More recently he has worked as an independent consultant in Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Togo, Algeria, Ghana and Guinea for international organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, OIF, IDB, UNDP, African Union, UEMOA and BOAD. He has consulted on a range of topics, including development economics, governance, public finances, banking and insurance, natural resource management, agricultural development, and mining and extractive industries.

He has worked in Senegal and abroad as an independent director of a variety of companies, as well as private foundations involved in philanthropy and economic and social research. In addition, he has officiated in international arbitration between states and private companies under national or foreign law. As an international volunteer from 2004 to 2015, he served as a representative of Francophone Borrowing Countries under IDA, a subsidiary of the World Bank. Mr. Loum was also a moderator of the Assises Nationales du Sénégal – Senegal’s National Conference (2008-2010) and vice president of the National Commission for Institutional Reforms (2013-2014).

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Related Resource: Achieving Cost-Effective Instructional Coaching at Scale

Evidence from Senegal

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Results for Development (R4D), Mathematica and Chemonics International recently published a technical brief, which shares evidence from Senegal about models for delivering instructional coaching for teachers — an important intervention to support teachers improve classroom instruction and student learning outcomes.

The technical brief is a product of USAID-funded activities, Lecture Pour Tous, implemented by Chemonics, and the Rapid Feedback Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (RF MERL) consortium, which includes R4D, Mathematica, Abt Associates, and the Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame. The brief was developed as a global public good to enrich the literature on teacher coaching practices. It can be used by governments, researchers, academics, funders, and program implementers

Senegal has worked to dramatically increase student reading outcomes in the earliest grades through its Lecture Pour Tous (“reading for all”) program, supported by USAID and led by Chemonics. Under Lecture Pour Tous, specialists and key decision-makers in the Ministry of National Education introduced a coaching model using ministry school directors and inspectors to coach teachers on new techniques and tools. However, the program struggled to improve teacher practice.

To course correct, Chemonics partnered with the RF MERL to lead a mixed-methods investigation of causes for lack of success and potential solutions. This included an RCT of three coaching modalities, including Lecture Pour Tous’ original coaching model, tele-coaching and supplemental in-person coaching. RF MERL and Chemonics also led lean testing of the experimental coaching models to make any rapid adjustments before the experiment began in earnest.

This engagement aimed to identify ways to increase and improve instructional coaching as a key component of teacher support — seeking a model that could be scaled nationally and sustained at least over the reform period.

“Quality classroom instruction is one of the most critical system components needed for learning,” said Arjun Upadhyay, a senior program officerat R4D. And teacher coaching is one of the best ways to improve instruction. The more evidence we have about what type of coaching works and what does not, the better.”

The technical brief, “Achieving Cost-Effective Instructional Coaching at Scale: Evidence from Senegal,” unpacks this process and includes an evidence review and results from an RCT of instructional coaching models. Key findings include:

• Overall, teachers reported largely positive effects of coaching under Lecture Pour Tous, and the new models provided added value.
• The two new models, whether with supplemental coaching in-person or by telephone, appeared to improve teacher practice more than the base model.
• In some cases, teachers with supplemental in-person coaching demonstrated better instructional practices than teachers with tele-coaching.

It also includes takeaways on the feasibility and relative cost-effectiveness of different models and institutional obstacles to reform, and questions for future research on delivering coaching at scale.

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About RF MERL
Rapid Feedback Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (RF MERL) provides timely evidence and feedback to guide decision-making and adaptation of programs funded by USAID. RF MERL is supported by the USAID Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning and is implemented by a consortium of four organizations: Results for Development Institute (R4D), Mathematica, Abt Associates, and the Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame.

About Chemonics
About Chemonics: Founded in 1975, Chemonics is a 100% employee-owned international development consulting firm. In more than 70 countries around the globe, our network of approximately 5,000 specialists shares a simple belief: that the challenges we face today are best solved through the right partnerships — sharing knowledge, expertise, and experience to deliver results. Where Chemonics works, development works. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or visit us at www.chemonics.com.

