analysis of capacity development in education planning and managment in ethiopia

7/27/2019 Analysis of Capacity Development in Education Planning and Managment in Ethiopia

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Analysis of capacity developmentin educational planning andmanagement in Ethiopia

Dramane Oulai, Candy Lugaz,Alemayehu Minas, Haileselassie Teklehaimanot

International Institutefor Educational Planning

Rethinking capacity development


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Analysis of capacity developmentin educational planning and management in Ethiopia


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Analysis of capacity developmentin educational planning and management in Ethiopia

Dramane Oulai, Candy Lugaz, Alemayehu Minas, Haileselassie Teklehaimanot

In collaboration with

Marc Bernal and Marcus Edward

International Institutefor Educational Planning


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The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarilyrepresent the views of UNESCO or IIEP. The designations employed and the presentation of materialthroughout this review do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of

UNESCO or IIEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities,or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

The publication costs of this study have been covered through a grant-in-aid offered by UNESCOand by voluntary contributions made by several Member States of UNESCO, the list of which willbe found at the end of the volume.

Published by:International Institute for Educational Planning 7-9 rue Eugne Delacroix, 75116 Paris, [email protected]

www.iiep.unesco.org

Cover design: IIEPTypesetting: Linale ProductionPrinted in IIEPs printshopiiep/web/doc/2011/05 UNESCO 2011


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Contents

List of abbreviations 6

List of tables 8

Foreword 9

Summary 10

Rsum 11

Introduction 12

1. The education sector in Ethiopia: an overview of its organization and achievements 171.1 The education system 171.2 Decentralization of education in Ethiopia 211.3 Initiatives to enhance the delivering capacity of the education sector 261.4 Lessons learned 27

2. Assessment and ndings of the study 302.1 Human resources management 302.2 Organizational arrangements 422.3 Technical environment 452.4 Motivation and retention of educational planners and managers 49

3. Strengths and challenges of educational planning and management in Ethiopia 553.1 Strengths 553.2 Challenges 56

4. Strategies to develop the capacities of educational planners and managers in Ethiopia 60

Conclusion 65

References 67

Annex 1. Terms of reference for the implementation of the study on capacity developmentin educational planning and management in Ethiopia 70

Annex 2. Individual questionnaire administered to educational planners and managersat the federal, regional and woreda levels 82

International Institute for Educational Planning www.iiep.unesco.org


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List of abbreviations

ABE Alternative Basic EducationAED Academy for Educational DevelopmentARM annual review meeting ATP Advanced Training Programme (IIEP)BESO Basic Education Strategic ObjectivesBOFED Bureau of Finance and Economic DevelopmentBPR business process reengineering CBSP Capacity Building Strategy and Programme

CSRP Civil Service Reform ProgrammeDAG Development Assistance GroupDFID United Kingdom Department for International DevelopmentEFA Education for AllEMIS Education Management Information SystemESDP education sector development programFDRE Federal Democratic Republic of EthiopiaGDP gross domestic product

GEQUIP General Education Quality Improvement ProgrammeGER gross enrolment ratioGNI gross national incomeIICBA International Institute for Capacity Building in AfricaIIEP International Institute for Educational Planning IMF International Monetary FundJICA Japan International Cooperation AgencyJRM joint review missionKETB Kebele Education and Training BoardMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMEDAC Ministry of Economic Development and CooperationMOCB Ministry of Capacity Building MOF Ministry of FinanceMOFA Ministry of Federal AffairsMOFED Ministry of Finance and Economic DevelopmentNCBP National Capacity Building ProgrammeNER net enrolment ratio



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List of abbreviations

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OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentODI Overseas Development InstitutePASDEP Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End PovertyPIM Programme Implementation ManualPSCAP Public Sector Capacity Building ProgrammeREB Regional Education BureauSGP School Grant ProgrammeSida Swedish International Development Cooperation AgencySNNP Southern Nations, Nationalities and PeoplesTDP Teacher Development ProgrammeTVET technical and vocational education and training

TWG technical working groupUIS UNESCO Institute for StatisticsUN United NationsUNCT United Nations Country TeamUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNICEF United Nations Childrens FundUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientic and Cultural OrganizationUNESS UNESCO National Education Support StrategyUSAID United States Agency for International DevelopmentWEO Woreda Education Of ceWOFED Woreda Finance and Economic Department



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List of tables, boxes, gures and graphs

Tables

Table 1.1 Evolution of enrolment in Ethiopia, from 1994/1995 to 2004/2005 20Table 1.2 Actors involved in the educational planning and management process

in Ethiopia 25Table 2.1 Process of recruitment of educational planners and managers (in percentage) 32Table 2.2 Educational planners with experience as a school teacher (in percentage) 34

BoxesBox 1. Among the tasks for which you are responsible, which ones do you nd

the most dif cult to complete? 40

Figures

Figure A1. A selection of issues to be considered in an analysis of capacity developmentpolicies and strategies 81

Graphs

Graph 2.1 Distribution of planners by their highest level of academic qualications(in percentage) 33

Graph 2.2 Academic background of the planners who responded to the questionnaire 34Graph 2.3 Planners number of years of experience in educational planning

and management (in percentage) 35Graph 2.4 Planners who have been evaluated over the past two years (in percentage) 36Graph 2.5 Appreciation by the educational planners and managers of the relevance

of the training they received with the tasks they are expected to perform(in percentage) 39

Graph 2.6 Educational planners and managers who have at their disposala computer to perform their work (in percentage) 47

Graph 2.7 Planners with access to the Internet in their of ce (in percentage) 48Graph 2.8 Planners who use the Internet for work, at the federal, regional

and woreda levels (in percentage) 48Graph 2.9 Educational planners and managers appreciation of the usefulness

of staff meetings organized in their department (in percentage) 50Graph 2.10 Educational planners and managers number of years of experience

in their current post (in percentage) 53Graph 2.11 Educational planners and managers who have already tried to obtain

another post since their appointment to their current post (in percentage) 54



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Foreword

Capacity development is an important mandate of many international organizations. Much of their work aims to strengthen national capacities through training, technical advice, exchangeof experience, research, and policy advice. Yet there remains considerable dissatisfaction withinthe international community regarding the impact of many such efforts. While these have usuallystrengthened the skills of individuals, they have not always succeeded in improving the effectivenessof the ministries or organizations in which they are working. These shortcomings call for continuedresearch into how capacity development policies and strategies can be made more effective.

In this context, UNESCO received funds from the Norwegian Ministries of Education and ForeignAffairs to focus on capacity development for achieving the Education for All goals. The objectivehas been to identify appropriate strategies for UNESCO and others. Within UNESCO, IIEP hascoordinated this work. A wide range of activities was undertaken, including detailed case studies onthree countries (Benin, Ethiopia and Vietnam), a series of thematic studies and literature reviews,and consultations with experts. The focus has been on educational planning and management,since stronger capacities in these areas should lead to signi cant improvements in the educationsystem as a whole.

IIEPs work has led to the identication of the following important principles:

The type of capacity development being considered here only works in a sustainable mannerwhen there is national leadership and ownership, and when international efforts matchnational priorities and strategies.

Strategies need attention at several levels: the capacities of the individual, the effectivenessof the organization (for example the ministry of education), the norms and practices whichrule public management as a whole, and the political, social and economic contexts.

Any intervention must recognize the intrinsic values of ownership and participation. When itaims only to identify partners weaknesses or to strengthen the positions of those alreadypowerful, the deepest sense of capacity development is lost.

The series Rethinking capacity developmenthas been prepared within this framework.

