The document discusses the transformation of the Democratic Republic of Congo's national education system. It outlines the goals of increasing access, equity, literacy, and addressing HIV/AIDS through the education system. A participatory evaluation approach is recommended to evaluate the transformation which involves stakeholders at all levels and gives voice to beneficiaries. Key aspects involve developing appropriate methodology, maximizing feedback, building local capacity, and forming partnerships.

1. 1
Transformation and Evaluation of
the Democratic Republic of Congo’s
National Education System
Jeffrey A. Sheldon, M. A., Ed. M.
School of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences
Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Colleges
December 2006

2. 2
Research Questions
 What is transformation and why is it necessary?
 What is the most appropriate evaluation approach for
evaluators working in a developing country that is undergoing
high stakes education system transformation?

3. 3
The Right to an Education
 The right to education was recognized in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and is
enshrined in various binding international treaties including
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), Articles 13 and 14, the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), Articles 28 and 29, the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), Article 10, and the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Article 17. The right to
an education, includes primary (or elementary), secondary,
technical and vocational, higher and fundamental (e.g., basic
numeracy, literacy and basic life-skills) education.
Governments must, at least, ensure primary or elementary
education and it must be free and compulsory for all children.

4. 4
Education For All
 Six key educational goals that map onto the fundamental right
to education:
 Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and
education;
 All children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and
those belonging to ethnic minorities, will have access to, and complete,
free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
 Learning needs of all young people and adults are met through
equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs;
 A fifty percent improvement in levels of adult literacy, especially for
women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all
adults;
 Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education and
achieving gender equality in education by ensuring girls’ full and equal
access to and achievement in basic education of good quality;
 Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring
excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are
achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
.

5. 5
Theoretical Framework
 Renewal, restructuring and transformation are typically
discussed in terms of educational reform which has three
definitive branches - – improvement, reorganization and
renovation. Transformation relates to improvement,
specifically a change in character or condition, thereby
altering nature and purpose, whereas restructuring and
renewal concern reorganization and renovation respectively
(Steyn & Squelch, 1994).

6. 6
Why Transformation?
 One compelling force is a shift in the prevailing political or
economic control of a society. Such a shift can be precipitated
by various events, including the election of a new government
as in South Africa or from an economic crisis that calls for
new priorities in education through the external investment of
non-governmental organizations as in DRC (e.g., Fullan &
Miles, 1992; Ota, 1997; Steyn & Squelch, 1994).

7. 7
Transformation in DRC
 Goals fall into four broad categories: access; equity/inclusion,
literacy for all, and HIV/AIDS.
 Objectives to meet these goals include:
 Reduction in primary school fees;
 Providing free access to textbooks;
 Monitoring learning achievement;
 Improving the statutes of teachers (e.g., improvements in training,
salary and other structures for teachers);
 Restoring access to primary education of at least minimal quality,
especially in areas most affected by conflict including rehabilitation of
approximately 250 schools and the National Pedagogical University;
 Providing an HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention curriculum; and,
 Building the capacity of the government to modernize and restructure
the policy, governance, financing, and administrative systems of the
education sector

8. 8
Evaluation in the International Context
 Assess the extent to which projects or programs have achieved
their intended objectives and have produced their intended
changes and benefits in the target populations.
 Support the process of transformation by monitoring changes
introduced, providing the instruments that are necessary to
effect and evaluate the changes, assessing the impact of
innovations and giving voice to the findings.
 Evaluations may be conducted by the funding agency, the
national agency administering the program being evaluated, or
international or national consultants.
 Evaluation activities may be limited to specific projects,
programs, or they may seek to develop national evaluation
capacity to replicate the methods.

9. 9
Participatory Evaluation Approach
 In highly politicized transformation efforts where the potential
for further conflict is great, the process of evaluation must be
transparent and inclusive.
 This approach is indicated when there is concern about giving
voice to the poor and other groups affected by development
programs and policies.
 Participatory methods have been developed to give voice to
the intended project beneficiaries (or affected groups) in the
identification, design, management, and evaluation of projects
(Bamberger, 2000).

10. 10
Components of Participatory Evaluation
 Appropriate methodology.
 Maximization of feedback.
 Promotion of utilization.
 Enhancement of local capacity.
 Building of partnership.
 Developing and resourcing cross-cultural evaluation teams.
(McDonald, 1999)

11. 11
Evaluands
 Growth in primary enrollment rate.
 Increases in primary education completion rate
 Reformation of teacher career structure
 Development & teaching of an HIV/AIDS curriculum.
 The approved education sector plan.

12. 12
Discussion/Implication/Analysis
 When an evaluation is participatory it involves all stake-holder
groups. In particular, it addresses the needs of project
participants and beneficiaries, involving extensive discussions
with members of the various cultural and sub-cultural groups
in the community. Fundamental to this approach is that key
stakeholders drive the evaluation planning and implementation
processes to both inform the evaluation (e.g., developing the
evaluation questions, gathering data, providing access to key
informants, interpreting data) and developing an evaluative
mind-set that supports long-term critical self-analysis and
inquiry.