Aide et Action - Education Institute

EduAction is the technical wing of Aide et Action - India. It aims to emerge as a high quality resource centre for enhancing the quality of education in India. EduAction has been set up to:

Continuously explore avenues for expansion and growth in the area of quality education: EduAction explores newer interventions in the areas of quality education. It has come up with innovative models like Liberate School and Back to Basics that aim at improving learning and teaching.

Engage with wider stakeholders like Government departments and donor agencies: EduAction engages with wider stakeholders through Thematic Workshops and other such capacity building initiatives.

Demand quality and context specific educational services through evidence based advocacy: EduAction undertakes consultancy assignments for external clients including government departments. It tries to address the policy issues emanating from the studies.

EduAction institute gives an institutionalized mode of delivery of technical services and covers the sectoral focus area of quality education. It identifies local NGO partners for implementing the programmes and builds capacities and sustainable support institutions on the issues of quality education.

Background

While AeA has been working in the field of education through partner NGOs, a deliberate and systematic effort to address larger macro level issues related to policy and practice are identified as missing links in enhancing our effectiveness. Although education is one of the top priorities of the country, it has not received the required attention by the government in tune with the urgency and the needs of the communities. While there are several agencies established by the government with specific mandates and responsibilities, outcomes in terms of access, quality and achievement are disproportionately low when compared to the investments. The mismatch between aspirations of the communities and the designs of schemes and programs are often cited as main reasons for this situation.

It is in this context, that EduAction Institute has been established with a potential to emerge as a pioneer in providing holistic services to make education meaningful and a true tool for development through its work at both micro as well as macro levels.

Rationale

We believe that an institution like EduAction Institute would plug existing gaps in agencies working for education in India, which are either huge and centralised or very small and working at grassroots level. And more importantly institutional mode of working would provide us much needed sustainability and would create an environment of accountability as well as responsiveness within the education system.

Scope

	To develop a pool of resources to meet the needs of AeA as well as other stakeholders, especially government in the area of capacity building
	To address critical policy issues that emanate from our field based experience as well as through systematic research and documentation of good practices
	Develop and practice innovative models of learning for replication



Objectives

	To improve educational interventions, especially in terms of quality, contextualisation, inclusion and vocationalisation of education
	To emerge as a significant player capable of influencing education and development practice of the government
	To make available all educational support facilities (technical as well as managerial) under one umbrella
	To act as a sounding board and provide inputs for policy making at national and international levels
	To undertake research and documentation of good practices and experiences in the education sectors and disseminate the same across the stakeholders



Strategies

	Develop and conduct systematic client specific training and capacity building to enhance quality of education among partner agencies and in large government education programs through Back to basics initiative
	Undertake generic capacity building events for education sector functionaries of government and non government sectors
	Undertake action research and implement field projects on specific themes which would provide scope for replication and large scale adaptation in the areas of liberate school, inclusive education and livelihoods
	Commission and conduct research and documentation on major themes within education sector to inform policy as well as practice
	Collaborate and build networks and lobbying forums at various levels to address policy and implementation issues related to education in a systematic way



Major Accomplishments in 2007 Workshops 2nd AeA - EduAction Thematic Workshop The 2nd AeA - EduAction Thematic Workshop’ was a grand success with the participation of 124 candidates from 12 countries of North and South. The participants included development professionals from INGOs, NGOs, academics, corporate organizations and government departments. The workshop provided a platform for both classroom interaction and field visits that enabled cross learning and sharing of experiences among the participants. The theme sessions were facilitated by 22 renowned resource persons who have a made a mark in their respective areas of work. The list of resource persons also included Mr. Robert Chambers, the famous pioneer and guru of participatory processes.

The Concurrent Themes of the Workshop

	Quality Education through Community Participation: Develop strategies and action plans to develop mechanisms that increase the role of communities in education of the children, institutional capacity building of the schools and increased accountability of the schools to the community
	Inclusive Education- Approaches and Strategies: Develop strategies for creating social and institutional space for the Children With Disability (CWD) with a focus on community based rehabilitation processes
	Promotion of Sustainable Livelihoods: Develop strategies and action plans to diversify farm based and non farm livelihoods with a focus on social, economic and environmental sustainability. Critically introspect the role of microfinance in development and develop strategies to increase the outreach of the microfinance projects in ways that structurally support the poor.
	PRA and Participatory Research: Share innovations and practices in Participatory processes to capture and disseminate community experiences and facilitate cross-learning. Enhance skills of participants on participatory research processes and attitude behaviour change.
	Management of HIV/AIDS: Approaches and Strategies: Devise strategies and action plan for mainstreaming people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Share best practices and successful models of prevention, care and support and provide inputs on community based response to HIV/AIDS



Partnerships

	Strategic partnerships were established with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for studies and projects
	Partnership was established with UNDP in Orissa for a research study
	Partnerships were built with peer agencies and resource persons



Research Studies The following Research studies have been undertaken:

	Efficiency of teachers in handling classes after getting training to deal with Children with special needs with SSA, Chattisgarh Evaluation of Mid Day Meal Programme in primary schools of Chhattisgarh
	Evaluation of School Grant, Teacher Grant and Maintenance Grant with SSA, Maharashtra
	Evaluation of Teaching Learning Material Grant, SSA, Maharashtra
	Study on child labour and working children for International Labour Organization (ILO) International Program on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) Project of Andhra Pradesh
	NGO capacity assessment study in Hyderabad for ILO-Andhra Pradesh office
	Study on people's participation in primary education in Rajasthan for Rajasthan Council for Elementary Education, Government of Rajasthan
	Study on Alternative Livelihood Vocation for the Marine fishermen affected due to Conservation Measures in Orissa Coast for UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
	Study on “Potential of Leather Sub-sector in Rajasthan” for BASIX – (RMoL) Rajasthan Mission on Livelihoods, Government of Rajasthan
	Liberate school-Action Research on alternative learning spaces for children
	Marketing research, value addition or product diversification or any other input which would facilitate marketing under SGSY, Udaipur for MoRD, Rajasthan



Capacity Building Support to NGOs and government organizations

	Support was extended to partner NGOs in implementing B2B project and People for Education Movement
	2nd AeA EduAction Thematic Workshop was held in Hyderabad
	Training programmes on wide variety of themes related to development such as Gender, Disaster Preparedness and Response, Resource Mobilization, HIV/AIDS, Organizational Development and Human Resource Development in NGOs and people centered Advocacy were conducted for various organizations



Advocacy The following were taken up for advocacy:

	Policy consultations in the areas of ECCE, Inclusive Education and Livelihood Education with special focus on Vocational Education
	Participation in the Global Campaign on Education (GCE)
	Partnership with e-journal, India Together, to commission a series of articles for media advocacy
	Part of National networks to raise the issues related with education and livelihood



Major Activities - 2008

	Conducting international thematic workshop for NGOs, INGOs, Government, donors and external participants
	Organizing two national seminars and four lectures on issues pertaining to education as part of image building.
	Undertaking 3 policy workshops on issues related to Gender discrimination and Social Exclusion and Budget Allocations for education
	Consultations with national and state level networks, forums and Eeected representatives working for educational Issues and facilitate for a national level forum
	Exploring consultancy works with NGOs, INGOs, and Govternment
	Strengthening collaborations and support from other donors
	Developing empirical case studies from Liberate School experiences
	Undertake 4 Short Term Functional trainings
	Conducting immersion programs
	Undertaking documentation work on various issues including Consultation Workshop Reports, research studies
	Scaling up the existing projects
	Undertaking Evaluation Studies, Research Studies and Implementation Programme