Accelerated Quality Education for Liberian Children | Final Report

The program was designed to provide accelerated education for younger children who were already overage or out of school, and to collaborate with families and communities to ensure these children had safe environments in which to learn. The program's pillars included professional development for teachers, policy advancement, production and distribution of teaching and learning materials, and long-term transitional planning for sustainability. AQE was the third in a series of collaborations between USAID, EDC, the Government of Liberia, and Liberian communities. The program built upon the two previous youth-centered programs and sought to address the challenges faced by out-of-school children and youth. EDC is deeply grateful for the partnerships that made AQE's design, implementation, monitoring, and institutionalization possible. Ministry of Education colleagues were instrumental in shaping the direction of AQE and in problem-solving at every turn. The program's implementation was led by two Chiefs of Party, Ms. Denise Clarke-Reeves and Mr. Haladu Mohammed, who had remarkable teams in Monrovia and across 6 counties. The program peaked at a total of 104 dedicated colleagues working tirelessly across technical, operations, finance, and Monitoring & Evaluation. Several team members brought the longevity of working on one or even two of the previous EDC-implemented programs and all brought sincere dedication to the success of Liberian children, families, schools, and systems. The program's context and objective were shaped by Liberia's experience of shocks in its education system over several decades. The truncation of schooling during the civil war amassed a generation of youth with low educational achievement. According to the first post-war National School Census for 2005/2006, more than 80% of children between the ages of 6 and 17 were either conscripted by armed factions or prevented from pursuing normal life, including academic enrichment. This resulted in an excess of over-aged children at every educational level. The teaching workforce and school infrastructure were also devastated. In 2014-2015, the Ebola epidemic further exacerbated the compounded challenges faced by the education system, and then the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and continuing today has caused further interruption – all of which continues to increase the out-of-school and overage learner population. In response to these challenges, the Ministry of Education (MoE) introduced the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) as an alternative mechanism to capacitate over-aged and out-of-school learners. ALP implementation occurred in all 15 counties by the end of 2011. The AQE program built upon the ALP framework and sought to institutionalize it within the Ministry of Education. The program's result 1 was the institutionalization of the ALP framework, which was a key achievement. The program also sought to increase the eligibility of ALP learners to transition to formal education, which was achieved through the development of a Learner Eligibility Assessment and Certification Policy (LEACP). The program's cross-cutting theme was the AQE approach to gender equity and inclusion, which was a key aspect of the program's design and implementation. The program's sustainability was a key consideration, and the program's result 3 was the development of a Sustainable and Transition Plan (S&T) for the ALP. The program's Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework was also a key aspect of the program's design and implementation. The program's lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward were also documented in the final report. The program's operations, administrative, and financial summary provides a detailed overview of the program's implementation, including the program's budget, staffing, and logistics. The program's annexes provide additional information on the program's implementation, including the program's monitoring and evaluation framework, the program's sustainability plan, and the program's lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward.