Education Coordination Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: 18.07.2012

Time: 9:30-11:30

Venue: The Minister’s Conference Room, MoE

Participants: Mr. Sarwar Azizi (Chair/MoE), Mr. Robert Dropcho (Co-chair/USAID), Mr. Besmellah Basal (TED/MoE), Mr. Samir Khan (MoE), Mr. Lutfullah Safi (MoE), Mr. Farid Mirzad (MoE), Mr. Ab. Zahir Gulistani (MoE), Mr. Nayab Azizi (EQUIP), Mr. Naeem Baheen (MoE), Mr. Hafeez Samo (MoE), Mr. Bahir Wyaar (MoE), Ms. Toorpekai Momand (MoE), Ms. Shazia Zramalval (HRDB Secretariat), Mr. Seddiq Weera (MoE), Mr. Nils Kauffman (USAID), Ms. Jenneatt Ostegaad (DANIDA), Mr. Parwiz Yosufzai (DANIDA), Mr. Asadullah Zarmalwal (MoE), Mr. Abdul Alim Ghafary (USAID), Ms. Melissa Chipili (USAID), Mr. Aivan Amit (USAID), Mr. Dietmar Kleb (GIZ), Mr. Azim karbali (MoE), Mr. Abdul Wassay Arian (MoE), Ms. Saifora Barekzai (EQUIP), Ms. Leena Faiz (EQUIP), Ms. Arzhang Yosefi (UNICEF), Ms. Zalaikha Rafiq (EQUIP), Mr. Humayoon Rasaw (MoE), Mr. Hai Tiet (UNESCO), Mr. Jamil Ahmad (UNESCO), Mr. Farid Tani (MoE), Mr. Yama Yahya (MoE), Dr. Sushmita (NIOS-India), Mr. Modaser Islami (HRDB Secretariat).

No. / Topic / Discussion Points / Action / Responsible Person
1.  / Welcome and Introduction / The meeting was initiated by Mr Azizi welcoming participants and then requesting all participants to briefly introduce themselves. / No Action
2. / Approval of Last Meeting Minutes and Approval of Agenda / Minutes of last ECC meeting (28th May 2012) were approved with comments received from CIDA.
Agenda of the meeting was approved after adding the Open Schooling presentation to it. / No Action
3. / Update from EQUIP on progress made (Dr.Weera). / Dr. Weera presented updates on different elements of EQUIP such as Social Mobilization, Teacher Education, Learning Assessment, Infrastructure Services Development, Gender, Communication, and Financial Management (Please refer to presentation for details). Dr. Weera mentioned that social mobilization is undergoing reform, hiring people, making it more systematic (via manual providing), improvement in training by focusing more on skill building, expansion of EQUIP more on PED, which currently does not receive sufficient funding. He added that a network will be established for all those involved in social mobilization.
Dr. Weera explained that EQUIP 2 is going to be extended until 1st September 2014 and 250 million USD are allocated and approved for this program. 200 million USD of the forementioned budget is to finance currently running projects with expansion and the rest 50 million USD is for operation maintenance (20 million) and Pilot Provincial Program (PPP). As part of PPP 3 million USD will be allocated to Capacity Development and 17 million USD will be allocated equally among 34 provinces (5000 USD each province).
Dr. Weera highlighted that Financial Management in government is an obstacle. Funds are not made available to programs and activities on time. He further requested donors to make government responsible.
Mr. Azizi commented that as far as EQUIP is a joint program, why don’t we talk to ministry of finance to solve the issue. Dr. Weera responded that we did all we could do and it did not work out. It needs higher level discussions between the donors and the ministers, he added. / No Action
4 / Update on GPE (Mr. Farid Tanai) / Mr. Farid provided brief update on the current status of GPE transfer agreement. He mentioned the agreement letter is still not signed. However, the deadline was extended for 3 months, he reported. The new deadline for signing the transfer agreement is 15th September 2012. He added that the donors are not committed to provide the funding immediately but UNICEF and DANIDA are working on the agreement to get signed as soon as possible.
Mr. Farid explained that 9 million USD was allocated to GPE program for current fiscal year (which was only 9 months) and now we are left with only 3 months. Thus he requested for reduction of the amount. He mentioned that UNICEF included the admin cost of GPE in the yet to be transferred grant but GPE headquarter is t provide the admin additional from grant and not to be reduced from the grant. / No Action
5. / Presentation of ACER Concept Paper (Mr. Lutfullah Safi, Mr. Hafeez Samo, Hafeez Samo and Mr. Baheer Wyaar) / Mr. Lutfullah Safi briefed participants about Learning Assessment process. He mentioned that a LA system needs to be establishing in order to make the process national, cost effective and Afghan-owned. He added people with certain skills are required to design the tests, implement the tests and follow up on the findings. He also mentioned that there are still questions about the grades in which LA will be conducted. He mentioned that LA is one of the initiates identified last year to improve Quality and Access.
Mr. Baheer presented the ACER Concept Note and highlighted that LA as a system will be developed under MoE. He mentioned that LA is now going to be conducted jointly by MoE, World Bank and ACER. He mentioned that ACER has provided a Concept Note and is asked by MoE and World Bank to prepare a detailed proposal. He then went through the comments received on the Concept Note (please refer to “comments on ACER proposal” document attached for details). Mr. Baheer also mentioned that there are still questions from ACER side on the structure of grades to be assessed.
Dr. Weera explained if relevant ministries agree on division of branches after grade 9 then assessing of grade 3, 6, and 9 is preferred. Dr. Weera added in present we should focus on how to get help of international consultants and ACER is the best option for helping MoE in this regard.
Mr. Safi brought to attention that translation of tests from English to local languages (Pashto/Dari) is an issue to be considered. Thus establishing system from the beginning is crucial to bring ownership to the program.
Mr. Hafeez Samo requested members to send their comments and questions on the Concept Note which will then be forwarded to ACER to use them in preparing the detailed proposal. / No Action
HRDB members to share comments and questions on ACER Concept Note / Mr. Hafeez Samo and Mr. Baheer Wyaar
6. / Request donors to provide new funding commitment for 2013-2014 for use in joint planning (Mr. Arian) / Mr. Arian requested donors to provide funding commitment for the year 2013-2014 so that activities can be jointly planned in advance. He also requested donors to share information with the ministry about on-budget and off-budget projects/programs for 2013-2014. / Donors to provide information on their funding commitment for the year 2013-2014 to planning department. / Donors + Planning Department
7. / Brief on Open Schooling Concept (Dr Sushmita Mitra) / Dr Sushmita of National Institute of Open Schooling-India, in her presentation, briefly explained the concept of open schooling and stressed its importance (please refer to presentation for details). She informed the participants that she is here to conduct a feasibility study on establishment of Open Schooling system in Afghanistan. She added this feasibility study aims at finding out whether the concept of Open Schooling can become a reality and whether one should proceed with it. / No Action
8. / The next meeting of the ECC is scheduled for 27th August 2012
4 / | Human Resource Development Board, Ministry Of Education, Mohammad Jan Khan Watt, Deh Afghanan, Kabul