STRENGTHENING SCHOOLS ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS THROUGH PARTICIPATION: ADDRESSING EDUCATION QUALITY AND EQUITY IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

Lead Research Organisation: Washington University in St. Louis
Department Name: George Warren Brown Sch of Social Work

Abstract

Disadvantaged children in Low Income Countries (LICs) particularly children with disabilities are increasingly accessing schools, but not learning effectively due to social exclusion within the classroom and poor teaching methods, that perpetuate inequality. In order to unpack the equity-quality nexus, education research and policy need to move beyond considerations of service delivery assessed through achieving benchmarks on basic cognitive skills and completing school cycles, traditionally considered valid proxies for quality of education; a view challenged by experts advocating for the importance of non-cognitive or psychosocial skills in assessing quality education. Promoting processes of accountability is recognised as a way of promoting quality and equity in education. We argue that the role that parents and community members can play in improving the quality of education through innovative social accountability mechanisms has not been sufficiently explored in LICs. Building upon previous research, we will develop, implement and evaluate a social accountability intervention - combined with inclusive education training - engaging parents, teachers and children. We will assess the intervention's impact on basic cognitive but also psychosocial skills of learners as well as parent's expectations and engagement, and teachers' confidence with regards to inclusion of children with disabilities. Two partners, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) and the National Rural Support Programme in Pakistan (NRSP) run Community Based Schools (CBS) in remote areas. They require knowledge as to the factors that can promote or hinder a meaningful learning experience. We hypothesize that strengthening existing social horizontal accountability mechanisms through a Community Based System Dynamics (CBSD) - a participatory approach promoting local ownership in the process of deciphering and changing complex systems from the feedback perspective of system dynamics - can enhance inclusion and the learning experience of disadvantaged children. Developing an effective role for school management committee (SMCs) members requires careful consideration of context and community dynamics, which CBSD upholds. We will carry out Group Model Building (GMB) sessions with SMCs - a specific CBSD method- to identify insights about social accountability reforms. SMCs supported by SCA/NRSP will implement changes based on these insights in intervention CBSs. A randomised control trial (RCT) will evaluate this intervention. Qualitative methods will validate psychosocial assessment tools and explore stakeholders' perception of education. In stage 1, investigators will (i) decipher existing mechanisms of accountability and monitoring being used in CBSs (ii) train teachers, 4 NRSP and SCA teams of 3 facilitators and 2 coordinators each on inclusive education and (iii) train SCA/NRSP teams on GMB to facilitate sessions in 80 randomly selected intervention schools. In stage 2, SMCs members (principals, staff, teachers and parents) will participate in separate GMB sessions to design a relevant school social accountability system and identify leverage points on which to focus the intervention. In stage 3, each school, with the support from SCA/NRSP teams and the investigators will implement the intervention. In stage 4 the investigators will measure the impact of the social accountability intervention on learning outcomes using a cluster RCT with two waves of interviews: baseline survey in all 160 schools from staff, teachers, students in classes 3 to 5 and parents in year 1; end line survey will take place at the beginning of year 4. In depth interviews and FGDs, games and audio-visual activities with children will take place in years 2 and 3. In stage 5, the investigators will develop capacity in countries (universities, education NGOs) and disseminate findings to a broad audience in various formats through academic, policy makers and practitioners' networks.

Planned Impact

The investigators will leverage 15 years of experience in the fields of education and inclusive development to ensure involvement of partners from the very onset. Alongside reports and policy briefs we will elaborate short videos showcasing methodologies, research findings and policy recommendations available on an eLearning platform. In terms of uptake of the research and through on going capacity building over the 4-year implementation of the social accountability intervention, SCA and NRSP staff will have the ability to scale-up the intervention in the 516 CBSs (61500 children) and 504 CBSs (84531 children), respectively. Engagement of stakeholders in Afghanistan and Pakistan consists in building a communication strategy that ensures systematically informing and triggering discussions among partners from organisations of persons with disabilities, NGOs, Ministries of Education and Health and UN agencies. In Afghanistan, we will disseminate the research through the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief to reach 44 NGOs working in the field of education and disability (Aga Khan Foundation, Care, Oxfam, CordAid, International Rescue Committee, SERVE etc.). In Pakistan, we will share the research with the Sindh Rural Support Organization, the Centre for Governance and Public Accountability, Rural Support Programmes Sindh and Punjab, and the Institute of Rural Management training institute. Education Departments at the provincial headquarters level (Lahore and Karachi), as well as the UNESCO-GMR team, district local governments and district level will be engaged through yearly meetings. For the sharing of results and policy advocacy, we will use the platform of Rural Support Programme's Network (a network of 12 rural support programmes with an outreach in 123 districts). At the end of the research project, the policy and programme implications of findings will be organised through workshops including key stakeholders in Kabul and Islamabad. The wider international NGO community will be engaged through dissemination of information on research methodology and findings, as well as advocating for strengthening inclusion of children with disabilities in education. The investigators have developed an extensive network of NGO partners over the past decade including Care, Handicap International, International Rescue Committee, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Intersos and the Aga Khan Development Network. Working with the inclusive education and disability focal points, investigators will ensure that all reports, briefs, methodologies and assessment tools are shared through these channels. It is imperative to identify ways in which the evidence collected through the research can provide fodder for policy discussions that are taking place with regards to the SDGs and the Education 2030 agenda. The PI has presented his research on disability and development to various members of the International Disability Alliance at the World Bank in June 2016 and set up a partnership with the IDA to regularly inform its members of progress made and train them in CBSD methods to foster lobbying of international institutions (World Bank, Un agencies, donor development agencies). Over the past years, the investigators have provided expertise on defining and assessing inclusive education policy (UNESCO-Paris, UNESCO Institute for Statistics - Montreal and UNICEF New York- Education Section and Morocco Field Office). and will disseminate findings with partners. Throughout the 4-year research, the investigators will continue to work closely with policy makers at the international level to ensure that the research contributes to the ongoing discussions on quality education. Finally the summary reports and briefs will be made accessible on the Washington University in St Louis, REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge, Center for Evaluation and Development at University of Mannheim, SCA and NRSP websites and disseminated with the policy partners.
 
