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New! View CSA's most recent IMPACT AND SUSTAINABILITY study, as presented at the 2001 Comparative and International Education Society conference held in March, 2001

Below you'll find an update of our activities during the October-December 2000 period.

  • PRA/PLA – Cohort 4: CSA conducted Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA/PLA) in 46 Cohort 4 Partnership School Communities during this period, thus completing the exercise for this Cohort. There were nine PRA/PLA teams, each led by a CSA staff member, all with local language capability, and each composed of three to five National Service facilitators. The PRA exercise takes four days and the teams reside in the communities. The exercise involves eight sub-groups: men, women, boys, girls, teachers, School Management Committee/Parent Teacher Association executives, Chief/elders, and Unit Committee. At least two PRA sessions are held with each sub-group, culminating in a community-wide meeting where community actions are identified, discussed and prioritized for implementation. Communities completed, typed and distributed PRA/PLA reports and Community-School Improvement Plans (C-SIPs) to partner organizations and USAID.
  • School Selection – Supplementary Cohort 4 Communities: Four additional school-communities have been selected in each of the 18 Cohort 4 districts, adding a total of 72 communities. Schools were selected by the CSA staff in conjunction with the district directors, District Education Oversight Committee members, and other district officials. Activities with these supplementary communities will begin with PRA/PLA and baseline data collection in January 2001.
  • Remobilization – Cohorts 2 & 3: CSA facilitation teams conducted remobilization exercises in all 27 Cohort 2 communities as part of the CSA process of preparing the communities for the phase-out of the project. Each community reviewed its C-SIP and set new targets. Remobilization exercises also took place in 9 Cohort 3 districts (27 communities): South Tongu, Akatsi, Ho, Hohoe, New Juabeng, Akwapim North, Suhum Kraboa Coaltor, Dangme East, and Kpando. These communities also reviewed their C-SIPs and set new targets. The remaining 9 Cohort 3 districts will receive remobilization activities in January 2001.
  • SMC/PTA Training – Cohort 2: SMC/PTA Training of Trainers workshops took place in all 9 Cohort 2 districts as a part of the phase-out process in that cohort. Participants came from community leaders, district education officials, and district assembly officials. In addition, selected community leaders from the 18 Cohort 1 and 15 Cohort 2 comparison schools were also included in the training to show appreciation for their cooperation in providing data for the ‘Best Practices’ data analysis.
  • Microgrants - Cohort 3: Proposals have begun to be submitted for Cohort 3 – tranche 3 microgrants. These proposals will be reviewed in January and disbursements will take place next quarter.
  • IEC – Radio and Newsletter: CSA aired thirty-three live radio programs plus repeats on the alternate weeks; Sunyani/Brong Ahafo (5), Cape Coast/Central (6), Ho/Volta (5), Takoradi/Western (5), Koforidua/Eastern (6) and Ada/Greater Accra (6). Volume 2, Issue 4 of the newsletter, ‘Voice from the Community’ was prepared for distribution. The newsletter continues to provide a medium to share practical experiences and actions about what is happening between/within school-communities.
  • Spread/District-Driven: CSA held a five-day SMC/PTA Training of Trainers workshop (TOT) with 20 Ghana Education Service (GES) staff of the Asutifi district. The workshop was a collaboration between the District Education Office, ActionAid (a Ghanaian NGO), and CSA. The district plans to follow-up by conducting SMC/PTA training for 72 non-partnership school-communities, which will be funded by ActionAid. The SMC/PTA TOT for Akatsi district is being rescheduled for January/February 2001. Discussions are on-going with South Tongu and Birim South relative to the planning of their SMC/PTA TOTs.
  • Monitoring and Evaluation: Cohort 4 baseline assessments have been completed by the District Monitoring Assisstants (DMAs) in 46 communities, in conjunction with the PRA/PLA activity. Following the completion of this activity, CSA held a data verification and reporting workshop. For Cohort 3, R4 data on Empowerment and Participation was collected in a random sample of 18 communities and submitted to PME. Cohort 2 impact assessments were completed in 27 partnership and 15 comparison communities. Analysis of the Cohort 2 impact data is on-going.
  • Facilitators: The 25 Cohort 4 facilitators participated in a 2-day workshop on facilitator activity modules and report writing and have been working in their communities following up on issues raised during the PRA and monitoring the implementation of the C-SIPs. The Cohort 2 & 3 National Service facilitators have been collecting match, assisting with remobilization exercises, participating in SMC/PTA TOT training, tracking C-SIP updates and facilitating PRA/PLA exercises.

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