Report on Quarterly Performance Review and
A REPORT ON 2nd QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW AND LEARNING WORKSHOP (QPR&LW) Review period | October - December 2014 Held on | 10 - 12 March 2015 Venue | Nokkhottrobari Resort and Conference Centre, Gazipur A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) Review period | October - December 2014 Held on | 10 - 12 March 2015 Venue | Nokkhottrobari Resort and Conference Centre, Gazipur Organized by | READ Program, Save the Children in Bangladesh Partner organizations | CODEC | FIVDB | JCF | RDRS | VERC | ZKS Page ii of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 List of Acronyms ADPEO AFA AFO CHT CLV CODEC CV DQA FGD FIVDB FO GPS HT IAT ICT JCF JD MEAL MLE NGO NGPS NNPS PC PNGO QLE QPR&LW RDRS READ RIMES SC SCI SMC SRM STO TO ToT UNO USAID VERC VAT ZKS Assistant District Primary Education Officer Administrative and Finance Officer Assistant Finance Officer Chittagong Hill Tracts Community Literacy Volunteer Community Development Centre Curriculum Vitae Data Quality Assessment Focus Group Discussion Friends in Village Education Bangladesh Field Officer Government Primary School Head Teacher Instruction Adjustment Tool Information and Communication Technology Jagarani Chakra Foundation Job Description Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning Multi-lingual Education Non-government Organization Non-government Primary School Newly Nationalized Primary School Project Coordinator Partner Non-government Organization Quality Learning Environment Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service Reading Enhancement for Advancing Development Read Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation System Save the Children Save the Children International School Management Committee Supplementary Reading Material Senior Technical Officer Technical Officer Training of Trainers Upazila Nirbahi Officer United State Agency for International Development Village Education Resource Centre Value Added Tax Zabarang Kalyan Samity Page iii of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Executive Summary As a regular event, READ organized a three-day QPR&LW (Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop) for the period of October - December 2014 starting on the 10th of March 2014. Precisely, the event has three-fold objectives: review the progress happened in the previous quarter, find out the challenges and shortcomings faced by the team in implementing and managing the activities and figure out the possible way outs for going further in more effective way. In the event, a team from each of the PNGOs was present. Seven teams from CODEC-Barisal, CODEC-Cox’s Bazar, FIVDB, JCF, RDRS, VERC and ZKS attended in the event. In addition, all the members of the READ SCI team were present there. For showing the progress, all PNGOs (Partner NGOs) presented their activities and achievements occurred in the period of October - December 2014. They focused mainly four aspects; achievements, challenges, budget burn rate and IAT (Instructions Adjustment Tool) data. Almost all the PNGOs completed their planned and scheduled tasks which were supposed to be accomplished in the outlined period. However, CODEC-Cox’s Bazar and ZKS are having some challenges to accomplish their planned tasks. The partnership with ZKS has been done recently, so some of their documentations and approval tasks are yet to be done. On the other hand, the PC (Project Coordinator) of CODEC-Cox’s Bazar for READ has been replaced by a new PC. That is why the activities CODEC-Cox’s Bazar have been slowed down a bit. Budget burn rate of the PNGOs varied from 70% - 90% of the allocated amount for the mentioned period. The PNGOs have been facing a number of challenges as presented in the event. The common challenges are - ineffective communication due to low internet speed in the remote areas, improper coordination with the govt. staffs, uncontrolled classroom while conducting IAT, fake students in almost each school and some teachers’ lack of interest in using IAT materials etc. There were lot of discussions on how to face the challenges and solve the emerging problems. The attendees eventually found the way outs in terms of facing each challenge and problem. Moreover, all but CODEC, Cox’s Bazar and ZKS presented IAT findings according to the reading components and districts. In general, most (around 70%) students belong at mastery level regardless components and districts. Still, some (around 20%) students are struggling and need improvement. In addition to presenting the progress of the previous quarter, the PNGOs gave the idea what they have done in January and February 2015 and what they are planning to do in the next couple of months. Save the Children has a central MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning). The READ program has been ensuring all but accountability. So, accountability issue was emphasized in the workshop. All the team were asked to suggest effective techniques for ensuring the accountability in the READ program. They put number of suggestions, which READ SCI team will review and finalize the uniform accountability mechanism. In the later part of the event, READ SCI team presented some important activities and tasks, for example, Reading Camp, ICT in Education, READ Website, Multilingual Education (MLE), Finance and Accounts. Finally, the attendees were asked to provide recommendations and feedbacks on the workshop. All the participants, in general, think that the workshop was very successful and they learnt lot of things from it. However, they recommended to make it more interactive and less lecture oriented. Page iv of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Table of Contents List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................................... iii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ iv 1. Background ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Objectives of QPR&LW...................................................................................................................... 1 3. PNGOs’ Progress Review ................................................................................................................... 