Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Meeting Demand for Specialized Skills and Knowledge Critical for Africa’s Transformation Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Nairobi 24 October, 2016 Xiaonan Cao ACE II Project Recap

This presentation will revisit the following: What does the ACE II Project try to achieve (objectives, components/activities) What are expected from each selected Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) How is the ACE II Project going to be implemented (governance, results-based financing) How will the ACE II Project be monitored and evaluated (DLIs/DLRs, Results Framework); and The way forward for the project implementation

ACE II Project takes a new regional approach to address Eastern & Southern Africa’s high-skilled human capital challenge by … Linking real development challenges with high-level skills training Promoting regional specialization Strengthening institutional capacity for delivering high quality training and applied research Focusing on the limited availability of quality faculty and developing best talent with concentration Piloting effective research and market-relevant programs Supporting emerging higher education systems in small and fragile countries Sharing knowledge and best practice regionally A regional approach is a complement to national initiatives!

in responding to the needs of regional development priorities: Industry/STEM Energy – wind/hydro-power, geothermal and solar-energy, energy generation/transmission etc. Value addition / Extractives – oil and gas sector, mining Urban design and construction/Infrastructure, transportation and logistics Disaster/risk analysis and management, hydrology and water purification ICT – soft/hardware, applications, services, and teaching/learning, Product design, manufacturing, Unspecified Agriculture Agribusiness: crop sciences, agricultural engineering, agro/food processing and packaging; value chain Climate and environmentally smart agriculture Agricultural land management, Water resource management, hydrology and irrigation

regional priorities (cont.): Health Pharm-bio technology – drug discovery, science-driven traditional medicine, and development Bio-medical engineering – implant development, hospital infrastructure, and tissue-engineering Bio-physics / bio-chemistry – diagnostic tools Molecular biology – infectious diseases, vaccine development, Unspecified STI capacity development Quality of Education – including innovations in STEM teaching/learning/curriculum development, assessment and management tools, e-learning and education tools, and creative design thinking Applied statistics – big data, bioinformatics, data mining, reliability modeling, research design, evidence-based policy analysis

The ACE II Project Development Objective (PDO) is therefore: To strengthen selected Eastern and Southern African higher education institutions to deliver quality post-graduate education and build collaborative research capacity in the regional priority areas

This PDO will be achieved through a set of activities captured in three project components: Strengthening Africa Centers of Excellence (ACEs) in Regional Priority Areas (US$140m) COMPONENT 2: Capacity Building Support to ACEs through Interventions (US$3m) COMPONENT 3: Facilitation, Coordination and Administration of Project Implementation (US$5m)

For Component 1, 24 ACEs are competitively selected Each ACE focuses on a specific development challenge in one of the regional priority areas. Country/ Cluster   Industry Agriculture Health Education Statistics TOTAL Ethiopia 2 (Railways, Water Management) 1 (Climate Smart Agriculture) 1 (Drug Development) 4 Kenya 1 (Manufacturing) 2 (Agribusiness, Food) 3 Malawi 1 (Fisheries) 1 (Public Health & Herbal Medicine) 2 Mozambique 1 (Oil & Gas) 1 Rwanda 2 (ICT, Energy) 1 (STEM teaching) 1 (Applied Statistics) Tanzania 1 (Water Infrastructure) 2 (Rodent Pest Management, Agricultural Education) 1 (Infectious Diseases) Uganda 1 (Product Design & Manufacturing) 2 (Crop Improvement, Agro-ecology) 1 (Pharma-Bio & Traditional Medicine) Zambia 1 (Mining) 9 8 5 24

Each ACE is expected to: Build institutional capacity to provide quality post graduate education with relevance to the labor market Build institutional capacity to conduct high quality applied research, relevant to addressing a development challenge Develop/enhance partnerships with other academic institutions (national, regional and international) to pursue academic excellence Develop/enhance partnerships with industry and the private sector to generate greater impact Teach through their benchmarked programs, helping other higher education institutions to improve quality Improve governance and management of the institution and set up a role model for other higher education institutions Deliver outreach and create an impact to society

for example, the Railways ACE …

By collaborating with ACE I, forging a network of ACEs to support the SSA’s development in future

