-out to IDP areas in coordination with these partners. SSSAMS has been particularly targeting schools receiving large numbers of IDPs, given that their capitation grants can then be calculated based on the increased pupil numbers. 34

39 5. Annexes Annex 1: Annex 2: Annex 3: Annex 4: Annex 5: Annex 6: Logical Framework Work plan Detailed financial forecast and overview Technical and Steering Committee Terms of Reference Overview of Technical Assistance Days State-by-state progress update on State Anchor NGO activity 35

40 Annex 1 Logical Framework

41 PROJECT NAME IMPACT Impact Indicator 1 Baseline 2012 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Assumption Planned Primary GPI = 0.64 Primary GPI = 0.68 Primary GPI = 0.70 Primary GPI = 0.72 Primary GPI = 0.76 Primary GPI = 0.80 Secondary GPI = 0.42 Secondary GPI = 0.46 Secondary GPI = 0.50 Secondary GPI = 0.54 Secondary GPI = 0.58 Secondary GPI = 0.60 Transformed life chances of a generation of children in South Sudan, especially girls, through education Gender Parity Index (GPI) for primary and secondary schools Achieved Impact Indicator 2 Baseline 2012 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Girls' pass rate at Primary Planned PLE = 56.5% PLE = 58.5% PLE = 60% PLE = 65% PLE = 75.0% PLE = 80% Leaving Examination and SSCSE = 56.3% SSCSE = 58.5% SSCSE = 60% SSCSE = 65% SSCSE = 70% SSCSE = 75% South Sudan Certificate of Achieved Secondary Education Source MoEST Exams Secretariat and S-MoE Examination Department Impact Indicator 3 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Average scores on learning achievements in Mathematics and English Planned TBD after Maths and English baseline data on standardised test reports released Maths: +0.1 SD English +0.1 SD Maths: SD English: SD Achieved MoEST EMIS and SSSAMS EfC reports on learning assessment scores Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) v 10 October 2013 Source Source The government will provide a conducive atmosphere that will support the donor operation in contributing to the achievement of MOEST's strategic goal and the overall development goal of the nation. Abbreviations MoEST: S-MoE: GESS GPI PLE SSCSE EMIS EfC Ministry of Education Science and Technology State Ministry of Education Girls' Education South Sudan Gender Parity Index Primary Leaving Examination South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education Education Management Information System Education for Change Copy of GESS Logframe_final draft

42 PROJECT NAME OUTCOME Outcome Indicator 1 Baseline 2012 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Assumption Weighted average promotion rate for upper primary and secondary (P5 - S4) Planned M: 64.3% F: 62.8% T: 63.6% M: 75.8% F: 75.2% T: 75.5% M: 78.4% F: 78.8% T: 78.6% M: 80.8% F: 81.7% T: 81.2% M: 83.1% F: 85.2% T: 84.1% M: 85.5% F:88.5% T: 87.0% Improved girls enrolment, retention and learning at primary and secondary school Achieved Outcome Indicator 2 Baseline 2012 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Target (2017) Target (2018) Number of girls enrolled in upper primary and secondary schools (P5-S4) Planned P5-P8 = 83,000 S1-S4 = 13,000 Achieved MoEST - EMIS and SSSAMS Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) v 10 October 2013 P5-P8 = 87,000 S1-S4 = 18,000 P5-P8 = 103,000 S1-S4 = 25,000 P5-P8 = 130,000 S1-S4 = 36,000 P5-P8 = 154,000 S1-S4 = 52,000 Source SSSAMS. (Note: Baseline and projections are based on preliminary SSSAMS data which suggests that EMIS enrolment data is overstated). P5 -P8 = 186,000 S1-S4 = 72,000 Outcome Indicator 3 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Target (2017) Target (2018) Average girls' attendance rates at upper primary and Planned TBD after 2013 SSSAMS enrolment reports released Primary: TBD Secondary: TBD secondary schools (P5-S4) Achieved Source SSSAMS Outcome Indicator 4 Baseline 2014 Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Percentage of adults in the sample study who place Planned Baseline to be determined in February 2014 Baseline +5% Baseline +10% importance on sending girls Achieved to school Source BBC survey reports INPUTS ( ) DFID ( ) Govt ( ) Other ( ) Total ( ) DFID SHARE (%) 60m 78.9m 138.9m 43% INPUTS (HR) DFID (FTEs) Source The austerity measure will not hinder MOEST efforts to sustain gains made in the education sector by using its budget to pay salary for teachers and education managers, and providing funds for school operation and capital investment. Abbreviations MoEST: GESS SSSAMS EMIS BBC EfC Ministry of Education Science and Technology Girls' Education South Sudan South Sudan School Attendance Monitoring System Education Management Information System British Broadcasting Cooperation Education for Change Copy of GESS Logframe_final draft