1 3.1. Key activities accomplished ..................................................................................................... 2 3.2. Budget burn rate ....................................................................................................................... 4 3.3. Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 4 3.4. IAT Data ..................................................................................................................................... 5 3.5. Key IAT Findings ........................................................................................................................ 7 4. Ensuring Accountability in READ........................................................................................................ 7 5. Presentation on Some Key READ Components ................................................................................ 8 6. Discussion on Implementation Guideline ........................................................................................... 9 7. Job Descriptions of TO, FO, AFO, AFA ............................................................................................ 9 8. Major Decisions ................................................................................................................................ 12 8.1. IAT ............................................................................................................................................. 12 8.2. Training .................................................................................................................................... 13 8.3. Monitoring ............................................................................................................................... 13 8.4. School Visit ............................................................................................................................... 14 8.5. Reading Camp ......................................................................................................................... 14 8.6. READ Website & Communication ........................................................................................ 15 8.7. Financial Issues ........................................................................................................................ 15 8.8. Reporting .................................................................................................................................. 16 8.9. Others ....................................................................................................................................... 16 9. Participants’ Reflections .................................................................................................................... 19 10. Recommendations .......................................................................................................................... 20 Annexes ................................................................................................................................................ 21 Gallery ................................................................................................................................................... 24 Page v of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 1. Background One of the key features of anything that qualifies as a project is that it has a definite start and a definite end. However, most activities can be divided into a set of discrete projects and reviewed the progress after each part of the project. A project progress review is a very useful and powerful way of adding a continuous improvement mechanism. This continuous improvement mechanism helps make each succeeding project more successful (and frequently less stressful to all participants). Project reviews typically involve the project team and major stakeholders meeting together and reviewing what went well and what went badly during the review period. This input can help participants make the right decisions and plans so that the next period/phase runs better. It can also help clear up misunderstandings and other issues. Likewise, Reading Enhancement for Advancing Development (READ) does a program review after each quarter of its program period, which is generally titled as ‘Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW). READ, a four-year flagship program of USAID, is being implemented by Save the Children in Bangladesh. READ’s prime objective is to develop the Bangla reading skill of early grade learners of primary level in Bangladesh. For the field level implementation, six partner NGOs has been working in seven areas of Bangladesh. In each QPR&LW, the representatives of PNGOs and whole READ SC team are present. READ has completed the 1st quarter of 2nd year. This year is very significant for the project as it is working with highest number of schools both NNPS & GPS. It is important to know the achievements and challenges of last quarter subsequently it is also essential to share tips and decisions for running quarter. Obviously, it could be helpful to go forward smoothly with the experiences of last quarter. Thus, READ organized its 2nd QPR&LW on 10 – 12 March, 2015 at Nokhottrobari, Gazipur. 2. Objectives of QPR&LW The Objectives of QPR&LW are as follows: 1) 2) 3) 4) To review the progress of last quarter; prepare plan for next quarter; To introduce READ website and IAT findings; To provide necessary guide and instruction; AoB. 3. PNGOs’ Progress Review As mentioned earlier, six PNGOs are working in seven areas in Bangladesh. In the workshop, each team from each working area presented their progress and activities during October - December 2014. Their presentation focused mainly on four aspects; achievements, challenges, budget burn rate and IAT data. The key points presented by PNGOs have been outlined below: Page 1 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 3.1. Key activities accomplished Sl 01 02 03 04 Name of Activities Office Set Up Staff recruitment School Visit by using tools Monthly Sharing Workshop CODEC, B 6 17 120 6 (dis. lev.) 60 1 (12 staffs) 05 1 (34 staffs) 1 (12 staffs) 07 FO Training – Parents Reading Awareness Session Data collection and SMART phone entry by FO