Component 2 & 3 support ACEs’ effort with regional capacity building activities to address key institutional inadequacies such as Partnership development with the private sectors Monitoring and evaluation A scholarship program for top talented Masters’ students o support coordination and administration of ACE II implementation. Both Component 2&3 are implemented by IUCEA

The ACE II Project is mainly implemented by the ACEs: Each ACE receives US$4.5-6m grant from its government to implement its own proposal with a concrete Implementation Plan (IP) Establishes an implementation team run by the Center Leader to manage its daily businesses Strengthens its project management capacity both administrative and fiduciary Develops partnerships to help the execution of IP (15% of the funding must be used on partnerships) Follows safeguards for growth Manage relationships with host university, the government and other institutions

It has the following governance structure:

Supported and supervised by the National Steering Committee (NSC): ACEs are coordinated and administered by IUCEA as the Regional Facilitation Unit (RFU): Implements Component 2 & 3 Provides M&E support to ACEs Builds capacity and facilitates knowledge-sharing Supports partnership development and operations Supported and supervised by the National Steering Committee (NSC): Reviews and approves annual work program Receives and reviews DLI results Oversees audits Monitors overall implementation progress and promotes good practice guided by the Regional Steering Committee (RSC): Provides overall guidance and oversight for ACE II Guides M&E activities and conducts site visits Reviews the extent and performance of ACE collaboration Oversees audits

ACE II employs a results-based financing model – only disburse when the agreed results are achieved Achieves better results by shifting from input-based to performance/results-based financing Respects institutional autonomy and leadership, and still aligns institutional objectives with development goals Improves institutional capacity to plan, decide and implement Agrees on a set of results which are measurable, achievable and within control of institution Makes funding allocation objective, predictable, and transparent Uses government procurement rules to strengthen capacity Increases accountability

The results of ACE II are embodied in a set of agreed Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs) measured by corresponding Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs). ACE II has 4 DLIs and associated 16 DLRs that are APPLICABLE to all the ACEs.

30 days grievance period for disputed results! DLIs/DLRs achievements are validated by an external independent verifier. Once the results are verified, the associated funds are disbursed. NSC results validation outcome Independent Verifier ACE IUCEA validation outcome WB validation disbursement DLI 1 will be verified by IUCEA. 30 days grievance period for disputed results!

To ensure the progress toward achieving its PDO, ACE II will be monitored and evaluated based on its Results Framework ACE II has 5 PDO Level Results Indicators and a total of 9 Intermediate Results Indicators (4 for Component 1, 1 for Component 2, and 4 for Component 3)

But, we are here to support you!! To achieve these results, ACE II needs to overcome some important challenges ahead: Sustainability (financial) Capacity – wanting to do too much Faculty resistance – doing new things and outreach Lack of connections between universities and external partners (firms and public institutions) Management capacity, bureaucracy, and fiduciary controls But, we are here to support you!!

ACEs will receive continuous implementation support throughout the project: Every 6-month, there is an implementation support mission conducted usually by a supervision workshop, followed by individual site visits. It is conducted jointly by IUCEA and WB teams with subject-matter experts and RSC/NSC members participation. The results will be collected and reviewed. Challenges and possible solutions will be discussed, good practices will be shared, specific actions and targets will be agreed for the next 6-month. Their progress will be monitored. Such supervision, monitoring and implementation support will continue till the closing of the ACE II project – December 31, 2022!

What we’ve learned from ACE I implementation is the importance of: University and faculty ownership and empowerment Leadership of the ACE and its host university Regional and international partnerships Benefit from African diaspora Academic and administrative support to the ACE Capacity building in fiduciary Creative thinking about accreditation Clarifying things and establishing rules as needed along the way

Moving forward from the launch workshop: Getting ready for implementation: Meeting the Effectiveness conditions and become effective ASAP Setting up the project accounts Reaching out to the FM specialist in the WB office in your country for account management training Start preparation work Reaching out to your NSC and request its review and approval of your work program and implementation plan for the first year of implementation With the DLI 1 funding received, you can use it to work toward achieving any of the DLIs/DLRs, but be strategic Be realistic of what you can do in the first 6 months and the first year. Keep in mind that your submitted result targets for the first year in the Results Framework will be measured! Focus on quality, relevance and results, not just $$$ Don’t work along! Reaching out to IUCEA, NSC, RSC, WB, and your partner institutions and fellow ACEs for support as needed!

Good Luck and Thank You ! Comments / Questions?