GPSA projects

Country: Jordan
Sector: Education
Executing Agency: Partners Jordan
Grant Amount: $ 800,000
Implementation dates: September 2019 – March 2022

Since 1990, Jordan has launched comprehensive education reforms and interventions that have resulted in improving key education indicators, with 7% illiteracy rate (2010), and a net enrollment rate in primary education of 99% (2012), and increased transition rate to secondary education from 63% in 2000 to 99% in 2012, ranking it among the highest in the Arab world . As part of the reform agenda, the government committed to improve access, quality, accountability, innovation as part of the 2016 National Strategy Human Resource Development (HRD). Besides, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has introduced institutional and policy-based interventions to improve the educational system and the learning environment in Jordan. In fact, the Ministry has established key institutional reform and functions, manely the Quality of Education and Accountability Unit (QEAU) and the School and Directorate Development Program (SDDP). The QEAU was tasked with strengthening the accountability processes in the educational system through building the capacity of the directorates of education and associated staff; while the SDDP, instituted the inter- and intra- school mechanisms to increase the effectiveness and accountability of public schools. Simultaneously, the MoE has adopted the INEE Minimum Standards that serve as guidelines to practitioners and policy makers to establish quality education programming in emergencies.

However, Significant gaps in the accountability system and a lack of coordination between the multiple administrative layers within the Ministry of Education (MoE) are pressing issues which extend to the spectrum of stakeholders involved in the education system, such as local civil society organizations, communal platforms, and parents. Efforts of the MoE to delegate some decision-making powers within the education sector and build the capacities of its staff, are significant steps in the right direction. However, there are still no concrete results on the ground, and the education system remains quite centralized with decisions being made, and resolutions being passed in a top-down manner, with little or no consultation.  In addition to the institutional challenges in the sector, the huge influx of Syrian refugees has exacerbated the situation and stretched the government resources thin, overburdened existing infrastructure, and overwhelmed the capacity of public institutions to effectively respond.

Based on the results of the SABER School Autonomy and Accountability (SAA) tool in Jordan, and the assessments established by key actors at the Ministry of Education such as the Education Quality and Accountability Unit (EQAU) and the School and Directorate Development Project (SDDP), the proposed project ”Strengthening Inclusive Education through Collaborative Social Accountability Processes in Jordan” aims to support Jordanian CSOs in developing their capacities to engage with the school partners at the local level, and the education stakeholders at the central level, to sustain multi-stakeholder contributions to build and integrate greater collaborative social accountability for Improving resilience and strengthening the education system and student performance. The GPSA is partnering with the Open Society Foundations (OSF), a long-standing donor partner and founder, and the Jordan Education Reform Support Program (JERSP - P162407) that supports the Government of Jordan (GoJ)’s education reform, including the improvement in teaching and learning conditions for Jordanian and non-Jordanian children, and where the involvement of refugees and host communities is important.

The project is geared towards contributing to:

• Building CSOs’ capacities to support the design, implementation and evaluation of school improvement plans and advocate for solutions, mainly by establishing effective and rigorous feedback mechanisms between the schools, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the communities;
• Supporting collaborative social accountability in sustaining spaces for collaborative engagement and problem resolution amongst key education actors (PTA, principals, teachers, school development committees, parents and students);
• Collaborating with the EQAU and the SDDP to improve service delivery after identifying the priority needs and existing gaps at the level of schools, and strengthening social cohesion within community with special emphasis on vulnerable groups (girls, persons with specific needs, refugees);
• Supporting civil society to play an intermediary role between schools, host communities and public institutions, and to strengthen accountability in refugees’ education;
• Applying a gender-sensitive approach to identify and address gender barriers to education access and quality;
• Generating citizen feedback that can be used to inform public policy and solve education quality and governance problems; and,

Enabling the participation of Jordanian civil society, and particularly NGOs, to support the implementation of the new Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2018-2022) at all levels and co-develop solutions with key actors: MoE and municipalities.

Partners Jordan executed series of activities at the subnational level through the small grants disbursed to twelve (12) local CSOs. Such interventions targeted thirty (30) schools in six (6) governorates in Jordan with the aim of improving learning delivery by identifying the priority needs and existing gaps at the level of schools and reviving existing, yet inactive structures of community engagement in the schools, namely the Parents-Teachers Councils and the Education Development Councils. At the meso-level, four Implementing Partners (IPs) executed various interventions aiming at enabling the participation of Jordanian civil society and granting the citizen the opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue to better inform the implementation of the National Strategy for Education (2018-2022) and co-develop solutions for key challenges to improve its quality.

The project ability to convene multistakeholder dialogues at different levels and by different partners, to address fundamental community needs and critical strategic areas of focus of the national Strategy for Education (2018-2022) using social accountability processes has been acknowledged nationally and well received within the GPSA.

The final external evaluation of the project considers concludes that he project achievements have definitely added to the learning and growth dimension of the GPSA Theory of Action. They offer rich learnings with regard to establishing collaborative social accountability mechanisms in a context influenced by a rigid government institution and policy process, affected by a protracted refugee’s crisis and compounded by a global pandemic. While they validate some initial steps and most core actions GPSA Theory of Action (ToA), those achievements challenge the critical assumptions and inspire a reflection on how to effectively execute the core action in order to realize the anticipated medium-term results.

The final evaluation of the project pinpoint to a set of recommendations that, if integrated into a second phase of the project or accounted for in designing a new project of similar scope and context, would amplify the outcomes.

• Review the project result framework/Theory of action to ensure the application of political economy analysis is adequate to ensure project delivery and stakeholders engagement as early as possible in the project cycle
• Balance the management approach of similar Bank-Executed Trust Funds (BETF) to ensure closer and more frequent monitoring and evaluation cycle of the Project to ensure all the results are captured and documented on time.
• Ensure the in-country respective World Bank staff accompanies the project from its inception in order to facilitate building trusted relationship between the Lead Partner and the implementing civil society and their government counterparts.
• Enhance the Team’s understanding of the contextual policy and power dynamics in order to better leverage potential alliances among the development actors and change agents within the government to ensure sustainability of the project interventions at various levels

Ensure the government counterparts are engaged early in the project inception and implementation by leveraging on the World Bank relationship with the government