Capacity Development Partnership Fund III 2018-2021

CDPF is a joint support undertaking by Sida, the European Union Delegation, USAID and the Global Partnership for Education. Added to the Independent Evaluation report of the ROM exercise, a summary of examples of the results also draws from the final report delivered by UNICEF to Sida in April 2022 which covered the full activity period from 01 January 2018 to 30 June 2021. Initially, the length of Sida funded CDPF was meant to run four full years or 48 months; however, due to the revised Strategy for Cambodia issued by the Swedish Government the agreement was shortened to run only until 30 June 2021. The agreement was therefore modified and the period of operation lasted three and a half years, bringing the total Swedish contribution of SEK 60 million. The last evaluation report mentioned above contains the main findings and recommendations for strengthening the education system in the framework of the CDPF project. With financial support from Sweden, research and policy development was one of the main CDPF's objectives for MOEYS through UNICEF. Key achievements, outcomes and long-term impact across the 2018-2021 program periods are documented and submitted by UNICEF.The project covered Cambodia on a national scale with special emphasis on sub-national (provincial and district) levels. The the beneficiaries are the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) itself at the central, provincial and district levels, schools nationally, students, parents and community members. Progress under Strategic Outcome 1 on Policy is assessed on track. The findings and recommendations from the research using improved research guidelines and methodologies have been used to inform policy documents, including the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2019-2023. It is assessed relevant that the Education Research Council has been able to produce studies annually to better inform their policy work. Progress under Strategic Outcome 2 on Planning is important for the capacity development because the CDPF support has not only assisted developing the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2019-2023 but has also supported the Capacity Development Master Plan 2020-2024 as a guiding policy mechanisms to enhance the quality education in Cambodia and to deliver an inclusive and equitable education service to all children including those from disadvantage backgrounds and those with disabilities. The ESP and the Master plan with its progress measured by the M&E Framework has guided the ministry to provide a nationwide capacity building to the target beneficiaries at all ministerial levels to realize the importance of realistic annual operating plans including improving budgeting practices, conducting an informed Exclusion and Gender Analysis. It is a legacy to document that many of the guidelines and methods of workings are now being scaled up nationally with the Swedish contribution to CDPF. Added to two strategic outcomes above, Strategic Outcome 3 on Finance is significantly contributing to their realization of the expected objective of CDPF. It is relevant because the CDPF is reported to have strengthened MoEYS financial processes and procedures, including upgrading the Education Financial Management Information System (EFMIS), improved budget policy linkages and training for central and provincial level budget entities with a focus to disadvantaged schools. In addition, the strategic outcome 3 shows an increased number of scholarship recipients that the scholarship programme has been supported and strengthened at both primary and secondary levels. It is assessed relevant to the target populace that the programme is well-regarded in an evaluation in 2020 and the linkages are now being made to the overarching social protection framework. Progress under Strategic Outcome 4 on Personnel is constrained and Functional Review which was conducted in 2019-2020 and the Market Scoping Analysis were the key achievement under this outcome towards achieving the targets as stated in the CDPF M&E framework. It is constrained in some areas due to COVID-19 prevention measures hindering finalization and application of the HRMIS quality assessment tools, training for teacher trainers as part of the CPD framework; and delayed for the more complex reason of issues experienced due to inter-ministerial collaboration in areas such as the operationalization of the staff appraisal system at the provincial and central levels of MOEYS. Nonetheless, collaborative support with other actors, in particular the UNESCO GPE/STEPCam project is reported to an increased coherence and clarity to the teacher career progression, increasing their motivation and job satisfaction as part of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) which included the CPF Framework and Action Plan 2019-2023. Progress under Outcome 5 on Inclusion is limited in some areas such as reaching the target for the number of schools where staff are trained to fully implement school-based management; development of multilingual education (MLE) teaching and learning materials for five languages, including revising the existing curriculum and to extend on further indigenous language and, the adoption of standardized learning assessment guidelines by POE school inspection teams. With the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic the CDPF was able to support the MOEYS with the national response and recovery plan. The support included a joint needs assessment identified many vulnerabilities of the system and the impact of the pandemic on children and in 2021, 760,000 grade 1 and grade 2 students and teachers received a Home-Learning Package, ensuring all of Cambodia's public school children in the 25 provinces had paper-based literacy and numeracy materials. 5000 children in the MLE schools were also reported as a direct beneficiaries to receive a reading package in their mother tongue. Progress under Outcome 6 on Gender is limited under strategic outcome 6 towards achieving the targets as stated in the CDPF M&E framework partly due to COVID-19 prevention measures. In 2020, a significant proportion of the CDPF's contribution to progression MOEYS education reform priorities was diverted to COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. The focus on Gender came to attention following the CDPF Phase II evaluation, as it was found that gender continued to lag behind other priorities and advances. Bottlenecks and challenges were addressed, leading to a capacity building training delivered by ILO for MOEYS Gender Master Trainers. It is significant that the trainers have reviewed MOEYS policies and key HE policies were and are being reviewed to ensure gender responsiveness. Most importantly, it is seen relevant and has a long-term impact that the CDPF also supported the development of a Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Plan 2020-2024 with gender-specific actions and targets. Unexpected event and challenges overall were the impacts of the public health crisis, the COVID-19, disrupting the implementation of activities and diverting of funds for Covid-19 response and importantly were also for the more complex reasons that need to be progressed in a long term effort. While Sida funding to the CDPF concluded in 2021, the future of the CDPF is determined by other original three partners EU and UNICEF and other partners who have agreed to extend the CDPF to June 2026, bringing a total value to over USD 37,000,000, the largest of the three CDPF phases to date.

The main objective of the CDPF is to support the implementation of MoEYS Capacity Development Strategic Master Plan (CDMP). The CDMP is based on an analysis of the capacity deficit to implement the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2014-2018. A new ESP, aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will be created during 2018 to guide the development of the sector 2019-2022. In order to implement this new plan a renewed CDMP will be constructed. The Theory of Change for the CDPF III is that by focusing on building capacity in MoEYS policy development, planning, financing, personnel, inclusive and accountable education service delivery and gender equitable leadership the education system will be strengthened to deliver equitable, inclusive and quality education services. The overall objective of the CDPF is to enable effective leadership and management of the education sector at all levels through systematic capacity development thereby enabling the implementation of the ESP. The three sub-objectives of the CDPF Phase III aim to contribute: 1. To strengthen MoEYS capacity in planning, monitoring, public financial management, policy implementation and management of education reforms for improved sector performance; 2. To strengthen capacities at provincial and district levels to plan, manage, monitor and ensure effective implementation of policies for improved education service delivery; and 3. To strengthen school-level capacity and accountability in relation to planning, financing and management in order to increase participation and learning. Six intermediate outcomes of the intervention are expected: 1. Legislation, policy development and implementation are based on research and policy dialogue 2. Development, implementation and monitoring of education plans and budgets at all levels is results-based and of high quality 3. Financing of quality education is equitable, efficient and accountable 4. Human resource planning, deployment and performance management at all levels is of high quality and gender-equity is promoted 5. Education service providers are increasingly committed to, and accountable for, education service delivery that is inclusive, equitable and of enhanced quality and relevance 6. Organisational and technical leadership is gender-equitable