This project plan has been updated in September 2013. There are changes in the

chapters 4 and 5.4 and they are in RED.

NATIONAL UNION OF FINNISH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN FINLAND AND AFORTALECER

IMPROVING READING AND WRITING SKILLS ON PRIMARY EDUCATION

IN MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE Project plan for the years 2013-2015

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Table of contents

1 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

2 Background and the need for the project ...................................................................................................... 4

2.1 General .................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Poverty ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Education ................................................................................................................................................. 4

2.4. HIV/AIDS ................................................................................................................................................. 5

2.5 PRSP and other strategy papers .............................................................................................................. 5

2.6. Actors in the field of education .............................................................................................................. 5

3 Beneficiaries and their roles ........................................................................................................................... 6

3.1 Direct beneficiaries .................................................................................................................................. 6

3.2 Roles of the direct beneficiaries .............................................................................................................. 8

3.3 Indirect beneficiaries and their roles ....................................................................................................... 9

4 Objectives and Indicators ............................................................................................................................... 9

5 Implementation ............................................................................................................................................ 10

5.1 Activities ................................................................................................................................................ 10

5.2 Co-operation partners ........................................................................................................................... 14

5.3 Inputs (resources) .................................................................................................................................. 15

5.4 Timetable ............................................................................................................................................... 15

5.5 Reporting, monitoring and evaluation .................................................................................................. 16

5.6 Sustainability of the project .................................................................................................................. 19

5.7 Cross-cutting themes and human rights ............................................................................................... 20

6 Risk analyses ................................................................................................................................................. 22

7 Budget........................................................................................................................................................... 24

8 Reporting plan .............................................................................................................................................. 25

9 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 25

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1 Summary In Mozambique the level of writing and reading skills is low. There are many reasons for this: they do not

have enough schoolbooks, the infrastructure and teachers’ teaching skills are insufficient and parents do

not understand the importance of education. Even though the state of Mozambique has paid effort to

develop the educational sector, for example by constructing school buildings and training teachers, the

development does not materialize immediately.

The direct objective of the project is to improve writing and reading skills of the 1st and 2nd grade pupils

in six schools in Maputo area. This will be reached by following activities:

1) Procuring schoolbooks and other important materials for teaching

2) Training teachers and thus improving the quality of teaching

3) Increasing the attendance of the pupils in the schools by increasing the knowledge of the parents on the

importance of education

4) Establishing a favorable reading and writing atmosphere in the schools

5) Establishing advocacy work and lobbying to affect the quality of education in Mozambique

The direct beneficiaries of the project are 1st and 2nd grade pupils of the project schools, and teachers.

Cross-cutting objectives of the development policy of Finland will be taken into account in project activities

in the following:

Environmental sustainability: The materials needed in project will be bought from Mozambique and books

will be protected by plastic covers. In teacher trainings and storytelling groups, themes related to

environment will be discussed.

Gender equality: The beneficiaries of the project are both female and male. Parents will be informed about

the children’s right for education, especially the girls’. Teachers will be trained how to take account both

sexes in education.

Reduction of inequality: The whole project aims at the reduction of inequality by education.

Human rights will also be taken account, especially the right for education. Education will affect the

realization of other human rights such as the right to employment and a sufficient level of live. The project

has been planned together with the beneficiaries and stakeholders and thus their possobility to tell their

opinions has been secured. The knowledge of children about their own rights will be strengthened for

example in storytelling groups.

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2 Background and the need for the project

2.1 General The Republic of Mozambique is a sovereign state located in oriental coast of Africa which share borders

with Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa and has been independent since 1975.

Mozambique had a decade long civil war which ended in 1992 when two main political parties celebrated a

peace agreement after a decade of civil war. The peace agreement culminated with democratic elections

contested by many different political parties in 1994. Since then elections have been consecutively and

successfully held and democratic institution has been set up and fortified which in its turn also fortifies the

environment of peace. The economic growth of Mozambique has been quite good: the growth of Gross

Domestic Product has been during last years more than 6 %. In the area of the education the enrolment

rate in primary education increased from 44 % in 1997 to 77,1, % in 2008. (Millennium development report,

MDG, 2010).

In 2011 the population of Mozambique was 23.6 million of which more than half (51%) were women and

about 44 % of the population was under 14 years old. Over 99 % of the population is African origin,

representing several ethnics groups and speaking many local languages. The official language of

Mozambique is Portuguese.

2.2 Poverty Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world positioning itself in 172 among 182 ranked

countries. In 2009 circa 54.7 % of the population lived under poverty line. In the rural areas the poverty is

more severe than in cities (56.9 % rural areas / 49.6 % in urban areas). This trend can be also seen in the

city of Maputo and in Maputo Province. In Maputo City, the poverty rate is one of the lowest (36.2 %) when

in Maputo Province the poverty rate is one of the highest in the country (67 %). The high poverty rate in

Maputo Province can be explained by urbanization (Urban population growth rate is on average 4.0 %

2010-2015, when total population growth rate is 2.1%). Families moving to Maputo Province come from

countryside in order to get a job in the city. Unfortunately, many of them are not able to get a job. In urban

area they do not have a possibility to own food production, either. This deteriorates their living conditions.

2.3 Education According to Millennium Development Report of Mozambique 2010 the primary school enrolment rate is

81, 3 % at national level. There are some differences between rural and urban areas and between boys and

girls. In urban areas, the enrolment rates are higher than general and the enrolment rate of boys’ is higher

than girls’. Especially in poorest families the differences are bigger between boys and girls attending to

school. The completion rate of primary education is 77 % (MDG report, according to Quick Facts of UNDP

this rate is as low as 55 %). There are differences in completion rate between children from wealthier and

poorer families. In the richest families the completion rates are 92.9 % when in the poorest ones the

number is only 72.3 %. (Mozambique MDG report 2010). This means that there are a lot of drop outs

during first five years of primary school.

Even if the situation in the educational field has been improved during last years, the challenges still exist.

One central problem is that the primary education is not compulsory in Mozambique and all children do not

go to school. Other problem is that there are no enough teachers in primary schools (64 pupils / 1 teacher).

