BEPS/El Salvador/Developing an Education Strategy

Creative reviewed various donor studies supporting education in El Salvador for USAID, identifying constraints and opportunities for improvement in access and quality in formal and informal basic education, to develop an education strategy for 2003-2010. Areas in which USAID's future educational investments could best mitigate rural poverty in the country were pinpointed. A country-specific education strategy for all ages and target populations resulted, which was then presented to USAID/El Salvador and El Salvador’s Ministry of Education for incorporation into the next phase of educational planning. ...

BEPS/Dominican Republic/Evaluating Private Sector Support of Public Education

Under BEPS, Creative evaluated the Falconbridge Foundation's model private sector program supporting public education in the Dominican Republic and made recommendations on both how the program could be improved and how it could harness private sector support for public education in other developing countries. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by the Falconbridge mining company to promote integrated, sustainable community development in the Dominican Republic, and had been supporting public elementary schools in the country for more than a decade. ...

BEPS/Dominican Republic/Designing a Monitoring and Evaluation System for Education Quality

Under the USAID-funded Basic Education Policy Support (BEPS) Activity, Creative produced a report, “Monitoring and Evaluation Preliminary Project--Curriculum Analysis, Test Blueprints, and Evaluation Model,” as part of its effort to design a monitoring and evaluation system for education quality in the Dominican Republic. The investigation addressed the need for detailed curriculum topic information at target grade levels and a characterization of topic introduction, coverage, and conclusion across primary grade levels....

BEPS/Dominican Republic/Assessing the Education Sector

Under the Basic Education and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity, Creative conducted a comprehensive assessment of stakeholders’ perceptions of education policy issues in the Dominican Republic. The goal was to identify unmet needs in order to develop a discussion paper on USAID’s potential role in helping to enhance the country's education sector. Creative identified potential policy initiatives and reforms as well as civil society partnerships that could strengthen the sector. ...

BEPS/Brazil/Assistance to Development of Strategy to Reduce Abusive Child Labor

Millions of children and youth in Brazil work, despite labor conventions, with about one in five working under hazardous and abusive conditions. Creative Associates, under the USAID-funded Basic Education Policy Support (BEPS) Activity, provided technical assistance to USAID/Brazil in developing a preliminary strategy for using basic education to reduce abusive child labor. The strategy proposed strengthening basic education and non-formal education activities with assistance to family support structures, coordination and integration of child labor policies, and better implementation of these policies at all levels. ...

BEPS/Bolivia/Evaluation of Alfalit Adult Literacy Program

Creative undertook a mid-term evaluation of the Alfalit adult literacy program in Bolivia. The purpose of the evaluation, which was conducted under the USAID-funded Basic Education Policy Support (BEPS) Activity, was to assess how the project was progressing and how it could be improved under its second phase. The evaluation found that literacy students in Bolivia were learning to read, write, and do basic arithmetic in 9-10 months, and that Alfalit had successfully instilled in students the concept that literacy is a means to increase their skills....