The opportunities and challenges of collaborating with government and other partners on the Ethiopia READ program Stephen Backman (PhD) RTI international CIES 2017, Atlanta

READ: 4 USAID Projects, 2012-19 READ Inst. Improvement 18 READ Institutional Improvement (II) READ Community Outreach (CO) READ Technical Assistance (TA) READ Inst. Improvement 18 READ Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) READ Com. Outreach 17.5 READ M & E 10

READ projects working together READ TA READ CO READ M&E

READ projects respond to govt needs MOE & RSEBs USAID READ Projects

Overlapping components Curriculum Revision/ Develpmnt Book Printing Teacher Training School Support Community Outreach SRMs Teaching Aids/ CFA Technology M&E and Research READ TA X TA/ Funding Training materials Emergency printing Grant add-on to replace READ II TA on mentoring approach Reduced scope Capacity building of RSEBs/ MOE CTEs/ Assistive tech EGRA 2014 READ CO Project schools Increased scope/ Lead TA To support SRMs/ schools Bloom software READ M&E Continuous formative assessment EGRA 2016/ Project evals MOE Policy/ Guidelines Through GQUIP pooled fund Up through 2014 under READ II RSEBs Developmnt for MTs Adapted languages Roll out

Overlapping activities: Curriculum Dev MOE RSEBs READ TA

Overlapping activities: SRMs READ TA MOE READ CO RSEBs

Overlapping activities: Teaching Aids READ M&E READ CO READ TA MOE & RSEBs

Themes of collaboration Relationships Design Capacity Application/ Reality

Collaboration strategies Design / Capacity Relationships/Application Joint planning/bottom up Quarterly TWGs TA by projects, development/work done by MOE/RSEB representatives Regional MT Task Forces Official communication through MOE/RSEBs Monthly meetings among READ projects Constant consultation Community of practice Identifying gaps and coverage/ leveraging strengths USAID flexibility

Challenges Funding from different sources MOE vs Regional responsibilities Differences in priorities, approaches, knowledge/ understanding Political developments Staff turnover Overlapping/competing timelines/deliverables/ expectations Requires many actors working together on the same time line Printing of books Teacher training SRMs

Opportunities Collaboration Buy in from government Sustainability Avoid duplication or contradictory work Strong working relationships Responsiveness Leveraging funds/expertise

. Thank you sbackman@rti.org