EDUCATION

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• Odisha Higher Education Program for Excellence and Equity

  The development objective of the Odisha Higher Education Program for Excellence and Equity (OHEPEE) Project for Odisha is to improve the quality of and students’ equitable access to selected institutions and enhance governance of the higher education system in Odisha. The OHEPEE, will support the Government of Odisha (GoO) in strengthening state-level initiatives of the OHEP through two components: (a) OHEPEE program for results (PforR) program, and (b) a technical assistance (TA) component. The OHEPEE has two results areas: (a) improving quality of and students’ equitable access to selected institutions, and (b) enhancing governance of the higher education system.

• India: Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Bihar

  The development objective of the Enhancing teacher Effectiveness in Bihar Operation of India is to improve the effectiveness of elementary school teachers in Bihar. The Operation Results Chain below represents a plausible relationship describing how the inputs and activities will lead or contribute to the expected outcomes. The Operation outcomes are outlined and present the benefits that are expected as a result of its implementation. The Operation has some long term outcomes that are expected to be achieved by 2018-19, that is: (i) enhanced teacher effectiveness; and (ii) accountable teacher management with strengthened governance systems. The Operation is expected to achieve some shorter term objectives of improving teacher performance and attendance; robust program management and strong fiduciary systems; and student learning assessment tracking made more regular. The outputs of the Program will be monitored annually through the Results Framework and are therefore synchronized with the DLI matrix. The TA component that will contribute to the achievement of short and long term Operation outcomes through: (i) strengthening program implementation capacities in the three implementing agencies (DRT, BSEIDC and SCERT); and (ii) supporting monitoring and evaluation systems.

• MP Higher Education Quality Improvement Project

  The development objective of the Higher Education Quality Improvement (HEI) Project for India is to improve student outcomes especially of disadvantaged groups in selected higher education institutions and to increase the effectiveness of the higher education system in Madhya Pradesh. There are three components to the project, the first component being grants support to HEIs. The grants provided under this component will also reinforce the system reforms under the project, e.g. (i) increased autonomy and accountability, and will help re-define the relationship between Department of Higher Education, or DHE and government colleges; and, (ii) pursuing National Assessment and Accreditation Council, or NAAC accreditation to benchmark quality, and (iii) a basis for seeking additional resources for quality improvement from national and state governments. The second component is the State Level Initiatives. This component supports strategic interventions to be undertaken by the state to (a) improve the system of financial support through scholarships to disadvantaged and meritorious students, (b) upgrade qualifications and skills of new and existing faculty members, (c) establish a state institute of HE training and research, and (d) extend technical assistance for strategic planning and seeking NAAC accreditation to all government HEIs. Finally, the third component is the Improving system management. The main objective of this component is to provide technical assistance to the DHE, the State Higher Education Council, or SHEC, the Project Directorate, or PD and the HEIs to strengthen their implementation capacity and sector governance and management.

• National Agricultural Higher Education Project

  The objective of the National Agricultural Higher Education Project for India is to support participating agricultural universities and ICAR in providing more relevant and higher quality education to Agricultural University students. There are three components to the project, the first component being support to agricultural universities. This component will finance investments by participating AUs to improve the qualityand relevance of agricultural education and research toward agricultural transformation. The component will competitively award significant additional resources to participating AUs and will finance goods, works, non-consulting services, training and consultant’s services. this component includes three subcomponents: support to AUs, centers for advanced agricultural science and technology, and ICAR innovation grants to AUs. The second component is the investment in ICAR leadership in agricultural higher education. This component will finance the carrying out of institutional reforms within ICAR in order to enhance ICAR’s effectiveness in coordinating, guiding and managing agricultural higher education and its interactions with AUs and key stakeholders nationwide through interventions that increase the quality and relevance of agricultural higher education. Finally, the third component is the project management and learning. The component will strengthen ICAR’s management capacity for project implementation, including: (a) the establishment/maintenance of a Project Implementation Unit (PIU), a Steering Committee, a Technical Committee and a Monitoring and Evaluation Cell to ensure compliance with the Project’s procurement, financial management, safeguards and reporting requirements, and the carrying out of the administration, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of IDP Grants, CAAST grants and innovation grants and/or proposals therefor; (b) the provi

• Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III

  The development objective of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Project for India is to enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education system in focus states. The project will support two components: (a) Improving quality and equity in engineering institutes in focus states will focus on improving quality and equity in engineering education in all government and government-aided colleges and technical universities, including the ATUs, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (a union territory [UT]), LIS, states in the North East of India, and hill states. These states and UT have been chosen to ensure equitable development of the engineering education system across the country, given their lower performance relative to well performing states (referred to as “other states” throughout). It has three sub-components. (i) institutional development for participating institutes; (ii) widening impact through ATUs; and (iii) twinning arrangements to build capacity and improve performance of participating institutes. (b) system-level initiatives to strengthen sector governance and performance will support the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and key apex bodies in engineering education, including the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Board of Accreditation (NBA), to strengthen sector governance, management, accountability mechanisms and performance in the overall system of engineering education.