Register printing & distribution ( IAT, Supervision, student registration, Book bank, Teacher registration , IAT tools ( School level) 08 09 UNO Certificate collection IAT Conduction 2 Upa. 0 10 Academic Supervision 5 Upa. 10252 (82%) sts 58 (48%) 11 12 ICT School Survey Community Library Information collection Govt. official/administrator registration Student Registration for Grade-1, 2 & 3 78 36 16 2 04 11 154 120 schools 14510 students 15735 06 13 14 CODEC, C FIVDB JCF RDRS VERC 2 13 16 ZKS 3 Done 119 6 (dis. lev.) 3 reg, 6 dis 24 staffs 24 person 120 02 5847 no. 5 Upa. 7 Upa. 89% 119 NNPS 79 120 NNPS 12059 (81%) sts 54 Done 120 HT, 14 AUEO 100% 30 82 30 18 11 Page 2 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Sl 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Name of Activities Teacher registration Supervision Register, IAT Register & Library Register QLE data collection SMC Registration in online (RIMES) School profile data entry DQA visit Alphabet Chart Distribution in 60 NNPS Attend in NGO Coordination Meeting at district & Upazilla Level. Quarterly performance monitoring report Quarterly financial report FGD with Parent, Students and School info collection IAT result entry into RIMES Parents Awareness Workshop GPS data collection CODEC, B 24 120 School 8 CODEC, C 180 8 660 Members 60 NNPS 02 Upa. FIVDB JCF RDRS VERC ZKS 458 8 8 Done Done 1319 240 Charts 03 Upa. & 01 Dis. 01 01 9 Schools 100% 1 (32) 641 Page 3 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 3.2. Budget burn rate Table 1: PNGO-wise budget burn rate CODEC, B CODEC, C FIVDB JCF RDRS VERC ZKS 9% (out of total) 11% (out of total) 87% 86% 93% 70% N/A 3.3. Challenges In their presentation, all the PNGOs mentioned a number of challenges. Some challenges are repetitive and some are unique. The mentionable challenges have been listed below: Sometimes, it is difficult to find available venues for conducting training. Some schools are far from others. Therefore, it is very difficult to visit a certain number of schools within a given time. Vehicles like motorbike can be effective in this regard. Seasonal migration of students from a school to another school and natural calamities are the barriers for READ project. Almost every school has 10 – 15 % fake students in each grade, which is burdening to complete the assessment of 100% students. Some teachers have minimum interest to preserve the project documents in proper way. So, it is very difficult for field level staffs to maintain communication as well as enter data into RIMES. Key Challenges Poor or no internet connectivity in the upazila level and remote areas Procurement within very short-time Transfer of govt. officials Unwillingness of some teachers Insufficient number of teachers in some schools Uncontrolled classroom while conducting IAT 10 – 15 % fake students in each grade Arranging events in a short-time READ staffs’ turn over Some schools have insufficient number of teachers for each grade. A mentionable number of READ staffs left the organization. Internet connectivity is very poor or unavailable in the upazila level and remote areas. Some schools have more than 2 Bangla teachers, whereas 2 of them received RI and IAT training. The remaining teachers do not use IAT for assessment. By SCI, it is instructed to arrange events or training within a very short-time. However, the procurement policies of PNGOs do not always suit with short-time procurement. Some of the trained teachers keep on leave, transfer or in the govt. training. This situation hinders overall READ school based activities. Trained or already informed govt. officials transfer to other places. Some FOs do not understand the RIMES as well as the data entry mechanism. Page 4 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 It was instructed to place an orientation on READ activities in sub cluster training. But, sometimes, it gets very difficult to do so due to unwillingness of concerned govt. officials. In some areas, teacher resource book has not been provided yet. Some teachers show reluctance to conduct IAT due to having some other workload in schools. More than one event happen in the same time, which is, sometimes, unmanageable. Massive change in the format for preparing budget in a very short-time. Some students do not present on the day of IAT conduction. Some head teachers (HTs) are assigned for Bangla class, so Academic supervision is not supervised for them. 3.4. IAT Data IAT (Instruction Adjustment Tool) is used mainly to measure skills in five identical reading components of Grade 1 - 3 students. Each component consists of 3 questions, based on which, the students’ performances are determined. This is to mention that all 3 grades are not supposed to attend in all five components. It varies from grade to grade. Following table shows the relevant components for each grade: Table 2: Grade-wise measurement components under IAT Components Grades Grade 1 Grade 2 Letter Knowledge Phonemic Awareness Vocabulary Grade 3 Fluency Comprehension Page 5 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 For determining students’ performances, there is a predetermined process. For getting a YES, a student needs to correctly answer at least 60% of each question under each reading component. Moreover, for determining students’ performance levels, a scale is used. The scale has three levels; Mastery, Improved and Need Improvement. Mastery means a student correctly answers at least 60% of all three questions under each component. In case of answering at least 60% of 2 questions, s/he is leveled as ‘Improved’. Moreover, correctly answering less than 2 questions means ‘Need Improvement’. Leveling Students’ Performances Each reading component has 3 questions. If a student can answer 60% or above of each question correctly, it is considered that the question is answered correctly. For leveling the students’ performances, following scale is used: Correctly answered all 3 out of 3 = Mastery (60% of all 3 questions) Correctly answered 2 out of 3 = Improved (60% of 2 questions) Correctly answered 1 or none out of 3 = Need Improvement (60% of 1 or no question) The PNGOs presented all the data they found through IAT conduction. The data were presented various point of view, for instance, district-wise, gender-wise, question-wise, component-wise. However, here, the data have been presented component and PNGO area-wise. Table 3: Overview of IAT data CODEC, B M I FIVDB NI M I NI JCF M I RDRS NI M I VERC NI M I NI Letter Knowledge G1 70 22 8 57 17 26 69 13 18 70 13 17 78 14 8 G2 82 14 8 77 13 10 83 10 4 Phonemic Awareness G1 13 78 47 G2 51 26 23 43 29 28 71 17 13 56 23 21 58 23 20 9 9 8 82 10 8 88 8 44 57 17 26 52 15 33 53 18 29 G2 - - - 27 22 51 53 24 24 25 25 50 39 29 32 G3 - - - 49 24 27 59 23 19 59 23 18 78 15 Fluency G3 - - - 21 19 60 27 23 51 30 24 46 52 24 24 Comprehension G3 - - - 23 14 63 37 22 42 34 21 45 43 27 30 Vocabulary 6 *Note: 1. All the figures above are in percentage. 