GUYANA has been granted the System Capacity Grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to strengthen gender-responsive planning and policy development for system-wide impact, a statement from the education ministry said on Tuesday.

“UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] was identified as the Grant Agent, with the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) identified as the institution which will collaborate with the Ministry of Education to provide extensive technical expertise in education planning and management,” the MoE said.

The ministry said the priority is to strengthen instructional leadership at district and school levels, and to promote equitable learning by strengthening culturally responsive and effective instructional leadership and improved accountability.

This subject, it was noted, supports that ministry’s Sector Plan 2021-2025, which focuses on eliminating illiteracy, enhancing tolerance and modernizing education.
Beginning yesterday, senior officers of the ministry were involved in an inception workshop which concludes tomorrow.

During brief remarks at the opening event hosted in the Barimi and Socobi conference room at the Guyana Marriott Hotel, MoE’s Chief Planning Officer Nicola Johnson said the process started in February 2022 when a new GPE strategic Operating model for system transformation was presented.

“The new model is intended to enable governments and their partners to lay a pathway to focus on a critical reform with the potential to catalyst system change.
“Countries are expected to conduct a screening and a holistic review of the sector called the Enabling Factor Analysis.

“This review enables countries to look critically at the four (4) areas, data & evidence, gender-responsive sector planning, policy & monitoring, sector coordination, & volume, equity and efficiency of domestic public financing for education, which are the foundations of an effective education system,” Johnson said.

“Through today’s workshop objectives, we hope that you will work with us so that we can look at the evidence and find ways to address the gaps identified in the EFA and its in-depth analysis and agree and validate the findings,” she noted further.

The ministry’s chief planning officer encouraged the officers present to critically review the existing gaps and find solutions.

The ongoing process will enable the ministry to move on to the second critical step which is to prioritise and align, through developing the partnership compact that should be completed by February 2023.

The partnership compact will guide the ministry in its alignment of partners and resources behind the key priorities and reforms.

The workshop was facilitated by Programme Manager from UNESCO-IIEP (Paris Office) Candy Lugaz, and Regional Focal Point for the project and Technical Cooperation Coordinator from UNESCO-IIEP (Buenos Aires Office) Henry Armas Alvarado.