USAID Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP)
Report # 34 for the month of July 2014
Component
Progress
Government to Government

During the reporting period, the followings joined the team at PMIU:
Manager (Learning, Reforms and Community Mobilization), Communication
Specialist, Construction Manager, Design Construction & Supervision Officer and
Procurement Officer.

Arrangements for 2nd meeting of the standing committee on “Learning & Teacher
Training Programs in Sindh” were made by PM (LR&CM). It was chaired by PD
SBEP-PMIU at PMIU and attended by all the members of the committee.

PM (LR&CM) coordinated the visit of Design Construction & Supervision Officer,
Program
Mr. Shaban to District Larkana for sorting out and resolving the pending issues for
Management and
package-II of Larakana.
Implementation

Unit (PMIU)
Coordinated with the office of District Dadu & Larkana for the resolution of pending
land status issues.

Coordinated with the office of District Sukkur for getting the report on land titles of
two additional schools selected from Sukkur to be reconstructed.

An interactive meeting was held with CMP team in CMP office for exchange of data
and ideas. The meeting was coordinated by Program Manager (LR&CM) and attended
by Manager (LR& CM), Manager Communication and M&E Specialist.

A coordination meeting was held at PMIU regarding sharing updates on consolidation
of SBEP schools with RSU, CMP & USAID.

PM (LR&CM) held a meeting on “Draft Policy on Mixed Schools” at PMIU and
also arranged another meeting with Director Schools Karachi for the same purpose.

Arrangement is being made by PM (LR& CM) for holding stakeholders meeting
regarding launch of EMOs in SBEP schools along with CMP team.

One day meeting on USAID Communication elements held at PMIU, which was
facilitated by USAID staff members, while attended by PMIU staff, partners and
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others. The purpose of the meeting was to create understanding about the various
aspects of communication for program level.

Submitted procurement plan of learning, reforms and community mobilization uit.

Manager (LR&CM) prepared a draft Summary for Chief Minister requesting the
hiring of 100% staff for SBEP regional office Larkana.

PMIU prepared donor directory of Education sector.

Communication specialist has extended support in developing content of websites, for
SBEP website, and submitted Scope of Work to HR for a graphic designer to produce
visual products such as one-pagers, folders, charts, standees etc.

Conducted interviews for SBEP’s success story for websites and other stake holders.

IT section developed the operation of (FMIS) Financial Management Information
System, database, over SQL Server 2000 (Relational Database Management System).
The system can be operated from WAN (Wide Area Network) / LAN (Local Area
Network).

IT section has initiated to prepare on web portal of SBEP- PMIU.

Feeding of Financial Data in FMIS for the year of 2013 is in process.

USAID info session held for M&E staff of PMIU and other partners at PMIU. The
session was facilitated by Mr. Parvez Pirzado, while session attended by M&E staff at
PMIU, and other partners.

M&E team started to up-load progress for 3rd quarter (April-June 2014) in USAID
Pak-info website’s reporting system.

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M&E team prepared monthly progress report and PC III of SBEP -PMIU.
Package 1: Construction of six (6) Schools in District Khairpur
Further to termination of the contract of M/s. Highway Engineers for Khairpur package-I,
the same has been re-tendered. Bids are planned to be opened on August 18th. Work
remains suspended on sites, with no further progress. Supervision consultants M/S
Halcrow has taken over the sites till the appointment of new contractor which is expected
to be on board in first week of Sept 2014.
Package 2: Construction of seven (7) Schools in District Khairpur

Construction work is ongoing at seven schools namely Jhajh Regulator, Karoondi,
Sami, Satabo, Drib Mehar Shah, Fakirabad and Kolaab Jaial, as per schedule.
School

Raft foundations have been poured at three schools.
Construction

The overall physical progress of construction work is 1.5 % against 2% planned.

Secured advance amounting PKR. 13 million (net) has been paid to the contractor.

2nd IPC has been submitted by the contractor and is in process of being released.
Package 3: Construction of eleven (11) Schools in District Sukkur

The work continues satisfactorily as per plan. The demolition work is in progress at all
the sites, while construction work continues at one school, Arain Sukkur, where Raft
foundation pouring has started.

Overall progress achieved during the month is 1.0 % against 0.5% planned.

Mobilization advance amounting to PKR 35 Mil has been released to the contractor.
Package 4: Construction of seven (7) Schools in District Larkana-1

PC -1 has been cleared by Technical Committee of Planning & Development
department GoS, and awaits approval from PDWP GoS..

Bidding process is complete and results have been hoisted on SPPRA websites.
Award of work will be made upon approval of PC I.

USAID has signed and sent over the Project Implementation Letter (i.e. PIL #9) to
finance the construction of these schools under Package 4.
Package 5: Construction of five (5) in Karachi ( Karachi-1)

Design for the schools is complete and tender documents were approved in the 24th
procurement committee.

PC-I is under preparation at PMIU, and expected to be sent over for the approval by
mid-Aug2014.

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Notice Inviting Tenders (NIT) is expected to be sent out on around mid Aug.
Package 6: Construction of Six Schools in Larkana ( Larkana-2)

Land acquisition is in progress, and expected to be completed by mid-August 2014.