Khalil MahshiDirector, IIEP



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Summary

The aim of this study is to evaluate the level of capacity in educational planning and managementin Ethiopia by identifying actual constraints and good practices, in order to present appropriatestrategies to improve these capacities. The study is based on a series of interviews andeld visitsto the Federal Ministry of Education in 10 of the 11 regions.

Following an overview of the organization of the education sector in Ethiopia and the main linesof progress achieved over the past years, the study presents the core ndings of the eld workconducted in the country, focusing on four main issues which have an impact on the capacities of educational planners and managers: human resources management, organizational arrangements,the technical environment and the motivation of educational planners and managers.

Even though good progress has been made on these issues over these past years, it is a matterof urgency to overcome challenges which still characterize the system. Among them are thefollowing: the high level of staff turn-over which contributes to the lack of institutional memoryin planning positions; shortfalls among educational planners and managers who need strongerskills in key planning tasks such as strategic planning, data collection and analysis, projectionsand simulations; a lack of consistency in an adequate pro le for the position; in some locationsthe lack of recognition of the post of planners in particular related to statistics or EMIS as apermanent position.

This study identies several strategies for addressing these challenges and for improving thecapacities of educational planners and managers in Ethiopia. These strategies are either envisagedfor the short, medium or long-term, and cover several dimensions such as initial and on-the-jobtraining, human resource management (criteria and process of recruitment of planners, evaluationprocedures, motivation), communicationows inside of ces and between the different levels of planning and the quantity and quality of resources for planners to carry out their tasks.



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Rsum

Lobjectif de cette tude est dvaluer le niveau des capacits en planication et gestion delducation en thiopie en identiant les contraintes rencontres ainsi que les bonnes pratiques,a n de prsenter quelques stratgies visant amliorer ces capacits. Cette tude reposeprincipalement sur une srie dentretiens et denqutes de terrain conduits auprs du Ministrefdral de lducation ainsi que de dix des onze Rgions.

Aprs une revue de lorganisation du secteur ducatif en Ethiopie et des principaux progrs atteintsces dernires annes, ltude prsente les rsultats cls de lenqute de terrain mene dansle pays, en se concentrant sur quatre thmes principaux qui ont un impact sur les capacitsdes plani cateurs et gestionnaires de lducation : la gestion des ressources humaines, lesarrangements organisationnels, lenvironnement technique, et la motivation des planicateurs etgestionnaires.Mme si des progrs ont t raliss dans ces domaines depuis plusieurs annes, il est urgentde dpasser les d s qui caractrisent encore le systme, parmi lesquels les suivants : le niveaude rotation du personnel est lev, et contribue au manque dune mmoire institutionnelle auxpostes de planication ; les planicateurs et gestionnaires ont besoin de comptences plus fortesdans des tches cls de la plani cation comme la planication stratgique, la collecte et lanalysede donnes, les projections et simulations ; ils nont pas toujours le pro l adapt leur poste ;dans certains endroits, le poste de planicateur en particulier li au statistiques ou au SIGE nesemble pas tre systmatiquement reconnu comme un poste permanent.

Ltude identie plusieurs stratgies visant dpasser ces obstacles et amliorer les capacits desplanicateurs et gestionnaires de lducation. Ces stratgies sont envisages sur le court, moyenet long-terme, et couvrent plusieurs dimensions comme la formation initiale et continue, la gestiondes ressources humaines (critres et processus de recrutement des plani cateurs, procduresdvaluation, motivation),ux de communication au sein des bureaux et entre les diffrents niveauxde plani cation, quantit et qualit des ressources la disposition des planicateurs pour mener bien leurs activits.



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Introduction

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wider factors impacting upon this process. The following conceptual denitions are used in thisstudy.

Capacity development

The term capacity development can be, and has at times been, given a broad interpretation, ina similar way as the term development. A well-known denition used by the OECD DevelopmentAssistance Committee, for instance, interprets capacity development as the process wherebypeople, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintaincapacity over time (OECD, 2006: 12). According to a second and very different denition, capacitydevelopment refers to the reinforcement of civil servants professional skills through training activities organized by international agencies. If therst interpretation is accepted, an analysisof capacity development would cover a very wide and potentially confusing set of issues, whileadopting the second, much more restrictive denition would lead to the neglect of key issuesthat have an impact on the performance of individuals and organizations for example, staff

management or organizational structures.In this context we interpret capacity development as a process with four complementary dimensions:

improving the skills and performance of individuals; improving organizational performance through rethinking the mandate, structure and internal

management of the organizational units within which individual of cers work; improving the public administration to which these units belong through a re ection on public

service management; improving the social, economic and political context within which of cers work and within

which education systems develop by limiting the constraints and strengthening the incentiveswithin the external environment.

The gure in Annex I (p. 81) presents the various dimensions of capacity development in asomewhat simpli ed manner. It shows the four above-mentioned dimensions: the individuals whowork within the organizational units, which form part of the public administration and functionwithin a speci c context.

The individual of cers (i.e. the educational planners and managers) have a mandate, as re ectedin their job descriptions, and perform certain tasks, which may be different from their mandate.Their effectiveness depends on a combination of quali cations, experience and training, on therelevance of this combination to their mandate and tasks, and on the presence and strength of incentives, as well as the absence of inhibitors.

The individual of cers work within anorganizational unit. This can be the planning department

within the MOE, but planners and managers also work at the regional or district levels, and theunit can then be the Regional Bureau of Education and its planning department or theWoredaEducation Of ce (in Ethiopia, a district is called aworeda). Each of these units has a mandateto ful l and tasks to perform. Their effectiveness depends on the performance of the individualof cers as well as three organizational elements. Therst is the way in which internal managementfacilitates the ef ciency and motivation of individual of cers, for instance, through the developmentof ef cient internal communication, clear lines of accountability and supportive supervision. Thesecond is the relevance of the organizational structure: whether it re ects the units mandate andis suf ciently clear and simple. The third is the degree to which the necessary human, materialand nancial resources and relevant information are available.



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Introduction

The organizational units in our analysis all form part of public administration. Three issues areof specic importance in this area: (1) the distribution of tasks among units and their level of autonomy; (2) the existence of an education policy and a capacity development strategy; and most

importantly, (3) the management of the public service, including, for instance, recruitment andevaluation criteria and procedures and their impact on staff performance.

Finally, several factors related to the political, economic and social context may have a positiveor harmful impact on the performance of the public administration and its of cers. Among thesefactors is the ease with which employment can be found outside the public sector, as well as thesupport of development partners (for instance, international and bilateral development agencies,NGOs, and so on) which may in uence the building of national capacity through their contributionsto the design and implementation of the capacity development policy of the country.

Educational planning and management

Good planning and an ef cient management system are the essential bases for any progresstowards achieving the EFA goals, given the limitations in thenancial resources available toeducation. Good planning helps with the making of rational choices in investment strategies andbetween the delivery systems, while ef cient management raises the performance of the educationsystem in providing quality basic education to all. Lack of skills in planning and management,together with an inoperative organizational structure in the education sector, can constitute seriousobstacles to the functioning of education systems and therefore hinder their chances of achieving the EFA goals. For these reasons, the UNESCO policy paper and the case study in Ethiopia focus oncapacities in educational planning and management. Previous studies in particular, the training needs assessment carried out by IIEP in 2005 at the request of USAID and the Academy forEducational Development (AED) (IIEP, 2005) emphasized the strengths but also the challengesfacing educational planning and management in Ethiopia, which constitute obstacles to achieving the EFA goals (see Annex 2 for further details of the conceptual framework).In order to undertake the analysis of capacities in these areas with success, the main planning andmanagement tasks were covered following the logic of the planning process: sector analysis (datacollection and analysis); policy formulation; plan formulation; programming of the plan activities;implementation; and monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of these activities.

