Final Evaluation Mission – Phase II of the Support to the Teacher Colleges Project and Support to the Ruben Dario Institute Project

Detailed description of project Back

The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg finances and implements development projects in Nicaragua since 1990 through its implementing agency for development cooperation, Lux-Development. Key sectors for intervention are water and sanitation, education, health and post-hurricane reconstruction.

This evaluation concerns two projects. The first project consists of the second phase of the support to seven Teacher Colleges in Nicaragua providing training for primary school teachers. This project aimed:

• To improve the infrastructure of the Chinandega teacher college and increase its capacity by building a boarding house;
• To strengthen the teaching and administrative tools of the teacher colleges of Managua, Jinotepe, Chinandega, Estelí, Juigalpa, Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields (computerisation, improvement of libraries, development of educational projects, training of teaching and administrative staff);
• To facilitate access to the teacher colleges for pupils of the priority rural areas through the grant of scholarships.

The second project proposed to relocate and reconstruct a secondary school in San Juan de Limay in Estelí, the Ruben Dario Institute, which suffered serious damage during the passage of hurricane Mitch in 1998. The project also foresaw the grant of the equipment and materials necessary for a quality education. Specific attention is given to the subject of science, endowing the institute with rooms for experiments and the elaboration of a methodological and practical guide adapted to the socio-economic conditions of the school.

This project also tried to follow up on a previous project “Reconstruction of Estelí’s schools” as regards the psychological support of the students of the Institute and of 12 nursery and primary schools in the region. This activity helped the pupils to cope with the trauma they lived through and resolve emotional, conduct and learning problems.

The objective of this mission is to undertake the final evaluation of both projects.

Type of services provided

PROMAN provides the services of an expert in education and evaluation.

The main tasks of the expert is:

• Analysis of the results and the specific objective(s) reached at the time of the evaluation, compared with what had been anticipated in the project document;
• Description of the zone covered and the project beneficiaries;
• Analysis of the project’s management and monitoring;
• Analysis of the project in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability, taking into account crosscutting aspects (poverty reduction, governance, gender, environment).

PROMAN HQ is providing backstopping and quality control.