SC120190 UNICEF NIGERIA

YEAR 3 ANNUAL REPORT

GIRLS’ EDUCATION PROJECT PHASE 3 (GEP3)

SUBMITTED TO THE UK DEPARTMENT

FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID)

May 2014 – March 2015

UNICEF

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Contents

Acronyms ........................................................................................................................ 2

Contribution data ......................................................................................................... 3

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 4

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7

2. Redesign of GEP3 .................................................................................................... 8

3. Progress report ..................................................................................................... 10

Output 1: Increased access to and demand for girls education ......................................... 10

Output 2: Improved capacity of teachers to deliver effective learning for girls ......... 15

Output 3: Improved governance to strengthen girls’ education ....................................... 19

4. Challenges and Lessons Learnt ......................................................................... 30

5. State Overviews ...................................................................................................... 32

6. Value for Money ..................................................................................................... 36

7. Budget ........................................................................................................................ 37

8. Logical framework ................................................................................................ 38

Annex 1: Human Interest Story ............................................................................ 41

Annex 2: GEP3 Budget Year 4 ................................................................................. 46

Annex 3: GEP3 Workplan Year 4 ........................................................................... 46

Annex 4: GEP3 Logical Framework ...................................................................... 46

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Acronyms

ADEA Association for the Development of Education APC All Progressives Congress ASC Annual School Census BH Boko Haram CBMC Centre Based Management Committee CGP Civil Society Government Partnership CTP Cash Transfer Programme COE College of Education CSO Civil Society Organisation? DFID Department for International Development EDC Enrolment Drive Campaign EDOREN Education Operational Research and Evaluation in Nigeria EMIS Education Management Information System EPRI Economic Policy Research Institute ESSPIN Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria FME Federal Ministry of Education FTTSS Female Teachers Trainee Scholarship Scheme GEP3 Girls Education Project Phase 3 HiLWA High-level Women Advocates IDPs International Development Partners IQS Integrated Qur’anic Schools LGA Local Government Area MA Mothers Associations MTSS Medium Term Sector Strategy NEMIS Nigeria Education Management Information System NGN Nigerian naira NMEC National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education PIU Project Implementation Unit RANA Reading and Numeracy Activity RCT Randomized Controlled Trial SAME State Agency for Mass Education SEIP State Education Investment Project SBMC School Based Management Committee SBTD School Based Teacher Development SCoE State College of Education SMoE State Ministry of Education SPARC State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability SPC State Project Coordinator SUBEB State Universal Basic Education Board TDP Teacher Development Project UBEC Universal Basic Education Commission UIS EMIS Universal Information System Education Management Information System VfM Value for Money

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Contribution data

Type of report Annual Report (Year 3)

Assisted Country Nigeria

Assisted Programme Basic Education

Assisted Project Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3)

Donor Reference DIFD/NIGERIA/SC120190

PBA Number SC120190

Total Contribution US$ 136,760,81912 (GBP 88,300,000)

Programmable amount US$ 29,106,644

Funds used to date (2012-2015)* US$ 23,793,977

Funds used for reporting period* US$ 6,465,091

Balance of funds available* US$ 5,312,667

Duration of contribution 1 May 2012 - 30 April 2020

Period covered by report 1 May 2014 – 31 March 20153

Contact person(s)

Jean Gough, Representative, Email: jgough@unicef.org

Samuel Momanyi, Deputy Representative, Email: smomanyi@unicef.org

*- indicative figures. The final certified statement of account will be provided in a separate report.

1 1 GBP = 1.54882 USD 2 Total based on new draft Contribution Agreement 3 Report period is 11 months. In year 3 it was agreed that GEP3 would align to calendar quarter as explained on page 8 of this report.

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Executive Summary

Year 3 was a period of transition for the Girls Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3). After April 2014 annual

review of the project, it was agreed between DFID and UNICEF that GEP3 would enter into a period of

slow-down in implementation (July to December 2014) so that design issues raised by the annual review

could be addressed and a UNICEF internal review of the project design could be undertaken with the

objective of strengthening the project’s focus and ability to deliver. During this period only activities

related to the redesign and those related to the beginning of the school year would be implemented.

Decisions were made regarding a new structure of the project and specific interventions in line with the

redesign. Through this process, GEP3 evolved into a truly girl’s education focused project aiming at

improved girls’ enrolment, retention and learning in northern Nigeria, creating better synergy with the

education partners and stakeholders.

Key achievements

Redesign of the Girls Education Project Phase 3 finalised and approved by the UK Secretary of State.

Cash transfer interventions designed and implemented in two states, Niger and Sokoto by the state

governments with UNICEF technical support.

A total of 19,236 girls benefiting from the first tranche of the cash transfer programme.

Enrolment drive campaign was a state-wide event in GEP3 states supported by the state

governments including non-GEP3 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and schools. Enrolment drives

were carried out by all five states with high visibility, particularly in Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara. GEP3

supported enrolment drives in 4,296 schools, representing an average of 40 per cent of the schools

in each state; states supported in the remaining 60 per cent.

Materials developed with Teacher Development Project (TDP) was adapted making them more

relevant to the educational and linguistic context of integrated Qur’anic schools (IQS).

Review of GEP3 approach to head teacher training completed, providing recommendations to revise

and strengthen GEP3 approach, which will be conducted in year 4.

With GEP3 support harmonized (integrating experiences from GEP3 and Education Sector Support

Programme in Nigeria/ESSPIN) School Based Management Committee (SBMC) monitoring tool

approved by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) as national tool for use in all states,

not specific to a project or agency.

A total of 236 female teacher trainees completed the final year of their course in December 2014.

Graduation ceremony was initially expected to take place in March 2015 but has been delayed due

to the national elections.

Statistical Reports for 2013-2014 annual school census for four states (Bauchi, Katsina, Sokoto and

Zamfara) have been prepared and final validation ongoing prior to publication and dissemination.

The 2013-2014 data are being subjected to rigorous quality assurance checks for the first time, for

reliability and accuracy.

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Improved collaboration of international development partners (IDPs) on education management

information system (EMIS), leading to a more coordinated approach in the process of generating

accurate and timely education data.

EMIS backup database software developed, tested and deployed for data entry in six ESSPIN support

states (Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Lagos). The backup database software is compatible with

Nigerian Education Management Information System (NEMIS) database and designed to allow

transfer of historical state data to NEMIS central database.

The GEP3 intervention database conceptual model developed. The GEP3 monitoring tools will be used to collect and feed data into the intervention database for ease of reporting and assurance of data quality.

The 2014- 2015 annual school census (ASC) data collected, with the exception of Bauchi State.

Key challenges

In northern Nigeria, the participation of women in leadership positions is low as they are perceived as poor performers. This presents a challenges to High Level Women Advocates (HiLWA) when advocating for change in the situation. The way forward is to increase the commitment of women themselves. The national meetings provide the fora in which HiLWA women can discuss their experiences, put a strategy and create a support mechanism for aspiring women.

Securing an agreement with the government with regard to the use of Universal Information System education management information system (UIS EMIS) software as a backup solution. This is to recognize that none of the GEP3 states has successfully deployed and tested NEMIS software in preparation of 2014-2015 data entry due to various reasons— ICT infrastructure issues including hardware and network problems, EMIS software issues and human capacity issues. The technical staff working on NEMIS recognise the potential importance of using UIS EMIS as a backup solution though it has not been granted approval yet.

The use of EMIS is weak across the states with some variation between them. The major issues are: the questionnaires are not physically checked; questionnaires from the same LGA are entered in several standalone databases which complicates data merging; missing data; and issues of over-writing of school data during the merging process. As an example, over 500 schools were not included in the Niger EMIS database. Quality assurance in EMIS processes will be strengthened in future.

The issues of dilapidated state of the schools and inadequate number of classrooms in some schools have been raised by parents and community members which work against the enrolment drives. As GEP3 is creating demand for education, the need for state governments, State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and State Ministries of Education (SMoE) are to ensure that the identified infrastructural gaps are given priority attention in the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) framework and UBEC intervention funds Action plans, to address the supply-side issues such as lack of classrooms, shortage of qualified teachers and poor teaching-learning materials. SUBEBs and UNICEF are encouraging SBMCs to improvise learning spaces and facilities to meet with the increased enrolment in schools. To address this, stronger advocacy will be undertaken with SUBEB for the rehabilitation of dilapidated schools and construction of additional classrooms.

Cash transfers programme is faced with the challenge of operationalization of the programme’s design leading to delay in the implementation. Efforts will be undertaken to address the financial constraints faced by the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) which should significantly ease

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operations and together with additional training and strengthened guidance, will improve the situation.

No decision has been taken with regard to funding from UBEC to enable states to contract civil society organisations (CSOs) for mentoring and monitoring of SBMCs impacting on results to be achieved. Discussions by UNICEF will be held with UBEC on this issue.

Key lessons learnt

Enrolment drive: Ownership and sustainability of activities are better ensured when stakeholders at the school and community level are empowered and involved in planning and implementation of activities. The change from the old strategy of state resource persons mobilizing parents and communities to enrol children in school to SBMC members leading the enrolment drive and engaging directly with parents and community members in their catchment areas, is showing improved performance.

Women must be specifically targeted to ensure their participation at the local level. The LGA level enrolment drive meetings were attended by the SBMC representatives or chairpersons across the five states, most of whom were men. Out of the 8,503 participants, only 550 were women. The low number of women participating in these meetings in four states (Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara) is due to the fact that participants in the meeting were the head teachers (secretary of the SBMC) and the SBMC chairpersons. Both positions are male dominated. Bauchi state took a different approach by specifically including Mothers Association (MA) representatives and traditional leaders which meant more women participated in this state then the others. In Bauchi 24 per cent (206) of participants were women. This is a lesson learnt for next year’s Enrolment Drive Campaign (EDC).

For the Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS), the direct payment of student’s stipend through their bank accounts has improved transparency and accountability of the disbursement process leading to more confidence in the beneficiaries.

Children prefer learning in Hausa language. From the field testing of the new teaching materials, children stated that they come to IQS because they can learn in Hausa. They better understand what they are learning. Children said they would attend primary school if teachers teach in Hausa. Most facilitators in IQS now use both English and Hausa. The TDP teacher’s guide emphasize simplification and contextualisation of language in the classroom.

UNICEF’s constant engagement and dialogue with Federal Ministry of Education (FME) NEMIS with regard to international development partners’ (IDPs) support for the functional and sustainable EMIS system has contributed to development of EMIS rolling plan and NEMIS has shown an interest of UIS EMIS software as potential solution to their technical issues.

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1. Introduction

This is the third annual report for UNICEF Girls Education Project 3 (GEP 3) covering the period from 1

May 2014 to 31 March 2015. In April 2014, it was agreed with the UK Department for International

Development (DFID) that the reporting period of the project would be adjusted by one month thereby

aligning with the calendar quarters and UNICEF internal reporting periods. This has made project

reporting easier and more accurate. Due to this adjustment, this reporting period is for eleven months.

The next annual reporting period for year 5 will be for 12 months (1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016) though

the focus will be last three quarters, from the redesign period forward.

Year 3 was a period of transition for GEP3. After April 2014 annual review of the project, it was agreed

between DFID and UNICEF that GEP3 would enter into a period of slow-down in implementation (July to

December 2014) so that design and implementation issues raised by the annual review could be

addressed and UNICEF internal review of the project design could be undertaken with the objective of

strengthening the project’s focus and ability to deliver. During this period only essential activities related

to the redesign and those related to the beginning of the school year would be implemented. During this

redesign phase, decisions were made regarding a new structure of the project and specific interventions

in line with the redesign. Through this process, GEP3 evolved into a truly girl’s education focused project

aiming at improved girls’ enrolment, retention and learning in northern Nigeria, creating better synergy

with the education partners and stakeholders.

Due to the threat of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria, the school year was delayed until mid-October

2014 though some states maintained an official school reopening in September. In Katsina and Sokoto,

the school opened on 22 September while Niger and Zamfara opened on 13 October. This delay caused

challenges in the implementation of the enrolment drive campaign across the five states and launching

of the cash transfer programme in Sokoto and Niger. Nevertheless, both activities were conducted as

planned.

In addition, delay in implementation were experienced over the last quarter of the project year. During

this period, the restructuring of the overall UNICEF education programme was approved by the Federal

Ministry of Education. The revised structure had to be entered into the UNICEF electronic system before

funds could be released to states. This process took longer than expected resulting in the inability to

release funds until the end of February 2015. Additionally, the change in the date of the federal elections

from 14 February 2015 to 28 March 2015 caused delay in project implementation in the last quarter. This

resulted in the postponement of several activities to the first quarter of year four.

From December 2014, the situation in all five GEP3 states was tense with the approach of the federal

elections in March 2015 and state elections in April 2015. The states witnessed political violence in some

LGAs but it did not affect project implementation and staff travel in any major way. The Government as

well as traditional and religious leaders strongly advocated against violence in elections. The UN

developed the Nigeria 2015 Elections Contingency Plan for the United Nations System which outlined

actions to be taken in case of any major issues arose. In addition, GEP3 developed its own plan to mitigate

as much as possible effects of the election on project implementation through minimizing activities

during the period immediately before and after the day of the election. As a result, UNICEF experienced

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no major disruptions in GEP3 implementation during the election period. The All Progressives Congress

(APC) won the federal election in all five focus states taking more than 80 per cent of the vote. The win

by APC was also seen a catalyst for a general peaceful election process.