About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents — government officials, civil society leaders, and social innovators — supporting them as they navigate complex change processes to achieve large-scale, equitable outcomes in health, education, and nutrition. We work with country leaders to diagnose challenges, co-create, innovate and implement solutions built on evidence and diverse stakeholder input, and engage in learning to adapt, iterate and improve. We also strengthen global, regional and country ecosystems to support country leaders with expertise, evidence, and innovations. R4D helps country leaders solve their immediate challenges today, while also strengthening systems and institutions to address tomorrow’s challenges. And we share what we learn so others around the world can achieve results for development too. www.R4D.org

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Rapid Feedback Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (RF MERL) is a rigorous yet flexible approach for generating timely and useful data for programs in the early stages of implementation. Rapid feedback evaluations allow implementers to use context-specific and timely evidence to inform ongoing program improvement.

In Tanzania, R4D is working with the Tusome Pamoja (Let’s Read Together) program, a USAID-funded program implemented by RTI International, that aims to improve primary school children’s reading, writing and arithmetic in five regions of Tanzania. The Rapid Feedback study will focus on Tusome Pamoja’s community engagement activities which include school committee strengthening, parent-teacher partnerships, and community-led action-planning. R4D will use quantitative and qualitative methods to identify which activities are most effective at increasing parent and community engagement and how this may vary by geography, socioeconomic status, or other key community characteristics. The study will include 50 communities in five regions of Tanzania. Three rounds of data collection will allow for ongoing feedback to the USAID Mission in Tanzania and RTI International so they can adjust programming as needed. The research questions include not only which activities are most effective, but how each of the 50 communities has tailored the activities to suit its own needs and resources. Findings from the first round of data collection will be available in late summer 2018.

In Senegal, R4D will be working with the Lecture Pour Tous (Reading for All) program, a USAID-funded early grade reading program implemented by Chemonics. Lecture Pour Tous is a 5-year program that supports Senegalese national reforms to use national languages in early grades to increase children’s literacy. R4D is a leading this RF MERL engagement to test interventions related to family and community engagement in book use.

“Together, these studies will significantly enhance the education sector’s understanding of how to increase parent and community engagement,” said Molly Jamieson Eberhardt, a program director at Results for Development. “In addition to quantitative data collection on parent and community behaviors, our approach includes significant qualitative data collection. This will allow us not only to understand whether certain activities have an effect on engagement levels, but why that is the case in certain contexts and not others, and how those activities need to be implemented to ensure success. We believe this work will therefore not only benefit USAID’s early grade reading programs in Tanzania and Senegal but also be a resource to inform others’ efforts to increase parent and community engagement.”

In both Tanzania and Senegal, R4D will conduct multiple rounds of data collection and share findings with the programs via “learning checks,” in which program staff and R4D come together to reflect on the findings, brainstorm ways to refine implementation and iterate accordingly.

The evaluations are part of the Rapid Feedback Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) initiative — an initiative launched by USAID’s Global Development Lab to improve rapid learning and adaptive management in the design and implementation of activities funded by USAID. R4D leads the Rapid Feedback MERL initiative, which also includes Mathematica Policy Research, Abt Associates and the Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD). Learn more about the Rapid Feedback MERL initiative.

UPDATE: This announcement was last updated on July 27, 2018, with more information on both programs, and was originally published on Nov. 30, 2017.

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About Results for Development

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. For more information, visit our website at: www.r4d.org.

Featured photo © Tobin Jones

The post R4D Launches Two Rapid Feedback Studies to Strengthen Parent and Community Engagement in Education appeared first on Results for Development.

Dr. Claeson, a globally recognized expert in maternal and child health, is former director of the Global Financing Facility. Ms. Kainyah is a seasoned multinational executive with a legal background and her own firm, Kina Advisory, which provides advice critical to sustainable development in Africa to governments and companies. Mr. Loum, former prime minister of Senegal (1998–2000), is a dedicated public servant who brings a deep understanding of the needs of government change agents, including political, technical and implementation challenges. Ms. Pace is the president and executive director of the Global Health Council, and a tireless advocate for global health programs that effectively engage and meet the needs of their communities.

Gina Lagomarsino, president and CEO of R4D, said: “Earlier this year, we adopted a new strategy, which reflects a changing global development landscape and will serve as a guide for how we design our programs and how we build organizational capabilities in the coming years. I’m thrilled to welcome our newest board members at this pivotal time. Their counsel will be critical as we work to implement our strategy and manage continued uncertainty, the global recovery from COVID-19 and the global movement toward more just and equitable societies.”