Design & tender documents for the schools are in progress, and expected to be
complete by mid Sep. Following which PC-1 will be prepared.
Furniture Procurement :
Since March 2014 several consultations have been made between USAID, PMIU and
Halcrow to have an insight into the market to define the suitable specifications for
furniture procurement for the under- construction schools. A supplier’s workshop was
also held at Karachi in June 2014, to discuss the topic with the suppliers, physically
examine their furniture samples and discussed with them the various aspects for procuring
high quality and low maintenance furniture.
Design specifications have been finalized by Halcrow, and are expected to be reviewed
jointly by all stake holders during the month of August.
3rd round of Prequalification of construction contractors:
Third round of PQ of the construction contractors has been kicked off since June 2014.
The aim is to extend the contractor’s pool, and bring more capable contractors for the
program. The evaluation is in process and expected to be completed by the end of
August2014.
Non-Government to Government

CMP team conducted field visit for creating network & linkages between School
Sindh Community
& Health Units (DHQ, BHU, RHU & Dispensary) in district Khairpur, Sukkur,
Mobilization
Kashmore, Jaccobabad, Larkana, Kambar Shadad Kot, Dadu and Karachi towns
Program (CMP)
with SBEP targeted Construction and Neighboring schools. Out of 404 schools
333 schools linked with 122 nearby health units.

Data Entry of 200 Health Units also completed in database of CMP.

Education Department District Karachi notified 09 neighboring schools for CMP
interventions under Sindh Basic Education Program.

Identification of Members for SMC Sub committees of SBEP targeted schools
were also in process during month of July. Out of 1616 total Committees 1240 sub
committees were formed.

Meeting with Finance & Education Department held for finalizing legal assistance
for finalizing EMOs for SBEP schools.
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
A new notification of PAG (Project Advisory Group) has been issued to confirm
the decision of 1st PAG meeting. In this new notification the concept of on
autonomous body has been replaced with PPP node hosed in reporting to
department of education.

Revision of intensive teachers training design and field mentors’ resource
Sindh Reading
material in the light of feedback:
Program (SRP)
On the basis of findings and feed back of the intensive teachers training (Pilot phase
of training conducted in June 2014, in all targeted districts and towns of Karachi), the
consultants started revision of the resource material in July as to improve in line with
observations and feedback from training participants, strategic advisors, expert’s
mentors and field mentors.

EGRA1 and EGMA Tools review workshop:
The tools reviewed and finalized for workshop on EGRA and EGMA assessments of
grade 2 and 4 conducted from July 7th to 12th 2014. The workshop was attended by
subject experts(Urdu & Sindhi) (4), Mathematics teachers of Sindhi & Urdu and Urdu
/Sindhi composers from public sector institutions like Bureau of Curriculum,
Provincial Institute of Teachers Education, Sindh Text Book Board, Reform Support
Unit and District Examination Committee also participated in the workshop.

Selection of subcontractor for data collection of EGRA and EGMA
operational testing:
The selection of subcontractor to collect EGRA and EGMA operational testing data was
initiated in July 2014. In response to the RFP, 9 firms submitted proposals. The technical
committee consisting of senior technical members of SRP evaluated the technical
proposals based on predefined criteria. Three firms were shortlisted for the task. The
procurement team is working on the financial and legal aspects of the award with the
shortlisted firms.

Additional sampling for EGRA and EGMA operational testing
Additional sample list of 189 schools was drawn for selecting the remaining 275 sample
schools for EGRA/EGMA operational testing, which were rejected during the physical
verification conducted in May 2014. The physical verification targeted 720 schools in the
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intervention districts; only 531 could be visited and 445 were selected for the test. The
additional sample will be verified after the summer break.

Need assessment survey of libraries in SRP target districts:
Need assessment survey of the remaining 3 libraries was conducted in Karachi during
July 2014 (7 were assessed in June 2014) to assess libraries infrastructure, materials,
staff capacity (Qualified/non-qualified), facilities, services provided, annual budget
and its utilization to support libraries in SRP target districts.

The draft report on supplementary teaching & learning material Gap analysis has
been submitted by the consultant. The SRP technical team is reviewing the draft
report. The findings of the report will be used for strategizing the development
and provision of STLM in target areas. The report will be shared with the wider
audience after finalization.

SRP team has strategic focused on conceptual frame:
In July the SRP has focused on the development of a conceptual framework and
started designing pragmatic interventions based on the experiences of other provinces
and adapting them to ground realities in Sindh. The interventions will be reflected in
the work plan that is crafted at the moment.
Technical

Assistance
New ‘Sindh Capacity Development Project (SCDP)’ has been developed to build
the capacity of PMIU and ELD, GoS in the following key areas: Back Office support
for PMIU, implementation of SBEP’s M&E plan, Educational Research and
strengthening Education Reforms in Sindh. The process is being initiated to have
contractor on board for this project.
A&E Services

The Halcrow prepared & submitted tender documents for Karachi-I for construction
of five schools Package-05

Environmental document forms for Karachi schools are filed.

Halcrow organized a field visit for re-tender of Package 1 at Khairpur (construction of
six schools) for bidders’ on ground briefing.

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Detailed designs for Larkana-II, as well as Dadu schools are in progress.
Monitoring and

Evaluation (M&E) 
SBEP M&E Plan is in the final stages of preparation by MSI.
USAID Milestone Monitoring contractor M/S NESPAK visited two school of Package
1 during reporting period for verification of Milestone No. 1 at Setharja school and
Ghaghri.

To-date six (06) verification certificates have been issued by NESPAK for MS-1 on
six sites for construction of schools package-01 only Schools in other packages have
yet to achieve their MS at site.

The 3rd party consultant (NESPAK) was not called during the said month for
verification for completing any new mile stone.
+*9 Tameezuddin Khero
Program Director
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