43 PROJECT NAME Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) v 10 October 2013 OUTPUT 1 Output Indicator 1.1 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Assumption Enhanced Number of adults (15 years +) Planned 0 1,400,000 2,000,000 household and reached with girls' education Achieved community radio outputs Source awareness of and BBC survey report support for girls' education Output Indicator 1.2 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Number of bomas reached Planned 0 20% 40% 60% 75% 80% with community mobilisation Achieved activities Source GESS monitoring report Output Indicator 1.3 Baseline 2014 Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Percentage of people in the Planned TBD Baseline +5% Baseline +10% sample study who Achieved demonstrate awareness and understanding of elements of Source the school system that support BBC survey report girls' education INPUTS ( ) DFID ( ) Govt ( ) Other ( ) Total ( ) DFID SHARE (%) 7.0m 7.0m 100% INPUTS (HR) DFID (FTEs) The community environment is supportive of girls' education radio output and outreach community mobilisation activities. Abbreviations GESS BBC TBD Girls' Education South Sudan British Broadcasting Cooperation To be determined Copy of GESS Logframe_final draft

44 PROJECT NAME OUTPUT 2 Output Indicator 2.1 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Assumption Cumulative number of (unique, individual) girls Planned Total = 0 Total = 50,000 Total = 75,000 Total = 105,000 Total = 150,000 Total = 200,000 GESS = 0 GESS = 50,000 GESS = 75,000 GESS = 105,000 GESS = 105,000 GESS = 105,000 receiving cash transfers GRSS = 0 GRSS = 0 GRSS = 0 GRSS = 0 GRSS = 45,000 GRSS = 95,000 Effective partnerships between Government and local organisations to deliver a community based school improvement programme INPUTS ( ) INPUTS (HR) Achieved Output Indicator 2.2 Baseline + Pilot 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Cumulative number of schools receiving capitation grants Planned GESS - 16 (pilot) GRSS = 2,800 GESS = 200 Achieved GRSS = 2,885 GESS = 215 GRSS = 2,965 GESS = 235 GRSS = 3,045 GESS = 255 GRSS = 3,125 GESS = 275 Output Indicator 2.3 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Cumulative number of schools receiving full package of community-based school improvement programme Planned 0 0 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,600 Achieved Output Indicator 2.4 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Cumulative number of classrooms constructed using community pilot construction model Planned Achieved DFID ( ) Govt ( ) Other ( ) Total ( ) 37.1m 78.9m 116.0m DFID (FTEs) Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) v 10 October 2013 Source GESS monitoring reports from and associated tables. Note: A girl may receive cash transfers throughout the life of the programme, but is only counted once. GESS monitoring reports on capitation grants disbursed. CGA capitation grants database. GESS monitoring reports on community-based school improvement activities GESS monitoring reports on pilot construction Source Source Source DFID Share (%) 32% National pop. census (2014) and general election (2015) will not interrupt the operation of GESS. The financial institutions and their technology support the execution of cash transfers to girls and school capitation grants (direct cap. transfers are compliant with MoFCIEP rules and regulations). Mobile money is compliant with GoSS/BSS regulations. Abbreviations GESS CGA SSSAMS Girls' Education South Sudan Charlie Goldsmith Associate South Sudan School Attendance Monitoring System Copy of GESS Logframe_final draft

45 PROJECT NAME Achieved WEIGHTING (%) Output Indicator 3.3 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Percentage of primary and Planned 0 50% 60% 70% 75% 80% secondary schools with Achieved SSSAMS reporting Source attendance of pupils and teachers regularly GESS monitoring reports on attendance monitoring systems. DFID ( ) Govt ( ) Other ( ) Total ( ) 6.0m 6.0m DFID (FTEs) Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) v 10 October 2013 OUTPUT 3 Output Indicator 3.1 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) Assumption Increased Cumulative number of Planned knowledge and relevant research and Achieved evidence available evaluation studies conducted to policy makers of and disseminated to policy Source what works to makers GESS M&E systems and evaluation reports promote girls' Output Indicator 3.2 Baseline 2013 Milestone (2014) Milestone (2015) Milestone (2016) Milestone (2017) Target (2018) education in South Planned Sudan INPUTS ( ) INPUTS (HR) Mathematics and English Learning Assessment administered to representative sample of schools EfC research reports and learning assessment records Source DFID SHARE (%) 100% The general condition in the community favours data collection for research and evaluation studies as well as administering learning assessments in sample schools. Abbreviations GESS M&E EfC SSSAMS Girls' Education South Sudan Monitoring and Evaluation Education for Change South Sudan School Attendance Monitoring Systems Copy of GESS Logframe_final draft

