ADEOP 2013 15 template final xls

MINISTRY

OF

EDUCATION AND

SPORTS

DISTRICT

EDUCATION

OFFICE

FINANCIAL

&

OPERATIONAL

CAPACITY

STRENGTH ENING

TRAINING HANDBOOK

FOREWORD

This training is an important contribution to the process of decentralizing the delivery. of .

education sirvices. The Ministry of Education is fully committed to that process and believes that it will improve the education systems efficiency and responsiveness.

The District Education office is now the primary management unit directing and reporting on education service delivery. District Education Cjffices will increasingly be responsible for programme plannrng, financial management and administration, monitoring and evaluation of

iroir"tt"

performlnce, financialflows and human resource management' lncreasingly it is expected that many resources and resource allocation decisions witl be managed at the school level.

It is therefore critical that every effort is made to build the capacity of the district education cadres. This training

ii

on" important step in this process and will be complemented over the coming years by other capacity activities including further training; re-design of organisational structures and systems; ,e-eqriptent and other ieforms designed to create an enabling environment for decentralised management. With districts handling a larger proportion of the nation,s expenditures on education

iiis

important to strengthen and develop systems of

transparency and accountability. The Ministry wishes to encourage district assemblies' civil

society, parents and local citizens, in general. to play a greater role in holding education service providers (teachers and education administrators) accountable for resource use and the quality of services.

lf we are to achieve our national goals and international obligations in respect of education provision, districts must focus resources on those pockets of poverty where children remain outside school or drop out early and where it is most difficult to post qualified teachers' Districts must focus their resources on achieving equity and become skilled in collecting

and using data to

t"il"t

tn"ir interventions. One oi the most important ways of bringing equity to i-he educatioi system in this country will be achieved if there is an equitable distribution of teacheri across the country. This training aims to support that pro-cess ano give districts anO regions tools to more efficiently and effectively manage their staff' The question of how to

re;i;

good teachers in deprived schools. has a whole topic dedicated to its. on the basis of the skiils districts learn heie we expect them to develop locally appropriate and focused programmes to improve teacher recruitment, motivation and retention in

deprived schools.

Two of the areas where the Ministry is delegating resource management responsibility to the school are schoolcapitation gtants for atibasii education schools and the selection of basic education schooltextbooks. This training is intended to play a key-role in.preparing districts and in their turn schools to manage these resources effectively' strengthening internal control systems at the district and school level is essential il the new flow and increased flow of resources is to achieve its intended impact. That is why this topic is included

in1ni. program. GES intends in future to hold its officers accountable and take firm action

againsialfserious cases where public resources are being misused.

Finally I would like to note that the Ministry is introducing through this training a new

reporting format which willfacilitate comparison of district performance against national norms and poticies. This will help stakehoiders at local and national levels to hold their officials accountable and understand how they are progressing against the rest of the nation'

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ABREVIATIONS

AD F&A AD HR AD S&M AOP ECC EdSep ESP ESSP EC DA DDE DEO DFID GES IEC JSS MoES MTEF PE PBME PRSP PTA SPIP SMC SRIMPR SSS SWAp TA TSC USAID WB

Assistant Director Finance and Administration Assistant Director Human Resources

Assistant Director Supervision and Monitoring Annual Operational Plan Project

Evaluation Coordinating Committee for Basic Education Textbooks

Education Sector Project Education Sector Plan

Education Sector Support Program (DflD) European Commission

District Assembly

District Director of Education District Education Off ice

Department for International Development (Britain) Ghana Education Service

Information Education and Communication Junior Secondary School

Ministry of Education & Sports

Medium Term Expenditure Framework Personal Emoluments

Planning Budgeting Monitoring and Evaluation Poverty Reduction Strategic Plan

Parent Teachers Association

School Performance lmprovement plans School Management Committee

Statistics Research Information Management and public Relations Senior Secondary School

Sector Wide Approach Technical Assistance

Textbook Selection Committees

CONTENTS

lntroduction

Transparency and AccountabilitY

Resource Allocation Skills in Planning and Budgeting

Data Analysis and Use in Planning and Reporting

Personnel Emoluments Management (staffing norms)

Teacher Recruitment Motivation and Retention

School Capitation Grant Management

lnternal Control lssues

Annual Performance RePorting

Textbook Ordering

7

19

33

39

53

63

73

89

:;i

;

& &

fr

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

INTRODUCTION

1.

