Hailu, Belay Hagos

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Early Childhood Education in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Pakistan: Perspectives of Pre-primary School Teachers

By Hailu, Belay Hagos

School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected teachers and changed their role significantly. This chapter explores the extent to which early childhood education (ECE) teachers were engaged in children’s early learning during school closure through communication with their parents and families in three countries: Ethiopia, Liberia, and Pakistan. Using mobile phone surveys and key informant interviews, we investigate the support pre-primary teachers received during school closures and how they were able to support children’s home-based learning and prepare for school reopening. In all three countries, many teachers were in contact with children and families during school closures, yet the percentage varies by country, from 33% in Ethiopia to 64% in Liberia and 100% in Pakistan. Teachers in Ethiopia and Pakistan reported that children from disadvantaged backgrounds were missing out on essential support, but about 70% of ECE teachers sought to accommodate their learning needs or support psychosocial well-being. We discuss policy implications to support ECE teachers and children in the current and future crises in order to improve responsiveness and resilience in ECE systems. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Is the Programme for Results approach fit for purpose? Evidence from a large-scale education reform in Ethiopia

By Asegdom, Amare

Across many low- and lower middle-income countries, aid donors are promoting results-based financing approaches as a means to link their funding directly with development outcomes. In this paper, we explore one such approach, the Programme for Results (PforR) financing approach in support of Ethiopia’s large-scale education quality reform. We assess whether the PforR approach is fit for purpose, drawing on interviews with 72 key donor and government stakeholders. Our findings suggest that the ability of the approach to achieve its stated goals of building capacity and strengthening the system for equitable learning is limited in this context. While the approach is helping to reorient attention from inputs to results, questions remain as to whether the focus is on the right results. Our findings highlight the need for the careful design of such approaches that take account of the context including with respect to ensuring that necessary preconditions are in place prior to implementation. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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