Also, the quality of primary as well as teacher education is low. There are different teachers’ institutions for

teacher training and each one is running its own curriculum. Some of them are run by different

organisations such as NGO’s and others by government. Most of teacher training colleges are run by the

government and they supply almost all primary schools across the country. The teachers’ education for

primary schools is also very short, only three years for those teachers who teach the five first years (the

grades 1-5) at primary school and five years for grades 6-7. People can apply for teachers’ training after

primary education. There is also a huge lack of materials at the schools: in the project schools there is

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approximately one book / four pupils and the quality of the books is often low and / or books are in bad

condition.

The constitution of Mozambique advocates equality of gender which reaffirms that men and women are

equal. In 2006, a Gender National Policy and Strategy was approved by the government and in 2007, a

Women National Plan was also. Nowadays, thanks to this policy, the gender equity in education especially

in primary school has improved significantly. However, despite the efforts and policies that aim at

improving gender equity, there still exist some inequalities caused by cultural factors that tend to privilege

rather the boys than girls. For instance in secondary and high education, there are more gender drop outs

than in primary level.

The Mozambique Education system recognises that all children at primary school level in each discipline

should be supplied by one book free of charge. Still, all students do not get books, especially in the first

three grades of primary school. Each student who passes to the next grade should hand their books to

those in previous grades. However, many children in the first three grades do not do so. The government is

committed to improve the management system as well as finding financial solutions among his partners to

overcome the problem and guarantee that students at primary level have everyone books that can help

them learn. However, for learning the students need more books other than those supplied by

government.

2.4. HIV/AIDS According to UNISEF on average 130 thousand children (aged 0-14 years) live with HIV/AIDS and estimated

670 thousand children have been orphaned by AIDS. Traditionally, orphaned children have been absorbed

into extended family networks but for increased number of orphan the safety nets are overburdened.

Many household with orphans are without assistance and the school attendance among orphaned children

is considerable lower. Many times they have to stay at home to take care of their siblings when mother or

father has died. HIV/AIDS affects also indirectly children’s rights and education, when education services

lose skilled staff when teachers are succumbing to the disease.

2.5 PRSP and other strategy papers Education has an important role in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (PRSP) of Mozambique. One of the

main objectives is human and social development. The specific objective is the universal access to seven

years primary education, or sufficient quality to ensure the learning of basic skills. The aim is to construct

more classrooms, improve quality, keep children at schools, reform and improve the teachers training

program and monitor better the teaching – learning process in the classroom.

A new strategy of education and culture for the years 2012-2016 will be published by Ministry for

Education of Mozambique during 2012. In the new strategy the focus will be on the extension and quality

of education. This new strategy is a clear continuation for the previous strategy for education and culture

in which the objectives were to expand the access and opportunities for learning and to improve quality of

teaching and the learning results.

2.6. Actors in the field of education State, province and district level education administration

In Mozambique, education administration is divided in four levels: state (Ministry of Education), province,

district and local (school) levels. The Ministry for Education has the overall responsibility for the

development of education in Mozambique and teachers training. Province level school administration is in

charge of implementation of general lines of the Ministry of Education in provincial level. They nominate

for example directors of the schools and are responsible for teachers (extra) training after their graduation.

Administrative of district level is responsible for supervision pedagogical of the school and training of the

teachers at local level. Schools are responsible for implementation of teaching process.

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International actors

There are several international actors in the field of education in Mozambique. Most important ones are

UNICEF and UNESCO. UNICEF concentrates on themes such as quality of education and early childhood

education when the main focus areas of UNESCO are the quality of education, training of primary level

teachers and development of curricula. There are also some INGOs as Save the Children and ActionAid.

Some Finnish NGOs are also working in the field such as Operation Day’s Work in Finland (Taksvärkki) and

UFF.

Local NGOs

Several local CSOs work in the field of education with themes such as the capacity building of teachers,

programs that aim at improve the quality of education, teaching manuals for teachers and the education of

alphabetization.

Pedagogical University and Teacher training institute

Pedagogical University is responsible for the training of the teachers of the teacher training institute. The

teacher training institute is responsible for training of primary and secondary school teachers. It is under

the supervision of the Ministry of Education.

3 Beneficiaries and their roles

3.1 Direct beneficiaries PUPILS, TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS

The direct beneficiaries of the project are in total six schools in Maputo area (two schools per year) and

their teachers and pupils of 1st

and 2nd

grades. Also the teachers of 3rd

grade are beneficiaries as they will

participate in teacher trainings (result 2). They are included in the project because the 3rd

grade is the

beginning of the second cycle of primary school (1st

and 2nd

grade are the first cycle). There is a learning

sequence between these two cycles and that is why it is important to include the 3rd

grade teachers. In

order to guarantee the continuity in teaching between these two cycles it is important to include the 3rd

grade teachers also in the trainings.

All schools have been selected together with Afortalecer, Maputo education administrative and SYL, and

according to the socio-economic background of the pupils of the schools. The pupils come from families

with low-income level, from the city and its surrounding suburban areas. The number of boys and girls is

quite equal in the first and second grades. All project schools are public schools and are located in Maputo

and its suburban areas. During the project planning trip the representatives of SYL visited the first year

project schools.

The number of pupils varies from one school to another. During first project year (2013) there will be ca.

650 students and 20 teachers, in 2014 ca. 970 students and 22 teachers and in 2015 ca.585 pupils and 18

teachers. In total, there will be about 2200 pupils and 60 teachers as direct beneficiaries during the whole

project. These numbers are estimates as they can change during the years.

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Estimation of pupils and teachers

involved per year

Year Pupils Teachers

2013 645 20

2014 970 22

2015 585 18

Total 2200 60

THE PROJECT SCHOOLS ARE:

EPC Filipe S. Magaia (2013)

Total ca. 367 pupils in 2013

The school is located in urban area and its pupils come from city area, some of middle-income families and

other lower income families. The attendance of the parents in supporting their children’s studies is quite

low. Pupils have problems pass from one grade to another because they have difficulties to read and write.

There are bookshelves in the classrooms.