• Innovate in India for Inclusiveness

  The development objective of Innovate in India for Inclusiveness is to facilitate innovation in biopharmaceutical products and medical devices that address public health priorities in India. This project has three components. 1) The first component, Strengthening the pilot-to-market innovation ecosystem, aims to provide grant funding to support the creation of centers of excellence for validation, early stage bio-manufacturing, clinical development, training, and technology transfer. It has the following five subcomponents: (i) Shared facilities; (ii) Scientific research; (iii) Clinical trial network; (iv) Training; and (v) Technology transfer. 2) The second component, Accelerating the pilot-to-market process for specific products, aims to provide grant funding to consortia of private, public, and academic institutions, led by cutting-edge institutions in their respective field, to accelerate the development of low-cost, select vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices that address public health priorities in India. It has the following three subcomponents: (i) Vaccines; (ii) Biosimilars; and (iii) Medical devices (instruments and diagnostics). 3) The third component, Project management and monitoring and evaluation, aims to cover the operating costs incurred by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in the implementation of the project.

• Nai Manzil - Education and Skills Training for Minorities

  The development objective of the Nai Manzil : Education and Skills Training for Minorities Project for India is to improve completion of secondary education and market-driven skills training for targeted youth from minority communities. The project comprises of two components. The first component is results based financing for increased education attainment and market-driven training. The second component, technical assistance for implementation of the Nai Manzil scheme objective is to strengthen capacity of the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) for project implementation, planning, and policy development.

• India - Allocative efficiency analysis of the HIV program in the states of Karnataka and Punjab (2015-2030)

  The HIV epidemic response in India is in its third decade. The country is considered to have a concentrated epidemic with various high risk group populations driving the epidemic. The adult HIV prevalence at national level has continued its steady decline from an estimated level of 0.41 percent in 2001 to 0.27 percent in 2011. However there are state level variations in both the level and trend of epidemic. In recent surveillance report records, the highest prevalence was in Nagaland (0.88 percent), followed by Mizoram (0.68 percent), Manipur (0.64 percent), Andhra Pradesh (0.59 percent) and Karnataka (0.53 percent). Also, states like Chhattisgarh (0.51 percent), Gujarat (0.50 percent), Maharashtra (0.40 percent), Delhi (0.40 percent) and Punjab (0.37 percent) recorded HIV prevalence of more than the national average. India implemented the third phase of the National AIDS Control Program Plan during 2007-2012 with the goal of ‘halting and reversing the epidemic’ by scaling up prevention efforts among High Risk Groups (HRG) and General Population and integrating them with Care, Support and Treatment services. Thus, prevention and Care, Support and Treatment (CST) formed the two key pillars of all AIDS control efforts in India. Strategic Information Management and Institutional Strengthening activities provided the required technical, managerial and administrative support for implementing the core activities under NACP-III at national, state and district levels. NACP III focused on a decentralized response and an increasing engagement of NGOs and networks of people living with HIV/AIDS. India is currently implementing fourth phase of National AIDS Control Program Phase IV (2012-17). Consolidating the gains made till now, the fourth phase of National AIDS Control Program (NACP-IV) aims to ‘accelerate the process of epidemic reversal’ and further strengthen the epidemic response in India.

• Mobilizing Communities for a Healthier Future : Impact Evaluation of Social Accountability Interventions in Uttar Pradesh, India

  Social Accountability has received much attention as a potentially promising method to engage community members in monitoring the delivery of public services. Recent efforts in Uganda and Nepal found that community monitoring mechanisms led to large improvements in child health outcomes. The government of Uttar Pradesh (UP), as part of the World Bank supported Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening Project (UPHSSP), implemented Social Accountability (SA) interventions on a large scale. In contrast to previous impact evaluation efforts led by researchers on a smaller scale, this novel effort represents the first large-scale impact evaluation of SA and community-based monitoring that is designed and implemented by the government. This evaluation’s findings strongly suggest that information and facilitation jointly have larger effects than provision if information alone, leading the IE team to strongly recommend that UPHSSP and SIRD continue its policy of investing in community facilitation mechanisms as part of larger SA efforts. The government-run program currently being implemented in the other 10 districts in UPHSSP could be improved by incorporating design features from this 2-district evaluation, especially in terms of information delivery and facilitation of VHSNC meetings. A key feature of the evaluated intervention was its government-led design and implementation, enabling replication at scale by government. Hence, the evaluation’s findings are also relevant for scale up across India, and other countries with a similar context within the South Asia Region, and beyond. The ongoing implementation of SA interventions by UPHSSP in 10 districts, which also follows a block-wise randomized design, is an incredible opportunity to study and document the impacts of SA, when implemented at large-scale. The IE team strongly recommends that the state government continue to improve and implement the SA interventions robustly and invest in efforts to monitor and evaluate the impacts of this large-scale implementation of SA.