Project description

Title: Capacity development of government education authorities
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Benin
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Preschool and Primary Education
Overall term: 2011 to 2013

Context

Benin’s education policy is based on the objectives of the United Nations’ Education for All programme and aims to offer improved primary education and greater equality of opportunity for all children by 2015.

Considerable progress has been made in giving children access to the education system. Enrolment rates for primary schools and lower secondary schools have risen dramatically, with the number of students increasing twofold between 2006 and 2010. However, this quantitative development has had a negative impact on both the quality and internal efficiency of the education system.

The education authorities are responsible for carrying out tasks in key areas such as school inspection, educational quality development, teacher training and in-service training, as well as in educational administration and planning. But they face problems of an organisational and institutional nature, as well as equipment and staff-related issues, all of which severely restrict their ability to take action.

Objective

The efficiency of government education authorities is increased in the areas of school inspection, school administration and curriculum planning.

Approach

The project monitors and supports Benin’s national education sector strategy. Key partners are the education authorities at municipal level and the Ministry of Preschool and Primary Education at national level. To enable the project to be rolled out nationwide, the project also involves provincial education authorities at regional level.

In order to increase the capacity of education authorities in areas such as school inspection, school administration and educational planning, the project also takes into account aspects of staffing and cooperation as well as organisational and institutional issues. These include the qualitative improvement and optimisation of work processes and procedures, the specification of staff training requirements and the implementation of specific training measures and advisory services for the municipalities.