Business Case
Zimbabwe Education Sector Support (2012- 2015)
January 2012
Contents
Acronyms and Abbreviations
p.3
Intervention Summary
p.4
1. Strategic Case
p.5
A. Context and need for a DFID intervention
B. Impact and Outcome that we expect to achieve
2. Appraisal Case
p.9
A. Feasible options that address the need set out in the Strategic case
Option 1 – ETFII pooled fund
Option 2 – Support Disadvantaged Girls to Complete Four Years of Secondary Education
Option 3 – Investing in Teachers to address the low sills levels of unqualified teachers
Option 4 – Do nothing in terms of Direct Education Support, but put more resources into Cash
Transfers and OVC School Fee payments
Option 5- Counterfactual
B. Assessing the strength of the evidence base for each feasible option
C: The costs and benefits of each feasible option
D: What measures can be used to asses Value for Money for the intervention?
E: Summary value for money statement for the preferred option
3. Commercial Case
p.35
A. Why the proposed funding mechanism is the right arrangement for this intervention
B. Value for money through procurement
4. Financial Case
p.36
A. Cost profile
B. How it will be funded
C. How funds will be paid out
D. Assessment of financial risk and fraud
E. How expenditure will be monitored, reported and accounted for
5. Management Case
p.38
A. Management arrangements
B. Risks and how they will be managed
C. Conditions
D. How progress and results will be monitored, measured and evaluated
References
p.43
Annexes
Annex 1. Logical Framework
Annex 2. Economic appraisal background note
Annex 3. European Commission Political Economy Analysis of the Zimbabwean Education Sector
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AGA
A-Level
BCA
BCR
BEAM
CAMFED
CBA
CPD
CPF
DEO
DFID
ECD
ETF
ECG
EU
EC
EMIS
EMTP
F1
G7
GBV
GoZ
HIV
AIDS
ICT
MDG
MoESAC
MOHTE
MoLSS
MoU
M&E
NGO
NER
NPV
O-Level
OSISA
OVC
PTR
P1, 2 & 3
Q1 – 5
SAQMEQ
S1, 2, & 3
SBMC
SCF
SDC
SRP
SSA
TVET
UNESCO
UNICEF
VfM
WASH
ZimSEC
Accountable Grant Arrangement
Advanced Level
Benefit-Cost Analysis
Benefit-Cost Ratio
Basic Education Assistance Module
The Campaign for Female Education
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Continuing Professional Development
Child Protection Fund
District Education Offices
Department for International Development
Early Childhood Development
Education Transition Fund
Education Coordination Group
European Union
European Commission
Education Management Information Systems
Education Medium Term Plan
Form 1
Grade Seven
Gender Based Violence
Government of Zimbabwe
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Information Communication Technology
Millennium Development Goals
Ministry of Education, Sports, Art and Culture
Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education
Ministry of Labour and Social Services
Memorandum of Understanding
Monitoring and Evaluation
Non-Governmental Organization
Net Enrolment Ratio
Net Present Value
Ordinary Level
Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa
Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Pupil Teacher Ratio
Primary School categorised as 1, 2, & 3
Quintiles 1 – 5
Southern & Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality
Secondary School categorised as 1, 2, & 3
School Based Management Committee
Save the Children Fund
School Development Committee
Structural Reform Priority
Sub-Saharan Africa
Technical and Vocational Education Training
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
United Nations Children’s Fund
Value for Money
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council
Business Case and Intervention Summary
Intervention Summary
Zimbabwe Education Sector Support (2012- 2015)
What support will the UK provide?
The UK will provide a total of £36 million, over the four-year period 2012-2015.
Why is UK support required?
The capability of Zimbabwe’s school system has declined sharply since 2000. There are acute shortages of
well-qualified teachers. The long-term commitment of many remaining teachers to their profession is fragile.
At least 1,500 schools require urgent structural repairs. 31% of schools have seven or more pupils sharing a
single desk. Examination success at the end of primary school has nearly halved over three years and Olevel results are very weak. Rural schools have suffered most. Orphans and Vulnerable Children are most
likely to drop out early due to other pressures and the fees and levies now charged. And the increasing
numbers of girls who are failing to either access or complete four years of secondary schooling is of growing
concern.
This intervention has two components designed to address these challenges. The first will see DFID provide
£24 million (around 45% of the total funding) to the second phase of the multi-donor Education Transition
Fund (ETF II). This follows our support to ETF Phase I which successfully addressed the almost complete
absence of stationery and textbooks in many schools and helped increase the planning capacity of the
Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture (MoESAC). ETF II, managed by UNICEF and working closely
with MoESAC, is much more ambitious with targets relating to: school grants; quality of teaching and
learning; and out-of-school young people.
Secondly, DFID will provide £12m million to halt the decline in participation by girls in secondary education.
This will mainly be delivered in the form of bursaries, but with some complementary inputs ensuring
community engagement. It will be managed through an Accountable Grant to the Campaign for Female
Education (CAMFED) an NGO that has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1993.
The funding is designed to help Zimbabwe achieve equitable primary education of good quality for all its
children and gender parity in the secondary cycle, with consequent wide-ranging social and economic
benefits.
What are the expected results?
This intervention will strengthen the scope and quality of educational services which will in turn enhance
student access, retention and achievement, with special attention being paid to the needs of vulnerable and
out-of-school young people. Specifically, by 2015:
 60,000 more children will be completing seven years of primary schooling of improved quality;
 40,000 more girls will complete four years of secondary schooling;
 examination pass rates at Grade 7 and Form 4 will increase by at least ten percentage points;
 10,000 under-qualified teachers will have had their skills upgraded and 40,000 teachers will be receiving
continuous professional development;
 500,000 more orphans & vulnerable children (50% female) will be able to participate in schooling;
 a reformed curriculum and strengthened assessment measures will lead to improved quality of learning
experience;
 100,000 young people, (50% female) who have dropped out will re-enter formal education or receive
relevant skills training; and
 the Gender Parity Index for both primary, and secondary to Form 4, will remain above 0.95 in 2015.
Some of the dozen donors to ETF I are redirecting resources to other sectors or phasing out their work in
Zimbabwe altogether and it currently looks like there will be around six fewer donors to ETF II. The UK,
Germany and the EU are expected to be the largest contributors. DFID is set to provide around 45% of the
total funds so generating pro-rata attribution for outputs. ETF II is also likely to attract additional significant
resources from the Global Partnership for Education. CAMFED receives funding from other government and
private sources, but DFID would be the sole funder for CAMFED’s results set out in this Business Case.
Routine monitoring of output and outcome indicators will be undertaken by programme managers in UNICEF
and CAMFED. Actual performance will be compared with expected performance using the agreed indicators
and targets in the programme log frame. DFID staff will use monitoring data to improve implementation,
focusing particularly on taking steps to address any underperforming areas.
Business Case
Strategic Case
A. Context and need for a DFID intervention
Context
There are two critical needs which relate to the achievement of MDGs 2 and 3. First, the fall - from a very
high level - in participation and successful completion of the seven grades of primary schooling leaves
Zimbabwe’s achievement of the 2015 goal of universal primary completion (MDG 2) in serious doubt. If the
current downward trends for the quality of learning continue, the literacy rate and the wider skill base of
cohorts of primary school students will suffer. The chart below comparing Southern African countries
shows that Zimbabwe’s key primary school learning scores were around average for the region in 2007.
Since then however primary pass rates at grade 7 have plummeted (see Chart 1 on page 7), leading to
fears that adult literacy (currently over 95%) will drop significantly and that an unemployable generation of
disenfranchised young people will emerge.
Second, as regards MDG 3 (gender equity), data suggests that girls are increasingly likely to drop-out from
schooling, particularly at the end of Grade 7 of primary and in Forms 3 and 4 (O-Level) in rural secondary
schools. This can bring with it an increased likelihood of early pregnancy and vulnerability to violence and
HIV infection. So ensuring that girls are in school until at least the end of Form 4 is very important.
In the 1980s and early 1990s Zimbabwe successfully moved towards mass education: universal
participation in seven years of primary education was reached by 1993; and continent-high access to at
least four years of good quality secondary schooling generated almost universal literacy and exceptional
numbers of well-schooled secondary graduates. However, the detailed picture is more complex. The
policies of the post-Independence government fostered the survival of the small proportion of high quality
urban primary and secondary schools [categorised as P1/P2 and S1/S2]. These generated well-educated
elites who were employed in professional positions in government and the private sector and bolstered
Zimbabwe's reputation for providing good quality education. Meanwhile the expansion of primary education
through the mainly rural P3 schools generated budget implications in the form of teachers’ salaries, which
were not sustainable from public resources.
In the context of the 1990s structural adjustment programme, virtually the entire state education budget
was absorbed by teachers’ salaries and the large numbers of rural P3 and S3 schools were not able to
provide basic supplies of textbooks and other essentials. Neither central government nor local authorities
were able to fill the gap and the burden of funding gradually fell more and more on contributions from
parents.
Fifteen or so years later, that situation has not changed. By 2008 salary costs represented 95% of public
expenditure on education. This has left little money for buildings, textbooks, teaching aids, supervision and
teacher training. A complex system of fees, levies and ‘incentives’ has evolved that has significantly
disadvantaged the poorest schools, communities and parents. In some urban schools, a teacher may
receive a monthly ‘incentive’, essentially paid for by parents, of as much as $150. The equivalent
‘incentive’ in a rural primary school ranges between zero and $10 per month. In the economic melt-down of
2008, when the government component of teachers’ remuneration became meaningless, teachers went on
strike and many schools were closed for lengthy periods.1
The extent of the decline of the education system is very evident. As a first contextual factor the data
presented in the tables below highlights the differential resources available to urban, elite primary schools
(P1) and the much larger numbers of rural schools (P3). It includes total income from all sources such as
fees, levies and per capita grants. It shows a 1:18 funding differential between P3 and P1 primary schools,
and a smaller but substantial differential of 1:9.5 between S3 and S1 secondary schools.
Table 1: Primary school income and expenditure per pupil (EMIS, 2009)
School type
All
P1 urban /low density
P2 urban /high density
P3 rural
Number
schools
4727
193
445
4089
of Average income
pupil (US$)
20.75
177.74
24.95
9.40
per Average
expenditure
per pupil (US$)
18.38
166.27
21.99
7.51
A similar picture emerges from the secondary school sector, with predictably larger overall figures.
Table 2: Secondary school income and expenditure per pupil (EMIS, 2009)
School type
All
S1 urban /low density
S2 urban /high density
S3 rural
Number
schools
1581
118
187
1276
of Average income per Average expenditure per
pupil (US$)
pupil (US$)
92.71
87.87
409.66
408.55
82.41
72.20
44.20
43.40
Almost no new infrastructure or major maintenance has been carried out for over a decade. MoESAC
estimates that 1282 primary schools and 288 secondary schools are in need of urgent major repairs and
that 31% of schools have seven or more pupils sharing a single desk space.2 The teaching profession in
Zimbabwe has been significantly weakened by factors including teachers leaving the profession, HIV/AIDS
and migration (particularly to South Africa, where many of the best teachers of Science and Maths in
secondary schools are Zimbabwean). The vacancy rate at primary and secondary schools, as defined by
lack of qualified teachers, is close to 25%. Gaps are mostly filled by unqualified or under-qualified teachers
who may well lack basic knowledge and pedagogic skills. And yet the pupil:teacher ratios (PTR) at both
primary and secondary remain very reasonable by regional norms at 33:1 and 20:1 respectively, the
secondary PTR being particularly impressive.
In terms of the impact of these trends on the efficiency and output of the system, it is useful to look at dropout figures and assessment data. The draft MoESAC Education Medium Term Plan (EMTP) 2011-2015
estimates the primary completion rate at 67% (based on an uncertain age cohort estimate). While this is
not a high drop-out rate by regional standards, it is unprecedented for Zimbabwe, with girls and boys
appearing to be equally affected in the primary grades.
The overall transition rate from primary to secondary school is around 70% (EMIS, 2009). Around 190,000
secondary school age children are out of school in any one year.3 Unsurprisingly, those students from the
poorest families fare worst. 2009 data suggests that there is a 30% difference in the primary – secondary
transition rates across the five quintiles (Q1 (lowest): 61%; Q2: 72%; Q3: 85%; Q4: 87%; Q5: 91%).
Participation rates for secondary schools in 2009 for the lowest quintile (23%) are nearly three times lower
when compared to the top quintile (60%). Those who are most likely to fall victim to these statistical trends
are those children marginalised either directly by poverty or through the impact of HIV/AIDS – the so-called
Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs).
At the secondary level, the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) for 2009 was 44%. Girls were slightly overrepresented in Forms 1 and 2, but with significant and very worrying declines to Form 4, and abrupt drops
for Forms 5 and 6 (which are the A-level years with a very clear academic orientation, so that only about 1
in 10 of the cohort proceed to this level). Girls comprise only 35% of the pupils in upper secondary and the
secondary school completion rate is higher for boys (UN MDG 2010 report). Many children dropped out of
school as a result of the economic crisis in 2008, with the percentage share being higher for girls4.
Participation of women in society in senior decision-making jobs in all sectors is still low, well below the
related MDG 3 target.
Chart 1: Examination Results 2005-2009
90.0
80.0
83.7
% Pass Rate
70.0
60.0
83.3
79.8
78.7
68.0
70.5
73.1
62.4
51.5
50.0
40.0
Grade 7
39.4
30.0
20.0
O' Level
A' Level
21.5
23.4
19.7
16.9
12.6
10.0
0.0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Outcome data for public examinations at the end of Grade 7, Form 4 and Form 6 for the years 2005-2009
are presented graphically above gives an idea of the quality of outputs. Although there is some evidence of
recovery in O-level and A-level grades in 2009, the collapse of Grade 7 results over two years from a
70.5% pass rate in 2007 to 39.4% in 2009 signals a dramatic fall in educational achievement. Secondary
school pass rates at Form 4 (O-level) fell less dramatically, from 23.4% in 2006 to 19.7% in 2009. But this
picture of only around one in five students achieving five O-level passes is of great concern. The
performance of girls has fallen at a rate which mirrors that of boys, as shown in Chart 2 below. Only the Alevel grades, many coming from elite S1 schools, and only counting a small proportion of the age cohort,
are more positive.
Why intervene now?
Intervening to support the education sector in Zimbabwe will help deliver DFID’s Business Plan 2011 -15,
in particular:
Structural Reform Priority (SRP) 1: Honour the UK’s International commitments and support
actions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
SRP 4: Strengthen governance and security in fragile and conflict- affected countries
SRP 5: Lead international action to improve the lives of girls and women (including more girls
completing secondary and primary education).
This proposal delivers on public commitments in the DFID Operational Plan 2011–15 for Zimbabwe by
supporting 60,000 more children annually to complete primary school and 40,000 more girls to finish
secondary school with at least £8m being spent annually on education.
Signalling now -in the run-up to national elections in 2012/13- that DFID is prepared to invest significantly
in Zimbabwe’s education system emphasises the priority we give to the achievement of the educationrelated MDGs through support to those most vulnerable and in need, regardless of political affiliations.
The intervention would also build on some recent encouraging developments in the sector:
(i) MoESAC has developed, with assistance from the World Bank and the Education Transition Fund
(ETF), a costed Medium Term Education Plan (MTEP) for 2011-2015. The plan is comprehensive in its
aspirations for all elements of the sector. Delivering the plan in its entirety will undoubtedly be extremely
challenging given likely fiscal constraints, but the plan in itself is a positive step forward.
(ii) Over the duration of the MTEP (2011-15), MoESAC has budgeted for a steady increase in the
remuneration of teachers from $363 (July 2011) up to between $500 and $700 per month by 2015. This
recognises that skilled, motivated and committed teachers are crucial to the delivery of the plan.
(iii) The ETF -a pooled fund created in 2009, supported by twelve donors, managed by UNICEF and
working very closely with MoESAC- has comprehensively addressed the chronic shortages of stationery
and textbooks in both primary and secondary schools. Although this was a response to an emergency in
resource provision for schools, it shows that results in the sector can be delivered and quickly. The second
phase of ETF could now provide the beginnings of the development of a 'shadow' Sector-Wide Approach
(SWAp) to funding the sector if future circumstances allow. UK participation in ETF II would support this
and help to deliver some of the key outputs envisaged in the MTEP including targeted school grants (to
address the issue of almost non-existent recurrent funding), curriculum reform, teacher development and
strengthened assessment regimes.
(iv) The Campaign for Female Education – CAMFED – is already active in support of girls’ schooling in 24
rural districts, through bursaries and other indirect support mechanisms. It has the capacity to expand
using its well-grounded approach and close ties with local communities and relevant authorities. So there
is an established partner who we can work with to deliver more in this area while looking to drive down unit
costs through, for example, the use of new technologies for monitoring and evaluation.
B. Impact and Outcome that we expect to achieve
The Outcome of the intervention will be: strengthened scope and quality of educational services enhances
student access, retention and achievement, with special attention being paid to the needs of vulnerable
and out-of-school young people and girls. With the indicators being:
1. Primary school completion rate (gender disaggregated) [MDG 2 and 3]
2. OVCs supported with access to education [MDG 2 and 3]
The Impact of the intervention will be: Zimbabwe achieves equitable primary education of good quality for
all its children and gender parity in the secondary cycle, with consequent wide-ranging social and
economic benefits. With the indicators being:
1. Examination pass rates at Grade 7 (i) and Form 4 (ii) [MDG2]
2. Gender Parity Index for Primary and Secondary, particularly Quintiles 1 and 2 [MDG3]
The link between the outcome and the impact is widely recognised. Educating girls underpins the
achievement of all other MDGs. Educated women help communities and societies become healthier,
wealthier and safer, and help to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and tackle the spread of
HIV and AIDS. Overall, educating girls has additional developmental benefits which in the longer term will
benefit the next generation of boys and girls.
But ensuring that the outcomes and impact are delivered upon in the medium-term will depend on a series
of factors. These include: the ability of all relevant partners to work effectively together to deliver on ETF II
and MTEP objectives; and the Government’s ability to secure and provide adequate financial resources for
the education sector including to avert payroll disputes and attract and retain qualified staff while providing
sufficient resources for capital expenditure.
Appraisal Case
A. What are the feasible options that address the need set out in the Strategic case?
The diagram below illustrates the 'theory of change' and describes how the main activities proposed in
the Business Case would contribute to the outcome statement of a strengthened better quality
educational services, which impacts upon Zimbabwe's ability to provide equitable, good quality
'education for all' The diagram illustrates the major activities that are proposed (which are dependent
upon which option(s) are selected for support) and how these lead to the expected outputs, outcomes
and finally impact on the basic education sector. At each of these transitions in the theory of change, a
set of key assumptions and potential barriers are listed which may inhibit progress and the achievement
of the desired results.
The fragile nature of Zimbabwe's political economy is explored within Annex 3; factors around possible
political transitions/settlements (and follow-on economic impact), upcoming elections and politicised
management of the education sector may affect all steps in the flow chart at some point in the period to
2015. The education investments made must be flexible enough to cope with a spectrum of inter-related
factors that are summarised under each of the four options explored.
All the options imply support and expansion of systems to decentralise financial resources to the school
or student level through grants and individual bursaries. Since 2009 the banking system has resumed
using multiple hard currencies that should be robust enough to cope and virtually all schools have bank
accounts and governance structures are in place with sufficient transparency to limit the likelihood of the
diversion of resources. Whether these resources are sufficient, in tandem with other government,
private, parental and other donor sources to bring about the increases in access and quality of service
delivery anticipated is hard to predict. Willingness to implement reforms around user fees, teacher
management, school governance and curriculum are also key factors that may impede the delivery of
results.
Outputs
Potential
Activities
Better School and
System
Governance
Enhanced quality
of school
environments and
support systems
through the
provision of grants
to targeted schools
and an improved
capacity of
MoESAC to plan
for and implement
educational needs
Disadvantaged girls
supported in
secondary Forms1-4
and overall
completion of lower
secondary
School grants
process to reduce
levies, designed
and implemented
[ETF]
Under-qualified
teachers'
upgraded, in-set
training linked to
curriculum and
national
assessment
reforms
BEAM/CPF Cash
Transfer funding of
Orphans and
Vulnerable
Children
Secondary School
Girls’ bursaries
through CAMFED or
BEAM
Strengthened
scope and
quality of
educational
services
enhances
student access,
retention and
achievement,
with special
attention being
paid to the needs
of vulnerable,
out-of-school
young people
and adolescent
girls
Assumptions and
Potential Barriers