Purpose

This

training is

designed

to

suppoft

decentralisation

to

the

district level' This

is

a

priority

strjiegy

of

MoES.

The

district

education

offices

will be the

primary

units

directing and reporting on education service delivery'

Decentralisation in general and this training in particular are designed to:

.

improve the operational efficiency of the system

r

proffiote more responsive and appropriate education service delivery.

Three core areas

of

resource management where major changes are planned and/or in progress and on which this training will focus are:

.

teacher recruitment, motivation and retention and personal emoluments

'

school capitation grants

.

textbooks.

The training will focus on five skills:

.

financial management

'

financial reporting

.

accounting

.

operational planning

.

monitoring and evaluation.

The

intended outcome

of

the training is

a

set

of

actions

to

be

undertaken

by

each

district after

the

training.

Districts should

commit

to

these

action

plans during the

training and mechanisms

of

monitoring should be agreed as paft of each topic.

2.

Target

Group

The target group for this training is the district education office management team.

In

this

context

the

district team

is

defined

as

the

Director

plus

the front

line (Assistant

Director

for

Administration

and

Finance,

Assistant Director

for

Human Resource Development, Assistant Director

for

Superuision

and

Monitoring, Statistics Officer, Accountant

and

Budget

Officer) and either

the

District Chief

Executive or Head

(or

Treasurer)

of the

District Education/Social Services Committee. The team would be eight in total.

Team training is beneficial because:

.

subsequent implementation is facilitated when the whole district team has a

common vision

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

.

a comprehensive view is more likely

to

enable implementation constraints

to

be identified and addressed.

The Regional Teams including

the

Regional Auditors have been invited

to

pafticipate.

As

the

direct

superuisors

of

the

district and

the

authorisers

of

many

district transactions

(e.9.

payroll changes, paftially-ready districts donor seryice expenditure etc)

it

is critical that

the

regions have a common stance with the districts.

Somd topics relate

to

activities either directly implemented by the schools (capitation

grant

management)

and

materials

for that

training are

provided

for

distribution

to

districts during the training.

3.

Timetable

4.

Structure

of

the

Manual

This

manual

is

structured according

to

topics

in the

same

order as

the

timetable.

Within in each topic you will find the same internal structure:

1.

Introduction:

explains the context and purpose of the topic

2.

Competencies

to

be achieved:

describes

the

tasks

that

a

participant is

expected

to

accomplish with the skills and knowledge gained during the training.

Training

Time

Table

Activity/Focus Topic

Day

and Duration

1

Opening

Session

_{Day 1:}

L|/z

_hour

2

Transparency

and

Accountability

Day 1:

4

hours

3

Resource

Allocation in Budgeting and Planning

Days 1

&7:41/z

hours

4

Data

Analysis/

Use

on Planning and Reporting

Day 2: 4 hours

5

Perconnel

Emoluments Planning

Day 3: 4 hours

6

Teacher

Recruitment, Motivation and Retention

Day

3:

3 hours

7

School

Capitation Management

Day

4:4

hours

8

Internal

Control Issues

Day

4:

3 hours

9

Annual District Pefformance Repofting

_Day

_5:

_{3 hours}

10

Textbook Ordering

Day 5: 3 hours

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

3.

Means

of

Evaluating

session

success:

reminds facilitators

and participants how

tney

ia-n objectively check

if the

participants are achieving the intended training objectives.

Session Plans

and Activities:

describes

in

detail

the

whole process

of

the

training

session

and

is

intended

to

provide

a

set

of

comprehensive steps

which ensure accomplishment of all the session objectives.

Activities

for

Post

Training Implementation:

summarises on a separate page

ror

each

topic

the

activities

that the

districG

should

carry

out in

the yeJr fottowing this training. The successful implementation of these activities

is the

most

important

o-utcome

of

the

training.

These sheets should

be

reviewed briefly at an appropriate point towards the end of each session'

4.

5.

5.

Practice

and PracticalitY

The

objective

of

the

training

is that

teams

should

competently implement

activities

planned

during

the training is very practical in the following respects:

return

to

their

districts

and

training.

