Bolikhamxay Livelihood

Improvement and Governance Project

LAO/021

Bolikhamxay Provincial Planning and Investment Department

Supporting education in rural Bolikhamxay

A call for collaboration

June 2014

Objective

There is much need for enhancing the out-comes and efficiency of interventions in the education sector in Bolikhamxay Province. To do so, development partners and the Provincial Education Department should seek closer collaboration, harmonization and alignment. To facilitate concrete col-laboration, it is proposed that interested agencies cooperate with the Bolikhamxay Livelihood Improvement and Governance Project (BOLIGO). This project is based in the province and already supports education interventions, especially in 60 poor upland villages in the three poorest districts. With a budget of about 1.8m EUR for the education sector, the project has constructed 35 schools and funded community based activi-ties, including school management and im-provements. However, there is a need for better modalities for e.g. teachers’ training, school management, provision of education materials, girls’ secondary education, voca-tional training, and sector planning and mon-itoring. In a wider context, it is proposed that development partners help the educa-tion authorities in a push for reaching the provincial SEDP and MDG target of the cur-rent five-year plan, and for preparing and supporting the 2016-20 SEDP.

This note was based on a presentation made on 18 June 2014 in the Informal Edu-cation Development Partner Working Group (IEDWG). The aim of the presentation was to inform development partners of the potential for closer collaboration with the BOLIGO Project in Support of the education sector in Bolikhamxay Province.

BOLIGO – LAO/021 c/o Bolikhamxay Planning and Investment Department, Pakxan, Bolikhamxay, Lao PDR. T +856 54 790887, F +856 54 212203, LAO021@luxdev.lu www.luxdev.lu

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Education challenges

Bolikhamxay Province consists of seven districts, three of which are largely lowland areas along the Me-kong River, and four of mostly uplands and highlands (in three of which the BOLIGO Project works). The socio-economic conditions including education differ markedly between the lowlands and uplands. The latter are still characterized by widespread poverty, difficult access, poor public services, and precarious

livelihoods.

Despite improvements in social services, the edu-cation levels, especially in the uplands, remain low. School enrolment, school leaving and gender equality remain below the MDG targets. However, even in remote villages most parents understand the importance of education, as long as means and facilities are available.

The greater problem is therefore arguably the inad-equate quality of education and ineffective learning – which affect the majority of schoolchildren. These problems relate partly to the general issue of teachers’ skills, the style of teaching, and the ac-countability to real results. However, in the less developed districts (and especially in remote villag-es), these constraints are compounded by a lack of teachers, and by their frequent absence and short retention in the communities before being trans-ferred to less demanding areas. Moreover, about a quarter of classes are taught with two class grades together. In Viengthong District, this goes up to al-most 40 per cent of classes owing to a lack of teachers or classrooms.

Teaching quality is furthermore constrained by teachers having to teach subjects in which they are not trained; a common problem in small village schools where there are no other teachers availa-ble. Teachers in small remote villages moreover face the challenge of being posted far from their families, and of living in villages of other ethnic origin than their own. Especially female teachers frequently have a difficult time owing to social and gender norms. At other times, the teaching is im-paired by the teachers being too integrated in the social life and in farming practices.

Capacity development for teachers often suffers from being purely about curricula and not about e.g. teaching practices, school management, and social issues. In certain subject, there is a lack of teach-ing and even training capacity, most notably in Eng-lish language.

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The education process and results also suffer from the lack of instruction materials, schoolbooks, and even pen and paper. In many upland schools, only one in five of the kids has the prescribed school-schoolbooks. In secondary school, where the curriculum stipulates teaching in for in-stance physics and chemistry, the teaching is usually entirely theoretical with the practical demonstrations drafted on a blackboard.

Many villages are lacking sufficient classrooms, sometimes because of influx of new population groups, which means severe overcrowding and asso-ciated problems for effective learning. Other villages have only very primitive school building with bad learning environment and exposure to rain, cold winds and hot weather, which frequently interrupt teaching. Most schools in the uplands still lack toilets, water and hand-washing facilities, and in Bolikhamxay there are only a few villages with school meal programmes.

Even where standard schools have been built, lack of maintenance often leads to a rapid decline in learning standards and environment, as well as in the longevi-ty of the facilities. After construction of primary schools, the responsibility for maintenance and man-agement of the physical facilities are handed over to the village authorities, but they are rarely fulfilling the role to the expected level. Even the secondary schools, which are under the management of the dis-trict authorities, suffer in this respect from lack of budget and effort.