EPC Unidade 27 (2013)

Total ca. 278 pupils 2013

The school is located outside of the city centre, in a suburban area. The pilot project of Afortalecer was

implemented in this school. The majority of pupils come from low-income families and many of them do

not have means to buy school materials, for example pens and other material needed. One big problem is

that many pupils from poor families do not attend regularly to classes because they have to help their

families in earning living. There are no bookshelves in the classrooms.

EPC A Luta (2014)

Total ca. 580 pupils in 2014.

The school is located in the suburban area of Maputo. More than 85% of pupils enrolled in this school come

from the outskirt of Maputo, from the Polana Caniço district. The Polana Caniço district is one of the

poorest communities in the city. Most of the families are involved in informal business selling small

products for day-to-day life. Most of the bookshelves are in bad condition and must be repaired. The

parents are involved in the school activities and participate in almost all school events

Saul Filipe Tembe Primary School (2014)

Total ca. 390 students in 2014

This school is located at Maputo bay side in the district of Catembe. There are two kind of students at the

school; those from rural area and others from urban area of Maputo. Many families of the pupils are

involved in agriculture and fishing activities. The parents’ involvement in the school activities is low or

barely existent. The school has 10 classrooms and all of them have bookshelves. Still, most of them need to

be repaired.

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Inhaca Primary School (2015)

Total ca. 210 students in 2015

The school is located on the nearest Island of Maputo bay. The population is rural and most of them are

engaged in agriculture and fishing. Although Inhaca is a touristic site the majority of population is poor. As

at most of the schools, the pupils of Inhaca primary school have not enough learning material, such as

books. The school has no bookshelf in the classrooms.

16 of Junio Primary School (2015)

Total ca. 375 students in 2015

This school is located in the cross border between Maputo City and Maputo Province. Most of families

surrounding the school are from suburban, almost rural, area. To sustain their living they engage

themselves in such activities as small informal business and agriculture at family level. The majority are

poor with no conditions to afford education expenses. In addition, the pupils do not have enough books for

learning at schools. The school has no bookshelves in the classrooms.

3.2 Roles of the direct beneficiaries In this and following chapters the roles of direct and indirect beneficiaries are presented. More detailed

activities are presented in chapter 5.1.

Roles of the pupils

- They receive books and other school materials

- They learn how to protect the books

- They learn new reading and writing skills

- They participate to the homework groups and storytelling groups

- They participate to the evaluation of the project via tests

Roles of the teachers:

- Representatives of the projects schools which participate in the first year (EPC Filipe S. Magaia and

EPC Unidade 207) participated to the planning process of the project.

- They participate to the baseline study and to the training of the teachers; also to the follow-up of

the activities. They give feedback about the trainings

- They participate to the evaluation of the results: the teachers will evaluate the improvement of the

skills of the pupils in the classrooms.

- They implement the new skills learned and put them to the practice in classrooms.

- They inform/communicate with the parents of the children and organize meetings with them.

- They are responsible for sending information letters to parents and take care of the classroom

libraries

- Representative teacher of every school will be a member of the monitoring team of the project

activities at the schools.

Roles of the schools:

- They participate to the project by offering the facilities for training and meetings.

- During the project planning process, they participated to the background analysis of the socio-

economical situation of the pupils.

- They participate actively to the implementation of the project by giving necessary information and

offering facilities.

- Some project schools, which do not have bookshelves for first grades yet, will get them as a part of

the project implementation.

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- Representatives of the each school (rector and teacher) will be a member of the monitoring team

of the project activities at the schools.

3.3 Indirect beneficiaries and their roles AFORTALECER

Afortalecer is the main responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the project. Its

responsibilities include, for example, hiring facilitators, procuring books and materials to the schools,

organizing trainings and follow-up of the teachers and cooperating with schools, teachers and parents.

During the project, the personal of Afortalecer will also participate to the trainings of capacity building

organized by KEPA in Mozambique.

MUNICIPALITY OF MAPUTO

The project schools have been selected in cooperation with the Maputo’s education administratives and

they have also participated to the planning process of the project for example in project planning workshop

in January 2012. One representative from education administrative will participate the activities of

monitoring group. Afortalecer has also had several meetings with them. During the project, they will be

informed about the progress of the project. They will beneficiate of the project in a way that the quality of

teaching will improve and the number of school materials will increase in the schools of Maputo area.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Students from the Pedagogy University of Maputo will work as volunteers in the trainings for teachers,

homework groups and storytelling groups. At the same time, they can practice the pedagogical skills they

are learning in their studies at the university.

PARENTS

Pupils’ parents will participate in the parents’ meetings organized by schools and they will form parents’

groups. The aim is to work on to increase the enthusiasm of the pupils to read and write. They can also

participate to the activities (homework group, storytelling group). They will be informed about the activities

at schools by a letter specially designed to them.

4 Objectives and Indicators The general objective of the project is:

By improved education the Mozambicans’ quality of life and the possibilities to influence on their own

lives has increased and they can act as full members of their society.

The direct objective of the project is:

The writing and the reading skills of pupils in six schools on Maputo area have been improved

Indicator 1: The writing and reading skills of the pupils have improved by 30% since the beginning of the

project.

Source: Baseline study in the beginning of the project in the project schools and the test for the students at

the end of the project.

Indicator 2: The children understand texts and are able to express (by speaking, writing and/or drawing) the

central content of the texts to others.

Source: A test designed for this purpose

Indicator 3: The pupils are able to respond to easy questions by writing the response.

Source: A test designed for this purpose

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The direct objective will be reached by four different results (the activities will be described more in detail

in chapter 5.1):

Result 1: Adequate materials have been procured

At the end of the project of each school 90 % of the pupils have literature and writing books. 80 % of the

story books have been protected by plastic cover and will be recycled to the next year’s pupils

Source: The register of the teachers

Result 2: The quality of teaching has been improved

Indicator: Teachers use two new teaching methods after trainings.

Source: Conversations with the teachers before and after the trainings, demonstration lesson during the

trainings for other teachers.

Result 3: The attendance and participation of pupils in six project schools have been increased.

Indicator: The participation and activity of pupils has increased significantly from the beginning of the

project.

Resource: Interviews of teachers and pupils

Result 4: Favorable reading and writing atmosphere has been established in six project schools.

