FY20 Annual Progress Report, August 4, 2020 – September 30, 2021

This Activity is funded through USAID's Higher Education, Innovation, and Exchange (HELIX) Annual Program Statement (APS) under the USAID New Partnership Initiative (NPI). Within UND, this Activity is led by the Pulte Institute for Global Development (Pulte) together with UND's Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) and its Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC). SHARE implements its research in partnership with higher education and research institutions based in USAID geographic regions around the world. Through SHARE, UND and its partners advance USAID learning priorities in the education sector as a global good to improve education and learning outcomes. The report covers the period of August 4, 2020, to September 30, 2021, and focuses on the following tasks: CORE-funded Tasks and Buy-Ins. CORE-funded Tasks include establishing an interim Year 1 Work Plan, establishing Year 1 priority research areas and selection of multi-country research studies to advance in 2021-2023 in support of USAID's Learning Agendas, generating an Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) to note key MEL approaches, indicators, and application across SHARE processes, and developing a Gender Plan to guide the Activity in its integration of gender and other vulnerable groups across tasks. Buy-Ins include assisting USAID Ghana Mission to research the effectiveness and sustainability of Low-Cost Private Schools (LCPS) within Ghana, designing and implementing an impact evaluation of USAID Ghana's Transition to English (T2E) Activity, introducing Socio-emotional Learning (SEL) Activity Midterm Evaluation for USAID/Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), introducing Non-State Schools (NSS) assessment in Uganda, and facilitating the development of a regional learning agenda and SEL in Colombia. UND focused on developing an interim Year 1 Work Plan, which allowed time to consult with USAID teams to create a plan for implementation of principal tasks slated for the first year of the Activity. Figure 1 outlines the steps provided by the USAID Agreement Officer Representative (AOR) to guide the interim work plan. The first two steps comprised much of UND's attention during Q4, while UND and its partners moved to steps 3 and 4 during the remainder of the year. SHARE's Theory of Change (TOC) was revised during the work planning process and then refined while developing the SHARE Activity, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP. The work plan also featured an updated results framework (RF), conveyed plans for collaboration and listed out anticipated challenges, and staffing and technical assistance needs. SHARE's Draft Interim Work Plan was submitted on October 4, 2020, revised and resubmitted on November 4, and approved by USAID pending minor edits on November 11, 2020. A major focus of UND's energy during the first year was the identification of its first cycle of research study areas. This involved input by a wide range of actors both within and external to USAID throughout most of Year 1. The identification of research study areas was a critical step in advancing USAID's learning priorities in the education sector. SHARE's research study areas were identified through a consultative process involving USAID, UND, and other stakeholders. The research study areas were selected based on their potential to advance USAID's learning priorities in the education sector. The research study areas were also selected based on their potential to improve learning outcomes in the education sector. The research study areas identified by SHARE include Low-Cost Private Schools (LCPS), Socio-emotional Learning (SEL), and Non-State Schools (NSS). These research study areas were selected based on their potential to advance USAID's learning priorities in the education sector and improve learning outcomes in the education sector. SHARE's research study areas were also selected based on their potential to address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations. The research study areas were selected based on their potential to improve learning outcomes for marginalized and vulnerable populations. SHARE's research study areas were also selected based on their potential to advance USAID's learning priorities in the education sector. The research study areas were selected based on their potential to improve learning outcomes in the education sector.