Methodology of the study This study involved descriptive and analytical research on three sources of information:

review of existing of cial documents and data on capacity development in the educationsector, and in educational planning and management in Ethiopia in particular;

interviews organized with a wide range of individuals from selected target groups; data collected through questionnaires administered to educational planners and managers

at the federal, regional, and woreda levels ( Annex 2).

For the data collection process during theeld work and for data analysis and interpretation, aresearch team composed of IIEP staff, national researchers and international consultants was setup. The team members included two IIEP staff, an international consultant, two high-level nationalconsultants who were selected on the advice of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MOE) and theUNESCO Cluster Of ce, and nally the UIS Regional Education Advisor based in Dar es Salaam,who has worked in Ethiopia in the recent past. Throughout the implementation process, severalsessions were organized with the head of the Planning Department at the Federal MOE in order to



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discuss the coverage of the study and the progress being made, and to report some of the early ndings.

The eld work, undertaken with the support of the UNESCO Cluster Of ce, consisted of two eldmissions, each of two weeks duration: therst one was organized in November 2007 and thesecond in March 2008.

The eld study involved interviews and focus group discussions with a wide range of actors,comprising the following:

staff at the Federal Ministry involved in planning and management, including the Planning Department head and planners;

of cers at the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance and EconomicDevelopment (MOFED);

staff at the Regional Education Bureaux (REB) andWoreda Education Of ces (WEO) in chargeof planning,nancing and human resources;

senior of cers working in the Bureaux of Finance and Economic Development at the regional(BOFED) and at theworeda level (WOFED), as well as in the Regional Civil Service Commission; education advisors of key development partners. The team met with the Task Force for Capacity

Development in Education, which is chaired by the head of the Planning Department at theMOE and composed of representatives of the major international partners. The team also hadthe opportunity for separate discussions with the education advisors and representatives of the following agencies: the Academy for Educational Development (AED), the United KingdomDepartment for International Development (DFID), the International Institute for CapacityBuilding in Africa (IICBA), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UNESCO, the UnitedNations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the United States Agency for International Development(USAID), the Government of the Netherlands and the World Bank;

a European Union consultant and an Overseas Development Institute (ODI) fellow, both of whom have been working as advisors to the head of the Planning Department at the MOE; the head of the Department of Educational Planning and Management at the College of

Education at Addis Ababa University; several former trainees of the IIEP Advanced Training Programme (ATP).

At the request of the MOE, the research team visited ten Regional Education Bureaux (REB) (all theregional states Afar, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambela, Harari, Oromia, Southern Nations,Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), Tigray, and two city administrations: Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa except for the Somali region, which was not visited), as well as two to three WEOs per region. Eachregion was visited by two members of the research team, except for three regions (Gambela, DireDawa and Harari), which were visited by one researcher. These interviews permitted the gathering of a rich base of information on the process of educational planning and management in Ethiopia,as well as on the strengths and challenges of this process.

In addition, individual questionnaires were prepared by the team and distributed to the educationalplanners and managers in the Planning Department at the MOE, the ten REBs and the WEOs thatwere visited by the researchers. The objective of using such questionnaires was to complete andcomplement the qualitative information collected during the interviews. Overall, 74 questionnaireswere completed by such of cers within the framework of this case study. The questionnaires werecompleted by nine planners working at the Federal MOE, 26 regional planners, and 38 plannersof WEOs (74 planners overall).



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Introduction

The present report is based on the analysis of these data, taking into account the results of previousstudies carried out recently in Ethiopia on the same topic (in particular, IIEP, 2005; Watson, 2005;World Bank, 2005).

Structure of the report This report presents and analyses the main ndings of the eld study, examines key challengesto the capacity development of educational planners and managers in Ethiopia, and identi esstrategies that could help in overcoming these constraints.

The report will examine the following topics:

overview of the organization and progress achieved in the education sector in Ethiopia; assessment and ndings of the study; main strengths and challenges of the educational planning and management system in

Ethiopia;

suggested capacity development strategies; conclusion.



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1 The education sector in Ethiopia:an overview of its organization and achievements

Ethiopia is a federal country of 1,221,900 sq km with a population estimated at 77.4 million in2005 (IMF mid-year estimate for 2005). It is sub-Saharan Africas second most populous country,after Nigeria. The population grew at an average rate of 2.2 per cent between 1990 and 2000, andif the same rate of growth persists between 2005 and 2010, the total population of the country willreach 82.3 million in 2010 an increase of almost nine million inve years. The population is veryyoung as 44.8 per cent are under 15 years old (World Bank, 2004 ), indicating the enormous effortsto be undertaken in order to provide educational opportunities for all those who need education.

The country has an economy based on agriculture. The growth of the economy has been robust overthe past few years (11.9 per cent in 2004, 10.5 per cent in 2005 and 9.6 per cent in 2007)(IMF;Ministry of Finance and Economic Development ) and real GDP is expected to continue to growat a rate of 8.4 per cent in 2008 and 7.7 per cent in 2009 (IMF estimate) as a result of sustainedgrowth in agriculture, horticulture and services as well as inows of donor aid and direct foreigninvestment. Nevertheless, the per capita income in the country, which stood at US$170 in 2006,remains at a very low level. This explains the generally low level of civil servant salaries observedin the country.

The government has launched a new development programme called the Plan for Acceleratedand Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), which is based on Ethiopias strategy of agriculture-based industrialization. The plan is expected to bene t from a massive investment

in infrastructure with a view to facilitate the conduct of business in the country. The largestcomponent of the federal budget will be for capital investment in road building, agriculture, healthand education. Educational development is at the top of the governments development agenda.

Ethiopia receives EFA Fast Track Initiative funding and is one of the seven Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) pilot countries.

The following sections present: the education system in Ethiopia; its decentralization framework;the initiatives undertaken to enhance the delivery of capacity in the education sector; and themain lessons learned.

1.1 The education system

Main characteristics

The general education system in Ethiopia is framed as 8-2-2 which represents:

primary education of eight years (up to Grade 8) from age 7 to 14; two years of general secondary education (Grades 9 and 10) for ages 15 and 16; preparatory education (senior secondary), Grades 11 and 12, for ages 16 and 17.

There are three national examinations involved in the above structure. At the end of Grade 8, allregions administer a primary school-leaving national examination. At the completion of Grade 10,all students are expected to sit for the Ethiopian General Secondary Certicate Examinationadministered by the Ethiopian General Education Quality Assurance and Examination Agency. This



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Analysis of capacity development in educational planning and management in Ethiopia

examination is instrumental in assigning students to either the technical and vocational educationand training (TVET) system (of 10+1, 10+2 and 10+3) or the academic preparatory stream afterwhich another national exam is administered (at the end of year 12), which serves basically as a

means of placement of students in different faculties of universities.In addition, there is a formal integrated system (Alternative Basic Education) and parallelsub-systems of non-formal programmes of education and training, including special education,which complement the existing structure of education.

The curriculum development of general education is the shared responsibility of the MOE andREBs. The federal MOE prepares the curriculum structure, which is discussed and enriched by theprofessionals in the respective regions. Consequently, primary school textbooks and guide booksare developed and produced by the regions in the mediums of instruction of their choice. ForGrades 9 and above, the development and production of these materials is the responsibility of the federal MOE and is generally undertaken by engaging commissioned writers.

Trends in education sector development

The Ethiopian Government has shown a strong commitment to educational expansion and hasregistered consistently high results in expanding educational services at all levels since the adoptionof the New Education and Training Policy in 1994 and its derivative, the 20-year Education SectorDevelopment Program (ESDP).

