1. Technical and Advisory Meeting RFU Progress Report
Philip O Ayoo
Ag. Project Coordinator
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

2. Quality Education for Development
Purpose
The combined meeting for RSC members and Center Leaders provides optimal opportunity for interactions and dialogue to accelerate strategies for enhancing implementation of the ACE II Project
The technical and advisory meeting provides a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to contribute to ACEs key developments, assess issues and challenges facing ACEs and propose potential solutions to optimize project implementation
Participants include:
Center leaders of the 24 ACEs
RSC members
World Bank team
IUCEA/RFU team
Vice-Chancellors/principals of host institutions
Private sector partners
Various experts/facilitators
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

3. Quality Education for Development
Objectives
To review ACEs key developments in terms of overall results achieved, as well as issues and challenges faced;
To receive and review progress report of ACE II project activities by IUCEA/[RFU] (under Components 2 and 3)
To provide appropriate guidance on emerging issues for continued project implementation;
To discuss the next steps for ensuring achievement of project goals in an effective and efficient way.
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

4. POST-GRADUATE TRAINING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
ACE II Project
FOCUS/PDO
POST-GRADUATE TRAINING
Masters, PhD, Short Courses
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
Partnerships
5 PRIORITY AREAS
Industry
Health
Agriculture
Education
Applied Statistics
8 COUNTRIES
Ethiopia
Kenya
Malawi
Mozambique
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Saturday, May 04, 2019
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5. Quality Education for Development
REPORT OF ACTIVITIES
Saturday, May 04, 2019
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6. ACE II Components Component 1 Component 2 Component 3
strengthening the 24 higher education institutions into regional ACEs in Eastern and Southern Africa in a set of defined regional priority areas
providing capacity building support to these ACEs through regional activities
supporting coordination and management of the implementation of components (i) and (ii)

7. Quality Education for Development
2.0 COMPONENT 2
Provides capacity building support to ACEs through regional interventions
RSC guidance on Nov :
development of incubation centers in 4 disciplines
facilitation of regional internships of MSc students
carrying out tracer studies
awarding MSc scholarships to female students
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

8. Quality Education for Development
2.1 MSc Scholarships
RSC directed that IUCEA should provide all the 60 MSc fellowships to female graduate students
to encourage the participation of young African female students at postgraduate level
to promote regional female student mobility.
On May , IUCEA/RFU launched a call for the first 30 Fellowships available for the 2018/2019 academic year
successful applicants will be placed in their respective universities by September 2018
to pursue academic programs within any of the 24 ACEs
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

9. Quality Education for Development
2.2 Incubation Centers
RSC directed IUCEA/RFU to support development of eligibility criteria for ACEs to compete through co-financing development of incubation centers or learning factories by 4 disciplines (Industry, Agriculture, Health and Education/Statistics)
the region’s four (4) best ACEs would be turned into regional research hubs
that will demonstrate the pathways for the transformation of research outcomes into innovative products or policies
A concept note was developed with guidelines for ACEs to compete through co-financing development of incubation centers
a request-for-proposals to host incubation centers is now ready for sharing with all 24 ACEs
evaluation panel is being constituted
first role will be to come up with an evaluation protocol for the proposals
About USD 250, ,000 set aside as seed financing from the project
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

10. 2.3 Indian-ACE Collaboration
Pursued by World Bank and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India
facilitating linkages between academic and research and development institutions in India and ACEs in universities in Africa covered by ACE I and ACE II projects
identified in four (4) areas for collaboration: (1) material science & renewable energy; (2) water, infrastructure & environment management; (3) railways; and (4) information and communication technology
USD 2.5 million has been set aside by DST for use by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) faculty to support ACEs activities
a lead coordinator (Prof Kiprop) was selected from amongst the identified ACEs to work out the implementation plan with DST
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

11. Quality Education for Development
3.0 COMPONENT 3
Facilitation, coordination and administration of the project implementation
coordinating M&E activities across the ACEs to ensure their achievement of the agreed DLI results
facilitating regional collaboration and networking through knowledge sharing events for ACEs and their partners
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

12. 3.1 Regional Steering Committee Meeting
ACE II Project operates under the overall guidance and oversight of the RSC
meets at least twice a year to set guidelines for the project, and to ensure that the ACEs achieve the project development objectives
The 8th RSC meeting was held on November in Accra, Ghana
10 action points were identified to guide the work of IUCEA/RFU over the coming period
Next RSC Meeting will be held on May
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

