Final Evaluation of the EC SPSP – Targeted Budget Support to Pro-Poor Basic Education Reforms

Detailed description of project Back

Between January 2003 and December 2007 the European Commission (EC) provided support to the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport (MoEYS) through a targeted Sector Budget Support Programme (SBS). The support was in the form of a grant of up to €15m, released in a series of tranches through the Ministry of Economy & Finance (MoEF) on satisfaction of a set of conditions. The grant was accompanied by a complementary programme of institutional support, Masters and other training, and technical assistance (TA) to MoEYS amounting (with contingencies) to approximately €5m.

The Programme was to achieve following results:

• Through additional funding to the priority areas of the education reform programme, especially the “pro poor” Priority Action Programmes supported by the EC, improve the cash short problem on district and school level;
• To assist the MoEYS to meet a series of enrolment and promotion targets reflecting equitable access, quality and efficiency and institutional capacity building;
• Improved capacity in the management of these areas at both central and decentralised levels.

The evaluation will look retrospectively at the implementation of the Financing Agreement to identify lessons learnt for the formulation and implementation of future SBSP and the management of Technical Assistance within a SBSP. It will assess progress and impact achieved at the end of the programme building on the findings of the previous technical monitoring mission and audits. The analysis will focus on the relevance of the programme outputs against their expected impact and on the effectiveness and efficiency of their realisation. The evaluation will inform on the appropriateness of SBS in the Cambodian Education context to promote sector reforms and improve policy dialogue.

Type of services provided

PROMAN provides the services of the Education Expert and the Team Leader.

The Team provides:

• An in-depth analysis of the design, relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the programme and its main components. The programme’s outputs and performance are analysed both in quantitative and qualitative terms;
• An assessment of the relevance of the programme in relation to the EC co-operation strategy in Cambodia and the strategies of the RGOC and the MOEYS to reduce poverty;
• In view of the preparation of the next programmatic phase from 2011 under MIP 2007-2013, recommendations on future programme design.