Assumptions and Potential
Barriers




Stable macro political /
economic environment,
teacher strikes and elections
in 2012/13 do not impede
delivery and/or close schools.
Policies on returnee &
unqualified teachers and
school fees are revised and
implemented
Banking system continues to
be able to transparently
disburse school / student
payments.
Equitable funding and
scholarship selection
formulae can be identified and
adhered to.
Girl specific factors: travel
security, early marriage,
school sanitation and
opportunity cost factors are
addressed in tandem
Impact
Outcome


Zimbabwe achieves
equitable primary
education of good
quality for all its
children and gender
parity in the secondary
cycle, with consequent
wide-ranging social
and economic benefits
Assumptions and Potential Barriers

Stand off around

indigenisation stalls
curriculum reform
and associated
teacher training /
management

reforms.
Inability to reform
legislation inhibits

moves to free
education for poor /
vulnerable,
especially those
without birth
certificates and
young person
dropouts
Distributed finance
is applied effectively
at micro level,
without major
leakage or
diversion.
Progress made on inhibiting
political economy factors(see
Annex 3): elections, politicised
central government, intimidation
of teachers
Gradual progress made on improving
teacher salaries, in tandem with
government resources to quality
enhancing, recurrent and capital
expenditure.
EMIS and assessment data systems
allow quantification of progress and
feedback to reform process.
Time lag for impact of
reforms and activities on
student achievement and
follow on socio-economic
benefits.
In essence the upper two proposed options in the diagram focus on improvements to the supply side of
the education system with sector governance, school funding and teacher support activities. The lower

