Improving the delivery of local services is a key component of the Government of Angola’s (GRA) efforts to decentralize the country’s services with special focus on social services. With an estimated two million children out of school due to systemic limitations, education is an important starting point for strengthening municipal systems for service delivery. To support the the GRA’s efforts the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is funding the “Strengthening Municipal Education Systems (SMS) project” implemented by Ajuda do Povo para Povo, (ADPP) a local NGO, to strengthen the educational system and improve local service delivery in four provinces of Angola. The aim is to increase the percentage of school-aged children enrolled, improve the primary school completion rate, reduce school dropouts, and reduce the number of children repeating school years. To achieve these goals the SMS project focuses on working with local stakeholders, providing them with the tools for the successful implementation of the decentralization of services in the education sector. The SMS project provides tailored training to municipal authorities to maximize the use of resources allocated for the education sector and assist in developing municipal education strategies in Cacuso (Malanje), Londuimbali (Huambo), Catabola (Bie) and Baia Farta (Benguela). In addition, the SMS provides training to school managers on school management and administration, as well as training teachers on pedagogical skills and monitoring and evaluating learning outcomes.
ACTIVITIES
● Conduct a Municipal Education Mapping exercise to identify challenges and gaps and map available resources to address them;
● Develop a Municipal Education Strategy based on results of the mapping exercise;
● Support Municipal administrations to use the Municipal Education Mapping to develop costed Municipal Education Strategies;
● Develop COVID-19 mitigation plan to reduce the impact of discontinuance of classes;
● Community awareness campaigns to advocate for massive school-aged children’s enrollments;
● Support schools and teachers to implement activities for children struggling with schoolwork;
● Work closely with Ministry of Justice at local level to ensure children have the necessary registration documents to start school;
● Establishment of Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs) and support them to compile and present recommendations from the community to the local school, outlining proposals for community action to improve education.
● Facilitate communication between education authorities at the provincial and municipal levels;
● Use existing ADPP’s resources at the selected municipalities through its Teachers Training Schools to enable SMS activity support locally.
● Training of community members in the value of school-community cooperation, and participative M&E.
● Develop pedagogical methods and material adapted to the local context.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO DATE
● Strengthened the capacity of municipal authorities to maximize use of existing resources
● 1,083 school principals, administrators and teachers trained in school management
● 484 members of school leadership completed theoretical and practical human resources management, budgeting and maintenance training
● 645 schools with access to reliable data on attendance and passing rate
● 1,194 teachers trained in improved pedagogical skills and tools to monitor and evaluate the impact of their lessons
● Over 386,000 students in primary school reached through the project
● 204 schools report Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) results to the community including Parents Teachers Associations, local leaders, parent meetings
● 1,354 trainee teachers have improved pedagogical skills and tools to monitor and evaluate the impact of their lessons
● 1,335 Parents Teachers Associations actively involved in primary education through the project
● 426 schools incorporated community inputs into school plans
● 48 municipal education officials complete professional development program
● Four municipalities have improved strategic plans for rural areas
