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PROCESS AND IMPACT EVALUATION OF THE
BASIC EDUCATION ASSISTANCE MODULE (BEAM) IN ZIMBABWE
FINAL EVALUATION REPORT
Submitted to
Ministry of Labour and Social Services Government of Zimbabwe
Submitted by
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International & Paul Musker and Associates
Harvey Smith Patrick Chiroro Paul Musker
Submitted on: 20 March 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................................................6
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.............................................................................................................7
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................8
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OBJECT OF EVALUATION........................................................ 13
1.1. Background 13
1.2. Underlying Policy Assumptions and Emerging Issues 14
1.3. BEAM Implementation Strategy and Processes 15
1.4. BEAM Finances: Source, Amount and Distribution Patterns 17
CHAPTER 2: PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION...................................................................................... 20
2.1. Rationale for the Evaluation 20
2.2. Purpose of the Evaluation 20
2.3. Objectives of the Evaluation 20
2.4. Scope of the Evaluation 21
2.5. Evaluation Criteria 21 2.5.1. Relevance of the programme 21 2.5.2. Efficiency of programme delivery 22 2.5.3. Effectiveness in the achievement of planned objectives 22 2.5.4. Impact of the programme (for children, families and communities) 22 2.5.5. Sustainability of the programme 22
CHAPTER 3: EVALUATION METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 24
3.1. Evaluation Design 24
3.2. Evaluation Instruments 24 3.2.1. Survey Instruments 24 3.2.2. Discussion Guides 24
3.3. Target Sample 25 3.3.1. SchoolBased Survey Sample 25 3.3.2. SchoolBased Indepth Analysis Sample 25 3.3.3. Provincial and District Level Sample 26 3.3.4. National Level Sample 26
3.4. Recruitment, Training and Deployment of Fieldworkers 26
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3.5. Data Collection Process 26 3.5.1. Completion of the School Head Questionnaire 26 3.5.2. Completion of Child Questionnaires 26 3.5.3. Completion of Parent/Guardians Questionnaires 27 3.5.4. Completion of the Community Representative Questionnaires 27 3.5.5. Completion of Provincial and District Level Questionnaires 27 3.5.6. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) 27
3.6. Data Processing and Analysis 28
3.7. Limitations of the Evaluation Methodology 28
CHAPTER 4: EVALUATION FINDINGS..................................................................................................... 29
4.1. Sample Characteristics of the Quantitative Dataset 29 4.1.1. School Heads 29 4.1.2. Children 29 4.1.3. Parents 29 4.1.4. Community Representatives 29 4.1.5. Provincial and District Respondents 29
4.2. Programme Relevance: Survey Findings 29
4.3. Programme Efficiency: Survey Findings 31
4.4. Programme Effectiveness: Survey Findings 32
4.5. Programme Impact: Survey Findings 34
4.6. Programme Sustainability: Survey Findings 35
4.7. BEAM Finances 36
4.8. SchoolLevel Income and Expenditure Patterns 37
4.9. The SchoolLevel Focus Group Discussions 43 4.9.1. Children 43 4.9.2. Parents and Guardians 44 4.9.3. Community Representatives 44 4.9.4. Awareness of BEAM 45 4.9.5. Key Issues in the Qualitative Data 45
4.10. Interviews With National Stakeholders and Role Players 46
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED....................................................................... 49
5.1. Summary of Findings 49 5.1.1. Programme Relevance 49 5.1.2. Programme Efficiency 50 5.1.3. Programme Effectiveness 50 5.1.4. Programme Impact 52 5.1.5. Programme Sustainability 52
5.2. Conclusions: Underlying Policy Assumptions and Relevance 53
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5.3. Conclusions Related to the Evaluation Criteria 53
5.4. Conclusions: Additional Barriers Affecting Children’s Access to Schools 55
5.5. Conclusions Related to the Resource Allocation and Targeting Strategy 55
5.6. Conclusions: the Importance of Levies 57
5.7. Conclusions: BEAM as Part of a Broader Strategy for Social Support 57
5.8. Conclusions Related to the Efficacy of the Institutional Arrangements 58
5.9. Lessons Learned 59
CHAPTER 6: RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................................... 61
APPENDIX A: SURVEY INSTRUMENTS ................................................................................................... 66
APPENDIX B: QUALITATIVE INSTRUMENTS........................................................................................ 93
APPENDIX C: FIELDWORKER TRAINING WORKSHOP INFORMATION SAMPLES..................102 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Categories of children eligible for BEAM funding .............................................................................16 Table 2: Percentage of schools applying for and receiving BEAM funding 2009‐2011 .....................18 Table 3: Sources and amounts of funding (in US$) 2009‐2011....................................................................18 Table 4: Numbers of BEAM beneficiaries 2009‐2011.......................................................................................19 Table 5: Per capita funding (in US$) 2009‐2011.................................................................................................19 Table 6: Funding of examination fees (in US$) 2010‐2011............................................................................19 Table 7: Sample composition by province and school type............................................................................25 Table 8: Programme relevance ...................................................................................................................................30 Table 9: Reported categories of children currently on BEAM.......................................................................30 Table 10: Perceived impact of BEAM on the financial position of schools ..............................................32 Table 11: Perceived effectiveness of BEAM on different aspects of school functionality .................34 Table 12: Impact on access to education (parents) ...........................................................................................35 Table 13: Impact on access to education (community representatives)..................................................35 Table 14: Categories of other sources of income ................................................................................................37 Table 15: Categories of other expenditure ............................................................................................................41 Table 16: Categories of children eligible for BEAM funding ..........................................................................56 Table 17: Lessons learned.............................................................................................................................................59 Table 18: Short‐term recommendations (2012).................................................................................................61 Table 19: Medium‐Term Recommendations (2013‐15)..................................................................................63 Table 20: Long‐Term Recommendations (post‐2015).....................................................................................64 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: % identified and selected (2010) Figure 2: % identified and selected (2011) .............31 Figure 3: Speed and accuracy (2010) Figure 4: Speed and accuracy (2011) ...............................32 Figure 5: Constitution of CSCs .....................................................................................................................................33 Figure 6: Selection criteria and prioritisation ......................................................................................................33
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Figure 7: Participation of CSC members and children ......................................................................................34 Figure 8: Sustainability...................................................................................................................................................36 Figure 9: Average % of BEAM support in relation to total school income...............................................37 Figure 10: Urban school income Figure 11: Rural school income ....................................................38 Figure 12: Primary school income Figure 13: Secondary school income ......................................38 Figure 14: Urban primary school income Figure 15: Rural primary school income.................39 Figure 16: Urban secondary school income Figure 17: Rural secondary school income.......39 Figure 18: Low income per learner Figure 19: Lower‐middle income per learner...................40 Figure 20: Middle‐upper income per learner Figure 21: Upper income per learner ...............40 Figure 22: Overall expenditure patterns in relation to total school income...........................................41 Figure 23: Expenditure in primary schools Figure 24: Expenditure in secondary schools 42 Figure 25: Expenditure in urban schools Figure 26: Expenditure in rural schools ..................42 Figure 27: Low expenditure schools Figure 28: Lower‐middle expenditure schools ..............43 Figure 29: Middle‐upper expenditure schools Figure 30: Upper expenditure schools...........43
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Acknowledgments We would like to thank the following for their participation in this evaluation and the invaluable insights they provided to inform the findings:
Mr L.C. Museka Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Social Services Mr T.A. Chinake Deputy Director Family and Child Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social
Services Mr L. Muwoni National Coordinator, NAP II, Ministry of Labour and Social Services Mr M. Mhangami BEAM Technical Advisor, Ministry of Labour and Social Services Mr Bowora Principal Director Quality Assurance and Learner Welfare, Ministry of
Education Mrs A. Ncube Education Officer, Learner Welfare and Services, Ministry of Education,
Sport, Arts and Culture Mr Vela‐Moyo Deputy Director, Expenditure Department, Ministry of Finance Mr I. Attfield Education Adviser, European Union Delegation, Zimbabwe Ms J. Spink Chief, Basic Education and Gender Equality, UNICEF Zimbabwe Ms L. Rumble Chief, Child Protection, UNICEF Zimbabwe Ms M. Tokwani UNICEF Zimbabwe We would also like to thank the many children, parents, community representatives, school heads, teachers, district officials and provincial officials who gave their time to respond to our questions and also contributed invaluable insights to inform the findings of the evaluation.
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Abbreviations and Acronyms AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AusAID Australian Agency for International Development BEAM Basic Education Assistance Module CPC Child Protection Committee CPF Child Protection Fund CSC Community Selection Committee DEO District Education Officer DFID United Kingdom Department for International Development DSSO District Social Services Officer ESC Evaluation Steering Committee ESPP Enhanced Social Protection Programme FGD Focus group discussion GoZ Government of Zimbabwe HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus KfW German Development Bank MoESAC Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture MoF Ministry of Finance MoLSS Ministry of Labour and Social Services NAP National Action Plan NAP II National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Phase 2 NSPS National Social Protection Strategy NZAid New Zealand Agency for International Development OVC Orphans and vulnerable children OVC‐VR Orphans and Vulnerable Children Village Register PICES Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey PMU Project Management Unit SDA School Development Association SDC School Development Committee UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund VCW Village Community Workers ZHSCTS Zimbabwe Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme ZIMSEC Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council
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Executive Summary
Overview of the Basic Education Assistance Module Established in 2001 as a key component of the Enhanced Social Protection Programme (ESPP), the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) is based on a policy and legal framework that is designed to provide quality education to children, including specific policies aimed at supporting orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as a number of international agreements to which the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) is a signatory. BEAM is a demand‐side response to the cost barriers affecting the ability of OVC to access education due to increasing poverty levels in the country. BEAM is now one of the four pillars of the overarching National Action Plan (NAP), currently in its second phase (NAP II), which is intended to reduce household poverty through cash transfers, improve access to child protection services and improve access to basic education and health services. The Child Protection Fund (CPF) is the multi‐donor funding mechanism supporting NAP II, and this is where programme allocations for BEAM are now located; the Project Management Unit (PMU) responsible for BEAM is located in the Department of Social Services (DSS) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS). Until the end of 2008 BEAM was wholly funded by the GoZ. However, with the advent of hyperinflation, BEAM resources became negligible and failed to reach the intended objective of supporting access to education by the poor and most vulnerable. Revived in the period 2009‐2011, BEAM disbursed US$60.2 million directly to schools to cover tuition fees and levies in primary and secondary schools and examination fees in secondary schools; 45% of this amount was provided by donors. Donor funding beyond this time is uncertain, but the GoZ has committed US$16 million for 2012 for secondary school students. Evaluation Objectives and Intended Audience The purpose of the evaluation is to identify implementation gaps and inform future BEAM programming, which must be aligned with other emerging elements of NAP II related to social protection. The main audience of the evaluation is the GoZ – in particular the MoLSS and the Ministry of Education, Sport, Art and Culture (MoESAC) – and BEAM donors. Specifically the evaluation seeks to: i. Review the underlying policy assumptions associated with BEAM to determine whether
they are still relevant and identify any emerging issues after a decade of implementation. ii. Review the resource allocation methodology used by the PMU to benefit communities. iii. Review the BEAM targeting methodology/identification of beneficiaries and extent of
inclusion and exclusion errors. iv. Determine the effectiveness of institutional arrangements and the roles and efficacy of
various stakeholders at all levels (GoZ departments, donors, civil society, local leadership, community selection committees, school development committees);
v. Determine the impact of BEAM on the lives of the beneficiaries, the communities around them and the nation at large.
vi. Identify additional financial and non‐financial barriers affecting children’s access to schools and how BEAM can be part of a holistic approach to overcoming them.
vii. Provide findings, conclusions and specific recommendations with respect to future programme design, budget planning and implementation in both the immediate (2012), medium term (2013‐2015) and long term.
viii. Determine the extent to which BEAM objectives were achieved.
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Evaluation Methodology The evaluation utilised a mixed‐methods approach in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and triangulated. Quantitative data were obtained using survey questionnaires in 352 of the 360 schools targeted while qualitative data were obtained through in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions in 40 additional schools. The survey questionnaires aimed to establish conditions of objectivity in which the fieldworkers were relatively detached from the respondents, gathering data by posing already formulated questions. The qualitative interviews and focus groups allowed for more in‐depth expression of subjective experience and reference to context. The quantitative and qualitative approaches are fundamentally complementary, and provide opportunities for deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis in order to gain insights into the social environment in which BEAM has operated. The evaluation methodology is robust, and 98% of the sampled schools were reached. The evaluation did not include an audit component, and the implications are set out in Chapter 3. However, the analysis has included triangulation of data from different respondent types, and we are confident that the conclusions of the evaluation (see Chapter 5) have a strong basis. Where appropriate, we have recommended (see Chapter 6) further investigation into phenomena such as school levy increases and the payment of teacher incentives. Findings and Conclusions A summary of the findings and the evaluation conclusions are presented in Chapter 5. Key conclusions are presented below. Underlying Policy Assumptions and Relevance
• BEAM is a highly relevant and necessary intervention, particularly in the poorest quartile of schools in terms of school income per learner, in which BEAM funds constitute 25% on average of school income; BEAM remains a key strategy for achieving policy goals of the GoZ. Although new legal and policy developments may provide for new mechanisms for addressing access to education by OVC, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on BEAM before the end of its current mandate in 2015.
• The intended beneficiaries of BEAM, such as orphans, are commonly the actual beneficiaries; BEAM has very largely achieved its objectives in this regard. However, BEAM is much more widely needed than available resources permit – based on the 2011 data, an increase in financial resources of 172% would be needed to reach all children identified by school communities as needing assistance.
Efficiency
• While the accuracy of BEAM disbursements is acceptable, the speed with which the disbursements are made to the schools needs to improve.
• Improvements are needed with respect to management capacity, PMU resourcing, information management, communication, monitoring and evaluation and school‐level auditing.
• The relatively small portion (1.5%) of BEAM funds that is set aside for programme management and administration is insufficient.
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Effectiveness
• BEAM has very largely achieved its objectives, including maintaining gender balance in terms of the numbers of beneficiaries.
• BEAM community selection committees are generally perceived to have been well constituted; the BEAM selection criteria and the prioritisation of beneficiaries are generally perceived to be appropriate. While there is active participation of CSC members in the identification of children in need of BEAM, the active participation of children is much less common and the participation of teachers should be strengthened.
• BEAM support has made an important contribution to many of the intended outcomes at school level, such as improving school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries and reducing the drop‐out rate. BEAM has contributed less to improving pass rates, improving school supplies such as furniture and introducing feeding programmes.
• There is anecdotal evidence that the total paid in incentives to teachers often exceeds the prescribed limits and that funds for incentives are sometimes raised informally – that is, above and beyond the approved levies.
• The BEAM selection criteria need to be reviewed to foreground the poverty criterion. • The identity and purpose of BEAM need to be aligned with other initiatives such as social
cash transfers. Impact
• The broader social impact of BEAM is substantial, in particular in terms of improved access to education for poor children, and particularly for orphans and girl children.
• Conversely, the withdrawal of BEAM support would have a serious impact on access to education for hundreds of thousands of current beneficiaries, given that the targeting strategy has been largely successful.
Sustainability Without BEAM funding schools and communities would not be able (or would struggle) to keep beneficiaries in school. The BEAM objectives are attainable only with continued funding. Additional Barriers Affecting Children’s Access to Education There is a need for a wider range of inputs to enhance children’s wellbeing and enhance enrolment and attendance, such as uniforms, food, transport, books and stationery. Respondents reported early marriage and child labour as additional barriers affecting children’s access to schools. These are factors beyond the scope of BEAM and need to be addressed through other social protection mechanisms. The Resource Allocation Strategy In the absence of recent data related to vulnerability, BEAM allocations to individual schools are based solely on their shares in the total enrolment in their district. Although poverty is widespread in Zimbabwe, there are substantial regional differences in poverty levels, and rural areas have higher poverty levels than urban areas. In the future, with improved data, it may be possible to allocate BEAM funds based on relative vulnerability across districts before applying the enrolment share approach.
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The Targeting Strategy In the vast majority of schools parents, children, teachers, heads of school and community representatives are satisfied that the targeting strategy is appropriate and the selection criteria are appropriately applied to identify beneficiaries. In a minority of schools there is dissatisfaction with the application of the selection criteria as children clearly in need are not beneficiaries; in only one of the 40 schools in which focus groups were conducted there was concern about abuse of the selection criteria. Based on the responses of parents and school heads to the survey questionnaire, there may be unsatisfactory application of the criteria in 14‐18% of schools, and in the vast majority of these the exclusion of needy children is likely to be unintentional. There is clearly variability in the understanding of the selection criteria; possible reasons for this variability are discussed in Chapter 5. The Importance of Levies The increase in per capita allocations from 2010 to 2011 (151% for primary school children and 150% for secondary school children) must be largely due to increased levies, which account for 60% of income in primary schools and 43% of income in secondary schools (not counting levies paid by BEAM). This had a substantial impact on the total number of primary and secondary school beneficiaries, which dropped 29% over the same years even though the total funds available decreased by less than one percentage point. The impact of increased levies on BEAM targets is clearly substantial and the reasons for increased levies need to be understood and unnecessary increases curbed. BEAM as Part of a Broader Strategy for Social Support BEAM would become redundant in the presence of a successful and equitable school financing model. A social cash transfer strategy such as the Zimbabwe Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme (ZHSCTS), however, is distinct from support that is specifically intended to increase school enrolment and completion rates; the scheme will give households the decision‐making power to allocate funds to their most pressing needs, such as food, education, health or job‐seeking. BEAM’s specific focus on schooling costs removes this element from a family’s decision about how to allocate a cash transfer. BEAM clearly has to take all relevant social protection initiatives into account in its strategic planning. The Efficacy of the Institutional Arrangements The efficacy of the PMU is not in doubt with respect to accurate transfers of funds to schools; as noted above, efficiency has improved considerably since the appointment of PMU staff in 2010. However, the PMU needs to be better equipped to improve its management and monitoring capacity. Improvements are also needed with respect to information management. Factors affecting the speed with which funds are disbursed, such as donor requirements that need to be fulfilled before funds are made available, need to be addressed to avoid delays in disbursement. The responsibilities of the two implementing ministries (MoLSS and MoESAC) need to be clearly defined: it is the responsibility of the MoLSS to provide for social protection (in this case access to education) and the responsibility of the MoESAC to ensure that educational goals and objectives are met and to monitor the use of school funds. Increased capacity or capacity building may be needed at the MoESAC to monitor and control levy increases. At the school level high levels of satisfaction were expressed with the constitution of the CSCs and with the application of the selection criteria; as noted above, it is likely that problems are
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experienced in only 14‐18% of schools, and that in most cases the dissatisfaction is a result of errors in rather than abuse of the selection process. More training of CSCs in the application of the criteria is needed, pending the results of a review of the criteria. Consideration should be given to strengthening the role of teachers and children in the selection process to support a more ‘on‐the‐ground’ approach to the identification of potential beneficiaries. The CSC should have a representative from the CPC to advise on children in need of social protection, and secondary school heads should be more involved in the selection process. Lessons Learned The lessons presented in Chapter 5 constitute key generalizations from the findings of this evaluation that may be applicable in other local and international settings, bearing in mind the context in which BEAM was designed and implemented. A key lesson is that although BEAM delivers funds to schools rather than households, it is equivalent to social cash transfer programmes in terms of its outcomes and intended social and economic impact. Its specificity is particularly appropriate because the return on investment in education is typically high. Recommendations The recommendations presented in Chapter 6 represent the strategic actions that should be taken to improve BEAM implementation with respect to programme design, budget planning and implementation. The recommendations are presented as short‐, medium‐ and long‐term recommendations (2012, 2013‐2015 and post‐2015 respectively). A key recommendation with implications for immediate action is that in order to achieve its objectives BEAM should receive urgent and enhanced support in 2012 from GoZ and/or donors.
