Education 2004

The RP will support two interrelated sets of activities. (1) Service activities will provide long- and short-term TA, participant and in-country training, a core package of teacher/director training, textbooks and distance education materials, operations research and pilot activities to stimulate community and parent education. These activities will aim to improve the quality of primary education in 500 networks comprising 1,000 public and private schools nationwide. (2) Policy activities will provide long- and short-term TA, participant and in-country training, limited commodities, and some survey and operations research to achieve the development, adoption, and application of a national education strategic plan, standards, and implementation mechanisms by the public and private education sectors. These activities will be delivered through a competitively selected institutional contractor who will provide overall guidance and administrative management of about 89% of available funding. Preliminary baseline data and the RP evaluation plan will be developed with the assistance of USAID/Washington"s Education Indefinite Quantity Contractors. The remainder (of the available funding?) will be reserved for direct USAID management and oversight needs. Given the size and scope of the effort, the contract competition will encourage multi-institution teams, with one lead institution. Beneficiaries will include approximately 240,000 school children who will benefit from improved quality education, 3,600 teachers and 600 school directors who will receive pedagogical and administrative training, and 820,000 primary school students who will indirectly derive a benefit from the development of policy norms and standards and the widespread availability of distance education.