two options focus more on the demand side with scholarships or bursaries to specific children: OVCs, out
of school youth and adolescent girls seeking to complete secondary school.
Barriers, especially at the primary – secondary school transition, are evident, especially for girls. Factors
around opportunity cost and travel time, early / polygamous marriages (specifically amongst apostolic
church sects), adequate school sanitation and formal / informal fees structures (e.g. excessive
registration, entrance examination and uniform costs for secondary school) are all considerable. The
discussion under Option 2 considers evidence under these gender specific factors in more detail; many
are generic to those faced by girls in most poor, developing countries.
Finally the translation of the proposed investments into tangible education gains requires a substantial
strengthening of the current data systems and assessment methods to be able track and measure
progress. Support measures to strengthen the knowledge base are in place and the need to do so is
widely recognised. But the political economy factors described above may continue to inhibit the
willingness of the government to measure and disseminate key comparable education indicators.
Option 1: ETF pooled fund: contribute up to £6 million per annum from 2012-2015 to the second
phase of the Education Transition Fund, (ETF II)
Origins, focus and management
The ETF was launched in September 2009 to improve the quality of education for children through the
provision of essential teaching and learning materials for primary schools, and high level technical
assistance to MoESAC. It was expanded in November 2010 to include the delivery of teaching and
learning materials to secondary schools. This was possible due to huge cost savings realized in the first
stage of the programme implementation. The ETF has helped to increase alignment with the
Government of Zimbabwe’s priorities, promoting ownership, coordination and reduce fragmentation. The
use of a pooled funding mechanism has allowed a variety of funding agencies to contribute to the
improvement of the sector. The engagement of UNICEF as the managing agent of the ETF has created
an environment where development partners and MoESAC can increasingly work together on identifying
priorities and lowering levels of mistrust/misunderstanding between the different constituencies. The
table below illustrates how the ETF objectives have been adapted to the changing programme
environment:
Situation
Programme
Date
Objectives
Response to
complex
emergency
Education
Transition
Fund
Sept
2009
To decrease drop-out rates by procuring and distributing
textbooks and learning materials to all 5,675 primary schools,
according to need, to reach a 2:1 pupil/textbook ratio.
To ensure better school based management of educational
resources through training of School Development
Committees.
To improve access of MoESAC to high quality technical
assistance
To decrease drop-out rates by procuring and distributing
textbooks and learning materials to all 5,675 primary schools
and 2,333 secondary schools according to need, to reach a
1:1 pupil/textbook ratio in agreed subjects.5
To strengthen MoESAC’s capacity to plan for, provide and
monitor educational services through the provision of high
quality technical assistance.
To support the continued revitalisation of the education sector
by assisting MoESAC to realize its objectives of achieving
universal and equitable access to quality basic education for
all Zimbabwean children through assisting MoESAC to
strengthen education delivery mechanisms, improving the
quality of educational services and enhancing access,
retention and achievement of all learners with special
attention to the vulnerable children across the country –
including out of school children.
Reprogramming Revised
of cost savings ETF
for secondary
school books
(£8 million)
Nov
2010
Second design
phase
(supporting
sector recovery
over 5 years)
April
2011
ETF II
(2011-2015)
What did the first phase of the ETF achieve?
It focused on a particular issue – the chronic shortages of stationery and textbooks in most schools –
while also facilitating dialogue between MoESAC and potential funding agencies in relation to shared
concerns for the future of the sector. The available funds solved the short-term crisis with respect to the
supply of educational materials to all schools, thus making a real contribution to improving the conditions
for learning. It was a very concrete and visible achievement around which trust could be built. It
developed a mechanism which could readily be transformed into a SWAp approach with government in
more favourable future times. The box below summarises lesson learning as elicited from donor
partners, UNICEF management and external reviews of the ETF to date. A project completion review of
the first phase of the ETF completed in late 2011 documented huge cost savings (around $10 million)
and big increases in the volume of resources purchased (from 6 to 22 million textbooks, with unit prices
dropping by a factor of 4 or more).
Important lessons emerging from the ETF phase 1 experience include:
 Government leadership and capacity is critical to implement a large scale programme in a complex
environment, and sustained donor engagement in building relationships over time can build
confidence to re-introduce technical assistance and restart engagement with the international aid
architecture;
 National scale results are possible even in complex environments;
 Recovery financing mechanisms can support the development of an inclusive partnership;
 In addition to assuring consistency in funding levels during the recovery period, use of ETF as a
pooled fund helped to increase alignment with Government priorities, promoting ownership,
coordination and reducing fragmentation;
 An effective incremental step towards sector budgeting and government leadership in resource
allocation. Pooled funding can be a step towards establishing more formal sector coordination;
 Investing in school governance structures to improve transparency and accountability is a priority;
 Huge potential for cost saving in mass procurement and accumulation of political and public good
will with a universal textbook campaign; and
 Cluster arrangements can support such an approach and ensure the NGO sector’s involvement.
ETF II characteristics
As the education sector moves towards a phase of long-term recovery, the overall goal of the second
phase of the ETF will be to support the delivery of universal and equitable access to quality and relevant
basic education for all Zimbabwean children. ETF II has three key thematic areas which are guided by
and fully aligned with MoESAC’s EMTP (2011- 2015):
Thematic Areas and Linkages with MoESAC
Key Activities Linked to Thematic
Plan
Areas
School and System Governance
Sector Wide Programming
School Improvement
School Monitoring, Supervision and
Support
Teaching and Learning
Teaching Quality
Curriculum Review
Provision of Teaching and Learning
Materials
Assessment
Second Chance Education
Sub-sector Policy Analysis
Young People’s Return to Mainstream
Education
Out-of-school Technical Education
The second phase of ETF will see the programme, under the direction of MoESAC, and in line with its
Strategic Plan, focus more on the systems and structures that provide education. This will involve
building the capacity of MoESAC, including Zimbabwe’s teachers, to deliver quality and relevant
education for all. ETF II is significantly broader in scope and more ambitious than ETF I. The programme
will focus on investing resources at the school level across the country through the development of a’
block grant initiative’ with the aim of reducing user fee costs for all learners. These grants will allow
schools to, for example, reconstruct WASH facilities, repair school infrastructure (including teacher
houses), purchase essential teaching and learning materials and procure teacher and student furniture,
allowing for rapid scale up if future funding permits.
The second phase of the ETF will support the following key specific activities:
 The finalisation of a national sector planning framework for education, with corresponding provincial
and district level plans, directed by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture;
 The development of a national school grants initiative, delivering critical investment (including
WASH) at school level, to assist in reduction of financial barriers to education for boys and girls;
 In-service training in modern pedagogical and subject based skills, with a focus on improving the
basic teaching skills of at least 10,000 unqualified teachers;
 Training of at least 300 key Ministry personnel at the national, provincial and district level, as well
as some 8,000 school heads to strengthen their system management capacities related to
planning, implementation, supervision and monitoring, linked to priorities outlined in the emerging 5
Year Strategic Plan;
 The development of a fully revised, modern, market oriented and culturally appropriate curriculum
framework, with corresponding tested syllabi for all pre-primary, primary and secondary levels; and
 Development of a second chance education programme, providing alternative learning
opportunities for at least 200,000 young people, with the aim of returning at least 100,000 school
learners to mainstream education.
It is expected that some parts of each of the thematic areas will be outsourced, while for others, UNICEF
and its implementing partners will be the major support to MoESAC implementation. The ETF will benefit
from regular interagency collaboration and partnership with other agencies such as UNESCO and the
World Bank as well as building stronger partnerships with sister Ministries such as the Ministry of Higher
and Tertiary Education and the Ministry of Labour and Social Services.
To ensure that the objectives of the ETF are met, governance structures between funding partners,
MoESAC and other education stakeholders will be strengthened. Furthermore, a comprehensive
monitoring and evaluation system will be established that includes (i) ongoing activity based monitoring;
(ii) the outsourcing of evaluation; and, (iii) the recruitment of high level operational research expertise to
help inform and prioritize MoESAC ETF II-funded programmes.
The total requested programmable amount for the 5 year duration (2011-2015) of ETF II (including
UNICEF overheads) is USD$ 85,773,608. A large percentage of these funds will be spent in 2012 and
2013 (approximately USD$23 million each year), with funding requirements decreasing during the
remaining period of the programme as Government of Zimbabwe funding is expected to increase given
current levels of growth and recent increases in revenues. ETF II will develop annual plans linked to
government budget and planning cycles. It aims to be a responsive and flexible means of supporting
specific measurable interventions that meet high priority gaps within the education Strategic Investment
Plan 2011. The programme will work to improve and strengthen guidelines, systems and standards and
will therefore provide a platform to leverage further resources for education.
Outcomes/Attribution
The impact of ETF II’s interventions, from a 2011 base line, is expected to be:
 At least 100,000 more pupils completing primary (G7) or and secondary (Form 4) school by 2015;
 Student learning outcomes at primary and O-level, improved by at least 10 percentage points by
2015, assessed through an enhanced national assessment system;
 A significant reduction in gender gaps, in terms of enrolment and achievement, ensuring a gender
parity index of over 95% at ECD, primary and secondary levels by 2015, with a focus on children
from lower wealth quintiles.
DFIDs share of the total ETF II budget is approximately 45% of the total, so that this represents the level
of attribution to be claimed against the outcomes.
Political, social, institutional and environmental dimensions
Zimbabwe is a fragile state going through a complex and volatile transition. Western donors, in particular
the UK, are treated with considerable suspicion by many key government stakeholders. The European
Commission has undertaken Political Economy Analysis of the Zimbabwean Education Sector in 2011 to
assist in better understanding the situation, implications and risk mitigation strategies for programming.
The key findings are summarized in Annex 3 and used both in the issues matrix below and in the risk
assessment section of the Management Case. The challenge confronting education in Zimbabwe is is to
start the process of recovery in the midst of an ongoing and protracted economic and political crisis.
Whilst the Global Political Agreement signed in 2009 opened up some space to launch the beginnings of
a recovery strategy for the education sector, limited co-operation at the political level compromise efforts
at sustained recovery. The Political Economy Analysis supports the programming approach of the ETF II
proposal and identifies some key design factors to consider:
Political
Key issues
After a lengthy stand-off between the education ministries and donors, except in
relation to emergency responses to crises like the recent cholera epidemic, the
development of the ETF and its careful management by UNICEF has led to a
significantly more positive environment, both in terms of communication and
action. There remain high levels of caution on both sides, but there is a sense of
the start of a process of recovery. The success of the initial phase of the ETF, in
supplying large numbers of textbooks for schools, has increased political and
institutional confidence. But schools, their managers and teachers remain
vulnerable to political influences/pressures.
Institutional
The quality of dialogue, planning and action between MoESAC, UNICEF and
other donor partners has markedly improved in the last year, with sound technical
assistance being provided to MoESAC through ETF resources. Historically elite
urban schools can provide much larger ‘incentives’ to teachers in the richer urban
areas. There is a real fear that if government acts against these favoured
institutions, there will be a rapid blossoming of the private and informal sectors,
which has not been a feature of education in Zimbabwe, with unclear
consequences.
Social and
cultural
There are growing social inequities, related in part to the differential qualities of
schooling available in urban and rural schools. An important response in ETF II is
an attempt to move forward on skill-based (technical – vocational) education,
though it is recognised that this is not a panacea.
Environment
and climate
change
No negative impact on the environment or climate change is anticipated.
Option 2: Support Disadvantaged Girls to Complete Four Years of Secondary Education, through
funding of £12m over the duration of the programme
Investing in Girls’ Education
Research on the additional developmental benefits accruing from educating girls is summarised in the
table below6 with four of the ten impacts referring specifically to investment in secondary education:
There are however a range of general barriers that need to be addressed, and those which apply most
directly to the Zimbabwean context include:

Economic: including direct (school fees) and indirect (uniform, travel), opportunity costs in terms of
household responsibilities;

Social/Cultural: including restrictive religious/cultural views of female empowerment and limited
community expectations of the role of women;

Educational: including lack of female teachers, poor quality curricula and teaching, language of
instruction, teacher absenteeism and overage enrolment;

Physical: distance to school, lack of appropriate sanitation facilities, poor safety of girls in and around
school; and

