Phase One Baseline Report

ALSE's Phase One Baseline Report highlights the results of the survey conducted at the start of the Community-Based Education Enhancement Program (CBEEP) implemented by our NGO partners, CRS and CARE.

Findings include demand for education and decisions about schooling, along with our analysis of learning assessments conducted with children aged 6-10 in each village. The research was undertaken in 129 villages in which CRS and CARE initiated community-based education (CBE) in 2014.

Highlights include:

• Formal attendance rates for children between 6 and 11 years of age were 60% for boys and 45% for girls (before access to CBE);
• In regression analyses, the most robust positive predictors of both boys' and girls' attendance at formal schools is whether the household head attended a formal school; and
• Despite the significant social and economic diversity in our sample households, they displayed an almost universally high demand for education.

ALSE asks you to please cite the Phase One Baseline Report using the following citation:

Burde, D., J. Middleton, and C. Samii. 2015. Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Social Effects of Community-Based Education: A Randomized Field Experiment in Afghanistan. Phase One Baseline Report. New York: Steinhardt School, New York University.

Phase One Outcomes Report

The outcomes presented in the ALSE Phase One Outcomes Report harness ALSE’s experimental design to evaluate CBE effectiveness, teacher recruitment, and parent/community mobilization.

Our results provide information for the government of Afghanistan to ensure that girls and boys across the country have lasting access to a high-quality primary education. This cutting-edge evidence will also help USAID support critical innovations in Afghanistan’s education policy arena and in other countries facing structural constraints related to conflict, high poverty levels, and other challenges to public services access.

ALSE asks you to please cite the Phase One Outcomes Report using the following citation:

Burde, D., J. Middleton, and C. Samii. 2016. Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Social Effects of Community-Based Education: A Randomized Field Experiment in Afghanistan. Phase One Outcomes Report. New York: Steinhardt School, New York University

Phase Two Baseline Report

Sustaining the gains made from community-based education (CBE) remains a concern of education stakeholders in Afghanistan. Inspired by the Afghan government’s new Citizen’s Charter (CC) initiative, ALSE’s Phase Two research will test a sustainability model of CBE through the co-management of education services by community shuras. Before testing this model, ALSE first carried out an institutional-capacity assessment with the three shuras that will be tasked with education management under CC – Community Development Councils (CDCs), Educational Subcommittees (ESs), and School Management Shuras (SMSs).

The ALSE Phase Two Baseline Report presents findings from this assessment. The Report presents the results on shura functionality, capacity training received to date, connections with government and nongovernmental organizations, and competency levels on key institutional management practices. The Report also provides detailed information on ALSE’s own capacity training with these shuras, various components of the design and implementation of the training, and lessons learned. We conclude with suggestions on how these institutions can be further strengthened and provide recommendations for future capacity building activities.

Highlights of the findings:

• CDC, ES, SMS continue to function and operate mostly informally. They are well aware of their roles and responsibilities for their communities in the villages.
• Overall, the shuras scored in the low moderate to high moderate range on key management practices. However, each of the three institutions has strengths and weaknesses. Together they have the potential to create an effective institutional system to co-manage education service delivery at the village-level.
• To realize this potential they need to be recognized more broadly by both government and nongovernmental entities and incorporated into a formalized organizational structure with clear links between their roles. They also need a systematic capacity building training across the country.

ALSE asks you to please cite the Phase Two Baseline Report using the following citation:

Burde, D., J. Middleton, and C. Samii. 2018. Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Social Effects of Community-Based Education: A Randomized Field Experiment in Afghanistan. Phase Two Baseline Report. New York: Steinhardt School, New York University.

Phase Two Endline Report

ALSE’s Phase Two research tested a sustainability model of community-based education (CBE) through co-management by village-level community institutions (shuras). This sustainability model was inspired by the Afghan government’s new Citizens’ Charter initiative and aims to inform policy dialogues about how the gains made from CBE could be sustained after implementing NGOs end their programs.

The ALSE Phase Two Endline Report presents findings from this test. The report presents results on the effects of the sustainability model on education access and attendance, children’s learning achievement, civic engagement in and satisfaction with education services, and legitimacy of and trust in village-level and national institutions, as well as the cost of this sustainability model compared to NGO administration of CBE. We also provide recommendations on how the sustainability model can be strengthened.

Highlights of the findings:

• ALSE’s CBE cost-comparison analysis shows that after accounting for NGO start up investments, the cost for the sustainability model to continue CBE classes is about half the cost of NGO management per village.
• Community administration of CBE under the sustainability model is as effective as under continued NGO administration in terms of promoting access to education and children’s learning, significantly outperforming expectations, given the cost difference mentioned above.
• Community management under the sustainability model provides access and learning opportunities for both boys and girls; the model performs slightly more effectively for girls than for boys in increasing access to education, although this difference is not statistically significant.

ALSE asks you to please cite the Phase Two Endline Report using the following citation:

Burde, D., M. Lisiecki, J. Middleton, O. Okhidoi, and C. Samii. 2019. Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Social Effects of Community-Based Education: A Randomized Field Experiment in Afghanistan. Phase Two Endline Report. New York: Steinhardt School, New York University.