Consultations in Burkina Faso and Niger: Impact Evaluations of JICA's Operations Moving Forward

From August 21 to September 4, JICA-RI research associate Eiji Kozuka visited Burkina Faso and Niger for impact evaluation of the "School for All" Project, which is part of the research titled “Impact Evaluation Analyses for the JICA Projects.” In Burkina Faso, Kozuka held consultations to prepare a survey on children’s enrollment at the Ministry of Basic Education and Literacy, the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD), and the School for All project office in the capital Ouagadougou and Ganzourgou Province. While in Niger, he went to the capital city of Niamey and formulated plans for a new impact evaluation with JICA experts of the School for All Project, and officials of the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Statistics.

In Burkina Faso, JICA-RI has been collecting data of the above project operated in the country with the INSD’s support since 2009. The research team has conducted three major field surveys (panel survey, economic experiment and students’ examination) so far and will soon be launching the last of the series -- the enrollment survey -- in November.

This survey examines how parents affect the enrollment rates of their children, aged six to eight. There may be various "enrollment determinants" – such as households’ income, distance from schools, and educational backgrounds of parents – which influence the parents’ decisions on whether they send their children to school, but a more important factor that this study will analyze is whether the establishment of COGES (a school management committee which plays a central role in the School for All project) has any relevance to the parents' actions. The team plans to interview 400 parents in 20 villages (20 per village) during a month-long survey. They will compile the data from the interviews by March 2012 and start the analysis process in the following month.

Meanwhile, for Niger, the team analyzes the effectiveness of the country’s School for All Project using an impact evaluation method. JICA began the project there in 2004. After the Niger Government acknowledged the effectiveness of JICA model, it has been widely adopted throughout the country.

The critical concept of this JICA model is the "minimum package," which means the minimum elements necessary for functioning COGES and expanding it to schools across the country. The package has three main components: 1) democratic election of COGES members; 2) formulation, implementation, and evaluation of action plans; and 3) monitoring system led by the union of COGESs and local officials. The research team will measure the effectiveness of this package in the impact evaluation. Another mechanism to be evaluated is the "forum approach." Local stakeholders, who are engaged in education, gather by state and work to address issues brought up there. The study will analyze the real impact of the forum approach on their priority agendas, such as girls' school enrollment and quality of education. Kozuka hopes to start the data collection in December this year or early 2012.

"The School for All Project in Niger is often referred to as one of the most successful projects of JICA. Evidently, school enrollment rates and graduation results have improved in the project's target regions," Kozuka says. "There is, however, a possibility that various other factors have also influenced the improvements of these educational outcomes. Therefore, impact analysis is critical in understanding the effectiveness of the project and yielding concrete, instructive lessons" he concludes.

*All photos taken in Burkina Faso.