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION AND OBJECT OF EVALUATION 1.1. Background In 2000 the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ), in conjunction with the World Bank, UNICEF and other development partners formulated the Enhanced Social Protection Programme (ESPP) as a comprehensive framework for protecting vulnerable groups against risk and shocks stemming from increased poverty; over time, development partners have included DFID, the European Commission, AusAID, NZAid and KfW. As a response to the emerging economic decline, the GoZ took a ‘quick‐wins’ approach in 2001 and extracted four key components of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSSP) for immediate implementation. These components included: the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM); the Health Assistance Programme; the Public Works Programme; and the Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances Programme. BEAM, a community‐driven initiative, became the main social assistance programme in the schooling sector, aimed at providing funds (for tuition fees, levies and examination fees) for access to education by the poorest 30% of school‐going children. BEAM is a demand‐side response to the cost barriers affecting the ability of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to access education due to increasing poverty levels in the country. The major objective of BEAM is to prevent households from resorting to perverse coping mechanisms, such as withdrawing children from school, in response to worsening household poverty. Since 2001 BEAM has sought to reach out to those children who have never attended or have dropped out of school for economic reasons and OVC who are already in school. According to the Poverty Assessment Study of 2003, 12% of pupils in primary schools and 10% of students in secondary schools were sponsored by BEAM. From its inception until the end of 2008, BEAM was wholly funded by central government. At its peak, BEAM reached a total of 900,000 primary and secondary school children. However, with the advent of hyperinflation, BEAM resources became negligible and failed to reach the intended objective of supporting access to education by the poor and most vulnerable. The National Action Plan (NAP) for OVC was officially launched in September 2005. In late 2008 the GoZ, in close collaboration with UNICEF, reviewed the BEAM programme with the aim of finding bottlenecks within the system and potential areas of improvement. The review was twofold, assessing firstly the programme design and its implementation and secondly the information management system used for payments and monitoring and evaluation. It was agreed that the economic meltdown impacted negatively on the lives of the poor and vulnerable populations, with most households failing to access basic social services such as health and education. Therefore, in 2009 UNICEF mobilised the donor community, in close collaboration with the GoZ, to support the revitalisation of BEAM as part of Zimbabwe’s ESSP. This was also building on the programme of support for the NAP for OVC, which had supported education through a number of fragmented civil society organisations since 2006. As a result, a total of US$20 million was received from donors over the period 2009‐2010, which contributed to the Programme of Support for OVC to complement GoZ efforts to revitalise the BEAM programme. This amount targeted vulnerable primary school children only and covered the period from the third term of 2009 to the end of December 2010. The GoZ also committed US$15 million for BEAM in 2010 for secondary school students.
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Subsequently, donors committed US$10 million for 2011 within the framework of the NAP for OVC Phase II (NAP II, 2011‐2015) through its main funding mechanism, the Child Protection Fund (CPF). In addition, the GoZ committed US$13 million for BEAM during 2011 for secondary school students and US$5 million for primary school children to top up the US$10 million committed by donors. Donor funding beyond this time is uncertain, but the GoZ has committed US$16 million for 2012 for secondary school students. In its current form, the GoZ believes that BEAM requires approximately US$30 million a year to support both primary and secondary school students currently identified under the programme. There was thus a budget shortfall of US$2 million for the year 2011. BEAM is now one of the four pillars of the overarching NAP II, which is intended to reduce household poverty through cash transfers, improve access to child protection services and improve access to basic education and health services. The CPF 2011‐2013 is the multi‐donor funding mechanism supporting NAP II, and this is where programme allocations for BEAM are now located. 1.2. Underlying Policy Assumptions and Emerging Issues Zimbabwe has a policy and legal framework that is designed to provide quality education to children, including specific policies aimed at supporting OVC. The GoZ is fully committed to ensuring that all children in Zimbabwe and their families have their rights fulfilled in line with national, regional and international requirements to which the country has committed itself. The BEAM concept is based on the legal framework that every child has a right to education. As it is not based on academic performance but on attendance, BEAM is primarily aimed at reducing the number of children who are dropping out of school and at the same time reaching out to those children who are of school‐going age but have never been to school due to economic hardships. The GoZ is a signatory to a number of important international agreements such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 6 of the Convention recognizes the right to life, survival and development, while Article 28 recognizes the child’s right to education. Key pieces of legislation that govern the framework for social protection include:
• Children’s Protection and Adoption Act, Chapter 5:06; • Children’s Protection and Adoption Amendment Act, 2001; • Social Welfare Assistance Act, 1998; and • Disabled Persons Act, Chapter 17:01.
Statutory Instrument 28A of 2003 is critical as it provides for the control of tuition fees and levies charged at both government and non‐government schools. Additionally, from the time of independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has adopted an all‐inclusive education policy that stipulates that every child is entitled to receive school education. It is also government policy to encourage self‐help initiatives at community level in terms of extension and maintenance of existing schools as well as the establishment and construction of new schools where none existed before. An important policy provision is that 10% of BEAM funds nationally is reserved for children with disabilities. Although its origin predates the first phase of the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NAP for OVC), BEAM is now the key strategy for achieving Pillar 3 of NAP and as such operates within the policy assumptions on which NAP is built. NAP is one of various social protection policies, legislative instruments and programmes established by the GoZ to ensure the fulfilment of all children‘s rights and provides a significant medium‐term intervention while long term social protection strategies are being developed.
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BEAM, and NAP more generally, enhances the implementation of national laws and policies pertinent to children, in particular the Children‘s Act and the Zimbabwe National Orphan Care Policy and National AIDS Policy, both adopted in 1999. While the Act provides legal protection for children who fall through social safety nets, the National Orphan Care Policy puts in place a mechanism for coordinating the overall responsibility of government to provide minimum standards and guidelines for civil society, the community and all other duty bearers to monitor and respond to the situation of children. NAP II recognises three areas which need attention if full implementation of existing policies and laws is to be achieved. Firstly, national policies and laws which provide the framework for coordination of OVC programmes and services have not been fully implemented and enforced, due to a lack of human and financial resources. Legal awareness needs to be raised to ensure that laws are enforced in the best interests of the child. Secondly, the scale of the problem and the rapid increase in the number of households headed by children and grandparents was not anticipated when the laws were framed, and the laws and policies need to be revised. Thirdly, legal issues affecting children in Zimbabwe can be addressed under both customary law and legislation based on the Constitution and statutes, although the existence of these dual systems has sometimes worked against the best interests of children. There are three key emerging issues which potentially impact on BEAM: • Zimbabwe is expected to have a new Constitution in 2012 which may strengthen children’s
rights and the requirement for non‐discrimination; this will further strengthen the policy context within which BEAM operates.
• The review of the Social Welfare Assistance Act to include cash grants for vulnerable children and their families and the development of a National Social Protection Framework including a social cash transfers programme will ease some of the demand‐side pressure on BEAM and enable it to be more targeted.
• The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture’s Education Interim Strategic Investment Plan 2011 proposes to introduce a new school financing model. As this replaces the current requirements for parents to fund school operating and development costs the need for BEAM to provide funding to replace that required from qualifying parents and guardians will decrease.
1.3. BEAM Implementation Strategy and Processes BEAM is administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS) in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture (MoESAC). The BEAM programme assists primary and secondary level children aged between 6 and 19 years in the following categories:
• those in school but failing to pay or having financial difficulties in paying levies, tuition fees and examination fees;
• those who have dropped out of school for economic reasons; and • children of school going age who have never been to school for economic reasons.
BEAM assists selected children with payment of levies, tuition fees, examination fees for those sitting for public examinations, and levies and boarding fees for children with special needs enrolled in special schools and special classes. Since BEAM is a national programme, it is being implemented in all 59 districts of Zimbabwe in both urban and rural areas. Implementation of BEAM is guided by the following principles:
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• promoting community awareness of the programme to ensure transparency and equitable access in the selection of beneficiaries;
• community‐based selection of the most needy children; • children to be selected and assisted within given community budget allocations to avoid
arrears in payment; • full assistance (levies, tuition fees and examination fees) to selected children; • openness, transparency and accountability to communities, authorities and donors; • continued assistance to selected children based on attendance rather than merit; and • at least 50% of the assisted children should be girls.
The requirements related to the selection of children who should benefit from BEAM are presented below:
• children who have never been to, or have dropped out of school due to poverty; • school record of child’s previous failure to pay tuition fees and levies due to poverty; • the source of income and health status of the head of household/breadwinner; • orphanhood status of potential beneficiaries; • household asset ownership of the guardians of potential beneficiaries; and • previous participation of the child in the Educational Support Programme under the
Programme of Support to the NAP for OVC implemented through NGOs. The application form to be submitted by each school contains the following categories of beneficiary, and the CSC is required to indicate the numbers of children in each category that are proposed as beneficiaries: Table 1: Categories of children eligible for BEAM funding
CATEGORY OF CHILDREN Total Number Assisted
ORPHANS (BOTH PARENTS)
ORPHAN (ONE PARENT DECEASED)
CHILD IN FOSTER CARE UNDER POOR FOSTER PARENTS
NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL
WITH DISABILITY AND POOR
DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL DUE TO ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
LIVING ON THE STREET
LIVING IN CHILD‐HEADED HOUSEHOLD
HOUSEHOLD EXTREMELY POOR AND HAS NO ASSETS
HAS PREVIOUS RECORD OF FAILURE TO PAY FEES AND LEVIES
BREADWINNER NOT GAINFULLY EMPLOYED
BREADWINNER CHRONICALLY ILL
The process of selecting the most needy children as BEAM beneficiaries is effected at the primary school community level and is the responsibility of Community Selection Committees (CSCs). The process is subject to the following conditions:
• In every ward the councillor, working together with the community Child Protection Committee (CPC), convenes a meeting of households in the primary school’s catchment area to elect CSC members; a Community Selection Committee (CSC) is established with a term of office of one year and comprising three members of the School Development
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Committee (SDC), one of whom should be the head of the school, and representatives elected by the community.
• SDC members in the CSC cannot be office bearers. • Fifty percent of the committee members should be women. • All potential BEAM beneficiaries are expected to complete a form which is used in guiding
the selection process. The CSC receives nominations of potential beneficiaries for primary, secondary and special schools based on, among other sources, the OVC Village Register (OVC‐VR). This register lists potential beneficiaries in order of priority for submission to the CSC.
• The CSC considers the submissions and selects the neediest children. • The final list of beneficiaries is submitted to the District Education Officer (DEO) and the
District Social Services Officer (DSSO) for joint verification against the school budget and the OVC‐VR.
• The DEO forwards the list to the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, specifically to the BEAM Project Management Unit (PMU). The DEO also sends copies of this list to the local authority and the Provincial Education Director.
• A copy of the same list of beneficiaries is kept at the school. The CSC advises the CPC and the community on which children have been selected.
The CSC must be distinct from the SDC, and there are specific guidelines on its constitution: three members, one of whom should be the head of school, should be selected from the SDC, and at least six community representatives should be elected at a special community meeting who have a good knowledge of all households in the community. The Chairperson and Secretary must be elected CSC members; the SDC members appointed to the CSC are ex‐officio members. Councillors and traditional leaders should not be members, as they are expected to play a mediating role if disputes arise in the selection process. Each CSC should ensure that women make up at least 30% of its membership and that there are representatives (one each) who are actively involved in issues about HIV/AIDS and disability. Information dissemination is done through various channels, such as the Village Community Workers (VCW), Residents’ Associations (in the case of urban areas), SDCs or School Development Associations (SDAs), church leaders, community leaders, radio and television, newspapers, posters and brochures as well as notices in public places. Additionally, the CSC and other community structures are expected to monitor implementation of the BEAM programme (Government of Zimbabwe, 2003). 1.4. BEAM Finances: Source, Amount and Distribution Patterns In this section we present the amounts disbursed through BEAM, the sources of funding and the distribution patterns from 2009 to 2011. (It was agreed by the Evaluation Steering Committee that it would be more useful to focus on this latter period of funding, as it is the current allocation and disbursement strategy that needs to be assessed with a view to future improvements.) It should be noted that in this section we have relied on information provided by UNICEF for primary schools, and by the BEAM PMU for secondary schools. The number of schools registered and therefore eligible for BEAM funding was 5,407 in 2009 and 2010, rising to 5,666 in 2011. Table 1 below shows the success rates in applications for BEAM funding from 2009 to 2011.
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Table 2: Percentage of schools applying for and receiving BEAM funding 20092011
Number % 2009 Registered schools 5 407 2009 Applications submitted 4 935 91.27%2009 Successful transfers 4 540 83.97%2010 Registered schools 5 407 2010 Applications submitted 5 386 99.61%2010 Successful transfers 4 540 83.97%2011 Registered schools 5 666 2011 Applications submitted 5 357 94.55%2011 Successful transfers 5 344 94.32% Table 2 above shows that the largest discrepancy between applications submitted and successful transfers was in 2010 (99.6% and 84.0% respectively); the smallest discrepancy was in 2011 (94.6% and 94.3% respectively). The most successful year in terms of bank transfers was 2011, when only 0.2% of schools experienced transfer rejections; the least successful was 2010, when 8.1% of schools experienced transfer rejections. Table 3: Sources and amounts of funding (in US$) 20092011
Year Source Available for primary schools
Paid to primary schools
Source Secondary schools
2009 Donors 5 000 000 3 644 968 02010 Donors 14 700 000 13 393 807 GoZ 15 000 000
Donors 10 000 000 9 923 525 GoZ GoZ 5 000 000
2011
NAC 270 000
13 000 000
Total 200911 32 232 300 28 000 000
Table 3 above shows that funds totalling US$60.23 million were disbursed from 2009 to 2011. All funds available for secondary schools in the period 2009‐2011 were disbursed. Although US$16 million has been allocated by the GoZ for secondary schools in 2012, none of this amount had been disbursed at the time of the evaluation; no funds had yet been made available for primary schools in 2012. Funds for secondary schools were provided exclusively by the GoZ and for primary schools very largely by donors (85%). Over the period 2009‐2011, 55% of the total funds for primary and secondary schools has been provided by the GoZ. Efficiency in the utilisation of funds for primary schools increased over the three‐year period 2009‐2011, from 72% of available funds in 2009 to 91% in 2010 and 99% in 2011. This is very largely because of the appointment in May 2010 of a BEAM Coordinator (now Beam Technical Advisor) and an IT Specialist, funded by UNICEF, who focused on speeding up the processing of 2010 payments as well as trying to address the 2009 backlog. It must be noted that the processing of applications is a complex process, made more difficult by errors in the applications submitted by CSCs (such as submitting the wrong forms, names on bank statements not tallying with names of schools on the application form, requests for examination fees for grades not needing them, and even forms not indicating the funds required). It should also be noted that there is no clear budget for PMU administration, and that there are serious resource gaps in the PMU considering the very large number of schools it covers, many of which contact the PMU directly to voice complaints or concerns.
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Table 4: Numbers of BEAM beneficiaries 20092011
YEAR PRIMARY SECONDARY TOTAL
GIRLS BOYS TOTAL GIRLS BOYS TOTAL
2009 219 709 224 710 444 419 0 0 0 444 419
2010 270 201 267 393 537 594 98 591 98 405 196 996 734 590
2011 199 468 203 930 403 398 54 746 59 308 114 054 517 452
Table 4 above shows that on average there were just under 462,000 child beneficiaries per year in primary schools (out of 560,000 children targeted from 2009 to 20111) and just under 156,000 child beneficiaries per year in secondary schools (2010‐2011). There is a very clear gender balance in the numbers of beneficiaries. The funds made available vary per province in relation to total enrolment. Table 5: Per capita funding (in US$) 20092011
PER CAPITA PRIMARY PER CAPITA SECONDARY
2009 8.20 0.002010 24.91 76.142011 37.66 113.98AVERAGE 200911 23.27 90.02
AVERAGE 201011 31.29 95.06 Table 5 above shows that per capita funding increased dramatically over the period 2009 ‐2011 for both primary and secondary schools. The most recent per capita allocations (2010‐2011) are three times higher for secondary school children than for primary school children. Table 6: Funding of examination fees (in US$) 20102011
Level Boys Girls Total
2010 O 2441 3691 61322010 A 67 38 1052011 O 7622 7322 149442011 A 180 102 282Total 10310 11153 21463
Table 6 above presents the number of secondary school children (21,463) whose examination fees (O‐Level and A‐Level fees) were paid in 2010 and 2011. Although there are no overall gender imbalances over the period and across both O‐ and A‐levels, there are clear imbalances in both years in favour of boys taking A‐levels. A relatively small portion of BEAM funds (2% in 2010 from the funds available for primary schools and 1% from the funds available for secondary schools) is set aside for programme management and administration. A similarly low percentage (2%) was assigned by UNICEF to training in 2011.
1 The target of 560,000 was determined using 2003 poverty assessment data (Zimbabwe 2003 Poverty Assessment Study Survey: Main Report. Harare)
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Chapter 2: PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION 2.1. Rationale for the Evaluation The rationale for undertaking this process and impact evaluation follows:
• The situation in Zimbabwe has changed significantly since programme inception, which demands new ways of supporting vulnerable populations to access quality education. BEAM has been implemented for almost a decade and therefore key challenges and lessons learned are expected to further enrich programme design and improve programme effectiveness. It is clear however, that there is a need for the continuation of some form of social safety net for vulnerable children who are unable to attend school for financial reasons. These issues were acknowledged during the 2011 January review of the BEAM programme.
• In line with reporting requirements from the various donors for the need to find more effective ways of delivering results for women and children, an agreement was reached to conduct an evaluation of the BEAM programme in line with the support that was provided over the period September 2009 to December 2010. The results of this evaluation will be instrumental in advising policy makers in developing alternative policy options to strengthen targeting and delivery mechanisms of the programme.
2.2. Purpose of the Evaluation The purpose of the evaluation is therefore to identify implementation gaps and inform future programming, bearing in mind that a number of components under NAP II are currently being designed for implementation during 2012. These include the National Case Management System and the Zimbabwe Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme (ZHSCTS), which is a key component of NAP II. A revised BEAM programme will carefully consider each of these components to ensure compatibility, complementarity and coordination, and the evaluation is intended to assist in this exercise. 2.3. Objectives of the Evaluation The overall objective of this evaluation is to assess the impact, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the BEAM programme. Also central to this evaluation is an assessment of how the targeting methodology of the BEAM programme can be enhanced to enable access to primary and secondary education for orphans and other vulnerable children. Specifically the evaluation seeks to: i. Review the underlying policy assumptions associated with BEAM to determine whether
they are still relevant and identify any emerging issues after a decade of implementation. ii. Review the resource allocation methodology used by the PMU to benefit communities. iii. Review the BEAM targeting methodology/identification of beneficiaries and extent of
inclusion and exclusion errors. iv. Determine the effectiveness of institutional arrangements and the roles and efficacy of
various stakeholders at all levels (GoZ departments, donors, civil society, local leadership, community selection committees, school development committees);
v. Determine the impact of BEAM on the lives of the beneficiaries, the communities around them and the nation at large.
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vi. Identify additional financial and non‐financial barriers affecting children’s access to schools and how BEAM can be part of a holistic approach to overcoming them.
vii. Provide findings, conclusions and specific recommendations with respect to future programme design, budget planning and implementation in both the immediate (2012), medium term (2013‐2015) and long term.
viii. Determine the extent to which BEAM objectives were achieved. 2.4. Scope of the Evaluation The Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) programme is a national programme currently covering children from grades 1‐7 in primary schools and forms 1‐6 in secondary schools. Since BEAM is a national programme, the evaluation is based on a nationally representative sample that covers all characteristics of beneficiaries (schools and children) and thus reflects experiences across the country. The representative sample has ensured that the evaluation findings are based on statistically significant school‐level data for each province and school types (government, non‐government, special needs, resource units, et cetera). The study has covered urban (high‐ and low‐density growth points), rural and remote areas and marginalized communities. In addition to direct beneficiaries (schools and children receiving BEAM resources), the evaluation will draw on the views of BEAM administrators in the Ministry of Labour and Social Services and the Ministry of Education, Sports Arts and Culture at the national level, provincial and district administrators, ZIMSEC, school development committees, community selection committees, parents/guardians and children not in receipt of BEAM (including, where possible, out‐of‐school children and those with disabilities and/or special learning needs). Child Protection Committees (CPCs), as representatives of communities on child protection issues, were also consulted. 2.5. Evaluation Criteria This evaluation has applied the standard evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact, drawing on evidence from a statistically valid sample of Zimbabwean school heads, children, community representatives, provincial and district officials, ministry officials, donors, etc, and where, possible using evidence provided by non‐beneficiaries of BEAM as a control group to test the extent of and equity in impact. 2.5.1. Relevance of the programme
1. To what extent are the underlying policy assumptions still relevant in the current
development context? 2. To what extent were the GoZ/UNICEF planned BEAM interventions consistent with the
overall GoZ/UNICEF’s country office programme goals of poverty reduction, priorities of government and sustainable development?
