RECENT EVALUATION & DESIGN cont
The Elmina Resource Guide on HIV/AIDS and Education for West Africa (ECOWAS): Strategies for Action. Based on findings from the Senior Experts’ Conference on “HIV/AIDS and Education in ECOWAS: Towards a Regional Mobilization” in Elmina , Ghana : March 2001. Final Report Ghana , September 2001. Associates for Change undertook an Impact Assessment of the Untrained Teacher Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) and Sample Survey of Lesson Delivery for the Ghana Education Service and the World Bank. The evaluation of the UTDBE programme component of GPEG was to assess the extent to which the programme has achieved its objective of upgrading the skills of the trainee teachers in the deprived districts and the extent to which this has impacted learning outcomes. In particular, the study assessed the knowledge and skills gained by trainees in lesson planning/preparation, teaching methodology, and classroom organization and management. The assessment also examined improvement in the […]
POLICY BRIEFS AND ARTICLES
An Education Policy Brief on the Quality and Inclusivity of Basic Education across Ghana’s Three Northern Regions: A Look at Change, Learning Effectiveness and Efficiency. (TENI/VSO) Project (2012 -2013) The Quality and Inclusivity of Basic Education across Northern Ghana Education Research was undertaken in 54 basic schools across the three northern regions over a three month period. The research used mixed method approaches with evidence gathered from in-depth classroom observation, interviews with pupils, teachers, and other community members. The study focused on teacher preparedness, classroom methods, language of instruction, and learning context in 54 schools and 86 classrooms across the three northern regions. The study also explored the child readiness and community demand factors which shape and influence the quality of education in Ghana and the key drivers of change that promote or inhibit the achievement of inclusive education, with emphasis on the education needs of girls and children with […]
RECENT EVALUATION & DESIGN WORK
Impact Assessment of COVID-19 on Low Fee Private Schools in Ghana, IDP Foundation (June 2020 – May 2021) Associates for Change conducted a Pre and Post Assessment of low fee private schools within the IDP Rising School Program in Ghana. The IDP Rising School Program (IDPRSP) aims to assist low fee private schools in providing and sustaining an environment conducive to learning. The program focuses on financial and school management training for the proprietors of these schools and allows them to access subsidised loan funding to develop their education delivery. As part of IDP’s expansion plan, funding was made available to Sinapi Aba to increase the number of beneficiary schools from 584 to 1000 and provide about 400 additional loans to be disbursed to the schools over the five years. The Pre-reopening Assessment was conducted to understand the context of COVID, the uncertainty around school reopening and the potential impact […]
ACHIEVEMENTS
Assisted government and donor agencies design programmes on poverty reduction, social and educational development; Provided consulting advice to Government on poverty reduction in the education, health and agricultural sectors; Assisted government and partner agencies develop and conduct research for sector wide programming; Conducted evaluations on education sector support, literacy, good governance and decentralization for DFID, USAID, and World Bank; Conducted gender and social analysis for development programming in Africa; Conducted research on education development, gender related issues, community development and poverty reduction; Developed impact analysis and sub-regional resource guide on HIV/AIDS across West Africa for UNESCO and UNAIDS; Developed sub-regional resource guide on HIV/AIDS and education; Presented Conference Papers on Child Rights, Gender Equity, Poverty Reduction, HIV/AIDS and Educational Attainment in Africa; and Designed, and monitored projects in good governance, decentralization and poverty reduction.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY SERVICES AND APPOINTMENTS
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY SERVICES AND APPOINTMENTS Provision of Technical Assistance to the Parliament of Ghana by annually reviewing and presenting to the house, the education sector budget for the past four years. Provision of Technical Assistance to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education to Support Implementation of STAR-Ghana Parliament Strategy (2013). Research on Trained and Untrained teachers in Northern Ghana: What Value Addition does Volunteerism bring in terms of Systemic Change to Education Quality particularly in relation to Volunteer Teachers and Support Agents under the Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI/VSO) Project (2013). UNESCO Advisor on HIV/AIDS and Education in Sub Saharan Africa; Developed HIV/AIDS action plan for the Regional Bureau for Education and Development (BREDA), Senegal. Education Advisor in areas of literacy, gender equity and special needs education for USAID funded project in Ghana (EQUALL). Advisor and provided training services on Life skills/ HIVAIDS component of Education Quality Improvement Project […]
HIV/AIDS RESEARCH
