Advancing basic education and literacy (ABEL)

A contractor will implement the project at the levels of the central government, ministry-school linkages, and the school itself. The project will provide long- and short-term TA to disseminate prototype educational tools and methods, especially those developed in A.I.D. bilateral projects. Sample central-level activities include policy dialogue, sector assessments, and dissemination of information on gender equity in education and related government policies. Ministry-school linkages will be improved via TA, seminars, case studies, and provision of specific information on "nuts and bolts" issues such as teacher pay, teacher deployment, textbook production, and local school supervision. At the school level, the project will assemble an inventory of TTM"s - techniques with proven ability to enhance learning - and disseminate them at the local level. Examples of these techniques include computer programs for educational managers, radio instruction packages, and competence-based curricula. Particular emphasis will be placed on promoting female participation in education. In the pilot projects/research component, efforts at the central and ministry-school levels will focus on promoting female education. Specific efforts will include empirical research on the causes of low female participation in basic education, promotion of pilot incentive projects for girls (together with studies of the projects" cost-effectiveness), and TA in formative evaluation. At the classroom level, the project will work with Mission and host country officials to adapt and apply select TTM"s, e.g., ways of improving a headmaster"s efficiency, student motivation, inservice teacher training, etc. The project will provide back-up and related TA for basic education field projects, including TA to Missions and host governments in project design and implementation, assistance at the ministry-school level in "nuts and bolts" management issues, and TA for implementing school and classroom improvements. Short-term training will underpin the other three components and will include country-specific seminars on TTM applications, and regional and U.S.-based seminars on educational management technologies, the latter for A.I.D. participant trainees. Amendment of 4/30/90 increases funding and adds a Project Development & Support (PD&S) component to finance feasibility studies, sector assessments, small research activities, seminars, project design and implementation support, and similar activities through contracts, grants, purchase orders, IQC"s, delivery orders, invitational travel, etc. (PD-ABB-518)