Indicator 1: The pupils will search reading material independently, for example by asking their teachers

Source: Interviews of teachers and the list of borrowed books

Indicator 2: After the project in there will be materials on the walls of every classroom which stimulate

pupils will to read and write

Source: Interviews of teachers

Result 5: Advocacy work and lobbying has been started to influence the quality of education in

Mozambique

Indicator: AFORTALECER has organized one seminar per year and six meetings per year with different actors

Source: Annual evaluation and participation list

5 Implementation

5.1 Activities

Project preparation activities

Baseline study

In the beginning of the project process, in each project school a baseline study will be organized. In this

baseline study, the level of reading and writing skills of the pupils and specific needs of each school will be

mapped. Also the needs of teachers will be mapped. The test to map the reading and writing skills of the

pupils will be done for the pupils of 2nd

and 3rd

grade in the beginning of the school year. In this way, the

information about the writing and reading skills of the pupils (the level of their skills) after 1st

and 2nd

grade

can be gathered.

Afortalecer will contract a consultant to plan the study. The consultant will prepare the needed questions, a

test for teachers and pupils and other relevant material for the implementation of the study. When this is

done, the personnel of Afortalecer will implement the study in each project school.

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Monitoring team

In the beginning of the project, a monitoring team, which consists of representatives of Afortalecer and

representatives (rector and teacher) from each project school, will be established. The monitoring team will

plan and monitor the activities at schools. They have meetings regularly, every month.

Result 1: Adequate materials have been procured

Activity 1.1 Procurement of schoolbooks

Because of the lack of schoolbooks in classrooms literature and writing books will be distributed for pupils

in the 1st

and 2nd

grades in all project schools. Government already guarantees one book free of charge for

every pupil at primary schools. Still, all students do not have books. With the project the aim is to support

pupils learning process by offering books from different themes such as literature, children stories ect. The

idea is to buy for each pupil one book but with varying themes. In this way one class gets more books from

different themes and for example two pupils can use same book. The books will be bought from local

editors and the editor will be bidden. There will be emphasis on quality of books.

After procurement the books will be protected by plastic cover and teachers, pupils and parents will be

taught how to take care of the books properly (this will be done during activities 3 and 4). Books will be

recycled from one student for another.

Indicator 1.1: The teachers are satisfied with materials in the classrooms and according to their opinion

teaching process has improved significantly from the beginning of the project.

Source: Baseline study and personal interviews of the evaluations.

Activity 1.2 Procurement of teaching materials

Teaching materials, such as manuals and posters, will be bought to the teachers according to their needs

mapped in baseline study.

Indicator 1.2: In the end of the project teachers have reasonable amount of teaching materials of adequate

quality

Source: Evaluation after each project year, interviews of the teachers.

Activity 1.3 Procurement of notebook, pencils and other needed materials

Studying materials, such as notebooks and pencils, will be bought for pupils according to their needs. These

materials are not offered to all pupils. The schools are responsible for dividing materials for the pupils who

do not have money to buy them.

Indicator 1.3: 90 % of the pupils has notebooks and pencils after the project.

Source: Teachers’ interviews

Activity 1.4 Procurement of bookshelves

Bookshelves will be constructed for the classrooms which do not have them yet by AFORTALECER, schools

and parents. Every classrooms have two different grades every day; one grade on the morning and another

during afternoon. Normally classes on afternoon are grades from 3rd

to 7th

. These bookshelves will be used

by 1st

and 2nd

grade pupils as well as pupils from other grades for in many subjects there are not enough

books for every pupil. That is why pupils do not take the books at home and the bookshelves are

necessaries to preserve the books in good condition in the classrooms.

AFORTALECER will also negotiate with different actors (such us other NGOs) to get children book donations.

The idea is to construct a small class library in order to offer reading materials and increase the interest in

reading among pupils.

12

Indicator 1.4: Each school has adequate bookshelves for books in the end of the project in each school.

Source: Evaluation after each project year.

Result 2: The quality of teaching has been improved

To reach result 2 teachers will be trained. There will be in total eight training days for each teacher, about

16 teachers in each group during a year. Trainings will be organized by facilitators who are specialist in the

contents of the trainings. There will be also volunteers from the Pedagogical University of Maputo assisting

facilitators in teaching process.

In the beginning of the project there will be study about the needs of the each school and trainings will be

modified according to the needs. The trainings will consist of following contents:

- Teaching methods: how to teach write and read

- How to motivate the pupils to study

- Librarian methods

- Practices to use new methods

- How to recognize pupils who have problems to hear and see well

- Demonstration lesson in the front of other teachers and feed-back

- How to communicate with the parents

- Security during way from home to school (The school trips can be dangerous when the distances

can be quite long for the children to come to school. Also during heavy rains the school trips can be

dangerous.)

During and after trainings there will be personal follow-up of the teachers. Facilitators will follow five

classes of every teacher and give personal feedback about classes and teaching methodologies. Year after

the trainings there will be three meetings with teachers who participated in the trainings.

In the meetings they will have more training about the themes they find important.

Facilitators will have meetings with Afortalecer personel six times per year.

Indicator: Each teacher who is participating in the project has the 80 % of attendance in the formations

Source: Participation lists

Indicator: The teachers are satisfied of the content of the trainings

Source: Feedback after each training (formula)

Result 3: The attendance of pupils in six schools in Maputo area have been increased

This activity will be reach by increasing communication between the schools and families. This will consist

of three parts: meetings with schools and parents, letters from the schools for the partners and

parents´groups.

The meetings will be organized by teachers three times per year (once / trimester). Personnel of

Afortalecer will assist these meetings. Afortalecer will introduce conversation about the next themes:

- The importance of education for children, especially reading and writing

- How parents are able to help their children to learn (for example how to create conditions to do

homework and learn at home)

- The quality of teaching

- Secure way from home to school and back

The presence of the parents will be secured by a written invitation and obligatory response. Even if all

parents cannot read they have normally someone in family who can explain the content of the letter.

13

There will be special letter for parents to inform them actual issues about schools, lessons, pupils, problems

ect. These letters will be sent three times per year (once a trimester) by the schools. Afortalecer will assist

the schools in this work.