2. Redesign of GEP3

After the second annual review of GEP3, DFID and UNICEF agreed that the project would enter a period

of slow-down in implementation. During this period, only activities essential to the redesign process and

related to girls continued access to schooling at the beginning of the school year would be implemented

whereas activities not deemed essential would be paused to allow a comprehensive redesign of the

project. This would enable UNICEF to focus and address design issues which had been identified by

several reviews and the GEP3 management team. Activities which did not contribute significantly to the

intended results of the project would be discontinued, such as nomadic education and interventions in

secondary education. The expected result of this phase was a redesigned GEP3 including a revised

operational plan which would include a theory of change, logical framework, budget, Value for Money

(VFM) strategy, staffing structure, monitoring and evaluation plan, implementation strategy, and an

agreed strategy paper for each intervention.

UNICEF undertook the redesign of GEP3 which began in April 2014 with an independent review of GEP3’s

design. A revised theory of change was produced and the redesigned structure focused on fewer, more

streamlined and cohesive interventions on girls’ education. Based on the new draft theory of change,

UNICEF conducted a participatory process facilitated by an external consultant with UNICEF staff, federal

and state governments and other stakeholders in Abuja and in the five target states.

Between 29 September and 3 October 2014, consultative workshops were held with state education

stakeholders in the five focus states of GEP3 to ensure the project is aligned with state priorities. In

Zamfara, two one-day meetings were held with state representatives from Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and

Zamfara. Two states participated in one meeting. In Bauchi, another one-day meeting was held with

stakeholders. All states agreed with the proposed priorities for GEP3 moving forward and confirmed that

they were in line with their state priorities. The only item with which they disagreed was the decision

taken not to admit new intakes into the GEP3 Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS),

though they understood the issues around value for money.

Based on the recommendations from the independent review of GEP3 design by UNICEF and DFID annual

reviews, consultations with stakeholders, and the identification of what interventions worked, an revised

operational plan for the Girls Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3) was drafted which presented the new

design of GEP3, in the form of a new Theory of Change, logical framework, and seven strategy papers on

project interventions4 – better enabling the project to achieve educational change for girls. The

4 GEP3 Strategy for Cash Transfers; GEP3 Strategy for School/Centre Based Teacher Development;

GEP3 Strategy for Integrated Qur’anic Education; GEP3 Strategy for Early Literacy & Numeracy

RANA; GEP3 Strategy for School/Centre Based Management Committees & Girls’ Groups; GEP3

Strategy for EMIS; GEP3 Strategy for FTTSS

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operational plan also presents how the key results for which UNICEF is accountable are delivered and

measured.

The GEP3 logical framework outlines the anticipated impact and outcome as follows:

Impact: Improved social and economic opportunity for girls;

Outcome: More girls in target states in northern Nigeria complete basic education and acquire skills for life and livelihoods (enrolment, completion, and learning)

Results will be delivered under three output areas, instead of six outputs:

Output 1: Increased enrolment and retention for girls in basic education;

Output 2: Improved capacity of teachers to deliver effective learning for girls; and

Output 3: Improved governance to strengthen girls’ education.

By the end of GEP3 in 2020, the project aims to get approximately one million girls into school (primary

and integrated Qur’anic schools).

Interventions to achieve these outputs were chosen from actions which have been previously successful

in northern Nigeria: boosting demand for education for excluded groups at community and higher levels,

through the demonstration of positive change and the need for it. Interventions focus on getting girls

into school timely and building foundational learning which evidence indicates will most strongly boost

girls’ chances of getting through basic education. The full implementation approach of GEP3 is presented

in its revised operational plan.

All redesign documents were shared with DFID and Education, Data, Research and Evaluation in Nigeria

(EDOREN) during the redesign process for their feedback. Comments were made by both DFID and

EDOREN which were incorporated into the final version of the documents which were submitted to DFID

for final approval.

In April 2015, the logframe of the project was updated based on discussion and agreement from DFID.

The updated logical framework is attached to this report. Due to delay in implementation and the

devaluation of the Nigerian naira, the budget and work plan were revised in discussion with DFID and are

attached as annexes to this report.

GEP3 Management. The redesign of GEP3 also resulted in the restructuring of UNICEF GEP3 management

and implementation structure, better enabling it to support improved access to and learning for girls in

northern Nigeria through a strengthened management structure and newly opened field offices which

places UNICEF staff closer to stakeholders at the state and community level. The project management

team was completed with the recruitment of an education monitoring and evaluation specialist in

September 2014. In addition to the two field offices of Kaduna and Bauchi, two new field office were

established in Katsina and Sokoto. Each office has two UNICEF education staff to support the

implementation of the project.

Prior to the redesign phase, a project team of consultants were working at the state and LGA levels in

GEP3 states. As most interventions were put on hold during the redesign period, it was decided to

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discontinue the contracts of non-essential consultants until decisions were taken regarding the needs of

the project staff based on the redesign. As such, only the contracts for the state project coordinators

were extended until the end of December 2014 as only they were to provide the needed support during

this period.

As part of the redesign, the state staffing structure for GEP3 was reviewed identifying the most effective

structure to develop state capacity and support implementation. A new team of state-based consultants

will be recruited and be partly in place during the first quarter of year 4. In each state, a team of five

including four consultants will be in place which includes a state project coordinator, M&E consultant,

and three state output leads - one for each of the GEP3 outputs. In year 4, a partial state team will be

recruited due to budget constraints, with a complete team being in place in year 5 of the project.

3. Progress report

Output 1: Increased access to and demand for girls education

Under this output, the emphasis has been on addressing the barriers and bottlenecks to girls’ enrolment

and retention in basic education which affects demand for girls’ education. As identified through the

GEP3 community household mapping and listing of out-of-school children and other research work,

poverty-related issues are the main barriers to girls’ enrolment in school. To address this, cash transfers

were adapted to the Nigerian context, based on lessons from existing schemes in Nigeria and globally.

The enrolment drive campaign, a GEP3 initiated intervention, was adopted by state governments as a

state wide priority.

Summary of Achievements

Cash transfer

Cash transfer programme was designed and implemented in two states, Niger and Sokoto by state governments with UNICEF technical support.

A total of 19,236 girls have been benefiting from the scheme: 9,360 in Sokoto (87 per cent of those enrolled) and 9,876 in Niger (86 per cent of those enrolled), receiving a cash transfer of N 5,000 each per quarter.

An advocacy strategy was developed and implemented to strengthen the impact of cash transfer, increasing school enrolment and retention. A set of messages has been developed.

Upgrading of MIS so that the system is more flexible and user-friendly.

Enrolment drive campaign

Enrolment drive campaign has been a state-wide event in GEP3 states supported by the state governments in non-GEP3 LGAs and schools. Enrolment drives were carried out by all five states with high visibility particularly in Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara States. GEP3 supported enrolment drives in 4,296 schools, representing an average of 40 per cent of the schools in each state; states supported in remaining 60 per cent.

Strong partnership were established with media, HiLWA and between state agencies. State media supported the exercise through airing of jingles and radio sensitization programmes developed by the project.

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Enrolment drive validation exercise:

Enrolment drive validation (quality assurance) instruments were developed, field tested and finalized.

Quality assurance/validation exercise was conducted; data collected by independent research assistants and numerators; and the quality assurance data analysis is underway.

1.1 Cash Transfer Programme

UNICEF contracted Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), a highly experienced South African

organisation, to facilitate a participatory design process for a cash transfer programme in Niger and

Sokoto, and support its implementation. The EPRI team engaged with the state authorities in Niger and

Sokoto to develop a cash transfer design and implementation strategy which took into account the

challenges and opportunities present in the two states and geared towards optimising the educational

impact of the programme.

This led to the development of cash transfer design and operational manual in both states. The manual5

describes the cash transfer programme’s design, implementation structure, operational processes and

the roles and responsibilities to ensure an efficient and effective implementation of GEP3-CTP (Cash

Transfer Programme).

Following the awareness raising activities on the programme and how to enrol in it by the states, the

registration of all girls aged 0-18 in target areas was completed followed by the enrolment of those aged

6-15 into the programme. In Niger, 11,504 girls were enrolled in the programme while in Sokoto, 10,564

girls were enrolled.

The State Ministry of Education in Sokoto and Niger with support from UNICEF conducted an official

inauguration ceremony for the cash transfer programme. In Sokoto, it was conducted on the 22

September while in Sokoto it was held on 22 October 2014. Both events were attended by state and

traditional leaders such as the Emir of Minna in Niger. A fuller list of attendees is presented in the GEP3

Quarterly Report – Year 3, Quarter 2/3. The events were covered extensively by state and national media.

Through the first tranche, 19,236 girls are benefiting from the scheme: 9,360 in Sokoto (87 per cent of

those enrolled) and 9,876 in Niger (86 per cent of those enrolled), receiving a cash transfer of 5,000 naira

each (quarterly amount).

For the way forward, several changes were proposed to improve the programme implementation.

Communication. Firstly, to all communication with Niger and Sokoto states will be made via UNICEF field

offices in Kaduna which oversees Niger and Sokoto. Field offices are in a better position to assess to what

extent the cash transfer programmes are part of the respective state budgets. A meeting with the newly

elected governor is to be scheduled in which detailed budget line items and government accountability

are to be confirmed.

Upgrading of the MIS system. During the release of the first tranche, the MIS system presented

challenges in terms of accurately recording beneficiaries and processing data. The full details of the issues

are described in the GEP3 Quarterly Report – Year 3, Quarter 2/3. In response, a decision was taken to

5 The manual was annexed to the GEP3 Quarterly Progress Report – Quarters 2/3

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upgrade the system before the next tranche is released. This upgrade allows for faster validation of the

lists of recipients and beneficiaries, and for more robust detection mechanisms of any type of

irregularities before or after completion of the payment, easing the process of payment requests and

reconciliation.

Development of an advocacy strategy. Strengthening the links between cash transfers and school

attendance is important. An advocacy strategy was developed. The Center for Change and Community

Development produced a series of songs and videos promoting girls’ education. The songs and videos

appeal to children and adolescents as well as to the parents and community leaders, including HiLWA in

order to coordinate with other activities within GEP3. These songs and the video have already been

developed. Also, as per the strategy, the first steps have been taken, namely the detailed, list of activities

under the strategy (including time frame, responsible party, and estimated cost), and the internal

meetings (virtual and face-to-face) to launch the strategy.

1.2 Enrolment drive campaign

In the 2014-2015 school year, GEP3 states are committed to conduct state-wide enrolment drive campaigns, based on the success they observed during the enrolment drives in GEP3 focus areas in the previous school year. In view of this development, the GEP3 adopted a strategy to support states to conduct state-wide enrolment drives, not limited to GEP3 target areas. Enrolment drive campaigns are becoming state interventions – funded and supported by the state governments, rather than specific GEP3 interventions. GEP3 support was based on the following:

100 per cent coverage of schools, 40 per cent with project funds and 60 per cent by state resources.

Government leadership and commitment to support state-wide enrolment drive. Partnership with stakeholders including High Level Women Advocates (HiLWA).

Enrolment drive campaigns were conducted between September and December 2014 and constituted a

range of activities, including sensitisation meetings with influential community leaders, media campaigns

(using local radio and announcement in social events) to encourage parents to send their girls to school,

community meetings, and house-to-house campaign to encourage girls to go to school. The SBMC and

Mothers Association members played leading roles in carrying out the enrolment drive campaign at the

community level through a house-to-house campaign.

The enrolment drive campaign is a SBMC led intervention aimed primarily to identify out-of-school

children though specifically girls and ensure they are enrolled in school. Secondly, it aims at changing the

attitude of parents/guardians who are not willing to send their daughters to school. The SBMCs

conducted open air community sensitization meetings and used opportunities during social gatherings,

such as marriage ceremonies, while local youth supported house to house and village to village

campaigns.

The planning process of the enrolment drive was detailed out in GEP3 Progress Report – Year 3, Quarters

2/3. One lesson learned was to increase women’s participation is the inclusion of Mother’s Association

representatives in LGA level planning meetings and guidelines. Strategies were agreed upon including

how to involve youth and women’s groups in supporting the house-to-house campaign.

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Enrolment drives were carried out by all five states and with high visibility particularly in Niger, Sokoto

and Zamfara. In Niger, the governor presided over the official flag off of the enrolment drive campaign

with the Emir of Minna and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly; whereas in Sokoto, the

commissioner of education, representing the governor presided over it. Both events combined the

launch of the enrolment drive campaign and the cash transfer scheme. GEP3 supported enrolment drives

in 4,296 schools, representing an average of 40 per cent of schools in each of the five states. The table

below present the number of schools by state that have carried out community level enrolment drives

with project support.

