1. Working Group on EFA Monitoring and Evaluation
Report on Policy Recommendations
20 February 2008

2. Chair: Chantarat Pakamash, Thailand
Rapporteur: Psyche Vetta Olayvar, Philippines
Group members:
Darmiyanti, Education Network for Justice, Indonesia
Faridah Abu Hassan, Malaysia
Zarinah Salleh, Brunei
Jati Sugianto, UNESCO Jakarta
Pong Pitin, Cambodia
Quoc Chi Nguyen, Viet Nam
Rhona B. Caoli-Rodriguez, Insular SEA Synthesis Report Writer
Tun Hla, Myanmar
Facilitators:
Jon Kapp, UNICEF EAPRO, Bangkok
Albert Motivans, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal
Nyi Nyi Thaung, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Bangkok

3. Introduction
The group agreed that effective EFA M&E is critical in order to set and revise policy and standards, identify key programmes and projects, programme of resources and establishment of benchmarks to monitor the of progress towards the achievement of the goals, and thus:
recognizes the need set up and/or further improve the EFA M&E system to ensure accountability and minimum standards, quality assurances and evaluation against standards.

4. Introduction
The working group recognizes the urgent need for high quality, timely data to monitor, evaluate and assess EFA progress, and recommends:
data collection on all dimensions of the education system: Input, Process, Output and Outcomes.

5. Introduction
The group acknowledged the crucial role of Civil Society and the need for Ministerial and Inter- ministerial coordination throughout the M&E process.
Critical to any effective monitoring and evaluation system is an adequate budget to undertake the priority actions recommended below.

6. Challenges of monitoring and evaluating EFA policy, plans and actions (1/2)
Insufficient capacities at all levels of the system to collect, process, disseminate and use key information related to EFA
Difficulty in identifying relevant data on the un- reached and under-served
Weak coordination at central and local levels

7. Challenges of monitoring and evaluating EFA policy, plans and actions (2/2)
Mismatch between system-level data from multiple sources at the central and local levels.
Different indicators (and data values) by sector of Government
Limitations of national statistics office data
Nationally representative household surveys: but, without focus on education, the information available is limited.

8. Good practices and critical factors
Phase-based household surveys
Inter-sectoral coordination and collaboration with partners and agencies
School cluster management systems
Participatory mapping, Community monitoring
Student tracking
Dimensions and indicators of Child-Friendly Schools
EFAInfo
School Report cards

9. Critical issues (1/4) Access, progression and completion
Especially for Unreached and under-served groups, namely:
Children and youth in conflict areas
Children and youth in post-crisis / Emergencies
Disadvantaged girls and/or boys (Gender equity)
Drop outs
Street Children
Migrants
Illiterate Adults
HIV/AIDS infected/affected learners
Children with special needs
Linguistic / Ethnic Minorities

10. Critical issues (2/4) Learning outcomes Teacher quality
Conditions of service for school heads and teachers
School Leadership quality
School resources / facilities
Curriculum (relevance / appropriateness)

11. Critical issues (3/4) Costs of education (public and private)
Cost/Investment
Costs of education (public and private)
International support / Overseas Development Assistance
Governance
Debt swap for education

12. Critical issues (4/4)
Data from other sectors within and outside the education system are important, including:
External data on: Health, Finances, Labour / Socio- Cultural factors, Socio-economic, demographics, and Environment.
ECCE
Non-Formal Education
TVET
Literacy
Antecedents / demand data to determine standards (teachers/students/systems)

13. Policy Recommendations and innovative ideas (1/5)
The establishment of national mechanisms for the effective monitoring and evaluation of EFA.
A two level system for Monitoring and Evaluation as follows:
National/System level, which should collect standardized data/indicators in line with the international, regional and national EFA framework;
Local / Community level system to capture indicators that are not possible to collect at the system wide level (for example: Philippines has implemented a student tracking system – a per learner trackings system) 

14. Policy Recommendations and innovative ideas (2/5)
Establish the National EFA Forum and sub-national entities at a level with mandate to coordinate data collection and compilation across relevant ministries.
Partnerships should be established at both levels between sectors and with civil society organisations
Coordination and harmonization of resources and activities by government and development partners in the collection of EFA-relevant information.

15. Policy Recommendations and innovative ideas (3/5)
Establishment of dedicated and regular household surveys on education to better understand key issues of the education system – including those un- reached school-aged students –through government funding as well as support from development partners. 
Ensuring that adequate questions on education and literacy are included in relevant and regular household surveys undertaken by the National Statistics Office.

16. Policy Recommendations and innovative ideas (4/5)
Developing national capacities at all levels of the system with regard to systematic monitoring of the goals and targets of EFA, and the dissemination and utilization of EFA relevant information and ensuring provision of sufficient human resources for basic monitoring of the education system.
Earmark x% of total national education budget / expenditure towards education monitoring and evaluation, particularly of the EFA National Action Plan, goals and targets.

17. Policy Recommendations and innovative ideas (5/5)
Acknowledgement of the validity of data provided by external sources, including CSOs, community organisations.
Establishment of a common platform for the compilation and dissemination of EFA-related information.
Full utilization of ICT solutions to compile/share information.

18. Feedback and Discussion
In revising the recommendations paper, the Working Group would appreciate feedback on:
guiding principles
best practices, and
specific policy recommendations