The ESDP has been in progress in phases of ve-year cycles. It is continuously redressing theshortcomings in order to achieve quality universal primary education by the year 2015 withcorresponding expansion in the successive sub-sectors. This is in line with the objective of increasing the literate pool of the Ethiopian population while producing the high- and middle-levelprofessionals required for accelerating economic growth.

The ESDP I was developed in 1994/1995 against the backdrop of very worrisome indicators of theeducation system, most of which are documented in several assessments. At the time, the sectorwas characterized, among other things, by a very low primary school gross enrolment ratio (GER)of 51 per cent, a secondary school GER of 15 per cent and a tertiary education GER of about 0.8per cent. Gender disparity was also very high at all levels, so much so that the combined primaryand secondary school enrolment rate for girls was 29 per cent, while that of boys was 42 per cent.Furthermore, the sector had been suffering from inadequate facilities, insuf cient trained teachers,overcrowded classes, and a shortage of text books and other teaching materials.

In the years following the roll out of the ESDP, most of the hurdles in the primary schools havebeen gradually overcome. By the end of 2004/2005, the number of public primary schools built

across the country had increased by 53 per cent, reaching over 19,412 (MOE, 2007: 3). The gure for the pre-ESDP roll out in 1994/1995 was 8,434, thus showing more than a two-foldincrease. Consequently, primary school enrolment by the end of 2006/2007 (1999 EthiopianCalendar) stood at over 12, 657,342 students compared to 2,063,635 a little over ten yearsearlier. Compared to the estimated 14,753,159 school-aged population of the country, this gave atotal gross enrolment rate of 85.8 per cent (78.5 per cent for girls and 92.9 per cent for boys). For2006, the net enrolment ratio (NER) at primary level was estimated at 65 per cent.

When enrolment in the parallel mode of delivery known as Alternative Basic Education (ABE) isconsidered, the cumulative GER becomes 91.3 per cent. According to the MOEs Annual EducationStatistics issued in February 2007, there were 6,425 ABE centres across the country, located mainlyin the pastoralist and hard-to-reach communities. With all of these accounted for, the sub-sector



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had an annual growth rate of 11.3 per cent between 1998/99 and 2002/2003 alone (FederalDemocratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2004: 3).

Urban-rural disparity has also been decreasing steadily in favour of the latter as the result of thebuilding of a large number of schools in the rural areas. During the period under review, 83 per centof all newly built schools were in rural areas and this resulted in a primary school geographicalcoverage of over 64 per cent of the country. Consequently, a 75.7 per cent increase in the primaryschool gross enrolment rate has been registered compared to just 24.3 per cent for the urbanlocalities. There has been a marked improvement in gender parity at the primary education levelas well, reaching 0.84 towards the end of 2006/2007 (MOE, 2007: 16).

Though the expansion of secondary education has not kept pace with that of primary education,the gross enrolment rate has increased considerably, thus registering 33.2 per cent (41.6 per centfor boys and 24.5 per cent for girls) by 2006/2007 (MOE, 2007: 9). This is nearly double the totalenrolment ratio recorded in 1994/95 when the new Education and Training Policy was adoptedand the roll out of the Education Sector Development Programme started.

The technical vocational education and training sub-sector, which was at a rudimentary stage atthe turn of the last decade, has made tremendous progress since 1994/1995. This was supportedby Proclamation No. 351/2004, giving impetus to its expansion and thereby providing broadand multilevel foundations (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2004: 5). According tothe Ministry of Education Annual Abstract issued in February 2007, there were 269 technicalvocational education and training institutions versus a mere 17 in 1994/1995. Thus therewas a total enrolment of 123,557 students, of which 50.3 per cent was female by the end of 2006/2007 (MOE, 2007: 11). This is an impressive 50-fold increase compared to the enrolmentof 2,338 students recorded in 1994/95 (Leka, no date: 6).

The higher education sub-sector has not been well developed. Its participation rate of under1 per cent is one of the lowest in the world even by sub-Saharan Africas standard which is 3 per centwith its undergraduate intake not more than 9,000 towards the end of the last decade (Yizengaw,2003: 23). During the past ve years, however, higher education in Ethiopia has expanded both interms of infrastructure and programme areas, and there are currently 21 public universities (eightof them old and 13 new ones), along with eight private university colleges with a total enrolmentof 210,456 students in undergraduate and post-graduate programmes. This has resulted in anannual average increase of 33 per cent since the last ESDP II (2002/2003 2004/2005) and thecurrent ESDP III (2005/2006 2010/2011) (MOE, 2007: 53). Indeed, the annual intake has alsoincreased over the years, registering an annual intake rate of 30,000 in 2003/2004 comparedto around 3,500 in 1994/1995 (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2004: 13). To addressthe quality issues that accompany such an accelerated increment in the sub-sector, variousinterventions have been and continue to be implemented within the context of the Higher EducationReform Project since 2004. This includes the establishment of the Quality Assurance Agency andPedagogical Resource Centers, and giving internal managerial autonomy to the universities, among other things (Yizengaw, 2003: 23).

Education nance has also shown considerable growth over the period considered. The educationexpenditure, which was Birr 1.36 billion (13 per cent of the national budget) in 1994/1995 (MOE,1996) has increased to Birr 4.64 billion (or 16.7 per cent of the national budget) in 2004/2005,with over 50 per cent of it consistently allocated to primary education over the period in review.

The quality of the education system as a whole and of the primary education sub-sector in particularremains unsatisfactory, although it is improving. For example, the MOE Educational Abstract of



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2007 reports that 49.6 per cent of secondary school teachers, 97.6 per cent of rst cycle primaryschool teachers and 59.4 per cent of second cycle primary school teachers are qualied. This isin contrast to the target of 98.3 per cent for the rst cycle and 63 per cent for the second cycle

primary education, respectively, by 2005/2006 (MOE, 1996: 1920). On the other hand, at theprimary level, the pupil-teacher and pupil-section ratios need attention, given the currentguresof about 62 and 69 respectively (MOE, 1996: 19-20). These two gures are in contrast to thestandard pupil-teacher and teacher-section ratios of 50.

Table 1.1 gives the evolution of enrolment, gross enrolment ratio (GER) and gender parity index inprimary education, two years of general secondary education, preparatory, higher education andtechnical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Ethiopia from 1994/1995 to 2004/2005.

Table 1.1 Evolution of enrolment in Ethiopia from 1994/1995 to 2004/2005

Enrolment1994/1995

Enrolment2004/2005

GER1994/1995

GER2004/2005

Gendercomparison

2004/2005Primaryeducation

2,063,635 11,448,641 51% 79.8% GER girls 78.5%

Two yearsof generalsecondaryEducation

n/a (no suchcycle existed

then)

860,734 n/a (no suchcycle existed

then)

27.3% GER girls 24.5%

Preparatoryeducation

n/a (no suchcycle existed

then)

92,483 n/a (no suchcycle existed

then)

n/a (notcomputed in the

EMIS)

GER girls 27.3%

Higher education(colleges anduniversities)

6,354 * 191,165 ** ** **

TVET 2,634* 106,336 ** ** **

Source: Ministry of Education, 1997-.* These gures refer to government institutions only.** Enrolment rates cannot be calculated as the relevant age brackets for these levels are not yet de ned.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Regional Education Bureaux have come up with a packagethat pools donors resources to address four priority quality issues under the umbrella programmecalled the General Education Quality Improvement Programme (GEQUIP) (MOE, 2007a).

The programme intends to improve the quality of students education outcomes in the general

education sub-sector by improving the quality of teaching and learning as well as the capacityof federal, regional andworeda education of ces to deliver. The major pillars of the programmeconsist of the Teacher Development Programme (TDP); curriculum, textbooks and assessment;management and administration; and the school improvement and School Grant Programme (SGP).