Political and Institutional (at both national and sub-national levels): lack of political commitment to
girls’ education can mean approaches don’t reflect girls needs and the barriers they face.
Support for girls – Zimbabwean experience
In recent years, two mechanisms have provided support for girls in secondary schools. They are (i) The
Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), and (ii) Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED).
BEAM is an initiative supporting large numbers of OVCs in primary and secondary schools. GoZ has
taken responsibility for the funding of all BEAM secondary interventions, through the Ministry of Labour
and Social Services. In 2010, BEAM at secondary level reached 198,000 students, equally split by
gender, offering financial support through the school of approximately $100 per student per year.
CAMFED has been active in Zimbabwe since 1993. It currently works in 24 districts with 1,726 partner
schools and its programmes have directly benefitted over 700,000 people to date7. It provides a holistic
package of support to partner schools which covers: provision of a ‘safety net’ fund to meet the needs of
vulnerable children; training of teacher mentors; provision of educational resources; training of School
Development Committees; and support for parents to run community projects to contribute to the school
and enable out-of-school children to enrol. Its model is to draw together multiple stakeholders to improve
the quality of education provision, address underlying obstacles to children attending school and
increase accountability at a local level. It proved itself to be adaptable during the crisis of 2008-2009 and
teacher retention levels were much higher in CAMFED partner schools than in other schools in the same
geographical areas.
CAMFED costs its support to a secondary school student at $257 per student per year over the next four
years if it is to provide around 70,000 years of bursaries for secondary education benefitting around
22,000 girls including in new districts. This figure is not strictly comparable with the BEAM figure, as
CAMFED provides a much more comprehensive package of support (clothing, fees, stationery and
sanitary costs). Also, CAMFED support is spread across primary and secondary schools, with different
levels of investment and has numerous spillover effects into the broader school and community including
through a major alumini network. The CAMFED model also aligns well with DFID's corporate approach
on empowerment and accountability to the individual8. In contrast a number of concerns have been
raised regarding BEAM’s efficiency, in particular around targeting bias and lack of transparency in
support to individual students. However BEAM is currently the subject of a major evaluation review
which in a few months time should provide a more accurate picture of the programme.
As a comparator, the new DFID Girls Challenge Fund states that it could fund up to 890,000 girls for
three years of junior secondary school for £355 million or £400 per girl over three years, at £133 (~ $213)
per year. This is similar to the current CAMFED unit cost ($227).
Expected outcomes and impact
The general impact of investment in girls’ schooling and girls receiving secondary education has been
documented earlier in this section. What is also clear is that recent evidence, summarised in the box
below, suggests that the significant benefits for economic growth come from gains in student attainment
rather than mere participation in schooling.
Promotion of Economic Growth
Some studies find that adding one year to the average number of year’s schooling of the
population can add 0.3% or more to the economic growth rate.9 After allowing for the costs
of achieving such an increase, this is equivalent to an economic return of 20% or more. The
cross-country studies of the impact of education on economic growth reflect benefits that
accrue to the broader economy as well as the individual, and imply higher economic rates of
return to the investment.
There is an emerging body of evidence which suggest that the benefits of education for
economic growth come entirely through student attainment. A recent cross-country study
finds that a one standard deviation improvement in student test scores is associated with an
annual economic growth rate that is higher by two percentage points.10 On conservative
assumptions about the cost and phasing for achieving the required improvement, this would
be equivalent to a rate of return of at least 12%.
Investment in girls education at all levels remains a good investment for society from an economic
viewpoint, even without considering the broader health and social benefits, subject to three important
caveats: the benefits come via improved educational attainment by the students, so quality is
paramount; the private returns, especially at primary level, are falling, so costs to the parents need to be
contained, and access to secondary education improved, where the returns are higher; and, although the
average economic returns are attractive, the marginal costs of expanding educational opportunity to
those girls who are currently excluded is likely to be significantly higher.
Political, social, institutional and environmental dimensions
Political
Key issues
Since independence girls’ education and gender equity was strongly supported.
There was a female Minister of Education in the late 1980’s. By the early 1990’s,
Zimbabwe had the best record of participation rates for girls in sub-Saharan Africa,
a matter of genuine pride. Officially, this remains the case, though, as we have
documented, there has been recent slippage of girls’ participation, particularly in
secondary schooling, and their academic achievements lag behind those of boys.
Institutional
Set against that strong political support for gender equity, there are institutional
realities confronting girls. In the professional, often urban, environments, there are
the usual ‘glass ceilings’ common to many countries. The upper echelons of the
senior civil service, business, etc, are still largely populated by males, although
there is a female Vice-President in the Government of National Unity. In rural
areas, where poverty is an everyday reality, women’s roles are more traditional.
And they are frequently dealing with the implications of HIV/AIDS for the family.
Social and
cultural
Zimbabwe is a country where there are high expectations of the social development
of women in the society. But as already mentioned, in the ever-present
environment of HIV/AIDS, women of all ages from teenager to grandparent, find
themselves in unfamiliar caring roles.
Environment
and climate
change
No negative impact on the environment or climate change is anticipated. Indirectly
there is growing evidence of the link between girls education and lower fertility,
resulting in less environmental damage and climate change.
Option 3: Investing in Teachers to address the low skill levels of unqualified teachers, through
approx £11m of support over the duration of the programme
Evidence relating to importance of teachers
Teachers in countries as disparate as Canada, Finland, Singapore and South Korea share a number of
key characteristics including that they are: selected for training from among the highest academic cohorts
of school leavers; well trained; well rewarded; and have high status in their respective societies. In, say,
1990, many of these characteristics applied to Zimbabwean teachers, but this is now rarely the case.
Many teachers with the most marketable skills – particularly in Science and Mathematics – have left the
country for other parts of the region. Twenty thousand are estimated to have left at the height of the crisis
in 2008. They either fill crucial gaps in teaching cadres, as in South Africa, or they use their skill-sets in
other occupations. How many will ever return to teach in Zimbabwe in unclear.
The response in Zimbabwe has been to recruit large numbers of temporary teachers to fill gaps and
maintain the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) at a relatively favourable level. In 2009, the PTRs were: primary
– 32.8:1; secondary – 19.5:1. In 2010, 19,732 teachers were temporarily employed, with the overall
picture shading huge provincial and urban / rural differences: Harare 3% of all teachers were temporarily
employed but the figure for Matabeleland South was 45%. In the secondary sector shortages in Science
and Mathematics are frequently unfilled because no suitable candidates are available. Most of the
temporary staff (and vacancies) are in rural areas where they receive very limited support. They are only
remunerated for their term-time labour (unlike regular teachers) and rural parents can rarely afford salary
'top-ups'.
MoESAC priority in the Education Medium Term Plan
The EMTP proposes that by 2015 Zimbabwe ‘will have a highly motivated and competent professional
teaching cadre providing high quality learning opportunities for all learners in Zimbabwe’. Only some of
the qualified teachers who migrated will return meaning that key elements of responding to this challenge
include: gradually increasing the levels of remuneration of teachers; providing better working
environments in the schools and more in-service training; and the upgrading of under/un-qualified
teachers. In relation to temporary teachers, EMTP targets for 2015 include reducing temporary teachers
on the payroll to less than 10% of the total, and ensuring temporary teachers are employed for at least
twelve months.
How could DFID contribute?
DFID could provide funding of $16.5 million to cover the difference between the term-time-only pay that
temporary teachers currently receive and the annual pay of their permanent counterparts. This would
then make the upgrading of these teachers a realistic ambition. These additional funds would not be
provided as salary increments, but linked to a major upgrading programme. During holiday time,
residential and self study courses would be followed, linked to school based mentoring and teaching
practice.
MoESAC wishes to provide between 10,000 and 15,000 temporary teachers with good quality training to
ensure appropriate certification and full incorporation into the teaching cadre. This would involve the
creation by MoESAC of appropriate programmes which took account of the prior experience of the
students and operated through a combination of part-time study and part-time work with distance or elearning elements.
Such programmes would most likely be based at existing education colleges, or possibly the Zimbabwe
Open University. DFID could fund various aspects of this activity, responding to institutional (support for
design and resourcing of appropriate programmes) and student needs (provision of bursaries and
scholarships). This activity would complement the large-scale in-service training inputs anticipated in the
planning for ETF II and allow ETF to concentrate more on other priority activities.
Outcome
The outcome would be a significant enhancement of the skills of the teaching cadre and the possible
revitalisation of the training institutions. The percentage of under-qualified teachers in the system would
be substantially reduced by 2015 as measured by: (i) appraisal of the performance of the newly trained
teacher, by school (head teacher) and district authorities (officers) (ii) increased teacher attendance; and
(iii) student performance in various student assessment measures (although many other factors other
than teacher qualification influence student performance, such as parental education and income).
Political, social, institutional and environmental dimensions
Political
Key issues
Teachers’ standing in many communities has changed for the worse due in part to
their perceived role in the 2008 election chaos and subsequent departure in large
numbers from the country. This means that attempts to secure salary increases are
unlikely to be positively received. There is also a high level of uncertainty about
how many of those who left will ever return from abroad.
Institutional
A key issue, which is partly political and partly social, is the continuing payment of
‘incentives’ which are essentially salary top-ups largely elicited from parents. There
is a huge difference between the capacity of urban and rural schools to provide this
kind of subsidy, leading to acute differences in the amount of resources available to
schools. Now that this ‘system’ is in place, it will require enormous determination
on the part of MoESAC to remove it. And if mishandled, it could lead to further flight
of teachers from the government-supported system to a growing private school
sector, as is happening in many neighbouring countries in Africa. While a 'one off'
mass upgrade programme can be justified in response to the mass migration of
2007/8, this would significantly add to the payroll, as upgrading teachers implies
high salaries, paid 12 months a year.
Social and
cultural
The notion of the teacher as a key professional in the fabric of the society, charged
with the development of youth in the pursuit of national development aims and
objectives, has suffered in recent years. It is not obvious that teachers as a group
have great determination to address the issue, being preoccupied with survival
strategies. It is important in this context to recognise that teachers are trained to
teach – a primarily cognitive activity with limited practical applications- and their
ability to find jobs in other sectors may be limited.
Environment
and climate
change
No negative impact on the environment or climate change is anticipated.
Option 4.
Do Nothing in terms of Direct Education Support, but put more resources into Cash
Transfers and OVC School Fee payments
Alternative Investments in Cash Transfer and School Fee Payments
To avoid the reputational risks and related impact outlined above DFID could increase financial
contributions to the Child Protection Fund (CPF), in particular earmarking funds to two of its components:
(i) Social Cash Transfers to labour constrained 'ultra-poor' households; and (ii) school fee, levy and exam
payments for OVCs through the national government Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) social
protection system.
DFID’s £20m existing contribution to the CPF was agreed early in 2011 (known as the National Child
Sensitive Protection Programme: NCSPP) and seeks to support the government's National Action Plan
for OVCs (2011-15) through the creation of a new national household based Social Cash Transfer
scheme. BEAM funding for primary students was also included for the Year 2011. BEAM supported an
estimated 680,000 primary and secondary students in 2010.
Diverting the entire £36m proposed into up-scaling the cash transfer scheme and continuing BEAM
support up to 2012 and beyond is a viable alternative. The programme management structure and
agreement via UNICEF is already in place so this would also reduce the amount of programme overhead
costs for DFID Zimbabwe associated with management and oversight of a new programme.
If this option was chosen then discussions about how to support female secondary students would be
needed as currently only primary students benefit from donor BEAM funds. Funds allocated on Cash
Transfers would inevitably be diluted in terms of educational impact as the scheme is not conditional on
school attendance and of course households are expected to use the resources on a spectrum of needs,
not just education. In the next section (the comparison of options) the economic appraisal findings
undertaken for the Child Protection Fund are used to illustrate the potential benefits if this 'demand side'
intervention option was followed.
Political, social, institutional and environmental dimensions
Key issues
Political
There has been a significant experience of cash transfers to schools through
BEAM over a period of a decade. Overall, BEAM seems to provide
reasonable value-for-money al though it goes to schools as a subsidy rather
than to needy individuals. The ETF II intends to re-introduce school grants,
based on an equitable formula and taking account of the needs of
vulnerable children. The proposition is that the school grants approach will
reduce targeting issues
The CPF supports the National Action Plan for OVC which is the
responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS). It is
worth noting that there are some inter-ministry tensions in the Government
of National Unity. And scale-up of cash transfer and reforms of BEAM
targeting may be difficult to influence and even be subject to politically-linked
targeted, especially in electoral periods.
Institutional
The ownership of cash transfer schemes remains highly contentious. BEAM
is managed by the MoLSS and appears to have been professionally
administered. But the Ministry of Education (MoESAC) finds it uncomfortable
that a scheme which benefits students in ‘its’ schools is controlled by
another Ministry.
There is also a discussion going on among donors and with and within
Government about the longer-term future of BEAM.
Social and
cultural
The current BEAM targeting system involves community committees
deciding which OVCs are 'most in need'. This can be divisive locally and
discourage community support to improve and maintain the school
environment.
Environment
and climate
change
No negative impact on the environment or climate change is anticipated.
Option 5: Counterfactual
Implications of Doing Nothing
It is worthwhile briefly outlining the 'status quo' option of not allocating any new UK resources directly to
the education sector. DFID would certainly be vulnerable to criticism from the Government of Zimbabwe
and other development partners, not least because DFID’s Operational Plan 2011–2015 for Zimbabwe
has publically proposed to spend £8m annually on education. Furthermore DFID resumed education
support in 2010 through the first phase of ETF, has seconded an education adviser to the EU Delegation
and in January 2011 allocated an additional £5m to the ETF given the satisfactory progress made. So it
would seem strange to now disengage from the sector.
It is true that five other major donor contributions to the ETF Phase II have already been pledged (EU,
Germany, Finland, Sweden, OSISA). And CAMFED will continue their current programme of girls'
bursaries for secondary education in 24 districts and look for funding from other sources to carry out its
planned expansion to 8 new districts. But the major impact of the UK contributing no further resources
would be that the ETF would be massively under funded (by nearly half) for its 4 year programme and
activities and in particular the school grants programme of ETF II would be scaled back so inhibiting
regular school attendance, progression of pupils and quality learning. It would also mean a continued
reliance on parental inputs and social protection safety net programmes to provide funds for a highly
variable level of education service provision.
B. Evidence on relevant elements of educational change in the different options
As highlighted earlier in this section, educational change is multi-dimensional and an appropriate balance
is necessary to deliver positive impacts. A brief review of evidence regarding the four possible options
follows.
Option 1 Key components of the proposals for ETF II include: (i) provision of school grants (ii) revision
of primary and secondary curriculum with linked Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for
teachers, and (iii) extension of existing assessment processes to include measures of literacy and
numeracy at key stages. The intention of the ETF II, to create a major system of school grants, is an
attempt to reintroduce and improve a collapsed system of government recurrent funding and ensure
consistent quality education in poorer rural areas.
The evidence base for the beneficial impact of the introduction of school grants is substantial, although
with important caveats:
- Zimbabwean and international evidence from across Africa (World Bank UNICEF 2009) suggests
that removing compulsory school costs can have a dramatic and beneficial effect in enabling access to
education for the vulnerable. However this requires careful financial planning and adequate provision of
teachers and essential quality inputs. Most countries that have abolished fees have replaced them with
per capita based school grants11
- Woessmann (2003), following analysis of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) results indicates that “increasing school resources will not succeed in raising student
achievement unless these resources are used efficiently by teachers and schools”. It should be noted
however that most schools submitting for TIMSS are in industrialised countries.
- A major multi-country synthesis paper on School Based Management found that ' it has the
potential to be a low cost way of making public spending on education more efficient by increasing the
accountability of the agents involved and by empowering the clients to improve learning outcomes'
(World Bank 2007)12
In the Nigerian Girls Education Project (since 2005), grants to schools, on the basis of welldeveloped school plans, appear to have been a successful way to increase transparency and
commitment at the local level. School Based Management Committees are holding schools accountable.
These grants are scrutinised not just by the SBMC but by the wider community. There is a theory well
tested in development literature that moving accountability closer to where the service is provided,
reduces corruption. There are anecdotal reports of communities raising funds, building classrooms and
contracting their own teachers.(Sulleiman Adediran, 2010)13
The evidence base for school grants is assessed as Medium
There is less evidence relating to the impact of curriculum reform on learning outcomes. But relevant
studies include:
- Abadzi (2006), applying cognitive neuroscience to the pedagogy of reading, recommended a
minimum of 850 hours of instruction per year, with effective use of instructional time; a textbook for every
student to take home; and, for multi-grade teaching, an integrated package of materials, training support
and curriculum.
- An analysis of international tests shows that broad-based cognitive skills are key for economic
growth, income distribution and returns to investment in education. The analysis also demonstrated that
gains for those individuals with more advanced skills sets are important (Hanushek & Woessmann,
2007).
This relative lack of evidence may be partly due to the fact that a new curriculum teaches different skills
and so it might be hard to compare or measure gains in student learning. It is also worth noting that,
despite a recognised international commonality across syllabuses (the Primary Mathematics curriculum
in Tajikistan is probably remarkably similar to that in Tanzania), huge professional effort is often invested
in curriculum reform processes which generate little change in classroom practice and the quality of
learning. Overall the evidence base for curriculum reform is Low
While it is clear that close attention needs to be given to the assessment of student progress in literacy
and numeracy and that this process needs to begin long before the first public assessment by ZimSEC at
the end of the primary cycle, there is as yet little evidence that such results are being used in Zimbabwe
other than to level criticism against teachers. The key outcome from such testing needs to be the use of
the findings in supporting individual teachers in improving the approaches they use in their classrooms.
It has already been signalled that, while investment in focused student skill assessments is an important
development, findings related to the impact on teaching and learning processes are not yet available.
The evidence base is assessed as Low
Overall the evidence base for Option 1 (ETF-2) is assessed as Medium.
Option 2. The evidence of impact of investment in the education of girls through primary and secondary
school has been referred to under Option 1 and is summarised in the DFID Girls Challenge Fund
Business Case14. Keeping girls in school is a key development challenge and is one that, twenty years
ago, was a normal Zimbabwean expectation. While this still remains largely true for primary schooling,
the lowered rates of participation of girls in secondary schooling are of great concern.
The collapse of government recurrent funding for Zimbabwean schools and the consequent additional
burden on families has been documented in the Strategic Case. Keeping girls and OVCs in school has
become an urgent priority in this context. BEAM, through direct transfers of funds to schools, at a cost of
$27per pupil supported per annum, can reasonably claim to contribute to holding primary attendance
rates at around 85%. CAMFED support to girls at secondary level is at a much higher level - $227 per
supported student – but comes with a cluster of important complementary benefits.
The evidence base for targeted support for girls includes:
- In rural western Kenya, scholarships for girls improved achievement scores and self-esteem
relative to those not selected15.
- The Bangladesh school stipend programme has resulted in a 20-30% increase in school
enrolment, and children benefiting from the programme are likely to stay in school for up to two years
longer than other children16.
- In a randomized trial of a cash transfer program to support adolescent girls in Malawi, the
researchers found improvements in school enrolment for girls whether or not the cash grants (both to the
parents and to the girl) were conditioned on school attendance.17 However, attendance and test scores
only improved for those whose grants were conditioned on school attendance.
- Results from Latin America and Africa demonstrate that cash transfers have also shown to be
beneficial in increasing secondary education outcomes and reducing child labour for adolescent girls.18
- The World Bank regards the introduction of ‘Education subsidies through conditional cash
transfers’ as a strategic option for addressing barriers to girls’ education19.
The evidence base is assessed as Medium
Option 3. Investment in attempting to enhance the skill-sets and performance of teachers in subSaharan African countries, and elsewhere, has often produced unconvincing outcomes. Likely
explanations include: the very large numbers of teachers in the system; failure in the training processes
to diagnose the needs of individual teachers; failure to apply training and better pedagogic approaches in
the actual classrooms of the individual teacher; failure to provide useful support mechanisms at the
school/classroom levels; and low ability to motivate teachers without reasonable salary and conditions of
service, regardless of individual skills, training and aptitude20.
Barber et al (2010) create what is almost a hierarchy of challenges which can lead to the recognition of a
teacher as an autonomous professional. In summary, they are (i) provide motivation and ‘scaffolding’ for
low-skill teachers (ii) ensure teacher (and school) accountability (iii) establish collaborative practices
between teachers within and across schools (iv) make the apprenticeship and mentorship of teachers as
distinct as that seen by other professionals in medicine and law.
For Zimbabwe this has now become a formidable agenda given that around 25% of teachers are either
unqualified or under-qualified, and operating at a very low level. Due to the collapse of recurrent funding
for development activities throughout the last decade, activity in all four levels is minimal. The proposed
teacher development option is a direct response to the commitment of MoESAC, in its Education Medium
Term Plan, to ensure that unqualified or under-qualified teachers reach the minimum diploma level to be
considered qualified. The ETF II proposal includes a commitment to address the continuing professional
development (CPD) needs of the rest of the teaching force. The development of this programme is workin-progress and will need to take account of historical weak outcomes from programmes of in-service
teacher education.
There is a good understanding of what needs to be done to improve teacher performance linking the five
stages of theory, demonstration, practice, feedback and support/mentoring. Unfortunately, there is rarely
systematic follow-through in training interventions, be they for pre-service, newly qualified or experienced
teachers. If the classic training sequence stops after the first two stages, the impact on changed practice
is close to zero.
Studies which indicate some of the conditions needed to achieve changes in teaching and learning
include:
- Analysis of the PASEC standard tests for Mathematics and French in Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Madagascar by Michaelowa (2001) showed that teacher’s initial education
and training, and experience, had a significant impact on results.
- The cluster-based mentoring programme (CBMP), Pakistan – cascade model to deliver schoolbased professional development teachers. Mentoring improves teachers’ skills and students’
achievement, with positive feedback from mentors and mentees. Can be replicated on large-scale costeffectively (Hussain et al, 2007).
- Evaluating teacher in-service training in Namibia, O’Sullivan (2001) found that success came
from school-focused programmes based on teachers’ needs, related to classroom realities. The series of
courses offered were planned and formal in nature, and offered supervision and follow up as teachers
tried out their new skills.
The evidence base is assessed as Low.
Option 4. This proposes an unspecified mix of alternative investment in girls bursaries (see Option 2)
and social cash transfers to households via the existing Child Protection Fund instrument.
No attempt has been made to summarise the evidence base on general conditional / non conditional
cash transfer which is already extensive in MICs (especially Latin America) and rapidly growing in Africa.
(see Child Protection Fund NCSSPP Technical Appraisal, DFID Zimbabwe, Dec. 2010).
There is a clear dilution of impact in this context on education participation and learning outcomes as the
cash transfer scheme is general and not specific or conditional to education. In contrast the purpose of
this investment is specific for education. A major World Bank meta-synthesis review report on
conditional cash transfers finds that overall there is evidence of impact on increased school attendance,
but that they have little impact on improved learning outcomes which require supply side interventions in
tandem. 21
So the evidence base is assessed as Low
A summary of the evidence base around feasible options in this business case is in the table below:
Option
Evidence rating
1 - ETF-II, school grants and other
Medium
reforms
2 - Keeping Girls in School
Medium
3 - Teacher Upgrading
Low
4 - Alternative Social Cash Transfers
Low
What is the likely impact (positive and negative) on climate change and environment for each
feasible option?
Overall, the intervention poses no direct risk to the environment and climate change. However, there are
more potential opportunities on natural resource use and climate change issues that can be exploited
with the intervention. Most of the Sub-Saharan economies, like Zimbabwe, significantly rely on
agriculture which is also a major source of livelihoods for the majority of the rural populations. Women
make up 70% of the agricultural workforce in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. It means therefore that the
economy and livelihoods of the majority of people, especially women, is quite vulnerable to weather
shocks (droughts and floods) which are currently on the increase as a result of climate change.
Poverty is the prime cause for the widespread environmental damage and natural resource degradation
in Zimbabwe and most parts of the sub-Saharan Africa. Of course institutional and market failure plays
an integral part in the poverty-environmental degradation nexus22. Rapid deforestation is associated with
increasing vulnerability to floods, reduced agricultural production and increased levels of water-borne
diseases23.
Educating girls and women and therefore empowering them in sound decision making is an important
strategy bearing in mind they are main users of natural resources and the most affected with climate
change. There is evidence that gender inequality increases the vulnerability and reduces the capacity of
women and girls to reduce and respond to the impact of disasters aggravated by climate change24.
Drought, deforestation, and land degradation increase women’s’ workload (women walk long distances
to fetch water, food and firewood), and the need for girls’ to contribute to household income and
domestic work. These pressures make it difficult for them to remain in school both during, and after a
crisis, negatively impacting on the rest of their lives.
Therefore interventions that help girls to remain in school and strategies to strengthen education systems
including development of a strong curriculum and improve skills of teachers will help empower women
with access to information and knowledge increases. Lack of access to information and knowledge has
been blamed for increasing women’s vulnerability. While women’s vulnerability to disasters is often
highlighted, their role in building resilience has usually been overlooked. Evidence is emerging that
suggests that educating women and girls is a cost effective means of reducing environmental
degradation through its impacts on reducing fertility rates, population pressure and poverty25. Recent
studies conducted by the World Bank26 and the Centre for Global Development27 have found that
educating girls and women is one of the best ways of ensuring that communities are better able to adapt
to extreme weather events and climate change.
Educating women is one of the ‘best climate change disaster prevention investments’ because more
educated women are better able to adapt their homes and livelihoods to climate extremes.28 Further,
educated girls and women tend to earn higher income levels, which helps them cope with the impact of
disasters and climate change. Educated women help communities and societies become healthier,
wealthier and safer, and help to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and tackle the spread of
HIV and AIDS. This intervention also offers opportunity to integrate/ or strengthen the curriculum with
relevant information on environmental, natural resource management and current issues on climate
change.
Categorise as A, high potential risk / opportunity; B, medium / manageable potential risk / opportunity; C,
low / no risk / opportunity; or D, core contribution to a multilateral organisation.
Option Climate change and environment risks
Climate change and environment
and impacts, Category (A, B, C, D)
opportunities, Category (A, B, C, D)
1
C
B
2
C
B
3
C
B
4
C
C
C. What are the costs and benefits of each feasible option?
Four options have been presented as both addressing important system needs for Zimbabwe and being
consistent with DFID strategy and approach. They are:
1 Support the UNICEF-managed ETF II pooled fund
2 Support for girls’ education through a non-state actor
3 Support, through a separate management mechanism, MoESAC commitment to up-grade its large
numbers of unqualified teachers
4 Cash transfers to support girls and OVCs through the UNICEF managed Child Protection
Fund/BEAM
The approach taken in all four options is to estimate benefits in terms of the private returns to education
from increased earnings in employment for each successive year of primary and secondary education,
drawing on the evidence base outlined in Annex 2, the Economic Appraisal Background Paper. From the
evidence base, average private returns for each additional year of education are estimated to increase
by 15% per year for primary education and 25% per year for secondary education.
A discount rate of 10% was utilised throughout the analysis. This is the rate used for all cost benefit
analysis undertaken by DFID Zimbabwe. In all of the options the costs last for the duration of the
programme i.e. 2011-2015, duration of expected benefits is modelled to last for 38 years from leaving
school based on a life expectancy of 48 years29. It is standard practice to assume long term economic
benefits in education projects with the Global Girls Education Challenge Fund assuming benefits lasting
for 35 years.
The attribution of benefits across the programme provides a further issue. The returns to education cited
in Annex 2 are based on the education sector as a whole rather than its components, while the four
different options are targeted at different parts of the education sector. It is difficult to estimate benefits
based on an intervention that targets only part of the education system. The approach taken is to
apportion the benefits that are expected to accrue to each intervention on a percentage basis, using the
evidence base again of Annex 2. The benefits are apportioned as follows:

