2020-12-06

Funding Agency: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland
Client: Ministry of Education, Singhadurbar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Date:  Nov 2014 – Jan 2015

Mid Term Review (MTR) of Technical Assistance for TEVT (Soft Skills) Development in School Sector Reform Plan in Nepal financed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland objected towards providing an independent analysis for the purposes of decision-making (and status of implementation level) with regard to the continued validity of the project’s overall objective, purpose, outputs and activities. The options of the Finnish Government´s future engagement in supporting soft skills in Nepal should be dealt with in the MTR. Based on the findings, the mid-term review shall give recommendations on the continuation and the focus of the Finnish support in soft skills development beyond 2015.

The results of the MTR are expected to provide guidance on the remaining one year of implementation of the project and planning on Finland´s future support in soft skills development. MTR shall also assess how cross-cutting objectives, like gender and reduction of inequality, have been implemented, and based on the findings, the MTR team will give recommendations.

 

Overall Services provided by firm:

Total Management Services Pvt. Ltd (TMS) as an associate partner to Finish Consulting Group, Finland is responsible to perform Mid Term Review which included following task:

The desk review

During the MTR desk review period the documents shared by the MFA was analyzed for developing understanding of the scope and issues of the MTR Terms of Reference. Based on the document review and initial consultations with the MFA, the Team prepared an Inception Report which contains a detailed work plan and list of issues to be studied during the field visit. The Inception Report also presented an indicative Results Chain which formed the broad framework for analyzing the effectiveness, efficiency and compacts of the project. The MTR team members analyzed the implementation approach, methodology, organization and management during the desk review based on the reports and information provided by the ministry.

Interviews and Fieldwork

During the field work period, meetings and interviews took place with the stakeholders in the central and district level. The central level key organizations are the MOE, DEO, CDC and NCED.

Interviews- The SC members and observers were consulted to share their views of the TEVT Soft Skills project relevance and other areas to be analyzed by the MTR. The individual interviews of the TSSP SC members and the TPPS project personnel were carried out in Kathmandu. The interviews of the International STEs, who have been assigned by the time of the MTR, carried out either by the form of questionnaire and face-to-face interviews by the electronic means. The field mission also consulted the development partners engaged in the education sector development to get their views on the performance of the sector program, remaining needs and challenges. Based on this consultation the MTR reviewed the relevance of the selected strategies of the project and propose amendments if needed.

Focus Group – Representatives of the supported clusters and schools from different districts where the TSSP activities were implemented were invited to district nearby Kathmandu or to Kathmandu, for a Focus Group meeting to discuss the implementation of the of the project activities in the district levels.

Questionnaire and observation – Observed lessons in the cluster schools and consult for instance parents as key rights holders of this project. As indicated above, a questionnaire was administered to get views from broader cadre of cluster focal points prior the field mission.

Briefing– In the end of the field mission key stakeholders was invited for a briefing where the Team presented its key findings and initial conclusions. This meeting also discussed the recommendations in a collaborative manner. Similar briefing was held in the MFA with a link to the Finnish Embassy in Nepal to further elaborate the findings and recommendations.