Title Short Video on Student GMB 
Description A video was created by documentarist Nigel Walker of children in grades 3 and 5 participating in a Group Model Building workshop in Faizabad, Afghanistan. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact The video has been well received from grant funders, education stakeholders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and other colleagues by showing a detailed, first-hand view of children participating in GMB sessions: 9- to 10-year old children are able to examine issues around inclusion of all children, including disadvantaged children, through Group Model Building (GMB) workshops, and are able to identify how different variables within their system impact learning in the classroom. 
URL https://vimeo.com/306527533/da53344463
 
Description The EEQAP project is currently in its first stage of the research process. To date, preliminary findings have shown that:

1. In discussion with School Management Committees (SMC) in Afghanistan and Village Education Committees (VECs) in Pakistan, the research team learned that the nature and depth of their involvement depends greatly on the level of collaboration between headmaster, teachers and other SMCs/VECs members. SMCs and VECs are solicited for major events such as school ceremonies, or to help with major issues such as building a wall around the school to protect the children, building a new classroom, recruiting staff or raising funds for equipment or school uniforms for poor children.

2. The acquired baseline data from more than 10,000 interviews with children, parents, and teachers across 216 schools has been uploaded to a public database showcasing graphical and numerical results of each interview question. While the data has already been checked for consistency, it is currently being further investigated by the EEQAP team, thus having no initial, substantial findings to report.

3. As a result of the ongoing Group Model Building workshops, a myriad of variables and their causal relationships to each other has been identified as impacting learning in the classroom. With regards to dynamics within the classroom itself, variables have broadly included: teacher professionalism and quality, student behavior, student and teacher attendance, child-parent-teacher communication and interaction, and lack of access for continued education. Outside the standard views of variables impacting education, variables impeding learning have broadly included: mental and physical health, domestic violence, child psychology, proper infrastructure, economic stressors for families and teachers, social relationships, bonds, and norms, gender dynamics, environmental factors, and-particularly in Afghanistan-security threats. This has shown the research team that in order to tackle learning in the classroom, variables spanning across a variety of topics and fields both inside and outside the context of the classroom are connected and indeed must be addressed.