The school grants programme will address the current acute lack of funding for school running
costs and teaching and learning materials. It is therefore estimated that 25% of the calculated
increased earnings by beneficiaries will accrue to this component.

The teacher training programme will be reinforced by a new curriculum and by improved
management at national, provincial and district level as well as in individual schools. This
produces a stronger base for a successful impact from teacher training. It is therefore also
expected that 25% of the calculated increased earnings by beneficiaries will accrue to this
component.

The technical education component will provide training to out-of-school youth who have been
lost to the education system. It is therefore expected that a relatively high 25% of the calculated
increased earnings by beneficiaries will accrue to this component.

The return to mainstream will similarly target youth that have been lost to the education system
and so the accrued benefit is also estimated at 25%.

For all other ETF II components a further 10% return is accrued to all school pupils as
beneficiaries, this lower return recognising that other components are systemic in nature and
focused on building capacity in the education system as a whole.
As the benefits are calculated in terms of the additional private returns to education through increased
earnings, the beneficiaries across all four options are taken to be the pupils graduating from each year of
the school system. These beneficiaries include pupils leaving or dropping out of school before the grade
of completion for primary and secondary education. Projected pupil numbers for each year of the four
options are taken from the projections made for the draft Education Medium Term Plan (EMTP) 2011-15,
which covers the same period as the proposed DFID intervention for each of the four options.
Costs as reported in the appraisal include both the direct cost of the programme and the
opportunity cost of children attending school based on an assumption that a child who does not
attend school earns $100 a year. These options are now considered in turn (Annex 2, the
Economic Appraisal Background Paper to this Business Case has more details of the cost
benefit analysis and a substantial literature review of the latest evidence on economic and social
returns to investments in education in developing countries).
Option 1: Support the ETF II pooled fund
ETF II will support the following key activities:
 The finalisation of a national sector planning framework for education, with corresponding
provincial and district level plans, directed by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture;
 The development of a national school grants initiative, delivering critical investment (including
WASH) at school level, to assist in the reduction of financial barriers to education for both boys
and girls;
 In-service training of at least 100,000 teachers in modern pedagogical and subject based skills,
with a focus on improving the basic teaching skills of at least 10,000 unqualified teachers;
 Training of at least 300 key Ministry personnel at the national, provincial and district level, as well
as some 8,000 school heads to strengthen their system management capacities related to
planning, implementation, supervision and monitoring, linked to priorities outlined in the
emerging 5 Year Strategic Plan;
 The development of a fully revised, modern, market oriented and culturally appropriate curriculum
framework, with corresponding tested syllabi for all ECD, primary and secondary levels;
 Development of a second chance education programme, providing alternative learning
opportunities for at least 200,000 young people, with the aim of returning at least 100,000 school
learners to mainstream education.
The benefits accruing to the ETF II pooled fund programme are estimated on the basis that it is a multifaceted intervention targeted at the education system as a whole. It is expected that a high proportion of
the private returns to improved education will accrue to the beneficiaries through improved educational
attainment.
As noted above, the proportion of benefits from improved private returns to education is not assumed to
exceed 25% for any of the ETF II components. The rationale for this decision is that the programme is a
supporting intervention to the MOESAC EMTP, which provides most of the monetary and human
resources in the education system. Most benefits will therefore accrue to the strengthened and refocused
activities of MOESAC guided by the EMTP.
Summary of ETF II cost-benefit analysis results
Total discounted benefits
$10 704 075 723
Total discounted cost ETF II programme
$1 506 248 98130
Net Present Value
$9 197 826 741
Benefit - Cost Ratio
7.1
The ETF II CBA demonstrates results of both the high private returns to education as well as the benefits
of a multi-faceted sector wide approach. It gives a high BCR of 7.1.
The table below gives a sensitivity analysis on some of the key variables in the CBA.
Sensitivity analysis on the ETF II CBA
BCR
Central Scenario
Assume only 20% of core programme benefits attributable to ETF II programme
7.1
6.0
Assume a higher discount rate of 12%
5.6
Assume lower annual earnings differential rate of 10% and 20% for primary and secondary
respectively
5.3.
The sensitivity analysis shows that the BCA remains favourable under all cases. The highest potential
impact is at a significantly lower estimated private return to education, which nevertheless still gives a
high BCR of 5.3. Drastically lowering the number of years over which the project will realise benefits to
10 years lowers the NPV to a still highly favourable $3,788,837,380.
Option 2: Support for girls’ education through a non-state actor
The second option is for DFID to support girls’ education through the provision via an NGO of bursaries
to girls to ensure their participation in secondary schooling. DFID will provide £12 million over the four
year period, 2011-2015.
Bursaries to girls are calculated at a level of US$100 per girl, the same level as the ongoing BEAM
programme targeting OVCs. Bursaries will be given to girls in secondary school in Forms 1 to 4, with the
programme starting in Form 1 in 2011 and adding an additional form each year. There is therefore an
implied commitment to ongoing funding after 2015 for bursaries for selected girls that start in Form 1 in
that year. The table below sets out both the 2011-15 funding, number of girls in the scheme as well as
the expected ongoing commitment.
Girls’ education budget and implied ongoing commitment US$ million
Cost
No girls
Girls’ education programme
2011
2012
2013
$1.3
$2.5
$3.6
12 800
24 854
36 372
2014
$4.8
47 545
2015
$5.8
58 266
Implied ongoing commitment
2016
2017
2018
$4.1
$2.6
$1.2
40 783
25 652
12 356
2019
$0.9
928
The benefits accruing to the girls’ education programme are estimated on the basis that it is a strategy to
increase the participation of girls in secondary education. It is therefore a supportive intervention to the
MOESAC EMTP which aims to strengthen the education system as a whole.
It is expected a high proportion of the private returns to education will accrue to the beneficiaries through
improved educational attainment. It is assumed that 25% of the calculated increased earnings by
beneficiaries will accrue to the girls’ education programme. The remaining private benefits will therefore
accrue to the strengthened and refocused activities of MOESAC guided by the EMTP.
There is an important assumption of the girls’ education programme: that the expected benefits accruing
to the intervention are predicated upon the successful implementation of the MOESAC EMTP and hence
on increased participation by girls in a secondary education system that is being strengthened by other
supporting interventions.
Summary of girls’ education programme cost-benefit analysis results
Total discounted benefits
$586 183 326
Total discounted cost ETF II programme
Net Present Value
$72 815 562
$513 367 763
Benefit - Cost Ratio
8.0
The girls’ education CBA demonstrates the high private returns to education for girls that was noted in
the previous section. It gives a high BCR of 8.0.
The table below gives a sensitivity analysis on some of the key variables in the CBA.
Sensitivity analysis on the girls’ education CBA
BCR
Central Scenario
Assume only 20% of core programme benefits attributable to girls bursaries programme
8.0
6.4
Assume a higher discount rate of 12%
Assume lower annual earnings differential rate of 10% and 20% for primary and
secondary respectively
6.7
6.1
The sensitivity analysis shows that the BCA remains favourable under all cases. The highest potential
impact is through a significantly lower estimated private return to education, which nevertheless still gives
a high BCR of 6.1. Reducing the number of years over which the project will deliver benefits to 10 years
lowers the NPV to a still highly favourable $195,850,567.
Option 3: Support to MOESAC to upgrade teacher qualifications
The third option is for DFID support to MOESAC to upgrade the large numbers of unqualified and under
qualified teachers. DFID could provide funding to cover the gap between the present term-time only pay
and annual pay of temporary teachers, linked to a major upgrading programme. During vacation time
residential and self study courses would be followed, linked to school based mentoring and pedagogic
practice in term time. For the purposes of this option it assumed that the teaching quality component of
the ETF II would be fully funded by DFID and focused entirely on the upgrading of the targeted teachers.
The table below sets out the costs of the option.
Teacher upgrading programme costs
ETF II teaching quality component
2011
$360 000
2012
$4 200 000
2013
$4 000 000
2014
$4 000 000
2015
$4 000 000
Expected benefits
The teacher upgrading option would be targeted at between 14,000 and 18,000 temporary teachers per
year to provide them with good quality training to ensure appropriate certification and full incorporation
into the teaching cadre. This would involve MoESAC in the creation of appropriate programmes which
took account of the prior experience of the students and operated in a part-study/part-work mode with
distance or e-learning elements.
Based on the target of MOESAC’s EMTP to reduce the proportion of temporary teachers to 10% of the
teaching cadre by 2015, the temporary teachers set out in the table below would be expected to receive
training.
Number of temporary teachers to be targeted for upgrading
Primary temporary teachers
Secondary temporary teachers
Total temporary teachers
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
12 424 11 990 11 524 10 977 10 338
6 120
5 554
4 964
4 397
3 799
18 544 17 544 16 488 15 374 14 137
In the same manner as for the other options, a monetary value of the benefit cannot be assigned.
Monetary benefits are estimated through the increased private returns to education as a whole.
Balance of costs and benefits
The benefits accruing to the girls’ education programme are estimated on the basis of a far lower level of
funding for the ETF II. In this event DFID and other bilateral donors would target with discrete areaspecific interventions to support the MOESAC EMTP. Option 3 is highlighted as one of the most likely
interventions given the EMTP priorities.
In this event however it is likely that the sector wide approach implicit in ETF II will not be providing the
level of support anticipated to the education system. Given the limited domestic funding for education,
there is likely to be insufficient support for the necessary systemic improvements to reinforce teacher
training.
The appraisal of the feasible options in the business case also highlights that investment in attempting to
enhance the skill-sets and performance of teachers in sub-Saharan African countries, and elsewhere,
has often produced unconvincing outcomes due to:





The very large numbers of teachers in the system
Failure in the training processes to diagnose the needs of individual teachers
Failure to follow through training inputs in the context in which all change must occur – the
classroom of the individual teacher
Failure to provide useful support mechanisms at the school/classroom levels
Low ability to motivate teachers without reasonable salary and conditions of service, regardless of
individual skills, training and aptitude31.
With the anticipated under-funding of ETF II that this option entails it is highly unlikely that this necessary
support for effective teacher upgrading will be funded at adequate levels.
Based on both this under-funding and the poor evidence for the success of teacher upgrading without
follow up and support in the classroom, it is expected that a low proportion of the private returns to
improved education will accrue to the beneficiaries through improved educational attainment. It is
therefore assumed that only 10% of the calculated increased earnings by beneficiaries will accrue to the
teacher upgrading programme.
Summary of teacher upgrading programme cost-benefit analysis results
Total discounted benefits
$1 737 421 061
Total discounted cost ETF II programme
$887 424 880
Net Present Value
$849 996 181
Benefit - Cost Ratio
1.9
The teacher upgrading CBA demonstrates the low private returns to education supported by the poor
evidence base and by the need for teacher training and upgrading to be part of overall strengthening of
the education system. It gives a lower BCR of 1.9. The table below gives a sensitivity analysis on some
of the key variables in the CBA.
Sensitivity analysis on the teacher upgrading CBA
BCR
Central Scenario
Assume only 5% of core programme benefits attributable to teacher training
1.9
0.9
Assume a higher discount rate of 12%
Assume lower annual earnings differential rate of 10% and 20% for primary and secondary
respectively
1.5
1.4
The sensitivity analysis shows that the BCA is significantly lower under all cases. Reducing the number
of years over which the project will deliver benefits to 10 years lowers the NPV to minus $30,456,682.
Option 4: Cash transfers to support girls and OVCs
In option 4 DFID would increase its financial contributions to the Child Protection Fund (CPF) earmarking
funds to two of its components as follows:
1) Social Cash Transfers to labour constrained 'ultra-poor' households
2) School fee, levy and exam payments for OVCs through the national government Basic Education
Assistance Module (BEAM) social protection system.
DFID’s £20m existing contribution to the CPF was agreed early in 2011 (known as the National Child
Sensitive Protection Programme: NCSSPP) and seeks to support the government's National Action Plan
for OVCs (2011-15) in the creation of a new national household based Social Cash Transfer scheme as
its major initiative. BEAM funding for primary students is also included for the Year 2011. Question
marks exist over the efficiency of BEAM's targeting strategy; but it was already supporting an estimated
680,000 primary and secondary students in 2010.
Diverting the entire £32m of funds earmarked in the DFID Operational Plan for Zimbabwe into up-scaling
the cash transfer scheme and continuing BEAM support up to 2012 and beyond is a viable alternative
with a programme management structure via UNICEF and agreement already in place. This would also
reduce the programmatic overhead to DFID Zimbabwe associated with management and oversight.
The benefits accruing to the fourth option are adjusted slightly from the economic analysis undertaken for
DFID support to the CPF in 201032 and are summarised in the table below.
Summary of child protection services, cash transfers and BEAM cost-benefit analysis results
Costs and benefits ($)
BCR NPV
Cash transfer
Incremental discounted benefit
$179 065 826
1.1
$16 192 741
Incremental discounted cost
Child protection services Incremental discounted benefit
GBV services
Justice for children
$162 873 085
$163 097 905
$15 607 815
1.4 $128 716 411
Net discounted cost (direct)
Direct cost
Opportunity cost
BEAM
Net discounted benefit
$46 239 310
$3 750 000
$1 334 044 655
Net discounted cost
Direct cost
Opportunity cost
3.7 $282 348 867
$15 218 000
$1 036 477 788
The CBA for DFID funding of the CPF demonstrates high returns to cash transfer schemes with a BCR of
1.1 and 1.4 for child protection services and high returns to BEAM with a BCR of 3.7. Sensitivity analysis
was not undertaken as part of the economic analysis for DFID funding of the CPF.
4.
Identification of the Preferred Option
DFID commitment to supporting both a quality enhancement objective and an access for girls/OVCs
objective can be addressed in more than one way. The table below illustrates the more likely
permutations:
Permutation
Justification
Management
Options
(1)+ (2)
Through school grants and other complementary inputs ETF II: UNICEF
under ETF II addresses quality enhancement objective;
Girls: CAMFED
meets issue of retaining girls through secondary school
(2)+ (3)
Addresses the core challenge of providing schools with Teachers:
better teachers; meets issue of retaining girls through Management
secondary school
agent
Girls: CAMFED
(1)+ (3)
Through school grants and other complementary inputs ETF II: UNICEF
under ETF II addresses quality enhancement objective;
CPF: UNICEF
BEAM meets issue of retaining OVCs and girls in
secondary school.
(4)
Cash transfers stimulates education access and demand CPF: UNICEF
for OVCs. Meets issue of retaining OVCs in education
and girls in secondary school
The first permutation listed above: (1) and (2) is the preferred overall option:
Option 1: ETF pooled fund: To contribute up to £6 million per annum from 2012-2015 to the second
phase of the Education Transition Fund, ETFII
Option 2: Girls Education: Support Disadvantaged Girls to Complete Four Years of Secondary
Education
The key factors in coming to this recommendation are as follows:
Political / Institutional
DFID would be highly vulnerable to reputational risk from the UK public, government and other
development partners if it did not support education in Zimbabwe.
The ETF has established a strong and credible 'brand' and modus operandi to support Zimbabwe's
fragile recovery in a politically uncertain and constrained environment1.
It also aligns with the
Government of Zimbabwe’s medium term sector strategy, and provides an instrument that can rapidly
expand in the case of a positive political settlement.
Secondary girls’ education bursaries are universally popular, building on existing established schemes
and will give space for the government BEAM programme of support for OVCs to evolve.
Evidence Base
Medium overall for the programme proposed for the ETF, a focus on per capita school finance has
considerable merit given its likely impact on user fees and access for the poor. There is need to
recognise that education is multi-facted and a programme of support that shadows the sector plan
cannot 'cherry pick' only the high impact activities.
Medium for secondary girls' education, with plenty of international and domestic evidence to draw upon.
Evidence for targeting resources only for teacher upgrading or cash transfers and school fee payments is
not as strong, prone to being undermined by low teacher remuneration that de-motivates performance
and cash transfers that do not promote education quality improvements.
Economic
From the cost-benefit analysis of the previous section Option 3 teacher upgrading is rejected on the
basis of the low returns to stand-alone teacher training programmes outside complementary education
system support. Option 1 Support to the ETF II and Option 2 Support to Girls’ Education both
demonstrate high returns, especially in the case of support to girls’ education, in line with the evidence
base of the earlier section. Option 4 Support to the CPF overall demonstrates a similar return to support
to the ETF II. But it and the ‘do nothing’ Option 5 suffers from reputational risk to DFID from withdrawal of
support to education in Zimbabwe. The permutation of Options 1 (Support to ETF II) and Option 2
(Support to Girls’ Education) is therefore recommended for funding by DFID.
Commercial / Management
UNICEF offers a strong and trusted partner in country to manage major donor pooled funds instruments
at a reasonable overhead rate (7%) in a complex operating environment. CAMFED is a well-established
partner that can be anticipated to quickly and efficiently manage a scaled-up programme of girls
education bursaries. The ETF-2 design does not propose girls scholarships and routing all sector
support via a sole implementing partner creates risks which having a second strand to the programme
helps mitigate.
D. What measures can be used to assess Value for Money for the intervention?
The recommendation for DFID funding of Option 1: ETF II pooled fund and Option 2: Girls Education
forms a multi-faceted sector wide approach to strengthening the education system, guided by MOESAC
and the reform process that it has instituted through the EMTP. Value for Money (VfM) indicators
therefore need to reflect the depth of this combined intervention. The recommended VfM measures
described below before being set out in the following table.
i.
Total cost per pupil. To assess cost effectiveness and the prospects of programme objectives
being achieved, MOESAC costs need to be included. This VfM measure gives the cost per pupil
within the education system for comparison against other African countries and international
benchmarks. It should be calculated as the cost per pupil under the two MOESAC cost centres
(effectively programmes) of primary and secondary education.
ii.
Total cost of delivering per capita grant expenditure per pupil per year. The school grants
programme is one of the most important interventions to cover school running costs and ensure
teaching and learning materials are in the classroom. Actual disbursed grants should be
monitored at primary and secondary level and by school category (urban low density, urban high
density, rural) to both compare with international targets for per pupil funding and to assess VfM
in improving equity in the education system. An overall target of US$10 per capita funding per
pupil in both primary and secondary schools by 2015 is included in the EMTP. Once the school
grants programme is designed this target is likely to be sub-divided to direct finance to schools in
greater need.
iii.
Textbook unit costs. ETF I achieved a notable success in reducing average textbook unit costs to
US$1.00 in primary schools and US$2.00 in secondary schools, including distribution. School
teaching and learning materials will continue to be provided under ETF II and this unit cost would
continue to be monitored for efficiency gains.
iv.
Teacher training costs. The teacher quality component of ETF II will focus on teacher skills
development and upgrading. At present unit costs are not known in this area. It will be important
to set targets for training costs per teacher for the different elements of the training programme as
a benchmark against which VfM performance can be assessed.
v.
Girl bursary costs. An average bursary figure of US$100 per girl per year has been used in the
CBA which is the figure used to support OVCs under BEAM. The CAMFED unit cost in secondary
school is far higher at US$227 per pupil per year over a four-year period, but this provides a much
more comprehensive package of support which highlights the need for caution when using unit
cost comparisons even within the same country. Bursary costs per girl per year will form a key
VfM monitoring indicator against the tendered cost. In considering this the local unit costs of the
different component parts of the bursary (for example clothing and stationery costs) will be taken
account of.
vi.
Cost per teacher upgraded and appointed to a school post. This will measure the overall
efficiency of the sector in terms of cost of appointing newly trained teachers to their post.
vii.
Cost per girl completing secondary school. The focus of the girls’ bursary programme will be
bringing and retaining girls in secondary school Forms 1 to 4. Although not entirely wasted,
expenditure on girls who drop out or repeat years is much less cost-effective in generating
benefits. Ability to calculate this measure depends on availability of grade specific repetition and
drop out data. It is more of a long term indicator, but should be assessed at the baseline, and
evaluated at completion. CAMFED currently claim a higher than 90% retention rate (girls
completing all four of Forms 1 to 4) for girls receiving bursaries.
Recommended Value for Money Indicators
No
1
Indicator
Total Cost
per pupil33
2
Total cost
of
delivering
per capita
grants per
Definition
MOESAC total expenditure on
primary and secondary
education per pupil
Total expenditure per pupil
(including overheads) under the
school grants programme, both
while funded under ETF II and
once partially transferred to
The 3e’s
Economy
Economy
.
Source of data
MOESAC
expenditure data and
EMIS figures
ETF and MOESAC
expenditure data and
EMIS figures
Baseline
Primary US$76 and
Secondary US$118 per
pupil in 2010
Initial EMTP target for per
capita funding is US10 per
pupil by 2015 but targets
will be set by school level
and category
year
3
Textbook
unit costs
4
Teacher
training
costs
Girl
bursary
costs
Cost per
teacher
upgraded
and
appointed
to a school
post
Cost per
girl
completing
secondary
school
5
6
7
MOESAC. Monitored by school
level and category.
Average costs per school
textbook including delivery
Economy
UNICEF expenditure
and ETF monitoring
data
Average cost per teacher for
the delivery of training
Economy
Average cost of a bursary per
girl per year
Economy
Average cost of upgrading
teacher and allocating them to
a post
Efficiency
UNICEF expenditure
and ETF monitoring
data
expenditure and
programme
monitoring data from
implementing partner
ETF and MOESAC
expenditure data and
EMIS figures
Cost per girl who completes
Form 4 under the bursary
programme
Effective
ness
expenditure and
programme
monitoring data from
CAMFED
US$1.00 and US2.00 per
primary and secondary
textbook respectively in
2010
No baseline at present
No baseline at present but
BEAM cost of US$100
used in calculating
programme costs
No baseline at present
$257 cost of CAMFED
programme for 2012-2015
E. Summary Value for Money Statement for the preferred option
Cost-benefit analysis was conducted based on the evidence of high private returns to education in the
form of increased earnings from each additional year of education. Using plausible assumptions based
on the available research and apportioning the level of expected benefits from the benefit-cost ratio
(BCR) we found that both Option 1 (Support to the ETF II) and Option 2 (Support to Girls’ Education)
demonstrate good Value for Money, with BCRs of 7.1 and 8.0 respectively. This aligns with the medium
evidence base for these options. A series of less quantifiable additional benefits and spin offs are also
expected, including impacts on health, fertility, and social cohesion. Economic returns and development
benefits are especially evident for girls’ education. Input unit costs will be closely monitored and where
possible driven down, for example on annual per child capita grants and girls bursaries.
Commercial Case
Clearly state the procurement/commercial requirements for intervention
DFID Procurement Department has advised that the two components of the preferred option could be
procured through indirect procurement through (i) - an MOU with UNICEF for the ETF-II contribution
and (ii) an Accountable Grant arrangement for girls education. For the UNICEF contract, DFID would
need to be assured that the proposed evaluation processes (which are comprehensive), report
independently and in sufficient detail. For the accountable grant, DFID Zimbabwe would source an
independent evaluation function through a framework arrangement with the DFID Human
Development Resource Centre or similar provider.
Indirect procurement
A. Why is the proposed funding mechanism/form of arrangement the right one for this
intervention, with this development partner?
(i)
Support to the Education Transition Fund II (ETF II)
The programme of support to ETF II is a direct follow-up to two earlier contributions of support to
ETF's first phase. DFID’s contribution to ETF II would be to a pooled fund with contributions from at
least five other donors. The management agency for ETF I was UNICEF Zimbabwe, with whom an
MOU covering what was identified as a Contribution Agreement was concluded. The Contribution
was to be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the ETF, with co-mingling of DFID contributions
with other donor contributions being allowed. It is anticipated that the form of the agreement for
contributions to ETF II will be identical, aligning with similar DFID/UNICEF contribution agreements in
Zimbabwe and further afield. There will be standard requirements for joint annual reporting and
oversight to minimise transaction overheads to all parties.
(ii)
Supporting Girls to Complete Four Grades of Secondary Education
The programme would be funded through an Accountable Grant to CAMFED which has developed a
strong track-record in this field in Zimbabwe since 1993. It is the only organisation who can deliver on
the scale and timeframes envisaged. Other options –for example opening it to competitive tenderwere considered. And a consortium made up of three other NGOs also submitted a concept note
earlier in the year, but its focus was significantly different and engaging in this area of work in
Zimbabwe would be a new departure for them. So given the nature of the support envisaged and the
importance of having well-established working relationships at a national (CAMFED signed a 10-year
MoU with MoESAC in 2009) and community level, there is currently no viable alternative to
CAMFED. Efforts to find unit costs for similar schemes in other countries operated by other
organisations which could meaningfully be compared to the Zimbabwe context were unsuccessful. It
was therefore felt that the time and costs (at least six months and many weeks of staff time) involved
in a full competitive tender were not justified and would not lead to any net savings.
The Accountable Grant will be based on a detailed annual work plan, budget and key performance
indicators. It will provide an effective means of reducing the management burden to DFID that would
be imposed through the use of commercial contracts. This approach is in line with DFID Procurement
Group and 'Commercial Case How To' Guidance. DFID will:
 Negotiate on the budget proposal to seek savings on programme management costs in order to
try and increase the number of bursaries provided;
 Review the programme budget annually to monitor efficiency and identify cost savings;
 Track progress and budget execution through quarterly narrative and financial reports and
quarterly update meetings with CAMFED;
 Review the procurement and sub-contracting processes of CAMFED to ensure that subcontractors provide VFM; and
 Conduct formal annual reviews to monitor progress, efficiency and VFM
B. Value for money through procurement
UNICEF has the technical and commercial capacity to offer sustainable quality which represents
VFM throughout the life of the programme. It has an established office in Harare with management,
financial and administrative staff. It has demonstrated in its management of ETF I and parallel health
and social protection programmes its capacity to manage a programme of this scale. During ETF I
UNICEF established a very strong track record on procurement of supplies by driving down prices for
primary school books from $5 to $1 per book and delivered cost savings of around of £8m that
enable a major increase in the scope and impact of DFID's funds. It will be necessary to keep under
discussion the UNICEF overhead management with other donor partners and UNICEF. UNICEF has
proposed a 7% fee, in line with central UNICEF requirements for Headquarters cost recovery.
For girls secondary education, DFID will work with CAMFED to:
 Ensure that the service delivered is fit for purpose;
 Ensure that CAMFED has an efficiency savings delivery plan for year on year cost savings and
will monitor cost savings through quarterly reporting and update meetings;
 Ensure procurement of goods within the programme delivers value for money;
 Negotiate management charges as part of programme budget negotiations to ensure these
charges are set at an appropriate level to deliver programmes in the Zimbabwean context;
 Agree and monitor a risk strategy, which sets out specific responsibilities of DFID, CAMFED and