Source: State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) report on Enrolment Drive Campaign from each state

In Bauchi, enrolment drives were conducted in 17 out of 20 LGAs while in Sokoto, Katsina and Niger

states conducted state-wide coverage. Zamfara was the only state that did not directly provide resources

to support school/community level enrolment drives but it involved all Local Government Education

secretaries, SBMC Association representatives and key community/traditional leaders in the official flag-

off led by the SUBEB Executive Chairman. The event to formally launch the enrolment drive campaign

was funded by the SUBEB, which included transport allowances to all invited stakeholders from all 14

LGAs of the state, fuelling of vehicles for transporting state level government officials to the venue and

publicity. Next year the aim is to have state-wide coverage in all states.

The State Radio Corporation and six community radio stations in Bauchi carried out a series of

sensitization messages encouraging enrolment of all children particularly girls. The community radio

station managers offered free air time for radio phone in, text messages and other programmes. The

strong cooperation with the media houses in Bauchi could potentially be replicated in other states.

Influential traditional and opinion leaders’ specific to each LGA were interviewed and recorded messages

aired by the community radios.

At Marken Sabon-gari (non-GEP3) primary school in Tsafe LGA, Zamfara State, 80 girls and 110 boys were

registered in grade one (P1) within the first week of mobilization. In the previous school year, only 100

girls and boys were enrolled in grade 1. The progress was reported to be the result of intensive

mobilization and house-to-house campaign by the SBMC and Mothers Association (MA) members, and

community leaders.

1.3 Enrolment drive validation exercise

State GEP3 supported schools

Niger 1,217 schools (868 from 6 GEP3 LGAs; 349 from non-GEP 19 LGAs )

Sokoto 800 schools from 10 LGAs (505 from 6 GEP3 LGAs; 295 from 4 non-GEP LGAs)

Katsina 884 schools from 12 LGAs (6 non-GEP3 LGA; 6 GEP3 LGAs)

Bauchi 741 schools from 6 GEP3 LGAs

Zamfara 654 schools from the 6 GEP3 LGAs

Table 1: GEP3 supported schools during the enrolment campaign

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Enrolment drive campaign is one of the key GEP3 interventions contributing to achieving the goal of

enrolling one million girls in school by end of the project. Even though the campaigns were successfully

conducted as reported by UNICEF Field Office staff, a systematic process of monitoring and documenting

results of the enrolment drives has yet to be instituted. As a result, reports from the previous enrolment

drive campaigns conducted over the years have not adequately addressed concern around its

measureable contribution to reported increase in girls’ enrolment, which is the primary goal of the

project. In addition, the nature of the enrolment drive campaign and the expected positive consequential

effect of increased enrolment in schools do not validate the claim of attribution. Thus the need for a

process of validating enrolment drive data exists for verification and quality assurance.

The enrolment drive quality assurance exercise, including field testing of the instrument and data

collection took place from 2 to 20 March 2015. The enrolment drive quality assurance aims to assess:

whether the enrolment drive campaign took place according to the guidelines provided; the coverage of

the enrolment drive (per cent of schools in each state that conducted the enrolment); and validation of

the number of girls enrolled as a result of the enrolment drive campaign. The outcome of the quality

assurance will be used to validate the intervention assumption that one third of girls enrolled in schools

will be as a result of enrolment drive campaign.

While guidelines were shared with school-based management committees (SBMCs) which were responsible for the enrolment drive campaigns, the process of the campaign and the outcomes have not been systematically documented. The quality assurance activity has been introduced to address this gap and in addition provide evidence on validity of the intervention assumptions.

The exercise aimed to measure:

Proportion of schools/SBMCs conducting enrolment drive according the enrolment drive

guidelines.

Number of children enrolled as result of enrolment drive campaign (to validate the assumption

that one out of three girls enrolled in primary one (P1) as result of enrolment drive).

Percentage of identified out-of-school children enrolled.

Field testing and data collection process is described in GEP3 Quarterly Progress report– Quarter 4. Data

was collected at: household, community, and school levels. The instruments are specific regarding the

source of information and the information that is collected at each data point. Data was entered at the

state level and then sent to UNICEF at the national level.

Initial reports indicate issues in data quality (questionnaires) and data entry. As a result, all questionnaire

have been collected from the field office to be reviewed centrally. Lessons will be used to improve the

next quality assurance exercise in quarter 4 of year 4. Results from the exercise will be available in the

first quarter of year 4.

Output 1: plans for year 4:

Cash transfer disbursed with a more robust advocacy campaign, strengthening the links between cash transfers and school enrolment.

Upgrading of the cash transfer MIS system.

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Enrolment drive guideline revised, based on the quality assurance activity and strengthening its link to state SBMCs guidelines.

State-wide enrolment drive conducted in all states under the leadership of the state with increased participation of women at the community level.

Begin planning for the establishment of “Girls 4 Girls” groups in year 5 with the design of the approach.

Output 2: Improved capacity of teachers to deliver effective learning for girls

Interventions under this output aim to improve the quality of teaching thereby learning of school-aged

girls in marginalized and disadvantaged communities. The strategies include in-service teacher training

in integrated Qur’anic schools and developing a pilot on early literacy and numeracy to broaden the

scope and guarantee a more robust basic education for the pupils.

Summary of Achievements

Teacher training

TDP materials were developed with involvement of GEP3 state participation contributing to state

ownership.

Materials developed with TDP adapted to context of integrated Qur’anic schools and translated

into Hausa.

Early Learning (literacy and numeracy) pilot

Proposal developed and finalised with FHI360 to implement an early learning pilot, beginning

the first quarter of Year 4 of GEP3.

Head teacher training

Review of GEP3 approach to head teacher training completed, providing recommendation to

revise and strengthen GEP3 approach.

2.1 Redesign of the GEP3 School Based Teacher Development Strategy

The newly developed in-service school-based teacher development (SBTD) strategy seeks to provide

enhanced professional practice that will result in improved performance of learners in schools. In this

strategy, collaboration with Teacher Development Project (TDP) as the lead for teacher development

was initiated and nurtured. The GEP3 planned to leverage and adapt TDP materials, using a similar

approach, while ensuring that there is no overlap with other DFID funded interventions, in building the

capacity of teachers in primary schools and integrated Qur’anic schools (IQS). GEP3 worked with three

states Niger, Bauchi and Sokoto to identify a team of two officials per state to participate in the TDP

material development process and also be trained as teacher development teams (TDT).

The GEP3 participated actively in the initial TDP material development discussion and workshops at a

strategic level through the involvement of GEP3 teacher development specialists on the harmonized in-

service strategy, pedagogy framework/orientation and TDP preferred language of instruction. A team of

six state participants from three GEP3 states (Niger, Sokoto and Bauchi) participated in the TDP organized

material development workshops to improve their capacity in developing simplified materials, but also

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the participants were trained as teacher trainers to continuously support the teachers through

mentoring and coaching.

However, due to budget considerations, a decision was taken in December 2014 to focus the GEP3

teacher training activities on IQS rather than primary schools, in Niger, Sokoto and Bauchi only as TDP

was supporting teacher training in Zamfara and Katsina. In Bauchi, GEP3 will train IQS and primary

teachers using the adapted materials. To that end, GEP3 developed plans for adapting the TDP developed

materials including simplifying and adapting them for the IQS context. These materials will be used in

training programmes planned for the second quarter of year 4.

Adaptation of materials and approaches to IQS context. To adapt the materials to the IQS context, a

review of the TDP teacher’s guide was conducted as well as other documents such as GEP3 teacher

manual for implementation of IQS harmonized curriculum, the manual of gender responsive pedagogy,

and the ESSPIN position paper on IQSs. This was the first step in the process of adaptation, in partnership

with UBEC, Nigerian Educational Research and Development council (NERDC), National Mass Education

Commission (NMEC) and State Agency for Mass Education (SAME) to ensure their inputs are integrated

into the new materials.

While reviewing and simplifying the materials, particular attention was given to minimizing the text and

increasing the use of practical examples, illustrations and demonstrations, while ensuring they fit into

the IQS context. In addition to reviewing and simplifying the teacher’s guide, components on gender

responsive pedagogies were integrated into the materials, focusing on classroom management and on

teaching techniques. Technical and practical aspects of the guide will be contextualized in the IQS, which

include:

Simplifying the modules to integrate clear instructions, use of a simple classroom language relevant to the children’s home context;

Ensuring that the learning activities encourage participation and involve all students in their learning and establishing clear classroom rules;

Praising children and giving positive feedback and motivating them to learn, while also using appropriate teaching aids including visual aids to support learning and make learning more interesting and effective. This are key aspects that will be the improved during the adaptation process;

Developing relevant teaching aids from locally available resources will also be given attention, to which the expert focused on the use of Muslim traditional tablet already used in IQS. Further emphasis will be on the use of games, songs and role plays to teach effectively.

Two workshops are planned in April 2015 to discuss and provide additional feedback on the adapted

version of the teachers’ guide, pilot test the first draft, while also engaging with pedagogical specialists

to ensure that the illustrations, examples and demonstrations included in the guide are simple and

relevant.

2.2 Early learning and reading strategy developed

The GEP3 refocused its early learning and reading strategy on improving early learning skills (literacy,

numeracy, social skills) of children in primary grades 1-3 in the mother tongue, while also providing

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opportunities for transitioning to the second language (English) to prepare children learn with English as

a language of instruction by the time they transit to primary grade four where they are faced with English

as the medium of instruction officially.

Through consultations with various NGOs and ascertaining their capacity to implement an innovative

approach to reading, FHI 360 was identified based on their presence in Nigeria, in addition to relevant

global and regional experiences in Africa. The GEP3 engaged them in developing a coherent proposal for

implementing pilot early grade literacy and numeracy activities in Katsina and Zamfara.

In December 2014, the international non-government organisation FHI360 submitted a draft proposal,

called Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA) - “Rana” is also the Hausa word meaning “brightness,

daytime, sun”.

RANA aims to:

Build teacher professional development strategy from the school up.

Develop teaching and learning materials - teacher guides with simple scripted lessons, student

workbooks for active learning, and supplementary materials, as required. These materials will

help teachers teach literacy, and link it to numeracy, in practical, effective ways.

Involve communities to build support for such innovations through launch events,

literacy/numeracy champions, and low-cost activities.

Build sustainable government ownership

Upon submission, the proposal was reviewed through the internal procedures for partnering with

CSOs/NGOs, as well as aligning to the UNICEF Country Programme Document for 2014-2017. The review

approved the partnership based on the technical capacity of FHI 360, their presence in Nigeria, in

addition to a comprehensive approach proposed for ensuring that children acquire literacy and

numeracy skills at early grades. Currently, UNICEF is finalising the partnership documents.

In the discussion between EDOREN, FHI 360 and UNICEF, the monitoring and evaluation approach of the

GEP3 early literacy and numeracy pilot was discussed. The discussion was to ensure that the approach is

robust and fits into the GEP3 evaluation framework. One outstanding issue was that of the sampling of

schools for the pilot. The FHI 360 raised concerns regarding RCT (randomized controlled trial) as they

have had negative experience in programming using it as method of choosing intervention schools. RCT

is potentially good for an evaluation but can negatively effective implementation as consideration of

distance, accessibility, and local commitment are not taken into account. UNICEF is working to find a

method which takes both issues into consideration.

The sampling methodology has been proposed and tentatively agreed with FHI360. The proposed

sampling methodology for selecting intervention schools for the early literacy and numeracy pilot (RANA)

in Katsina and Zamfara takes into consideration programmatic and evaluation concerns of the pilot and

is detailed in GEP3 Quarterly Progress Report – Year 3, Quarter 4.

2.3 Head teacher review undertaken

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As part of the redesign process, an external review of the GEP3 head teacher training package was conducted in November and December 2014. The purpose was to analyse the GEP3 head teacher training intervention, in terms of its effectiveness in achieving its intended objectives. The review specifically examined the training process (duration and quality), materials including manual used, and mechanisms in place to monitor head teachers’ performance. Consultations were conducted with national stakeholders from the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Teacher Development Programme (TDP), and Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSSPIN).

Based on a random sample, ten GEP3 supported schools were selected from each of the three focus

states for the review (Bauchi, Sokoto, and Zamfara). In addition six non-GEP3 supported schools were

identified in each state to provide comparison group. All 30 schools were visited where the head teachers

were observed in their work. Focus group discussions were held with the head teachers from targeted

schools – 30 (three female) who participated in training provided by GEP3 and six (two female) who did

not.

Key recommendations are outlined in GEP3 Quarterly Progress Report – Year 3, Quarter 4. These

recommendations will be used to improve the head teacher training approach under GEP3 to build the

capacity of head teachers in improving pedagogical practice in their schools, focusing on instruction,

appropriate teaching strategies and professional support to teachers to improve student learning,

teachers’ delivery of lessons and classroom experiences.

2.4 IQS institutional capacity assessment

Moving forward with integrated Qur’anic education, the strategy aims to strengthen the teaching and

learning environment of the Qur’anic schools as integrated Qur’anic education has proven to be an

acceptable strategy to Muslim communities for enrolling girls, who otherwise would not be in school.