46 Annex 2 Work Plan

47 GESS Interim Strategy overview work plan, Jan-Jun 2014 Q Q January February March April May June July Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week 6th-12th 13th-19th 20th-26th 27th-2nd 3rd-9th 10th-16th 17th-23rd 24th-2nd 3rd-9th 10th-16th 17th-23rd 24th-30th 31st-6th 7th-13th 14th-20th 21st-27th 28th-4th 5th-11th 12th-18th 19th-25th 26th-1st 2nd-8th 9th-15th 16th-22nd 23rd-29th Discussion Output 1a: Radio Programming Review of PSAs and contextualising of content; further production work to finalise programmes; forward planning for radio producers Further production and broadcasting of both PSAs and 'Our School' programming; pilot programm of BBC MA reseach into community behavioural impact of radio and CM in early April; e with full-scale field research at the end of April/start of May partner radio Further production and broadcasting of both PSAs and 'Our School' programming; final field research data set at the start of June stations Output 1b: Community Mobilisation State Anchors finalise CM strategies; SAs receive radios and PSAs to distribute in IDP affected areas State Anchor training in listening groups Roll out of state-wide listening groups where SA able to implement; implementation of further CM activities as planned by SAs Output 2a: Cash Transfers Review experience on identification and verification of Girls in Lainya, whilst continuing to Agree with stakeholder ministries on process of Design training materials plan/advocate for cash transfers with GRSS, CBoSS and M-Money providers (this continues identification, verification and transfer and transfer of for SAs and SMoEs on throughout) cash to girls Cash Transfers Train CGA field staff ToT and then through them SAs/SMoEs ToT for full roll-out of cash transfers Monitor and further support the process of cash transfers to girls with all stakeholders: SA, Media, all levels in MoEST and MoFCIEP, Financial institutions Train SAs and SMoEs on ToT for cash Train SAs and SMoEs on ToT for cash Train SAs and SMoEs on ToT for cash Output 2b: Capitation Grants (approval of each tranche on 10th of month, process repeats on a monthly basis) management for schools; transfer of tranche 1 management for schools; transfer of tranche 2 management for schools; transfer of tranche 3 Capitation Grants to eligible schools/ follow actual Capitation Grants to eligible schools/ follow actual Capitation Grants to eligible schools/ follow actual transfers/ ensure accountability to SGBs of transfers/ ensure accountability to SGBs of transfers/ ensure accountability to SGBs of Tranche 1, Second Payment process repeats Tranche 2, Second Payment process repeats Tranche 3, Second Payment process repeats tranche 1 through SMoEs, CEDs, CLOs tranche 2 through SMoEs, CEDs, CLOs tranche 3 Output 2c(i): School Governance Gov body inventory tools finalised; SAs cross-check school gov inventories School governance policy discussed and drafted with MoEST Validation workshop with all stakeholders (one day with SA TLs at some point in May) School governance tool kit produced and SAs briefed on it Pilot training for SAs on how to train gov bodies Output 2c(ii): Supportive School Supervision Payam school supervision strategy agreed with MoEST Capacity building strategy for school supervision devised from KER survey data Payam school supervisors' handbook developed SAs briefed on training school supervisors; pilot training of school supervisors carried out Output 2c(iii): Teacher Professional Development Finalising Teacher Needs Assessment (TNA) tool SA's training on TNA tool TNA roll out at state level through local governemnt and SAs TNA data entry by SAs; SAs forward additional teacher training material to GESS TNA data analysis, which informs school-based teacher professional development strategy with MoEST TPD strategy drafted School-based TPD kit developed Output 2c(iv): Mentoring of Girls in School Winrock finalising Mentoring Strategy Mentoring manual completed Print mentoring manual Train SAs on selection of, and support to, mentors SAs train schools on selection of girls' mentors, and support girls' mentors in schools to follow mentoring manual recommendations Output 2c(v): Teaching and Learning Materials SAs provide samples of existing learning materials from upper-primary and secondary schools for Maths and English Prototypes of low cost materials for upper primary maths and literacy developed Output 2c(vi): Capacity building of SMoEs and CEDs Drafting of capacity development strategy in collaboration with MoEST Pilot capacity development needs assessment Full capacity development needs assessment rolled out to seven states (with different method for Greater Upper Nile) Results of needs assessment analysed in collaboration with MoEST Capacity building programme for SMoE and CED developed and planned Training for SAs / CLOs conducted in providing on the job support to CEDs and SMoEs Train Output 3a: Knowledge, Evidence and Research remaining SAs in Roll out KER baseline in all the states, starting with four at first Analysis of baseline data baseline Output 3b: SSSAMS Printing PARs Distribute SA refresher PARs; PARs to continue to complete SAs 2013 data entry Support the process of SA distribution of PARs, collection of completed PARs, data entry of PARs, reporting of schools on SSSAMS through SAs, SMoEs, CEDs, CLOs and payam supervisors (ongoing, but should slowly be handed over to government counterparts). RED WRITING = WORK REQUIRES STATE ANCHOR ACTION Completed Underway Not yet started