3. To what extent was the BEAM programme viewed as necessary and important by the communities at large?
4. To what extent was the implementation of the BEAM programme consistent with the GoZ/UNICEF BEAM manual, both at national and local level?
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2.5.2. Efficiency of programme delivery
1. How relevant were UNICEF’s engagements in the supporting the scaling‐up of BEAM as a social protection programme supporting access to education and reduction of child vulnerability?
2. How efficient was the coordination in fund disbursement and reporting at national and district levels?
3. Did the use of national systems contribute to or hinder the achievement of the objectives and results?
4. Did the use of donor systems contribute to or hinder the achievement of the objectives and results?
5. In schools included in the survey what percentage of total school budgets did BEAM funds contribute and how were these funds used for school improvement initiatives?
2.5.3. Effectiveness in the achievement of planned objectives
1. To what extent was programme management (human and financial resources, supplies,
et cetera) and delivery cost‐effective? Did it lead to the best results at the cheapest cost? 2. To what extent did the resources received through BEAM contribute to improving the
learning environment for children? 3. To what extent did the interventions prioritize the most vulnerable? 4. To what extent have the BEAM resources reached the intended beneficiaries? 5. How are funds utilized by schools to improve the quality of education offered? 6. To what extent are the disabled/physically challenged reached by the programme? Is
there gender equity in access to BEAM resources especially at secondary level? 7. To what extent are children with chronic illnesses reached by the programme? 8. To what extent are children on the move reached by the programme? 9. Are there inclusion and or exclusion errors – are the definitions of OVC status sufficiently
robust for use in targeting? 10. Is there evidence to show that there is improved community‐based participation in the
targeting of beneficiaries? 2.5.4. Impact of the programme (for children, families and communities)
1. To what extent has the BEAM programme managed to achieve the intended results at
both the outcome and output levels? 2. To what extent were the community selection committees correctly/well constituted (in
accordance with the BEAM manual)? 3. To what extent did the community members participate in decisions during
implementation? 4. Were the voices of the youths and children heard in the targeting process? 5. Are there any significant differences in child wellbeing following support to access to
education through BEAM? What is the relationship between policy targets and resources available?
2.5.5. Sustainability of the programme
1. To what extent did the BEAM interventions achieve the desired results? 2. Which programme elements had the most visible/noticeable impact at household and
community level? 3. Assess performance in terms of the relevance of results, sustainability, shared
responsibility and accountability, appropriateness of design and resource allocation.
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4. To what extent are the outcomes and results of the programme sustainable at their respective levels (communities, district, regional and national level)?
5. What are the options for the BEAM programme to evolve, given the likely availability of government and donor resources in the short and medium term?
6. Identify lessons learned and provide recommendations for gender equality and education rights based policies and initiatives.
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Chapter 3: EVALUATION METHODOLOGY 3.1. Evaluation Design The evaluation utilised a mixed‐methods approach in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and triangulated. Quantitative data were obtained using survey questionnaires while qualitative data were obtained using in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions. The survey questionnaires aimed to establish conditions of objectivity in which the fieldworkers were relatively detached from the respondents, gathering data by posing already formulated questions. The qualitative interviews and focus groups allowed for more in‐depth expression of subjective experience and reference to context. The quantitative and qualitative approaches are fundamentally complementary, and provide opportunities for deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis in order to gain insights into the social environment in which BEAM has operated. 3.2. Evaluation Instruments Two sets of instruments were developed: (i) survey questionnaires (see Appendix A) and (ii) discussion guides (see Appendix B) for use during in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions. In order to ensure adequate triangulation during data analysis, the instruments were quite similar in many respects as all instruments were based on the same evaluation criteria. Each of the evaluation instruments are described below: 3.2.1. Survey Instruments The questionnaires for school heads, parents, community representatives and children (beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries) requested:
• essential information about the school, the school community and the respondents; • information about the implementation of BEAM at the school; • school income and expenditure data (for school heads only); • assessments of the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of BEAM at the school; and • recommendations for the improvement of BEAM in the future.
The questionnaire for children was considerably simplified, and did not contain questions about the sustainability of BEAM. 3.2.2. Discussion Guides The discussion guides targeted focus groups of parents, community representatives and children (beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries). These guides followed the same basic structure as the questionnaires described above, but contained much more in‐depth questions and probes, such as the following (under the heading ‘Effectiveness’):
• Were deserving children selected as BEAM beneficiaries? {Probe respondents on the views they express}. Are there children who you think should be on BEAM but are not? Reasons?
• Do you know of any children who are not attending school because they cannot pay the required fees and levies? How proactive is the school in reaching out to out‐of‐school children?
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3.3. Target Sample A representative sample of 400 schools was selected from all the ten provinces of Zimbabwe. Of these, 360 schools were targeted for quantitative data collection, while 40 schools were targeted for qualitative data collection. 3.3.1. SchoolBased Survey Sample Using data provided by the BEAM PMU, the total number of schools to be visited in each province (by district) was computed using a statistically acceptable weighting procedure. The following key stratification variables were used during the sampling process: location (urban vs. rural), school type (primary vs. secondary) and number of schools in each province and district. Table 7 below shows the total number of schools sampled for the quantitative survey in each province by school type. Table 7: Sample composition by province and school type Province Primary Secondary Total
Harare 10 4 14 Mashonaland West 31 15 46 Mashonaland East 30 15 45 Mashonaland Central 22 9 31 Manicaland 38 19 57 Bulawayo 6 2 8 Matebeleland North 24 6 30 Matebeleland South 23 7 30 Midlands 33 13 46 Masvingo 38 15 53 Total 255 105 360 At each survey school, data were to be collected using the instruments described above from the school head, 12 children on BEAM (6 male; 6 female), 12 non‐BEAM children (6 male; 6 female), 2 parents/guardians with children on BEAM (1 male; 1 female), 2 non‐BEAM parents (1 male; 1 female), and 2 community representatives (1 male; 1 female). In the field, 352 of the 360 survey schools were reached; just under 72% were primary schools and just under 72% were rural schools. 3.3.2. SchoolBased Indepth Analysis Sample In each province, four schools (two primary and two secondary) were selected for the qualitative data collection component of the study (i.e. in‐depth interviews and focus group discussions). In each of these schools, in‐depth interviews were to be conducted with at least two members of the Community Selection Committee and/or School Development Committee. In addition, two FGDs of between 6 and 12 participants were to be conducted with: (i) parents whose children were beneficiaries of BEAM, and (ii) parents whose children were not beneficiaries of BEAM. Also, two FGDs of between 6 and 12 participants were to be conducted with: (i) children who were beneficiaries of BEAM and (ii) children who were not beneficiaries of BEAM. All 40 schools selected for qualitative data collection were reached in the course of the fieldwork.
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3.3.3. Provincial and District Level Sample In all provinces, appropriate Education Officers and Social Services Officers were targeted for completion of questionnaires that included both closed‐ and open‐ended questions. Similarly, at district level, relevant DEOs and DSSOs were targeted for completion of the same questionnaires. 3.3.4. National Level Sample After consultation with the Evaluation Steering Committee (ESC), key individuals from all stakeholder organizations and government departments were interviewed, including but not limited to donors, the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture and banks. 3.4. Recruitment, Training and Deployment of Fieldworkers It was deemed critical, given the nature of this study, to use only experienced fieldworkers who would be able to execute the data collection process in an efficient and valid manner. All fieldworkers were recruited from among staff and postgraduate students in the University of Zimbabwe’s Faculties of Education and Social Studies. These included lecturers and full‐time postgraduate students, who attended a two‐day training workshop on the processes and procedures to be followed during fieldwork. The training, which took place on 17 November 2011 at the University of Zimbabwe, consisted of presentations and extensive discussions on the methodological and ethical requirements of the project as well as a pilot study that was immediately followed by a debriefing session with the field team. The training programme and presentations made during the training are included in this report in Appendix C. 3.5. Data Collection Process Two phases of data collection were planned. Phase 1 covered five provinces, namely: Harare, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central and Manicaland. Phase 1 data collection commenced on 22 November 2011 and ended on 1 December 2011. The second data collection phase covered the remaining five provinces (Bulawayo, Matebeleland North, Matebeleland South, Midlands and Masvingo), starting on 16 January 2012 and ending on 30 January 2012. The procedures followed during data collection from school heads, children, parents, community representatives and provincial/district level participants are described in sections 3.5.1 to 3.5.6 below. 3.5.1. Completion of the School Head Questionnaire At each school, the field supervisors explained the purpose of the study and handed the questionnaire to the school head for self‐completion. School heads often solicited the assistance of the school bursar and/or clerk in order to provide accurate figures relating to the financial and enrolment information requested. None of the school heads approached refused or was unable to complete the questionnaire. However, many school heads took longer than expected to complete the questionnaire, which necessitated follow‐up visits to many of the schools to collect the completed questionnaire at a later time. 3.5.2. Completion of Child Questionnaires Group administration of the questionnaires for children was used at each school. BEAM and non‐BEAM children were not mixed. A quiet room was identified at each school and all the selected children were seated in the room. The fieldworker then explained the purpose of the study to
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the children in their own language using a pre‐translated script. Once all the clarification questions that were asked by the children had been adequately answered, the questionnaires were distributed to the children. The fieldworker stressed that the exercise was not a ‘test’ and that the children were to answer all questions honestly and without fear that anyone else would read their answers. In order to make sure that the children had a correct and clear understanding of each question, the fieldworker read the questions one by one and ensured that each child had entered their selection or answered the question before proceeding to the next question. The fieldworkers used a pre‐translated version of the questionnaire to provide an explanation of each question in the child’s own language. At the end, the fieldworkers thanked the children for their cooperation, collected all the questionnaires and stressed that confidentiality would be respected before placing all the questionnaires in a sealed bag in full view of the children to reassure them that confidentiality would be guaranteed. 3.5.3. Completion of Parent/Guardians Questionnaires Because it was envisaged that some of the parents/guardians would be illiterate and because of the need to standardize the data collection process, a decision was made to conduct face‐to‐face interviews with all parents and guardians. These respondents were interviewed at a convenient but secluded place at or near the school where no one else could hear their responses. The fieldworker explained to each respondent the purpose and focus of the survey, before proceeding to ask the questions and record the responses. Confidentiality and anonymity were emphasized throughout the interview in order to ensure that respondents were comfortable to give honest answers to each of the questions. At the end of the interview, each parent was thanked and the completed questionnaire was put into the survey bag in full view of the participant. None of the parents selected refused to participate in the study. 3.5.4. Completion of the Community Representative Questionnaires Although many of the interviews with community representatives were held at secluded places at or near the school, some were conducted in the safety of their homesteads. As was the case with parents and guardians, confidentiality and anonymity were stressed throughout the interview. The procedure followed was similar to that used with parents and guardians. None of the community representatives selected refused to participate in the study. 3.5.5. Completion of Provincial and District Level Questionnaires The field team’s first point of call was the provincial or district office in each area. The field supervisors explained the purpose and focus of the survey to the identified officials and enlisted their support in conducting the study in the sampled schools/communities. The field supervisor then explained that it was crucial to also obtain data from the officials themselves, before handing out the questionnaire for self‐completion. Confidentiality and anonymity were emphasised and officials were encouraged to answer all questions as honestly as possible, without fear that their answers would be accessed by any other party. None of the officials refused to participate in the study. However, in a few cases it was not possible to locate all the identified officials as they were either away on leave or attending workshops elsewhere. Repeat visits to the district and provincial offices were a common feature of the data collection process. 3.5.6. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) While FGDs with children were easily arranged, FGDs with parents/guardians and community representatives proved to be difficult to organise, resulting in some groups having fewer than the expected number of participants. In a small number of cases, it proved impossible to convene
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FGDs with community representatives, parents and/guardians because they were not available. However, in all instances where FGDs were conducted, a suitable venue was identified with the help of school authorities. The procedure that was followed was similar in all FGDs, regardless of group composition. Once participants were ready to begin, the moderators explained the purpose and focus of the discussion. A standard script was used for each group of participants in order to ensure that no bias was introduced by the moderator from group to group. Permission to audio‐record the deliberations was sought and granted by all groups without any difficulty. The note‐taker made extensive notes on pre‐designed forms during the discussion. At the end of the discussion, the moderator and note‐taker listened to the recording together and added more detail to the field notes made earlier by the note‐taker. The audio files were later downloaded onto computers and transcribed for subsequent analysis. 3.6. Data Processing and Analysis Questionnaire data were coded and captured in CSPro, before being exported into SPSS for statistical analysis. As multiple data capturers were used, it was critical to ensure that the data capturing screens used were identical for all the capturers and that all the capturers were adequately trained on how to treat missing data, incomplete responses, double responses, etc. In addition, once the data were exported to SPSS, quality control checks were performed on the data by running frequencies, checking out‐of‐range values (referring back to the original questionnaires) and performing consistency checks (e.g. in the case of SKIP questions). From within SPSS, variable labels, value labels, and missing value definitions were specified or defined. This yielded clean data files that were analysed in order to provide answers to the research questions for the study. An important first step during analysis was to run a series of reliability analyses to check for internal consistency using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient for the different sub‐scales. Alpha coefficients vary from 0‐1, with high values indicating a higher degree of agreement among respondents on the various questions that form a particular sub‐scale. Thus, high coefficients suggest that the response patterns were similar across individuals who completed a particular questionnaire, while low coefficients suggest that there was wide variation in the views expressed. Where appropriate, the reliability coefficients obtained for the different sub‐scales across the different categories of respondents are given in each results section in Chapter 4; values above 0.60 are considered significant. 3.7. Limitations of the Evaluation Methodology The evaluation methodology is robust, and 98% of the sampled schools were reached. However, the evaluation did not include an audit component; therefore, aspects of the findings such as school income and expenditure and constitution of the community selection committees are based on data provided by respondents. However, the analysis has included triangulation of data from different respondent types, and we are confident that the conclusions of the evaluation (see Chapter 5) have a strong basis. Where appropriate, we have recommended (see Chapter 6) further investigation into phenomena such as school levy increases and the payment of teacher incentives.
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Chapter 4: EVALUATION FINDINGS The findings presented in this chapter are based on data collected from all ten provinces in November 2011 and January 2012. 4.1. Sample Characteristics of the Quantitative Dataset 4.1.1. School Heads The school heads sample consisted of 352 participants, of whom 71.2% were primary school heads at municipal (71%) or government (14%) schools. Only 2.6% of the school heads were at schools with boarding facilities. Approximately 78% of the heads were males and 22% were female. Over half (54%) had at least a bachelor’s degree qualification. The average age was 50 years, with a range of 26 to 69 years. 4.1.2. Children A total of 4001 children took part in the survey component of the evaluation. Of these 75% were in primary schools and the rest were in secondary schools. The gender distribution was as follows: 51.3% females and 48.7% males. 50.4% (N=2009) of the children were current BEAM beneficiaries and 49.6% (N=1992) were not. The age range was between 7 and 21 years. Only 7.4% of the children were receiving assistance from sources other than BEAM. 4.1.3. Parents Across the ten provinces, 1325 parents took part in the study – 1002 with children in primary schools and 323 with children in secondary schools. The mean age of the parents was 46 years with a range of 19 to 92 years. Of the 1325 parents, 60.2% were female (N=791) and 50.9% had at least one child on the BEAM programme. The level of education ranged from no formal education (5.5%) to degrees (1.2%), with the majority having attained primary (43.4%) or secondary (46%) education. 4.1.4. Community Representatives The community representatives sample consisted of 975 participants. These respondents were community leaders, including BEAM chairpersons, local leaders, church leaders, and members of school development committees and community selection committees. The sample comprised 486 male participants (50.3%); 64.8% had completed secondary education. A little more than a fifth (23.3%) of the participants had attended BEAM training. 4.1.5. Provincial and District Respondents Across all the 10 provinces, 92 provincial and district officials completed the survey questionnaire. Of these, 78.7% were male and 21.3% were female. The majority of the participants had a university degree (84.5%). The period that these officials had been involved with BEAM activities ranged from 1 to 5 years. 4.2. Programme Relevance: Survey Findings School heads, parents, children, community representatives and sub‐national respondents were all asked to assess the relevance of BEAM in their schools and/or districts and provinces. Table 8
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below shows the percentages of respondents in each group who selected one of four options provided: “very necessary”, “necessary”, “not necessary” and “not necessary at all”. Table 8: Programme relevance
Respondent Category Very Necessary Necessary
Not Necessary
Not Necessary at all
Don’t Know
School heads 91.6 8.4 ‐ ‐ Parents 81.8 16.4 0.6 0.15 1.1 Community representatives 85.9 13.5 0.9 0.1 ‐ Children 88.6 9.6 0.9 0.8 ‐ District and Provincial Officials 96.2 3.7 ‐ ‐ ‐
Average 88.82 10.32 0.49 0.21 0.22 On average, nearly 90% of the participants felt that BEAM was “very necessary” in their school, district or province with the majority of the remainder indicating that BEAM was “necessary”. Significance tests2 of differences between ratings given by school heads, parents, community representatives and children from primary vs. secondary schools across all the five provinces showed no significant differences (pall >0.05). The relevance of BEAM at both primary and secondary levels was thus strongly endorsed by all categories of respondents, regardless of province. Of particular importance is the fact that BEAM and non‐BEAM children and parents did not differ significantly in their level of endorsement of the BEAM programme. Also, no statistically significant differences were observed at sub‐national level by province, suggesting that Beam is largely perceived as “very necessary” by district and provincial level officials from both the Ministry of Labour and Social Services and the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture. School heads and community representatives were asked further questions relating to the perceived relevance of BEAM. The questions related to whether the participants knew of any children who are currently on BEAM and who are in especially difficult circumstances. The results are shown in Table 9 below. The reliability coefficients for this sub‐scale are shown at the bottom of the table. Table 9: Reported categories of children currently on BEAM Percentages of community representatives and school heads who knew of children currently on BEAM who....
Community Representatives
School Heads
Are double orphans (both parents deceased) 97 99 Are single orphans (one parent deceased) 98 99 Children in foster care with poor guardians 93 84 Had never attended school 79 32 Are disabled 60 49 Are living on the street 23 5 Are living in childheaded households 74 69 Are living in an extremely poor household 92 97 Have a breadwinner at home who is not gainfully employed 81 88 Have a breadwinner at home who is chronically ill 90 89
Reliability Coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) 0.74 0.68 2 T‐Tests, chi‐square and ANOVA procedures were used.
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The need for BEAM was further assessed by asking school heads to provide information relating to children who were identified as needing BEAM and children actually selected for BEAM support in both 2010 and 2011. Across all secondary and primary schools in 2010, 36% of the children in sampled schools were identified as in need of BEAM support and only 17.5% were selected to receive BEAM. Similarly, in 2011 28% of the children in all the sampled schools were identified as needing BEAM support but only 16.3% were selected to receive BEAM support. These differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). Thus, the analysis of the data suggests that nearly half of the children who were identified as in need of BEAM support were not selected for BEAM support. The data were further analysed by school level (secondary vs. primary). The differences, which are statistically significant (p<0.05), are depicted in Figures 1 and 2 below. Figure 1: % identified and selected (2010) Figure 2: % identified and selected (2011)
40.5
20.718.4
16.1
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15
20
25
30
35
40
45
29.1
24.7
16.5 17.5
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45
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4.3. Programme Efficiency: Survey Findings A number of questions were designed to assess programme efficiency. In particular, school heads, district and provincial officials and community representatives were asked the same questions relating to how quickly and accurately funds were disbursed in 2010 and in 2011. The trends in the data were clear and consistent across all groups of respondents. Figures 3 and 4 below show the pattern, as represented by data from school heads.
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Figure 3: Speed and accuracy (2010) Figure 4: Speed and accuracy (2011)
2.15
8.75
41.85
63.4
14.7 13.8
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1.95
13.5
38.45
58.4
19.4
12.35
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
It is clear that participants generally rated accuracy of disbursements more positively than they rated the speed with which BEAM disbursements were made to the schools in both 2010 and 2011. The differences in ratings between 2010 and 2011 were not statistically significant (p>0.05). 4.4. Programme Effectiveness: Survey Findings School heads, parents, community representatives and children were all asked the same question regarding the extent to which BEAM support had impacted positively on the school’s financial position. Table 4 shows the percentages of respondents in each group who selected one of the following four options in response to this question: “Quite a lot”, “A lot”, “A little” and “Not at all”. It is clear that while community representatives and children rated the general impact of BEAM support more positively, parents and school heads were less likely to select “Quite a lot” but opted for the option “A lot”3. These differences are not statistically significant (p>0.05). Nevertheless, it is reasonable to conclude that the majority of respondents were aware of the general impact of BEAM support in their school. Table 10: Perceived impact of BEAM on the financial position of schools
Respondent Category Quite a Lot A Lot A Little Not at all
Don’t Know
School heads 68 25 6.0 0.9 Parents 69 20 7.8 0.7 Community representatives 80 16 3.4 0.7 Children 84 11 2.9 1.7 An important issue which has a direct bearing on the effectiveness of the BEAM programme is whether or not the selection committees are constituted fairly as well as whether the selection process targets the neediest children in each area. For this reason, all participants were asked the same question regarding whether or not CSCs at their schools were constituted “well” (i.e. as envisaged in the BEAM manual). A dichotomous (“Yes”/”No”) response format was used for this
3 In Zimbabwean English, “quite a lot” is more emphatic than “a lot”, and in this and other questions therefore indicates higher impact.
33
question to avoid ambiguous responses. Figure 5 below shows the percentages of respondents from each group who selected either option or “did not know”.
Figure 5: Constitution of CSCs
79.876.6
89
6 7.4
14.2 16
0102030405060708090100
School heads, community representatives and parents were asked about the appropriateness of the selection process and the prioritization of children for BEAM beneficiaries at their respective schools. Figure 6 below shows the percentages of respondents who felt that the selection criteria and prioritisation processes followed at their schools were not appropriate. Figure 6: Selection criteria and prioritisation
15.414.6
6
17.9
14.5
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
As a community‐driven programme, active participation of CSC members and other children in the identification of children in need of BEAM is crucial. School heads and community representatives were therefore asked about the level of participation exhibited by these two groups in their schools. The findings from the analysis of responses to these two questions are captured in Figure 7 below.
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Figure 7: Participation of CSC members and children
83.587.7
36.3
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Parents were specifically asked whether they were happy with the way in which children are selected to benefit from BEAM. Approximately, 1 in 5 parents (21.2%) either said they were not happy with the selection process or declined to answer the question. Furthermore, when asked whether there were any challenges which they faced in getting their children on the BEAM programme, 39% said “yes”. Analysis of qualitative data will shed more light on the nature of these challenges. Participants also answered a series of questions relating to the effectiveness of BEAM in the school context. Once again, the patterns across groups of participants were quite similar. Table 11 below shows the percentages of school heads who selected each of the four options that were given for each school‐related dimension that was assessed. Table 11: Perceived effectiveness of BEAM on different aspects of school functionality
RATED DIMENSION OF BEAM CONTRIBUTION A Lot A Little Not at All
Not Sure
Contributed to improving the quality of teaching and learning materials 62 30.7 6.1 1.3
Improved the school completion rate at the school 60.9 30.8 5.9 2.5
Improved the pass rate at the school 44.1 43.1 10.1 2.7
Improved school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries 72.1 21.0 5.4 1.5
Reduced the drop‐out rate at this school 76.6 18.9 2.9 1.7
Improved facilities (e.g. furniture) 43.0 37.4 17.9 1.7
Led to the introduction of feeding programmes in the school to improve nutrition 8.8 11.6 62.2 17.5
Alpha =0.73 4.5. Programme Impact: Survey Findings Programme impact relates to the broader outcomes of the BEAM programme at the level of the community. Improving accessing to education for disadvantaged groups is a critical focal point for BEAM, so participants were asked to rate the extent to which they felt BEAM had improved
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access to education for different categories of children in the area. The percentages of parents and community members who selected the various options in response to each of the questions asked are shown in Tables 12 and 13 below. Table 12: Impact on access to education (parents)
RATED DIMENSION OF BEAM IMPACT A lot A little Not at all
Not sure
Improved access to education for orphans 86.25 10.8 0.8 2.2
Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs 55.1 13.1 6.0 25.9
Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities 49.9 13.1 6.8 30.3
Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s) 61.6 18.2 6.2 14.2
Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents 49.8 23.4 13.0 14,0
Improved access to learning for girls 72.4 13.2 4.5 9.8
Improved children’s well‐being 76.6 13.5 5.2 2.9 Alpha=0.67
Table 13: Impact on access to education (community representatives)
RATED DIMENSION OF BEAM IMPACT A lot A little Not at all
Not sure
Improved access to education for orphans 92.3 7.1 0.5 0.2
Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs 66.7 16.3 7.0 10.2
Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities 64.2 13.0 9.6 13.3
Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s) 79.7 13.5 3.7 3.2
Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents 68.4 17.9 11.1 3.0
Improved access to learning for girls 82.5 12.6 2.3 2.8
Improved children’s well‐being 77.9 15.3 4.7 2.1 Alpha=0.61
4.6. Programme Sustainability: Survey Findings School heads, parents and community representatives were each asked the following question with regard to programme sustainability: “If BEAM funding were to be stopped today to what extent would this school and the community be able to keep beneficiaries in school?”. Figure 8 below shows the percentages of respondents who said that the school or community would not be able to keep beneficiaries in school.
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Figure 8: Sustainability
46.9
10.2 10.
49.7
85.5
0102030405060708090100
4.7. BEAM Finances In Chapter 1 we have presented data relating to the amounts disbursed through BEAM, the sources of funding and the distribution patterns. The number of schools registered and therefore eligible for BEAM funding was 5,407 in 2009 and 2010, rising to 5,666 in 2011. The success rate (defined by successful transfers of funds) with respect to the total number of registered schools was 94.3% in 2011; since only 94.5% of registered schools submitted applications, the success rate in terms of processing actual applications and making payments was 99.8%. Efficiency over the period reviewed was lowest in 2010, and improved dramatically after the appointment of key PMU staff despite the complexity of the processing of applications. Funds totalling US$60.23 million were disbursed from 2009 to 2011; 55% of the total funds over this period for primary and secondary schools was provided by the GoZ. In the absence of up‐to‐date information on vulnerability, the funds made available varied per province in relation to total enrolment. Although US$16 million has been allocated by the GoZ for secondary schools in 2012, none of this amount had been disbursed at the time of the evaluation; no funds had yet been made available for primary schools in 2012. Funds for secondary schools were provided exclusively by the GoZ and for primary schools very largely by donors (85%). Gender balance among beneficiaries was consistently maintained. The per capita allocation for primary school children rose by 151% and by 150% for secondary school children from 2010 to 2011. The number of primary school beneficiaries therefore dropped 25% from 537,594 to 403,398 over the same years even though the amounts disbursed increased (US$13.4 million in 2010 to US$14.9 million in 2011, an increase of 113%); the number of secondary school beneficiaries dropped by an even higher percentage (42%) over the same years, and the total number of beneficiaries (primary and secondary) dropped by 29%. This meant that in 2010 96% of the target number of 560,000 primary school children benefited, whereas in 2011 this proportion dropped to 72%. If the primary school per capita allocation had risen by only 110% rather than 151% from 2010 to 2011, the number of beneficiaries would have been 554,391 rather than 403,398 – in other words, only 73% of potential beneficiaries were supported.
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Examination fees (O‐Level and A‐Level fees) were paid in 2010 and 2011 for 21,463 secondary school children. Although there are no overall gender imbalances over the period and across both O‐ and A‐levels, there are clear imbalances in both years in favour of boys taking A‐levels because of the higher male enrolment at that level. 4.8. SchoolLevel Income and Expenditure Patterns The 352 school heads who responded to the survey questionnaire were asked to indicate the sources of income of their schools as follows:
• BEAM support (total paid via BEAM) • School fees paid by parents/guardians • School levies paid by parents/guardians • Other sources of income
First, the overall income patterns were analysed for the entire sample (i.e. regardless of whether the school was located in urban or rural area and without distinguishing between primary and secondary schools). Figure 9 below shows the average proportions of income from parents paying levies and tuition fees (81%), from BEAM paying levies and tuition fees (7%) and from other sources (12%). Figure 9: Average % of BEAM support in relation to total school income
7%
81%
12%
BEAM ASSISTANCE
FEES AND LEVIES BY PARENTS
OTHER SOURCES
The ‘other’ sources of income are listed in the table below. Table 14: Categories of other sources of income CATEGORY EXAMPLES Fund raising School activities like civics day Garden product sales Vegetable sales School tuck‐shops Food and drinks Donations From Christian organisations, CARPENUM Trust, Parents
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The next step was to examine whether there were differences in BEAM's contribution to school income as a function of school location (i.e. urban vs rural schools). Figures 10 and 11 below show the income patterns for urban and rural schools, regardless of whether they were secondary or primary schools. The figures show that the contribution of BEAM is similar at both primary and secondary school levels; the largest proportion of school income in urban and rural schools is from tuition fees and levies paid by parents. Figure 10: Urban school income Figure 11: Rural school income
8%
81%
11%
BEAM ASSISTANCE
FEES AND LEVIES BY PARENTS
OTHER SOURCES Figures 12 and 13 show the income patterns for primary and secondary schools. Once again, the contribution of BEAM is similar at both primary and secondary school levels and the largest proportion of school income in primary and secondary schools is from levies paid by the parents. Figure 12: Primary school income Figure 13: Secondary school income
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Figures 14 and 15 below show the income patterns for urban and rural primary schools. Figure 14: Urban primary school income Figure 15: Rural primary school income
Figures 16 and 17 below show the income patterns for urban and rural secondary schools. Figure 16: Urban secondary school income Figure 17: Rural secondary school income
The schools were then classified into four categories according to their level of income per learner (i.e. poorest to least poor) and the percentage contributions of each source were calculated. Figures 18 to 21 below show that BEAM payments for levies and tuition fees account for the greatest proportion of income (25%) in schools with the lowest income per learner.
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Figure 18: Low income per learner Figure 19: Lowermiddle income per learner
Low income per learner (25%) Lower‐middle income per learner (25‐50%) Figure 20: Middleupper income per learner Figure 21: Upper income per learner
Middle‐upper income per learner (50‐75%) Upper income per learner (75‐100%) The 352 school heads who responded to the survey questionnaire were also asked to indicate the categories of expenditure of their schools as follows:
• Learning materials (e.g. textbooks) • Staff development • Feeding scheme for children • Improving school buildings and grounds • Improving health conditions at the school • Other types of expenditure
The expenditure data from all schools, regardless of school level or location, are presented in Figure 22 below, which shows that the ‘other’ category (which includes teacher incentives) is the largest category of expenditure (35%), followed by school maintenance (21%) and learning materials (20%). In the figures that follow: LM = learning materials; SD = staff development; FS = furniture and supplies; SM = school maintenance; H = health.
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Figure 22: Overall expenditure patterns in relation to total school income
The ‘other’ categories of expenditure are listed in the table below. Table 15: Categories of other expenditure CATEGORY EXAMPLES Incentives Teachers and administrative staff School furniture Chair and desks Property repairs Repairs for furniture, school vehicles Salaries Salaries for clerks, security guards Sporting equipment Sport uniforms, balls Figures 23 and 24 display very similar expenditure patterns for primary and secondary schools.
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Figure 23: Expenditure in primary schools Figure 24: Expenditure in secondary schools
Figures 25 and 26 below show the expenditure patterns for urban and rural schools. Once again, the expenditure patterns are very similar. Figure 25: Expenditure in urban schools Figure 26: Expenditure in rural schools
The expenditure patterns for the four quartiles of schools by level of expenditure are shown in Figures 27 to 30 below.
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Figure 27: Low expenditure schools Figure 28: Lowermiddle expenditure schools
24%
5%
1%
33%
4%
33%
LM SD FS SM H Other
Low expenditure schools (0‐25%) Lower‐middle expenditure schools (25‐50%) Figure 29: Middleupper expenditure schools Figure 30: Upper expenditure schools
Middle‐upper expenditure schools (50‐75%) Upper expenditure schools (75‐100%) 4.9. The SchoolLevel Focus Group Discussions Focus group discussions were held in 40 of the sampled schools with parents, community representatives and children. The most commonly reported strengths and weaknesses of BEAM are reported below. 4.9.1. Children Children (beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries) were generally very positive about the impact BEAM has had on enrolment and attendance, and many felt that the process of applying for
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BEAM was fair and relatively easy although some families struggled to provide the required documents, such as death certificates. The most common negative comments follow:
• Some children look down on and laugh at BEAM beneficiaries; some parents are “shy to register” because they are ashamed of being seen as poor.
• The most needy beneficiaries are not always identified; children should be more involved in the selection process to remedy this, and home visits should be a feature of the process.
• Illegal mining (in some districts) and early marriage are factors that BEAM is not addressing successfully.
• Food and clothes should be provided for the most needy. Individual children who are beneficiaries reported a number of difficulties, such as being “chased away” because of late payment by BEAM, the school running out of application forms, not realising that the application had to be repeated annually, and being “told to pay the balance” because BEAM did not pay the total amount required by the school. 4.9.2. Parents and Guardians Parents and guardians were also generally very positive about the impact BEAM has had on enrolment and attendance at both primary and secondary schools, and most were happy with the composition of the CSCs and the selection process. It was commonly reported that the process is not discriminatory. It was also commonly felt that if BEAM is discontinued “people would suffer greatly” and girls in particular would be forced into early marriage. The general opinion was that BEAM “should continue as it is”. Criticisms include the following:
• The registration criteria are subject to abuse; needy families (for example with unemployed parents) and disabled children are not always selected.
• Too few children are selected of those identified. • Many parents and guardians find it difficult to provide the documents required for
registration, such as death certificates. • Payment is often too late, and some parents reported being forced to pay the levies
without being reimbursed when the BEAM funds came through. • Information about the amount of funds received from BEAM is often not made public. • Not all levies are funded by BEAM, such as levies for practicals in secondary schools. • There is no money for uniforms, shoes and stationery. • There should be funds for clothes and food for orphans. • BEAM should be “more on the ground”, actively looking for out‐of‐school children. • While some families look down on BEAM beneficiaries, “others envy them”. • There is no selection committee at secondary schools; many secondary school parents
reported having no knowledge of the selection criteria and processes. 4.9.3. Community Representatives Community representatives were also generally very positive about the impact BEAM has had on enrolment and attendance at both primary and secondary schools, and one group expressed the views of many to the effect that “the will of the people is generally observed”. Many groups noted that children’s behaviour had improved through attending school; one group noted that theft had decreased in the community. There was general agreement that communities cannot achieve the intended outcomes without BEAM support. Criticisms include the following:
• A small number of groups reported that the selection process was questionable; only one group reported “politicisation of the selection process”. Application of the selection criteria was variable, with some schools emphasising orphans, others inviting single
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mothers to apply, and most applying or trying to apply all the criteria. However, most acknowledged that the most needy children were not always selected, and that on occasion only one of several needy children is selected from a given family. Some groups argued that teachers should be more involved in selection as they are aware of the children’s backgrounds.
• Some groups noted that needier families often experience greater difficulty in providing the required documents (such as death certificates), and that government should assist them in this regard.
• It was generally agreed that the intervention needs to expand substantially to attempt to reach all those in need.
• Concern for children’s health and wellbeing was frequently expressed, and most groups argued for funds for food, clothes, books and stationery. Several groups noted that children who have to wear their own clothes can be “isolated and stigmatised”, as one group put it.
• Many groups reported that payment was delayed, in some cases by two or even three terms; in some schools children were sent home until the funds were received.
• Community representatives also felt that there should be selection committees at secondary schools; many secondary school parents reported having no knowledge of the selection criteria and processes.
4.9.4. Awareness of BEAM Across respondent types, it was commonly reported that beneficiaries became aware of BEAM from a variety of sources, including community leaders, councillors, Child Protection Committees, school meetings convened by the school head, teachers and other children. Some groups felt that there should be more publicity, and one group of children argued that BEAM should prove its success by publicly announcing the names of beneficiaries who have done well. 4.9.5. Key Issues in the Qualitative Data It is clear that the overall assessment of BEAM by the focus group participants is that it is a highly relevant and necessary intervention that has had a substantial impact on enrolment and attendance. It is also clear that respondents do not believe BEAM outcomes can be achieved without continued funding. All respondent types believe that funds should be increased to reach all needy children. There is dissatisfaction with the following aspects of BEAM:
• Late receipt of funds, leading in some schools to children being sent home. • The need for greater involvement of teachers and children in the selection process, and a
more ‘on‐the‐ground’ approach to the identification of needy children. • The need for a wider range of inputs to enhance children’s wellbeing, such as uniforms
and food. • The need to cover all levies, such as for practicals in secondary schools. • The lack of selection committees at secondary schools.
There is variability in respondents’ assessment of the selection process. While the majority of groups reported their satisfaction with the fairness of the process, there is clearly a small number of schools in which there are perceptions of abuse of the criteria and the process, and schools in which there is lack of transparency about the funds received.
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4.10. Interviews With National Stakeholders and Role Players Interviews were conducted with national stakeholders and role players working at the MoLSS, the MoESAC, the Ministry of Finance and UNICEF; one potential respondent from a participating bank could not be interviewed because of internal bank protocols. The salient points raised in the interviews are presented below. Relevance
• BEAM is highly relevant in the Zimbabwean context, but needs to evolve as new support mechanisms are introduced, such as social cash transfers.
Efficiency
• Disbursement is now more accurate than it is speedy; accuracy is the responsibility of the BEAM PMU in collaboration with district and provincial offices, while the responsibility for timely disbursement is the responsibility of donors and the Treasury. During the application process, some districts hold up applications until they have a batch for submission; provincial offices are sometimes responsible for delays in approving fees and levies.
• A much improved management information system is needed to support monitoring and evaluation, and monitoring should be much more systematic and rigorous.
• The PMU needs to be better equipped (for example, with vehicles and photocopiers) to improve its management and monitoring capacity.
• Improved communication and regular meetings are needed between MoLSS, MoESAC and MoF. Moreover, the responsibilities of the two implementing ministries need to be clearly defined: it is the responsibility of the MoLSS to provide for social protection (in this case access to education) and the responsibility of the MoESAC to ensure that educational goals and objectives are met and to monitor the use of school funds.
• Opinions differed on the best location of BEAM. Most respondents felt that BEAM is best located in the MoLSS as it is a social protection mechanism; however, one respondent argued that the MoESAC understands the educational goals and objectives better. This respondent also argued for joint decision making between the MoESAC and the MoLSS.
• Donors’ conditions must be fulfilled before funds can be released, which is sometimes a slow process.
• More funds are needed to improve capacity for management and administration. • An auditing strategy should be developed to ensure that schools are aware that they
might be subjected to a thorough investigation of identification and selection processes and application of funds.
• Verification of school bank account numbers has improved with help from participating banks; this has led to improved efficiency in disbursement. The percentage of schools with bank transfer rejections in 2011 was 0.2%.
Effectiveness
• Not all levies are covered by BEAM, and there is a need to provide for cost items such as uniforms and transport to enhance enrolment and attendance.
• The relatively small portion of BEAM funds (on average 1.5%) that is set aside for programme management and administration is insufficient, and is the cause of weak management capacity, weak capacity for monitoring and evaluation and overload in the PMU. The BEAM Adviser, who is paid by UNICEF, is assisted by other staff members, such
47
as data capturers, who are MoLSS employees and are reported to have other competing duties within the ministry.
• The identity and purpose of BEAM need to be aligned with other initiatives such as social cash transfers.
• The BEAM selection criteria should be reviewed, as the poverty criterion needs to be more prominent and categories of beneficiary such as disabled children might be better served by a different funding mechanism. More generally, BEAM beneficiaries may need additional assistance from other sources; an integrated management information system would be invaluable in this regard.