any sub-contractors for managing and mitigating risk;
Ensure that CAMFED’s corporate social responsibility reflects international good practice in terms
of commitment to diversity, sustainability and anti-corruption.
Financial Case
A. What are the costs, how are they profiled and how will you ensure accurate
forecasting?
The total budget estimate for ETF II over the five-year period 2011-2015 is US$85.7 million.
The budget is broken down as follows34:
ETF 5 YEAR BUDGET
Programme/Activity
1. School and System Governance
1.1 Sector Wide Programming
1.2 School Improvement
1.3 School Monitoring, Supervision and Support
2011
1,025,000
335,000
390,000
300,000
2012
8,755,000
255,000
7,000,000
1,500,000
2013
14,890,000
90,000
13,550,000
1,250,000
2014
11,420,000
70,000
10,750,000
600,000
2. Teaching and Learning
2.1 Teaching Quality
2.2 Learning Outcomes
2.3 Purchase and delivery of Teaching and Learning Materials**
2.4 Assessment***
660,000
360,000
250,000
0
50,000
12,470,000
4,200,000
1,010,000
7,150,000
110,000
7,290,000
4,000,000
650,000
2,600,000
40,000
5,025,000
4,000,000
625,000
400,000
0
4,465,000
4,000,000
465,000
0
0
29,910,000
16,560,000
3,000,000
10,150,000
200,000
3. Second Chance Education
3.1 Policy Sector Analysis
3.2 Return to Mainstream Education
3.3 Out-of-school Technical Education
435,000
135,000
0
300,000
1,640,000
0
840,000
800,000
1,650,000
0
850,000
800,000
1,100,000
0
500,000
600,000
800,000
0
300,000
500,000
5,625,000
135,000
2,490,000
3,000,000
0
175,000
25,000
200,000
125,000
25,000
100,000
600,000
50,000
100,000
100,000
350,000
4. Monitoring & Evaluation
4.1 Annual Reviews and programme planning missions
4.2 MidTerm evaluation
4.3 End of Programme Evaluaton
4.4 Independent Research and Evaluation
5. Other Programme Related support Costs
5.1 Communication and Visibility costs
Technical expertise, Direct Programme Management costs,
5.2 Operational support costs#
2015
Total 5 Years
3,770,000
39,860,000
20,000
770,000
3,750,000
35,440,000
0
3,650,000
100,000
100,000
150,000
100,000
100,000
158,500
50,000
1,257,000
100,000
1,306,500
100,000
936,000
50,000
509,250
50,000
108,500
1,157,000
1,206,500
886,000
459,250
Total programmable 5 year budget
UNICEF Headquarters Global recovery cost (7%)
Grand Total Cost
4,167,250
350,000
3,817,250
80,162,250
5,611,358
85,773,608
** All logistics costs included in total stated amount.
*** Cost of training teachers in classroom based formative assessment skills is included in costs identified in activity 2.1.4 in above budget outline.
#
Technical expertise, Direct Programme Management costs, Operational support costs are 5% of program costs. The amount will vary depending on total PBA amount received.
DFID’s contribution to ETF II will be £24 million over the four years 2012-2015, or approximately 45%
of the overall ETF II budget. Other donors who have committed or pledged fund are the EC,
Germany, Finland, Sweden and OSISA. An additional $23.6 million of resources is potentially
available to Zimbabwe through the Global Partnership for Education and some of it could be
channelled through ETF II.
DFID will provide £12 million over the same four year period, 2012-2015 for the provision of bursaries
to girls to ensure their participation in secondary schooling. The cost of additional external
monitoring and evaluation in order to meet DFID’s requirements for independent evaluation of both
components of the programme is estimated at £0.5m over four years.
B. How will it be funded: capital/programme/admin?
The programme will be wholly funded from programme resources which have been budgeted for in
DFID Zimbabwe’s Operational plan (2011-2015). There are no contingent or actual liabilities.
C. How will funds be paid out?
A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between DFID and UNICEF which will govern
DFID’s contribution to the Education Transition Fund. This will include the planned schedule of
payments as well as reporting and auditing requirements. The DFID contribution will be unearmarked and co-mingled with funds from other donors. It is suggested that six bi-annual tranches
of funds will be transferred, aligned with annual joint supervision missions and the provision of costed
annual work plans. Transfers are likely to be made in the January – March and July – September
quarters. The size of the tranches will be determined by need.
An Accountable Grant Agreement (AGA) will be signed with CAMFED for the delivery of the scheme
for girls’ bursaries. Payments will be made over a four-year period in accordance with the
arrangements in the AGA.
D. What is the assessment of financial risk and fraud?
The financial risks are considered to be small, with the funds only being channelled through
recognised partners with approved financial management and audit systems. CAMFED is an
established DFID partner implementing programmes in a number of other countries in Africa and also
in Zimbabwe with a £500,000 grant from the Civil Society Challenge Fund managed by DFID’s Civil
Society Department.
E. How will expenditure be monitored, reported, and accounted for?
Programme Managers and their teams will ensure rigorous forecasting, monitoring and accounting of
expenditure using DFID financial management systems (ARIES).
For the ETF component of the programme, the MOU will govern the disbursement and accounting for
funds. UNICEF will provide the ETF Steering Committee with semi-annual financial reports (for JulyDecember not later than 15th February and for January-June not later than 15th August), showing
funds received and expended. UNICEF will also supply annual audited statements of account.
Financial records will be audited in accordance with the globally established procedures and financial
rules and regulations of the UN and UNICEF. The 2011 DFID Multilateral Aid Review concluded that
UNICEF has good processes in place for audit, risk and accountability. The costs of financial
monitoring and audit are included in the programme budget. Financial records will be audited as set
out in the financial rules of the UN.
For the girls’ bursary programme, DFID will receive quarterly financial and narrative reports from
CAMFED. Financial records will be audited as set out in the AGA. An audit will be carried out on an
annual basis.
Any capital assets procured will be treated in accordance with DFID procedures. It is not expected
that any funds will be returned over the life of the programme; if they are they will be handled in
accordance with agreed DFID procedures. An exit strategy, involving a shift to sector support, will be
contingent on political and economic developments in Zimbabwe.
Management Case
A. What are the Management Arrangements for implementing the intervention?
(i) Support for ETF II through UNICEF
DFID will be contributing to a co-mingled/pooled fund involving 5 or more other donors, managed by
UNICEF on behalf of MoESAC. The rationale for using this modality is that UNICEF is able to establish
working relationships with GoZ ministries such as MoESAC and MoLSS in a way which is presently not
available to the UK government. During the implementation of ETF I, UNICEF has shown that it has
delivered important resources to the education system in the form of stationery supplies and very large
numbers of textbooks. ETF II is more ambitious in scope and will provide UNICEF with many additional
challenges. The key committee will be the ETF Steering Committee which is likely to be co-chaired by
MoESAC and a donor representative. The performance of ETF II will be monitored and assessed as per
the three-stage process presented in the ETF II proposal. Joint donor government annual review
missions will externally recruited independent consultants will objectively assess performance and fulfil
annual reporting obligations for DFID.
MoESAC 5 YEAR RECOVERY STRATEGY
ECG Purpose: Povides the sector wide framework for donor
support to the MoESAC priorities. An umbrella mechanism
to monitor all existing bilateral and multilateral education aid
and its impact on progress towards the Education for All and
MDG goals.
Education Coordination Group (ECG)
(Chaired by Minister) members: Perm
Sec MoESAC, MoHTE, funding
partners, UNICEF, UNESCO
ETF Steering Group Committee Purpose: responsible for
oversight of the ETF. Ensures alignment of ETF allocations
with the ECG planning documents. Addresses other
strategic issues involved in the implementation of the ETF
programme including relevant strategy development,
capacity building plans and operational research.
ETF STEERING COMMITTEE
Co chaired: Permanent
Secretary and Donor
Representative
Members include: Education
Funding Partners and
Secretariat –provided by
UNICEF
REPORTING
REPORTING
EDUCATION TRANSITION FUND (Annual Work Plan)
THEMATIC AREA 1
THEMATIC AREA 2
THEMATIC AREA 3
School and System
Governance
Teaching and
Learning
Second Chance
Education
Supported by Various Sub-Sector Working Groups (Aligned to MoESAC’s and MoHTE sector plans
(ii) Supporting Girls to Complete Secondary Education
CAMFED will manage the programme, working closely with MOESAC (with whom it has an MoU),
provincial and district-level education officials, school development committees and other community
organisations.
In every district CAMFED’s programme is coordinated by a district level committee know as the CDC
(Community Development Committee) involving the District Education Office, other relevant ministries,
traditional leaders, local authorities, school authorities and CSOs. At school level CAMFED works with
School Development Committees and also Parent Support Groups to provide training on issues such as
financial management and child protection and to foster innovative ways for family members to contribute
to the school.
CAMFED will establish their own child identification and management processes that as far as possible
align and support existing national and community level systems of beneficiary identification, in particular
BEAM, part of the 2011-2015 National Action Plan for OVCs. NGOs working in the education sector in
Zimbabwe also engage as part of the SCF/UNICEF co-ordinated Emergency Education Cluster a forum
which will also contribute to ensuring satisfactory oversight and sectoral linkages.
B. What are the risks and how these will be managed?
The risk analysis for the two components of the intervention is presented separately. In addition the key
findings of the Political Economy Assessment presented in Annex 3 will also be used to guide
programme oversight and minimise risk and mitigate implementation problems, especially around
elections due in 2012-13 and their highly uncertain aftermath.
(i) – Support for ETF II through UNICEF
The risk analysis presented below is the same as that in the final version of the ETF II programme.
Risks and Assumptions
Planned Risk Response
1. Political and economic situation
does not worsen to civil conflict or
collapse of service sectors.
UNICEF and other UN agencies are working closely with
government Ministries responsible for social service sectors to
ensure good relations and delivery. UNICEF was able to
support the provision of services through various mechanisms
over the past years and does not anticipate this changing in
the near future.
2. UN security phase does not rise to
level 3 or above
The UN system has risk mitigation strategies to continue
support should the security phase increase.
3. UNICEF is able to effectively work
with all partners, including
Government, as well as having full
access to implement and monitor
its programmes. UNICEF is able to
maintain programme focus on
intended strategic outcomes for
women and children.
UNICEF engages with key ministries to advocate for
separation of politics from provision of social services and
conducts regular field monitoring of programme activities to
report operating risks and programme activities. Furthermore,
UNICEF is cluster leader for Education, WASH, and Nutrition
as well as fully engaged with other sectors. It maintains close
links with government structures and the donor community,
ensuring close coordination and consultation.
4. UNICEF’s internal procurement
and contracting systems are able
to effectively expedite and
manage large scale programmes.
Education donors and UNICEF agree on the realistic incountry technical and operational capacity required to
effectively implement and monitor the programme’s progress.
This mechanism has been tested through the first phase of
the ETF and was demonstrated in September 2010 during an
annual review of the ETF which found that the ‘cost effective
textbook procurement has delivered far in excess of initial
expectations and is a major success’.
5. Overall costs of procurement of
goods and services do not escalate
beyond reasonable levels
UNICEF has a comprehensive procurement process which
aims at supplying the best services and goods at the best cost
and can access global markets to ensure economies of scale
where necessary. Nevertheless as a principle local
procurement is encouraged to develop the local economy
wherever possible – but not at the risk of compromising
implementation or quality.
6. Collaboration between
implementing organizations will
be problem free and devoid of
politics.
MOUs between implementing partners should emphasize the
need to work together and commit to a transparent process
free of politicization. Interventions are designed to support
national strategic plans, coordinated by Government and
implemented through government systems whenever
possible.
The ETF pooled-fund mechanism will allow government
appropriate flexibility in implementation across different
components of the Education strategy. Policy and strategic
planning support and technical assistance will assist in
strengthening government capacity.
7. Government has capacity to
facilitate policy reform quickly and
contribute adequate domestic
financial resources.
8. All pillars of the ETF programme
are indivisible/interdependent
and need to be supported in order
to achieve the overall objectives
The ETF provides realistic funding projections and a pooled
mechanism with reduced transaction costs to encourage all
three interdependent pillars to be pursued. An integrated
proposal has been presented to donors.
Low
Med
High
Lo
w
(5)
(2)
(1)
Med
(8)
(6)
(7)
High
PROBABILITY
Summary Matrix of Risk Probability and Impact
IMPACT
(3)(4)
(ii) Support Girls to Complete Secondary Education
Risks and Assumptions
Planned Risk Response
1.
Political and economic situation
does not worsen to civil conflict or
collapse of service sectors.
CAMFED has a very strong track record of working
effectively in Zimbabwe including during the crisis period of
the late 2000s and will have responsive strategies in place
2. CAMFED is able to work effectively
with all its partners in delivery of
the programme.
It has strong existing partnerships, at all levels from
MoESAC to community to school, on which to build the
new programme.
3. CAMFED has contracting systems
robust enough to deal with a large
programme.
Build in audit checks at all stages of programme
implementation, as necessary.
4. No other obstacles arise for
children to access education, such
as violence, hunger, cholera
CAMFED’s close ties with local communities and relevant
authorities should facilitate a speedy response.
5. External factors (opportunity costs
to families, distance of travel, GBV)
do not deter girls from Form 4
completion
Community engagement gives both early warning signals
of difficulties, and a potentially sensitive response system
6. At end of programme, girls midway
through school will be forced to
dropout.
CAMFED should have the resources to ensure all
beneficiaries are able to complete Form IV, with funds
being reserved explicitly for this purpose.
Summary Matrix of Risk Probability and Impact
IMPACT
PROBABIL
ITY
Lo
Med
w
Low
Med
High
(1)
(4) (6)
(3)(5)
High
(2)
C. What conditions apply (for financial aid only)?
Not applicable. There will be no direct financial aid to the Government of Zimbabwe
D. How will progress and results be monitored, measured and evaluated?
The key expected results (with indicators are milestones) and the logic chain to achieve them are given
in standard DFID format in the attached draft Logical Framework (Annex 1). It should be noted that this
has joint impact and outcome statements, but separate Outputs:
 Outputs 1 – 3 for the ETF Phase II

