Evaluation of the current engagement of the EU in the Education Sector in Cambodia

Ecorys has been implementing an evaluation of the current engagement of the EU in the Education sector in Cambodia since June 2022. The assignment consists of three separate evaluation outputs over a period of two years, notably the Evaluation of the EU Budget Support (year 1), the Evaluation of CDPF III and a meta-evaluation (both in year 2). Besides written evaluation reports, the assignment also foresees in the production of tailor-made dissemination outputs, accessible and understandable for a broader audience.

The assignment forms part of a wider process of evaluation of the effects of the budget support programme to Cambodia. Cambodia has made impressive steps in educational attainment in the last two decades. Yet, various concerns left to address regarding the quality of education, equity in access and the overall governance of the education system resulted in a more complex reform agenda of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) under the Education Sector Plan (ESP) 2014-2018 and its successor, the ESP 2019-2023.

Building on the long-term cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the RGC, the EU planned in its Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2014-2020 to continue support to the RGC in achieving the objectives of the ESP through the Action “EU-Cambodia Education Sector Reform Partnership 2018-2021” (ACA/2016/39902), which includes a direct budget support (BS) contribution of EUR 89 million.

To implement the ESP, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) has developed a Capacity Development Master Plan (CDMP). The latest CDMP 2020-2024 identifies six priority areas for capacity development for improved policies, strategies, and programmes at the national and sub-national level: 1) Policy, planning and financial reform; 2) Human resource management (HRM) reform; 3) Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) reform; 4) Teacher training reform; 5) School-based management (SBM) and curriculum development reform; and 6) School inspection and student learning assessment reform. To support the implementation of the CDMP, the EU also supports the multi-donor “Capacity Development Partnership Fund (CDPF) Phase III 2018-2023” for improving equitable access, quality of education services and efficient management of the sector.

By design, there is a level of complementarity between the two components, with the technical assistance (TA) component delivered through the CDPF intending to improve the overall governance performance of the education sector and the BS component providing financial support for the operationalisation of the system. Because both components are reaching the final stages, the EUD is requesting an evaluation of both components.

The final Evaluation of the BS programme is planned for 2022, and the final Evaluation of the CDPF Phase III is foreseen for 2023. In addition, the EUD is requesting a meta-analysis of both components for the entire period of the implementation (2016-2023). Besides the evaluation reports, the EUD also would like to receive support in the preparation of communication materials to disseminate the results of the evaluations.

The evaluation will provide recommendations on any future design and implementation of capacity development and budget support operations.