• BEAM should identify a group of beneficiaries and take them through the school system; the list of beneficiaries should not change so frequently.
• Dissatisfaction in communities is likely to be a result of the small resource envelope, which results in children in need being left out.
• The grievance procedure is not functional and needs to be revamped. • In many cases political differences are set aside in the selection process; this contributes
to “national healing”. • The CSC should have a representative from the CPC to advise on children in need of social
protection. • “Influential people” who have no awareness of BEAM are sometimes members of the
CSCs; in some schools heads “handpick people whom they can manipulate”, and in these cases the DEO is tasked with disbanding the committee.
• CSCs need to gain a better understanding of the selection criteria. • Children have been successfully involved in one province in the selection of beneficiaries;
this should be encouraged. • Secondary schools do not have their own CSCs as they are not as close to the communities
they serve; the CSCs are better located at primary schools, but secondary school heads should be involved.
• The need for incentives is not as pressing as it was at the height of the economic crisis; parents are sometimes expected to pay for such incentives in addition to school levies, and therefore in addition to levies paid through BEAM. This practice undermines the purpose of BEAM, and places BEAM beneficiaries at risk of discrimination if their parents/guardians cannot pay.
• Although BEAM does not allow the practice, schools sometimes force parents to pay tuition fees and levies if BEAM funds are delayed, and they are not always reimbursed. This was described as an “illegal” practice. Moreover, termly increases in school fees and levies have eroded the value of the assistance in terms of the number of beneficiaries.
• There have been cases of school heads providing the PMU with their personal account numbers; these have been treated as criminal cases.
• Although 10% of BEAM funds is set aside for disabled children (for disbursement to special schools and registered resource units), there is lack of awareness in school communities of the support available and only 75% of the funds have been spent; many families also keep children with special needs at home.
• Street children are not beneficiaries because BEAM is institution‐based; communities tend not to look out for such children.
Impact
• BEAM has had a major impact on enrolment and attendance, and has contributed to broader social outcomes; more children are writing A‐levels and some BEAM beneficiaries have been able to go on to university. Gender balance in terms of beneficiaries has been consistently maintained.
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Sustainability
• Continued funding is needed for as long as there is vulnerability in school communities; it will “take a while before our communities can be able to tackle issues of vulnerability on their own”.
• Because of BEAM’s impact on enrolment and attendance the programme should be maintained by donors. Respondents noted the urgency of funds being made available for 2012, and the probability that BEAM will have to be sustained by the GoZ from 2013. Every effort should be made to reach greater numbers of vulnerable children. It was noted that the target of 560,000 BEAM beneficiaries was not based on accurate data on vulnerability and is probably an underestimate. 4 One respondent suggested that all rural children should be supported at lower per capita rates, and another suggested that families qualifying for cash transfers (under the ZHSCTS) should automatically qualify for BEAM. It was noted that the results of the Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey (PICES), due in August 2012, will assist in this regard.
4 Albeit drawing on a very small sample, researchers studying extremely poor households found that only 14% of children of primary school age and 11% of children of secondary school age are BEAM beneficiaries. MoLSS (2010). Process and Results of Baseline Survey of Labour Constrained, Extremely Poor Households in Goromonzi, Ward 5. Harare: MoLSS.
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Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED 5.1. Summary of Findings The summary of findings presented below is based on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered in all ten provinces and on the review of BEAM documents and finances presented in Chapter 1. 5.1.1. Programme Relevance The qualitative data show that BEAM is a highly relevant and necessary intervention (particularly in the lowest quartile of schools in terms of school income) that has had a substantial impact on enrolment and attendance. The quantitative data also show that the relevance of the BEAM intervention is indisputable, with on average almost 90% of respondents of all types viewing the support as ‘very necessary’. It should be noted that the respondent types included BEAM and non‐BEAM children and parents, and that no significant differences were found in terms of their endorsement of BEAM. Also, no significant differences were found by province; BEAM is therefore found to be relevant in all ten provinces. The most common beneficiary types reported by school heads and community representatives were children who:
• Are double orphans (both parents deceased) • Are single orphans (one parent deceased) • Children in foster care with poor guardians • Had never attended school • Are living in child‐headed households • Are living in an extremely poor household • Have a breadwinner at home who is not gainfully employed • Have a breadwinner at home who is chronically ill.
Significantly less commonly reported beneficiaries were children who:
• Are disabled • Are living on the street.
Of concern are the percentages of children identified as needing BEAM support who were selected in 2010 (49% of those identified were selected) and 2011 (58% of those identified were selected). The situation is significantly more serious in this regard in primary schools than in secondary schools. These low percentages suggest that BEAM is much more widely needed than available resources permit – based on the 2011 data, an increase of 172% in financial resources would be needed to reach all children identified by communities as needing assistance. This would enable BEAM to reach 794,000 primary school children (US$34 per capita) and 268,000 secondary school children (US$102 per capita). The analysis of school income and expenditure shows that BEAM on average contributes 7% of total school income in urban schools and 8% in rural schools; urban schools are better able to raise income from sources other than parents and BEAM than rural schools. The schools in the quartile with the lowest income per learner (i.e. the poorest schools) benefit from BEAM funding much more (25% of total school income) than schools in the other income quartiles.
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5.1.2. Programme Efficiency School heads, district and provincial officials and community representatives all rated the accuracy of BEAM disbursements more positively than they rated the speed with which the disbursements were made to the schools. The responses of school heads are typical in this regard, with 78% rating the accuracy of disbursements as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ in 2011 and 84% rating the speed of disbursements as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ in the same year. There were no significant differences in this regard between the ratings for 2010 and 2011, indicating that programme efficiency is viewed positively over the two-year period in terms of accuracy of disbursements but negatively with respect to speed. This was confirmed by focus group respondents, who expressed dissatisfaction with the late receipt of funds, leading in some schools to children being sent home. The success rate (defined by successful transfers of funds to schools) with respect to the total number of actual applications and disbursements was 99.8% in 2011. Efficiency over the period reviewed was lowest in 2010, and improved dramatically after the appointment of key PMU staff despite the complexity of the processing of applications. In the absence of up‐to‐date information on vulnerability, the funds made available varied per province in relation to total enrolment. Gender balance among beneficiaries was consistently maintained. The per capita allocation for primary school children rose by 151% and by 150% for secondary school children from 2010 to 2011. The number of primary school beneficiaries therefore dropped 25% over the same years even though the amounts disbursed increased by 113%; the total number of beneficiaries (primary and secondary) dropped by 29%. This meant that the percentage of primary school children supported with respect to the target number of beneficiaries dropped from 96% in 2010 to 72% in 2011. If the primary school per capita allocation had risen by only 110% rather than 151% from 2010 to 2011, the number of beneficiaries would have been 554,391 rather than 403,398 – in other words, only 73% of potential beneficiaries were supported. National stakeholders and role players argued for a number of mechanisms to enhance efficiency:
• A much improved management information system is needed. • Monitoring and evaluation should be much more systematic and rigorous. • More funds are needed to improve capacity for management and administration. • Improved communication and regular meetings are needed between the participating
ministries (MoLSS, MoESAC and MoF). • An auditing strategy should be developed.
5.1.3. Programme Effectiveness 93.2% of all school‐level respondent types (school heads, parents, community representatives and children) felt that BEAM support had impacted positively on the school’s financial position. Although parents and school heads were less likely to select “Quite a lot” and tended to opt for the response “A lot”, these differences are not statistically significant.5 80% of school heads, 77% of parents and 89% of community representatives felt that the BEAM community selection committees had been “well” constituted (as envisaged in the BEAM manual); 15% of school heads, 15% of parents and 7% of community representatives felt that the BEAM selection criteria were not appropriate. Similar levels of dissatisfaction were found 5 In Zimbabwean English, “quite a lot” is more emphatic than “a lot”, and in this and other questions therefore indicates higher impact.
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with regard to the prioritization of children for BEAM support: 18% of school heads, 14% of parents and 6% of community representatives felt that the prioritisation of children was not appropriately effected. 14.5% of parents also expressed dissatisfaction with the selection process, and 39% reported that they had faced challenges in getting their children onto the BEAM programme. Analysis of the qualitative data gathered at the school level shows that the challenges are likely to be the following:
• There are, in a very small number of schools, reports of abuse of the registration criteria. • Application of the selection criteria is variable, with some schools emphasising orphans,
others inviting single mothers to apply, and most applying or trying to apply all the criteria. However, most respondents acknowledged that the most needy children were not always selected, and that on occasion only one of several needy children is selected from a given family.
• Too few children are selected of those identified. • Many parents and guardians find it difficult to provide the documents required for
registration, such as death certificates. The majority of school heads (83%) and community representatives (88%) felt that there is active participation of CSC members in the identification of children in need of BEAM; many fewer respondents (36% of school heads and 44% of community representatives) felt that there has been active participation of children. With regard to the effectiveness of BEAM support in their schools, school heads felt that BEAM had contributed to:
• Improving the quality of teaching and learning materials • Improving the school completion rate at the school • Improving school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries • Reducing the drop‐out rate at the school.
It was significantly less commonly reported that BEAM had contributed to:
• Improving the pass rate at the school • Improved facilities (such as furniture) • The introduction of feeding programmes.
Focus group respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the following aspects of BEAM:
• The need for greater involvement of teachers and children in the selection process, and a more ‘on‐the‐ground’ approach to the identification of needy children.
• The need for a wider range of inputs to enhance children’s wellbeing, such as uniforms and food.
• The need to cover all levies, such as for practicals in secondary schools. • The lack of selection committees at secondary schools.
While many focus group respondents reported their satisfaction with the fairness of the selection process, there is a small number of schools in which there are perceptions of abuse of the criteria and the process, and schools in which there is lack of transparency about the funds received. There is a need to investigate further these potential pockets of abuse, while noting that these perceptions were not commonly reported. National stakeholders and role players proposed a number of ways to enhance effectiveness:
• Not all levies are covered, and there is a need to provide for items such as uniforms and transport to enhance enrolment and attendance. Over time levies should be abolished.
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• The relatively small portion (1.5%) of BEAM funds that is set aside for programme management and administration is insufficient. The BEAM Adviser, who is paid by UNICEF, is assisted by other staff members, such as data capturers, who are MoLSS employees and are reported to have other competing duties within the ministry.
• The BEAM selection criteria should be reviewed, as the poverty criterion needs to be more prominent and categories of beneficiary such as disabled children might be better served by a different funding mechanism. More generally, BEAM beneficiaries may need additional assistance from other sources; an integrated management information system would be invaluable in this regard.
• The need for incentives for teachers is not as pressing as it was at the height of the economic crisis; parents are sometimes expected to pay for such incentives in addition to school levies, and therefore in addition to levies paid through BEAM. This practice undermines the purpose of BEAM, and places BEAM beneficiaries at risk of discrimination if their families cannot pay.
• The identity and purpose of BEAM need to be aligned with other initiatives such as social cash transfers.
5.1.4. Programme Impact The broader social impact of BEAM was positively rated by all respondents. Parents and community representatives felt that in particular BEAM had improved access to education for orphans and girl children. The following impacts were also rated as important, but less important than the support for orphans and girl children:
• Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs • Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities • Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s) • Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents • Improved children’s well‐being.
5.1.5. Programme Sustainability Focus group respondents did not believe BEAM outcomes can be achieved without continued funding; moreover, all respondent types believe that funds should be increased to reach all needy children. Responding to the quantitative survey, parents (87%) and community representatives (89%) reported that without BEAM funding the school and community would not be able to keep beneficiaries in school. School heads were less categorical in their response, with 42% responding that the school would not be capable at all of keeping beneficiaries in school and 54% responding “not very capable”. However, the overall percentages for the two responses (“not capable at all” and “not very capable”) are similar across these respondent types – 96% of school heads and parents and 99% of community representatives. Adult school‐level respondents thus believe that the BEAM objectives are attainable only with continued funding. National stakeholders and role players believe that BEAM should receive continued funding, but that BEAM needs to evolve as new support mechanisms are introduced, such as social cash transfers. These respondents noted the urgency of funds being made available for 2012, and the probability that BEAM will have to be sustained by the GoZ from 2013 and reach greater numbers of vulnerable children. Accurate data on vulnerable children are needed to this end. The conclusions presented in the following sections are based on triangulations of the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data gathered in all ten provinces, as well as documentary evidence reviewed in Chapter 1.
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5.2. Conclusions: Underlying Policy Assumptions and Relevance Underlying Policy Assumptions
• BEAM remains a key strategy for achieving both the National Orphan Care Policy and the legal obligation to meet the right of every child to education.
• BEAM is making a significant contribution to the need identified in NAP II to strengthen coordination and awareness of strategies to help meet children’s rights.
• Although the envisaged new Constitution and a strengthened legal framework may provide for new mechanisms for addressing access to education by OVC, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on BEAM before the end of its current mandate in 2015.
• As demand‐side pressure on BEAM eases with the roll‐out of a social cash transfers programme this will enable it to be more targeted.
• As MoESAC introduces strategies to replace fees and levies charged to parents there will be reduced demand on BEAM, which may enable it to become more targeted on those children especially at risk of not attending or completing school.
Relevance
• BEAM is a highly relevant and necessary intervention, particularly in the poorest quartile of schools in terms of school income per learner, in which BEAM funds constitute 25% on average of school income.
• The intended beneficiaries of BEAM, such as orphans, are commonly the actual beneficiaries; BEAM has very largely achieved its objectives in this regard. The only intended categories of beneficiary that were significantly less commonly reported were disabled children and street children; however, this is undoubtedly attributable to these categories being smaller with respect to the total population. Gender balance has been maintained in terms of the numbers of beneficiaries.
• BEAM is much more widely needed than available resources permit – based on the 2011 data, an increase in financial resources of 172% would be needed to reach all children identified by school communities as needing assistance.
5.3. Conclusions Related to the Evaluation Criteria Efficiency
• While the accuracy of BEAM disbursements is acceptable, the speed with which the disbursements were made to the schools in 2010‐2011 needs to improve.
• Improvements are needed with respect to management capacity, PMU resourcing, information management, communication, monitoring and evaluation, and school‐level auditing.
• The relatively small portion (1.5%) of BEAM funds that is set aside for programme management and administration is insufficient. Although it must be noted that there are other contributions to BEAM administration, such as the voluntary work of the CSCs, the work of district officials in processing applications and UNICEF’s support in disbursing funds, there is weak management capacity, weak capacity for monitoring and evaluation and overload at the level of the PMU. A clear budget is needed to strengthen PMU capacity to manage such a large programme more strategically.
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Effectiveness
• BEAM has very largely achieved its objectives, and gender balance has been maintained in terms of the numbers of beneficiaries. BEAM support has impacted positively on the financial position of schools. It has made an important contribution to many of the intended outcomes at school level, such as improving school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries and reducing the drop‐out rate. BEAM has contributed less to improving pass rates, improving school supplies such as furniture and introducing feeding programmes.
• BEAM community selection committees are generally perceived to have been well constituted.
• The BEAM selection criteria are generally perceived to be appropriate, especially among community representatives (93%); slightly lower levels of satisfaction were found among parents (85%) and school heads (85%). The prioritization of children for BEAM support is also felt to be appropriately undertaken, but again with higher levels of satisfaction among community representatives (94%) than among school heads (82%) and parents (86%). However, it should be noted that the percentages of parents and school heads expressing dissatisfaction with the selection criteria and process are relatively low; dissatisfaction is certainly not widespread. Further discussion of the targeting criteria is presented under ‘Targeting’ below.
• Nevertheless, the need to determine which schools are experiencing problems in the selection of beneficiaries is clear, and this is supported by the fact that nearly two‐fifths of parents reported that they had faced challenges in getting their children onto the BEAM programme. Focus groups of parents frequently reported difficulties in providing the required documentation, and in a very small number of schools parents reported abuse of the selection criteria and lack of transparency regarding the funds received. There is a need to investigate further these potential pockets of abuse, while noting that these perceptions were not commonly reported.
• Further discussion of the selection criteria is presented under ‘Targeting’ below. • According to the PMU, the grievance procedure is not functional and needs to be
redesigned. • Although 10% of BEAM funds is set aside for disabled children, insufficient funds are
disbursed to special schools and registered resource units because of lack of awareness in school communities of the support available and because many families reportedly keep children with special needs at home.
• While there is active participation of CSC members in the identification of children in need of BEAM, the active participation of children is much less common and the participation of teachers could be strengthened. The general absence of a more ‘on‐the‐ground’ approach to the identification of needy children is a concern. The lack of secondary school CSCs is also a concern.
• Policy on teacher incentives is that the total paid in each school may not exceed 10% of the levies raised in the case of teachers and 5% in the case of administrative staff. There is anecdotal evidence, however, that the total often exceeds these prescribed limits and that funds for incentives are sometimes raised informally – that is, above and beyond the approved levies. If there are instances where the incentives exceed the allowed percentages of levies raised, BEAM is funding illicit school expenditure; if the funds for the incentives are in some cases raised informally, children whose parents/guardians cannot pay are at risk of discrimination. If BEAM is indeed funding illicit expenditure a quick remedy would be to provide a fixed amount of per capita funding rather than the total cost of tuition fees and levies.
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• The BEAM selection criteria need to be reviewed to foreground the poverty criterion; other mechanisms to support particular categories of BEAM beneficiary, such as disabled children, may be advisable since it can be assumed that all disabled children need some form of support, whereas currently many run the risk of not being selected as BEAM beneficiaries.
• The identity and purpose of BEAM need to be aligned with other initiatives such as social cash transfers; this is further discussed below under ‘BEAM as Part of a Broader Strategy’.
Impact
• The broader social impact of BEAM is substantial, in particular in terms of improved access to education for poor children, and particularly for orphans and girl children.
• Conversely, the withdrawal of BEAM support would have a serious impact on access to education for hundreds of thousands of current beneficiaries, given that the targeting strategy has been largely successful.
Sustainability
• Without BEAM funding schools and communities would not be able (or would struggle) to keep beneficiaries in school. The BEAM objectives are attainable only with continued funding. As noted above (see 5.1.1 Programme Relevance), increased funding is needed in the future to reach all children identified by school communities as potential beneficiaries.
5.4. Conclusions: Additional Barriers Affecting Children’s Access to Schools There is a need for a wider range of inputs to enhance children’s wellbeing and enhance enrolment and attendance, such as uniforms, food, transport, books and stationery. These difficulties are clearly related to household poverty, and will presumably be addressed over time through the ZHSCTS. Respondents reported early marriage and child labour – in particular in the informal mining sector in some districts – as barriers affecting children’s access to schools. These are factors beyond the scope of BEAM and need to be addressed through other social protection mechanisms. 5.5. Conclusions Related to the Resource Allocation and Targeting Strategy The Resource Allocation Strategy The BEAM Operational Manual6 notes that a vulnerability‐based model for the allocation of funds is preferable because it takes into account different proportions of vulnerable children across districts; however, in the absence of recent data (for example, the last Poverty Assessment Study dates back to 2003), BEAM allocations to individual schools are based solely on their shares in the total enrolment in their district. Although poverty is widespread in Zimbabwe, there are substantial regional differences in poverty levels, and rural areas have higher poverty levels than urban areas.7 In the future, with improved data, it may be possible to
6 Ministry of Labour and Social Services and Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture (January 2010). Enhanced Social Protection Programme: BEAM Operational Manual. Harare. 7 UNICEF (May 2010). Child‐Sensitive Social Protection in Zimbabwe. Harare: UNICEF.
