Quarterly Report October to December, 2009: EQUIP2 Education Policy, Systems Development, and Management

Agency for International Development. The program's broad objectives are to assist countries in developing, managing, and monitoring education sector policies and plans that support national macroeconomic plans. EQUIP2 also aims to reinforce the national Education for All (EFA) planning committee, decentralize education, and involve civil society in planning for education and out-of-school children and youth programming. The program's activities during the quarter ending December 31, 2009, included planning for 2010, completing the current school effectiveness work, and negotiating with partners about additional school effectiveness case studies. The EQUIP2 team also focused on completing the capstone research project, which involved finalizing the School Effectiveness research, including the synthesis paper, and publishing the initial three case studies. The EQUIP2 team continued conversations with the Aga Khan Foundation to conduct a fifth case in Mozambique and drafted a Scope of Work for the study. The team also had several telephone conferences with the field team to assist them in completing the sample template and the budget for the study. Activities in the upcoming quarter will focus on publishing the initial three case studies, publication of the synthesis paper, completion of the Honduras case study, and initiation of the study in Mozambique. The EQUIP2 team presented the system reform case studies and synthesis at a workshop in USAID/EGAT, highlighting the dynamics of reform in each of the countries and seeking to draw broader lessons learned. The capstone document continues to be refined, with an expanded executive summary, short policy briefs, and additions to the Nicaragua and Namibia case studies with new information. The Patterns Analysis team at EQUIP 2 produced the first draft report of the third edition of the Associate Award: Project Analysis based on preliminary data collection and analysis. The results were shared at the EQUIP 2 partners meeting and later with EQUIP 1, 2, and 3 Directors and AOTRs. The team is finalizing analysis of the new awards that were added to the mechanism towards the end of 2009, and the final report will incorporate data from all awards under the EQUIP mechanism from year 2003 to 2009. The EQUIP2 team began discussions on the design of the lessons learned steady, collecting project publications and tools for review. An EQUIP2 partner meeting will be held in January 2010 to draw input from USAID counterparts on what should be included as well as finalize the design of the activity. The financial summary for the period ending December 31, 2009, shows that the total obligated balance is $9,125,933, with expenditures of $7,209,809 and a remaining balance of $1,916,124. The recipient share of obligation is $923,755, and the total cost share percentage is 26.58%.