1.2 Decentralization of education in Ethiopia

The decentralization framework

Decentralization was introduced in Ethiopia under the 1995 Constitution, thus giving rise to thefederal system of administration. Since then, Ethiopia has become a federal country, composedof nine regional states Afar; Amhara; Benishangul-Gumuz; Gambela; Harari; Oromia; Southern



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Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP); Somali; Tigray and two city administrations AddisAbaba and Dire Dawa. Each regional state has its own constitution with legislative, executive and judiciary domains of government. Similarly, theworedas (district levels) under the regions, and the

municipalities under the city administrations, have their houses of representatives and executiveand court systems. There are about 700 woredas and 250 municipalities in the country. Belowthe woredas, there are the kebeles which are the lowest form of government. There is an averageof about 20 kebele administrations below each woreda. In total, there are about 15,000 kebelesin the country (Ministry of Education, 2006: 5).

In Ethiopia, education is organized according to the overall system of federalism in the country.The Federal Ministry of Education is headed by a minister and threeministres dtats responsiblerespectively for the general education, TVET and higher education sub-sectors. All the nineregional states and two city administrations have their respective Regional Education Bureaux(REBs), under whichWoreda Education Of ces (WEOs) are organized. The Dire Dawa and Harariregions are exceptions to the rule as they have neither sub-city administrations nor WEOs: these

regions are indeed much smaller than the others, and the REBs liaise directly with the schools foradministrative purposes. Below theworedas, the KebeleEducation and Training Boards (KETB) arethe educational planning and management government organs at the community level.

From a nancial point of view, the federal government allocates block grant resources to the regions,which in turn allocate resources under the same format to the woreda councils. Each level sharesthe transferred resources to the different sectors including education. Theworeda councils allocateresources to WEOs and schools.

The educational administration at each level is politically accountable to its government,and technically to the upper level of administration. However, the relationship between eachadministrative level is not hierarchical: accordingly, the Ministry of Education has no direct line

authority over the Regional Bureaux of Education (Ministry of Education, 2006: 5).Planning and management responsibilities at different levelsof the educational administration

The Ethiopian system of educational planning and management is both a bottom-up and top-downexercise. Resource requests and plans and budget proposals come from the lower tiers, whiletarget setting, resource allocation and the approval of proposals descend from their respectiveupper levels. But since the legislative line (i.e. the different levels of houses of representatives)and the executive and the technical line (i.e. the sectoral bureaux and of ces) are also involvedin the process of planning and resource allocation, several horizontal and vertical interactive andconsultative processes are imperative.

The following sections present in more detail the roles and responsibilities played in educationalplanning and management by the federal Ministry of Education (MOE), the Regional EducationBureaux (REBs), the zones, theWoreda Education Of ces and the Kebele Education and Training Boards (KETBs).

The federal MOE

With regard to the planning and management of education, the federal MOE is responsible for:

formulating national education policy; setting education and training standards at all levels of education; monitoring implementation and ensuring that standards are respected;



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The Woreda Education Of ces (WEOs)

Woreda Education Of ces (WEOs) are the primary educational authorities responsible for theestablishment and implementation of all educational activities primary, secondary and TVET at the district level. They monitor the delivery of instruction in schools and mobilize resources forthe operation of schools. The sub-city education administrations are the equivalent of woreda education of ces in city administration.

The WEO is administratively subordinated to theWoreda Council, and also professionally andtechnically answerable to the REB. Its specic mandates are the following:

planning education for the woreda up to secondary level; ensuring standards and the accreditation of institutions; implementing and evaluating projects; administering primary and secondary schools; monitoring and supervising programmes;

enhancing community participation by establishing administrative boards, PTAs and othercommittees; developing interschool integration and coordination; allocating budgets to schools; building the capacities of educational personnel in the woredas.

In principle, all WEOs have a planning unit comprising a head and one or two planners, one of whomvery often handles the EMIS function. These of ces engage in strategic and operational planning for their level. All plans are based on the regional education plans and local district needs.

At the WEO level, the planning activities include data collection from the schools and preparationof the woreda plan. The WEOs are also responsible for school-mapping and micro- planning

exercises that involve planners, school supervisors and the heads of the secondary schools withinthe woreda. In carrying out these activities, the WEOs receive support from thekebele educationof ces (in municipalities), the experts and team leaders of which contribute to the inputs for theworeda education plans. WEOs are supposed to undertake preliminary analysis of the data theycollect and provide feedback to the schools before they forward it to the REB. They also have theresponsibility of training kebele education of cers, recruiting, training and deploying teachers andhead teachers, as well as supporting kebele of ces.

The Kebele Education and Training Board (KETB)

The KETBs have fewer responsibilities in educational planning, but play an important role in theactual implementation of policies at the pre-primary and primary levels of education. Their staff

comprises two tove people usually recruited among primary school teachers. They are responsiblefor:

collecting educational data up to the primary level and forwarding it to the WEOs; monitoring the operations of the school in thekebele; participating in the evaluation of teachers performance; organizing and facilitating community participation and support; paying attention to the disciplinary affairs of teachers and students.



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Planning and management role of other ministries

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED)

Under Proclamation No. 256/2001, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development inheritedall the responsibilities previously assigned separately (by Proclamation No. 4/1995) to the formerMinistry of Finance (MOF) and the Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (MEDAC).Federal responsibilities for planning, budgeting and aid management were thus assigned to asingle ministry. There was a major reorganization and integration of the previous MOF and MEDACstructures. MOFED is currently organized into three main wings, each headed by a state minister,covering economic development, economic cooperation and publicnance respectively. Three of the wings are involved in educational affairs at the macro level in their respective domains. Theregional share of the block grant budget subsidy is affected by this Ministry.

The Ministry of Capacity Building (MOCB)

The Ministry of Capacity Building was created in 2002 in the context of increasing democratizationand decentralization of the system. It was charged with implementing the National Capacity Building Programme developed as part of the Civil Service Reform Programme launched in 1998 atall levels of government, and across all sectors, including education. In the context of increaseddecentralization, it was indeed essential to build the capacities of governments and civil servantsworking at the local level. The Ministry of Capacity Building was created in order to provide policydirections, coordination and implementation support with regard to capacity building (World Bank,2005: 7) and, more speci cally, to:

initiate national capacity building policies as well as prepare and implement programmes andbudgets accordingly;

ensure that the necessary capacity is created for national capacity building; perform other activities necessary for the enhancement of capacity building at all levels.

A survey carried out in 2008 on capacity development initiatives led in the education sector inEthiopia assessed the impact of the Ministry of Capacity Building at the time of the survey andreached the following conclusion: the impact of the Ministry has not yet been fully felt, probably dueto its novelty (it was created only in 2002). Its role has been limited to the preparation of the major(forthcoming) PSCAP (Public Sector Capacity Building Programme)(which will impinge indirectly oneducation service delivery); handling the community and parent-teacher mobilization aspects of the ESDP (...). It appears, however, that the Ministry has not kept abreast of, or contributed to, somevery signicant and innovative capacity building experiences in the education sector, particularlythose sponsored by USAID (Watson, 2005: 20).

The Ministry of Federal Affairs (MOFA)

The role of the Ministry of Federal Affairs is to:

oversee the administration of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa; give assistance to the regions with particular emphasis on the less developed ones.

The Ministry of Construction and Urban Development

The Ministry of Construction and Urban Development has an important role in the design,construction and contracting of educational projects. It has responsibility for urban policy andplanning, and hence plays an important role with respect to Ethiopias municipalities.