Third activity is to establish a special parents group to each school. They will promote interest to read and

write among other parents organizing events and other activities, such us storytelling meetings for the

pupils. Teachers will be taught how to motivate parents to do this and are able to continue activities after

the project year at the schools. Also during the meetings with teachers next year after the project was in

the school there will be capacity building for teachers about this theme.

Indicator: 80 % of the parents participate in meetings between schools and parents.

Source: Participation list

Indicator: In the end of the each year there are 20 active parents working in parents’ group in each project

school of the year

Source: reports, participation lists

Result 4: Favorable reading and writing atmosphere has been established in the project schools

This result will be reached by creating learning café and organizing workshops for the children.

The learning cafes for pupils will be organized once a month during semesters in every school, 8 cafes /

school / year in total. The aim is to increase the motivation of the children to read and write by plays,

songs, poems and other activities. The learning cafes will be organized together by university students and

teachers during school days.

The workshops will be also organized once a month during semesters in every school, 8 workshops / school

/ year. The workshops will be organized during normal classes where teachers teach together with

university students. There will be emphasis on teaching methods on themes which teachers consider to be

difficult to teach. The workshops will be planned together by AFORTALECER staff, university students and

teachers.

(OLD text:

This result will be reached by creating special homework and storytelling groups to each school.

Homework groups will meet twice in a month. AFORTALECER will cooperate with the Pedagogical

University of Maputo and will get students from there to work as volunteers in this homework group. They

will help pupils in their homework and in this way they also gain working experience on teaching.

Storytelling groups are organized by parents’ groups and they meet once a month in each school. The idea

of storytelling groups is to stimulate interest in learning and writing. During the meetings the adults and

pupils read stories and pupils can for example draw pictures, plays and/or make theatre about the stories.

Every meeting has a different theme. Theme can be for example environment, human rights and HIV/AIDS.)

Indicator: Totally 8 learning cafes and 8 workshops have been organized in each project school of the year.

Source: Reports of volunteers (students) and documents of Afortalecer

Result 5: The process of advocacy making and lobbying has been started to influence on the quality of

education in Mozambique

This result consists of two activities:

14

1) Meetings with different actors in the educational sector in Mozambique, such as organizations,

enterprises, governmental and municipality level administrative and also foreign actors as

embassies of the countries which give direct budget support to the education. The object is to

share information about basic education and its challenges from the point of view of grass root

level. In the beginning of the project Afortalecer will map possible co-operation partners and start

to organize meetings.

2) Seminar on education. Afortalecer will organize every year a one-day seminar on education in order

to discuss actual themes on education with other actors in the field and in order to find new

cooperation possibilities.

Indicator: Afortalecer has mapped possible co-operation partners and contacted them after first project

year

Source: Reports, annual evaluation

Evaluation

There will be evaluations in the end of the each project year and in the end of the project. Please see more

in the chapter 5.5.

5.2 Co-operation partners District and Municipal education administrative

The district and municipal educational administrative of Maputo has been closely involved in planning

process of the project as project schools are decided together with them. One representative of district

level administration also participated in the planning workshop during project planning trip. During the

project AFORTALECER will co-operate with the administrative and informing them how the project is going

and one representative of them will be part of the monitoring team of the project.

Municipal library

There is a possibility to visit Central Library of Maputo with the pupils. They would be accompanied by

university students as part of their teaching practices. Afortalecer is negotiating about this possibility. One

representative of the library participated in project preparation workshop in January 2011.

Pedagogical University

Pedagogical University is a university with different faculties and departments. All students must study

pedagogy, didactic and psychology. University will offer contacts with the students who will work as

volunteers in the project.

UNESCO & UNICEF

Offers materials for Afortalecer and for the trainings for teachers

Save the Children

Save the Children offers materials such as children books and information materials

ActionAid

Offers materials, books and information

Rede da Criança

Is a network of local NGOs working with the education and Children’s right in Mozambique. The aim of

Afortalecer is to become a member of the network. It’s possibly to get help from the network in organizing

the annual seminar or organize it together with them. (More information about the seminar in chapter 5.1.)

Progresso

15

Offers books about children education

FEMME

Is an organization which promotes woman participation. It provides technical support to Afortalecer.

KEPA

KEPA will train personnel of Afortalecer (already in 2012) and connect the organization with other NGOs

who are doing projects with Finnish NGOs. There have been also discussions about the possibility to send

Finnish volunteers via KEPA’s ETVO-program. This possibility will be confirmed during 2013 since the KEPA

is changing the rules of the ETVO-program and they have to take the decision it the Finnish NGO can or

cannot send volunteers to more than one project (SYL has already a volunteer in Mongolia) The volunteers

would work in 2014-15.

5.3 Inputs (resources) Afortalecer

Afortalecer is the implementing agency of the project. They will hire facilitators for the trainings, plan

curricula, organize all trainings, meetings and other activities. Beside of an internal monitoring group (the

personnel of Afortalecer working with the project) Afortalecer organizes a monitoring group of the project

together with schools and teachers. Please see more about this in the chapter 5.5.

The personnel of Afortalecer have a wide knowledge about educational field from the child to adult

education and pedagogy. All of them have a Master Degree from educational field and one of them has

even PHD –level degree. Project director is Jaime Alipio, Project coordinator Jose Flores, Finance

coordinator Stélio Chang and assistant / accountant Olivia Alberto Muzuane. Detailed job description is

attached. Also the general director Alice Cambula will participate in the project but she does not get paid

from the project.

In-kind contribution of Afortalecer includes computers, printers, copy machine and a part of office rent and

transportation costs for facilitators and volunteers.

SYL

SYL is responsible for project administration in Finland including monitoring of project activities and

financing, evaluating, reporting to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and information sharing for its main

stakeholders in Finland (University Students). In SYL, there is a development co-operation coordinator who

is responsible for above mentioned activities. She works closely together with SYL`s development

cooperation advisory board called KENKKU which consist of voluntary representatives from different

student unions. Once a year there will be organized a monitoring trip to Mozambique. SYL offers possible

office equipment needed in the project and accountant services for the project.

5.4 Timetable The project implementation time is from January 2013 to December 2015. The project will start with a

baseline study which will be done during the three first months in 2013. In the end of the every year there

will be an annual evaluation and also a final evaluation in the end of the project.