1. The Elmina Resource Guide on HIV/AIDS and Education for West Africa (ECOWAS): Strategies for Action. Based on findings from the Senior Experts’ Conference on “HIV/AIDS and Education in ECOWAS: Towards a Regional Mobilization” in Elmina , Ghana : March 2001. Final Report Ghana , September 2001. This resource guide is designed to assist policy makers and practitioners access resources and build on best practice for combating HIV/AIDS in the education sector. The guide has evolved from experience based on the “Senior Experts’ Conference on HIV/AIDS and Education” which took place in Elmina , Ghana between March 19 to 23, 2001 . The resource guide is based on the key recommendations from the Elmina Conference and highlights strategies for Government, educational institutions and civil society agencies for combating HIV/AIDS within the education sector. Download report 2. HIV/AIDS in West Africa ; A Regional Overview by Dr. Leslie Casely-Hayford. Presented at […]
OUTCOMES EDUCATION (RECOUP)
Inspired by the Millennium Development Goals target of achieving universal primary education, the Department for International Development (DFID) has commissioned an educational research project to study the impact of education on life outcomes, including economic and social outcomes, in South Asia and Africa. The study is a multi-country initiative which includes Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan and India as study locations. The main focus of the study is to explore the impact of education and learning on labour market outcomes, health and fertility outcomes and human development outcomes. Download report Social and Human Strand Oduro, A. (2008). An Investigation into Poverty, Educational Attainment and Outcomes in Ghana. Meta Analysis working Paper 2. Associates for Change The paper provides a preliminary analysis of educational attainment among Ghana’s adult population using the Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ) survey conducted in 2003. It describes the patterns and trends in educational attainment and makes some conclusions […]
Recent Research Related to Education and Development
Associates for Change has a wide range of experience in conducting qualitative research in the areas of basic education, gender equity, child rights and social policy. AFC has also provided technical support in other major areas such as educational management, training, monitoring and evaluation. The major pieces of commissioned research and evaluative studies are listed below. Some of these are available in our research section of the AFC web site as indicated by the icon Education Consultancy Services for “Impact Assessment of the Untrained Teacher Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) and Sample Survey of Lesson Delivery: Lesson Observation Survey”, Ghana Education Service and World Bank, 2015. Research on Trained and Untrained teachers in Northern Ghana: What Value Addition does Volunteerism bring in terms of Systemic Change to Education Quality particularly in relation to Volunteer Teachers and Support Agents under the Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI/VSO) Project (2013). Final Evaluation of […]
EDUCATION RESEARCH
COMPLEMENTARY EDUCATION Complementary Basic Education Programme, Government of Ghana and DFID supported (Feb, 2013 to November 2018) Associates for Change in collaboration with Crown Agents UK are currently managing a five year Complementary Basic Education Programme. AfC is managing the research, monitoring and evaluation technical support and oversight which entail providing educational advisory services to the Ghana Education Service. AfC has a Senior Education Advisor, an M&E Manager and M&E Officer providing technical advisory support to the Government of Ghana and 10 Non-Governmental organisations implementing the Complementary Basic Education Programme. AfC also sees to all the monitoring framework and curriculum material development and assessment processes which are part of the project. Some of the activities AfC engaged in include: Providing technical advisory support to the Government of Ghana and several Non-Governmental organisations implementing the Complementary Basic Education Programme. Oversight to the all the material development and assessment processes which are […]
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
– Education, Poverty, and Pro Poor Policy How equitable and sustainable is secondary school fee abolition in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Ghana, University of Cambridge (February 2021- present) Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have made progress towards increasing enrolment in primary education. Most of these governments see secondary education as the next frontier. Fee abolition is an increasingly popular policy to improve access to secondary schooling, and Ghana is one of the pioneers in this regard. The Government of Ghana abolished all fees for Senior High School (SHS) as of the 2017-18 school year, in line with the ruling party’s campaign promise. This major policy initiative provides a unique opportunity to study the impact and implementation of secondary school fee abolition in real-time and draw lessons for policymakers in Ghana and other countries that are considering the abolition of secondary school fees. This research will conduct a rigorous, mixed-method evaluation […]