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allocate BEAM funds based on relative vulnerability across districts before applying the enrolment share approach. The Targeting Strategy In the vast majority of schools parents, children, teachers, heads of school and community representatives are satisfied that the targeting strategy is appropriate and the selection criteria are appropriately applied to identify beneficiaries. In a minority of schools there is dissatisfaction with the application of the selection criteria as children clearly in need are not beneficiaries; in only one of the 40 schools in which focus groups were conducted there was concern about abuse of the selection criteria. Based on the responses of parents and school heads to the survey questionnaire, there may be unsatisfactory application of the criteria in 14‐18% of schools, and in the vast majority of these the exclusion of needy children is likely to be unintentional. There is clearly variability in the understanding of the selection criteria; possible reasons for this variability are discussed below. As noted in Chapter 1, there is an explicit set of criteria (presented as ‘eligibility guidelines’) in the BEAM operational manual that CSCs are required to apply. For convenience, these are reproduced below – the intended beneficiaries include:
• children who have never been to, or have dropped out of school due to poverty; • school record of child’s previous failure to pay fees and levies due to poverty; • the source of income and health status of the head of household/breadwinner; • orphanhood status of potential beneficiaries; • household asset ownership of the guardians of potential beneficiaries; and • previous participation of the child in the Educational Support Programme under the
Programme of Support to the NAP for OVC implemented through NGOs. However, the application form to be submitted by each CSC contains the following additional criteria in the form of a list of categories of beneficiary, which are presumably indicative criteria as the only requirement is that the numbers of children in each category must be indicated in the application: Table 16: Categories of children eligible for BEAM funding CATEGORY OF CHILDREN Total Number Assisted
ORPHANS (BOTH PARENTS)
ORPHAN (ONE PARENT DECEASED)
CHILD IN FOSTER CARE UNDER POOR FOSTER PARENTS
NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL
WITH DISABILITY AND POOR
DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL DUE TO ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
LIVING ON THE STREET
LIVING IN CHILD‐HEADED HOUSEHOLD
HOUSEHOLD EXTREMELY POOR AND HAS NO ASSETS
HAS PREVIOUS RECORD OF FAILURE TO PAY FEES AND LEVIES
BREADWINNER NOT GAINFULLY EMPLOYED
BREADWINNER CHRONICALLY ILL
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The targeting framework is problematic for the following reasons: • The existence of two sets of selection criteria (although one is explicit and the other
implicit and although they overlap) is confusing. We have noted above that application of the selection criteria by CSCs is variable, with some schools emphasising orphans, others inviting single mothers to apply, and most applying or trying to apply all the criteria. This variability is likely to be the result of the above.
• The list of categories gives the impression, probably unintentionally, that the categories are ranked in order of importance, since the first two categories are ‘orphan (both parents deceased)’ and ‘orphan (one parent deceased)’; children ‘with disability and poor’ and children in extremely poor households with no assets are listed fifth and ninth respectively. A CSC working with the impression that the categories are ranked would be likely to target orphans at the expense of, for example, children with disabilities, as was reported by a small number of focus groups.
5.6. Conclusions: the Importance of Levies The increase in per capita allocations from 2010 to 2011 (151% for primary school children and 150% for secondary school children) must be largely due to increased levies, which account for 60% of income in primary schools and 43% of income in secondary schools (not counting levies paid by BEAM). This had a substantial impact on the numbers of beneficiaries as the total number of primary and secondary school beneficiaries dropped 29% over the same years even though the total funds available decreased by less than one percentage point. This meant that the percentage of primary school children supported with respect to the target number of beneficiaries dropped from 96% in 2010 to 72% in 2011; in primary schools, if the per capita allocation had risen by only 110% rather than 151% from 2010 to 2011, the number of beneficiaries would have been 554,391 rather than 403,398 – in other words, only 73% of potential beneficiaries were supported. The impact of increased levies on BEAM targets is clearly substantial and the reasons for increased levies need to be understood; it may be the case that BEAM constitutes a perverse incentive for schools to raise their levies in order to increase their income from levies paid by BEAM. If this proves to be the case, a quick remedy (once again) would be to provide a fixed amount of per capita funding rather than the total cost of tuition fees and levies. 5.7. Conclusions: BEAM as Part of a Broader Strategy for Social Support It seems clear that a successful and equitable school financing model (that ensures that OVCs are able to attend school) would replace the need for BEAM; BEAM would become redundant in the presence of such a model. A social cash transfer strategy such as the ZHSCTS, however, is distinct from support that is specifically intended to increase school enrolment and completion rates; the scheme will give households the decision‐making power to allocate funds to their most pressing needs, such as food, education, health or job‐seeking. BEAM’s specific focus on schooling costs removes this element from a family’s decision about how to allocate a cash transfer. BEAM clearly has to take all relevant social protection initiatives into account in its strategic planning, for a number of reasons:
• All such initiatives need to complement one another as elements in an integrated strategic framework.
• This in turn implies that the information systems of the various initiatives must be harmonised; their monitoring and evaluation strategies must also be aligned for greater effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness.
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• The overall social protection framework needs to address important financial and social barriers that affect children’s access to schools (see section 5.4 above) other than the inability of families to pay tuition fees and levies.
• The medium‐ to long‐term BEAM strategy needs to take into account that the module may become redundant in the presence of an effective and equitable school financing system.
5.8. Conclusions Related to the Efficacy of the Institutional Arrangements BEAM Management and Administration
• The efficacy of the PMU is not in doubt with respect to accurate transfers of funds to schools; as noted above, efficiency has improved considerably since the appointment of PMU staff in 2010.
• The PMU needs to be better equipped (for example, with vehicles and photocopiers) to improve its management and monitoring capacity. Improvements are also needed with respect to information management, and a new management information system for BEAM should be designed in such a way that it can interact with other key systems such as that of the ZHSCTS and the EMIS. As noted above, the relatively small portion (1.5%) of BEAM funds that is set aside for programme management and administration is insufficient.
Cooperation and Coordination Among Partners at National Level
• Factors affecting the speed with which funds are disbursed, such as donor requirements that need to be fulfilled before funds are made available, need to be addressed; delays in disbursement have serious consequences, such as children being sent home and parents being forced to pay without, in some cases, being reimbursed when the funds are transferred to the school. It should be noted that accuracy in disbursement is the responsibility of the BEAM PMU in collaboration with district and provincial offices, while the responsibility for timely disbursement is the responsibility of donors and the Treasury, and of UNICEF as the agency responsible for transferring funds to schools. However, the possibility that delays occur at district level in submitting applications and at provincial level in approving fees and levies needs to be investigated and remedied.
• Improved communication and regular meetings are needed between MoLSS, MoESAC and MoF. Moreover, the responsibilities of the two implementing ministries need to be clearly defined: it is the responsibility of the MoLSS to provide for social protection (in this case access to education) and the responsibility of the MoESAC to ensure that educational goals and objectives are met and to monitor the use of school funds.
• An example of an important MoESAC responsibility is the need to monitor increases in levies and tuition fees to ensure that these are justified. The very substantial increase in BEAM per capita allocations from 2010 to 2011 must be largely due to increased levies, which were therefore a major cause in the 29% decrease in the numbers of beneficiaries over the same years. The reasons for increased levies need to be understood and the increases kept to the minimum necessary. Increased capacity or capacity building may be needed at the MoESAC to monitor and control levy increases.
Institutional Arrangements at the School Level
• At the school level high levels of satisfaction were expressed with the constitution of the CSCs and with the application of the selection criteria; as noted above, it is likely that problems are experienced in only 14‐18% of schools, and that in most cases the
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dissatisfaction is a result of errors in rather than abuse of the selection process. However, there is clearly variability in the understanding of the selection criteria; as noted above, the existence of two sets of selection criteria (although one is explicit and the other implicit and although they overlap) is confusing. More training of CSCs in the application of the criteria is needed, pending the results of a review of the criteria.
• Consideration should be given to strengthening the role of teachers and children in the selection process, to support a more ‘on‐the‐ground’ approach to the identification of potential beneficiaries.
• The CSC should have a representative from the CPC to advise on children in need of social protection.
• Secondary schools are not sufficiently aware of the selection process as they do not participate in the CSCs, which are located at primary schools. However, secondary school heads should be more involved in the process.
5.9. Lessons Learned The lessons presented in this section constitute key generalizations from the findings of this evaluation that may be applicable in other local and international settings, bearing in mind the context in which the Programme was designed and implemented. The lessons learned are presented in the table below with reference to potential application domains. Table 17: Lessons learned Lessons Learned Application Domain 1. BEAM specifically targets children at risk of not enrolling at,
not attending or not completing school. It delivers funds to schools rather than households. Nevertheless, it is equivalent to social cash transfer programmes in terms of its outcomes and intended social and economic impact. Its specificity is particularly appropriate because the return on investment in education is typically high.
Policy and legislation underpinning the programme
2. Programmes such as BEAM are especially relevant in countries in which there is no adequate or equitable state financing of school education and poor parents/guardians are expected to fund or partially fund the cost of schooling.
Policy underpinning the programme
3. Programmes such as BEAM should form part of a holistic approach to social support, and their management, budgets and management information systems should form part of a coherent whole that takes into account and specifically targets different categories of beneficiary, such as the disabled and orphans. Competition for support across different categories of potential beneficiaries should be avoided.
Policy underpinning the programme
4. The processing of applications for social assistance should be governed by secondary legislation, with appropriate penalties for abuse of procedures, including deliberate inappropriate application of criteria.
Legislation underpinning the programme
5. Households with children of school‐going age that are identified, by whatever means, as poor should automatically qualify for assistance such as that provided by BEAM; measures to identify vulnerable households should be as accurate and efficient as possible, and need not be programme‐specific.
Policy underpinning the programme
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6. The agents and agencies responsible for identifying vulnerable households should be as close to the ground as possible; in the case of BEAM, children and teachers are potential agents who seem to have been underutilised.
Programme strategy
7. Beneficiaries and beneficiary institutions (and their communities) should be fully aware of the structures, processes and criteria that inform decisions about the granting of support and fully aware of the decisions made. In the case of BEAM, secondary schools are not well informed because the selection committees are located in primary schools.
Programme strategy
8. Charges to parents/guardians that distort the efficient implementation of support mechanisms such as BEAM must be avoided; in the case of BEAM, payments to schools for levies that cover teacher incentives must fall within the parameters set in national policy, and if firm evidence emerges of informal demands for payment of teacher incentives these must be outlawed.
Policy and law underpinning the programme
9. Funding for social protection should eliminate all obstacles to school enrolment and attendance, such as the inability of many families to pay for transport, uniforms and food, and not only formal school fees and levies.
Programme strategy
10. Programme management and administration should be funded with an appropriate percentage of total programme funds, to ensure that effective management strategies, structures, systems and processes are in place; this should include budgetary provision for effective information systems, efficient delivery of funds, effective monitoring and evaluation systems, school‐level auditing and training of decision makers at school level.
Programme funding
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Chapter 6: RECOMMENDATIONS The recommendations which follow represent the strategic actions that should be taken to improve BEAM implementation with respect to programme design, budget planning and implementation. The recommendations are closely based on the findings and conclusions presented in Chapter 5, and are presented as short‐, medium‐ and long‐term recommendations (2012, 2013‐2015 and post‐2015 respectively). Table 18: Shortterm recommendations (2012) ShortTerm Recommendations (2012) Actor Target Group 1. BEAM is highly relevant in schools attended by
vulnerable children and should receive urgent and enhanced support from GoZ and/or donors; using estimates derived from the quantitative dataset, US$27 million are needed in primary education for 2012 and US$27.5 million are needed in secondary education to support all children identified by CSCs as in need.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools and children
2. Since the largest proportion of school income in urban and rural schools is from levies paid by the parents, and since increases in levies from 2010 to 2011 have impacted very negatively on BEAM targets, a study should be undertaken to investigate the reasons for levy increases and ascertain whether BEAM is a perverse incentive for schools to raise their levies in order to increase their income from levies paid by BEAM.
MoESAC. MoLSS SDCs, children and households
3. If BEAM is indeed a perverse incentive for schools to increase levies, consideration should be given to providing a fixed amount of per capita funding rather than the total cost of tuition fees and levies. Since the increase in per capita funding in 2011 to US$37.66 for primary school children and US$113.98 for secondary resulted in a 29% decrease in total beneficiaries (in primary and secondary schools), the 2010 per capita amounts (US$24.91 for primary and US$76.14 for secondary) should be considered as benchmarks and adjusted for inflation for application in 2012 and beyond.
MoLSS, MoESAC, donors
Schools, children and households
4. The BEAM selection criteria create a situation in which children with different types of disadvantage effectively compete for limited resources, and there is evidence that different criteria are foregrounded in different school communities. The criteria should be urgently reviewed, and consideration should be given to ensuring that in the medium term certain categories of children (such as children in extremely poor households, children in child‐headed households and disabled children) are
Donors, MoLSS, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
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ShortTerm Recommendations (2012) Actor Target Group guaranteed assistance within the overall framework of social protection. Consideration should be given in the review process to a medium‐term scenario in which the allocations are weighted per category of need.
5. While fairness and transparency characterise the selection process in most schools, there is evidence of lack of transparency in some schools and pockets of abuse in the application of the BEAM criteria. Therefore: (a) a much stronger monitoring mechanism is
required to review identification and selection processes and ensure that BEAM funds are made public and used appropriately;
(b) a random auditing strategy should be designed and implemented and communicated to schools;
(c) the capacity of the PMU to manage rather than administer BEAM should be considerably enhanced in terms of staffing, resources and authority to monitor implementation at school level;
(d) consideration should be given to regulating, in secondary legislation and with appropriate penalties, the manner in which CSCs identify and select beneficiaries and make public the receipt and utilisation of BEAM funds; and
(e) the grievance procedure should be strengthened.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
6. The allocation of only 2% of donor funds available for primary schools (and only in 2011) for BEAM training is small given the complexity of the selection process at school level. There needs to be a larger allocation and the allocation needs to be consistent year on year as CSCs are elected annually. Training should focus on harmonising the interpretation of the targeting criteria.
MoLSS, UNICEF, donors
CSCs
7. The current allocation of only 1.5% of funds for BEAM management and administration is too small and needs to be increased, for example to strengthen capacity for monitoring and evaluation, to build an effective management information system and to speed up the processing of applications.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
8. Every effort should be made to speed up the disbursement of funds.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
9. To simplify the processing of applications and Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
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ShortTerm Recommendations (2012) Actor Target Group delivery of funds, consideration should be given to approving beneficiaries for a longer period, such as three years rather than one, subject to exception‐based reporting by CSCs in cases where children’s circumstances have clearly changed.
10. An effective management information system is needed that is harmonised with other relevant systems such as the ZHSCTS.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
11. The current division of labour between the two implementing ministries should be maintained, but a clear definition of responsibilities should be drawn up. For example, it is the responsibility of the MoLSS to provide for social protection, in this case access to education; it is the responsibility of the MoESAC to ensure the achievement of educational goals and objectives. A specific area of focus that MoESAC should address urgently is the need to investigate the substantial increases in school levies that have been approved in recent years, which have caused a dramatic reduction in the number of BEAM beneficiaries. In a relatively small number of schools lack of transparency was reported regarding receipt of BEAM funds and the amounts received; while this is not a widespread problem, the MoESAC should ensure that school funds (including funds provided by BEAM) are transparently managed in all schools. Consideration should be given to building the capacity of the MoESAC to perform these and other BEAM‐related management and monitoring functions.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
Table 19: MediumTerm Recommendations (201315) MediumTerm Recommendations (201315) Actor Target Group 12. BEAM should be maintained for as long as it is
needed to ensure that OVCs can attend and complete school.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools and children
13. The design and size of BEAM needs to be progressively reviewed in the context of other social support initiatives, such as the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme. However, it must be noted that a poor household receiving a cash transfer but not receiving support through BEAM would face a difficult choice in terms of how to use the grant; some households would choose schooling and some would not. The specificity of BEAM in addressing school enrolment and attendance must be borne in mind, and it cannot be assumed that a social cash transfer scheme will achieve the same
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
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MediumTerm Recommendations (201315) Actor Target Group objectives.
14. Every effort should be made to ensure that sufficient funds are disbursed to special schools and registered resource units; this may entail raising awareness in school communities of the support available and addressing the reported difficulty that many families keep children with special needs at home.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
15. As the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme is implemented, targeted households that have children of school‐going age should qualify automatically for BEAM.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
16. Barriers to enrolment and completion identified in this evaluation, such as the inability of families to pay for uniforms, books, stationery and transport should be covered in the future under the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme.
Donors, MoLSS, MoESAC, MoF, UNICEF
Schools, children and households
17. Teachers and children should be more involved in the identification – on the ground – of children in need of BEAM.
MoLSS, teachers and children
Children and households
18. CSCs should invite the participation, at least with observer status, of secondary school heads.
MoLSS, secondary school heads
Secondary schools
19. Incentives for teachers and administrative staff should be discontinued in favour of a standard national salary scale, as they are not as pressing a need as they were at the height of the economic crisis; until such time as they are discontinued, BEAM should ensure that it does not fund teacher incentives beyond the percentages of levies prescribed in policy, and that payments for incentives are not demanded informally. To this end, an investigation into the extent and amount of incentives paid should be undertaken, and its findings should inform both national policy and BEAM’s allocation of funds to schools. Once again, consideration should be given to providing a fixed amount of per capita funding rather than the total school‐based costs of tuition fees and levies, since this would eliminate any distortion of the effectiveness of BEAM support that might arise as a result of the payment of incentives.
MoESAC, MoF, Public Service Commission
Schools, children and households
Table 20: LongTerm Recommendations (post2015) LongTerm Recommendations (post2015) Actor Target Group 20. BEAM needs to review its role in the social
protection framework as the latter evolves, and contribute to ensuring that by 2015 a harmonised framework of social support is in place that
GoZ, donors, UNICEF
Children and schools
65
LongTerm Recommendations (post2015) Actor Target Group addresses all barriers to school enrolment and completion; the framework should be based on sound data on different types of disadvantage that affect access to schooling, and a vulnerability‐based model for the allocation of funds should take into account different proportions of vulnerable children across districts. The overall social protection framework needs to address important financial barriers (such inability to afford uniforms) and social barriers (such as child labour and early marriage) that affect children’s access to schools other than the inability of families to pay tuition fees and levies.
66
Appendix A: Survey Instruments UID: HEADQ
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe)
SCHOOL HEAD QUESTIONNAIRE
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
We have been asked to conduct an Evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. While participation in this study is voluntary, we would be grateful if you can take a few minutes of your time to complete this questionnaire. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, do not write your name anywhere on this questionnaire. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you are being asked to provide will only be used for the purposes of this evaluation and will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Kindly respond to all the questions objectively and honestly.
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
Date of completion of questionnaire DAY MM YY
Name of Fieldworker
Signature of Fieldworker
Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Capturer
Date Captured DAY MM YY Instructions This questionnaire consists of two types of questions. Most of the questions require you to select an option that best represents your view. For these questions please respond by circling a number that best represents your views. The second type of questions require you to fill in your brief responses in the space provided (SHADED GREY). The third type of questions require you to respond by writing a short description OR narration. Please answer ALL questions as it is
67
important for us to have complete data for each school. {Please circle the number corresponding to your answer. If you make a mistake put two lines across}
68
SECTION A: ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL AND YOURSELF
ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL
1. Name of School
2. Name of District
3. Level of School Primary 1 Secondary 2
4. School owned by Government 1 Mine 4
Council/Municipality 2 Church 5
Charitable Organisation 3 Other_______ 6
5. Grade of School P1 P2 P3 P___ ?
S1 S2 S3 S___ ?
6. Category of School Mainstream 1 Special School 2
7. School type Day school 1 Boarding 2
Boarding/Cum Day 3
8. Province Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10
ABOUT YOURSELF
9. Your Gender Male 1 Female 2
10. Your Age __________years old
11. Highest Educational Qualification Teaching Cert 1 Grad CE/DEd 4
Diploma in Ed 2 Masters 5
BA/BSc/BED 3 PhD 6
12. Since when have you been HEAD of this school?
DD MM YYYY
69
SECTION B: IMPLEMENTATION OF BEAM AT THIS SCHOOL
1. The school started receiving BEAM funds in ___________[Year]
2. Total school enrolment at present Boys Girls Don’t know 9
3. Total number of children on BEAM programme Boys Girls
Don’t know 9
4. Do you have children on BEAM who ....
Are double orphans (both parents deceased) Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Are single orphans (one parent deceased) Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Children in foster care with poor guardians Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Had never attended school Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Are disabled Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Are living on the street Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Are living in childheaded households Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Are living in an extremely poor household Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
Have a breadwinner at home who is not gainfully employed Yes 1 No 2
Don’t know
3
Have a breadwinner at home who is chronically ill Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know
3
5. BEAM training in 2011:
a. Did you attend BEAM training in 2011? 1 Yes
2 No
b. How would you rate the usefulness of the BEAM training?