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Decision-making in a decentralized context: a summary

The responsibility for planning and managing education in Ethiopia is therefore entrusted to anumber of federal ministries, the REBs, the WEOs, the KETBs and the community, for differentaspects and at different levels. Development partners also play a role in this regard.Table 1.2 summarizes the distribution of responsibilities among the main actors involved in the process of educational planning and management.

Table 1.2 Actors involved in the educational planning and management process in Ethiopia

Priorityde nition

Settingstandards

Sectoranalysis

Policyformulation

Planformulation

ImplementationMonitoring

andevaluation

FederalMinistry ofEducation

Ministry ofEconomicDevelopment

Ministry ofCapacityBuilding

Ministryof FederalAffairs

Ministry ofConstruction

RegionalEducationBureau

Woreda

EducationOf ce

Kebele

Educationand TrainingBoard

Community

Developmentpartners

Source: Data from various issues of MOE education abstracts.

This study focuses on capacity in planning and management at the MOE, REB and WEO levels andhas not dealt with activities at the kebele level or within other related ministries.

1.3 Initiatives to enhance the delivering capacity of the education sector When the decision was taken in 1995 to set up a federal decentralized management structure, the rst step was the initiative to build the delivering capacities of the newly established sub-nationaleducation management structures. This began with the mobilization of a large number of staff fromthe Ministry of Education to the regional states (Freeman, 2005: 7), thus laying the foundationfor the present federal government structures. This was followed by continuous orientation and



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technical support in the key areas of project planning, evaluation and reporting by the Ministrystaff at the time.

A coordinated and systematic effort to address the sectors capacity limitations followed theadoption of the Education Sector Development Program in 1995 in partnership with developmentpartners and stakeholders in the sector. In this regard, a coordinated effort by the bilateral agencies,such as USAID, Sida, the Irish Development Cooperation, Government of Belgium and DFID, andmultilateral agencies, such as UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, has been instrumental.

One particularly important initiative was the training of woreda education of cers by the MOE,supported by USAID as part of its woredas capacity building initiative in the context of the BasicEducation Strategic Objectives (BESO) project. The programme was implemented between 2004and 2007. The training focused on planning and management, and reached about 4700 woreda education of cers. It is expected to continue under GEQUIP, supported by USAID and UNICEF, during which 400 and 300 of cials will be trained in a three-year period.

In 2006-2007, a speci c training programme in educational planning and management wasdesigned for the heads and planners of REBs, as well as for planners from the central level. Thistraining was delivered by IIEP with the support of the MOE and USAID/Academy of EducationalDevelopment (AED)/Basic Education Programme. It consisted of training teams rather thanindividuals and covered about 300 planners.

In addition, the MOE and the REBs have been sponsoring their respective staff to enrol in summercourses as well as undergraduate and post-graduate programmes that would enhance theirmanagerial and leadership capacity. This is, of course, in addition to the fragmented capacitystrengthening interventions undertaken during the last ten years in collaboration with other bilateralagencies, notably the Irish Development Cooperation, JICA, the Governments of the Netherlandsand Finland, and multilateral ones such as UNICEF and UNESCO. For instance, from 2003 to 2007,JICA trained planners from the regional andworeda levels of the Oromia Region on school mapping and micro-planning. In 2007 UNICEF, in collaboration with Addis Ababa University, carried out atraining programme on the same topic for the Amhara Region.

The capacity development initiative was not limited to the management aspect of the system.Key quality inputs such as teachers, curriculum and other related inputs intended to improve theteaching-learning process have also been targeted. The Teacher Development Program (TDP) isone of these and it has been in progress since 2004. Its major areas of intervention are pre- andin-service teacher training, school leadership and management, higher diploma in interactiveteaching and learning, and the English Language Improvement programme.

The other major area of capacity building, focused on improving the institutional and technicalcapacity of the federal MOE and the REBs, included the collection, storage, analysis anddissemination of education data. Since 2006-2007, training and technical support is availableto statisticians and data encoders at all levels of the structure with the support of the UNESCOInstitute of Statistics (UIS), following the diagnostic study conducted in 2003 (Federal DemocraticRepublic of Ethiopia, European Commission and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2004).

Since 2005, these efforts of the MOE have been supported by technical andnancial developmentpartners, including the Government of the Netherlands , the UK Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID), USAID, Irish Development Cooperation (IDC), Sida, the World Bank, andUNESCO. The Ministry of Education and these partners have set up a task force chaired by thehead of the planning department at MOE, with a representative of the partners group serving



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as secretary on rotation. The task force also acts as a think-tank group for identifying areas of capacity gaps that need to be tackled.

The latest development in the capacity building initiative is the production of a manual by theMOE in collaboration with UNICEF (Ministry of Education, 2006), which serves as a reference forday-to-day management tasks and a training package for organizing in-house training. The manualemphasizes practical ways of decision-making and implementation [that] can be strengthenedat all levels, with particular emphasis on local level actions such asworedas and school levels(Ministry of Education, 2006: 1). It deals with issues such as educational policy planning anddecentralization, human resources and decentralization, school-level responsibilities and schoolcluster resource centres, community mobilization for resources and management, and schoolinfrastructure, among other things. It is a comprehensive reference intended as an in-house training guide for continuous managerial and leadership skills development.

These various capacity-building initiatives have been further reinforced by the federal governmentsoverall civil service capacity building programme, which was introduced as early as 1996. Thereform process, which then began as a series of measures, developed into the Capacity Building Strategy and Program (CBSP) in 1998/1999 with technical assistance from the World Bank. Thelatter subsequently coordinated the support for its implementation by bilateral and multilateralagencies, beginning in 2001.

The programme was later known as the National Capacity Building Program (NCBP) with thepurpose of strengthening working systems to improve organizational effectiveness and rapidlydevelop human resource in the public sector (Freeman, 2005: 10). Currently, it is referred toas the Public Sector Capacity Building Program (PSCAP) and is being implemented under theleadership of the Ministry of Capacity Building. The programme has six sub-programmes, of which Civil Service Reform embeds staff capacity building components. This sub-programme has

as its overall objective the promotion of the development of an ef cient, effective, transparent,accountable, ethical and performance-oriented civil service at the federal, regional and local levels.The World Banks review of the programme in 2006 concluded that PSCAP represents a realcommitment by the government of Ethiopia to bring about genuine transformation in district andlocal governance (Freeman, 2005: 10). This indicates that capacity is being developed despitethe rapid decentralization the country has undergone devolving power down to the lowest tiers (over600 woredas) that took effect over the last 15 years (Bines and Woods, 2007).

1.4 Lessons learnedMuch progress has been made in Ethiopia in recent years to develop the education sector as wellas its capacities at different levels. Education is indeed recognized as a priority at the national,regional and woreda levels, and most education indicators have improved during the period. Thedifferent initiatives described above, starting with education reform in the country in 1994 to therecent elaboration and production of a manual on decentralization by the MOE and UNICEF, showthe growing importance the Ethiopian government and its development partners attach to capacitydevelopment in order to enhance the development of education in the country.

Through these various initiatives, the education management structures have been revised andimproved, and at the same time the general framework as well as the long-term development goalsof the education system have been dened with responsibilities clearly dened for each level of administration. Thousands of managers and planners, in addition to thousands of teachers, havebeen trained and deployed to all levels of education administration. Many education of ces at

different levels of administration have been equipped with modern computing and communication



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systems, though a large number of of ces still need to be equipped. Some of these decentralizededucation of ces are operating very effectively. Not only the Regional Education Bureaux butalso the Woreda Education Of ces are now able to prepare their own long-term and operational

one-year plans, although these plans vary in their quality and realism. An assessment of the USAIDWEO training programme showed that 67.7 per cent of the planners trained were able to produceadequate woreda education plans (USAID/BESO II, 2005). These efforts have been carried outwith strong support from the governing bodies at the federal, regional andworeda levels, but alsofrom the local communities and the population at large. External partners and donors also stronglysupport the development of the education sector and of the capacities throughout the system(Watson, 2005: 6).