4. A consequential result of the participatory GMB workshops and Inclusive Education trainings has been the increased autonomy and empowerment of participants. Children are sharing and documenting their views on the barriers impeding their learning, and are creating action plans detailing how they want the community as a whole to proceed in implanting the agreed upon interventions (action plans). Teachers are learning and resonating with participatory and child-centered teaching methods, instilling within them inclusionary teaching methods to become a better teacher. Parents are interacting with their children's teachers and schools for the first time and/or more intimately, and not only building bonds with teachers, but also communicating together with teachers about how they care about education and want to proceed as a collective in advocating for equitable and inclusive education. For all groups, the excitement and positive energy of having ownership over the data generation of the research process has built levels of engagement and capacity that is inherent to Community Based System Dynamics and fundamentally needed to support and push the social accountability mechanisms behind the interventions.
Despite considerable progress in the field of education science, we would argue that there is currently no consensus on the components that define quality education, how they are articulated with one another, and what are the best interventions to foster quality education. Current research investigates separately components of what appears to be a complex dynamic system with feedback interactions. To characterize this system and identify structures that encompass quality education, we used a community-based system dynamics approach with particular attention to child inclusion in the learning process. We analysed data from 648 participatory Group Model Building workshops with school stakeholders (children,teachers, parents and members of school management committees) resulting in as many causal loop diagrams (CLDs) in 99 schools of Afghanistan and Pakistan to scrutinize what system components and structures characterize inclusion of all children in the learning process. To identify common components across CLDs built by participants in two waves of schools' GMB workshops, we applied techniques from multivariate analysis of ecological communities. Even across wide differences in participants' situations and roles in the educational process, their models expressed a common reinforcing feedback loop which connected child inclusion and participation in the learning process to two other components: 1) child engagement in and motivation for education, and 2) child attendance. We also found that child focus on learning was commonly expressed as a reinforcing loop connected to this generic structure.
This generic structure combines structural and contextual factors (an environment encouraging attendance, parents and teachers' engagement), psychological or internal factors (child engagement in and focus on learning) with academic achievement (child inclusion and participation in learning). Considering this generic structure will avoid the manifestation of preventable difficulties, such as the negative impact of school non-attendance on multiple outcomes (distress and anxiety, crime, substance abuse, unwanted pregnancy, drop out of school, training or employment, and poverty) or of lack of inclusion on attendance, engagement and eventually children's results. In practice, it is of note that the school community driven interventions did not affect the generic structure of the system which demonstrates further its structural role in securing successful education.
Any educational reform should simultaneously and primarily embrace learners' diversity, combine policy principles of ensuring easy equitable access to foster attendance, and promote student interest and inclusion in learning through child centered pedagogy and non-discriminatory teaching practices while giving school communities power for implementation. A unvarying approach to teaching that ignores children different abilities, rythm and modes of learning is bound to result in limited learning outcomes.
In this study, we conducted a randomized control trial to test the effectiveness of a participatory intervention composed of a mapping of the teaching and learning system by the school stakeholders on both cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes (students in grades 3-5, teachers, parents and school management committees' members). The intervention also included support from two NGOs and the delivery of a project-based learning-child centered education (PBL-CCE) training by the research team. Participating schools conducted three rounds of group model building each followed by an action plan to implement three to five action ideas that the majority of stakeholders envisioned would improve the teaching and learning process. The facilitation team supervised by researchers encouraged and assisted the implementation of the three different plans providing PBL-CCE training (all schools) as well as material (construction material, stationary, books) and or immaterial (organizing book loans for a library, leading parents-teachers meeting, promoting positive discipline with students, helping with projects presentation to the village community). School communities had the opportunity to review each year the design of the teaching and learning system they elaborated the year before and establish any corrective actions or suggest new action ideas to further improve learning outcomes.
We hypothesized that our community-based participatory intervention would impact both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. We further hypothesized that parental level of satisfaction with the education process and their involvement in their child education at baseline would moderate the effect of the intervention. The findings indicate that the overall intervention produced statistically significant improvements in children learning outcomes, both lifeskills and academic achievements.
Exploitation Route Currently, the EEQAP research team has been in discussion with the Catholic Relief Services USAID and the British Council to replicate research practices and thus similar findings across their own and partners' schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries. The transparency and community-based methods that not only produce our findings but also build up capacities of communities along the process have resonated with the inclusionary education work these NGOs themselves are doing, with the goal in mind to create a standard practice of increasing learning in the classroom across all partner schools.

Additionally, conversations with the Ministries of Education in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been held to implement the research team's inclusive education protocol into their education curriculum, thus impacting educational outcomes through national policy. Thus, the research team and its preliminary findings have the opportunity to scale up vertically and horizontally in order to provide consistent community-based educational improvements.

Staff in partner NGOs -National Rural Support Programs, Norwegian Afghanistan Committee and Swedish Committee for Afghanistan - belonging to education but also management, health, livelihood, water and sanitation, etc. have been trained in community based system dynamics.
Sectors Education
URL https://sites.wustl.edu/globaldisability/eeqap/
 