2. Here, M = Mastery, I = Improved, NI = Need Improvement. 3. CODEC, Cox’s Bazar and ZKS have not conducted any IAT in the given period. Page 6 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 3.5. Key IAT Findings According to the data presented by PNGOs and their discussions, followings are the key IAT findings: The grade 1 students in letter knowledge, grade 2 students in phonemic awareness and grade 3 students in vocabulary performed very well in general. The students of grade 1 are struggling in phonemic awareness. In particular, the Q. 2.3, which measures students’ understanding of similarity in the ending sounds of Bangla words, seemed most difficult to them. Table 4: An overview of key IAT findings Grades Strengths Weaknesses Grade 1 Letter Knowledge Phonemic Awareness Grade 2 Phonemic Awareness Vocabulary Grade 3 Vocabulary Fluency General Challenges: 1. Dialectical accents 2. Comprehending the questions In vocabulary component, grade 2 students’ performances were not up to the mark. They are mainly struggling to understand the most frequently used words. The grade 3 students are struggling in fluency. Their performances in comprehension was also average. For having the dialectical accents, some students are facing challenges in fluency and comprehension as well. It was very difficult for students to answer the question based on comprehension passage after reading just once. They had to read it more than twice to understand properly. 4. Ensuring Accountability in READ Save the Children has a central MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning). The READ program has been ensuring all but accountability. So, accountability issue was emphasized in the workshop. All the team were asked to suggest effective techniques for ensuring the accountability in the READ program. Combining all the suggestions, following mechanism can be generated: Page 7 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 - Through posters, leaflets, banners etc. - In training, workshop, meeting - To teachers, SMC members, students and parents Information Sharing - Hotline (focal person) - Complain box (PNGO premises) - Written feedback (to PC) Developing Feedback Mechanism Combining the Feedbacks - Inform responsible persons within PNGOs - Inform SCI about feedbacks and actions - Keep record of feedbacks - Prioritize the complains - Figure out the possible actions Inform the Responsible Entitity Take Actions - Actions by SCI - Actions by PNGOs Figure 1: Accountability mechanism flow-chart 5. Presentation on Some Key READ Components The presentations on the following READ components were done in the workshop. The key aspects of the presentation have been given below: Reading Camp - Objectives - Reading Buddy - Guest Storytelling - Parents Workshop - Formation of Reading Camp - Pictures Page 8 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 ICT in Education Communication Finance and Audit Multi-lingual Education (MLE) - Objectives - Situation analysis - Training - Digital content development - ToT - Orientation of the READ website - PNGOs role in maintaining the website - What PNGOs can upload - READ Facebook and Twitter page - Children page award - Important finance and audit issues - Reporting - Procurement - Responsibilities - Linguistic background of CHT - Barriers for education in CHT - Rationale of READ MLE - Goals of READ MLE - Approach of READ MLE - Activities 6. Discussion on Implementation Guideline An implementation guideline was provided to the PNGOs and instructed them to review. After reviewing the guideline, they asked for some clarification for some points. The READ SC team provided them with clarifications and clear understanding on different aspects. 7. Job Descriptions of TO, FO, AFO, AFA PNGOs have different levels of staffs for implementing READ project activities. The staffs of each level have some unique and identical job responsibilities. However, sometimes it is evident that a certain task is being done by a staff which is not originally part his responsibilities. On the other hand, the root level activities of READ program have changed a bit according to the second-year plan. For these reasons, the participants had a rigorous discussions on actual job description of staffs, particularly four levels. The discussion was carried out considering the three aspects; what they are doing now, what more they can do and what they should not do. The outcomes of the discussion have been precisely presented below: Page 9 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Technical Officer (TO) What they are doing What more they can do What they should not do School visiting Training conduction Monitoring and supervising reading camp activities Communication with govt. officials Attending staff meetings Reporting Online data entry and check Organizing events Bill-vouchers management Following-up FOs and assist them in planning Acting as co-facilitator with STOs Data validation Studying manual and educational docs Be an upazila level focal point for ensuring accountability Volunteer selection, monitoring and supervision Purchasing tasks District coordination Financial tasks - Budget preparation Store management Registering teachers, students and SMC members on RIMES Online data entry Visiting schools and filling-up form Provide all supports regarding Reading Camp Supervise the activities of CLV Monitoring the activities of Reading Camp Participating in SMC meetings Attending in parents meetings Orienting SMC members on READ activities Organizing field