Final evaluation : basic education and skills training sector assistance program (BEST)

Prior cash transfers and commodity import programs had funded primary and secondary school construction, creating the necessary infrastructure for expansion of teachers and materials. Expansion is evident in the rise between 1980-1990 in: (1) enrollments in primary (1.236 million to 2.282 million), secondary (75,000 to 708,000), technical (3,600 to 9,400), and teacher training schools (2,800 to 16,500), and universities (2,200 to 9,300); (2) number of instructors in primary (28,500 to 58,500), secondary (3,700 to 28,000), technical (0 to 450), and teacher training schools (260 to 720), and universities (300 to 700); and (3) number of primary (3,100 to 4,500), secondary (200 to 1,500), technical (2 to 10), and teacher training facilities (7 to 14). Also, enrollment shifted from 94%, 5.4%, and 0.6% for primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, respectively, to 75%, 24%, and 1%. The number of qualified teachers quadrupled to 36,000. Unit costs grew 13% in real terms for primary education but declined 57% for secondary education. Public spending on education (c. 22% of recurring public expenditures) increased 175% in real terms. Policies to increase cost recovery (beginning in 1991) may have an impact on cost-effectiveness, but equity effects may be problematic. The program made important contributions. (1) Needed foreign currency helped the GOZ reallocate resources to redress inherited inequities, e.g., by building/equipping tertiary schools and for producing/distributing distance learning materials, books, and technical kits, most of which went to schools with few resources, although kits tended to be distributed to schools with better equipped classrooms and more storage space, i.e., pre- independence elite schools. (2) Teacher training was very useful, although the inability to attract and retain qualified secondary/tertiary instructors remains a constraint. (3) The program developed relevant curricula and syllabi at all 3 levels, developed a degree program, and modified secondary school exams and materials. (4) The GOZ made substantial use of the limited resources allotted for planning and administration, e.g., it installed a computerized management information system to help decentralize certain functions, localized examinations, and improved procedures for producing and distributing learning resources. At the tertiary level, program resources were instrumental in starting a Human Resources Research Center (University of Zimbabwe), which is providing in-career management training for the education sector. However, the lack of a comprehensive plan for human resources development in Zimbabwe generally, and in the education sector specifically, as well as a growing climate of professional uncertainty suggested by turnover in GOZ mid- and upper management, show that planning and administrative capacity are not given sufficient attention. The program's sector approach was appropriate, providing the GOZ with budget support and the private sector with access to foreign currency during times when both needed assistance. As sector assistance, the program's focus on budgetary support rather than policy dialogue proved effective, since it kept A.l.D. out of implementation issues and allowed the GOZ to gain a sense of initiative and control over policy implementation during the first decade of independence. Regarding cost-effectiveness and sustainability, the program performed as well as and perhaps better than other forms of assistance. Fully projectized assistance might have had more explicit measures of effectiveness, but the GOZ may not have been able to provide the needed monitoring capacity. Further, project assistance would not have provided needed flexibility and budget assistance. Many of the program-funded projects, such as the distance learning materials, were cost-effective, and others, such as technical colleges, will be more cost-effective when fully utilized. Several lessons were learned. (1) After the initial burst of development efforts following independence, it is important that activities planned for a large scale are first tested on a small scale. (2) In designing and implementing pilot activities, people at the operational level (school heads and teachers) need to be involved; coordination needs to be carefully planned where different levels or subsystems come together. (3) Failure to allocate sufficiently for human resource development reduces the effectiveness and threatens the sustainability of infrastructure and system-strengthening activities such as construction and curricular reform. (4) Plans to maintain equipment and obtain spare parts after assistance ends need development early on, while foreign currency exists. (5) Program assistance (as distinct from budget assistance) needs long-term planning in order to provide follow-up assistance to efforts that are working well and to respond to new crises and opportunities. (6) Programs need to develop more specific goals and outcomes such as are normally found in projects. In the present program, linkage between broad sector goals and specific projects supported by program funding enabled the development of quantitative outcomes to complement the qualitative measures of sector performance. (Author abstrct, modified)