Description Since the launch of the Education Equity and Quality in Afghanistan and Pakistan (EEQAP), we associated several stakeholders active in education in Afghanistan and Pakistan: NGOs partners -Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, Norwegian Afghanistan Committee and National Rural Support Program in Pakistan, policy makers (Ministry of Education of Afghanistan), experts (Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, British Council in Pakistan), teachers, parents and of course children in the process of looking at ways to improve accountability and beyond this, learning of children and their psychosocial skills (such as learning to do, to be and to relate to others). In following such a participatory process looking at empowerment and ownership of major actors involved in education, we share widely the idea, common in the international development field, that education is a fundamental right for all human beings and can improve quality of life. It is also a tool for building peaceful and prosperous societies. In sharing our approach through training (we conducted week long inclusive education training in 90 schools in 2019 in both countries for hundreds of teachers and thousands of children in grades 1 to 6 and beyond) , communication tools (social media, website, videos) and direct interaction in the classroom, the EEQAP team addresses some of the main challenges posed by SDG 4 that calls for a paradigm shift to broaden the common view of primary education as building human capital. The trend towards standardisation of assessments that goes with the human theory capital has led to education being viewed first and foremost in terms of numeric thresholds of achievement and a tool towards building a productive workforce. We ambition through sharing our findings from the very onset of the research to reverse current education trends that, if they persist will jeopardize the realization of the idealistic goals of the SDGs. Moreover, we argue that the "threshold" mentality associated to standardization does not allow for comprehensive inclusion of vulnerable children, and in some cases encourage further exclusion. Our project demonstrate this and widely encourage stakeholders to act on such findings. To show that learning is also about flourishing of the child, the EEQAP project aims to assess learning not only in terms of enrolment, literacy and numeracy through standardised scales, but also by looking at lifeskills or non-cognitive outcomes of children who are most vulnerable to exclusion from - and marginalised within - education. To tackle such goal, the research team follows a capabilities approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum that focuses on not just the instrumental value but primarily the intrinsic value of education. We use Community Based System Dynamics (CBSD) and train partners and community members in such methods to allow school community members themselves to identify the structure of their school system and what needs to be done to improve learning for all children through participatory Group Model Building (GMB) workshops, as well as through the delivering of an inclusive education training. We conducted week long inclusive education training in 90 schools in 2019 in both countries for hundreds of teachers and thousands of children in grades 1 to 6 and beyond; the remaining twelve schools were covered early 2020. We built the capabilities of participants and giving them the means and access to advocate for the relevant changes they want to see in their community in coordination with levels of support from partner NGOs. Through GMB workshops carried out in 102 intervention schools in 2018 and 2020, the EEQAP team has identified findings of increased autonomy and empowerment that arise within the community before overall research findings have been identified. These changed behaviours and views of the system ("mental models") thus lead to manifest themselves in the strengthening of the social accountability mechanisms needed for the success of the changes that need to be introduced in the school system, where the action, power, and unity of the community fundamentally fuel the interventions or action plan we put in place to improve learning for all children. Participants are able to see how education will have interweaving, long lasting impacts on societal, economic, and health benefits relative to each community. Following GMB workshops and inclusive education training, all the action ideas identified and selected by the school community that could be implemented within the budget and the regulation of partners NGOs -National Rural Support Program, Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, Norwegian Afghanistan Committee - have been implemented to date: construction of classrooms and libraries, access to drinkable water, organization of regular parent/teacher meetings, provision of learning (books, notebooks, pen...) and teaching (boards, teaching books, register notebook, laboratory material) material as well as subject and pedagogy training, awareness campaign to promote education in villages, particularly for girls. We saw the behaviour and mental model change amongst children. After GMBs are finished, a final workshop is held with all participants-both children and adults-in order to come to an agreement of an action plan that details what steps are going to be taken to support the school intervention, and who is going to be responsible for what step in the process. This has allowed for children-especially girls-to be given a platform to advocate for how they want to create change within their communities; and, children's action plans have consistently been selected across both countries, as 9- and 10-year-old children are able to convince adults that their plans for change are worth following despite deeply entrenched social, age, and gender norms in both societies. Children being allowed into the decision-making process is critical when implementing interventions that impact children themselves. Additionally, adults too are starting to see changed behaviour and shift in their mental models. GMB workshops have allowed for parents and teachers to interact with each other for the first time in a context where collaboration and consensus is an expected outcome. In a similar capacity to those of students, adults are being given the opportunity to advocate and share their needs in an environment that is not only receptive to do so, but also allows them to take control of the process in which their needs are heard and elaborated. New insights are made with respect to how different variables within their system work off each other, and excitement is generated on how new partnerships and action with other community members can be instigated right away without waiting for the support of partner NGOs. In Pakistan, teachers from several schools created WhatsApp groups to discuss and share with peers innovative child centered teaching practices. We are currently documented these initiatives and will produce a document made available in English and local languages compiling tools, activities and exercises that can be use by all primary school teachers in Afghanistan and Pakistan and beyond. The addition of consensus building, capacity strengthening, and community actor empowerment are fundamental requirements to increase the efficacy of the social accountability mechanisms inherently needed to support the implementation of catered interventions in the subsequent research stage. However, the challenge to maintain this growth is to manage its sustainability and resiliency. In vulnerable contexts like Afghanistan and Pakistan, resiliency structures may not be strong enough to endure shocks -war violence, civil unrest- that might create an urgent shift of priorities away from the new and innovate approaches we propose towards future societal and economic impact back to old standard behaviours and practices. Additionally, working with 108 rural treatment schools proves logistical difficulties in communication, when physical and wireless access to schools are not consistently available and cannot be increased outside of the current capacities of the research team and partner NGOs. Community-based research and practice inherently implies that its findings impact the communities themselves. Taking a systematic view of education structures unique to each school allows for community members to resonate with parts of the system that matter to them, creating investment within the research process and its tailored outcomes. Furthermore, EEQAP's capacity building approach and utilization of participatory and grass-roots methods ensures that in the process of achieving those findings, community members themselves are consistently involved in the process as well. To summarize, GMB workshop participants are seeing the importance of our participatory methods and inclusive education. For example, at a school in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, teachers are realizing that the Inclusive Education trainings are "breaking stereotypes that slow learners cannot learn" and that inclusionary-based learning methods are "stress relieving for both the teachers and students." Our facilitators are also creating impact with their motivation and dedication. After a facilitator in Pakistan spent time to bond with and encourage a young boy Asif, who has a severe mental disability, Asif started to show drastic signs of engagement with his school work and connection with his peers. One of the teachers shared: "We started to see hope in Asif-he started to come neat and tidy to school with clean clothes and having showered. There was less madness in his drawings, and he became visibly anxious when [the facilitator] left him briefly. Asif for the first time tried to speak, although we couldn't understand much, it was clear from the sounds and his gestures that he needed [the facilitator] back at his corner. There was a miracle we experienced in giving attention to a child with a severe mental disorder. All he needed was attention, affection and love. This strengthened the belief in the Inclusive Education training, 'yes they all can.'" Beyond the school community, the EEQAP team has been influential in convincing other actors to take a CBSD approach to education and try GMB workshops. In Afghanistan, the EEQAP team trained teachers and education officers from Catholic Relief services in April 2019. In 2018 and 2019, the team organized GMB workshops for the Ministry of Education's staff and some of them also participated in the inclusive education training organised for NGOs staff engaged in the EEQAP project. In 2019, the EEQAP team has trained colleagues (including management) in all NGOs about Community Based System Dynamics methods that are now used not only in the education field but also in health, water and sanitation and livelihoods sector. During the COVID19 pandemic, the research team worked with the partner NGOs to carry GMB workshops in school to identify the impact of the pandemic on the teaching and learning process. The research team also contributed to elaborate tools to sensitive the population in the catchment areas of the three partners about prevention of COVID 19. The team also provided support to NGO staff engaging with teachers to make sure they provide pedagogical support to children during the schools lockdown. During the COVID-19 pandemic we added new activities to our existing work: In June 2020 we conducted a phone survey with 538 teachers, out of which 243 are from Afghanistan and 295 from Pakistan. We interviewed teachers about their perception of the pandemic, its impact on their own mental health, on attendance of children and their academic achievements. This small study was funded by the Institute of Public Health at Washington University in St Louis. To measure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, we added a round of Group Model Building workshops in 2020/2021 and a third round of data collection end of 2021/early 2022. Action ideas identified were supported with resources from Norwegian Afghanistan Committee and Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. We developed an additional set of 40 project based learning activities translated into Farsi/Pashto for Afghanistan and Urdu/Sindhi for Pakistan in 2021. In early 2022, we developed three psychosocial toolkits for teachers, parents and children with multiple activities to help the school community, particularly children deal with distress. These toolkits and previous manual for inclusive education and project based learning are made available for use by NGOs active in the education field in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We plan to make them widely available via online platform for other organizations intervening in the field of education.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Education
Impact Types Societal,Policy & public services
 