To develop a better understanding of state capacities to support improved learning in integrated

Qur’anic schools, an assessment of institutional capacities of SUBEBs, SAME and other relevant

institutions which have responsibility for or oversee education in Qur’anic education centres will be

conducted in three GEP3 focus states (Bauchi, Niger, and Sokoto) in order to identify strategic partners

for collaboration with UNICEF in building the capacity of teachers/facilitators and Centre-based

Management Committees (CBMCs) to deliver quality basic education for children, especially girls,

enrolled in IQS in the states. Recommendations will be made on areas that need to be strengthened in

each state to enable them to effectively support IQS to deliver quality education for children, more

especially girls.

Field work will be conducted in April and May 2015 to meet local stakeholders and to collect information

in the three target states, Bauchi, Niger and Sokoto.

Output 2: plans for year 4

With IQS material adaptation on-going, focus for year 4 will be the training of 36 teacher

facilitators (TFs) as well as 90 TFs in Bauchi, Sokoto and Niger. TFs will support training of over

900 facilitators (200 per state) in IQS in the three states.

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Implementing initial activities for the early grade reading and numeracy pilot in Zamfara and

Katsina states will commence. The initial activities will include identifying the 200 pilot schools

and IQS in the two states and commencing work on material development and teacher training.

Revise GEP3 approach to training head teacher based on the recommendations from the review

and the experience of other agencies. Additional discussions particularly with ESSPIN are planned

for GEP3 team to be able to verify how the ESSPIN has carried out for their head teachers training

has translated into improvements in student learning, teacher professional development and

school improvements.

Disseminate IQS capacity assessment to springboard the discussion of how to more effectively

support quality learning in IQSs.

Output 3: Improved governance to strengthen girls’ education

Interventions under this output aims at influencing key areas of governance and systems in the state

education system which affect girls’ basic education in the long term. The GEP3 supported the

implementation of Annual School Census so that they provide reliable data. For schools to effectively

support girls to stay in education, interventions aimed at strengthening school management (SBMC). The

project continued to support Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme and to improve its

effectiveness. The HiLWA took steps to increase women’s visibility in the education system.

Achievements

School-based Management Committees

UNICEF GEP3 partnership with UBEC was strengthened.

A harmonized (integrating experiences from GEP3 and ESSPIN) SBMC monitoring tool was

approved by UBEC as national tool for use in all states, not specific to a project or agency.

The State teams of SBMC trainers/mentors (also called CGP - Civil Society Government

Partnership) were constituted in all five states.

A refresher training programme for CGPs was developed covering an overview of the SBMC’s

function, roles and responsibilities, and school-based mentoring and monitoring.

HiLWA

The HiLWA advocacy resulted in increased number of female teachers being employed - 2,994 in

two states (Bauchi and Niger) during the last quarter of 2014.

State decision-makers recognised the importance of HiLWA and their mission. For example, the

Executive Governor of Bauchi allocated a 12- seat bus to HiLWA members to support their

activities.

FTTSS

A total of 236 trainees completed the final year of the course in December 2014. Their graduation

was initially scheduled to be announced in March 2015 but was delayed.

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All states implemented an action plan to improve the effectiveness and value for money of

their FTTSS.

Draft guideline to improve VfM of the FTTSS was developed. The guideline includes tools and

processes for effective tracking of attendance and deployment of FTTSS graduates. The

guideline will be finalised in year 4.

EMS/Annual School Census (ASC)

Statistical Reports for 2013-2014 annual school census for four states have been prepared and

final validation ongoing prior to publication and dissemination. The 2013-2014 data are being

subjected to rigorous quality assurance checks for the first time for reliability and accuracy.

The new UNICEF GEP3 EMIS Strategy has enhanced partnership with ESSPIN on a harmonized

approach to capacity building of states and engagement with NEMIS on technical issues and

workable solutions.

Improved collaboration of IDPs on EMIS, leading to a more coordinated approach in the process

of generating accurate and timely education data.

The EMIS backup database software developed, tested and deployed for data entry in six ESSPIN

support states. The backup database is compatible with NEMIS database and designed to allow

transfer of historical state data to NEMIS central database.

The GEP3 M&E tools were developed – FTTSS tracking, SBMC effectiveness and enrolment drive

validation tools were developed.

The GEP3 Intervention database conceptual model was developed. The GEP3 monitoring tools

will be used to collect and feed data into the intervention database for ease of reporting and

assurance of data quality.

The 2014- 2015 ASC data was collected, with the exception of Bauchi State.

A draft evaluation framework was agreed with EDOREN.

3.1 School-based Management Committees

As part of UNICEF revised SBMC strategy, the focus of SBMC work is to align UNICEF’s work with UBEC

national SBMC policy implementation guidelines and enhance technical collaboration with ESSPIN. To lay

the foundations for a harmonized approach to SBMC capacity building, UBEC in collaboration with

UNICEF organised a two-day workshop on 15-16 December 2014 for 28 stakeholders (11 female) to look

at ESSPIN and UNICEF activities on SBMC monitoring and to have a better understanding on how to

harmonize the activities with the UBEC SBMC policy framework to ensure functional, sustainable SBMCs

across the nation and to promote equity in the provision of quality basic education in the country. The

UBEC Director of Social Mobilisation Department chaired the workshop.

The workshop, built on UBEC’s national leadership and expertise in social mobilization, together with

UNICEF’s investment in capacity building of school management committees in the five GEP3 states. The

workshop brought together national experts on social mobilization and school-based management

committees from UBEC, UNICEF and ESSPIN, together with state education authorities (SUBEB Directors

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Social Mobilisation) to develop integrated approaches to SBMC support and capacity development.

Through the discussion, revisions to the tool used in ESSPIN states was proposed incorporating elements

from the tool used in UNICEF states. The SBMC monitoring tool will be improved to better capture the

impact of SBMC activity on girls’ education as opposed to relying more heavily on the internal functioning

of SBMCs. The tool will help visualize and quantify the concrete actions that are taken by SBMCs to

support girls’ issues. Subsequently, technical meetings involving UNICEF, ESSPIN and UBEC were held

(March 2015) in Minna and Kaduna to finalize the harmonized monitoring tools and the SBMC training

and mentoring by social mobilization officers in partnership with civil society.

SBMC monitoring tool jointly agreed: The harmonized SBMC monitoring tool and reporting template

were discussed in Minna by the technical team representing UNICEF, ESSPIN, SUBEB and UBEC in Minna,

Niger. SUBEBs were represented by the Directors of Social Mobilization and Quality Assurance of Niger

State and Social Mobilization Officer (SMO) from Kaduna State to bring in field level experience.

Discussions on the draft monitoring tool was led by UNICEF while ESSPIN led discussions on the reporting

template. The tool updated to reflect agreed revision including sources of evidence to be recorded.

The ESSPIN presented three reporting template: i) SMO School level Report Format, ii) SMO Summary

Report (summary for all schools covered by the SMO) and iii) Reporting format for CSO: Community

Mobilisation and Advocacy. The reporting templates are part of the “Mentoring and Monitoring” (M&M)

training pack for SMOs and CSOs developed by ESSPIN and being used in six states (Kaduna, Enugu,

Kwara, Kano, Lagos and Jigawa). The SMOs are responsible for two clusters consisting of 5-7 schools

each (up to 15 schools in total). The SMOs are supervised by Heads of Section who on average are

responsible for up to 20 SMOs.

Participants noted that the reporting templates are appropriate and only required alignment with the

harmonized monitoring tool. Major changes that require further discussion include:

How to ensure consistency and adequate reflection of all key qualitative responses in the summary LGEA and State reports.

The role of SUBEB quality assurance staff given that some states have few SMOs to cover all schools and ensure all schools are visited at least once every school term.

Capacity of states to analyse SBMC monitoring reports and use findings to guide improvement plans.

The ESSPIN further advised that discussions have been initiated to revise the M&M pack to reflect

emerging issues such as safety and protection of children. The technical team therefore decided to halt

amendment to the reporting tools. The reporting templates will only be adjusted during the trainings to

align them with the harmonized monitoring tool so that SMOs can use them for reporting. The ESSPIN

will follow up in a meeting on the reporting tools.

SBMC mentoring structure established: The GEP3 states have identified at least 30 officials (from SUBEB,

CSO and LGEAs) per state to form a Civil Society Government Partnership (CGP) group that, under the

UBEC guideline, is responsible for mentoring and monitoring of SBMCs. The officials are part of a larger

group trained by UBEC in 2013-2014 to support state-wide rollout of the SBMC capacity development

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including mentoring and monitoring. The UBEC and UNICEF agreed to provide refresher training for CGP

teams in five GEP3 states to lead SBMC capacity building in line with the UBEC guidelines.

The UBEC identified 10 national trainers (resource persons) to facilitate refresher training of the CGPs in

the five states. Five of the trainers were from UBEC, two from civil society and three from SUBEB

(Kaduna).

The UBEC noted that despite directives to the states, SBMC affairs in some states are managed by School

Services or the Planning Departments instead of the Social Mobilization Department. Due to this, many

states including GEP3 and ESSPIN partner states have not employed adequate number of Social

Mobilization Officers at the LGA level to support the capacity development of SBMCs. Kaduna state was

cited as the only exception, employing 120 SMOs to support mentoring and mentoring while partnership

with CSOs is mainly focused on capacity building of SMOs. In other ESSPIN partner states there are few

LGA level SMOs so there is a reliance on CSO officials for mentoring and monitoring. The GEP3 states are

likely to have the same problem and the arrangements, including funding have not yet been put in place

to contract CSOs. This will be an advocacy issue for UNICEF in the coming period.

Refresher training for 100 SBMC facilitators (CGPs): In March 2015, UNICEF supported UBEC to develop

the programme for refresher training of CGPs in the five states based on content extracted from the

“SBMC Trainer’s Manual” and the “Mentoring and Monitoring Pack” (M&M). The four day refresher

training content is structured as follows: first day for an overview of the SBMC trainer’s manual focusing

on purpose, roles and responsibilities of SBMCs; and next three days to cover the first four mentoring

and monitoring visits to SBMCs by SMOs and CSO officials.

Following development of the refresher training programme, resource persons were assigned in pairs to

immediately facilitate the refresher training in the five states. However, most of the resource persons

were reluctant to travel to the northern states prior to the presidential election (on 28 March) due to

security reasons. The UBEC also noted that many CGPs might have been involved in the election process

and those involved were most likely to prioritize the election than the training. In view of the concerns

raised by the resource persons and UBEC, the refresher training was rescheduled to the week starting 20

April 2015. The refresher training will take place concurrently in the five states from 20-23 April 2015.

3.2 High Level Women Advocates (HiLWA)

In April 2014, the High Level Women Advocates (HiLWA) for Girls Education was launched by UNICEF in

collaboration with the FME. The HiLWA is a state-based group (one in each state) made up of local

influential women who agreed to come together to advocate for increased women’s participation in

leadership positions and promote girls’ education in their states. All the groups developed work plans for

2014 to advocate for increased women’s participation in leadership positions at different levels of

education governance and management as well as increased girls’ enrolment.

In December 2014, HiLWA members from the five GEP states came together with staff from the gender

division of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Gender

Issues to review the progress in the implementation of HiLWA state work plans, identify achievements,

challenges/gaps, solutions, and develop work plans for 2015.

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HiLWA Action Plans: In 2014, HiLWA groups in each state implemented actions to increase their support

and recognition amongst decision-makers and influencers. They advocated for increasing women’s role

in decision-making positions and girls’ education. In Katsina and Niger, HiLWA members met with the

Governor to brief them on HiLWA and its purpose. In Bauchi the Emir of Bass welcomed HiLWA members

in a meeting to present their group. The meetings provided a basis of support to meet stakeholders as

the support of political and traditional leaders is key in moving the agenda of girls’ education forward.

The Executive Governor of Bauchi allocated a 12- seat bus to HiLWA members to support their activities.

The HiLWA involvement in the Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS) has resulted in the

increased number of female teachers being employed - 2,994 in two states (Bauchi and Niger). Out of

newly employed teachers in Bauchi 57.3 per cent were female. The advocacy visit to the Bauchi State

Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission resulted in this increase – in the female teachers

and those posted to the rural areas from SUBEB and Ministry of Education.

In Niger and Bauchi, HiLWA groups have been proactive in reaching out to local communities. In Niger,

they have reached out to local stakeholders across all LGAs to establish local HiLWA chapters. Likewise

in Bauchi, meetings were conducted with mother associations to create more awareness on the need to

increase the number of women to change attitudes and encourage more girls into school. Public

awareness campaigns were conducted in a number of states. In Zamfara, Katsina, and Bauchi, radio

phone-in shows, radio jingles and dramas on HiLWA and its messages were implemented to increase

support of the group and the enrolment of girls. In Bauchi, the state radio station offered free radio

airtime for HiLWA activities.

Across all GEP3 states, HiLWA was active during the enrolment drive campaign. Members participated in

planning meetings at various levels and monitoring the campaign at the community level as part of the

state’s quality assurance processes. All five HiLWA groups developed new work plans for 2015 building

on lessons learnt from 2014. Findings from the rapid assessment provided evidence and data that

inspired and spurred stakeholders to make commitments to increase women’s participation in leadership

positions in the states.

The HiLWA team action plan also targets engagement and advocacy with influential religious and

traditional leaders. In Sokoto, the HiLWA team held discussion with the Sultan of Sokoto for partnership

in the promotion of increased women participation in education leadership positions in the state. The

Sultan pledged to support the advocacy work of HiLWA in the state.

