[IAEP] SABER: System Assessment and Benchmarking for Education Results

Tue May 31 12:31:35 EDT 2011

Although the message below is focused on school health issues, the
links within to the SABER program may be of great interest as an
assessment framework.

SABER: System Assessment and Benchmarking for Education Results
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:22710669~menuPK:282391~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.html

Benchmarking ICT use in education
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:22711881~menuPK:282391~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386~isCURL:Y,00.html

140 page PDF
Guide to Measuring Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in
Education - Updated: 2011-05-03 1:52 pm
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=7856_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

Also available in French, Russian and Spanish.

cjl

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peel, Francis <f.peel at imperial.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, May 31, 2011 at 9:21 AM
Subject: [schoolhealth] Countries pilot SABER-School Health & School
Feeding Exercise
To: schoolhealth <schoolhealth at imperial.ac.uk>

17 African Countries Successfully Pilot First SABER-School Health &
School Feeding Exercise

by Fahma Nur and Andy Tembon, World Bank.

School Health Coordinators from 17 Sub-Saharan Africa Ministries of
Education (including 13 West African member states) gathered in
Bamako, Mali this spring to participate in an annual technical
workshop on School Health and Nutrition. Other participants present at
the workshop included representatives from the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC),
Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), World Food
Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO/AFRO), UNAIDS and
UNESCO-BREDA.

One of the key issues of this year’s workshop was to pilot the Systems
Assessment and Benchmarking for Education Results (SABER) program for
School Health and School Feeding. The SABER program is a key tool in
the new World Bank Education Strategy for countries to assess how
their programs are meeting the education needs of their school
children, and to identify actions to address any gaps. This approach
is also based on the Africa Region Strategy, specifically by
addressing resilience and vulnerability, and by using a partnership
approach to support national and regional responses.

The purpose of this pilot exercise was for the countries to understand
the framework, discuss whether the framework was user-friendly, and
provide useful feedback to further simplify the process. The
participants worked in country teams and each team was asked to
complete templates for both School Health and School Feeding. The
completed forms were then analyzed and presented during a plenary
session.

Results from the pilot exercise so far found the following:

Most countries have activities in both in School Health and School
Feeding. There is considerable variation in the coverage and quality
of the programs, but it was notable that there were several high
quality examples of good practice for the region.
There was a strong feedback that the framework approach helped
identify the strengths and challenges of the national programs. It
also provided clear examples of good practice, and therefore indicated
the goals for those areas where further work was necessary.
The SABER-School Health program used the FRESH framework as its
guiding principle to address four main areas. Countries had achieved
greatest progress in the area of National Policy, followed by Health
Education and Health Service Delivery. Providing a Safe and Supportive
Environment at school remains the major challenge.
The SABER-School Feeding framework uses five standards identified in a
recent joint analysis. Here, Policy was the challenging area and most
countries depended on external partners, especially the WFP, for
implementation.

Participants identified key areas of challenge in their own countries,
and developed plans to improve their programs. The focal points are
now working on implementing these plans in their respective countries
and, in some instances, countries have requested technical assistance
in rethinking their School Health and School Feeding programs. The
School Health and Nutrition team revised the SABER framework and
incorporated the recommendations and feedback received from the
country representatives. The team is also planning to conduct further
exercises in East & Southern African countries later this year.

Find out more

·         SABER program

·         ECOWAS Bamako meeting

·         ECOWAS Bamako Communique

·         SchoolsandHealth Website

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Francis Peel

Website and Communications Officer

Partnership for Child Development

Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Imperial College London

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 3292 |  Skype francis.peel

www.schoolsandhealth.org | www.child-development.org

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