Owing to the lack of teachers, class-rooms, or both, many primary schools reach only third or fourth grade, which often means children will end their education before having reached the normative five-year edu-cation. For high school education (grade 6-12), the lack of school facili-ties is even more dire and often ne-cessitates children to stay in other villages where they may be housed with relatives, in small huts around the school or in dormitories. This greatly reduces the interest or feasi-bility of high school attendance for children and youth in more remote villages. Especially girls are more likely to drop out of higher secondary school, as they enter puberty and marriageable age when various other pressures and concerns occur.

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In the uplands and mountains where most of the population are ethnic mi-nority groups (mostly Hmong, but also Lao Phong and Khamou), the educa-tion is constrained by the limited Lao language capability. This also limits the academic support the parents are able to give. In recent years, the num-ber of pre-schools have increased (with the help of Save the Children), which seems helpful in improving the lan-guage capability before kids enter pri-mary school.

Parents committees are established in most villages, but their role is usually confined to ensuring community sup-port to the repair of schools, housing and sometimes facilitation of teachers, and to ensuring compliance with schools regulations and payments.

They usually have little say in the running or management of the schools, or in keeping teachers ac-countable to the district authorities.

Most of the above-mentioned problems and constrains increase with the remoteness of the villages. The same goes for quantitative features such as enrolment, retention and attendance of higher education, which falls with remoteness and the relative poverty of the families. To some extent, the upland agricul-tural economy also constrains education by making children’s work valuable for fieldwork, tending of an-imals and taking care of younger siblings.

While the problems could be remedied one- by-one, they are often rooted in inadequate leadership and management at school, district and province level. However, instilling greater leadership is constrained by many factors beyond mere lack of capacity and resources. In particular, there is a need to instil at all levels accountability to real results.

Development partners

About twelve internationally funded projects or or-ganizations work in the education sector in Bolikhamxay Province (see box below). While the-se projects are making good individual contribu-tions, the opportunities for synergy and collabora-tion are largely unexplored, and the local authori-ties often lack influence or ownership to the pro-jects. Some investments are therefore not planned or coordinated in a manner that optimizes the at-tainment of provincial SEDP and MDG targets. Also, partner agencies are mostly unaware of the contribution and coverage of other projects. Some of these agencies have an only small financial con-tribution, but could be of further value if they were part of a wider collaboration.

Several other organizations are considering or planning to work in Bolikhamxay Province. Yet oth-er agencies are funding activities elsewhere in Laos that would be useful in Bolikhamxay. Identify-ing such agencies and exploring their interest in working in the province would be pertinent at this stage of the five-year planning cycle. The provincial Education Department is therefore keen to take on their intended coordinating role and is supported in this by the Livelihood Improvement and Govern-ance Project (BOLIGO)

Projects or agencies working in the Bolikhamxay education sector:

Action with Lao Children (ALC)

Aide et Action-Laos (AEA): Early Child-hood Care and Education Project

Asian Development Bank (ADB): Sec-ondary Education Sector Development Project

Bolikhamxay Livelihood Improvement and Governance Project (BOLIGO)

Education for All - Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI)

Global Partner for Education (GPE): School Feeding Project

Humana People to People (Humana)

Life-Skills DA

Room to Read Laos (RtR): School library project

Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA)

Save the Children International (SCI): School Quality Improvement Programme

World Vision Lao PDR (WVL)

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The BOLIGO Project

The Bolikhamxay Livelihood Improve-ment and Governance Project – BOL-IGO is an integrated rural development project under the Lao-Luxembourg Cooperation programme. The Bolikhamxay Provincial Planning and Investment Department (PPID) and Lux-Development jointly carry out the project. The project started in Febru-ary 2010 for a four-year period. It was later extended by 19 months to Sep-tember 2015. The original budget was 6 m EUR, but 1.6 m EUR were added for the extension phase, bringing the Luxembourg contribution up to 7.6 m EUR for the 67 months implementation phase. The overall goal is rural poverty reduction, for which purpose the project supports local authorities and

communities in reaching the poverty reduction targets of the 201115 Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP). The project has three main components:

1. Governance Strengthening related to rural poverty reduction, including improved planning, admin-istration, information systems, statistics, and public service delivery;

2. Infrastructure development in 60 target villages to improve access to education, clean water, roads, community meeting halls, and other necessary constructions, averaging 60,000 EUR per village;

3. Village Development Funds owned and managed by each of the 60 target villages for credit and communal grant purposes averaging 23 000 EUR per village.

The PPID coordinates these activities, while the concerned provincial departments, district offices, and target communities carry out the actual work. The Project Support Office (two administrative staff, three technical advisers, and one internation-al chief adviser) support implementation through technical assistance, quality assurance, monitoring and financial management.