level activities Keeping and developing communication with SMC and local community Preparing monthly action plan and reporting in the end of each month Organizing field level events Assisting in classroom decoration and material distribution Organizing Community Reading Camp (CRC) Following-up, monitoring and reporting on CRC Assisting in SMC program reporting Keeping contacts with Upazila level govt. staffs Doing administrative tasks Field Officer (FO) What they are doing What more they can do What they should not do Administrative and Finance Officer (AFO) What they are doing Checking bill-vouchers Preparing monthly financial report Page 10 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 What more they can do What they should not do Maintaining cashbook Bank related activities VAT and Tax management Cash payment Time sheet maintain Leave management Inventory management Personal file maintain Store keeping Budgeting Budget check RFQ Assisting auditors Assist in budget approval Program visit (twice a month) Inventory check Assist in tri-net Vendor selection Assist in purchase Quotation collection through AFA Food serving through AFA in meetings and events Assist in material distribution N/A Administrative and Finance Assistant (AFA) What they are doing What more they can do What they should not do Checking bill-vouchers Maintaining cashbook and ledger Adjusting cash advance Maintaining time-sheet Leave and holidays management Inventory management Store keeping - Stock-in and stock-out Collecting quotations Keeping contacts with vendors Helping in organizing events Assisting AFO Helping area offices to smoothen their financial tasks Visiting schools to check inventory Direct program related activities Page 11 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8. Major Decisions 8.1. IAT 8.1.1. IAT data presentation IAT data should be presented according to the reading components and grades. District-wise analysis may be included. 8.1.2. Use of adjectives Sometimes, a number of adjectives are used to show the frequencies, like, most, a lot of, huge. These adjectives are vague and do not present the actual amounts. So, it was discouraged to use these adjectives, rather actual number may be used. If these are used, the numeric figure may be put beside inside brackets. 8.1.3. Managing students during IAT Not all students of a particular grade participate in IAT. Controlling of the students who do not participate is very difficult during IAT is going on. This issue was discussed in the workshop and attendees gave some suggestions appropriate to mitigate this challenge. The suggestions are: Take students from upper grade and instruct them do something (playing games or quiz) with the remaining student; In each school, there are two trained teachers. One may conduct IAT and another for taking session for the remaining students. Some digital contents or cartoons can be played in projector for the remaining students. Some activities or tasks can be given to them during IAT. 8.1.4. Sharing IAT data The findings from IAT should be shared with PC and receive feedbacks prior to presenting in QPR&LW. 8.1.5. Analyzing significant aspect of data The set of IAT data can be analyzed in many ways. However, it was decided that the IAT data will be analyzed from significant perspective only. Analysis of each IAT question, student roll number-wise analysis are not necessary. 8.1.6. Reassuring surprising data Any surprising IAT data need to be reassured communicating with respective student, school or FO. 21. Specification of students’ performances in IAT In addition to presenting the overall performance of students in IAT, it is also important to specify in which question students are struggling most and which seems easiest. Page 12 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.2. Training 8.2.1. Organizing training for extra Bangla teachers Of READ schools, two teachers who usually teach Bangla receive Reading Instruction training. However, some schools have more than two teachers who teach Bangla. The fact is that the teachers who did not receive training but teach Bangla do not implement reading instructional activities. Therefore, it was decided that taking the remaining teachers who teach Bangla but not yet trained, a batch will be formed and they will be provided with Reading Instructional training if budget is available. 8.2.2. Taking ADPEO or his representative in training PNGOs were instructed not to involve the ADPEO or his representative in the training. However, the PNGOs should be flexible in this regard and the situation should be managed in a proper way. In case, the situation gets unmanageable, the decision should be taken accordingly without hampering the relation with govt. staffs or ADPEO. 8.2.3. Cash payment in SMC training For managing financial and audit issues in effective way, any cash payment in SMC training was completely discouraged. 8.2.4. Food cost adjustment for absent participants Sometimes, PNGOs face problem in adjusting the food cost of absent participants in SMC training as no signature or evidence of that absent participants is found. It was decided that the responsible person for that event will write down the names of absent participants and mention the proper justification of their absence. 8.2.5. Tri-net completion Tri-net data should be uploaded within 15 days after the completion of each training event. 8.3. Monitoring 8.3.1. PNGOs organizational monitoring Besides the READ project monitoring, PNGOs have their organizational monitoring mechanism. However, it is to consider that their organizational monitoring should be aligned with the project monitoring. For monitoring purpose, feasible time should be chosen. Any project staff should not be assigned to accompany the person who conducts the organizational monitoring. 8.3.2. Monthly M&E data The M&E data should be uploaded by 12th of each month on RIMES. 