R4D continues to support change agents — government officials, civil society leaders and private sector innovators — in low- and middle-income countries as they build strong systems to achieve large-scale, lasting improvements in health, education and nutrition. R4D’s strategy, adopted in May 2020, recognizes and responds to the current situation in the world, including the COVID-19 pandemic (which has created interrelated catastrophes in health, education and nutrition) and the need to dismantle structural racism in our field. The new strategy emphasizes approaches that support country-level systems change and build strong regional ecosystems that shift the locus of technical support to country and regional institutions and experts.

David de Ferranti, R4D board chair and senior advisor, added: “I’m excited to welcome Mariam, Rosalind, Lamine and Loyce to R4D’s board of directors. This impressive group brings significant experience and expertise working as public servants and leaders in the fields of development, health, business and finance.”

Learn more about the board

Dr. Mariam Claeson

Mariam Claeson, M.D., M.P.H., is the former director of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) for Every Woman Every Child at the World Bank. Prior to the GFF, she served as director for the Maternal Newborn and Child Health team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She also worked at the World Bank from 1998–2012, where she worked as the program coordinator for the multisectoral response to AIDS in the South Asia Region as well as task team leader for HIV operations in India and Afghanistan, among other roles.

She said: “I am excited to join the R4D family as Board member because its mission, to work with change-agents in countries to create self-sustaining systems that support healthy, well-nourished and educated people, is more urgent and relevant than ever and central to the development agenda of the 2020s. I think that R4D is well-positioned to contribute and make a difference to our collective response to global inequities.”

Learn more about Dr. Claeson.

Ms. Rosalind Kainyah

Rosalind Kainyah, L.L.M., is an environmental lawyer and founder and managing director of Kina Advisory. In this role, she works with companies to ensure they have positive socioeconomic impacts on the countries in which they operate, while realizing optimal financial value. She is a trusted advisor to boards and senior executives of global companies on responsible business investment and partnerships in emerging markets. Ms. Kainyah has almost 30 years of combined international, senior management, executive and board level experience.

“It is a privilege to be joining the board of Results for Development, and I look forward to using my passion and experience to support the great work of Gina and the rest of the R4D team to address global inequalities in health, education and nutrition. These inequalities have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and there is an urgent need for localised solutions to these challenges. By working with local agents to drive change, Results for Development is leading the way in creating long-term, sustainable improvements across the three sectors.”

Learn more about Ms. Kainyah.

Mr. Mamadou Lamine Loum

Mamadou Lamine Loum served as Prime Minister of Senegal from 1998–2000. He began his government career in Senegal as Inspector of the Treasury, which led to the post of General Treasurer and then Director General of the Treasury. He later became Deputy Minister in charge of the budget then Minister of the Economy, Finance and Planning. More recently he has worked as an independent consultant in Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Togo, Algeria, Ghana and Guinea for international organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, OIF, IDB, UNDP, African Union, UEMOA and BOAD.

He said: “I am fully committed to supporting this relatively young, but well-known organization’s efforts to support change agents to improve health, education and nutrition outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. I have focused on these important issues from many angles during my long career, and I hope to contribute to R4D’s further success.”

Learn more about Mr. Loum.

Ms. Loyce Pace

Loyce Pace, M.P.H., is the president and executive director of the Global Health Council (GHC), a leading membership organization which supports and connects global health advocates, implementers, and stakeholders worldwide. Ms. Pace is a leader who has worked in more than 15 countries delivering health programs and mobilizing advocates. She has served as GHC president and executive director since December 2016. She previously held leadership positions in global policy and strategic partnerships at LIVESTRONG Foundation and American Cancer Society.

She said: “It’s a privilege to join the board of R4D at a time when people in our sector and around the world are not only acknowledging the importance of strong health systems but also building those with underserved communities at the table. I am thrilled to support the organization and its partners in how they prioritize local leadership and civil society engagement across health and development programs, so we all emerge even stronger.”

Learn more about Ms. Pace.

To see R4D’s full list of board members, click here.

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About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. For more information, visit our website at: www.r4d.org

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