Description A child centered education training and a community based system dynamics participatory intervention
Geographic Reach Asia 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The findings indicate that the overall intervention produced statistically significant improvements in learning outcomes both non cognitive (lifeskills) and cognitive (academic) outcomes. These results, observed for both girls and boys in primary school, despite the SARS-Cov2 pandemic responsible for a long lockdown, and political upheaval in both countries, including a change in regime from a Republic to an Emirate run by the Taliban in Afghanistan show the importance of participatory methods giving ownership to the school community to improve the school environment, child engagement and family focus on education. Our findings confirm the central importance of having actors concerned by a problem engaged directly in its resolution. Our approach to education is rooted in the pioneering work of Paulo Freire on conscientization through community organization (Freire, 1970) and the conception of education as a tool for emancipation (Freire, 1985). Empowering communities in the definition of the wicked problem they are facing, the visualization of the larger system in which they are embedded, the identification of ways to influence the system and to improve their circumstances is a central tenet of the community-based system dynamics approach and a continuation of the work of Freire (Hovmand, 2014). It is based on "a meaningful and sustainable relationship with communities" (Hovmand, 2014, p. 33). Similarly, the project based learning training we offered, allowed teachers to guide children in trying for themselves and triggered their curiosity. The three years of field experiment was necessary for this action research to start producing some changes in a context marked by multiple episodes of schools' lockdown.
 
