Education Sector Capacity Development Strategy - Sierra Leone

Over the past decade the educations sector in Sierra Leone has undergone significant changes as the country has moved to re-establish post-conflict basic service delivery. Issues of expanding access and improving quality have remained at the forefront of educational priorities, whilst a government-wide decentralisation process has raised complex challenges in the redfinition of responsibilities and functions at central and local levels. Sector capacity has been repeatedly highlighted as one of the most critical elements in meeting these challenges, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) has established a Coordination Committee comprising a number of Government Ministries and national Education Development Partners to work towards a coherent, sector-wide approach to capacity development for the delivery of quality education. 

EfC was contracted by UNICEF on behalf of the Capacity Development Coordination Committee in order to:

• Review identified institutional, organisational and individual capacity gaps in the education sector at both central and district level, and
• Develop a strategy to increase capacity in the sector at all levels, with an outline of district-specific priorities to support the development of district implementation plans

The project was developed though in-depth consultation, validation and consensus-building with a wide range of stakeholders at all stages of implementation. 

The kick-off meeting took place in Freetown on the 1st of September 2010, followed by the first multi-stakeholder meeting, gathering representatives from MEST, MoF, Civil Society Organisations, Statistics Sierra Leone, Freetown Teachers College, DFID, GTZ, UNDP, UNICEF, Save the Children and Universities. Using an analytical framework that examined capacity development at three levels (enabling environment, organisational and individual) across six key areas (financial resources, human resources, material resources, planning, monitoring and evaluation, management and administration, and communication), a number of rounds of in-depth consultations and discussions were held with key stakeholders at national, district and school levels, covering all education sub-sectors.

Findings from these consultations were validated and initial strategy suggestions developed through further multi-stakeholder national meetings and district workshops. Building on these processes the EfC team developed the first draft of the strategy accompanied by a communications and consensus building plan to initiate and support the implementatoin of the strategy. After several rounds of iteration with MEST and the Capacity Development Coordination Committee, a final stakeholder workshop was held in November 2011 to finalise and approve the Capacity Development Strategy, involving representatives from MEST (both national and district staff), Finance and Local Government Ministries and Education Development Partners to finalise and approve the Capacity Development Strategy.