Every year there are activities in two schools which will be organized according to the school year in

Mozambique. In Mozambique there are three terms: from January to the end of March, from the second

week of April to the mid-June and from August to the end of October. November is for exams and

December is the holiday month. Teacher trainings and activities for pupils and parents are arranged during

all terms. The procurement of books and other materials will be done in the beginning of the each year and

the preparation activities for this will be started in the end of the previous year.

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One year after the school has participated into the trainings and other activities there will special

monitoring meetings with the teachers.

Meetings with stakeholders will be done regularly during the whole year. The annual seminar will be

organized in autumns.

Please see more detailed work plan in appendix.

5.5 Reporting, monitoring and evaluation Monitoring and reporting in Mozambique

Personnel of Afortalecer in charge of this project is responsible for the Directorate of Afortalecer about the

project. The Directorate of AFORTALECER will meet every three months to discuss about held activities and

next ones. The Directorate is responsible for the General Assembly of AFORTALECER which meets once per

year.

There will be a separate monitoring team consisting of personnel of Afortalecer, district department of

education, municipality and schools. This team will visit the schools and meat every month to discuss the

implementation of the project. The team will also verify the book registration process used by teachers to

lend books for pupils.

All facilitators of the trainings are responsible to provide a written report after every training activity.

Teachers’ attitudes about training will be analyzed through check list forms. These reports will be discussed

in the meetings of monitoring team.

Facilitators and students volunteers will observe and assist teachers in the classrooms and will give a

written report about teaching activities. Volunteers will report homework and storytelling groups’ activities

to the monitoring team.

Organizational chart of Afortalecer:

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General Director

Alice Cambula

Coordinator of Education projects

José Manuel Flores

Secretary

DriverCoordinator of health

projects

Executive director

Jaime Alípio

Finance Director

Stélio Chang

Accountant, Assistant

Olívia Alberto Muzuane

Directorate council

General Assembly

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Monitoring and reporting to Finland and in Finland

SYL monitors the project both by regular e-mailing and by quarter annual and annual reports.

Annual reporting cycle:

In addition to the part-time Project Coordinator, Johanna Ursin-Escobar, also the Advisory Board for

Development Cooperation a.k.a KENKKU, which consists of voluntary representatives of the student unions,

participates in monitoring. Within KENKKU, there is a separate Mozambique-group, which assumes main

responsibility about monitoring together with the development coordinator. Monitoring trips will be made

every project year. SYL will provide institutional support in the development of Afortalecer as an

organization. The board of SYL is responsible for monitoring of activities in development cooperation

coordination and of KENKKU within SYL.

SYL has developed Guidelines for conducting development co-operation projects for its development

cooperation partners. In the guidelines there are information about the deadlines and other practical issues

concerning reporting and monitoring practices. The guidelines can be found at:

http://kehitysyhteistyo.syl.fi/english/syl-kehy/guidelines-for-development-cooperation/

Responsibilities within SYL:

15.2.Annual Report to SYL

30.4. Annual report to MFA

30.6. First quarterly report (January-June)

to SYL

30.9 Second quarterly report

(July-September) to SYL

31.12 Third quarterly report (October -December) to SYL

(voluntary)

The Board

Development cooperation

coordinator

Advisory board for

development cooperation

KENKKU

Mozambique group

of KENKKU

19

Evaluations in Mozambique

Afortalecer will organize an internal annual evaluation in the end of each project year. In the evaluation,

annual activities, successes and challenges will be evaluated in order to develop and redirect the project

activities for the next project year. The evaluation questions will be discussed together with Afortalecer and

SYL even if only Afortalecer is responsible for implementation.

During the last project year there will be a final evaluation implemented by KENKKU representatives during

the annual monitoring trip. The evaluation questions will be developed together with SYL and Afortalecer

before the evaluation during the third project year. The goal of the final evaluation is to find out how well

the direct objective and results of the project have been achieved. Therefore, for example the direct

objective indicators are relevant to the evaluation. The evaluation also sets out to get information about

good and not-so-good practices and experienced during this project, which can then be utilized later on a

possible continuation project.

5.6 Sustainability of the project This project plan has been made for the first three years (2013-2015), but there are already initial plans to

continue the project to a second phase. We believe that a continuation phase would be very useful in order

to extend the project and spread good results successfully and, above all, to get more permanent and

sustained results.

The final exit-strategy would be done during the second phase of the project. During this first project the

sustainability and continuity will be taken into account pre-emptively in order to build a good base for long

term sustainability and for the exit-strategy in the future.

Economical sustainability and continuity

In order to sustain and maintain economical sustainability and to ensure the continuity of the project,

during the project cycle, Afortalecer will establish a network with other local actors working in the field of

education in Mozambique. Afortalecer also plans to look for new (local or international) partnerships on

order to strengthen financial basis of the association. The organization will map the possibilities of finding

partners who would like to 1) participate to the project and/or help finance of the project (e.g. by buying or

donating books and other materials for the schools) and 2) other partners who are willing to support the

AFORTALECER’s NGO work in general. Possibilities include:

- Cooperation with other organizations: Afortalecer is looking for cooperation partners in order to

get more books and other materials for the project. The association has already received donations

from the Associations of Writers of Mozambique and from Brazil.

- Private persons: Afortalecer has already private donators and it is highly possible to widen this

network. Private persons can participate by paying the membership fee of Afortalecer and become

supporting members of the association, and/or by donating books or other materials for the

schools.

Social, cultural and political sustainability and continuity

Social and cultural sustainability and continuity aspects of the project have been taken into account by

building the activities in such a way that can be sustained after the project. This includes bringing in

important stakeholders in project planning processes and also analyzing how to make sustainable

procurements for the project.

The aim of the project is to improve reading and writing skills of children and to train teachers in a way that

they are able to teach the children better. Also, sensitizing the parents to the importance of education of

their children is an essential part of the project. If the project succeeds in reaching the aims, these are also

20

results which will last after the end of project and also across different groups of children (other classes of

teachers, siblings in same families).