48 Notes as at March 2014, reflecting output linkages and the conflict-affected context: Output 1a: Radio porgrammes are going ahead in five states where radio producers are again resident; there is no Nuer language programmes at present due to lack of producer availability and politics of broadcasting in rebel-held areas; new programmes are developed every two weeks; interviews for programmes will also take place in IDP camps to better contextualise messages to the current humanitatian situation; radio programmes will help to support CM activities on the ground and other actvity areas such as capitation grants through messages targeting an enabling envronment. Output 1b: Strategizing for CM is being done on a state-by-state basis by the State Anchors allowing maximum local appropriateness; changes social attitudes will be taken into account, especially attitudes to IDPs by host populations; methods will vary according to accessibility in conflict-affected states; individual State Anchor strategies will be received, QA'd and compiled by BBC Media Action. Output 2a: M-Money regulations are critical pathway activity for the best-value disbursement of cash transfers; M-Money will also bring nation-wide additional value through ability to transfer money direct to beneficiaries - this has a range of applications for increasing IDP resilience; cash transfers will not be made to boys following a 'do no harm' protocol but extension of transfers to girls in P5 will be discussed with MoEST and targeted. Output 2b: Capitation grants approval follows a monthly MoEST-led approvals process; primary schools are paid by GRSS funds, secondary schools paid by DFID funds; GESS is targeting extension of capitation grants to all displaces schools in IDP camps and host communities, thereby allowing direct transfer of humanitarian assistance to these schools through a harmonised, nationally agreed pipeline; the requirement for schools in the greater Upper Nile region to open bank accounts has been waived by MoEST due to the closure of all banks in these three states following the recent conflict, thus making access to grants by these schools easier; process of accessing grants is communicated to schools through a range of media including through the government system, from State Anchors, from the radio and print media and in the Output 1a radio programming. Output 2c: All policies, guides and materials produced will be revised to contextualise the current conflict situation, to help to communicate best practice for education in emergencies alongside regular best practice, and to recognise further constraints to developing a quality school system in the current context; schools have already received some school governance training as part of their trainings to familarise them with the process for accessing capitation grants; payam school supervision policy and reform is dependent on continued MoEST support and accessibility of payams in the current context; the TNA will be a nationally available survey that will contribute to sectoral planning of future TPD activities which can be tailored to the conflict and humanitatian context; capacity support to SMoEs, CEDs and PEOs is ongoing and constant through the State Anchors and GESS team, through individuals based at all levels of government. Output 2d: Community school construction pilots are on hold pending further discussion between DFID and MoEST; these funds could me used more effectively and more immediately to bolster GESS humanitarian intervention support. Output 3a: Studies generating under the KER component will be nationally available that will contribute to improved sectoral planning and future sector activities, as well as assisting in continuous iterative development of the GESS interventions; sample size and areas from where samples are taken will be in part dependent on accessibility constraints following the recent conflict; baselines conducted following the conflict may show attitudes already changed by the conflict. Output 3b: SSSAMS is a critical pathway activity for cash transfers and capitation grants, therefore much effort will be expended in its full establishment despite the conflict scenario; accessibility constraints due to the conflict will affect where training teams can go physically, but the system is resilient to access constraints through the remote reporting functions; increasingly SSSAMS will be nationalised, with SMoEs, CEDs and PEOs being encouraged to take increasing ownership of data entry and reporting; SSSAMS will be rolled-out to displaced schools in IDP camps and host communities to ensure that these schools can access capitation grants and girls in these communities can access cash transfers - thus increasing IDP resilience and enabling MoEST and the education sector nationally to aqcuire more accurate, up to date data on numbers of school-aged people in IDP camps and host communities.

49 Annex 3 Detailed Financial Forecast and Overview

50 State LEAD AGENCY CONSORTIUM MEMBERS START DATE END DATE MONTH Contract amount Addendum 1 BUDGET GBP CEQ Stromme Foundation ECS, ACROSS, BRAC ,399,752 1,399,752 EEQ Caritas CH War Child Holland ,399,994 1,399,994 Jonglei FHSS Hold the Child, SALF, CASI ,399,225 1,399,225 Lakes BRAC RDF ,400,000 1,400,000 NBeG UMCOR HARD ,399,976 1,399,976 Unity WTI Unido ,400,000 1,400,000 Upper Nile FHSS NCDA, SCPD ,400,000 1,400,000 Warrap ADRA SSUDA ,386,129 1,386,129 WBeG HARD ,400,000 1,400,000 WEQ Windle Trust AET, ECS ,400,000 1,400,000 Total 13,985,076-13,985,076 Consortium Partner BBC MA ,999,236 5,079,236 5,079,236 Charlie Goldsmit Associates ,158,616 5,158,616 Winrock ,999,849 1,999,849 Total 12,157,701 5,079,236 12,237,701 TOTALS: Primary Education: 10 State Achors 3 Consortium Partners GRAND TOTAL: 13 Grantees 26,222,777 Underspent: 98,123