13. 3.2 Technical and Advisory Meeting
An important platform for effective and efficient transfer of information to the ACEs
A joint ACE I and ACE II technical and advisory meeting was held on November in Accra, Ghana, to:
provide a platform for networking among the ACEs (particularly on partnerships and accreditation);
learn from ACE I experiences
present and discuss the expected project operational procedures
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

14. 3.3 Technical Support Missions
To take stock of progress made in project implementation and discuss any challenges that may require support or facilitation by the World Bank and/or the IUCEA/RFU
RSC directed that technical support missions to ACEs should be more harmonized through mutual participation of both IUCEA and the World Bank
Technical support missions were successfully conducted to ACEs in:
Uganda (November )
Ethiopia (January )
Malawi (April )
Zambia (May )
Some of the emerging/crosscutting issues include:
independent results verification
regional and international accreditation
regional students intake
attracting female students
definition of certain DLIs/DLRs
operationalization of the partnerships
Emerging issues have been distilled for more detailed discussion (in a separate session)
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

15. 3.4 Monitoring and Evaluation
ACE II project design has a strong focus on M&E
RFU provides M&E technical support to ACEs
Production of the semi-annual reports
review of the ACEs Annual Work Plans (AWPs)
Standardized reporting format (template) has been developed for use by the ACEs and the RFU
ACEs are at different levels in implementation of project activities
Capacity building in M&E is being organized for the ACEs
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

16. 3.5 Independent Results Verification
Disbursement Linked Indicator (DLI) 1… 2… 3… 4…
Disbursement Linked Result (DLR)
1.1…
1.2…
2.1…
2.2…
Disbursement Amount
1.1m…
4.3m…
0.3m…
Action Achieved
Verification
Next DLI

17. 3.5 Recruitment of the Independent Verifier Firm
The process of hiring an independent verification firm started when 5 firms submitted proposals on Dec following an earlier request-for-proposals.
Negotiations with the best technically-evaluated firm, KPMG East Africa Ltd, commenced on March
were terminated recently due to their financial proposal, which was significantly higher than the budgeted amounts
Contact has now been made with Technopolis, the independent verifier firm for ACE I Project
methodological approach (online) being considered
more information will be provided in a separate session
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

18. 3.6 Communication and Networking
Implementation of the ACE II Communications Strategy (approved by RSC in October 2016) is on schedule:
project website is updated bi-weekly
project newsletter is circulated quarterly
three social media platforms are in place
media mentions about the ACEs in the local media of participating countries is on the increase
higher education news platforms such as University World News frequently feature project activities
On networking:
a meeting of higher education agencies from ACE II participating countries was held in August 2017 in Kigali
1st Africa-China World Bank Education Partnership Forum was facilitated during July 10-15, 2017
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

19. Quality Education for Development
3.7 Effectiveness
With Zambia being declared effective in January 2018, all countries in the ACE II Project have now become effective.
Launch for the ACEs in Zambia was held on April
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

20. 3.8 Human Resources Capacity
New staff were recruited:
M&E Officer (Mr Samson Ojesi) reported on November
Procurement Assistant (Mr Christopher Kakooza) reported on April
Following resignation of Dr. Eugene Mutimura, interviews for the recruitment of a new Project Coordinator was held on May
TORs are being revised for recruitment of a full-time Audit Assistant to serve both projects (ACE II and EASTRIP)
Continuous capacity building for staff through training
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

21. Challenges and Reflections
Late submission of semi-annual progress reports and AWPs by some ACEs.
Delays in completion of the recruitment of an independent verifier.
Staff gaps e.g. to support procurement and internal audit functions.
Absence of communication and M&E staff at a number of ACEs
has led to poor or no submission of reports or success stories and achievements made.
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

22. Quality Education for Development
Next Steps
Implement component 2 of the project i.e. capacity building support to ACEs through regional interventions, through:
Placement of (and providing financing to) the first cohort of 30 MSc Fellows for their studies.
Providing financing support to the 4 ACEs to host incubation centers
Development of an action plan for details of carrying out tracer studies.
Complete the recruitment process of the independent verification firm.
Complete the recruitment process of the Audit Assistant.
Continued guidance to ACEs in implementation of their projects as appropriate
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

23. Quality Education for Development
Required Support
World Bank to continue supporting IUCEA in facilitation of coordination of the project through (bi-)monthly meetings.
ACEs to submit their reports in the stipulated time to allow timely compilation/consolidation of reports by IUCEA as an RFU.
As well as timely submission of the AWPs by the ACEs
RSC, NSC and host universities to continue providing project implementation support and guidance as approriate
Saturday, May 04, 2019
Quality Education for Development

24. Thank you
Saturday, May 04, 2019