Quality education support programme (QESP I + II)

Project details
Country: 
Egypt
Beneficiary: 
Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE)
Donor organisation: 
KfW Development Bank
Department: 
Architecture & Urban Development
Project volume: 
9,379,150 €
Currency: 
€
Value of services: 
9,379,150 €
Start of project: 
February, 2013
End of project: 
January, 2023
Project description: 

Start/end of  QESP-I: 02/2013 - 03/2020 

Start/end of QESP-II: 02/2017 - 01/2023 

Project volume: Phase I: 4,252,540 EUR / Phase II: 5,126,610 EUR

QESP-I & II are a continuation of the German Financial Cooperation (FC) Primary School Construction Programmes (PSCP) in the Egyptian education sector with a financial allocation of € 34.0 million (QESP-I) and € 20.0 million (QESP-II). The Egyptian government contributes € 1.0 million in cash to co-finance value losses incurred by the massive inflation 2016-2017. QESP-II is an explicit extension of QESP-I and aims at systemic improvements in project settings and processes introduced under earlier phases.

QESP-I was implemented between February 2013 and March 2020 and targeted 70 school projects in 10 districts in the Governorates of Assiut and Sohag.

QESP-II is implemented since February 2017 and targets 20 school projects in one major district in the Governorate of Sharqiya (district Belbeis). The programme has been extended through a Debt Swap Conversion Agreement with Egypt 2019. Another 12 schools could thus be added to the programme.

The programmes also consist of creating a sustainable, long-term financial maintenance support for schools in 9 Governorates of Egypt, which was established in 2013 as the “Simple Maintenance Award Fund” at the MoETE. The sub-component has implemented 6 successful award cycles since its inception, disbursing approx. 3 mio EUR to 6.000 winning schools so far.

Service description: 
  • Analysing GAEB school design and building standards
  • Creating new state-of-the-art school design guidelines for Egyptian public schools
  • Preparing and undertaking 2 study tours with Egyptian partners from all administrative levels from top management positions of GAEB and MoETE down to district level (1 study tour to Germany, 1 to Austria)
  • Preparation of specific service description of external local architectural firms (Local Design Consultants) for providing individual school designs for the 102 target schools under QESP-I & II
  • Preparation of tender documents (technical and legal) for the procurement of Local Design Consultants service contracts on behalf of the MoETE and GAEB, monitoring of tender, evaluation and contract award
  • Monitoring and mentoring the Local Design Consultants (external team of approx. 30 architects and engineers), capacity building to meet the quality standards, revision and technical backstopping, value engineering and optimization of LDC designs to increase design and educational value
  • Preparation of tender documents (technical and legal) for procurement of works contractor contracts on behalf of MoETE and GAEB
  • Capacity building for all levels of GAEB engineers in regards to school design, value engineering, tendering and site supervision, incl. health and safety aspects
  • Monitoring of site supervision team (GAEB and LDC) for construction, extension, rehabilitation, partially or fully replacing of 69 QESP-I schools (QESP-II planned construction starts in 2021)
  • Preparation of state-of-the-art ergonomic school furniture designs
  • Preparation of tender documents (technical and legal) for procurement of school furniture, monitoring the tender, evaluation and contract award for furniture procurement
  • Monitoring of furniture production, quality assurance, monitoring of delivery and installation of school furniture with more than 16,000 double desks, over 16,000 chairs and 8,000 ergonomic benches as well as additional furniture for offices and classrooms under QESP-I; expected numbers for QESP-II target schools will reach approx. additional 8,000 double desks, over 8,000 student chairs and 4,000 ergonomic benches and additional furniture for offices and classrooms
  • Applying “Integrated Village Planning” and assisting in the compilation of 10 District/Idara Education, School Development and Improvement Plans, which are a manual for the district administration of MoETE to handle all identified problems and shortcomings in almost 1,000 schools
  • Conducting a comprehensive Educational and Social Need Analysis (ESNA) on both quantitative and qualitative aspects, create a tailor-made capacity building component on the basis of ESNA findings
  • Training to familiarise the school and district administrations (Idaras) as well as BoTs with their roles and responsibilities, establishing M&E systems and supporting decentralized and effective school maintenance regarding all relevant financial, administrative and technical procedures and regulations on all levels (school, district, directorate), incl practical simple maintenance trainings
  • Development and compilation of a complete “Guide to School Maintenance” based on previous manuals and improved through pilot tests, which is already available on the MoETE website for all schools in Egypt
  • Training for improving school leadership, improving quality of teaching and learning, improving school sanitation and hygiene education, and creating an inclusive environment matching individual needs of children (sensitivity to gender, slow learners, etc.)
  • Introducing new approaches like Kaizen and applying them to school cleaning and simple maintenance
  • Introducing Income Generating Activities (IGA) to schools, development of business plans and financial bylaw approved by the MoETE, monitoring and analysis of results
  • Compilation of the holistic training concept “Madrasty – My School” incorporating all aspects of preventive and simple maintenance and the educational added values of school self-governance, maintenance and good teaching into one overarching systematic approach
  • In total approx. 20,000 participants received trainings under NILE, QESP-I & II through GOPA experts
  • Development of Environmental, Social, Health & Safety Standards (ESHS) under QESP-II, development of Environmental, Social, Health & Safety Management Plans (ESMP) for school construction in Egypt
  • Capacity building of GAEB staff on ESHS and ESMP development and implementation
  • Market analysis and development of practical approach incl. business plan and financial bylaw for the implementation of EU-financed sub-component to equip approx. 100 public schools with renewable energy solutions
Objectives: 

The overall objective of the programmes contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 2 and 3 as well as to the establishment of an efficient, decentralised system of planning, management and maintenance of educational infrastructure in the target Governorates of Assiut and Sohag under QESP-I and Sharqiya under QESP-II. The programme objectives define two components:

(1) the investment component concerns the rehabilitation, extension and construction of primary education facilities and the establishment of an efficient, sustainable system for decentralised educational planning, implementation and maintenance, and

(2) the accompanying measure aims at enhancing  essential aspects of the quality of education as well as supporting the establishment of an efficient, sustainable system for decentralised educational planning, implementation and maintenance through a large scale capacity building measure.

Currency: 
€