1 Very useful
2 Useful
3 Not very useful
4 Not useful
6. In your opinion:
a. To what extent would you say that BEAM assistance was necessary at this school?
1 Very
necessary
2 Necessary
3 Not very necessary
4 Not necessary
at all
5 Don’t know
b. To what extent would you say that assistance from BEAM has made a significant impact in your school?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
5
Don’t know
In 2010 In 2011
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7. Number of children attending the school in 2010 and 2011 Boys Boys
Don’t know 99
Girls Girls Don’t know 99
In 2010 In 2011
8. Number of children identified as needing BEAM assistance in 2010 and 2011 Boys Boys
Don’t know 99
Girls Girls Don’t know 99
In 2010 In 2011 9. Number of children selected for BEAM assistance by the CSC in 2010 and 2011 Boys Boys
Don’t know 99
Girls Girls Don’t know 99
In 2010 In 2011
10. Number of children submitted for BEAM assistance to PMU in 2010 and 2011 Boys Boys
Don’t know 99
Girls Girls Don’t know 99
In 2010 In 2011
11. Number of children receiving BEAM assistance who had previously dropped out of school Boys Boys
Don’t know 99
Girls Girls Don’t know 99
12. In your opinion:
a. To what extent would you say that the criteria used to identify BEAM beneficiaries at this school is appropriate?
1 Very
appropriate
2 Appropriate
3 Not very
appropriate
4 Not
appropriate at all
5 Don’t know
b. To what extent would you say that children who apply for BEAM at this school are being prioritised appropriately?
1 Very
appropriately
2 Appropriatel
y
3 Not very
appropriately
4 Not
appropriately at all
5 Don’t know
13. In your opinion:
a. In 2010, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to your school?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not very quickly
4 Not quickly
5 Don’t know
b. In 2010, to what extent were the amounts of BEAM funds disbursed to your school accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not very accurate
4 Very
inaccurate
5 Don’t know
c. In 2011, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to your school?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not very quickly
4 Not quickly
5 Don’t know
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d. In 2011, to what extent were the amount of BEAM funds disbursed to your school accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not very accurate
4 Very
inaccurate
5 Don’t know
14. In your opinion:
Was the Community Selection Committee well constituted? (i.e. as envisaged in the BEAM manual)? 1
YES 2 NO
3
Don’t know
15. In your opinion:
To what extent did the Community Selection Committee members participate actively in decisions about BEAM beneficiaries?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not very actively
4 Not
actively at all
5 Don’t know
16. In your opinion:
To what extent have children been able to actively participate in the identification of other children in need at this school?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not very actively
4 Not
actively at all
SECTION C: INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
17. Please itemise school income in US$ for 2010 in the table below:
Source of income Income (US$)
BEAM assistance (total paid via BEAM)
School fees paid by parents/guardians
School levies paid by parents/guardians
Other sources of income
Total of all sources of income
18. If you have listed ‘Other sources of income’ in question 13 above, please specify what these sources were:
Other sources of income Income (US$)
a.
b.
72
c.
d.
e.
Total of other sources of income
73
19. Please itemise school expenditure in US$ for 2010 in the table below:
Type of expenditure Amount (US$)
Learning materials (e.g. textbooks)
Staff development
Feeding scheme for children
Improving school buildings and grounds
Improving health conditions at the school
Other types of expenditure
Total of all types of expenditure
20. If you have listed ‘Other types of expenditure’ in question 2.5 above, please specify what these types of expenditure were:
Other types of expenditure Amount (US$)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Total of other types of expenditure
SECTION D: EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
21. Please indicate the extent to which BEAM funds have contributed to the following outcomes in the school and the school community:
A lot A little Not at all Not sure
Improved access to education for orphans 1 2 3 4
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Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s)
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents
1 2 3 4
Improved access to learning for girls 1 2 3 4
Contributed to improving the quality of teaching /learning materials
1 2 3 4
Improved the school completion rate at the school 1 2 3 4
Improved the pass rate at the school 1 2 3 4
Improved school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries 1 2 3 4
Reduced the drop‐out rate at this school 1 2 3 4
Improved facilities (e.g. furniture) 1 2 3 4
Led to the introduction of feeding programmes in the school to improve nutrition
1 2 3 4
SECTION E: IMPACT OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
22. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s access to education?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
23. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s wellbeing?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
SECTION F: SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
24. In your opinion:
If BEAM funding were to be stopped today to what extent would this school and the community be able to keep beneficiaries in school?
1 Very
capable
2 Capable
3 Not very capable
4 Not capable
at all
SECTION G: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF BEAM
25. What could be done differently to improve the BEAM programme? Please write your recommendations in the table below:
75
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
76
UID: PAQ
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe)
PARENT QUESTIONNAIRE
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
We have been asked to conduct an Evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. While participation in this study is voluntary, we would be grateful if you can take a few minutes of your time to complete this questionnaire. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, we will NOT write your name anywhere on this questionnaire. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you are being asked to provide will only be used for the purposes of this evaluation and will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Kindly respond to all the questions objectively and honestly.
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
Date of completion of questionnaire DAY MM YY
Name of Fieldworker
Signature of Fieldworker
Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Capturer
Date Captured DAY MM YY
Instructions This questionnaire consists of two types of questions. Most of the questions require you to select an answer from the given options. The second type of questions require you to express your views. Please answer ALL questions as it is important for us to have complete data for each
77
parent. {Interviewer: Please circle the number corresponding to the answer given by respondent. If you make a mistake put two lines across}
SECTION A: ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL, COMMUNITY AND YOURSELF
ABOUT THE SCHOOL
1. Name of School (pre‐complete)
2. Name of District (pre‐complete)
3. Level of School (pre‐complete) Primary 1 Secondary 2
4. School owned by (pre‐complete) Government 1 Mine 4
Council/Municipality 2 Church 5
Charitable Org 3 Other_______ 6
5. Province (pre‐complete) Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10
ABOUT YOURSELF
6. Your gender (pre‐complete) Male 1 Female 2
7. How old are you? __________years old 1
8. Highest educational qualification Primary 1 Degree 4
Secondary 2 Masters 5
No formal education __________________7 Diploma 3 PhD 6 9. Altogether how many children under 18 years are staying with you? _______ Children
10. Of the children you live with, how many are your own? _______ Children 11. Are any of your children/children you live with receiving assistance from BEAM? Yes 1 No 2 12. Of all the children you stay with, how many are receiving assistance from BEAM? _______ Children 13. Are any of your children/children you live with receiving financial assistance other than from BEAM? Yes 1 No 2 14. If you have answered YES to question 13, from which organization do they receive financial assistance?
78
SECTION B: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
1. Whether children in your family have benefited from BEAM or not, in your opinion:
c. To what extent would you say that BEAM assistance was necessary at this school?
1 Very
necessary
2 Necessar
y
3 Not very necessary
4 Not
necessary at all
5 Don’t know
d. To what extent would you say that assistance from BEAM has made a significant impact in your school?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
5
Don’t know
2. In your opinion:
c. To what extent would you say that the criteria used to identify BEAM beneficiaries at this school is appropriate?
1 Very
appropriate
2 Appropriate
3 Not very
appropriate
4 Not
appropriate at all
5 Don’t know
d. To what extent would you say that children who apply for BEAM at this school are being prioritised appropriately?
1 Very
appropriately
2 Appropriately
3 Not very
appropriately
4 Not
appropriately at all
5 Don’t know
3. In your opinion...
Was the Community Selection Committee well constituted? (i.e. as envisaged in the BEAM manual)? 1
YES 2 NO
3
Don’t know
4. Are there any challenges that you faced in getting your child (or children you live with) getting enrolled into the BEAM programme? Yes 1 No 2
5. Generally, are you happy with the way in which children are selected to benefit from BEAM at this school? Yes 1 No 2 SECTION C: EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
6. From what you know, what is the extent to which BEAM funds have contributed to the following outcomes in the school and the school community?
A lot A little Not at all
Not sure
Improved access to education for orphans 1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s)
1 2 3 4
Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents
1 2 3 4
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Improved access to learning for girls 1 2 3 4
Contributed to improving the quality of teaching /learning materials
1 2 3 4
Improved the school completion rate at the school 1 2 3 4
Improved the pass rate at the school 1 2 3 4
Improved school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries 1 2 3 4
Reduced the drop‐out rate at this school 1 2 3 4
Improved facilities (e.g. furniture) 1 2 3 4
Led to the introduction of feeding programmes in the school to improve nutrition
1 2 3 4
SECTION D: IMPACT AND SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
7. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s access to education?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
8. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s wellbeing?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
9. In your opinion:
If BEAM funding were to be stopped today to what extent would this school and the community be able to keep beneficiaries in school?
1 Very
capable
2 Capable
3 Not very capable
4 Not
capable at all
5 Don’t know
SECTION E: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF BEAM
10. What could be done differently to improve the BEAM programme? Please give your recommendations {After discussion, summarise the THREE most important recommendations made}
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
80
UID: COMQ
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe)
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES QUESTIONNAIRE
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
We have been asked to conduct an Evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. While participation in this study is voluntary, we would be grateful if you can take a few minutes of your time to complete this questionnaire. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, we will NOT write your name anywhere on this questionnaire. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you are being asked to provide will only be used for the purposes of this evaluation and will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Kindly respond to all the questions objectively and honestly.
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
Date of completion of questionnaire DAY MM YY
Name of Fieldworker
Signature of Fieldworker
Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Capturer
Date Captured DAY MM YY
Instructions This questionnaire consists of two types of questions. Most of the questions require you to select an answer from the given options. The second type of questions require you to express your views. Please answer ALL questions as it is important for us to have complete data for each school. {Interviewer: Please circle the number corresponding to the answer given by respondent. If you make a mistake put two lines across}
81
SECTION A: ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL, COMMUNITY AND YOURSELF
ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL
1. Name of School (pre‐complete)
2. Name of District (pre‐complete)
3. Level of School (pre‐complete) Primary 1 Secondary 2
4. School owned by Government 1 Mine 4
Council/Municipality 2 Church 5
Charitable Org 3 Other_______ 6
8. Province (pre‐complete) Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10
ABOUT YOURSELF
9. Your gender (pre‐complete) Male 1 Female 2
10. How old are you? __________years old 1
11. Highest Educational Qualification Primary 1 Degree 4
No formal education __________________7 Secondary 2 Masters 5
Diploma 3 PhD 6 12. What position, if any, do you hold in the community?
_____________________________________________
13. In which school committee are you a member? SDC 3 CSC 6 14. Total number of years you have been involved with BEAM in this area _______________ yrs _____ Months
82
SECTION B: IMPLEMENTATION OF BEAM AT THIS SCHOOL 1. BEAM training in 2011:
e. Did you attend BEAM training in 2011?
1 Yes
2 No
f. How would you rate the usefulness of the BEAM training?
1 Very useful
2 Useful
3 Not very useful
4 Not useful
2. From what you know are there children on BEAM who ....
Circle Number
Are double orphans (both parents deceased) Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Are single orphans (one parent deceased) Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Children in foster care with poor guardians Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Had never attended school Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Are disabled Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Are living on the street Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Are living in childheaded households Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Are living in an extremely poor household Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Have a breadwinner at home who is not gainfully employed Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
Have a breadwinner at home who is chronically ill Yes 1 No 2 Don’t know 3
3. In your opinion:
c. To what extent would you say that BEAM assistance was necessary at this school?
1 Very
necessary
2 Necessar
y
3 Not very necessary
4 Not
necessary at all
5 Don’t know
d. To what extent would you say that assistance from BEAM has made a significant impact in your school?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
5
Don’t know
4. In your opinion:
e. To what extent would you say that the criteria used to identify BEAM beneficiaries at this school is appropriate?
1 Very
appropriate
2 Appropriate
3 Not very
appropriate
4 Not
appropriate at all
5 Don’t know
f. To what extent would you say that children who apply for BEAM at this school are being prioritised appropriately?
1 Very
appropriately
2 Appropriately
3 Not very
appropriately
4 Not
appropriately at all
5 Don’t know
83
5. In your opinion.....
Was the Community Selection Committee well constituted? (i.e. as envisaged in the BEAM manual)? 1
YES 2 NO
3
Don’t know
6. Regarding the level of participation of the Community Selection Committee (as envisaged in the BEAM manual):
To what extent did the Community Selection Committee members participate actively in decisions about BEAM beneficiaries?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not very actively
4 Not
actively at all
5 Don’t know
7. Level of participation of youth and children:
To what extent have children been able to actively participate in the identification of other children in need at this school?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not very actively
4 Not
actively at all
SECTION C: EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
8. In your opinion:
d. In 2010, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to your school?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not very quickly
4 Not quickly
5 Don’t know
f. In 2010, to what extent were the amounts of BEAM funds disbursed to your school accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not very accurate
4 Very
inaccurate
5 Don’t know
f. In 2011, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to your school?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not very quickly
4 Not quickly
5 Don’t know
h. In 2011, to what extent were the amount of BEAM funds disbursed to your school accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not very accurate
4 Very
inaccurate
5 Don’t know
9. Please indicate the extent to which BEAM funds have contributed to the following outcomes in the school and the school community:
A lot A little Not at all Not sure
a. Improved access to education for orphans 1 2 3 4
b. Improved access to education for learners with special learning needs
1 2 3 4
c. Improved access to education for learners with physical disabilities
1 2 3 4
d. Improved access to education for children with chronically ill parent(s)
1 2 3 4
e. Improved access to education for children with unemployed parents
1 2 3 4
f. Improved access to learning for girls 1 2 3 4
g. Contributed to improving the quality of teaching /learning materials
1 2 3 4
h. Improved the school completion rate at the school 1 2 3 4
84
i. Improved the pass rate at the school 1 2 3 4
j. Improved school attendance of BEAM beneficiaries 1 2 3 4
k. Reduced the drop‐out rate at this school 1 2 3 4
l. Improved facilities (e.g. furniture) 1 2 3 4
m. Led to the introduction of feeding programmes in the school to improve nutrition
1 2 3 4
SECTION D: IMPACT OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
10. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s access to education?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
11. In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s wellbeing?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
SECTION E: SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BEAM PROGRAMME
12. In your opinion:
If BEAM funding were to be stopped today to what extent would this school and the community be able to keep beneficiaries in school?
1 Very
capable
2 Capable
3 Not very capable
4 Not
capable at all
5 Don’t know
SECTION F: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF BEAM
13. What could be done differently to improve the BEAM programme? Please give us your recommendations {After discussion, summarise the THREE most important recommendations made}
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
85
UID: CHILDQ
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe)
CHILD QUESTIONNAIRE
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
Pilot Version 111111 We have been asked to conduct an Evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school and community has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. While participation in this study is voluntary, we would be grateful if you can take a few minutes of your time to answer a few questions. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, do NOT write your name anywhere on this questionnaire. During data analysis, information from all children will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include your name or the name of your school. Besides, the information that you are being asked to provide will only be used for the purposes of this evaluation and will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Kindly respond to All the questions objectively and honestly.
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
Date of completion of questionnaire DAY MM YY
Name of Fieldworker
Signature of Fieldworker
Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Capturer
Date Captured DAY MM YY Instructions This questionnaire consists of two types of questions. Most of the questions require you to select an answer from the given options. The second type of questions require you to write down what you think about BEAM. Please answer ALL questions as it is important for us to have complete information for each school. Please circle the number corresponding to your answer. If you make a mistake put two lines across}
86
SECTION A: ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL, COMMUNITY AND YOURSELF
ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL
1. Name of School
2. Name of District
3. Level of School 1 Primary 2 Secondary
4. In which Province is your school 1 Harare 6 Bulawayo
2 Mash West 7 Mat North
3 Mash East 8 Mat South
4 Mash Central 9 Midlands
5 Manicaland 10 Masvingo
ABOUT YOURSELF
5. Your gender 1 Male 2 Female
6. How old are you? __________years old
7. What grade(or form) are you in? Grade ___ Form _____
1. Introduction and Context
1.1 Are you currently receiving assistance from the BEAM programme?
1
YES
2 NO
If NO, Skip to 1.3
If you are on the BEAM programme....
1.2 For how long have you been on the BEAM programme? Since _________________(year)
1.3 Are you receiving assistance from anyone other than from BEAM? Yes 1 No 2
1.4 If YES, from whom?
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1.5 Whether you have benefited from BEAM or not:
g. Do you think the assistance from BEAM has been necessary in your school?
1 Yes, it has been very necessary
2 Yes, it has been necessary
3 It has not been very necessary
4 No
h. Has the assistance from BEAM had a positive impact in your school?
1 Very
positive
2 Positive
3 Not very positive
4 No
2. Effectiveness 2.1 In your opinion:
Are the children receiving assistance from BEAM at this school the ones who deserve it?
1 Yes,
definitely
2 Yes, most of the time
3 Sometimes mistakes are made
4 No
3. Impact 3.1 In your opinion:
Has BEAM helped children at this school who didn’t previously attend school to get an education?
1 Yes, many children have been helped
2 Yes, some children have been helped
3 Not many children have been helped
4 No
4. Recommendations for the Improvement of BEAM 4.1 What could be done differently to improve the BEAM programme? You can write your
recommendations in your own language
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
88
UID SUBNQ
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe)
SUBNATIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and
Paul Musker and Associates for
The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe We have been asked to conduct an Evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. While participation in this study is voluntary, we would be grateful if you can take a few minutes of your time to complete this questionnaire. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, do not write your name anywhere on this questionnaire. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you are being asked to provide will only be used for the purposes of this evaluation and will be treated confidentially. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Kindly respond to all the questions objectively and honestly.
DO NOT COMPLETE THIS SECTION
Date of completion of questionnaire DAY MM YY
Name of Fieldworker
Signature of Fieldworker
Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Capturer
Date Captured DAY MM YY Instructions This questionnaire consists of two types of questions. Most of the questions require you to select an option that best represents your view. For these questions please respond by circling a number that best represents your views. The second type of questions require you to fill in your brief responses in the space provided (SHADED GREY). The third type of questions require you to respond by writing a short description OR narration. Please answer ALL questions as it is important for us to have complete data for each district/province. {Please circle the number corresponding to your answer. If you make a mistake put two lines across}
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SECTION A: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
1. Name of District
2. Province 1 Harare 6 Bulawayo
2 Mash West 7 Mat North
3 Mash East 8 Mat South
4 Mash Central 9 Midlands
5 Manicaland 10 Masvingo
3. Your Gender 1 Male 2 Female
4. Highest Educational Qualification 1 Teaching Cert 4 Grad CE
2 Diploma in Ed 5 Masters
3 BA/BSc/BED 6 PhD 6.For how many years have you been involved in the BEAM programme?
Years: ___________ Months: ________
5. Introduction and Context
5.1 In your opinion:
e. To what extent would you say that BEAM assistance is necessary at this district/province?
1 Very
necessary
2 Necessary
3 Not
necessary
4 Not
necessary at all
f. To what extent would you say that assistance from BEAM has made an impact in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
c. To what extent would you say that BEAM is consistent with priorities of government such as poverty reduction and sustainable development?
1 Very
consistent
2 Consistent
3 Not
consistent
4 Not
consistent at all
d. To what extent are the policy assumptions that underpin BEAM still relevant in the current development context?
1 Very
relevant
2 Relevant
3 Not
relevant
4 Not relevant
at all
6. Efficiency
6.1 In your opinion:
g. In 2010, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to school in this district/province?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not quickly
4 Not quickly
at all
5 Don’t know
j. In 2010, to what extent were the amounts of BEAM funds disbursed to schools in this district/province accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not
accurate
4 Not
accurate at all
5 Don’t know
i. In 2011, to what extent were BEAM funds disbursed quickly to schools in this district/province?
1 Very quickly
2 Quickly
3 Not quickly
4 Not quickly
at all
5 Don’t know
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l. In 2011, to what extent were the amount of BEAM funds disbursed to schools in your district/province accurate?
1 Very
accurate
2 Nearly accurate
3 Not
accurate
4 Not
accurate at all
5 Don’t know
6.2 If you have answered ‘3’ or ‘4’ to questions 2.1 (a), (b), (c) and/or (d) above, please list a maximum of three challenges that have been encountered in the receipt of BEAM funds:
a.
b.
c.
