The project, titled ‘Africa Education Watch’, officially began in July 2007 and will include two phases: an assessment phase (aimed at identifying weak points in the primary education management structures, as well as nature and scope of ‘resource leakages’), followed by an advocacy phase, which will try to bring about the necessary changes to address the problems identified in the first phase.

The first workshop in the Africa Education Watch project was held in Accra, Ghana, on 18-20 October. One of the workshop’s purposes was the finalisation of the polling and survey instruments to be used in this programme for assessing resource leakages and the efficiency of decentralised governance structures in the primary education sector.

Now that the polling and survey instruments have been finalised, the project can move forward and survey local households about the actual services they receive from the primary schools in their countries. This information, provided by the parents, will be matched against information obtained at the school, district and national levels. Not only will this increase data consistency, it will also enable the project to track resources like schoolbooks or free meals for kids. Members and Chairpersons of School Management Committees and Parent-Teacher Associations will also be interviewed throughout the project.

Once the assessment of school services has been carried out, the second phase of the Africa Education Watch programme will involved lobbying governments and education authorities to address problems that will have been identified. In addition to the national advocacy campaigns, a regional campaign will address cross-country issues and engage with international donor agencies to implement specific reforms to prevent the identified shortcomings.