OVERVIEW

USAID’s ALSE research activity examined how well community-based schools helped children to learn core subjects such as literacy and numeracy.

Implemented by New York University, the activity assessed the results achieved by the Community-Based Education Enhancement Program, an activity funded by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development, as well as the Government of the Hellenic Republic (Greece). ALSE provided a series of executive seminars to help the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) and Afghan non-governmental organization education staff to apply rigorous and modern education research techniques and to conduct their own education research that would meet international standards. ALSE also supported 69 community-based education (CBE) classes in Herat, Ghor, Bamyan, Daykundi, Parwan, and Kapisa provinces of Afghanistan.

ACTIVITIES

• Assessing the impact of community-based schools on learning outcomes.
• Assessing the performance of students and teachers after the management handover of CBEs from non-governmental organizations to the MoE.
• Providing a series of six short-term, intensive executive seminars focused on building the research capacity of MoE staff.
• Providing overall technical and financial support to 69 CBE classes that were transitioned from the management of non-government organizations to the community.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Reviewed and ensured the accuracy of data collected from data collection fieldwork, including Household Survey, Community Leader Survey, Teacher Survey, and Learning Assessment Survey datasets.
• Administered the CBE sustainability phone surveys with 157 community leaders from 157 villages across six provinces in Afghanistan: Herat, Ghor, Daykundi, Bamiyan, Parwan, and Kapisa.
• Submitted the pre-analysis plan (PAP) to Evidence in Governance and Politics – a network for scholars and practitioners engaged in field experiments and impact analysis on topics of governance, social services, and institutions. The PAP of ALSE Phase II study was published at: http://egap.org/registration/5144.
• Disseminated the ALSE Phase II Baseline Report that presents the results of ALSE’s institutional capacity assessment carried out with 179 Community Development Councils (CDCs), 220 Education Subcommittees (ESs), and 114 School Management Shuras (SMSs) surveyed in 184 villages across six ALSE provinces.
• Co-piloted ten training modules with the Directorate of Social Mobilization and shuras at the central, district, and provincial levels. The pilots were done in Dari and Pashto in three villages: Parwan, Bamiyan, and Kapisa.
• Held a joint panel with representatives of the Afghan MoE Catholic Relief Service, and Steps Towards Afghan Girls’ Educational Success during the 2017 Comparative International Education Society Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.