51 NGO Contract amount (GBP) Contract period Actual expenditure Budget remaining (GBP) Stromme Foundation 1,399, ,577 1,216,175 Caritas CH 1,399, ,838 1,175,156 FHSS 1,399, ,641 1,167,584 BRAC 1,400, ,695 1,308,305 UMCOR 1,399, ,436 1,190,540 WTI 1,400, ,630 1,227,370 FHSS 1,400, ,138 1,154,862 ADRA 1,386, ,500 1,238,629 HARD 1,400, ,334 1,159,666 Windle Trust 1,400, ,875 1,173,125 Total 13,985,076 1,973,664 12,011,412 Consortium Partners BBC MA 5,079, ,417 4,359,819 Charlie Goldsmit Associates 5,158, ,815,378 3,343,238 Winrock 1,999, ,959 1,875,890 Total 12,157,701 2,658,754 9,498,947 Grand Total 26,142,777 4,632,418 21,510,359

52 GESS Inception Actual expenditure Actual expenditure Budget Line Description Budgetted amount (GBP) Amount (GBP) % Budget remaining (GBP) 1 Behaviour change and communication 5,000, , % 4,142, a Cash transfers to girls / families 15,200, , % 14,622, b Capitation grants to schools 15,250, , % 14,253, Practical support to education managers and 2c teachers 9,600, , % 9,270, d Community-based construction in 10 pilot schools 2,000,000 53, % 1,946, Increased knowledge and evidence 3,000,000 2,096, % 903, Budget SGESS 50,050,000 4,909, % 45,140, Outputs Expenditure Behaviour change & communication 857,796 Cash transfers to girls 577,042 Capitation grants to schools 996,623 Quality Education 329,069 Community-based schools construction 53,148 Increased knowledge & evidence 2,096,114 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000, ,000 - Expenditure

53 1. Behaviour change & communication campaign CUR Total % BBC MA 719,417 EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 22,189 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 8,157 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 25,536 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 8,123 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 8,948 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 4,303 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 20,745 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 5,045 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 20,448 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 16,961 Expenses up to last invoice Total 1 GBP 859,872 25% 2a Cash transfers to girls / families CGA 264,079 EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 41,629 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 21,103 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 33,528 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 17,161 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 52,050 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 12,577 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 39,031 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 13,745 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 49,228 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 24,455 Expenses up to last invoice Total 2a GBP 568,587 12% 2b Capitation grants to schools CGA 380,290 EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 13,097 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 50,699 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 27,994 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 19,464 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 56,049 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 38,612 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 32,589 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 23,258 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 44,382 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 45,288 Expenses up to last invoice Total 2b GBP 731,722 13% To be carried forward GBP 4,320,361 Carried forward GBP 4,320,361

54 2c Pract. support to education managers & teachers Winrock 123,959 EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 40,266 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 15,038 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 20,095 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 11,018 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 15,961 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 8,211 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 23,405 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 9,254 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 43,481 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 19,011 Expenses up to last invoice Total 2c GBP 329,700 4% 2d Community-based construction in 10 pilot schools EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 16,513 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 3,659 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 5,127 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 2,618 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 4,073 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 2,366 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 5,969 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 2,866 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 4,628 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 4,821 Expenses up to last invoice Total 2d GBP 52,639 0% 3. Increased knowledge and evidence CGA 1,171,010 EEQ GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 91,145 CEQ GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 84,921 Jonglei GESS-03 - FHSS 119,361 Lakes GESS-04 - BRAC International 33,311 NBeG GESS-05 - UMCOR 72,355 Unity GESS-06 - WTI 106,560 Upper Nile GESS-07 -FHSS 123,400 Warrap GESS-08 - ADRA 93,331 WBeG GESS-09 - HARD 78,166 WEQ GESS-10 - WTI 116,339 Expenses up to last invoice Total 3 GBP 2,089,899 45% Total amount GBP 4,632, %

55 TOTAL CUR Total % BBC MA 719,417 22% CGA 1,815,378 55% Winrock 123,959 0% GESS-01 - CARITAS CH 224,838 1% GESS-02 - Stromme Foundation 183,577 1% GESS-03 - FHSS 231,641 2% GESS-04 - BRAC International 91,695 0% GESS-05 - UMCOR 209,436 1% GESS-06 - WTI 172,630 3% GESS-07 -FHSS 245,138 1% GESS-08 - ADRA 147,500 1% GESS-09 - HARD 240,334 9% GESS-10 - WTI 226,875 4% Total 4,632,418