One significant part is the political sustainability. Involvement of local decision makers and politicians in the

project is very important. This has already been done during the project planning because the local

education administration was involved in the process (for example in the problem analysis workshop and in

the selection of the project schools), and Afortalecer will keep in close contact with them also during the

project cycle. Advocacy work has also been included in the project activities in order to increase the general

awareness about educational issues in Mozambique, to maintain the political support for the project and to

get the politicians to take more responsibility on local educational situation of the children on one hand,

and the school teachers on the other.

Local markets and local labor force will be given the top priority when procuring materials for the schools

and hiring people for the project. Besides being more environment-friendly, the aim is also to support local

economy and give working possibilities for local experts.

Also the students of Pedagogical University have the possibility to do voluntary work in the framework of

the project, in order to gain valuable working experience and put their skills in practice.

Institutional sustainability and continuity

To ensure institutional sustainability and continuity, local ownership of the project is essential. The

ownership is already strongly in hands of Afortalecer and the project activities have been designed in a way

that the schools, teachers, local educational officers, other local organizations and pupils’ parents are

strongly involved in them. They have also been an important part of the planning process. The schools will

take the responsibility of the project and carry on with the activities after SYL’s support ends and the

teachers will continue developing activities and using their new skills also after the end of the project.

To support and develop the institutional and organizational sustainability of Afortalecer, a special contract

has been made between Afortalecer and KEPA’s office in Mozambique about capacity building of the

association during the year 2012. Afortalecer will receive training on project cycle management,

monitoring, evaluation and other themes that would be useful for the strengthening of the association and

for the future project management.

Afortalecer will also network with actors interested in educational issues in Mozambique and develop its

relationships in the field. This network will include for example other NGOs and associations, embassies of

donor countries, municipal and children’s libraries and book shops.

Environmental sustainability

For the environmental sustainability, please see chapter 5.7, “Cross-cutting themes”

5.7 Cross-cutting themes and human rights Environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability has been taken account in this project. For example, the procurement of the

materials will be done as locally as possible; books from Mozambique are favored as well as materials for

bookshelves. When selecting materials for bookshelves the quality and sustainability of materials will be

analyzed. Endangered species (trees) will not be used. Recycled paper will be favored.

Environmental sustainability can be seen as a crucial part of education since it is urgent that people

understand the importance of environment, as well as changes and reasons for changes in environment.

That is why it is important to educate pupils to be more active in protecting the environment.

21

One part of the project is to teach pupils how to take proper care of the learning materials such as books.

Learners will learn how to restore old books and how to protect new books. During the story telling events

themes such environment, climate change, tree-planting, forest fires, water and sanitation and floods will

be discussed in the form of stories.

Gender equality

Gender equality is one important part of the project because it is also one principal value of Afortalecer. In

Mozambique, gender parity between boys and girls starting primary school is quite equal but still there are

more girls who do not finish school. One reason for this is that many time families take the girls out of

school earlier to help at home. Another is that trips to and from school are more dangerous for girls than

boys. These themes (importance of education, school travel) will be discussed with parents. Also, during

the teacher trainings, gender issues will be one part of trainings. Teachers will be taught how to take into

account all pupils equally and how to encourage participation of all.

The project will also emphasize gender issue using cultural means. Both girls and boys will participate

together in the activities of storytelling and homework groups. Part of material produced in storytelling

group can be shown in an exhibition organized by both boys and girls. These activities will also involve

parents to encourage them to set up similar or equally valued tasks for boys and girls in the home.

Reduction of inequality

The whole project aims at reducing inequality by education and thus this theme has been included in

project planning process and activities.

Human rights

This project promotes especially the right for education and, as such, is in line with the objectives of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the Education

for All (EFA)-initiative and relevant Millenium Development Goals. Of course, the project affects other

rights such us right for employment, right to participation and right to development, as well.

The project planning process has based partly on the human rights-based approach; the analysis of root

causes was done together with different stakeholders during the planning process. Stakeholder roles and

duties have been analyzed. Also during the project different actors will be participating in implementation,

monitoring and evaluation.

During the project, AFORTALECER will work with district and municipal level education administration in

order to get acceptance from them for the project and also discuss with them their duties as government’s

representatives in realizing the state’s duties. The starting of advocacy work aims at improving the quality

of education in Mozambique and in this way improves the situation of Children and their rights.

In addition, the responsibility of the parents in the development of the children is emphasized. There will

be special meetings with the parents.

It is crucial that children understand their rights. To further this, the project considers that all children

should understand that they have a right to education. That is why the themes of human and children

rights will be brought into classes when pupils are learning to write and learn and during story-telling

groups.

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6 Risk analyses This chapter will present possible internal and external risks of the project and possible solutions for them.

Possible risks of the project and how to prevent them:

Internal risks (Afortalecer and SYL)

1. Changes in the personal of Afortalecer and lost of “quiet” knowledge

To prevent: the majority of the personal of Afortalecer will be involved to the project so that all

personal know what is happening with projects in relation with the objectives and activities

2. Changes in the personal of SYL and lost of “quiet” knowledge

To prevent: KENKKU members must get all important information about the project. To avoid

lost of information all documentation must be done in a clear and proper way.

3. Changes in facilitators or volunteers

To prevent: the majority of the personnel of Afortalecer is involved to the project in such a way

that, if there are important changes in facilitators during the project cycle, they can replace and

train volunteers or facilitators easily.

4. Timing of the payments of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland can affect the

implementation of the project

To prevent: the timetable of the project is designed according to the payments of the Ministry.

The members and personal of Afortalecer can take loans for the project activities if the funding

of the Ministry comes too late.

External risks (Participants of the project, society and environment)

1. Parents will not come to the meetings

To prevent: in order to avoid that the parents won’t come to the meetings, a close

communication between the school direction and the parents of the children is needed.

This has been taken into consideration in the activities of the project

2. Parents will not want to participate to the project activities as actively as desired

To prevent: communication with the parents about the importance of the project (reading

and writing skills) and especially about the importance of their role to the future and

continuity of the activities at schools.

3. Parents cannot read and are unable to understand letters from the schools and Afortalecer

The other family members who can read can help parents to understand letters.

4. Procured school materials can be stolen or vandalized by other people because of other

courses at schools in the evenings

To prevent: The people using school facilities in the evenings will be informed about the

project so that they will take responsibility and take good care of the books.

