Identification of new EU Support to Education in Myanmar

Detailed description of project Back

The reform of the education sector has become a priority for the Government of Myanmar and although good progress has been made in the past years there remain a number of critical challenges such as a wide disparity in access to, and duration of, quality education opportunities for different children and population groups with as a result low completion rates (50%) and high dropout rates at primary level. Access to higher education and technical and vocational training is even more limited. Low investment in educational facilities, resources, teacher training and classroom quality inputs has hindered improvements in educational quality. In all sub-sectors, teaching quality and methods are a major issue, curricula are out-dated and lack relevance to the labour market, teaching and learning resources and equipment are limited and obsolete and, as a consequence, graduates are not ’employment-ready’.

The ‘Comprehensive Framework for the European Union’s policy and support to Myanmar/Burma’, adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council in July 2013, sets out the framework for EU policy and support to the ongoing reforms in Myanmar. The lifting of sanctions in April 2013 opened the door to a direct engagement with Government and a ‘normalisation’ of relations, and from 2014 attention is shifting to support the broad Government’s reform agenda along with strengthening national institutions. The EU is now finalising its Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2014-2026 and the global objective of the assignment is to provide assistance in the identification and appraisal of options for EU support to the education sector in Myanmar.

The specific objectives are to assist the EU Delegation (EUD) in Myanmar in:

• Selecting strategic areas for support under AAP 2015 as well as potential aid delivery modalities;
• Drafting the related Identification Fiche, including all supporting documents;
• Pre-identifying strategic areas for support under AAP 2016;
• Identifying complementary needs for technical assistance and capacity development in the education sector to be funded under the ‘Institutional Strengthening and Policy Dialogue Support’.

Type of services provided

PROMAN is providing the services of a Team Leader / Education Expert and a Technical Support Junior Expert.

The Team delivers following services :

• Analyse the priority needs and challenges in the education sector and the GoM’s reform agenda;
• Map other donor’s priorities and activities;
• Stakeholder consultations;
• Review and appraise all potential options for EU Support in short and longer term;
• Include in the review all sub-sectors; lessons learned from Multi Donor Education Fund Phase 2 and options for conflict-affected areas;
• Address the various elements of the Identification Fiche: rationale, feasibility and coherence, conflict sensitivity of the approach, identifying possible synergies, adequate implementing modalities, taking the most recent EU development policies into account;
• Assist the EUD in the preparation of all relevant documentation of the IF for AAP 2015 and draft ToR for Formulation Mission.