Results Based Aid (RBA) Evaluation in Rwandan Education Sector

04 December 2013

The Government of Rwanda has substantially improved access to education in recent years and has ambitious plans to further improve access to and quality of education, which is set out in its Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) for 2010-2015. DFID is piloting a programme of results-based aid in the education sector as part of the Education Service Delivery Grant (ESDG) of the Rwanda Education Sector Programme (RESP) which is running from 2012 to 2015.

 

Results Based Aid (RBA) is considered an innovative approach to development assistance premised on an aid partnership between a donor and a partner government. The approach is favoured by the UK Government and is apparent across many strands of public sector. Results Based Aid is a form of financing that makes payments contingent on the verification of results achieved; it is essentially a payment by results (PBR) mechanism. Defining features of RBA;

 

• Payments are made for the achievement of clearly specified results, rather than payment for inputs or processes.
• The scope for innovation of how results can be achieved is increased as the recipient has the capacity to decide how results are achieved.
• A robust verification of results is required as a trigger for disbursement and should be undertaken independently of the recipient.

 

 The objective of the programme is to pilot the provision of additional results-based aid based on (a) improvements in the number of students completing primary (P6), lower secondary (S3) and upper secondary (S6) education; and (b) the competency of teachers in Rwanda to use English as the means of instruction. 

 

The Upper Quartile team are conducting a rigorous evaluation of the RBA pilot programme of Rwandan education sector as DFID and the Government of Rwanda are committed to learning lessons and identifying best practice. The evaluation has two main elements;

 

• A process evaluation will identify the recipient’s, and other key actors’, response to the RBA, including establishing processes that led to any increased educational results. Among other objectives, this element of the evaluation will seek to determine any contribution made by any observed increase in the number of teachers competent to use English as the medium of instruction to any observed increase in the numbers of students completing P6, S3 and S6.

 

• An impact evaluation to address whether or not the RBA pilot led to increased educational results.

 

In addition, the team will release an annual evaluation report which will serve to provide updates on progress on the evaluation.  Further, the annual report will assess how the results-based aid element is working; this will allow for feedback to the design of the pilot and consequent pilot amendments.  Upper Quartile submitted its draft report for 2013 to DFID Rwanda in December 2013.