Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

There are various positive lessons that emerge from these findings. First, there is ample evidence to support the pedagogical strategies associated with the EpC model, including the recognition of the EpC project as a finalist for the WISE Prize in Educational Innovation. As its use across a greater variety of settings, both within and outside the Dominican Republic, suggests, the EpC model provides an effective, attractive, and low-cost supplement to the official school day, one which helps students perform at higher levels. Additionally, EpC and EpE centers also bring greater visibility to the issue of child labor in the community. Though these spaces were successful, a chronic shortage of space forced several EpC into less-than-ideal settings (outside of schools or sharing cramped spaces within schools) which undoubtedly had negative influences on their effectiveness._x000D_

Learning Description

Second, even difficulties in program implementation can generate opportunities to progress. The difficulties in implementing EpE, for example, provided an opportunity for INFOTEP to take stock of a preexisting blind spot in its work and allowed it to expand its training to populations of young people that were previously ruled ineligible or unlikely candidates for its highly regarded training programs.

Learning Description

Third, one good practice that emerged in the management of coordinating a large program with a relatively high number of subcontractors was organizing the regular meetings of local coordinators. In workshops and retreats, local coordinators were able to share experiences, provide advice, and generate feedback to the DevTech–EDUCA–INTEC management team. Additionally, it was in these spaces that the evaluator was able to get the most palpable sense of the existence of an EpC consortium. The collegiality, professionalism, and camaraderie of the various local coordinators from different institutions provided a clear sense of a shared purpose and collective effort to address the problem of child labor in the country.

Learning Description

While the cost-effectiveness of the program is clear, it does not come without its potential drawbacks. As noted by project personnel and local coordinators, the low monetary compensation offered to project facilitators brings with it the potential for a high turnover rate among EpC facilitators. Though many facilitators noted the positive benefits of their participation in trainings, they also noted that additional compensation would help support themselves and their families, as many are single mothers. While the evaluator did not interview facilitators who had left their positions, it is a reasonable supposition that economic necessity or family obligations, among other factors, played a role in their decision to leave what was essentially a volunteer position.

Learning Description

Several good practices deserve mention. In San Juan de la Maguana, the volunteer nature of the facilitator position seemed to generate fewer problems than in other zones. Indeed, despite the very small monetary compensation, there were some communities where teams of two or three facilitators shared the modest stipend and decided to work together in their teaching. These facilitators found that it was more rewarding to work in teams and, in doing so, lowered the individual burdens. The communities in which the evaluator observed such team teaching were also distinguished by their relatively more dense associational networks, with multiple community groups existing and representing a high amount of social capital. Though more research would be needed to confirm this for the areas in which the project works, such associational patterns tend to be found more often in rural communities than in urban ones, where migration patterns often disrupt communal bonds.

Learning Description

An additional good practice was found in providing meals for children in the EpCs, a responsibility assumed by the Ministry of Education and an important incentive for students who often came from communities and families with high rates of unsatisfied basic needs. However, when EpCs where outside of the schools (due to lack of space, many EpCs are housed in community centers or churches), the meals did not arrive for the children—the Ministry of Education would not deliver to nonschool classrooms. While this reflects the structural problems of an educational system that is chronically short on classrooms, better mechanisms for providing meals must be found.

Learning Description

Working with different kinds of institutions, this project has made a significant impact on local and national scales. One of the lessons learned from this experience concerns the uneven results that such initiatives can have. It is not surprising that different zones reported different levels of success, which are understood in terms of NNAs withdrawn/prevented, awareness raising, educational performance, and other goals. It is important that these differences be discussed not only by M&E specialists but also by the various consortium partners. This discussion will allow us to understand if these differences in outcome have to do with preexisting social conditions (like the social networks that exist, type of labor, and rates of poverty) or with the differential capacity of local NGOs to provide direct services and oversight.

Learning Description

Another lesson learned is the importance of incorporating parents in project activities. Several local coordinators noted that while NNA beneficiaries certainly could serve as important “leaders of tomorrow” (as the program explicitly encouraged them to be), much more could be done in reaching out directly to families in the communities. One example provided by several coordinators was the possibility of offering vocational training not only to adolescents, but also to the parents of beneficiaries. Offering “EpE-style” opportunities, even on a more limited scale than the actual EpEs, could help provide parents with important work skills that may enhance their income-generating potential and further spread awareness.

Learning Description

An additional lesson learned is the importance of psychological services to NNA beneficiaries. While some subcontractors were able to offer these services, they were not contemplated as part of the project activities. Project facilitators, as volunteer teachers, do not have the training for this kind of intervention, but many noted the need for additional resources to provide to NNAs who have often experienced various kinds of physical and mental trauma.

Learning Description

A good practice that deserves particular mention and is worthy of replication is the presence of regular workshops for local coordinators and facilitators to share experiences and suggest solutions to common problems. The collective experiences were mentioned by several project participants as among the more valuable experiences offered by the program. Not only are these spaces important for learning, they also encourage the creation of broad networks of action that can serve as foundations for additional policy interventions. The inclusion of more members from the state—from local teachers to ministry officials—in these kinds of spaces may also serve to overcome the distance between state and civil society that some interviewees lamented.