Description UNESCO International Forum on Inclusion and Equity in Education report 2020
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health
 
Description Improving learning outcomes in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the midst of COVID-19 through Community based system dynamics and project-based learning
Amount £110,813 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/X014088/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2022 
End 10/2024
 
Description Institute for Public Health supplement grant
Amount $2,500 (USD)
Organisation Washington University in St Louis 
Sector Academic/University
Country United States
Start 03/2018 
End 03/2018
 
Description The impact for the SARS-cov2 outbreak in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the education system
Amount $15,000 (USD)
Funding ID CDI RAD 2020-02 
Organisation Washington University in St Louis 
Sector Academic/University
Country United States
Start 05/2020 
End 05/2022
 
Description seed funding Global Health Center of the Institute for Public Health
Amount $15,000 (USD)
Organisation Washington University in St Louis 
Sector Academic/University
Country United States
Start 12/2017 
End 12/2018
 
Title Questionnaire Additions: Child Stigma and Adult Functioning 
Description A questionnaire comprised of various psychosocial and disability assessment metrics--the latter of which had already been developed by members of the current research team for past projects on disability work--was complied to use with parents, children, and teachers across the 216 research schools at baseline and then again and endline. However, the project's researches identified gaps within these existing assessment surveys that did not address the EEQAP project's goal of holistically identifying how learning outcomes within the school system might be impacted due to social relationships and disabilities. Thus, the research team created new sections for the interview process to include questions about child stigma as well as adult functioning to understand social inclusion/exclusion amongst children and the physical and mental abilities of their parents. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Given that this research tool was developed to act as an addition to the overall data collection process, no notable impacts were identified other than the initial goal of allowing the EEQAP team to collect data within a holistic understanding of the behaviors and abilities of children and parents. 
 
Title EEQAP Dashboard 
Description The dashboard is a public database containing the data collected from the baseline survey conducted with parents, teachers, and students across the 216 project schools in both countries, showcasing both numerical and graphical outputs for each of the 203 interview questions. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The data has been checked for consistency and is currently in the process of being further investigated by the EEQAP research team, thus no current notable impacts have been identified to date. 
URL http://andmow.nrsp.org.pk:1270/PSCHome.aspx
 
Title EEQAP three rounds of data 
Description The baseline database comprises all the data collected at baseline, midline and endline. A module on children cognitive and non cognitive learning skills with tests, a child non cognitive learning skills teacher evaluation, a module on teachers' skills and perception of their role, a module on child family characteristics and parents perception of education. We added modules on perception of the covid-19 pandemic and a module on child mental health and midline and endline 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact To date, we are still in the process of analyzing the data and no impact has been achieved with the data. the data will be made public available within 6 months of the closure of the research study. 
 