Field activities focus on the 60 poorest villages in the three poorest districts of Bolikhamxay province: Khamkeut, Viengthong, and Xaychamphone. The target population is 36,000 people in 6,000 house-holds, 58% of whom are ethnic minorities. The economy is agricultural, mainly upland cultivation on sloping land, supplemented by animal husband-ry and limited paddy cultivation. Most communities are in remote upland areas with difficult access to markets and public services. Hence, the poverty is severe with as much as 70% of the population hav-ing a daily consumption of less than 0.5 EUR at the start of the project.

Since the start of the project, access to for instance clean water, standard schools, latrines, roads and credit have increased radically. Moreover, capaci-ty and engagement have improved at village, dis-trict and province level through the delegation of authority, fund control and responsibility. Concur-rently, the overall governance has been strength-ened through capacity development and practice in information systems, planning, monitoring and ad-ministration.

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Helping the education sector is an important part of this work, receiving a quarter of the project’s 7.6 m EUR budget from 2010-15. This includes investments in infrastructure, village development funds, and in govern-ance and administrative strengthen-ing. Hence, the provincial and dis-trict partners have or are about to complete 38 schools and other phys-ical facilities; while communities have invested some of their village development funds in for instance housing for teachers, fencing and levelling of schoolyards, connection to running water, building of school toilets, and repairs and improve-ments to existing schools.

Funds are also available for capacity development, information systems, sector planning, teachers’ train-ing, vocational training, and support for girls’ further education. However, such interventions have not been carried out to the expected extent owing to the lack of comprehensive plans, modalities, motivation, and coordination. Consequently, the Provincial Education Department and BOLIGO are now seeking new partnerships with the Ministry of Education, ODA projects and INGOs to strengthen the education system and outcomes in the more disadvantaged areas of the province.

Supporting the education sector

Education is essential for poverty alleviation, health promotion, empowerment, and many other develop-ment challenges. Most poor people have few resources apart from their labour force and their skills. However, such skills are becoming increasingly underrated where livelihoods are rapidly changing, and traditional living is colliding with modernization. Even basic literacy, numeracy, and Lao language capa-bility remain a challenge in many target villages. BOLIGO is therefore prioritizing education, spending almost a quarter of the budget in this sector. This includes support through all of the three project com-ponents: governance, construction, and village development funds.

Construction programme

The BOLIGO education support is guided by the poverty reduction strategy of the province and by the pursuit of the MDG targets. School construction became a major undertaking of the BOLIGO Project, since adequate school facilities is one of the five access criteria for a village to be classified as non-poor, and since only few target villages had such school facilities.

The decision to build a school in a certain village depends on a request from the village, the inclusion in the provincial five-year plan, and the condition of the existing school, if any. Agreement on the size of the school depends naturally on the number of school-aged children (using 40 kids per classroom as the maximum standard), and on the assignment of an adequate number of teachers.

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By the end of the current project phase in September 2015, BOLIGO will have completed about 35 schools, including 31 primary schools, 3 secondary schools, and 1 high school at a cost of 1.65 m EUR. In total, 143 classrooms were built at an average cost of 11,560 EUR (or 15,000 USD) including furniture, sani-tary facilities, and asbestos-free fibre cement roofing. One dormitory with 60 beds was built at a cost of 63,000 EUR to help youngsters from more remote villages get access to high school education. The project was also successful in creating capacity in using the Lao Government’s planning, procurement and oversight system for the construction of the 35 schools and about 65 other constructions. There is still a need for more schools, dormitories in the target areas, along with continued maintenance of the existing facilities. However, we are constrained by the lack of budget and to some extent by avail-ability of teachers. Some new schools also proved insufficient owing to rapid immigration of people.

Village development funds

BOLIGO provides the 60 target communities with a village develop-ment fund averaging 23.000 EUR per village. These funds are managed and used through democratic deci-sions by the community at large. The funds can be used for micro-finance of household investments in produc-tive activities or as grant investments for the common good of the village. About 40% of the funds are used for credit purposes in 31 villages, while the rest is used for grant schemes. The grant scheme is funding about 400 individual activities in the 60 vil-lages.

From the grant funds, 38 villages have chosen to invest totally 100.000 EUR (or 12% of the total grant funds) in education related activities. These include housing for teachers, fencing and levelling of schoolyards, upgrades and repair of ex-isting schools, water connection, school toilets, and education material. This mode of support is highly cost effective, as the funds are used for the purchase of mate-rials, while administration and work is carried out by the villagers. Concurrently, this is greatly improving the ownership and community involvement in the school activities. Given the success of the approach, the project is now considering engaging the communities in taking responsibility also for managing for instance the purchase of schoolbooks, allowances for destitute households, access to vocational training, community training, and informal educa-tion.