56 Annex 4 Technical and Steering Committee Terms of Reference

57 Steering Committee TOR v.21 November Background The Girls Education in South Sudan (GESS) programme aims to remove barriers to girls education, increase enrolment, retention and completion rates, as well as improve learning achievements of girls in primary and secondary schools in all ten states of South Sudan. The Programme is expected to deliver the following key Outputs: 1. Enhanced household and community awareness and empowerment for supporting girls education. a. Change communication campaign targeting girls, families, communities and their leaders (radio and mobile phone based). b. Community mobilisation activities (clubs, Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs), traditional leaders, advocacy networks) to address school-based health, climate, security and protection issues and provide psycho-social support to school children. 2. Effective partnerships between GoSS and local organisations to deliver a community-based school improvement programme. a. Cash transfers to girls/families to support direct/indirect costs of their education conditional on enrolment and then adequate attendance track record. By the end of the programme, more than 500,000 cash transfers will have been disbursed, with 410,000 directly funded by the programme. 200,000 different girls will have received transfers. b. Capitation grants to schools with female students based on enrolment of both boys and girls, but with higher unit amount for female students to improve the quality of learning environment and incentives for teachers. c. Practical support to education managers and teachers to improve quality of education through school leadership training, peer support, mentoring, supplementary materials to enhance literacy skills, improved inspection and monitoring procedures, collaboration with PTAs/ communities. d. Community based construction in 10 pilot schools, one in each state. 3. Increased knowledge and evidence of what works to promote girls education in South Sudan. a. Establishment of information base for what works in supporting girls education in South Sudan. 1 P a g e

58 b. Links to monitoring and evaluation of programme to feed back into revised design where needed. c. Development and rapid implementation of a system for monitoring student and teacher school attendance. GESS key results expected are: 150,000 individual girls in primary and 50,000 in secondary directly supported. 300,000 unique individual girls benefit from broader package of support. 400,000 boys also benefit from broader package of support to schools. 1,000,000 girls in households reached through behaviour change communication to families, communities and leaders. 2,600 schools benefitting from capitation grants. Learning outcomes improved, and drop-out rate and repetition rates decreased in all 10 states. 2. GESS Structure a. Client: GoSS Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST). b. Donor: UK Government (DFID). c. Consortium Lead: BMB Mott MacDonald. d. Consortium members: Winrock International, BBC Media Action, Charlie Goldsmith Associates (CGA). 3. Timeframe GESS has a design, inception and implementation phase. The design phase ran from 1 May - 31 December 2012; the inception phase runs from 1 April - 30 September 2013 and the implementation phase runs from 1 October September Overall Functions GESS Steering Committee a. Oversee and supervise the overall implementation of GESS. b. Provide advice and supervision to ensure that GESS is aligned with the Government of South Sudan and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology strategies, laws and policies existing and emerging. c. Make strategic decision during the programme cycle to ensure that the programme is meeting its objectives and milestones. d. Act as a platform to share, be informed and agree on all major aspects of promoting girls education, to ensure aid coordination. 5. Specific Functions GESS Steering Committee a. Review and approve the GESS programme management structure. b. Review and approve work plans and budgets. 2 P a g e

59 c. Approve changes to work plans, timelines and budgets. d. Provide guidance and advice on high-level strategic issues that might impact GESS. e. Review and approve programme progress reports (monthly financial, inception, quartely, annual, any any others) as well as audits, to ensure that performance and expenditure are on track. f. Review and approve research methodologies. g. Disseminate information to relevant partners, ministries and sectors. h. Review and approve the final State Anchors selection. i. Review and approve programme inception strategies, including on cash transfers, capitation grants, risk management, social and behavioural change communication, M&E, State Anchor-SMoE partnership, practical support to education managers and teachers, external communication, and knowledge, research and evidence. j. Ensure cash transfers and capitation grants are in line with Local Services Support. k. Monitor and oversee that GESS is in line with Value for Money strategies. l. Review and approve technical committee recommendations. 6. Steering Committee Governance Structure 6.1 Membership All members of the GESS Steering Committee will be treated equally with full rights to participation, expression and involvement in decision making. The GESS SC will consist of representatives from the GRSS, development partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). a. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will serve as Chairperson of the Steering Committee. b. The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, acting through the Department of International Development (DFID), the donor for GESS, will serve as Co-Chair. c. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will nominate a representative to be member of the Steering Committee. d. The Ministry of Finance, Commerce, Investment and Economic Planning shall nominate a representative to be a member of the Steering Committee. e. The Donor/Co-Chair of the Education Sector Working Group shall be invited to be a member of the Steering Committee. f. The Donor Co-Chair of the National Education Forum shall be invited to be a member of the Steering Committee. g. A representative from UNICEF, speaking on behalf of GPE, shall be invited to be a member of the Steering Committee. 3 P a g e