8.3.3. Data quality checking Before final submission, data should be crosschecked by TO, STO-M&E and PC on sample basis. SC will also back check and spot check data when they will visit field. Page 13 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.3.4. Sharing data in monthly team meeting M&E findings should be reviewed in each monthly team meeting. STO-M&E will analyze the data according to district and upazila, and share findings with PC before presenting in team meeting. Based on findings, identify the lagging behind district/upazila and develop an action plan to improve lagging behind district/upazila and PC will make follow it up of the action plan. 8.4. School Visit 8.4.1. Visiting the schools located in remote areas It is a great challenge for some PNGOs to visit the schools located in remote areas within given period. The distance between schools is miles sometimes. So, it gets very difficult for FOs to visit more than two/three schools in a day. One suggested that motorbike will be a solution in this regard. However, after discussion, it was decided that procurement of motorbike in this period of the project is kind of impossible. Therefore, the PCs were suggested to place FOs in the respective work areas for some particular days. 8.4.2. School allocation for FOs The total number of schools in a particular region should be distributed according to the number of FOs. The number of schools under an FO should be more or less similar comparing to the other FOs. 8.4.3. Frequency of school visit by PNGO staffs In the workshop, frequency of school visit by PNGO staffs was discussed. The following decisions were taken: STO: 5 schools (upazila-wise) TO: 10 schools FO: Twice a school in a month PC: 5 schools (upazila-wise) 8.5. Reading Camp 8.5.1. Extra student inclusion for reading camp The Reading Camp is mainly an experimental research project. So, there will experimental and control groups. Therefore, once the experimental group is determined, no new or extra students cannot be included in the group. 8.5.2. Replacement of school that has same reading camp project by other organization JCF reported that in one school which has been selected for reading camp has similar project implemented by another organization. It was decided in the workshop that the school will be replaced by near-by another school. Page 14 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.6. READ Website & Communication 8.6.1. Website log-in for PNGOs On the back-end of READ website, only PCs of each PNGO will have access initially. This means the PCs will be able to upload some featured contents on READ website. Basically, they will have access to upload three types of contents; News, Research work and Photograph. 8.6.2. PNGOs’ profile revising on website PNGOs were suggested to visit the READ website and review own organizational profile. In case any change, they need to contact with communication in READ team. 8.6.3. Communication strategy The communication strategy for the READ project is being developed and will be completed by April 2015. Then, the strategy paper will be sent to each PNGO. 8.6.4. E-mail creation for PNGO staffs In some cases, the key staffs’ leaving causes serious communication problems. Therefore, attendees decided to create a uniform e-mail address for four key positions of PNGOs; PC, STO, TO and AFO. The first part will be organization name and second part will be position name. For example, the email address of the PC of ‘XYZ’ organization will be [email protected]. The e-mail addresses of other staffs will follow the names. 8.6.5. Mail check It was observed that sometimes the important e-mails are not checked and in consequence no reply from PNGOs regarding those particular issues. Sometimes, some important documents are sent by READ SC team, which get lost due to not checking the mail in appropriate time. Therefore, it was suggested in the workshop that e-mails should be checked at least twice a week and reply accordingly. 8.7. Financial Issues 8.7.1. Presentation of budget burn rate Budget burn rate should be presented on the quarter basis. The allocation for the respective quarter and percentage of burn in that quarter should be presented. Moreover, for clearer understanding, budget head-wise allocation and burn rate would be added. 8.7.2. Revising budget If the allocated amount under a particular budget head is not spent, it was advised to revise the budget and inform responsible/respective person of Save the Children READ team. 8.7.3. Declaration form for salary account For each READ staff, a salary account declaration form should be submitted and kept in the staff’s personal file. The declaration form should mention the ownership of a particular account with name and A/C number, and declare that the salary is to be paid through that account. Page 15 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.7.4. Salary transferring platform for CLV For transferring the salary of CLV, Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL) is preferred. In case of the unavailability of DBBL, Bikash can be used. Any transection charge will be covered by respective organization/READ. Likewise, CLVs need to submit the salary account declaration form. 8.7.5. Budget revising workshop Budget revising workshop will be held in May 2015 as planned till then. 8.7.6. Split purchase issue It is a common procurement policy is that withdrawal of large amount of money requires longer process than that of small amount. For avoiding the long process and saving time, event-wise withdrawal/procurement was suggested in the workshop. The participants reported that this kind of procurement is considered as ‘Split-purchase’ by the finance of respective organization. However, it was mentioned that different procurement process can be done for the different event as the type of event may be same, but event is different. It should/will not be considered as ‘Split-purchase’. 8.8. Reporting 8.8.1. Reporting after each event Within the 5 days after each event, a report should be generated according to the given template. The focal point of a particular event will be responsible for preparing the report. 8.8.2. Quarterly Performance Monitoring Report and Annual Progress Report Quarterly report should be prepared and sent by the 15th of the each third month of the year. In total, four quarterly reports and one yearly report should be prepared in a year. Each report will contain PDT (Statistical report) as annex with target and achievement. 8.8.3. Financial report Financial should be sent by the 5th of each third month. 