Why self-assessments can be useful to local education groups

A fundamental objective of GPE’s work is to support inclusive evidence-based policy dialogue that can accelerate transformation of national education systems.

Government leadership and the active engagement of development partners, civil society organizations, teachers, philanthropy and the private sector are encouraged through the forums of local education groups or their equivalent coordination mechanism.

Until recently, understanding how well these mechanisms function has been an unknown quantity. Local education groups rarely dedicate time to reflecting on their governance and working arrangements or on their contribution to results. Information is therefore scarce on the contribution of policy dialogue, coordination and partnership dynamics to national education goals.

Given the complexity of factors influencing how partners and governments work with each other, the Independent Summative Evaluation of the GPE in 2020 recommended a more systematic approach for identifying local education group strengths and challenges.

The insights from such an approach, it was suggested, would enable a continuum of work, from the renewal of local education group mandates and ambitions to practical improvements resulting from periodic reviews of governance and organizational issues, including stronger leadership and collaborative capacities:

GPE engagement

The tool for strengthening the effectiveness of local education groups was developed for this purpose—as a support to education stakeholders in carving out a space where partners can identify how the education group adds value, and how that value can be leveraged further, as well as pinpoint capacity and resource challenges.

The discussions ultimately open up options for, and agreements on, ways to improve the coordination group’s effectiveness, whether this relates to aspects of its strategic value or organizational and collaborative capacities.

The tool is based on the Principles toward effective local education groups and grounded in the new GPE 2025 strategy, which recognizes sector coordination as a core enabling factor for system transformation.

Through the GPE Effective Partnership Rollout, the tool was trailed by stakeholders in GPE partner countries over a six-month period from late 2019 to mid-2020.

And while the COVID-19 pandemic inevitably disrupted the work and forced many countries to focus on cross-sector, multi-stakeholder COVID-19 task forces, the engagement of Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Guyana, Mozambique, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal and Yemen suggest commitment to establishing functioning sector coordination mechanisms.

The feedback collected during the pilot period has served to inform a revised, simplified and modular version of the tool as well as user guidance.

Different uses of the tool

Pilot participants had volunteered to trail the tool, and had different motivations to engage:

The diverse ways the tool was used demonstrate its adaptability across country situations. Users were often synched with sector developments including reinvigorating sector dialogue leading up to an education sector analysis and new plan development.

Additionally, the tool is also strengthening the role of the local education group as part of support mechanisms for implementing shared priorities, or it is informing the joint sector review process.

Several have also used the tool to establish or review the terms of reference or memorandum of understanding for their groups and/or partner cooperation frameworks. Or simply as a learning exercise in smaller and bigger groups.

Quick facts about the tool

• The tool is not a “magic bullet” for overcoming coordination challenges at once, but it can help facilitate a focused discussion on identifying key bottlenecks and potential solutions.
• The tool meets the local education groups “where they are,” being relevant for both emergent and well-established local education groups.
• It offers multiple options, from a light to more comprehensive assessment, and a collective exercise and/or an anonymous exercise.
• The tool comes in three brief documents with different focus areas and is ready to use for several settings (adaptation for online use).
• A committed task team is key for conducting a successful assessment, as are investments in selected follow-up actions.

GPE encourages regular effectiveness reviews for an effective partnership and continuous learning and adjustments to optimize sector dialogue and coordinated action. This tool is one resource for doing so.