HiLWA expanded to Kebbi. As part of the scale up of good practices from GEP3, the HiLWA intervention

was extended to Kebbi with support from other resources mobilized by UNICEF6. On 12 March 2015,

Kebbi chapter of HiLWA was formally launched by the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Kebbi.

Ten high level women including the current Honourable Commissioner for Women Affairs were

commissioned as HiLWA members in the state. The women have committed to join the rest of the teams

in the GEP3 states to advocate for women’s participation in education leadership and management

positions in Kebbi.

6 This is funded using non-DFID funds.

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3.3 Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS)

During the reporting period, 1,771 female teacher trainees7 (NCE1, NCE2 and NCE3) in state colleges of

education (CoE) in all five GEP3 states completed their academic session with only one student (NCE2)

dropping out in Bauchi state. Two hundred and thirty-six out of 1,771 (13 per cent) completed the

training programme during the reporting period. They are successful candidates for the awarding of the

Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE). The average monthly attendance of trainees was between 80 to

95 per cent. The high rate was due to recently introduced activities: English language and communication

skills, tuition, mentoring and monitoring schemes introduced8. Once their official results are announced,

UNICEF will advocate for their deployment by the SUBEBs.

State Level NCE1 NCE2 NCE3 TOTAL

Bauchi NCE 250 59 55 364

Katsina NCE 250 56 68 374

Niger NCE 250 70 63 383

Sokoto NCE 250 50 50 350

Zamfara NCE 250 50 - 300

Total 1,250 285 236 1,771

In June 2014, the operational research findings on FTTSS were presented to the representatives from the

State Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and the State Colleges of

Education by EDOREN which highlighted the following issues: the inability of some FTTSS students to

demonstrate academic learning; poor English language and communication skills; poor attendance, low

graduation and deployment rates; poor teaching and learning materials; and lack of accommodation and

teaching and learning materials. In response to the operational research findings, work plans addressing

the challenges of female teacher trainee performance were developed by each of the five state colleges

of education.

Follow up discussions identified action points to improve the challenges faced by the teacher trainee in

the FTTSS. Measures taken to address the issues are detailed in GEP3 Quarterly Progress Report –

Quarters 2/3.

UNICEF continued to advocate with SUBEBs in Niger and Katsina to prioritize appointment and

deployment of FTTSS graduates to rural schools. The SUBEB Chairs agreed to look into the issues raised

after election based on the agenda of the new government.

Meanwhile, current FTTSS students including NCE 2 and 3 sponsored by GEP3 are preparing for the first

semester examination due to be conducted from 31 March to 25 April 2015. Besides the examination,

NCE 3 students have been attending teaching practice in various schools across their respective states.

7 The figure reflects project FTTSS, cohorts 4 (2011/2012) ,cohort 5 (2012/2013) and cohort 6 (2013/2014) 8 State Colleges of Education (SCoEs) Action Plans, (June 2014)

Table 2: Project sponsored FTTSS between July 2014 and March 2015

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The teaching practice, which is a key requirement for the award of NCE, is expected to end with the

closure of school for term break in end of April.

As part of the measures introduced to improve accountability and transparency in disbursement of

stipends to FTTSS students, a joint verification of students’ attendance was conducted by SUBEB and

UNICEF in the five states (Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara). The purpose of the visits was to

verify student’s presence and collect their bank accounts for direct payment of stipends. After the

verification exercise, with exception of Sokoto, the four colleges, have started the transfer of 2014-2015

first tranche payment directly to the FTTSS beneficiaries’ bank accounts. UNICEF Sokoto Field Office and

State SUBEB is finalizing the opening of students’ bank accounts and funds are to be transferred from

early April 2015.

Direct payment of student’s stipend through bank accounts will reduce malpractice, improve efficiency

of the disbursement process and ensure accountability of the beneficiaries as payment will be tied to

regular attendance.

Develop guidelines for FTTSS to improve value of money (VfM): In order to improve the value for money

of the Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS), a guideline for the implementation of FTTSS

has been drafted. The guideline came in response to challenges faced with regard to implementation of

the FTTSS, more especially the large number of trainees failing to successfully complete the training

course and thus not qualified for employment as primary school teacher. The low completion rate raised

concerns about the value for money of the scheme and the prospects of achieving the project (GEP3)

objective of more qualified female teachers in rural primary schools. The guideline is informed by

recommendations of the FTTSS Operational Research and the action plan developed by the CoEs and

SUBEB to improve success of the programme. The guideline will be used by the colleges of education

managing the FTTSS, SUBEBs and LGEAs expected to employ graduates of the scheme.

One of the key objectives of the VfM guideline is to improve documentation/tracking of FTTSS students

and graduates from the five State Collages of Education. The monitoring and tracking activity will

commence in April 2015 in all the Colleges, SUBEBs and LGEAs to track employment and deployment of

graduates.

Some CoE have taken steps aimed at improving information management. In Niger, the State College of

Education has initiated Management Information System (MIS) to capture records of students to ease

the process of disseminating examination results through an on-line platform. The Niger State CoE is also

introducing e-examination to be administered in a computer laboratory under construction. If fully

implemented, the initiative of Niger State CoE will improve management of student’s information and

facilitate timely processing of examination results.

The monitoring and tracking activity have started in Katsina and Sokoto State Colleges of Education in

March 2015. Analysis of the monitoring/tracking data including in the other three colleges (Bauchi, Niger

and Zamfara) will continue in first quarter of Year 4.

Discussion have been held with EDOREN to reviewing the action plans to improve the performance of

the FTTSS agreed by the stakeholders at the FTTSS Operational Research (OR) findings dissemination

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workshop held in June 2014. UNICEF and EDOREN agreed that a follow up OR is required to answer the

following questions:

How are the states implementing the action plan developed at the OR findings dissemination workshop in June 2014?

Are there any significant changes as a result of the implementation of the action plan?

Are States taking account/ownership of the OR findings and the agreed action plan?

Discussion on the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the follow up OR including logistical arrangement for

setting up a team to conduct the research in May 2015 has been initiated with EDOREN. An issue has

been raised concerning the funding of the operational research as it is not in EDOREN budget.

Review of tutorial arrangement with CoEs. UNICEF has also initiated discussion with the British Council

for collaboration on tutorial support to the NCE 2 and NCE 3 students in English and communication skills.

An initial meeting was held with the British Council in March 2015. The objective was to discuss and solicit

their support in leveraging existing relevant training materials for the students. British Council proposed

a package entitled “English in Action” which comprises of English for communication and pedagogy. A

follow-up meeting is scheduled in April 2015 to discuss options for technical support to the CoEs and

relevance of the proposed English in Action and other training materials for the FTTSS students. The

options being considered for discussion include training of tutors from the State Colleges of Education

by the British Council resource persons on the use of the English in Action materials.

3.4 EMIS/Annual School Census (ASC)

During the reporting period, the key activities supported under the new GEP3 EMIS strategy were:

capacity building of the five states to improve the quality of the ASC process and data; conduct of

2013/2014 annual school census and data analysis/processing; develop backup database/software for

EMIS; conduct of the 2014/2015 annual school census; development of GEP3 management database and

monitoring and reporting tools. Planned activities for the year were generally achieved or on track to be

achieved in year 4 of the new operational plan.

Enhanced capacity of EMIS Staff for 2013-2014 ASC. The capacity of 61 coordinators, 275 supervisors

and 1,011 enumerators from the five states were enhanced with strategies and operational guidelines

for Annual School Census data collection to ensure efficient and effective conduct of the 2013-2014 ASC.

In addition, 15 EMIS officials (three per state: one SUBEB, one State Ministry of Education (SMoE) and

one EMIS consultant) participated in an orientation training of data entry using ESSPIN EMIS Software.

State level skilled EMIS officials have built capacity on ESSPIN EMIS software, and trained their respective

data clerks to perform data entry, processing and data quality control process including the steps to

check both completeness, accuracy of mandatory fields. Due to the fact that some items of 2013-2014

ASC questionnaires were missing in the ESSPIN EMIS software, a technical document9 was developed to

guide data clerks on how to handle data entry process.

9 Refer to Kamon’s 1st progress report : Annex 1 - Data Entry using ESSPIN Software – Issues

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Enhanced data quality, data collection process for 2013-2014 ASC. Beyond enumerator and supervisor

capacity building process, joint field monitoring was conducted in both public and private schools by

EMIS consultants, state project coordinators (SPCs) and state partners to monitor through spot-checking

the administration of the data collection instruments and the conducting of the 2013-2014 ASC data

collection exercise in 42 selected LGEAs across GEP3 states— Bauchi (20 LGEAs), Katsina (6 LGEAs),

Sokoto (6 LGEAs), Niger (6 LGEAs) and Zamfara (4 LGEAs) respectively. Findings from spot-checks in

Bauchi’s selected LGEAs revealed that the head teachers of all schools visited were fully aware of the

conducting of the 2013-2014 ASC but only schools visited in Toro LGEA in Bauchi presented evidence of

the information provided to the enumerators. The lack of evidence at the school level to cross-validate

what has been reported on the questionnaires raised a serious concern with regards to EMIS data

credibility. More importantly, there were some gaps in terms of EMIS processes because some

completed ASC forms were not signed by the supervisors. An assessment of a sample filled

questionnaires performed by UNICEF EMIS expert revealed mistakes, inconsistencies, and missing

information on the questionnaires prior the data entry due to various reasons—misunderstanding of

questionnaire’s items and enumerators skills issues. A data quality control checklist10 was developed to

support both enumerators’ and supervisors’ work.

2013-2014 data entry and processing. UNICEF and ESSPIN supported states to handle technical issues

related to data entry, data cleaning and data merging from individual LGEA standalone databases in order

to have a consolidated single database per state. A data validation tool built in Microsoft Excel was

developed and linked to ESSPIN database to track inconsistencies and missing data at any time during

and after the data entry. This tool was helpful and filled the functionality gap within the EMIS software

used to perform 2013-2014 ASC data entry. In addition, a reporting tool was developed to automate

generation of statistical reports based on FME recommended report format. Some work started on

developing school report card / school profile as an additional reporting tool for simulating demand for

quality data and for promoting use of EMIS data for planning at LGEA and school levels.

Statistical yearbook finalization. The 2013-2014 statistical yearbook finalization process has pushed

each individual state for further data cleaning and investigation in tracking missing schools. The

integration of missing schools’ data into the merged database has contributed to increase in enrolment

figures—i.e., as a result of this exercise, Katsina was able to increase enrolment figures by over 55,000

pupils. The final report for each individual state is still under quality assurance control process at state

level, before any official data release for dissemination and publication can be made.

Critical review of ESSPIN EMIS software. UNICEF EMIS expert did a critical assessment of ESSPIN

software and has drafted a technical document outlining the software’s strengths and weakness— this

showed tables with no primary keys leading to duplication, non-relational database, orphan records after

school deletion, and functional bugs. Recommendations for improvement11 were provided in

preparation of 2014-2015 supporting four states, including Bauchi through budget support financing

10 Refer to Kamon’s 1st progress report : Annex 2- Data Quality Control – Checklist 11 Refer to Kamon’s 1st progress : Annex 3 - Data Entry Software (ESSPIN) – Improvement

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model. Around US$ 1 million per year is still available for Technical Assistance and capacity building in

the project budget which will be used.

The World Bank is also supporting FME and keen to see FME work towards connecting EMIS at both state

and federal levels with the State Bureau of Statistics and National Bureau of Statistics. The World Bank

has encouraged UNICEF to take the lead on harmonizing support to EMIS so that all IDPs work in a more

coherent manner to develop synergy and share resources for addressing data issue.

Broadly UNICEF, World Bank and USAID have agreed to work together for best use of their respective

support. Therefore the idea of categorization of state in terms of which states are receiving support from

IDPs in terms of which ones do not, human capacity, hardware, EMIS software issues. That will help

targeting and to develop specific strategy for supporting the States in similar level for moving up to a

higher level.

Based on the EMIS challenges from previous years, UNICEF has informed stakeholders involved in

supporting EMIS, that some steps have been taken to customize the UIS open source EMIS software as a

backup solution while keeping focus on the main goal of supporting the NEMIS’ overall strategy for

deploying harmonized and functional EMIS software.

UNICEF met the FME Head of Planning Department to give a feedback on the challenges faced by IDPs

supported states on EMIS and ask for permission to use UIS EMIS software as backup solution while

keeping in mind the main goal of supporting the NEMIS national policy of developing a harmonized EMIS.

The FME has in principle no objection to UNICEF’s plan to use a backup software solution but did not give

a formal approval.

UIS EMIS software & database with reporting tools and guides updated. As it takes more of a leadership

role in EMIS, UNICEF in collaboration with UIS have designed a new relational and historical database

structure based on the five questionnaires currently used by Nigerian’s Federal Ministry of Education to

conduct a state-wide 2014-2015 Annual School Census. The new EMIS database’s physical structure has

been reviewed by the ESSPIN/EDOREN EMIS Advisor. The EMIS Adviser performed a series of tests and

provided a list of suggested improvements which have been integrated by UNICEF into the database. As

part of technical collaboration with GEP3, ESSPIN/EDOREN EMIS, the Advisor will develop the database

dictionary, a key document to facilitate easier use and maintenance of the EMIS database. In addition, a

user-friendly data entry interface has been customized. The final version has been made available to

both ESSPIN and UNICEF partner states, for consideration as a backup solution to the Federal Ministry of

Education (FME) software which some states have not been able to successfully deploy.