To

helP

them,

the

.

new

skills can

be learnt by

practice

using

sample

data and

realistic case

studies

r

propos€d analysis

for

decision making are based on data actually available to all or

the

majoritY of districts

.

there

are

opportunities

to

raise likely

constraints

and

challenges

to

implementation and to take account these in

the

planning of activities'

,

activities are based on agreed authoritative and unambiguous policies.

.

activities

are

planned based

on

a

realistic assessment

of

available human, financial and technical resources'

In

order

to

ensure

that the

training

is

practical

and

realistic participants should be

fully

involved

in

all

steps

of

the training.

Even during whole group

work

facilitators should ensure active participation rather than passive listening'

Group

Work Issues

Most

sessions

involve different forms

of

group

work

to

ensure

full

practical

pafticipation. Group work takes several forms, including :

.

district groups are used

to

plan future activities

!

professional groups (all

the

accountants, all the ADs HRD) are used

to

look at iechnical aspects of an issue

or

practice a technical skill

Much

of the

most important

work

will

be done

through

group

work.

This

is

one of

the

main reasons

why the

facilitation

team

is

quite

large. Each facilitator should be

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

6.

Post-training Activities

As

stated

before,

the

post training

activities

are

the

real

measure

of

whether the

training has been successful. So

it

is important

to

keep emphasizing

this

during the training and

to

give adequate weight

to

preparation of activity plans.

Each

session includes

some element

of

preparation

for

post training

activities.

Facilitators sure ensure

that this part

of

the

session is given adequate

time.

District leaders should be encouraged

to

make public forms

of

commitment in

front of

their peers and

the

Regional Team. Any

written

products such

as

implementation plans,

activity

descriptions

or

local policy proposals should

be

recorded

for the

workshop

records

with

a

copy

for

the

Regions.

This

means

having

a

facilitator

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

Transparency and

AccountabilitY

1.

Introduction

As Ghana decentratizes

the

provision

of

basic education responsibility

fof

increasingly

substantial

resources

will

be

transferred

to

the

district

and

school

level'

one

expected advantage of this is greater efficiency and flexibility in service provision.

Accountability

for

resources involves more

than

financial

reporting.

It

includes the accountability

to

local

stakeholders

and

beneficiaries

of

all those

responsible for service provision

for the

outcomes achieved

with the

resources entrusted

to

them and

the

efficiency

of

resource utilisation. As

paft of

ensuring

both

financial probity and this broader accountability transparency measures make public

the

flow and use

of

resources

within

the

system.

The

concept

of

accountability

to

stakeholders and beneficiaries is relatively new. Currently, resource management is largely internal to

GES without substantial involvement of external stakeholders.

The objective of this session is

to

introduce

the

concepts

of

public accountability and transpjrency and

to

have district teams commit

tb

a

practical strategy

for

increasing accountabilifo

and

transparency

in

their

district.

This is

expected

to

strengthen

decentralisation,

reduce abuses

in

resource

use and

increase

stakeholder

commitment

to

a partnership for educational performance improvement'

2.

ComPetencies

gV

_ttre

_end

_{of this}

_session,

participants

will

be

able

to:

1

develop

a

disFict

strategy

for

stakeholder accountability

and

transpatencY

2

identify forms of ftnancial and performance repofting and

of

transaction publicity apprcpriate to specific stakeholder groups'

resounses

and

transactions

3

afticulate the purpoce, principles and benefits of accountability

to

the public

3.

Evaluation

The following

will

be used

to

evaluate session success:

.

the

capacity

of

district team

members

to

generate

practical

and

focused tools in sections B and C

.

the

capacity

of

district team

members

to

use

sample

data

in

the

formats provided during the exercise in section D

'

the quality of the district action plans produced in section E; (do they represent

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Transparencry

unlikely

to

achieve impact? Are

the

actions realistic in the

time

frame and with available resources? Are the activities well thought through?)

4.

Issues covered

during this

session

A

Developing a common understanding of

the

issues

B

Identifying tools

C

Matching tools

to

stakeholders and issues

D

Practicing using data

to

develop tools

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

A

Developing

a

common

understanding of

the

issues

Accountability:

a process by which those

with

responsibility for

the

management

of

public resources demonstrate

to

stakeholders

that

those

resources

are

being used

efficienly

and effectively

for their

intended purpose

to

public benefit rather than for

personal gain, in accordance with all relevant laws and regulations.

