CSA is guided and implemented by a core team of skilled, experienced staff. Most of the tools and materials were designed by this team, with assistance from other project stakeholders as well as outside resources. The CSA main office is based in Accra, Ghana, with a field office located in Kumasi, Ghana. Education Development Center, Inc., located in Newton, Massachusetts in the United States, has overall responsibility for the project. Institutional collaborators include CARE USA and Save the Children USA.

G. R. Boardman, Team Leader/EDC (October 1998-June 2001). His background includes extensive and diverse experiences in international development, research and planning, and school management, including 15 years overseas and 20 years in the U.S. The overseas work includes school administration with the American International School in Amman, Jordan; research/planning advisor at Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan; communications coordinator with a central Asia pipeline project; chief of party for USAID education projects (10 years) -- Pakistan, Lesotho, and Ghana; and short-term work in East/West Africa and Central America. Boardman was initially trained as a director of research, planning and development for culturally disadvantaged urban school districts and most of his career has been spent in multi-cultural settings, which has included U.S. urban centers, an American Indian reservation and the overseas assignments. Additionally, he has experience as a classroom teacher, principal, superintendent and professor. He has a Ph.D in Educational Administration with a minor in Educational Psychology.

Kay Leherr, Technical Advisor for Monitoring and Evaluation/EDC (February 1999-June 2001); Team Leader (July 2001--). Her background includes three years in the Peace Corps, Lesotho; two years as a systems analyst/program assistant in EMIS/monitoring and evaluation in a USAID supported project, Lesotho; and one year as a project analyst on a US-based child development project. Additionally, she has conducted research in Ghana, provided monitoring and evaluation technical assistance to the USAID supported Girls' and Women's Education project, and provided project support for a USAID Youth Development project in South Africa. Her areas of expertise include project evaluation, USAID monitoring and evaluation techniques, including performance indicators; data collection, data analysis and report writing; and technical training and staff development. She has a Masters degree in Educational Research and Evaluation.

Akwasi Addae-Boahene, Associate Director for Field Activities. His background includes extensive field experience and training in adult learning and community development in facilitation of community involvement in government education and health programs in Ghana. He has previously served as a project manager with a World Bank Schooling Improvement Fund and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. Additionally, he has Ghana Education Service experience and has served with the Ghana National Service Secretariat. He has a Masters degree in Social Science.

Kingsley Arkorful, Associate Director for Field Activities. His background includes extensive field experience and training in community mobilization and participation techniques in Ghana, including acting program coordinator of the World Bank Schooling Improvement Fund. He has been a consultant in community development to several Ghanaian NGO's, was headmaster of the Cambridge International School, Kumasi, and has an been an examiner with the West African Examination Council. Additionally, he has experience in project planning and management, organizing and implementing of community training sessions, and preparation of training materials. He has a Masters degree in Comparative Literature.

Peter Gyekye, Deputy Director for Finance and Operations. His background includes extensive field experience and training in accounting and finance. He has previous work experience with CARE International, Ghana, and a Ford Foundation sponsored project, Multimedia Africa. He has also served as the principal project accountant to the co-executive producer (Ghana) and Blackside incorporation (Boston) for the performing of financial accounting and analytical services for project activities. Currently, he has direct responsibilities for the CSA finance and accounting, local support staff, logistics and office management tasks. He has a Bachelors degree in Accounting.

Facilitators (general). The Government of Ghana requires university graduates to serve one year of public service work, coordinated by the Ghana National Service. CSA uses these Ghana National Service personnel as local facilitators to provide on-going program support to the partnership school-communities. The National Service facilitators are chosen because of their interest in community development and are posted directly to the communities, with one facilitator for every three communities The facilitators are provided with 30 days of training and on-site supervision during their one year with CSA.

Community Members (general). Community members include a range of stakeholders. For example, community members include those parents whose children attend the partnership school. Families may live in the catchment area where the school is situated or live in a feeder village. Community members also include people who may not necessarily live in the same geographical area as the partnership school but keep a keen interest and even contribute, materially or intellectually, to the further development of the school. Other community members include those people who live close to the school and who, by virtue of their status and roles they play as Chiefs, elders, religious bodies, have a keen interest in the development of the school. Community members also include people whose official status affects the school positively or adversely, e.g., District Director of Education, Circuit Supervisors, members of DEOC, Social Welfare officer, head teachers and teachers among others. Finally, and most broadly, community members include those people whose lives are affected by the very existence of a school in their proximity.

Madhuri Kilpatrick, Technical Advisor for Information, Education and Communicataions/SAVE (contract completed September 1999). Her background includes diverse experiences in education program design, management, research and assessment in Uganda; Lesotho and Nepal. Kilpatrick has a Ph.D in International Development Education from Stanford University, in California. Her areas of specialization include social mobilization and sensitization; girls' education; and early childhood education.