Detailed description of project Back
Education has been identified as one of the sectors to be supported by the EC in South Africa, as expressed in the CSP 2007-2013. The EC’s aid instrument for support is a Sector Policy Support Programme (SPSP), with Sector Budget Support (SBS) as the favoured financing modality. Primary Education and specifically improvement of early literacy and numeracy in Foundation and Intermediate Phase were identified as focal area.This study provides support to the formulation of the PrimEd SPSP which will culminate in the formulation of an Action Fiche for submission to EC HQ’s.
The Objectives of the Study are:
- Building on the work done during the identification phase, undertake a further and updated review of the seven key areas of assessment for an EC funded Sector Policy Support Programme (SPSP), i.e. the sector policy (including consideration of key educational issues such as access, quality and equity), sector budgeting and its medium-term perspective, sector and donor coordination, the institutional setting and capacity issues, the performance monitoring systems, the macroeconomic framework, and public financial management;
- Taking into consideration the five elements of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the EU commitments in this regard, assist the Delegation to decide on the most appropriate financing modality for support to the education sector in collaboration with the South African government and other stakeholders as appropriate, and in consultation with EC headquarters;
- Detail the design and implementation arrangements for the envisaged Education SSP.
Type of services provided
PROMAN provides the services of the Team Leader (Senior Education Expert). A Public Finance Expert and SA Education Sector Expert are provided by Cambridge Education.
Spread over three Phases the Team in continuousconsultation with the ECD and the Ministry of Education and after elaborate stakeholder consultation (national – all provincial levels):
- Finalises the Assessment of the 7 eligibility criteria for SBS;
- Defines four focal areas for support: Increased roll-out of Grade R; Faster roll-out of the QIDS-UP programme; Intensified impact of the Foundations for Learning Campaign; Increased availability of specialised teachers for the Foundation Phase;
- Justifies and defines the SBS financing modality including the general and specific conditions, fixed and variable tranches, indicators and performance assessment, disbursement schedule, accounting authority and conditions, financial management and reporting and the internal management of the ESPSP.
The Team produces an Inception -, Debriefing -, a Draft Formulation – and a Final Formulation Report.