60 6.3 Quorum Quorum for decision-making purposes is defined as a presence of the Chair or Co-Chair (or proxies) and 50% attendance of Steering Committee Members. If no quorum exists for a meeting, an urgent meeting with the same agenda will be called within one week. MoEST Undersecretary (Chair) = 1 DFID (Co-Chair) = 2 MoEST Representatives = 7 MoFCIEP Representative = 1 Other donor representatives = 4 GESS Team = 1 The total expected 100% attendance is therefore 16. A 50% quorum shall be taken to mean 8 attendees present. 6.4 Decision-making Process All decisions made by the Steering Committee will be by consensus. 7. Frequency of Meetings a. The Steering Committee will meet quarterly and at key milestone periods as outlined in the GESS work plan, with the allowance of extraordinary meetings to be called by the Chair, when required. The Chair will agree pre-set dates for each year with the GESS Team so that all members can have them in their diaries ahead of time. b. The GESS Team will still send invitations/reminders when a set date is coming up, plus the agenda. c. Extraordinary meetings will be called by the Chair through the GESS Team. 8. Agenda, Minutes, and Action Points a. The GESS Secretariat, as the Steering Committee Secretariat, shall assist the Steering Committee Chair in sending invitations for the Steering Committee Meetings two weeks in advance of the meeting. The Chair shall set the final agenda for the meetings. Aid coordination and alignment with government are both of key importance. b. Other donors can give very important advice and need to be allowed to advise rather than just to listen. They may not necessarily be in every meeting, but will not necessarily be silent either. The wealth of experience includes GEE on cash transfers, UNICEF s Go to school campaign, SSIRI on radio messaging, and the gender elements of all other South Sudan programmes, etc. At least 5 working days in advance of a Steering Committee meeting, the Secretariat will send the Steering Committee Members all pertinent material including: 4 P a g e

61 An agenda for the upcoming meeting. The minutes of the previous meeting. A progress update for the programme. Action points. Any other documents/information to be considered at the meeting. The discussion and outcome of each meeting will be recorded in the GESS Steering Committee Minutes. The GESS Secretariat shall draft the Steering Committee minutes and circulate them to all Steering Committee members for their approval/comments within one week after the meeting. The members will inform the Secretariat of their approval/comments within five working days. Minutes from a previous meeting will be collectively agreed at the next scheduled meeting. 9. Proxies Members of the Steering Committee can send proxies to meetings. Proxies are entitled to participate in discussion, but are not allowed a role in decision-making. Steering Committee members will inform the Chairman as soon as possible if they intend to send a proxy to a meeting and no less than two working days before the scheduled meeting. 5 P a g e

62 1. Background Technical Committee TOR v. 21 November 2013 The Girls Education in South Sudan (GESS) programme aims to remove barriers to girls education, increase enrolment, retention and completion rates, as well as improve learning achievements of girls in primary and secondary schools in all ten states of South Sudan. The Programme is expected to deliver the following key Outputs: 1. Enhanced household and community awareness and empowerment for supporting girls education. a. Change communication campaign targeting girls, families, communities and their leaders (radio and mobile phone based). b. Community mobilisation activities (clubs, Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs), traditional leaders, advocacy networks) to address school-based health, climate, security and protection issues and provide psycho-social support to school children. 2. Effective partnerships between GoSS and local organisations to deliver a community-based school improvement programme. a. Cash transfers to girls/families to support direct/indirect costs of their education conditional on enrolment then adequate attendance track record. By the end of the programme, more than 500,000 cash transfers will have been disbursed, with 410,000 directly funded by the programme. 200,000 different girls will have received transfers. b. Capitation grants to schools with female students based on enrolment of both boys and girls, but with higher unit amount for female students to improve the quality of learning environment and incentives for teachers. c. Practical support to education managers and teachers to improve quality of education through school leadership training, peer support, mentoring, supplementary materials to enhance literacy skills, improved inspection and monitoring procedures, collaboration with PTAs/ communities. d. Community based construction in 10 pilot schools, one in each state. 1 P a g e