Table 1: Number of school constructions financed by BOLIGO in Bolikhamxay Province 2011-14

District Target

villages 2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Khamkeut 20 2 11 0 5 18

Viengthong 24 0 5 5 3 13

Xaychamphone 16 0 2 2 0 4

Total 60 2 18 7 8 35

Table 2: Village development funds used for education pur-poses in 60 BOLIGO target villages 2012-15 (Kip)

Activity No. of

projects Total in-vestment

Average investment

Housing for teachers 13 377,030,000 29,002,308

Levelling school yard 16 202,425,000 12,651,563

School repair 6 152,200,000 25,366,667

Fencing school yard 7 118,850,000 16,978,571

Vocational training 2 100,850,000 50,425,000

Education material 13 83,764,000 6,443,385

Bridge to school 1 33,520,000 33,520,000

School road 1 31,500,000 31,500,000

School toilets 3 20,800,000 6,933,333

School electricity 2 14,000,000 7,000,000

School water supply 1 5,000,000 5,000,000

Total 65 1,139,939,000 17,537,523

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Education system support

An additional 160,000 EUR is budgeted for the “soft” side of education. These include sector management, donor coordination, in-formation systems and capacity development in the provincial and district administrations. Furthermore, the funds were available for village level activities such as teachers’ train-ing, education material, girls’ secondary edu-cation, and vocational training. Nevertheless, three years into the project, the support the system strengthening has been limited to teachers training and distribution of school materials. Other planned activities were constrained by a lack of plans with clear benefits for the target villages; the lack of suitable working modalities for social initia-tives; and the absence of province-level do-nor coordination. Consequently, there has been an imbalance between the BOLIGO investments in hardware and system strengthening, which to some extent limited the education outcomes and use of the in-vestments. To overcome these problems, the provincial and district authorities consolidated in May-June 2014 their plans for BOLIGO support to the end of the current five-year plan. However, successful implementation of this plan would greatly benefit from closer cooperation with other partners, including those who already work in the education sector in the province, and those with useful education modalities from other part of the country. Also, the Ministry of Education should preferably enhance these efforts through, for in-stance, supporting the management information systems, MDG monitoring, teachers’ training, and providing teaching materials at reasonable prices.

Collaboration options

BOLIGO has funds available for supporting education systems in the 60 target villages. However, we are constrained by the lack of effective and accepted implementation modalities that could be applied more generally in the province. We are therefore keen to link with other agencies who may have available such modalities and expertise, including agencies currently working either in or outside Bolikhamxay Province. We are for instance interested in collaborating with agencies that can support teachers’ train-ing, support of girls’ continued education, short-term vocational training, access to education materials, life skills training, and sector coordination. There is also an obvious need for school meals, school gardens, food supplements and effective deworming.

BOLIGO is also happy to help other agencies who with their own funds wish to support educa-tion and related work in the province. Such col-laboration may entail piloting of modalities, or wider implementation of already proven modali-ties.

We can offer the possibility of aligning with al-ready successful development activities, a local network, excellent working relations with local authorities and communities, access to exten-sive statistics, maps and other information, technical assistance, and the possibility of har-monizing activities for greater impact and lever-age.

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SEDP and MDG pursuit

In a wider perspective, closer coordination and col-laboration between development partners and the Ministry of Education (at central and local level) could help in making a last push towards achieving the province’s SEDP and MDG targets. Much has been achieved already, but with some additional effort, it would be feasible to achieve and demon-strate even better results.

Coordinated work could also help in preparing the 2016-20 Plan, and in creating partnerships for car-rying out this new plan. The Provincial Education Department and Planning Department are willing to lead this process, while BOLIGO would give finan-cial and logistic support to the coordination efforts.

A provincial donor coordination meeting with all rel-evant stakeholders would be a useful step in mak-ing a concrete plan.

Proposed action

Given the needs and potentials for supporting the education sector in Bolikhamxay Province and for greater harmonization and alignment of the development partners’ contribution, the Provincial Education Department supported by BOLIGO and interested partners could in 2014 carry out the following activi-ties:

1. Update the provincial registry of INGOs, multilateral, and bilateral development partners currently or prospectively working in the education sector;

2. Update existing provincial databases related to the education sector, including village statistics, spa-tial databases, school facilities and staff situation, as well as MDG and SEDP target fulfilment;

3. Produce an analytical report on the achievements, constraints and opportunities of the education sector in Bolikhamxay Province;

4. Hold a donor coordination meeting in Pakxan with the participation of development partners, relevant departments from provincial and district level, school representatives, and the Ministry of Education;

5. Based on the coordination meeting and in collaboration with other development partners, initiate practical work towards successful completion of the current five-year plan;

6. Support the provincial and district authorities in preparing the 2016-20 SEDP sector plan and in cre-ating long-term partnerships with stakeholders.

We hope all development partners and concerned government agencies will support the outlined activi-ties, and that this initial cooperation will lead to stronger bonds for future collaboration and effective im-pact on education in Bolikhamxay Province.