Description EEQAP Project Partners 
Organisation National Rural Support Programme
Country Pakistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The PI has in total trained more than 50 Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAC), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) staff on either baseline data enumeration, Group Model Building (GMB) workshop facilitation, or Inclusive Education workshop training.
Collaborator Contribution NAC, SCA, and NRSP staff, once trained as enumerators or facilitators, have conducted baseline interviews across 216 schools as well as GMB and Inclusive Education training sessions across 108 intervention schools. Additionally, these three partners have dedicated funds to support the implementation of the school-based interventions decided by school communities. Representatives from the University of Cambridge and University of Mannheim serve on the scientific advisory committee for the duration of the research timeline.
Impact The paper "Strengthening inclusion in learning through empowerment of rural school stakeholders in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Piloting and testing the study protocol for community-based system dynamics" was written with authors affiliated with NRSP and SCA. Other outputs and outcomes are still ongoing due to the current, preliminary stage of the research process.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EEQAP Project Partners 
Organisation Norwegian Afghanistan Committee
Country Pakistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The PI has in total trained more than 50 Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAC), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) staff on either baseline data enumeration, Group Model Building (GMB) workshop facilitation, or Inclusive Education workshop training.
Collaborator Contribution NAC, SCA, and NRSP staff, once trained as enumerators or facilitators, have conducted baseline interviews across 216 schools as well as GMB and Inclusive Education training sessions across 108 intervention schools. Additionally, these three partners have dedicated funds to support the implementation of the school-based interventions decided by school communities. Representatives from the University of Cambridge and University of Mannheim serve on the scientific advisory committee for the duration of the research timeline.
Impact The paper "Strengthening inclusion in learning through empowerment of rural school stakeholders in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Piloting and testing the study protocol for community-based system dynamics" was written with authors affiliated with NRSP and SCA. Other outputs and outcomes are still ongoing due to the current, preliminary stage of the research process.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EEQAP Project Partners 
Organisation Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Country Afghanistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The PI has in total trained more than 50 Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAC), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) staff on either baseline data enumeration, Group Model Building (GMB) workshop facilitation, or Inclusive Education workshop training.
Collaborator Contribution NAC, SCA, and NRSP staff, once trained as enumerators or facilitators, have conducted baseline interviews across 216 schools as well as GMB and Inclusive Education training sessions across 108 intervention schools. Additionally, these three partners have dedicated funds to support the implementation of the school-based interventions decided by school communities. Representatives from the University of Cambridge and University of Mannheim serve on the scientific advisory committee for the duration of the research timeline.
Impact The paper "Strengthening inclusion in learning through empowerment of rural school stakeholders in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Piloting and testing the study protocol for community-based system dynamics" was written with authors affiliated with NRSP and SCA. Other outputs and outcomes are still ongoing due to the current, preliminary stage of the research process.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EEQAP Project Partners 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Department Faculty of Education
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The PI has in total trained more than 50 Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAC), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) staff on either baseline data enumeration, Group Model Building (GMB) workshop facilitation, or Inclusive Education workshop training.
Collaborator Contribution NAC, SCA, and NRSP staff, once trained as enumerators or facilitators, have conducted baseline interviews across 216 schools as well as GMB and Inclusive Education training sessions across 108 intervention schools. Additionally, these three partners have dedicated funds to support the implementation of the school-based interventions decided by school communities. Representatives from the University of Cambridge and University of Mannheim serve on the scientific advisory committee for the duration of the research timeline.
Impact The paper "Strengthening inclusion in learning through empowerment of rural school stakeholders in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Piloting and testing the study protocol for community-based system dynamics" was written with authors affiliated with NRSP and SCA. Other outputs and outcomes are still ongoing due to the current, preliminary stage of the research process.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EEQAP Project Partners 
Organisation University of Mannheim
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The PI has in total trained more than 50 Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SAC), and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) staff on either baseline data enumeration, Group Model Building (GMB) workshop facilitation, or Inclusive Education workshop training.
Collaborator Contribution NAC, SCA, and NRSP staff, once trained as enumerators or facilitators, have conducted baseline interviews across 216 schools as well as GMB and Inclusive Education training sessions across 108 intervention schools. Additionally, these three partners have dedicated funds to support the implementation of the school-based interventions decided by school communities. Representatives from the University of Cambridge and University of Mannheim serve on the scientific advisory committee for the duration of the research timeline.
Impact The paper "Strengthening inclusion in learning through empowerment of rural school stakeholders in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Piloting and testing the study protocol for community-based system dynamics" was written with authors affiliated with NRSP and SCA. Other outputs and outcomes are still ongoing due to the current, preliminary stage of the research process.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Inclusive education training and participatory process 
Organisation Norwegian Afghanistan Committee
Country Pakistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team is providing technical support to the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee in terms of training of staff on research methods and monitoring and evaluation processes. The research team is also training hundreds of teachers in the schools supported by the NGO.
Collaborator Contribution The Norwegian Afghanistan Committee has been offering extensive support. NAC has been supporting the enumeration team and the facilitation team trainings and fieldwork in 2018, 2019 and 2020 as well as in in implementing action ideas decided by stakeholders in intervention schools. Several staff have been contributing their time to the EEQAP project. The country Director Terje Watterdal has been providing management and leadership support to the project. Ms. Parween Azimi, Inclusive Education Specialist, has trained the EEQAP facilitation team in inclusive education. Mr. Ian Kaplan, co-investigator, has also participated in the EEQAP facilitation team trainings both for Community Based System Dynamics Group Model Building techniques and for inclusive education training as well as in workshops provided to the Ministry of Education staff. Other staff (translator, finance officer, human resources officer, etc.) have provided their services to the EEQAP project.
Impact The different outputs are as follows: - training curriculum for inclusive education; - a short video describing the project; - database with baseline , midline and endline data; - new classrooms in intervention schools; - about 300 teachers trained in project based learning in 20 schools; - 10 staff trained in community based system dynamics and inclusive education; - 10 staff trained in project planning, implementation and evaluation
Start Year 2017
 
Description Lahore school of economics 
Organisation Lahore School of Economics
Country Pakistan 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The EEQAP team is working closely with Dr Farah said. We trained Dr Farah Said two research assistants, Ms room Qaiser and Mr Ahmed Nazif in community based system dynamics and inclusive education methods.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Farah Said has joined the research team and together with two Research assistants she is providing support in reviewing community based system dynamics reports, hoping with preparing the end-line survey and contribute to grant, paper and report writing.
Impact To date, the main outputs have been a new template for the end-line survey, participation in qualitative interviews and community based system dynamics workshops as well as inclusive education training.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Partnership in inclusive education 
Organisation National Rural Support Programme
Country Pakistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team contributed to train 20 staff in research methods, community based system dynamics and inclusive education. The research team has also trained bout 300 teachers in 60 intervention schools between 2019 and 2022. Support has been offered in system dynamics to other projects lead by NRSP in water and sanitation, nutrition, agriculture, healthcare.
Collaborator Contribution The NGO offered logistics support to the project. NRSP is investing in implementing action ideas decided by school communities that include access to water, building of extra classrooms and playgrounds between 2019 and 2022 in 60 intervention schools. Mr Mohammad Tahir Waqar, co-investigator, offered overall management support. Mr Akhtar Mirza, education specialist has contributed to translation of tools, inclusive education training and provided technical support in the implementation of the intervention in schools. Mr Arafat Majeed, Program manager for Social Sector services has provided leadership, administrative and logistic support. Project based learning activities elaborated for this research has been made available to other teachers.
Impact Several outputs: - baseline, midline and endline data; - training of 600 teachers in inclusive education between 2018 and 2022; - training of 20 staff in research methods, inclusive education and community based system dynamics;
Start Year 2017
 