However, in spite of these positive changes, several studies emphasized the challenges thatstill characterize educational planning and management in Ethiopia. A training assessment of educational planners and managers conducted by IIEP at the request of AED/BESO II and theMinistry of Education emphasized in particular the following (IIEP, 2005):

There is a lack of linkage in the planning process: the policy demands thatworeda plans feedinto regional plans which themselves are sources for the national plan. It seems however thatthe process is much more top-down and is guided mainly by targets, set at the national leveland reproduced at the lower levels, without much adaptation. The regions and theworedasde ne their own plans, which take into account these targets, but the plans do not seem linkedin other ways and the planning processes seem to take place separately. The fact that targetsare not adapted leads to the existence of some very ambitious policy objectives, which will benearly impossible to achieve (IIEP, 2005: 5).

Planning is mainly input-oriented (...), the strategic vision to go beyond such type of planning and develop alternative solutions, more appropriate to the specic challenges of each region,seems to be lacking (IIEP, 2005: 15). In addition, while the efforts to collect data and topublish regular reports are signicant, the analysis itself remains very descriptive and evensomewhat mechanistic, following a similar format in all regions. There is little examination of relationships between indicators and nearly no reection on the possible reasons for signicantchanges in some. (...) The capacity to analyse data, to dene, on that basis, priorities anddevelop plans remains limited (IIEP, 2005: 14).

The system is characterized by a high staff turnover, as well as by a large number of vacancies.This problem is well known in Ethiopia and has been emphasized by other studies.

Technical criteria and professional experience are not always taken into account whenappointing heads of of ces. In addition, some heads emphasized their need for strengthening their strategic leadership and management skills. They noted that they are expected toundertake strategic planning, but have never received practical training on what this implies(IIEP, 2005: 13).

Training programmes for educational planners and managers are not always closely linkedto the planning process, and they lack practical orientation. The training offered is mostlylinked to donor-funded support for speci c activities. In general, it is a unique event of shortduration, not linked to a professional development plan or career promotion opportunities andfragmented in nature (IIEP, 2005: 18).

Educational planners and managers suffer from limited material and nancial resources tocarry out their activities, particularly at the local level.

Another challenge indicated by Watson (2005: 6) and related to the capacity development of educational planners and managers is the fact that personnel incentives are weak.



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However, it is worth mentioning that these challenges differ from one region to the other, with someregions having more resources and stronger capacities than others.

Keeping in mind the results of these studies, the following sections of this report will assess thestrengths and weaknesses of capacities in educational planning and management as they standtoday. This assessment will be based on the analysis of the views and perceptions of planners andmanagers, as expressed during interviews and in response to the questionnaires. It will also drawon the discussions with different groups of partners in education during theeld missions and onthe analysis of existing documents and reports.

This assessment will help to identify strategies to enhance capacities in educational planning andmanagement in Ethiopia.



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2 Assessment and ndings of the study

The following sections examine in detail the various aspects of capacity development in educationalplanning and management in Ethiopia, with an emphasis on cross-cutting issues, such as humanresources management, organizational arrangements, the technical environment and logistics.These are key areas that inuence the way in which of cers, and thus educational planners andmanagers, ful l their mission in a specic organization, and hence their capacities.

The analysis is based on discussions and interviews held with the different actors met during the eld study, as well as on the analysis of the questionnaires administered during the survey to asample of educational planners and managers working at the different levels of the administration.This data is analysed in the following sections as a whole sample, and when relevant, per level forexample, federal, regional andworeda level in order to get both the global view and the detailed,level-wide views.

The analysis will sometimes highlight concerns expressed by the actors encountered during the eld study, while quoting the actors. The interactions with these actors allow a better understanding of the contextual environment within which the planning and management activities are carriedout in the country.

At the end of each section, a short summary of the main strengths and challenges related to eachissue will be highlighted.

2.1 Human resources management

Despite several steps that have recently been taken to improve the management of educationalprofessionals, particularly regarding their recruitment and evaluation, specic constraints remain inthese areas. This section analyses key issues that have an impact on the capacity development of educational planners and managers, for example, recruitment procedures, the existence of a clear job description, the characteristics of the evaluation process as well as of the training programmesdelivered to these of cers, and the civil service reform.

Recruitment procedures

Guidelines prepared recently by the Federal Civil Service Commission, and adapted at the regionallevel, dene the procedures and criteria to follow when recruiting staff working at the federal,regional, zonal andworeda levels. These guidelines require the announcement of vacancies for therecruitment of educational professionals. This is done through advertisements in local newspapersand on the of ces notice board. Applications are received and scrutinized by the of ces concerned.A College Diploma or Bachelors degree in a relevanteld is the minimum requirement forrecruitment for an entry-level position corresponding to the job of planners. Interviews and examsare organized for the selection of appropriate candidates. Specic attention is also given to theprofessional experience of the applicant. The education administration at each level is autonomousin undertaking this recruitment process.

Such procedures have several characteristics which, if applied, can impact positively on the capacitydevelopment of educational planners and managers:



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A specic level of qualications is required for such positions, and more attention is supposedto be given to the professional background of the applicants.

Transparency characterizes the recruitment of educational professionals: vacancies are

announced with the detailed job description and the required pro

le for the candidate; thepositions are open to all competing applicants. Such transparency is guaranteed by the existence of a set of guidelines to which applicants

can refer if they wish to contest a decision that is taken on their application; a control is alsosupposed to be made by the regional service commission, which is to check compliance withthe legal recruitment procedures.

Most of the planners met by the research team during the discussions highly appreciated theserecent changes in the recruitment procedures. They consider indeed that the present processallows for more transparency and gives more importance than before to quali cation andprofessional experience criteria. Little information was given to the research team concerning thenature of the recruitment procedures before this reform; however, it seems that they were less

objective and neutral and sometimes guided by political considerations, as may be the case inmany other countries. The result is that of cers are assigned to key positions without the necessaryqualications and professional background.

According to the planners met during theeld study, a positive step, at least in theory, was therecent establishment of these rules. However, several planners complained about the fact thatsuch rules are far from being implemented and respected. Discussions with the planners as wellas the data collected through the questionnaires enable us to draw the following conclusions withregard to the actual implementation of these rules.

Several actors met during the eld study emphasized in particular the fact that a vacancyannouncement does not always lead to competitive recruitment for a position. The of cers

interviewed acknowledged that they were either promoted to the position without any competition(by secondment) or that they were transferred from a unit to the one they occupy. For instance, inone WEO, an of cer indicated that: there was not proper planning in this WEO before. Now thereis a post for planning. A planner was recruited (...) but the post was not announced. The headrecommended a person, who was then appointed to this post. The Human Resources Departmenthead of one region visited by the team stressed that: the process is transparent but some problemssuch as assignments remain.

An analysis of the planners questionnaire responses conrms the view that a vacancy announcementdoes not always lead to competitive recruitment. Indeed, as shown in the last line of Table 2.1,only 36 per cent of the planners who responded to the questionnaire said that they were recruitedfor their position on the basis of competitive recruitment (22 per cent external and 14 per centinternal). Others were recruited through promotion (31 per cent), transfer (22 per cent), nomination(10 per cent) or secondment (1 per cent). There are some differences between the federal, regionaland woreda levels: while at the federal level the staff transfer mode was most frequently used, atthe regional level four modalities (promotion, internal and external competitions as well as staff transfer mode) were used almost evenly. At the WEO level, promotion was the dominant mode of recruitment followed by internal competitive recruitment.