5. Teachers will not use the skills they have learned in the trainings in their classes

To prevent: there will be assistance and supervision of the teachers in the classrooms so

that the teachers have help in applying their new skills.

6. The content of the trainings does not meet the needs of the teachers

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To prevent: there will be clear definition of objectives and activities in the terms of

reference when hiring consultants and facilitators and during baseline study.

7. Some school directors or teachers may be against the project

To prevent: involvement of the directors and teachers must be taken account from the very

beginning of the project until the end. The directors and teachers have been part of the

project planning since the beginning. There will be continuous communication and

information sharing between Afortalecer and the schools.

8. Children do not use or read the books (they are not interested)

To prevent: We have to select books that are attractive and interesting to children.

Children have to be motivated and stimulated (this is a part of the activities).

9. Children lose or vandalize the books

To prevent: the deterioration and loss of books can be prevented by teaching children the

value of learning materials through activities, supported by the active participation of the

parents in the project. School personnel and parents have to talk about the importance of

taking good care of the books.

10. Children and teachers will not return the books they have borrowed

To prevent: A book-keeping system of borrowed books will be established to know who has

borrowed books.

11. Delays in procurement of school books.

To prevent: Local editors and bookshops are prioritized and favored in the procurement of

the books as opposed those ordered from abroad (e.g. Portugal).

12. Teachers cannot come to the trainings because of the rains and floods

To prevent: Trainings can be organized in those months when there is not much rain

expected in general.

13. There will be lost of funding because of currency changes between Euro and Meticals.

To prevent: we are not able to prevent this risk. In this case the open co-operation

between Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, SYL and Afortalecer is important.

14. Financial crisis in Europe and other international financial crisis

To prevent: we are not able to prevent this risk. In this case the open co-operation

between Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, SYL and Afortalecer is important.

15. Pupils cannot come to school because of the rains and floods

To prevent: we are not able to prevent this risk.

16. Corruption

To prevent: We have to monitor the project well and for example have statistics about the

books bought for every school. Involvement of different stakeholders will probably

decrease the risk for corruption. For corruption of banks we have to ask receipts from

every money transfer from the bank.

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17. Political changes in Mozambique

To prevent: Afortalecer has to follow up the situation in Mozambique and if there are

changes in politicians or administrative related to the project they will present the project

as soon as possible for the new people.

18. Changes in environment

To prevent: The seasonal changes must be taken account when planning activities of the

project.

7 Budget A detailed budget can be seen in the appendix of this project plan.

Budget summary:

Budget 2013 2014 2015 TOTAL

1. Personnel costs (Appendix 1) Project personnel in Finland, subtotal 10100 11333 11667 33100 Finnish personnel in project country, subtotal 0 0 0 0 Travel and accomodation of Finnish personnel, subtotal 0 0 0 0 Locally recruited personnel, subtotal 22440 22440 22440 67320 Voluntary work, subtotal 5625 6030 5775 17430 Other personnel costs, subtotal 0 300 300 600 Personnel costs, subtotal 38165 40103 40182 118450

2. Activity costs (Appendix 2) Activity 1: Procurement of materials 11070 14437,5 11632,5 37140 Activity 2: Improving the quality of teaching 6615 7959 7530 22104 Activity 3: Increasing the attendance of pupils in schools 32,25 48,5 29,25 110 Activity 4: Establishing favorable reading and writing atmosphere in schools 200 200 200 600 Activity 5: Starting advocacy and lobbying process 520 520 520 1560 Activity 6: Producing materials for baseline study 315 15 15 345 Activity 7: Local monitoring and evaluation 2500 2500 2500 7500 Activity 8: Project monitoring trip 6264 6264 6264 18792 Activity 9: Monitoring in Finland 1000 1000 1000 3000 Activity 10: Information in Finland 700 700 700 2100 Activity cost, subtotal 29216,25 33644 30390,75 93251

3. Operation and maintenance (Appendix 3) Operation costs 6000 6000 6000 18000 Maintenance costs 0 0 0 0 Operation and maintenance, subtotal 6000 6000 6000 18000

TOTAL IMPLEMENTATION COSTS 73381,25 79747 76572,75 229701

4. Administrative costs Salaries and related costs of administrative personnel 0 0 0 0 Office costs 0 0 0 0 Fund-raising costs 396 396 396 1188

25

Statutory audit costs of the Finnish organisation 0 0 0 0 Value of Finnish voluntary work in administration 0 0 0 0 Administration costs, subtotal 396 396 396 1188

TOTAL PROJECT COSTS 73777,25 80143 76968,75 230889

Administrative costs as a % of total costs (max. 10 %) 0,54 0,49 0,51

Financing plan 2013 2014 2015 TOTAL

1. Self-financing (Appendix 5) Cash contributions 5625 6030 5775 17430 Voluntary work and material donations 5625 6030 5775 17430 Total self-financing 11250 12060 11550 34860 Self-financing as a % of total project costs 15,25 15,05 15,01

2. Project support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Earlier allocation of project support New/additional application 62527,25 68083 65418,75 196029

TOTAL FINANCING 73777,25 80143 76968,75 230889

8 Reporting plan Afortalecer will inform it stakeholders about the project mainly as a part of the project. As presented in

chapter 5.5 there will be a special monitoring group for the project. There will be representatives from

school and education administrative of Maputo. They will share the information about the project for their

own communities. Afortalecer will communicate about the project also during the meetings with other

actors in the field.

SYL will inform the student unions and university students about the project. The former have their

representation in SYL, and SYL will also organize four meetings per year to discuss development

cooperation and information issues with representatives of the student unions. In addition, the members of

KENKKU are generally active members of the development cooperation affairs in their respective student

unions, which provides for effective knowledge sharing between SYL and the unions. For the latter, apart

from the students accessed by the aforementioned activities, KENKKU has also a blog where it posts news

of SYL's development cooperation projects and other relevant issues. In SYL’s website there is also other

information on SYL’s development cooperation projects. (kehitysyhteistyo.syl.fi)

9 Appendices

- Detailed budget for year 2013, 2014 and 2015

- Logical framework

- Work plan

- Problem analysis

- Job description of key experts