In March 2015, UNICEF provided technical support to ESSPIN/EDOREN as they prepare for data entry in

their states. The training to 15 EMIS officers from its states (Kano, Jigawa, Enugu, Kwara, and Lagos)

presented the use and the administration the UIS EMIS software customized to Nigeria’s context. The

GEP3 uploaded all ESSPIN states school list into the database.

Technical assistance to states. UNICEF conducted a state by state EMIS technical assistance trip in March

2015. The Education Specialist, M&E Officer and the EMIS international consultant, provided training on

UIS EMIS software deployment to all GEP3 states except Sokoto. In Bauchi, Niger, Katsina and Zamfara,

the software has been installed, to give an opportunity to states to explore it as a backup solution

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pending formal decision by NEMIS with regards to its use. The trip to Sokoto was postponed to April due

to cancelled flights and the March elections.

Also during the trip, the status of NEMIS SLQ software was assessed. In all states the NEMIS software has

been received, but it has not be been deployed due to various reasons. The main reasons are the absence

of a server, technical capacity, and challenges associated with the installation of the software.

Update on ASC status. Four GEP3 states (Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara) have completed the

enumeration. Enumeration in Bauchi is planned to take place from 12-24 May 2015. In the four states

that have completed enumeration, the next step is to undertake quality check of completed

questionnaires. Data quality aspects need to be addressed at all steps of the EMIS cycle as a cross-cutting

dimension. Indeed, a random selection of questionnaires in Niger, Katsina and Zamfara have revealed

some issues in the completion of the questionnaires. Recommendations have been made to strengthen

the enumerator selection process and supervision at all stages of the data collection process. Issues

around ASC and record keeping should be incorporated into the training of head teacher and school

supervisor on a regular basis. A physical questionnaire data validation process has been strongly

recommended prior to data entry.

Enhancing EMIS data quality

Data quality assessment. A concept note has been developed within the EMIS strategy framework to

support the promotion of evidence-based performance among GEP3 states. UNICEF is establishing a

partnership with the Association for the Development of Education (ADEA)’s Working Group on

Education Management and Policy Support, to assess the level of reliability of ASC process and

acceptability of the quality of data approved for dissemination. Identified best practices, gaps, and

challenge will inform future action plan and key priorities for improvement.

GEP3 management database finalized. A series of M&E tools have been developed to track the

implementation of GEP3 key interventions – FTTSS, Enrolment Drive Validation, and SBMC Effectiveness

Monitoring. The SBMC monitoring tools have been jointly developed with UBEC and ESSPIN and

approved by UBEC for use in all states. These tools have informed the design of GEP3 intervention

database. The back end database structure has been finalized except for the component related to

teacher profiling. A further discussion with the related output lead will take place to integrate key

information requirements. A real-time monitoring system will be developed, but in the meantime an

Excel based data entry tool has been developed to handle the enrolment drive validation exercise which

cannot wait until the implementation of the smartphone real-time monitoring system. The data collected

through the excel interface will be uploaded directly into a relational and historical database designed as

structure to store all project generated data and information.

Evaluation framework and plan for baseline finalized. The GEP3 has worked closely with both DFID and

EDOREN to develop a draft evaluation framework. The M&E related components – sampling design,

timeframe, and conduct of baseline are still on progress and are on track. It has been agreed that the

baseline assessment will be conducted in October 2015, during the first term of the 2015-2016 school

year.

Output 3: plan for year 4

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Planning and advocacy for ASC delivery at federal and state levels

2014-2015 ASC data entry, data cleaning and 2014/15 ASC final report generation.

ASC 2013-2014 data quality assessment.

IQS survey in focus LGAs in two states.

2015-2016 ASC implementation process specifically enumeration and data entry.

SBMC/CBMC effectiveness monitoring.

Dialogue and advocacy with UBEC to release SBMC training funds to the five states.

Refresher training for five state CGP teams (30 trainers per state).

Training of 393 SBMCs (200 refresher and 193 new) followed by school level mentoring and

monitoring.

Advocacy with state and Local Government Authorities to deploy graduates of the FTTSS

serve in rural schools

Bi-annual disbursement of FTTSS allowances

Tracking FTTSS trainees’ attendance, graduation and deployment.

Partnership with the British Council to train selected COE tutors on structured English

language and communication skills tuition support to trainees,

HiLWA state groups will continue to implement 2015 work plans developed in December

2014.

Capacity building for HiLWA members on evidenced-based advocacy skills to support their

state level advocacy activities will explored based on available funds.

4. Challenges and Lessons Learnt

4.1 Challenges

In northern Nigeria, the participation of women in leadership positions is low as they are perceived

as poor performers. This presents a challenges to HiLWA when advocating for change in the situation.

The way forward is to increase the commitment of women themselves. The national meetings

provide the fora in which HiLWA women can discuss their experiences, put a strategy and create a

support mechanism for aspiring women.

Securing an agreement with the government with regard to the use of UIS EMIS software as a backup

solution. This is to recognize that none of the GEP3 states has successfully deployed and tested

NEMIS software in preparation of 2014-2015 data entry due to various reasons— ICT infrastructure

issues including hardware and network problems, EMIS software issues and human capacity issues.

The technical staff working on NEMIS recognise the importance of using UIS EMIS as a backup

solution though it has not been granted approval yet.

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The use of EMIS is weak across the states with some variation between them. The major issues are:

the questionnaires are not physically checked; questionnaires from the same LGA are entered in

several standalone databases which complicates data merging; missing data; and issues of over-

writing of school data during the merging process. As an example, over 500 schools were not included

in the Niger state EMIS database. Quality assurance in EMIS processes will be strengthened in future.

The issues of dilapidated state of the schools and inadequate number of classrooms in some schools

have been raised by parents and community members which work against the enrolment drives. As

GEP3 is creating high demand for education, the need for state governments (SUBEB and SMoE) are

to ensure that the identified infrastructural gaps are given priority attention in the MTSS framework

and UBEC intervention funds Action plans, to address the supply-side issues such as lack of

classrooms, shortage of qualified teachers and poor teaching-learning materials. SUBEBS and UNICEF

are encouraging SBMCs to improvise learning spaces and facilities to meet with the increased

enrolment in schools. To address this, stronger advocacy will be undertaken with SUBEB for the

rehabilitation of dilapidated schools and construction of additional classrooms.

Cash transfer is faced with the challenge of operationalization of the programme’s design leading to

delay in the implementation. Efforts will be undertaken to address the financial constraints faced by

the PIU which should significantly ease operations and together with additional training and

strengthened guidance, will improve the situation.

No decision has been taken with regard to funding from UBEC to enable states to contract CSOs for

mentoring and monitoring of SBMCs.

4.2 Lessons learnt

Enrolment drive: Ownership and sustainability of activities are better ensured when stakeholders at

the school and community level are empowered and involved in planning and implementation of

activities. The change from the old strategy of state resource persons mobilizing parents and

communities to enrol children in school to SBMC members leading the enrolment drive and engaging

directly with parents and community members in their catchment areas, is showing improved

performance.

Women must be specifically targeted to ensure their participation at the local level. The LGA level

enrolment drive meetings were attended by the SBMC representatives or chairpersons across the

five states, most of whom were men. Out of the 8,503 participants, only 550 were women. The low

number of women participating in these meetings in four states (Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara)

is due to the fact that participants in the meeting were the head teachers (secretary of the SBMC)

and the SBMC chairpersons. Both positions are male dominated. Bauchi state took a different

approach by specifically including Mothers Association (MA) representatives and traditional leaders

which meant more women participated in this state then the others. In Bauchi 24 per cent (206) of

participants were women. This is a lesson learnt for next year’s Enrolment Drive Campaign (EDC).

For the FTTSS scheme, the direct payment of student’s stipend through their bank accounts has

improved transparency and accountability of the disbursement process leading to more confidence

in the beneficiaries.

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Children prefer learning in Hausa language. From the field testing of the new teaching materials,

children stated that they come to IQSs because they can learn in Hausa. They better understand what

they are learning. Children said they would attend primary school if teachers teach in Hausa. Most

facilitators in IQS now use both English and Hausa. The TDP teacher’s guide emphasize simplification

and contextualisation of language in the classroom.

UNICEF’s constant engagement and dialogue with FME/NEMIS with regard to the development

partners’ support for the functional and sustainable EMIS system has contributed to development of

EMIS rolling plan and NEMIS has shown an interest of UIS EMIS software as potential solution to their

technical issues.

5. State Overviews

During the project year, the national elections dominated the environment and overshadowed other

priorities of the government. In the GEP3 focus states, elections were conducted without major incidents

of violence with APC sweeping in all five states. The results of the presidential and national assembly

elections show that the APC won with 53.96 per cent of the vote nationally and over 80 per cent of the

vote in the northern states. The APC won 214 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 62

out of 109 in the Senate.

4.1 Bauchi

Despite tensions around the elections, the political environment in Bauchi turned out to be more

peaceful than expected. Traditional rulers had established State Peace Committee under the

chairmanship of the Emir of Bauchi and with the membership of all six most senior traditional rulers.

Among other responsibilities, the committee oversaw ward level committees that had the mandate of

enforcing discipline and enhancing coexistence among residents of the ward.

From January to March 2015, the political environment and dynamics was actually dictated by the

election process. This affected core functions of the state and reduced services including even

commissioning of completed projects (state airport and hospital as main examples). Election campaigns

were largely peaceful. The result of the election was APC winning all Bauchi state seats for the senate

and House of Representatives. For the presidential race, 91 per cent of the vote went to the APC.

Although political violence was not an issue, Boko Haram insurgency activities in the region became more

visible within reporting months. Bauchi is the gate to the northeast and military presence was heavy as

they used the highways to move in and out of the crisis zone. Presence of Boko Haram (BH) insurgents

were noticed in the areas of Toro, Ningi and Ganjuwa all of which are GEP3 LGAs. Specifically, schools

remained closed in Euga and Runtum focus communities for several weeks before the military actions

dislodged the insurgents. In few cases, BH threats were also reported in Alkaleri and Kirfi LGAs that share

the border with Gombe. Both actual and potential threats affected the possibility of safe access to

schools by both pupils and teachers. More pronounced BH attacks on citizens, police stations and poling

units (Kirfi, Alkaleri and Tafawa Balewa LGAs) were recorded in March 2015.

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The state government enjoys good support from the interventions by the World Bank (State Education

Investment Project- SEIP) and USAID (Education Crises and Response- ECR). The SEIP is a 50 million dollar

credit facility to strengthen education system in the state. The ECR on the other hand supports SAME to

deliver results for non-formal learners in crises conditions. The GEP3 and these two projects complement

each other.

Though sittings of the State House of Assembly has been inconsistent. LGA funds were approved for the

restructured Bauchi State Agency for Mass Education (SAME) from January 2015. Thus, apart from the

purchase and distribution of learning materials to some centers, SAME has finalized plans to train 540

NFE Facilitators. If well managed, this will have positive effect on collaboration between the state and

UNICEF IQS and G4G interventions.

The 2015 state budget has been passed into law by the state House of Assembly. However, money is yet

to be released to the Ministries and the general public.

4.2 Katsina

Most attention since December 2014 has been on the election campaigns. Both the ruling and opposition

parties were competing fiercely for the March 2015 elections. As a result, it was very difficult to engage

with the senior-level officials especially the Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries. However, at the

Ministry of Education and SUBEB, some implementation was still going on. The issue of not releasing

state budget was discussed with the government and was pursued by the acting permanent secretary

without success.

Although there was fear of election and post-election violence, elections were held in relative peace and

the people were generally happy with the results with APC winning 93 per cent of the vote. The APC also

won all senate and National House of Assembly seats. Though elections were free and fair, there are

lessons to be learned from the process. About 50 per cent of registered voters were unable to vote

because of low accreditation and 32,288 votes were rejected out of the 1,481,714 votes cast in the state.

A relative peace was maintained throughout the state except for a few LGAs where armed robbery and

cattle rustling took place. These were Batsari, Safana, Dan-musa, Kankara and Faskari LGAs- three of

which are GEP3 focus LGAs. The Government deployed security and law enforcement personnel who

worked collaboratively with the local groups to contain the situation.

In some areas, an Islamic fundamentalist group popularly known as ‘Kalakuta’ who do not promote

violence but preach that western education and modernization is un-Islamic. Reports say they are

preaching in Mashi, Baure, Batsari, and Jbiya. Such groups tend to discourage parents from sending their

wards to school.

The situation did not affect UNICEF’s work negatively. Generally the environment is favourable for

UNICEF work. However caution must be exercised in going into some communities in Faskari, Batsari,

dan-Musa, Safana, Kankara and Jibia, especially those areas that border Zamfara due armed robbery and

cattle rustling.

