Funding from USAID for Improved Education in Malawi

Deadline: 27th November 2023 | Funding From USAID For Improved Education In Malawi

Title;	Funding from USAID for Improved Education In Malawi
Organisation:	USAID
Fund/Grant:	$4,000,000
Deadline:	27th November 2023
Eligible countries:	Malawi

To carry out the Tisamale Mabuku (Let us take care of books) Project, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is accepting applications for cooperation agreements from eligible entities.

FOR TIMELY UPDATES JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL AND TELEGRAM 1 , TELEGRAM 2 CHANNELS

Key GoM policies and priorities, such as Vision: Malawi 2063 and its 2021–2030 Malawi 2063 first 10-Year Implementation Plan (MIP-1), which outlines certain actions that should be carried out by 2030, are in line with and will serve as the foundation for this project. A minimum package and relevant TLMs (textbooks, teacher guides, lab equipment, desks) should be provided to all schools. Additionally, citizen engagement and participation in governance and national development activities should be increased, and openness and transparency should be promoted through public information access and accountability to and from the citizenry.

“Solidify and build on the contributions made to date as part of the implementation of Malawi’s National Reading Programme (NRP) towards improving the delivery of high-quality early primary reading instruction in all Malawian primary schools” is the stated goal of the NextGen project, which focuses on Standards 1 and 2. The NextGen initiative aims to enhance community involvement in literacy education and the number of TLMs in households, schools, and the community. The NextGen initiative will
Encourage the use of the SCA book chain policy and recommendations, which can involve promoting private book markets. These suggestions cover data collection methods, technological utilisation in data collection, and book tracking and tracing.
Encourage the distribution and use of Standard 1 and 2 learner and teacher textbooks, with the goal that by the project’s last two years, the government will supply 50% of the volumes required to maintain a 1:1 ratio.
Engage the public and civil society organisations in the data gathering process, and assist SMCs in monitoring data regarding the use of textbooks by students and teachers.
Encourage community involvement initiatives such as youth-led reading camps, and get people involved in bringing books to these events and starting neighbourhood reading programmes.
Find creative ways to guarantee that homes and communities have a sufficient supply of reading materials, possibly in digital format.
Teach all SMCs and PTAs to 100%

Objective

• Every kid enrolled in public primary schools in Malawi has access to the NRP TLMs in their communities and schools, which are essential for the development of basic literacy skills.

Financial Details

• Over a two-year period, USAID plans to provide $4,000,000 in total financing.

Expected Outcomes

• By strengthening school communities’ ability to ensure that intended NRP TLMs are available, controlled, and used responsibly, this initiative will support the MoE’s NRP. The project will protect investments already made in the NRP by the MoE, USAID, and others by empowering communities to carry out their responsibilities and identify problems and solutions to enhance TLM management and utilisation in their schools and communities, even though it will not directly provide more TLMs. In addition to helping to improve the creation and use of TLM-related data as well as public knowledge of TLM management and use, communities and civil society will support, monitor, and advocate for good TLM management.
• Intermediate Outcome1: In public primary schools and the community, communities and civil society keep an eye on, report on, promote, and fight for efficient TLM management, replenishment, utilisation, and accountability.
• The community will be given the tools to recognise its own problems and potential solutions, as well as to organise events that will promote better TLM utilisation and management in the school and community. The systems, stakeholders, and community structures that are already in place—like those funded by MERP and NextGen—should be the foundation of these solutions. This entails enhancing the capacity of members of the school community management team and any other formal community structures associated with the institution to carry out their intended duties, which should include advocating, reporting, and monitoring in addition to providing relevant support.

Expected Outcomes

• To promote TLM management, replenishment, utilisation, and accountability in their school and community, school community management members sustainably carry out their monitoring, reporting, advocacy, and support duties, linked with official systems, processes, and stakeholders.
• enhanced community cooperation and involvement between community members and school system stakeholders to promote planned TLM management and utilisation in a sustainable manner. Prioritisation is given to the inclusion and active engagement of individuals, women, and children with disabilities.