Output 4 for the Support Girls to Complete Secondary Education.
Whilst presented as a single logframe, the fact that ETF-II is a multi-donor funded programme means
that some adjustments may be necessary through a consultative process with UNICEF, donor partners
and Government.
UNICEF proposes three levels of monitoring & evaluation of the ETF II. They are:
Level 1: Activity Monitoring (integrated in ETF II thematic area activities)
Involves - Monitoring, Supervision & Support; Regular review meetings; Quarterly review meetings
Level 2: Monitoring & Evaluation of ETF II Impact (outsourced)
Involves – Regular joint annual review meetings; Mid-Term Review; Final Evaluation and linked to
regular MDG status reporting for 2015. Under ETF Phase 1, independent external consultants have been
recruited by donors (DFID in 2010, EU in 2011) to lead annual review processes; this practice will
continue in Phase 2.
Level 3: Operational Research (outsourced)
The key components will include a longitudinal early grade learning survey which additionally seeks to
identify impact of programmatic interventions. This is deemed necessary as the Evidence Base has
been ranked as Medium. A baseline survey has been contracted under ETF-1 and this contract will
continue in ETF II, subject to satisfactory performance. In tandem it will build Zimbabwe Schools
Examinations Council's technical capacity and has both donor and UNICEF CCORE (external evaluation
department) engagement in selection and supervision to ensure objectivity in results identified.
All of these levels of investigation will be funded from the ETF II budget.
DFID will need to establish in the inception phase (2011-12) and keep under periodic review that the
degree of autonomous analysis incorporated in Levels 2 and 3 will meet its own evaluation requirements.
UNICEF is strengthening its capacity in the area of monitoring and evaluation of education projects.
The purpose of the monitoring and evaluation work is to ensure that rigorous evidence is gathered
regarding the impact of the various interventions included in ETFII. This will serve to potentially assist
with re-allocation of resources/activities (as part of the mid term review) and to direct future education
interventions by both government and donors in the area of impact of education inputs – books, learning
materials and funds for school improvements and quality enhancements..
The evaluation will determine whether the ETF (both phases 2010-2015) has had the desired effects on
children, their caregivers, schools and the education sector in general as well as to identify the extent to
which changes identified are attributable to the ETF program interventions. This will require:

Conducting a nationally representative assessment of early grade learning and the primary
school operational environment and practices in late 2011 that can provide an adequate

information source to verify the initial impact of ETF phase 1 and provide a baseline against
which subsequent annual assessments and surveys can measure longer term impact of the ETF
programme and track trends in the national education system.
Preparation of a comprehensive report with MoESAC and ZimSEC partner stakeholders to
present the 2011 situation and identify how the ETF can support the evolution of assessment,
examination and teaching practices to best impact upon improved learning outcomes and
retention of students within the education system.
Monitoring and Evaluation will also extend to the area of learning assessment with a view to improving
Zimbabwe’s system of student assessment, focusing on a review of the national public examinations
system and introduction of early grade learning assessment of numeracy and literacy. This is to be done
with the view to expanding a system of classroom based formative assessment, linked to teacher
education and curriculum development initiatives.
Initial proposals to conduct a Randomised Control Trial of the impact of textbook distribution were
rejected on a combination of ethical grounds and the fact that there was a low likelihood of a statistically
significant increase in learning scores being recorded in a single year. Despite this it is anticipated that
rigorous evaluation methodologies will be utilised including statistical matching/quasi-experimental
methods, double difference, impact estimates or factor analysis.
DFID will invest in an appropriate independent evaluation of the bursary scheme for girls to determine
whether the expected results have been achieved and at what unit costs. The evaluation will generate
robust evidence about the impact of the intervention and provide useful lessons for future interventions.
DFID will work with UNICEF and other ETF II donors to develop a communication and dissemination
strategy for the key monitoring and evaluation findings.
CAMFED monitors and evaluates its programme against a set of 73 core indicators which cover both
outputs and outcomes. In 2009 they carried out an extensive survey which provides a strong baseline.
They plan to carry out a further survey in 2014 to measure the impact of their work during the intervening
period. CAMFED are exploring ways to make better use of information technology to carry out this
monitoring work. They are also piloting a ‘School Report Card’ in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Ghana to help
assess learning outcomes and promote results-based management.
Logframe
Quest No of logframe for this intervention: 3328156
Girls’ bursaries
through
CAMFED or
BEAM
References
1
MoESAC 2011-15 strategic plan
EMIS 2009
3 (UNICEF, 2010)
4 Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre Network, 2009 Gender Analysis of the Education Sector
5 Math, English, Environmental Science, Shona/Ndebele for primary schools and in Math, English,
Science, History, Shona/Ndebele and Geography for secondary.
6 Derived from the 2011 proposal for the DFID Girls Challenge Fund
7 CAMFED, July 2011
8 CAMFED Impact Report (2010): A Power Sharing Model for Systematic Change
9 Hanusek and Woessman (2010), Table 14; see also Dollar David and Roberta Gatti (1999), Gender
inequality, income and growth: are good times good for women, World Bank, Gender and
development working paper series, number 1, http: //www.worldbank.org/gender/prr
10 Hanushek, Eric A. and Ludger Woessmann. 2010. “The economics of international differences in
educational achievement,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper # 15949
11 Abolishing School Fees in Africa, Lessons from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique;
World Bank / UNICEF (2009) and Zimbabwe Report On The Rapid Assessment Of Primary &
Secondary Schools; National Education Advisory Board (2009)
12 H. Patrinos (World Bank 2007) " Guiding Principles for Implementing School-based Management
Programs"
13 Adediran, Sulleiman (2011) Assessment of Effectiveness of the School Based Management
System in Bauchi, Katsina, Sokoto and Niger States, Nigeria (2008-2010) UNICEF, Abuja
14 projects.dfid.gov.uk/iati/Project/202372
15 Kremer et al, 2007
16 Barrientos & DeJong, 2004
17 Baird, S., McIntosh, C. and Ozler, B. (2010) “Cash or Condition; Evidence from a randomized cash
transfer program” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper # 5259
18 Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action at MIT, "Empowering Young Women: what do we know about
creating the girl effect?”, May 2010.
19 World Bank (October 2010) From Evidence to Policy: Can Scholarships help students continue
their Education? Washington DC
20 Glewwe, P., N. Ilias, and M. Kremer, 2003. “Teacher Incentives." Working Papers: 9671
(Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research). A. Mulkeen et al. "Teachers In
Anglophone Africa: Issues in teacher supply, training and management.", World Bank, 2010
21 World Bank Policy Research Report "Conditional Cash Transfers: Reducing Present and Future
Poverty", Ariel Fiszbein and Norbert Schady, 2008
22 (Davidson 1992, Goodland 1991, Lutz and
Daly 1990, Jaganathan 1989, Southgate 1991, Chengappa 1995, Browder 1989, and Bromley
1989).
23 UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative: www.unpei.org/PDF/Malawi-Economic-Forum.pdf
24 Making Disaster Risk Reduction Gender-Sensitive - Policy and Practical Guidelines. UNISDR 2009
25 Appiah, E. and McMahon, W. (2002) “The social outcomes of Education and feedback on growth in
Africa”, Journal of Development Studies, 38, (4), 27-68
26 Brian Blankespoor, Susmita Dasgupta, Benoit Laplante, and David Wheeler. Adaptation to climate
extremes in developing countries: the role of education. Policy Research Working Paper 5342, The
World Bank, 2010.
27 Brian Blankespoor, Susmita, Dasgupta, Benoit Laplante, and David Wheeler. The Economics of
Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events in Developing Countries, Working Paper 199, The Center for
Global Development, 2010.
28 Blankespoor, B., Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B and Wheeler, D. (2010) “Adaptation to Climate
Extremes in Developing Countries: the Role of Education”, World Bank Policy Research Working
Paper 5342.
29 World Development Indicators
30 This includes both the direct cost of the programme and the opportunity cost of children attending
school
31 Glewwe, P., N. Ilias, and M. Kremer, 2003. “Teacher Incentives." Working Papers: 9671
(Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research). A. Mulkeen et al. "Teachers In
Anglophone Africa: Issues in teacher supply, training and management.", World Bank, 2010
2
32
CBA for DFID support to the CPF used a discount rate of 8% which has been changed to 10% to
be consistent with the other three options.
33 Note that these per pupil costs exclude donor and major parental inputs, especially for teacher
salary top-ups (incentives). Parental inputs are substantial, estimated at 29% for primary and 60% for
secondary school pupils in 2009-10 and need to be considered in the monitoring of this VFM
indicator.
34 An additional $570,000 will be allocated for TA support to learning assessments as part of the M&E
of the programme