The UBEC Executive Chairman who is from Katsina, advised states to emulate Kano and Enugu states to

start a school feeding programme in its primary schools. This directive is yet to be complied with in

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Katsina but the focal point in Ministry of Education said the matter would be tabled to the SUBEB/MOE

Management after elections. Furthermore, officials of the Ministry said they have used state funds to

conduct the 2014-2015 Annual School Census; data has been collated from schools in all the 34 LGAs in

the state. The state would need the assistance of donors to validate, clean up and enter the data into the

EMIS.

Update on education budget / funding – decision made or not made:

The State Government has implemented its 2014 budget. Out of the N10,838,527,425 and

N11,464,913,715 recurrent and capital budgets in 2014, the sums of N7,374,730,734

representing 68 per cent and N4,915,581,755 representing 43 per cent have been released

respectively by January 2015. Updates of releases up to March is not yet compiled.

The State Government has finalized its 2015 Education Budget, the figures have not yet been

made public. But the release of funds from the approved budget has commenced. However,

details are still being awaited.

4.3 Niger

Building up to the March elections, the overall situation in the state and focus LGAs remained calm. The

APC being the major political opponent of the government in power (PDP), won all the three senatorial

seats and the presidential elections in the state. In Niger, 81 per cent of people voted for APC in the

presidential election. Similarly, most of the state’s seats in the federal House of Representatives were

also won by APC.

Despite the economic challenges posed by the downturn in global oil prices and low level of internally

generated revenues, only a few activities have been implemented by the state: distribution of 37,103

sets of free uniforms to junior secondary one female students across the state, procurement of 10,000

brain builder in mathematics for senior secondary schools, and construction of a science laboratory

complex at Government Science College, Izom in Gurara LGA.

As expected, the beginning of each year is usually characterized by a slow budgetary release which by

implication affects the implementation of activities dependent on such budget. This was further

exasperated by the fact that, the current administration is coming to an end which contributed to zero

release of fund for the conduct of key activities under this project. Specifically, this includes:

Non-release of budgeted fund to facilitate GEP3 intervention in the state.

Non-release of funds made it difficult for the state to achieve its own targets to complement the

project’s targets.

The MOE and other education departments and agencies were sourcing for funding support from

other budgets, but this was not as substantial as could have been if the government were to

release the budgeted fund for GEP3 intervention.

4.4 Sokoto

As in other states, the last six months had seen intense political activities leading up to the elections in

April 2015. The Governor being the coordinator for the northwest zone for the APC presidential

35

campaigns, was very much engaged in the elections at both state and zone level. Tension and

uncertainties were high before the presidential election. People could not move freely due to the

election campaigns marked by some violence by political groups.

Incidents of violence amongst youth political supporters of the APC (ruling party in the State) and the

opposition (PDP) occurred and intensified a week before the presidential election. These incidents often

took place in Sokoto city. For example, on 15 January, 2015 one person died in a clash between

supporters of APC and PDP in Sokoto. Also, nine people were arrested and a truck load of weapons

confiscated by the police in connection with the clash.

Many motorists had their cars smashed by the political thugs with dangerous weapons. The violent acts

led to some parents not allowing their children to go to school during this period. One of the GEP3 LGAs

(Bodinga), being close to Sokoto town and on the highway to Kebbi, became the hot spot for these

incidents, especially when political rallies were held at the LGAs in the zone. The State Governor

advocated publicly against violence and the Sultan of Sokoto and the Leader of Sokoto Diocese played

great roles against violence.

Similarly with other northern states, the APC dominated the state with 81 per cent of the vote in the

presidential election. The APC also won all three senate seats and all national assembly seats.

The attention of the government officials was on the election making it difficult for UNICEF to engage

with them at the state and LGA levels during this period. In a bid to improve teaching and learning as

well as motivate pupils/students in schooling, the state government however, procured and distributed

50,000 textbooks (Verbal reasoning, Dictionary, Quantitative Attitude, Computers) to public primary

schools and 79,998 JSS textbooks (English, Maths, Basic Science, Social Studies, and Technology).

The sum of NGN 300 million has been budgeted for GEP3 in the 2015 budget.

4.5 Zamfara

The State government had been preoccupied with political campaigns. The Governor was running under

the platform of APC and was faced with a very strong opposition from a former Governor. Both

government officials, traditional and religious leaders publicly called for peaceful co-existence in the

state. The general public mood was for change in government, especially from the civil servants across

the state. In the presidential election, 80 per cent of people voted for APC. APC also took all senate and

national assembly seats in Zamfara.

Beyond the election, the continued incidents of attacks by cattle-wresters and armed bandits negatively

impacted on the social, political and economic well-being of the people in rural communities, especially

in parts of GEP3 LGAs like Anka, Shinkafi, Bungudu, Talata-Mafara and Tsafe but mainly in non-GEP3

LGAs like Zurmi, Maru and Birnin-Magaji.

The usual monthly funds allocations to MDAs for running the offices came to a halt during the last

quarter of 2014. Payments of monthly salaries of civil servants are being paid in batches, leading to

others not getting paid until after 10 days of new month. As at 27 March, there are some LGAs staff

who could not receive their February salaries.

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A new Commissioner of Education assumed office in February 2015. The SUBEB Executive Chairman

swapped the directors across the departments, and a new department called Special Programmes

Department has been established. The SUBEB UNICEF focal person who was the Director Quality

Assurance is heading this new department. A Department of PRS is now headed by a former SBMC & CB

Consultant for GEP3 from Katsina. In the same vein, LGEAs Education Secretaries have been redeployed

to serve in their LGAs of origin.

The DFID funded initiative State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC)

programme has supported Zamfara in developing MTSS for Education sector (2014-2017). The final draft

came out in February, 2015 and is being quality assured in terms of the content. UNICEF Sokoto Field

Office is in contact with the State coordinator with a view to determining the level of the support that

SPARC would provide to the state in the process. This is to help UNICEF know where to plug in.

Zamfara State had un-accessed UBEC intervention matching budget for 2014 amounting to NGN

952, 297,297.30 as at 17 February 2015.

The 2015 proposed State education budget is NGN 12, 639,519,810 (11.4 per cent). Out of this,

NGN 7, 174,500,000 is for capital projects and NGN 5, 465,019,810 for recurrent expenditure.

Out of this 2015 State budget, NGN 500 million is proposed for primary education capital

projects. In addition, the sum of NGN 300m has been proposed for GEP3 interventions. However,

the state education budget is awaiting defence at State House of Assembly before final approval

by the State Government.

6. Value for Money

Building on recommendations of the GEP3 Value for Money (VfM) analysis conducted in 2014, GEP3 VfM

strategy was developed to mainstream VfM throughout the project by:

Introducing measures that reduce unit costs of activities and interventions

Minimizing wastage and enhancing risk management

Focusing on cost effective interventions and delivery strategies

Leveraging government resources for scale up and to maximize impact

Systematically collecting data required for monitoring and reporting on VfM.

Measures used were those identified in the business case and guided by the three categories of DFID’s

VfM Framework: Unit costs (by Government, by Project); Non-disbursement costs (as per cent of unit

cost); State budget release ( per cent against planned); and State buy-in ( per cent of total project costs

contributed by government)

Key Achievement

Cluster-based SBMC training that reduced the cost of travel and per diem for participants.

Although expenditure analysis has not yet been done, experience from cluster based head

37

teachers training resulted in 50 per cent reduction in the cost of travel and per diem compared

with centralized training.

Direct payment by UNICEF to vendors, participants (training/meetings) and project beneficiaries

were introduced to minimise risks, eliminate wastage and ensure timely disbursement of

allowances to FTTSS trainees and cash transfer recipients. FTTSS beneficiaries have been

encouraged to open bank accounts to facilitate direct payment.

FTTSS tracking tools introduced to enhance availability of data on graduation and deployment

female teachers to rural schools as part of the technical guideline provided to states to improve

VfM of the FTTSS.

Three GEP3 states (Niger, Sokoto and Katsina) conduced state wide enrolment drive campaigns

with 60 per cent of the schools funded by government and 40 per cent by the project. Only

Zamfara and Bauchi states did not release budget for scale up of enrolment drive campaign.

Challenges

Lack of timely access to state expenditure data to assess government contribution to scale up

project interventions such as SBMC training, FTTSS and enrolment drive campaigns which are

included in state budget plans

Plan for year 4

State-wise project budget plans/expenditure tracking and VfM analysis

Updating intervention unit costs taking into account Year 3 actual expenditures

7. Budget

In year 3 the expenditure rate of GEP3 was below the planned amounts. This was due foremost to the

project entering a redesign phase with slow implementation of activities until the end of December 2014.

This meant that the original budget was no longer valid as a document to measure progress.

In addition, during the first quarter of 2015 (last quarter of the project year 3), the UNICEF Education

Programme entered into an approval process with the Federal Ministry of Education for changes made

to the programme structure to make it clearer and more focused, mirroring changes made to GEP3. This

process included the updating of UNICEF’s financial system with the new revised UNICEF education

programme and project structure meant funds could not be released to states until the end of February

2015. In addition, the change in the date of the federal elections to 28 March 2015 caused delays in

project implementation at the end of the last quarter. This resulted in the postponement of several

activities to the first quarter of year 4.

Total expenditure for year 3 (1 May 2014 – 31 March 2015): USD 6,465,091

Balance of funds: USD 5,312,667

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The above situation required a revision of the work plan and budget for year 4. Attached is a revised

budget for year 4. As the project moves into its first full year after the redesign, it was necessary to revise

the budget based on the devaluation of the naira and changes in the costing of some interventions. This

allowed UNICEF to move some activities from year 5 forward to year 4 such as the procurement of

teaching materials linking it more closely to teacher training which was not possible previously due to

the reduced budget ceiling in year 4. In addition, UNICEF will be able to contract a more complete state

project team as planned under the redesign. The revised budget discussed and agreed with DFID is

attached as Annex 2.

8. Logical framework

The GEP3 and DFID jointly revised the logframe with new impact, outcome, output statements and

activity level indicators. The updated logframe is attached as Annex 4 of the report, with results achieved

to date. With regard to impact level indicators— (i) literacy rate of young women, (ii) rate of early

marriage in target states, (iii) early childbearing, which are mainly sourced from Multiple Indicator Cluster

Survey—MICS5, the milestone’s year is referring to 2015 – year of survey, but data will be only available

in 2016 for reporting.

Milestones for “early childbearing” has been set with the assumption that Katsina and Zamfara states

will make exceptional improvements. Those milestones will be reviewed once MICS5 data is released in

2016. For all impact indicators, weighted average has been used to estimate the mean for the five GEP3

partner states. The updated log frame is attached as Annex 4.

With regard to outcome indicators, the following amendments have been agreed:

OC1: “Percentage increase in number of girls enrolled (gross) in primary education (public +

private)” – average for 4 States – Katsina, Bauchi, Sokoto and Zamfara will be used to report on

this particular indicator in 2014/2015 due to the fact that ASC 2013/2014 for Niger has data

quality issue. The indicator will be revised after ASC 2013/2014 data re-entry process for Niger

under UIS EMIS software.

OC2: “Gender parity index (VfM equity)”— ideally the gender parity index should fact in

population data by using Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) or Net Enrolment Ratio (NER). However

projected population data used to estimate state specific GER and NER— over 100 per cent in

Katsina, has pointed out data quality issues either within the population data or age distribution

enrolment figures. It was therefore agreed to use enrolment ratio (Enrolment girls / Enrolment

boys) for the logframe reporting and used both GPI (GER) and GPI (enrolment ratio) for annual

report.

OC3 : ‘’Girls’ survival rate to grade 5”— Baseline has been shifted from 2013/2014 to 2014/2015

because the data quality of ASC 2012/2013 is questionable and the estimation of the survival

rate require two consecutive data points.

OC4: “Percentage of girls achieving basic literacy” and OC5: ‘” Percentage of girls achieving basic

numeracy”— it was agreed that the indicator phrasing and effect size should be aligned with the

39

ones proposed within the evaluation framework. However setting the target too high because

there is budget constraint to increase the sample size to detect small changes, will put the related

intervention in a position being not able to achieve the expected target. Baseline –2015/2016

and Milestones 2016/2017 and 2018/2019.

With regard to output indicators, the following amendments have been agreed:

P1.2:”Number of additional girls enrolled in focus IQS” – the baseline has been shifted to

2015/2016 for IQS which has an implication in dropping number of additional girls enrolled in

focus IQS by 6,000 corresponding to 2014/15 academic year.

P1.3: “Girls’ attendance rate (female students present on day of visit/ students enrolled) — Data

source has been revised to “LGA report”.

P1.4: “Percentage of parents in focus communities who priorities girls’ education” – This

indicator has been deleted from the logframe.

P2.2: “Percentage of teachers in IQS who demonstrate minimum teaching competencies”— Data

source has updated to “IQS evaluation survey / Evaluation framework”. The milestone will be

revised once we have baseline data.