Description Partnership in inclusive education 
Organisation National Rural Support Programme
Country Pakistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team contributed to train 20 staff in research methods, community based system dynamics and inclusive education. The research team has also trained bout 300 teachers in 60 intervention schools between 2019 and 2022. Support has been offered in system dynamics to other projects lead by NRSP in water and sanitation, nutrition, agriculture, healthcare.
Collaborator Contribution The NGO offered logistics support to the project. NRSP is investing in implementing action ideas decided by school communities that include access to water, building of extra classrooms and playgrounds between 2019 and 2022 in 60 intervention schools. Mr Mohammad Tahir Waqar, co-investigator, offered overall management support. Mr Akhtar Mirza, education specialist has contributed to translation of tools, inclusive education training and provided technical support in the implementation of the intervention in schools. Mr Arafat Majeed, Program manager for Social Sector services has provided leadership, administrative and logistic support. Project based learning activities elaborated for this research has been made available to other teachers.
Impact Several outputs: - baseline, midline and endline data; - training of 600 teachers in inclusive education between 2018 and 2022; - training of 20 staff in research methods, inclusive education and community based system dynamics;
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research collaboration 
Organisation Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Country Afghanistan 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The research team trained 10 staff in inclusive education techniques, research methods and community system dynamics. The team also trained about 120 teachers in 20 intervention schools continuously between 2019 and 2022 .
Collaborator Contribution Swedish Committee for Afghanistan provided logistic support to the research. The NGO provided cars and drivers for the implementation team. It also contributed to build new classrooms, libraries, playground, restrooms in the intervention schools between 2019 and 2022. They also helped with previous research on community based rehabilitation program conducted between 2011 and 2016.
Impact Outputs are as follows: - new school classrooms, restrooms and libraries; - over 400 trained teachers in child centered pedagogy;
Start Year 2011
 
Description Presentation of findings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact we presented the findings of our study, in particular the generic structure of primary education across a set of feedback causal maps elaborated separately by school stakeholders in various roles, of different economic backgrounds, at two time periods and in a variety of schools of Afghanistan and Pakistan that we found. This reinforcing feedback loop of student engagement, attendance and inclusion in the learning process is widely perceived and harmonize with the implications of others studies. Other important reinforcing loops include: students' focus, results, homework completion, happiness and pride; parents' involvement, encouragement and satisfaction; teachers' focus, satisfaction and encouragement. These results suggest that, even in highly challenging contexts, interactions between student engagement, attendance and inclusion are central mechanisms explaining academic achievement that policies must secure before considering other interventions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Presentation of research findings both quantitative and qualitative 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact our paper, part of a symposium entitled "accountability reforms to improve learning outcomes; aligning modes of coordination, structures and incentives for educational improvement" at the 2022 Conference on the Comparative and International Education Society, is set in Afghanistan and Pakistan and presents the outcomes of a study on social accountability and how strong community engagement led to improvement of their local school. Study findings show that, by engaging in a multiyear program of improving teachers accountability through participatory initiatives, decided by consensus, both cognitive and non-cognitive (or life skills) learning outcomes improve.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://cies2022.org/
 
Description Social Media Channel (Facebook) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A Facebook page has been generated for the EEQAP project to share information about Inclusive Education and Community Based System Dynamics, photos, stories, and videos from the field, updates, milestones, and successes. The hope is to use this platform to engage directly with an international, general audience interested in our work, better educate them on inclusive eduction and community-based practices, and share new, positive perspectives within social media narratives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://facebook.com/eeqap
 
Description Social Media Channel (Twitter) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A Twitter page has been generated for the EEQAP project to share information about Inclusive Education and Community Based System Dynamics, photos, stories, and videos from the field, updates, milestones, and successes. The hope is to use this platform to engage directly with an international, general audience interested in our work, better educate them on inclusive eduction and community-based practices, and share new, positive perspectives within social media narratives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://twitter.com/eeqap
 
Description Three contributions at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 27thAnnual Conference. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The three studies contributed to the understanding of mechanisms that improve inclusive education, show the importance of engaging school stakeholders in the school decision-making process, and identify which learning outcomes, where and for which children, were effective. Overall, the bottom-up participatory approach promoting community engagement appears to be key to children's academic performance and cognitive development. Community group model building workshops have been found to be effective in engaging communities in defining locally relevant action steps.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.sswr.org%2F2023-conference-...
 
Description we presented two papers about our findings, one part of a panel on education at the Human Development and Capabilties association 2022 conference. One was entitled How to measure the effect of a child centred intervention to promote education equity and quality in Afghanistan and Pakistan? A capability approach perspective. The other one was entitled "Transforming primary education through empowering school stakeholders in rural Afghanistan". 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We discussed with colleagues the option of investigating further social determinants of education jointly using mixed methods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://hd-ca.org/conferences/2022-hdca-conference-antwerp-belgium