8.8.4. VAT report VAT report should be reached at Save the Children by the 5th of each month in hardcopies. 8.9. Others 8.9.1. Presentation of accomplished activities Each and every task in the READ project goes under particular IR (Intermediate Result). Therefore, while presenting the accomplished tasks, it is necessary to mention that which IR covers the task. 8.9.2. Govt. staffs’ involvement recording The different govt. staffs of different levels get involved in the READ activities. For tracking their involvement and participation, a format can be developed for PNGOs. The format may include the staff’s identity, the activities which s/he has been participated with dates and his/her remarks about the activities. Page 16 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.9.3. Belongings of left staffs All kinds of belongings of a left staff should be received by respective staff. Belongings include all soft and hard materials, e-mail address, vehicle, ICT devices etc. 8.9.4. NNPS instead of NGPS A huge number of Non-govt. Primary Schools have been nationalized almost a year ago. These schools are considered as ‘Newly Nationalized Primary School (NNPS)’ in all kinds of govt. documents. Therefore, it was suggested to use NNPS instead of NGPS in case of these schools. 8.9.5. Notice period for new tasks Sometimes, PNGOs are given very short time to arrange, start or revise some activities. This creates a lot of problems to them. Therefore, it was decided in the workshop that PNGOs will be informed at least 30 days prior to any event, task or activities. 8.9.6. Bookshelf for SRM For keeping Supplementary Reading Materials (SRMs), purchase of a bookshelf/reading corner bag was planned. The design of the bookshelf/ reading corner bag is almost complete as discussed in the workshop. The PNGOs were instructed to take initiative for purchasing the bookshelf. 8.9.7. Implementation of instructed tasks only It was evident that some PNGOs conduct some activities which were not planned or instructed. Therefore, the attendees decided that only instructed tasks or activities should be done by PNGOs. For example, it is not necessary to collect students’ test scores in school exams. 8.9.8. Frequency of academic supervision Academic supervision process will be conducted 3 times, once for each grade, by head teachers. 8.9.9. Accountability mechanism There will be a uniform process for ensuring accountability within the READ project. The PNGOs will adapt the process with their own structure. The implementation strategy may be different from one to another. 8.9.10. Child safeguarding focal point As Save the Children is a leading child focus organization, each program or project has child safeguarding focal point. For the READ, Ms Ratna Sharmin Jhara was nominated as child safeguarding focal point as mentioned in the workshop. 8.9.11. Informing about JD to staffs After revising and determining the JDs of PNGO staffs, each and every staff will be informed about their JDs. 8.9.12. Relevance of AFO being in procurement committee The AFO will never be a member of the procurement committee. AFO will be responsible for preparing budget, payment for event participants and venue arrangement according to program need. Facilitator(s) will not be involved in the administrative and financial issue which hamper the quality of the training. Page 17 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 8.9.13. Studying the curriculum materials and RIA module The nature of the READ program requires TO to have some pedagogical knowledge and be updated about textbooks, curriculum and different modules of READ. Therefore, it was suggested that the TO should study the curriculum materials, and should be familiar with all of the strategies of reading instructions and assessment so that s/he can provide training in effective way as well as explain the rationale and activities of the READ program in an informative way. 8.9.14. Visualizing monthly events In the district and regional offices of PNGOs, each READ activity in a month should be written on the board in a way it is visualized easily. 8.9.15. Submission of monthly event calendar Monthly event calendar should be submitted by the 5th of each month. It should be sent to Mr. Shahin Islam, Deputy Director, Partnership and kept Ms. Ratna Sharmin Jhara in cc. 8.9.16. Action-plan preparation and sending An action plan should be prepared by PNGOs for the time from 15th March to 31st May according to the given template and sent to Mr. Shahin Islam, Mr. Md. Akidu Islam, and Mr. Akter Hossain. 8.9.17. Recruitment of data collectors for research on cost-effectiveness Some data collectors will be recruited for the research on Cost-effectiveness. After collecting, all CVs should be sent to READ SC by first week of April 2015. 8.9.18. Consideration of ‘MONTH’ For completing all the tasks in effective way, month should be considered from 25th of a month to 25th of the next month, especially for the financial issues. Page 18 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 9. Participants’ Reflections Participants were asked to provide feedbacks and recommendations considering the three aspects/questions - what contents/agenda may be added with the existing ones; what contents/agenda may be excluded from the existing ones and how the workshop can be improved. All the participants responded to these questions. Combined responses have been presented below: Contents/agenda that can be added Contents/agenda that can be excluded Considerations for improvement Pedagogical aspects related to reading A general presentation by READ SC team presenting the whole READ activities and accomplishments ICT in Education part should have more time Details of MEAL Inclusion of Administrative and Finance Officer (AFO) Review of the key decisions of last QPR&LW Best practices and case studies of PNGOs Partner-wise lesson learned and experience Compliance issues More discussion on Reading Camp All the presented challenges should be reviewed in the next QPR&LW Action plan of last QPR&LW Designation-wise quarterly performance report Effective communication strategies Accountability process and updates Finance and account issues Communication aspects Orientation on compliance Multi-lingual education (MLE) Volunteer recruitment and food serving in SMC orientation issues Frequent change of sitting arrangements More participation of TOs Proper time management Ensure more participation Participation of all project staffs in QPR&LW Hands-on activities where possible Financial issues may be simple and specific Facilitation scopes for PNGOs Using more energizers Providing hard-copies of presentation Colour selection in PPT slides Need to stop side-talking by SC team Page 19 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 10. Recommendations 10.1. Inclusion of ‘Accomplished Tasks’ in PPt template The present template for PNGOs to present their progress mainly covers three parts - key achievements, budget burn rate and key challenges. What PNGOs presented under the ‘key achievements’ part was like the activities accomplished in the quarter. Therefore, it is recommended to add another part titled ‘Activities Accomplished’ with the existing ones. They will put major tasks they completed under this new part and the achievement part will have particular impacts on the stakeholders and beneficiaries. 10.2. Inclusion of interactive and energizing activities Though there were some group activities, whole QPR&LW was full of presentations. The way of presenting the slides may be different and interactive. Moreover, energizing games or activities can be employed for these presentation. 10.3. Reviewing the decisions of previous QPR&LW Each QPR&LW may have a rigorous overview of the decisions taken during the previous QPR&LW and review of how much the decisions have been taken into account throughout the respective quarter. 10.4. Reviewing the challenges faced in previous quarter In each QPR&LW, the challenges faced in the respective quarter are presented by PNGOs and the participants give suggestions for effectively facing the challenges after combined discussions. Therefore, the challenges discussed in the previous quarter may be reviewed and how well the challenges were faced throughout the quarter can be an agenda of each QPR&LW. Page 20 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Annexes 1. List of Participants Organization Save the Children CODEC, Barisal CODEC, Cox’s Bazar FIVBD JCF Participants 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Shahin Islam Md. Akidul Islam Md. Akter Hossain Aklima Sharmin M. Farhanul Enam Md. Asaduzzaman Mohammad Sayed Ratna Sharmin Jhara Subrata Khisa M. Ashfaq-E-Zaman Dilshana Parul Sayed Aminur Rahman Md. Yasin Arafat Mubarrat Arfin Sylvia Robin Mehdee Shahana Parvin Lata 1. Sankar Kumar Biswas 2. Md. Nazrul Islam 3. S. M. Leakat Hossain 1. Shakhawat Ameen 2. Naushad Uddin 1. Debashish Dutta Probal 2. Md. Shariful Alam 1. Md. Anisur Rahman 2. Md. Nizamul Islam 3. Omar Faruq Jewel RDRS 1. Md. Nuruzzaman 2. Md. Habib Shatti 3. Azharul Islam VERC 1. Md. Delwar Hossain 2. Md. Shahjalal 3. Md. Mahinur Rahman ZKS 1. Dayananda Tripura 2. Shubha Ranjan Tripura 3. Lokajoti Chakma Page 21 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 2. Workshop Schedule Date Time 10.03.2015 07:30 – 8:30 AM 09:00 – 10:00 AM 10:00 – 10:20 AM 10:20 – 11:00 AM 11:00 – 11:30 AM 11:30 – 11:50 AM 11:50 – 12:30 PM 12:30 – 01:00 PM 01:00 – 02:00 PM 02:00 – 02:40 PM 02:40 – 03:00 PM 03:00 – 03:40 PM 03:40 – 04:00 PM 04:00 – 04:20 PM 04:20 – 05:00 PM 05:00 PM 07:30 – 08:30 PM 11.03.2015 08:30 – 09:30 PM 07:30 – 08:30 AM 09:00 – 09:10 AM 09:10 – 09:30 AM 09:30 – 10:10 AM 10:10 – 10:30 AM 10:30 – 11:10 AM 11:10 – 11:30 AM 11:30 – 01:00 PM 01:00 – 02:00 PM 02:00 – 02:30 PM 02:30 – 04:00 PM 04:00 – 4:20 PM 04:20 – 05:00 PM Content Breakfast Opening Introduction Overview of QPR&LW PNGO’s Presentation (template given below) Discussion on the presentation Tea Break PNGO’s Presentation Discussion on the presentation PNGO’s Presentation Lunch Break Discussion on the presentation PNGO’s Presentation Discussion on the presentation Tea Break PNGO’s Presentation Discussion on the presentation Closing Role of FO & TO MEAL Print-reach environment Book bank operational mechanism Distribution of SRM (Process of book distribution from central to school & community) Dinner Breakfast Check In PNGO’s Presentation Discussion on the presentation PNGO’s Presentation Discussion on the presentation Tea Break Introduction of READ website Children page Communication & Branding Issues Lunch Break RCT Implementation & Control Mechanism Presentation & Discussion on ‘READ Implementation & Monitoring Guideline’ Tea Break AOB: - Approval Channel - Regular E-mail Checking - Coordination & Communication Facilitator Shahin Akter Akidul CODEC (B) All CODEC (C) All FIVDB All JCF All RDRS All Shahin, Akter & Akidul Shahin VERC All ZKS All Farhan Akter Akidul & Akter Shahin Page 22 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Date Time 07:00 – 08:30 PM 12.03.2015 08:30 – 09:30 PM 07:30 – 08:30 AM 09:00 – 09:30 AM 09:30 – 10:30 AM 10:30 – 11:00 AM 13.03.2015 11:00 – 11:30 AM 11:30 – 01:00 PM 01:00 – 02:00 PM 02:00 – 04:30 PM 04:30 – 05:00 PM 07:30 – 08:30 AM 08:30 – 09:30 AM Content Overview of school-based and community-based packages’ Community Literacy Volunteer: Recruitment & Activities. Community Book Bank: Scope, Limitation and Possible solution Training follow-up, Academic Supervision and Formative Assessment Dinner Breakfast Check In Sharing of last 2 day’s decisions Cost Effective Analysis Reporting Schedule - Quarterly Report - Event Calendar - Event Reporting - Financial Report Tea Break Compliance Issues met so far (PNGOs) Lunch Break Action Plan Tea Break & Closing Breakfast Departure Facilitator Akidul, Akter & Aminur Yasin & Robin Akter Shahin & Akter Asad PNGOs 3. PNGO-wise Working Area Name of the Organization CODEC, Barisal CODEC, Cox’s Bazar FIVBD JCF RDRS VERC ZKS Working Area Barisal Cox’s Bazar Sylhet Jessore Rajshahi Dhaka Khagrachari Page 23 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Gallery Presentation All in one frame Page 24 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 PCs STOs TOs Award Materials Page 25 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Concentration Page 26 of 32 A Report on 2nd Quarterly Progress Review and Learning Workshop (QPR&LW) October - December 2014 Page 27 of 32
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