P2.3:”Percentage of girls achieving basic literacy in pilot early learning schools” and P2.4:

”Percentage of girls achieving basic numeracy in pilot early learning schools” have been aligned

with OC4 and OC5

P3.2:” No of states including IQS with accurate data (validated at 90 per cent accuracy)” has been

rephrased to “No of states with accurate IQS data (validated at 90 per cent accuracy)”

P3.3: “Percentage & No. of focus schools/IQS with functioning SBMCs/ CBMCs” – It was agreed

to including both percentage and number in the milestones.

P3.5:” No of GEP3 interventions adopted by any focus state – cumulative (VFM effectiveness)”

has been rephrased to “No of GEP3 interventions adopted by any focus state which committed

resources to scale up GEP3 interventions – cumulative (VFM effectiveness)”

With regard to activity indicators, the following amendments have been agreed

A1.2: ” No of G4G groups in focus schools/IQS meeting functionality criteria”— The data source

has been updated to “SBMC effectiveness monitoring reports - Project school survey / SMO

Reports /CSO Reports”

A1.3: “Number of girls receiving cash transfer”— Achieved-project 2014/2015 has been updated.

A2.1:” No of teachers and IQS facilitators trained” – Data source has been updated to “Training

reports”

A2.2: “No of trained IQS facilitators who attended at least 80 per cent of mentoring session”—

Data source has been updated to “Mentoring reports”

A2.3:” No of head teachers trained”— Data source has been updated to “Training reports”

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A2.4:” No of schools and IQS with early literacy & numeracy programmes”— Data source has

been updated to “FHI 360 report”

A3.1:” No of schools (primary & IQS) with whole school development plans (WSDP) which include

activities addressing girls enrolment retention”— Data source has been updated to “SBMC

effectiveness monitoring reports”

A3.2:” No of Research studies on governance issues disseminated”— Data source has been

updated to “Research reports”

A3.4:” Percentage of advocacy actions taken by HILWA groups per year” has been rephrased to

“Percentage of planned actions implemented by HILWA groups per year”

.

41

Annex 1: Human Interest Story

A. Cash transfers making a difference in Niger

The Cash Transfer Programme (CTP) is a scheme introduced in 2014 to help to break the cycle of poverty through

human capital development. The CTP alleviates poverty-related issues which is a key barrier to girls’ enrolment

and retention in school. The provision of cash transfer is to offset the costs (direct and opportunity) of sending

girls to school and keeping them there.

In Niger State, Education is officially free, as there is no tuition paid for schooling. However, there are other

hidden costs of education, which could and have been known to have prevented parents from enrolling their

girls into school. These hidden costs of education are further exasperated in very poor families, where the family

members can hardly afford two meals a day. Thus, providing food for the family at the expense of sending

children to school – in particular girls, becomes the opportunity cost.

This programme is not yet ready to be assessed, due to the fact that the beneficiaries have only received their

first quarter disbursement. However, the program implementation unit (PIU) saw it necessary to seek the

response of the caregivers to know whether the aims and objectives for which the scheme was established is

being met, as well as to know if there are shortcomings that should be addressed for the purpose of achieving

the desired objective of the intervention. To elicit this feedback, a series of interviews were conducted by the

staff of the PIU with the caregivers of beneficiaries and beneficiaries themselves.

From the interviews conducted, the responses were encouraging as a cross-section of the caregivers agreed that

the cash grant received had made a substantial difference in their lives. A caregiver Saratu Abubakar, is a widow

from Kuimoh in Mariga Local Government area of Niger state. Three daughters of Saratu are benefitting from

the cash transfer scheme. She said, ‘the intervention came at the right time’. She went further to say that, were

it not for the cash transfer programme, her three daughters (Hadiza, Ramatu and Asabe) would not be able to

attend school. From the money she collected, she was able to buy uniforms, sandals, and learning materials for

the children. In addition, she was able to successfully turn the extra cash into investment. According to her, she

no longer had to ask for money from anybody; her children and herself no longer work on another person’s farm

or fetch water to building sites for small stipend as was previously the situation. When asked whether their

nutrition have improved or not, she answered in the affirmative. She said they now have three meals a day as

opposed to only once or twice before she received the cash transfer.

Another family benefiting from cash transfer, Hauwa is just 10 years old, seventh child of the family of twenty

(20). According to her, she is from a poor family background. Her father is a peasant farmer and her mother a

firewood seller. Her family could not afford to send her and her siblings to school due to poverty. However, with

the introduction of the cash transfer programme she and her other two sisters are now enrolled in school and

her mother was able to provide all the necessary learning materials for them.

Hauwa was among the lucky few that got enrolled through the cash transfer programme intervention. With cash

received, Hauwa was enrolled into Yelwa Kabitu primary school to begin a new life. According to Hauwa, her

mother bought uniform and learning materials for her and is also able to provide little money for her to for

42

snacks while at school. Hauwa concluded by saying that they now eat three times a day. She is happier than

before.

From the interview it is clear that poverty is one of the major factors affecting school enrolment and the cash

transfer programme increased the enrolment and retention of girls in the school.

Challenge. Increase in enrolment as a result of CTP has over stretched the available infrastructure in most of the

targeted schools, leading to inadequacy of classrooms, pupils’ furniture and teachers.

Way forward. UNICEF will advocate with State Ministry of Education on this issue and encourage SBMCs to

advocate upward to their LGEAs for more classrooms to be built. The dilapidated classrooms in the CTP targeted

schools should be renovated to make them more friendly and conducive for learning. In addition, more teachers

need to be posted to CTP targeted schools. This will boast the staff strength of the schools and improve learning.

B. Story of Amina, female teacher Trainee in CoE Azare of Gwarai Community in Itas/Gadau LGA, Bauchi

The northern part of Nigeria has suffered serious setback in terms of

girls’ access to education. In Bauchi state, the gender parity primary

education according to MICS was about 0.94 in favour of boys in 2012

while the literacy rate among young women was 12.6 per cent. Some

of the key challenges facing girls’ education in the state are cultural

beliefs and poverty, constituting 70.7 per cent. Western Education is

generally seen as not conforming to Islamic teachings. In the traditional

north, a girl is normally given out in marriage at puberty and is

expected to play the roles of a dutiful wife and child rarer, where the

husband is the bread winner and shoulders all family responsibilities

thus exerting a huge burden and overstretching any available scarce

resources for family up keep, thus entrenching further poverty.

Amina, a 22 year old young girl comes from such rural backgrounds. Amina hails from Gwarai community in

Itas/Gadau LGA, Bauchi State. She is born in a family of seven children. Her late father was a taxi driver and her

mother survives by washing people clothes. Since the dead of her father, the family became homeless. Amina,

her mother and siblings are currently living with relatives which has been hard on them. Her siblings are deprived

of education as her mother does not earn much to cater for their education.

When asked on how she got into the programme, she said, ‘I learnt about the programme from the Gender

Officer from my Local Government. She has been very good to me. Amina then run into luck when she enrolled

into the female teacher training scholarship scheme (FTTSS) of the Bauchi State Girls’ Education Project at the

College of Education Azare in 2013/2014. FTTSS is a mechanism for attracting more women into the teaching

profession to serve in the rural, remote areas and reduce the gap between demand for and supply of women

teachers in these communities. Beneficiaries are expected to serve as role models in their communities on

graduation.

Amina is one of the UNICEF GEP3 supported beneficiaries, currently in NCE 2. Despite the difficulties, she scored

above 3.0 CGP (cumulative grade point), a ‘very good’ grade during the last session in NCE 1.

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Amina is confident that with continued financial support and support they receive in school from the mentors,

she will be at the top and make it successfully to graduation from the College. She said “I don’t have any problem

academically or otherwise because I am determined to work hard and make sure I pass with flying colours and

from the support I receive from the project, in terms of payment for my tuition and little upkeep, I am able to

concentrate and devote myself to my studies” She added “FTTSS will in no doubt change my life from worst to

better or best. Therefore I am happy that I am now on a ladder that can take me and my family to the promise

land. I see this programme as the only way through which my problems and my family’s problem will be solved”

Finally, she said “I want to thank UNICEF/DFID for introducing this programme to us and for giving our people

hope. Without this programme, I would have been married by now, that I am sure. I pray that such good thing

should not stop as I want all my sisters in the community to benefit as well as many of them are now in school”

There is evidence of widespread appreciation of the FTTSS scheme and its positive impact among school and

community members, potential candidates from both rural and semi urban areas are clamouring for spaces.

C. Giving back to her community: female teacher in rural Nigeria

The benefits of education to girls is unsurmountable. This statement is true of a young rural woman like Shafatu

who participated in the UNICEF supported Female Teacher Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS) initiated to

attract young women into the teaching profession in Katsina. There has been a dearth of female teachers’

especially in rural schools where girls’ school enrolment and attendance is very low.

Shafatu, from of Iyata Community in Rimi LGA enrolled into Isa Kaita College of Education in 2009/10 to study

Social Studies Education. Three years later, she graduated with 3.49 GP and was given automatic employment

by the Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board.

In her community Iyatwa, Shafatu now mentors girls and young women to also take advantage of educational

opportunities around them. She is now one of the dependable teachers in her community school where she

mentors 446 girls. Shafatu is now economically empowered and attributes her success to the opportunity

provided under GEP FTTSS as well as her family’s consent and support as well as the prompt employment by

government of Katsina State. Apart from her economic empowerment, more girls are now attending school as

a result of roles she is playing as female teacher in primary 4.

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Shafatu was exposed to modern

teaching method especially active

learning pedagogy. She clearly

understood the essence of the

scheme and had become

determined to fulfil the objective

of her training once back in her

community. Upon successful

completion of her studies in 2013,

she was employed by SUBEB and

her now teachers’ social studies in

the upper primary of Iyatawa

Primary School, Rimi LGA of Katsina

State. On visit to the school by one

of the SUBEB monitoring officers,

Shafatu was seen using the skills

acquired to ensure activity based

lessons in the classroom. She freely

spoke about her use of pupils’ activity based lessons such as role playing, group discussions, peer tutoring and

demonstrations to achieve objectives of her lessons.

Apart from classroom work, Shafatu also played an active role in mobilizing parents to send girls to school during

the September 2014 SBMC led enrolment drive campaign in Rimi LGA. She worked with the Mothers Association

of the Iyatawa School to conduct house to house enrolment drives campaigns as a result of which additional girls

enrolled in primary one in the 2014/2015 academic session. This has contributed remarkably to the overall

school enrolment, even as data showed an increase from the previous year

Shafatu said ‘my social and economic status has improved as a result of my automatic employment as teacher

in Rimi LGEA. I am now more skilled and earn better pay to support my parents, brothers and sisters. I buy

exercise books and uniforms for my sisters who are in primary school. I am also saving some money to further

my education in the University and also prepare for my wedding which is coming up soon’

She has enrolled into the Mothers Association of the Iyatwa SBMC, where she attends their meetings and

teaches them tailoring. Most of the mothers interviewed said that those who were able to learn the trade are

now making money from the trade, and the resources are helping them in providing materials such as pencils,

exercise books, and soap for washing. They are also able to provide snacks for their children who attend school.

Photo 1: Shafatu in an activity based lesson session in Iyatawa Primary Scool where she teaches, 07/05/205

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Shafatu (middle in red jijab) in a group photograph with the SUBEB focal Officer, Zainab, Education Secretary,

LGEA Desk officers and two other officials from Rimi LGEA, 07/05/2015

The head teacher of Iyatwa Primary School where Shafatu teaches, Mallam Aminu Abdu had said that Shafatu is

one of the hard working teachers in the school. He said that she is involved in house to house enrolment

campaign drives and assists in organising mentoring programmes for girls in Iyatawa primary school. The 2014

Enrolment drive campaign conducted in September was huge success because of the involvement of the

Mothers Association which Shafatu was an active member. He added that as a young unmarried woman, Shafatu

maintains a very high sense of discipline and this has influenced many parents to send their daughters to school.

The head teacher said “because of Shafatu, the rate of girls dropping out of school for early marriage has

reduced. Many parents made reference to Shafatu’s skills, character and economic independence when

deciding on their daughters’ schooling”

Impact of Female Teacher Trainee Scheme in northern Nigeria. The absence of female teachers is many schools

is a major factor hindering enrolment, retention and completion of girls in northern Nigeria. This is because,

parents in rural committees think that their daughters would be more secured if taught by female teachers.

Many parents had withdrawn their daughters from school once they reach puberty for fear of sexual harassment

by male teachers or older pupils. According to the 2012/2013 ASC data report at least 17 of the 34 LGAs in

Katsina State do not have up to 25 per cent female teachers teaching in schools.

As seen in the case of Iyatwa community where Shafatu is earning a living through teaching, this scheme is

contributing beyond one female teacher as it contributes to getting additional girls into basic education schools.

It is also going to help many women get a career and earn a living for themselves, their families and community

members at large.

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Annex 2: GEP3 Budget Year 4

The revised GEP3 budget year 4 is attached as Excel document Annex 2 GEP3 year 4 budget 21.05.2015

Annex 3: GEP3 Workplan Year 4

The updated GEP3 Workplan Year 4 is attached as Excel document titled: Annex 3 GEP3 Workplan YR4

21.05.2015

Annex 4: GEP3 Logical Framework

The updated GEP3 Logical Framework is as Excel document titled: Annex 4 GEP3 logical framework 21.05.2015.

It is updated based on available data.