Capacity Development of the Ethiopian Ministry of Education through Bilateral Partnership a Comparative Case Study of DFID and USAID Supports
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Date
2021-02
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AAU
Abstract
This study explored the practice of Capacity Development (CD) of the Ministry of Education
(MOE) through bilateral partnership projects. Grounded on social constructivist and interpretivist
stance, the study adopted a comparative case study design. The Department For International
Development /DFID/ and the United States Agency for International Development/USAID/
bilateral projects were selected as a case. Semi- structured interview and documents analysis were
employed to gather the in-depth qualitative data necessary to explore and compare the practice of
CD of the MOE through the bilateral partnership projects. A total of 24 study participants who
are staff of the projects, and the MOE were selected as a primary source of data using purposive
sampling. Relevant policy and strategic documents, project agreements and reports were
analyzed. The research sought to answer four key questions, and the analysis of data and
discussion of the findings were guided by Complex Adaptive System Theory (CAS) and the power
relation theory. The finding emanated from this study reveals poor conceptualization of CD in
both cases, and this resulted in considering CD as building or injecting capacity through the
projects, providing support by direct implementation of project activities, technical assistance,
adapting some intervention tested elsewhere, shots of training and developing strategic documents
and manuals by consultants. There is inclination to some aspects of capacity of the MOE and
failure to acknowledge the different components as equally important, and as involving complex
interaction. The study discloses the poor policy and strategic guidance of DFID and USAID on
CD of the MOE of local partners, and this has contributed to the poor prioritization, lack of clarity
of objectives, approach, expected outcomes of CD, and fragmented integration and
implementation in the respective bilateral projects. The finding uncovers that the ways of
managing the two bilateral projects, which is mainly the decision of the donors, has very little
contribution to CD of the MOE and in some cases has adverse effect. The deficient responsibilities
of the MOE on key project activities which is mainly the result of involvement of intermediary
project implementing organizations and the focus of the bilateral donor on producing results than
developing local capacity, the poor decision-making power of the MOE on prioritization of CD
and resource has led to low local ownership. The operation of a separate project office for project
management, poor utilization of existing structure, working system and staff of the MOE, and more
dependence on using technical assistance through project staff, and consultants, has impacted the
MOE negatively from developing its capacity. The CD process through the steps from engaging
the local partners, capacity need identification, developing a strategy or plan, implementation and
monitoring and evaluation is generally poor in the two bilateral projects, with some attempt in the
case of DFID. The investigation has several implications for policy and practice. Effective CD
process through development partnership needs to be conceptualized as locally driven and owned,
holistic, involving the interplay of the different components that are internal and external to the
system, a complex and non-linear interaction. Having a comprehensive policy or strategic guide
that shows CD of the local partner as the prior focus of the technical cooperation, an approach of
project management and CD which enhances local ownership, strengthens and utilizes the internal
capacity; a CD that is properly planned and implemented in a way the local partners leads the
process from initiation to monitoring and evaluation; considering the dynamics of development
partnership and the underlined interests of different actors, as well as the effect of power
asymmetry are the major implications of the study.