6.3 In your opinion:
In 2010‐2011, to what extent was the implementation of BEAM consistent with the BEAM manual at national level?
1 Very
consistent
2 Consistent
3 Not
consistent
4 Not
consistent at all
6.4 If you have answered ‘3’ or ‘4’ to question 2.3 above, please list a maximum of three challenges that were encountered in BEAM implementation at district/provincial level:
a.
b.
c.
6.5 In your opinion:
To what extent is the management of BEAM at national level efficient?
1 Very
efficient
2 Efficient
3 Not efficient
4 Not efficient
at all
6.6 If you have answered ‘3’ or ‘4’ to question 2.5 above, please list a maximum of three challenges that have been encountered in the management of BEAM:
a.
b.
c.
7. Effectiveness 7.1 In your opinion:
a. To what extent would you say that BEAM made a contribution to improving access to education for orphans in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
b. To what extent has BEAM made a
contribution to improving access to education for learners with special learning needs in this district/ province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
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c. To what extent has BEAM made a
contribution to improving access to education for learners with physical disabilities in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
d. To what extent has BEAM made a
contribution to improving access to education for chronically sick children in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
e. To what extent has BEAM made a
contribution to improving access to education for migrant children in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
f. To what extent has BEAM made a
contribution to improving access to education for girls in this district/province?
1
Quite A lot
2
A lot
3
A little
4
Not at All
8. Impact 8.1 In your opinion:
To what extent are the criteria used to identify BEAM beneficiaries appropriate in this district/province?
1 Very
appropriate
2 Appropriate
3 Not
appropriate
4 Not
appropriate at all
8.2 If you have answered ‘3’ or ‘4’ to question 4.1 above, please list difficulties that your district
has encountered in the application of BEAM criteria. For each difficulty, please indicate what changes you would make:
8.3 In your opinion:
To what extent have the Community Selection Committees in this district/province been well constituted (as envisaged in the BEAM manual)?
1 Very well
2 Well
3 Not well
4 Not well at all
8.4 If you have answered ‘3’ or ‘4’ to question 4.3 above, please list difficulties that have been
encountered in the constitution of the Community Selection Committee. For each difficulty, please indicate what changes you would make:
8.5 In your opinion:
To what extent have the Community Selection Committees in this district/ province participated actively in BEAM decisions (as envisaged in the BEAM manual)?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not actively
4 Not
actively at all
5 Don’t know
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8.6 In your opinion:
To what extent have children in this district/province been actively involved in identifying other children in need in this district/province?
1 Very
actively
2 Actively
3 Not very actively
4 Not
actively
5 Don’t know
8.7 In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s access to education in this district/ province?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
8.8 In your opinion:
To what extent would you say that BEAM has had an impact on children’s wellbeing in this district/province?
1 Quite A lot
2 A lot
3 A little
4 Not at All
5 Don’t know
9. Sustainability
9.1 In your opinion:
If funding of the BEAM programme were to be stopped today to what extent would schools and communities in this district/province be able to keep beneficiaries in school?
1 Very
capable
2 Possibly capable
4 Not
capable
10. Recommendations for Improvement of BEAM 10.1 What could be done differently to improve the BEAM programme?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
93
Appendix B: Qualitative Instruments
UID PARENTSFGD BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe) FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE (MODERATOR)
PARENTS CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and
Paul Musker and Associates for
The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
1. Name of School (precomplete)
2. Name of District (precomplete)
5. Province (precomplete) Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10 FOR COMPLETION BY FGD MODERATOR
FGD Filename
Date: DAY MM YY
Name of Moderator
Name of Observer
Group Size MALE FEMALE Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Transcriber
Date Transcribed DAY MM YY Introduction Good morning/afternoon. Thank you very much for coming to this group discussion meeting. My name is _____ and that of my colleague here is_________. We have been asked to conduct an evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school/Community has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, we will NOT write your name anywhere. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you will share with us will be treated confidentially.
94
We are interested in everyone’s view – therefore it is very important that, during the discussion, you all feel free to express your views, even if your views are different from others – it is normal for people to have different views on the issues we will be discussing. Now, to make it easy to refer to each other during the discussion, please think of a name by which you would like to be called during this discussion – I will call myself __________, and I will stick that name on me (as you do it). Please do the same. (Hand out stickers for people to write their names or write the names on stickers for them.) {WAIT UNTIL THIS IS COMPLETED BY EVERYONE} THE NEED FOR TAPE RECORDING AND GROUND RULES
• Explain that you will NEED TO record the discussion using a tape recorder so that you can capture everything that is said. {Obtain verbal consent} Once Consent is granted, TURN ON THE RECORDER at this point
Before we begin, there are a few things which we must all follow, in order to have a meaningful discussion:
Because of the need to transcribe the tape recorded information later, it is important that only one person talks at a time, but one can kindly ask to respond while someone is still talking
Everyone must be allowed to express their views freely without being interrupted
A group discussion is built around certain questions ‐ today we will talk about the BEAM programme
At certain times, the observer may need to check a point with the moderator, to make sure all questions are asked.
Explain that there are no right or wrong answers.
Question 1 (OPENER‐ICEBREAKER). There are many things that people say about the BEAM programme. From what you have heard, what do people say when they talk about the BEAM programme in this area? {Let everyone talk and probe individuals if necessary to say something to break the ice: Keep this part brief ‐ max 5 mins} Question 2. {Relevance} Now, let us talk specifically about your views regarding the BEAM
programme in Zimbabwe. PROBES
• Do you think BEAM is necessary? If YES, why ‐ if NOT, why not?
• What do you like most about BEAM?
• What do you like LEAST about BEAM? Why?
Question 3. {Efficiency} I would like us to now talk about how children are selected to benefit from BEAM in this area.
PROBES:
• How do people in this area get to know about BEAM?
• Is there a committee that is responsible for selecting children for BEAM?
• How is the selection committee put together? Who participates in the selection process for Committee Members? Are there any difficulties that were/are experienced during selection ‐ what are they and how are/were they resolved?
95
• What does the selection process for BEAM beneficiaries involve? Any documents required; easy to get? Any problems? How are problems dealt with?
• Is it a fair process? (Probe to establish whether there is any unfair selection, interference in the selection process or other problems happening in the area; do this carefully so as not to create tension in the group!)
• Are out of school children targeted? By whom? Any examples of cases involving out of school children?
• Is there anything that you think should be done differently with respect to selection of children to receive BEAM assistance? What? Why?
Question 4. {Effectiveness} Let us now talk about how effective the BEAM programme has been in this area
PROBES • Were deserving children selected as BEAM beneficiaries? {Probe respondents on the views they
express}. Are there children who you think should be on BEAM but are not? Reasons?
• Do you know of any children who are not attending school because they cannot pay the required fees and levies? How proactive is the school in reaching out to out‐of‐school children?
• Any children who are not attending school for other reasons? Reasons?
• Do you have any suggestions on changes that could make BEAM more effective in future?
Question 5. {Impact} Do you think that the BEAM programme has contributed positively to children's education in this area?
PROBES • Is BEAM making a difference to children's access to education in this area? If so, in what way? If NOT,
why not?
• Besides access to education, do you think BEAM has other benefits for the selected children and/or their families?
• What of things such as school completion rates? Pass rates? School attendance? General child wellbeing?
• How are children on BEAM viewed by people in this area? {Probe for community perceptions of BEAM beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries ‐ any negative impacts?}
Question 6. {Sustainability}. We are nearing the end of our discussion now. I would like to know your views about whether or not BEAM should continue in its present form?
PROBES: • If funding of the BEAM programme were to be stopped today what options does the community have
to keep the beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries in school?
• Will these options be sustainable in the long run? Question 7: {Recommendations} If the BEAM programme continues, what could be done differently to improve its effectiveness and impact? PROBES:
• Currently, BEAM assistance is purely financial, is there anything that could be added to make BEAM an ideal package?
Question 8: {CLOSURE}. Is there anything else you would like us to know about how BEAM is being implemented in this area?
Thank you very much for coming to this meeting and sharing your views with us.
96
UID COMFGD
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe) FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE (MODERATOR)
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
1. Name of School (precomplete)
2. Name of District (precomplete)
5. Province (precomplete) Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10 FOR COMPLETION BY FGD MODERATOR
FGD Filename
Date: DAY MM YY
Name of Moderator
Name of Observer
Group Size MALE FEMALE Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Transcriber
Date Transcribed DAY MM YY Introduction Good morning/afternoon. Thank you very much for coming to this group discussion meeting. My name is _____ and that of my colleague here is_________. We have been asked to conduct an evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school/Community has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, we will NOT write your name anywhere. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be
97
combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you will share with us will be treated confidentially. We are interested in everyone’s view – therefore it is very important that, during the discussion, you all feel free to express your views, even if your views are different from others – it is normal for people to have different views on the issues we will be discussing. Now, to make it easy to refer to each other during the discussion, please think of a name by which you would like to be called during this discussion – I will call myself __________, and I will stick that name on me (as you do it). Please do the same. (Hand out stickers for people to write their names or write the names on stickers for them.) {WAIT UNTIL THIS IS COMPLETED BY EVERYONE} THE NEED FOR TAPE RECORDING AND GROUND RULES
• Explain that you will NEED TO record the discussion using a tape recorder so that you can capture everything that is said. {Obtain verbal consent} Once Consent is granted, TURN ON THE RECORDER at this point
Before we begin, there are a few things which we must all follow, in order to have a meaningful discussion:
Because of the need to transcribe the tape recorded information later, it is important that only one person talks at a time, but one can kindly ask to respond while someone is still talking
Everyone must be allowed to express their views freely without being interrupted
A group discussion is built around certain questions ‐ today we will talk about the BEAM programme
At certain times, the observer may need to check a point with the moderator, to make sure all questions are asked.
Explain that there are no right or wrong answers.
Question 1 (OPENER‐ICEBREAKER). There are many things that people say about the BEAM programme. From what you have heard, what do people say when they talk about the BEAM programme in this area? {Let everyone talk and probe individuals if necessary to say something to break the ice: Keep this part brief ‐ max 5 mins} Question 2. {Relevance} Now, let us talk specifically about your views regarding the BEAM
programme in Zimbabwe. PROBES
• Do you think BEAM is necessary? If YES, why ‐ if NOT, why not?
• What do you like most about BEAM?
• What do you like LEAST about BEAM? Why?
Question 3. {Efficiency} I would like us to now talk about how children are selected to benefit from BEAM in this area.
PROBES: • How do people in this area get to know about BEAM?
• How is the selection committee put together? Who participates in the selection process for Committee Members? Are there any difficulties that were/are experienced during selection ‐ what are they and how are/were they resolved?
98
• What does the selection process for BEAM beneficiaries involve? Any documents required; easy to get? Any problems? How are problems dealt with?
• Is it a fair process? (Probe to establish whether there is any unfair selection, interference in the selection process or other problems happening in the area; do this carefully so as not to create tension in the group!)
• Are out of school children targeted? By whom? Any examples of cases involving out of school children?
• Is there anything that you think should be done differently with respect to selection of children to receive BEAM assistance? What? Why?
Question 4. {Effectiveness} Let us now talk about how effective the BEAM programme has
been in this area PROBES
• Were deserving children selected as BEAM beneficiaries? {Probe respondents on the views they express}. Are there children who you think should be on BEAM but are not? Reasons?
• Do you know of any children who are not attending school because they cannot pay the required fees and levies? How proactive is the school in reaching out to out‐of‐school children?
• Any children who are not attending school for other reasons? Reasons?
• Do you have any suggestions on changes that could make BEAM more effective in future?
Question 5. {Impact} Do you think that the BEAM programme has contributed positively to children's education in this area?
PROBES • Is BEAM making a difference to children's access to education in this area? If so, in what way? If NOT,
why not?
• Besides access to education, do you think BEAM has other benefits for the selected children and/or their families?
• What of things such as school completion rates? Pass rates? School attendance? General child wellbeing?
• How are children on BEAM viewed by people in this area? {Probe for community perceptions of BEAM beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries ‐ any negative impacts?}
Question 6. {Sustainability}. We are nearing the end of our discussion now. I would like to know your views about whether or not BEAM should continue in its present form?
PROBES: • If funding of the BEAM programme were to be stopped today what options does the community have
to keep the beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries in school?
• Will these options be sustainable in the long run? Question 7: {Recommendations} If the BEAM programme continues, what could be done differently to improve its effectiveness and impact? PROBES:
• Currently, BEAM assistance is purely financial, is there anything that could be added to make BEAM an ideal package?
Question 8: {CLOSURE}. Is there anything else you would like us to know about how BEAM is being implemented in this area?
Thank you very much for coming to this meeting and sharing your views with us.
99
UID CHILDFGD
BEAM Process and Impact Evaluation (Zimbabwe) FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE (MODERATOR)
CHILDREN
CfBT Education Trust, Impact Research International and Paul Musker and Associates
for The Ministry of Labour and Social Services of the Government of Zimbabwe
1. Name of School (precomplete)
2. Name of District (precomplete)
5. Province (precomplete) Harare 1 Bulawayo 6
Mash West 2 Mat North 7
Mash East 3 Mat South 8
Mash Central 4 Midlands 9
Manicaland 5 Masvingo 10 FOR COMPLETION BY FGD MODERATOR
FGD Filename
Date: DAY MM YY
Name of Moderator
Name of Observer
Group Size MALE FEMALE Date of Quality Assurance (QC) DAY MM YY
Name of Quality Controller
Name of Transcriber
Date Transcribed DAY MM YY Introduction Good morning/afternoon. Thank you very much for coming to this group discussion meeting. My name is _____ and that of my colleague here is_________. We have been asked to conduct an evaluation of the BEAM programme in Zimbabwe on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Labour and Social Services. Your school/Community has been randomly selected to participate in this evaluation. Because we would like to ensure that no one can link your answers to you personally, we will NOT write your name anywhere. During data analysis, information from all respondents will be
100
combined and analyzed together and nowhere in the report will we include participants' names or schools. Besides, the information that you will share with us will be treated confidentially. We are interested in everyone’s view – therefore it is very important that, during the discussion, you all feel free to express your views, even if your views are different from others – it is normal for people to have different views on the issues we will be discussing. Now, to make it easy to refer to each other during the discussion, please think of a name by which you would like to be called during this discussion – I will call myself __________, and I will stick that name on me (as you do it). Please do the same. (Hand out stickers for people to write their names or write the names on stickers for them.) {WAIT UNTIL THIS IS COMPLETED BY EVERYONE} THE NEED FOR TAPE RECORDING AND GROUND RULES
• Explain that you will NEED TO record the discussion using a tape recorder so that you can capture everything that is said. {Obtain verbal consent} Once Consent is granted, TURN ON THE RECORDER at this point
Before we begin, there are a few things which we must all follow, in order to have a meaningful discussion:
Because of the need to transcribe the tape recorded information later, it is important that only one person talks at a time, but one can kindly ask to respond while someone is still talking
Everyone must be allowed to express their views freely without being interrupted
A group discussion is built around certain questions ‐ today we will talk about the BEAM programme
At certain times, the observer may need to check a point with the moderator, to make sure all questions are asked.
Explain that there are no right or wrong answers.
Question 1 (OPENER‐ICEBREAKER). There are many things that people say about the BEAM programme. From what you have heard, what do people say when they talk about the BEAM programme in this area? {Let everyone talk and probe individuals if necessary to say something to break the ice: Keep this part brief ‐ max 5 mins} Question 2. {Relevance} Now, let us talk specifically about your views regarding the BEAM
programme in Zimbabwe. PROBES
• Do you think BEAM is necessary? If YES, why ‐ if NOT, why not?
• What do you like most about BEAM?
• What do you like LEAST about BEAM? Why?
Question 3. {Efficiency} I would like us to now talk about how children are selected to benefit from BEAM in this area.
PROBES: • How did you get to know about BEAM?
• How does one get to be a BEAM beneficiary {If it's a group of beneficiaries ask: How were you selected? ‐Any documents required; easy to get? Any problems? How did you resolve the problems?} {If it's a group of non‐beneficiaries ask: Do any of you think you should be on the BEAM programme? Do you know why you are NOT on the BEAM programme?
101
• Is the selection process a fair process? (Probe to establish whether there is any unfair selection, interference in the selection process or other problems happening in the area; do this carefully so as not to create tension in the group!)
• Is there anything that you think should be done differently with respect to selection of children to receive BEAM assistance? What? Why?
Question 4. {Effectiveness} Let us now talk about how effective the BEAM programme has
been in this area PROBES
• From what you know, were deserving children selected as BEAM beneficiaries? {Probe respondents on the views they express}. Are there children who you think should be on BEAM but are not? Reasons?
• Do you know of any children who are not attending school because they cannot pay the required fees and levies? How proactive is the school in reaching out to out‐of‐school children?
• Any children who are not attending school for other reasons? Reasons?
• Do you have any suggestions on changes that could make BEAM more effective in future?
Question 5. {Impact} Do you think that the BEAM programme has contributed positively to children's education in this area?
PROBES • Is BEAM making a difference to children's access to education in this area? If so, in what way? If NOT,
why not?
• Besides access to education, do you think BEAM has other benefits for the selected children and/or their families?
• How are children on BEAM viewed by teachers, and other children at this school? {Probe for community perceptions of BEAM beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries ‐ any negative impacts?}
Question 6. {Sustainability}. We are nearing the end of our discussion now. I would like to know your views about whether or not BEAM should continue in its present form?
PROBES: If Children on BEAM Ask:
• If funding of the BEAM programme were to be stopped today what will happen to you?
If Children not on BEAM Ask: • If funding of the BEAM programme were to be stopped today, do you think many children on BEAM
will continue with their schooling? Question 7: {Recommendations} If the BEAM programme continues, what could be done differently to improve its effectiveness and impact? PROBES:
• Currently, BEAM assistance is purely financial, is there anything that could be added to make BEAM an ideal package?
Question 8: {CLOSURE}. Is there anything else you would like us to know about how BEAM is being implemented in this area?
Thank you very much for coming to this meeting and sharing your views with us.
102
Appendix C: Fieldworker Training Workshop Information Samples
17 Nov 2011
FIELDWORKER TRAINING WORKSHOP
SESSION 1
PROF PATRICK CHIRORO
IMPACT RESEARCH INTERNATIONALZIMBABWE
Consor t ium Par tners – CfBT (Na irobi) , IR I and PMA
Paul Musker – Team Leader
Prof Patr ick Chiroro – Lead Researcher
Dr Harvey Smith – QA Advisor
A b i t about IR I :
Prof P Chiroro – Founding MD of both IRI-SA (Pretoria) and IRI-Z im (Marlborough)
Wholly black-owned companies both in SA and in Zimbabwe
In existence s ince 2006, working in Zimbabwe, South Afr ica and SADC region
Research, capacity strengthening of organizations & systems through M & E
studies/consulting
Consistent clients include World Bank , Government Depar tments, Corporations, USAID,
EU, etc
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY (M in is tr y Representative)
INTRODUCTION
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Mixed methods approach anchored on data tr iangulation principles – degree of consistency of responses across dif ferent categories of respondents Will gather both quantitative and qualitative data
Quantitative – questionnaires – mostly closed questions
Qualitative – FGD/IDI guides – open ended Qs
This is a PROCESS and IMPACT evaluation – so we are interested in both the OUTCOMES of BEAM as well as the PROCESSES that led to the outcomes for dif ferent groups
It is therefore CRITICAL to obtain VALID and RELIABLE data
Poor Data = Wrong conclusions = misinforming our ministry and our government = consequences = wrong decisions
What can compromise these two principles – LET’S DISCUSS what and HOW to avoid potential r isks to validity & reliability of data
STUDY DESIGN: VALIDIT Y & RELIABILIT Y
GOAL = Representative sample (stronger evidence)STEPS:
Sampling frame: all primary & sec schools in ZimbabweGrouping: By province, district, location, resp authority (etc)Weighting the sample by strata, and sub-strataLets go through the files step by step
FIELDWORK PROCESS TO BE EXPLAINED AS WE DISCUSS THE INSTRUMENTSHow many altogether?Who they are to be used with and how?Detailed discussion of instruments question by questionEthical issuesData management and quality control
SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION PROCESS