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Table 2.1 Process of recruitment of educational planners and managers (in percentage)(N = 74)

PromotionInternal

competitiverecruitment

Externalcompetitiverecruitment

Nomination Secondment Transfer

MOE 0 11 22 11 0 56REB 24 28 20 4 0 24WEO 42 21 8 13 3 13Total 31 22 14 10 1 22

Source: Individual questionnaires.

It appears, therefore, that the recruitment process does not yet systematically follow the newrules. In such cases, little attention may be given to the qualications required for the post andother factors seem to be of greater importance. This may lead to contradictions: of cers with nobackground in educational planning and management may be assigned as educational plannersand managers, while others with the relevant quali cations will be denied such positions.

1. During the discussions with the planners, it became clear that the criterion of academicquali cations for the professional positions at least a College Diploma or Bachelors degreein educational planning and management or in a relevant eld is often dif cult to respect.The of cers met during the survey indicated that the main dif culty in respecting this criterionlies in the lack of a pool of qualied professionals at the different levels and especially atthe woreda level from which applications are received. This situation usually leads to delaysin lling vacancies, as was the case for instance in one REB visited by the research team,

where the EMIS post has been vacant for a long time because of the shortage of educationalplanners and managers in the region. In addition, the emphasis may sometimes be put ondiplomas and degrees rather than on experience: the head of one WEO in Oromia emphasizedin this regard that according to the new recruitment rules, we need tond degree holders.However, we cannotnd such candidates for all positions, and therefore we have to wait forstaff with degrees. In some cases, this has resulted in the recruitment of new graduateswith the relevant level of academic qualications, but with no, or limited, experience in theeducation sector.A number of education of ces try to overcome these constraints through different solutions.One solution has been to hire secondary school principals and teachers, who are then trainedon the job by an experienced of cer in planning. The Education Bureau of Dire Dawa is an

example where secondary mathematics and science teachers were recruited and trained onthe job as planners. This has been a successful strategy leading to the building of a stronglyperforming team of planners for the of ce. In case no candidate with the minimum requireddiploma is found, the heads of of ce opt for a more experienced candidate, to make up forthe lack of qualications. They argued: to run of ces sometimes we must compromise; if there are no candidates with a diploma in educational planning and management, we recruitaccording to experience.

2. Because of these various situations, many planners do not have adequate quali cations fortheir posts.

3. Indeed, as shown in Graph 2.1, 22 per cent of the planners who completed the questionnairedo not meet the required academic qualication criteria, as their highest level of education



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is the end-of-secondary school certicate (6%) or teacher training certicate (16%). Thisis particularly the case in WEOs where 28 per cent of the of cers who responded to thequestionnaire had a teacher training certicate, while another 9 per cent had only an end-of-

secondary school certi

cate. We notice that the quali

cation pro

le of the planners at federalMOE level is not much higher than that of the other levels. This is worrisome in a context wherethese planners are supposed to design national plans and help the regions and woredas inthe elaboration of their own strategic plans; they are also required to undertake studies andprovide advice on critical issues identied in the implementation of national or regional plans.

Graph 2.1 Distribution of planners by their highest level of academic quali cations(in percentage)


In addition, their quali cations are seldom related to planning, as emphasized byGraph 2.2. Only12 per cent of the planners who completed the questionnaire have qualications in this area, andoverall, 28 per cent related to education or public administration. Twenty per cent of them havequalications in teaching and pedagogy, while 52 per cent have qualications in other areas suchas mathematics, biology, history, geography or other subjects (such as language). This situationwas con rmed during the discussions with several planners. For instance, the research team meta woreda planner who was appointed to this position although he had a degree in biology andno experience in educational planning and management. In another WEO, the physical education

expert was designated by the of ce head as the acting statistician to ll in the vacant post: thisof cer appeared to be quite worried about this situation, as he had no experience in statistics:I did not volunteer for that position. If at least I had some background in mathematics ... but thisis not the case. I am not condent for this post. I feel apprehensive. The planners met during theeld survey frequently complained that the right person was not in the right position.

11

56

33

5

81

149

28

53

96

16

63

15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

End of secondaryschool certificate Teacher trainingcertificate Bachelor's degree Master's degree

MOE

REB

WEO

Total



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Graph 2.2 Academic background of the planners who responded to the questionnaire


4. In addition to the fact that a number of planners are without the requisite academic quali cation,the majority of them have onlylimited experience in educational planning and management.Their professional experience extends mostly to teaching, as shown inTable 2.2. Graph 2.3 presents the distribution of planners who responded to the questionnaire by the number of years of experience in educational planning and management. Overall, most of these plannersand managers (78 per cent) had less than ten years experience in this area, with more than45 per cent having less than ve years experience. Furthermore, data show that 63 per centand 57 per cent of the planners working at the federal and regional levels respectively haveless than ve years experience in educational planning and management. At theworeda levelthe situation appears to be much better, with 66 per cent of the planners having more thanve years experience in educational planning and management, and 34 per cent of thosehaving more than 11 years experience in this area.

The fact that many planners working at the federal level have less experience in educationalplanning and management than those working at the regional andworeda levels is surprising asone would have expected more experienced planners at the federal than the other levels. Giventhat planners at the federal level help reinforce the capacities of those at the regional andworeda level, it would be normal to have more senior planners and managers at the former level.

Table 2.2 Educational planners with experience as a school teacher (in percentage)

Work place Experience as a school teacher No experience as a school teacher

MOE 89 11REB 58 42WEO 89 11Total 78 22


1215

1

2018

4

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Educational planning andmanagement

Educationalmanagement

andadministration

Publicadministration

Teaching and pedagogy

Mathematics,sciences, biology

History,geography

Others

N u m

b e r o f r e s p o n

d e n

t sField/Academic discipline



35/92


35

Graph 2.3 Planners number of years of experience in educational planning and management(in percentage)


Job description

The existence of a clear job description for an of cer is an important element for appreciation of thetasks meant to be carried out and objectives to be achieved. It facilitates a better understanding of the role that each individual or unit has to play in order to achieve ef ciently the targets set. It alsohas the advantage of facilitating the identication of appropriate pro les for candidates seeking a given employment opportunity in a given unit or department. Such a job description, when it isclear, can facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the work done by the professional staff of theplanning and management units.

The survey gave rather mixed information as to the existence and clarity of such job descriptionsfor planners and managers in the Ethiopian education system. Indeed, most of the planners whoresponded to the questionnaire (78 per cent) indicated that they had a proper job description.However, during the meetings and discussions the research team had with planners at different

levels, most of them considered that they did not have specic job descriptions and, if they existed,they were very old and not adapted to their current day-to-day activities. A job description may alsoonly exist for a department and not for individuals. This is the case, for instance, of the plannersworking at the federal level.

However, several of cers emphasized during the discussions that new job descriptions should bedeveloped within the framework of the ongoing civil service reform commonly known as BusinessProcess Re-engineering (BPR), on which more information will be given later.

63

38

57

35

9

3432

29

5

45

33

19

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Less than 5 years 5 to 10 years 11 to 25 years More than 15years

MOE

REB

WEO

Total



36/92

36


Evaluation process

The Ethiopian Government has establishednew procedures in order to improve staff evaluation.Of cers in the public service are now to be evaluated by their supervisors every six months basedon the individual of cers work plan. Most of the planners met during the eld study emphasizedthat they had been evaluated recently at least once during the past two years. Graph 2.4conrms this information, but also shows that 21 per cent of the planners who responded to thequestionnaire refute this assertion. However, based on the analysis o

analysis of capacity development in education planning and managment in ethiopia

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