Examples of Activities

• Determine and chart current community involvement, as well as CSOs with pertinent knowledge, expertise, and connections to the participating schools’ communities. Additionally, list any MoE, CSO, USAID, or other development partner initiatives that could be coordinated and the lessons learned shared.
• Describe the roles and duties of district and national stakeholders, including civil society organisations, and school and community stakeholders.
• To exchange best practises and equip school community management members and CSOs to lead community training, the discovery of community-based solutions, and planning, hold knowledge sharing and ToT workshops.
• School community administration and local CSO members facilitate community trainings and solution generation.
• Second Intermediate Outcome: Communities and civil society help public primary schools and the communities they serve manage, access, and use TLM data more effectively.
• Enhancing data practises is essential to bolstering TLM management and utilisation, and CSOs and the community may help the MoE generate, disseminate, and make use of reliable TLM-related data. For instance, when the Ministry distributes TLMs, schools and communities must be informed about the quantity and kind of TLMs distributed; additionally, when TLMs are distributed, schools must report to the MoE on the quantity and condition of TLMs received. Complementary data gathered via community monitoring initiatives should also be shared, documented, and used to support the operation of MoE data collecting and book tracking and tracing systems as well as to inform decision-making. Related MoE tools, systems, and activities—including those carried out with NextGen assistance—should be complemented by these activities.
• In order to enhance the accessibility of TLM data, support community initiatives as outlined here, and provide guidance for carrying out this and other NRP-related endeavours, nationally representative baseline and endline data on MoE TLM management will be gathered and combined through the use of standardised instruments, such as qualitative interviews, in comparison with data from other sources, and made accessible to all interested parties. It is also necessary to offer a midline “snapshot.” This will contain information about:
• TLM-related MoE rules and circulars encourage certain behaviours and practises, such as taking student books home rather than keeping them in the classroom.
• Relevant school and community details, like the trading center’s distance, the number of instructors and students in each class, and whether or not an SBCC campaign has benefited the community
• Comparing the quantity and state of TLMs in classrooms to the total number of students and the most recent distributions
• The quantity and quality of supplemental readers in the homes and communities of students
• Total number of TLMs that are absent from the system as a result of damage, theft, resale, and loss
• Books marked “Not for sale” in bookstores or private schools
• Duration of TLM

Expected Outcomes

• With the assistance of community and civil society organisations, the Ministry’s accountability and the efficiency of its systems for producing, disseminating, and using TLM-related data are increased. This comprises:
• Schools provide the MoE with accurate school-level data regarding the availability and state of TLMs, which is then made available to civil society and community partners.
• Central MoE data is made available to schools, community stakeholders, and CSOs. Examples of this data include aggregated statistics and data pertaining to scheduled TLM distributions.
• The MoE and other stakeholders at the local and central levels have access to combined community monitoring data, which supplements MoE data.
• Examples of Activities
• Members of school community management and CSOs (both locally and nationally) examine data that their school submits to the MoE, data that the school receives from the MoE, and aggregated national data, and they speak up in cases where the data is incomplete or erroneous.
• Communities and civil society gather, aggregate, and disseminate data from community participation and TLM management and utilisation monitoring at the school, district, and federal levels.
• Intermediate Outcome 3: A greater understanding of the community’s participation and the planned use and administration of TLMs in public primary schools and their communities among the general public
• The public will be made more aware of the issue and encouraged to participate in community outreach programmes, social and behaviour change initiatives, and interactive community activities in an effort to help communities and schools become better at managing and utilising TLMs. Community members will be educated through SBCCs on proper handling of TLMs and how they contribute to literacy development. They will also learn about their own roles and responsibilities in maintaining and caring for the supplemental readers they receive, as well as how teachers and students should use TLMs in the community and in the classroom.
• Anticipated outcomes:
• increased public knowledge of TLMs in participating communities, their significance for the development of literacy, how they are intended to be managed and used in public primary schools and their communities, and the community’s rights and obligations in TLM management
• Communities connected to all involved schools that are reached by participatory community events and SBCC campaign(s)
• Examples of Activities
• Local media and community forums are used to produce and distribute SBCC campaign(s) with tested and targeted communication/media messages on intended management and utilisation of TLMs and the rights and obligations of the community. These initiatives may involve both central and local leadership.
• In order to encourage proper TLM management and utilisation, participating communities engage in interactive community activities that build on NextGen and GBAIA and include mentoring and modelling components.
• Record community engagement triumphs and best practises together with the success of SBCC campaigns, messaging, and interactive activities.
• intended audience
• The project’s main target beneficiaries are elementary school students in Standards 1–8, who will have easier access to the TLMs needed to acquire the fundamental reading skills they need to continue on through primary school. Parents and other carers, members of the school community management team and other community stakeholders, and young people who will be involved in improving the management of TLMs in the school and community are among the other beneficiaries. Stakeholders in the Ministry of Education as well as CSOs and organisations that support disabled people locally, regionally, and nationally would gain from this. Youth, women, and people with disabilities shall be given priority when it comes to inclusion and active engagement.

Place of Focus

• This will be a nationwide effort involving a minimum of 200 schools and their surrounding communities from each of the six education divisions. There may be some national public awareness campaigns included, depending on the media outlet. Even while the project might not be implemented in every school, its statewide dissemination allows for a multiplier effect that benefits more schools and communities by strengthening the system and spreading SBCC themes to people outside of the project’s designated target communities.
• More preferable than a more comprehensive intervention at every participating school is a scalable technical method. The list of communities included in related education sector activities, such as GBAIA, NextGen (the overall activity is in all primary schools nationwide, but specific aspects, like the pre-primary pilot and some community engagement activities, will be in selected schools), the National Numeracy Programme, and School for All, will be taken into consideration during the community selection process, which will be ultimately proposed by the IP.

Eligibility

• Nothing limits your eligibility for this NOFO.
• Applications from organisations that have not previously received funding from USAID are encouraged if the applicant can demonstrate that the organisation has the potential to carry out such large-scale operations.
• Faith-based organisations are subject to the safeguards and regulations of federal legislation and are eligible to seek for federal financial aid on the same terms as any other organisation.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.