ECOPER has collaborated with Ockham IPS to evaluate Phase II of the UNESCO– CFIT project ‘Improving Quality Teacher Education in a selected number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa’. The evaluation involved an online survey and a large number of interviews conducted with stakeholders. ECOPER conducted field missions to two project countries, Congo and Togo, in order to collect a data and gain a better understanding of the intervention and its results.
Centres of African Excellence
ECOPER and OCKHAM IPS have collaborated on an evaluation and tracer study for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) ‘Centres of African Excellence’ (CoAE) programme. The evaluation was undertaken with the aim of assessing the performance of the overall programme to date and allowing lessons to be drawn to inform future improvements to the programme. ECOPER conducted field missions to centres in two of the programme countries: Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The accompanying tracer study sought information on the current occupations of alumni through an online survey and a series of individual and group interviews in order to draw conclusions on the programme’s impact.
ECOPER entrepreneurship project report published
Better entrepreneurship policies can increase the number of businesses created and enlarged, and therefore contribute to the economic goals inserted into global development agendas and national strategies. Reflecting this, UNCTAD implemented the project ‘Support Developing Country Policy Makers in the Formulation of National Entrepreneurship Policies through the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Policy Frameworks’ between 2015 and …
Entrepreneurship policymaking
Better designed and implemented entrepreneurship policies should result in more new businesses created, with potential long-term benefits for economic growth, employment and economic integration. Following this logic, UNCTAD has implemented the project ‘Support Developing Country Policy Makers in the Formulation of National Entrepreneurship Policies through the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Policy Frameworks’. The intervention has been with an evaluation conducted by ECOPER, which featured an extensive document review, along with interviews and an online survey. ECOPER also attended an Africa Entrepreneurship Forum in Kigali, Rwanda in order to directly observe project activity.
Increasing teacher participation in education reform
Recent research by international organisations has found that teachers do not sufficiently participate in key discussions on educational reform in developing countries, therefore depriving the process of teachers’ input and undermining teachers’ sense of ownership and commitment. The UNESCO project ‘Improving Teacher Support and Participation in Local Education Groups (LEGs)’ sought to address this deficit. Having run since 2015, ECOPER and Ockham IPS evaluators have recently completed an evaluation of the intervention. A mixed method approach was used for the evaluation, involving interviews with stakeholders at international and national levels, an online survey and field missions to Ivory Coast, Nepal, and Uganda, which provided a deeper understanding of how the project had operated at a country level.
Support for TVET in the Southern African Development Community
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) can empower individuals and contribute to economic growth. UNESCO’s Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR) project aimed to support TVET in five African countries and this month the project’s evaluation report was published following a collaboration between ECOPER and Ockham IPS. The evaluation involved ECOPER carrying out field missions in two countries: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.
Supporting literacy in West Africa
Despite rising school enrolment rates in Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal, research into primary school reading literacy have revealed poor results. With the aim of addressing this, UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education (IBE) launched the project ‘The results of learning to read in the first years of primary school: integration of the curriculum, teaching, learning aids and assessment’ in November 2013. ECOPER has recently presented its evaluation report of the project. The evaluation applied a mixed methodology, taking in surveys, interviews and focus groups with project stakeholders, and field missions to the three beneficiary countries.