Plan implementation: lessons from Comoros

  By Koffi Segniagbeto, IIEP Pôle de Dakar

 

Education administrators want to see the objectives of an education plan achieved. In Comoros, this meant looking closely at the national context. 

In 2016, education officials in Comoros opted to prepare a second transitional educational plan in instead of a full, longer-term plan. During the first three-year plan of this type, there was not enough time to adequately develop institutional capacities. Furthermore, Ministry officials and development partners believed a second short-term plan could help lay the foundation for a stronger ten-year plan later on where goals could be realistically achieved.

This decision revealed an important lesson. It is crucial to understand the national context and gauge the institutional strength before embarking on a long-term education plan. A second short-term transitional education plan could provide the time needed to properly strengthen capacities. 

In Comoros, the government and its partners decided to put the focus on overcoming weak planning capacities as part of the three-year transitional plan, both at the individual level, but even more so within the institutions responsible for education service delivery. 

An analysis of the Comorian education institutions’ strengths and weaknesses was conducted and has provided a better understanding of capacity constraints experienced by education officials in the country’s capital Moroni and in the three island administrations. This qualitative analysis was run simultaneously with a quantitative diagnosis of the education sector. 

The creation of a general agreement between the government, national administrators, and technical and financial partners to overcome blockages in the planning and management of education in order to ensure the success of the next sector plan was among its achievements.  Based on the results of the analysis, the Ministry of Education prepared a detailed capacity development plan for individuals, organizations, and institutions as part of the transitional education plan that also looks at more traditional strategies to improve access to and quality of education. The capacity development plan provides the framework for:

  • Redefining roles and responsibilities of the institutions in charge of the education and training sector both at the central and island level,
  • Improving coordination and communication between the different stakeholders,
  • Increasing the efficiency of planning, budgeting, pedagogical supervision, and monitoring and evaluation. 

These activities aim not only at improving governance and monitoring of the education sector but also at preparing the ground for a successful implementation of the ten-year plan, which is supposed to follow the second transition plan. 

IIEP supported the government and its partners throughout this process, from the start of the diagnosis through to the production of the budgeted triennial action plan. This continuous support made it possible to establish a closer link between the different phases and elements of the chain: the diagnosis of the education system, a simulation model, the definition a strategy, and the creation of a sector plan, including a concrete operational plan. In many countries, the steps involved in these different steps happen in isolation and are not linked enough. This is primarily because of the intervention of a multitude of stakeholders who have a limited knowledge of all of these different steps. The comprehensive approach taken in Comoros was very successful in this regard. 

Looking ahead in Comoros, all of the involved actors need to ensure that there is enough political will to ensure full implementation of the whole sectorial programme. 

 

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