63 3. Increased knowledge and evidence of what works to promote girls education in South Sudan. a. Establishment of information base for what works in supporting girls education in South Sudan. b. Links to monitoring and evaluation of programme to feed back into revised design where needed. c. Development and rapid implementation of a system for monitoring student and teacher school attendance. GESS key results expected are: 150,000 individual girls in primary and 50,000 in secondary directly supported by the programme. 300,000 unique individual girls benefit from programme s broader package of support. 400,000 boys also benefit from programme s broader package of support to schools. 1,000,000 girls in households reached through behaviour change communication to families, communities and leaders. 2,600 schools benefitting from capitation grants. Learning outcomes improved, and drop-out rate and repetition rates decreased in all 10 states. 2. GESS Structure a. Client: GRSS Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST). b. Donor: UK Government (DFID). c. Consortium Lead: BMB Mott MacDonald, with support from sister company Cambridge Education. d. Consortium Partners: Winrock International, BBC Media Action, Charlie Goldsmith Associates (CGA). 3. Timeframe The programme consists of a design, inception and implementation phase. The design phase ran from 1 May - 31 December 2012; the inception phase runs from 1 April - 30 September 2013 and the implementation phase runs from 1 October September Overall Functions GESS Technical Committee a. Provide advise and supervision to ensure that GESS is aligned with the Government of South Sudan and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology strategies, laws and policies existing and emerging. b. Provide input and recommendations on strategic decisions during the programme cycle to ensure that the programme is meeting its objectives and milestones. 2 P a g e

64 5. Specific Functions GESS Technical Committee a. Act as the first port of call for all GESS Consortium s interaction with MoEST; provide liaison, interaction, cooperation, and team work between the GESS Consortium and other ministries, such as the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Finance, Commerce, Investment and Economic Planning, and the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Postal Services. b. Ensure that GESS strategies and intreventions are embedded within Government s priorities. c. Provide the necessary support, authority and liaison to enable GESS interventions and activities to be conducted effectively and timely (e.g. providing support in granting permission to BBC Media Action s producers to work in schools/with children). d. Provide one-on-one advice to GESS team members to facilitate urgent decisions when required. e. Provide technical expertise and advice to GESS as required to facilitate the execution of specific Outputs. f. Support, and have sufficient capacity and authority, to ensure that interventions adhere to child protection guidelines, and to data and intellectual property rights policies. g. Review and make recommendations on GESS work plans, budgets, management structure (including the selection of State Anchors), progress reports (inception, quarterly, annual), and annual and mid-term reviews. h. Support in the development of, and review and make recommendations on programme strategies, including on cash transfers, capitation grants, risk management, social and behavioural change communication, M&E, State Anchor-SMoE partnership, practical support to education managers and teachers, external communication, and knowledge, evidence and research. i. Take part in quarterly M&E visits and annual evaluations to ensure that interventions are being implemented in a timely manner and meet quality and Value for Money standards. j. Ensuring coordination, harmonisation and synergy of GESS with other education programmes in South Sudan (IMED, Room to Learn, GPA etc.). k. Participating in Technical Working Groups and the National Education Forum. l. Support in the dissemination of GESS information, findings, and reports to relevant stakeholders and other interested parties (e.g. other ministries and development partners). m. Support confidence building and advocacy of GESS. n. Promote ownership of GESS among communities and by the Government 3 P a g e

65 6. Technical Committee Governance Structure a. Membership All members of the GESS Technical Committee will be treated equally with full rights to participation, expression and involvement in discussion and decision-making. The GESS TC will consist of representatives from the MoEST, the GESS Consortium, State Anchors, and relevant GRSS ministries such as the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare. The Director of Planning and Budgeting, MoEST, is Chairperson of the Technical Committee and the Deputy Director is Deputy Chair. Members are MoEST Director of Gender, Director of Development Partners, Director of Gender, Examinations, Quality Control and Inspection. Observers are all senior civil servants who deal with GESS as part of their mandate. The GESS Secretariat will act as Secretariat of the TC. 7. Quorum & Decision making a. Quorum Quorum for decision making purposes is defined as a presence of the Chair or Co-Chair (or proxies) and 50% attendance of TC Members. If no quorum exists for a meeting, an urgent meeting with the same agenda will be called within 2 days. b. Decision-making Process All decisions made by the TC will be by consensus. 8. Frequency of Meetings The Technical Committee will meet monthly and at key milestone periods as outlined in the GESS work plan, with the allowance of extraordinary meetings to be called by the Chair when required. 9. Agenda, Minutes, and Action Points The Secretariat shall support the Chair in facilitating GESS Technical Committee meetings sending invitations to Technical Committee members one week in advance of the meeting. The GESS Chair shall set the final agenda for the meetings. Three working days in advance of a Technical Committee meeting, the Secretariat will send the TC members pertinent material including: An agenda for the upcoming meeting. Minutes of previous meeting, including action points. Any other documents/information to be considered at the meeting. 4 P a g e

66 The discussion and outcome of each meeting will be recorded in the GESS Technical Committee Minutes. The Secretariat shall draft the TC minutes and circulate them to all TC members for their comments within one week after the meeting. The members will inform the Secretariat of their comments within five working days. Minutes from a previous meeting will be collectively agreed at the next scheduled meeting and passed. GESS management and implementation structure 5 P a g e