While

systems

of

management

should have internal

accountability

and

control

proceduies

it

is

increasingly recognised

that

public

institutions

and even

large

privately

owned

institutioni

whose activities have substantial social impact have a duty of accountability

to

society in general.

Transparency:

a

characteristic

of

a

system

or

transaction

that

enables

all

stakeholders

to

trace

the

flow of

resources

and

understand

the

process

of

decision making around

the

use of those resources.

Corruption:

the

use

of

resources

for

personal gain contrary

to the

intended purpose and contrary

to

established procedures, regulation and laws'

Increased

accountability

and

transparency

generally:

'

reduce

the

incidence of

corruption

.

increase the efficiency

of

resource use

.

make service delivery more responsive

to

beneficiaries.

B

ldentifying

tools

.

Tools

for

Accountability

&

Transparency: a

broad

term

covering

any

process,

system, event

or

activity which

can

be

used

to

improve

accountability

and tiansparency. These

can

include everythinE

from

parliamentary

scrutiny

of

public expenditure reports

to

parents meetings at a school.

Examples of tools that can be useful at

the

local level include:

.

A

Complaints

Officer

in

the

DA: who

receives

and

investigates

public

complaints.

The

independence

of

the

officer from

the

DEO increases public confidence in raising problems.

'

Radio

Talk

Shows:

the

public

are

invited

to

phone

in

and

raise

issues

for

response

by

a

senior

official.

Sharing issues publicly can increase awareness

of

problems and encourage ordinary people

to

take action in their own locality.

'

Customer Guides:

a

simple step

by

step explanation

of

how

a

service such as

school meals

should

be

delivered,

or

how

a

process such

as

pupil

enrolment should

take

place. Such guides make

it

more

difficult

for

ordinary people

to

be

misled by officials.

.

Public

Notification

of

Resource Flows:

publication

in

local media

or at

key meeting places of

the

amount, timing and nature

of

resource transfers

to

seruice

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

units. This helps

to

prevent

their

deliberate delay

or

diversion

to

other purposes.

It

also helps local people

to

keep service delivery unit managers accountable.

public Notification

of

Decision Making

Processes: many

public decisions

can

be

broken

down into

simple steps

with the

results published

at

each step. This makes

it

easier

for the

public

to

keep

track

of

events

at

each step and

to

make a timely protest if they see a problem. Examples of this could include public procurement procedures, staff recruitment and posting processes.

peformance Indices:

these help

citizens compare

how

their

own

school or

district is doing compared

with

others.

It

makes

it

possible

to

see

that

others rh a similar situation

are

able

to do

better

and

so

raises

the

question

of

how

this

is

possible.

If

an index is published regularly

it

is possible

for

citizens

to

see

if

their

own

local authorities

are

improving

or

not,

Indices can measure things such as

pupil

performance,

output

of

new

infrastructure,

administrative

efficiency,

or even incidences or corruption or complaints.

Unit

Cost

or

Input

Indices:

analysing

the

amount being spent, by beneficiary, can be useful in identifying cases

of

inequitable distribution

of

resources between different authorities

or

service units. Compared over

time

unit costs analysis help

to

expose

whether

resources

are

being increased

in

real terms. Another

type of

Input

Indices is

a

Disadvantaged

Index

showing how

different

schools compare

on

certain

inputs.

These

are

covered

in

detail

in

the

session

on

Resource

Allocation.

C

Matching

tools

to

stakeholders

and

issues

Differing

tools are

more appropriate

for

dealing

with

different

issues and groups

of

stakeholders then

others.

A sample matrix follows

Transparency

&

Accountability Tools

Tool

Transaction

/

Issue

Stakeholders

Suooestions box Anv asoect of service General public Parent meetings Review

of

SPIPs

Review of annual oerformance reports

Parents

Radio programmes describing steps/rights in obtaining a

seruice

Pupil enrolment Pupil assessment and oromotion

Parents

Per pupil unit costs Comparison

of

inputs between districts or over time

District assembly

members & the general public

Public notification

of

capitation grants

Management of funds by the school

Local officials Local politicians Local activists

SMCs

D

Practicing using data

to

develop

tools

This

section

comprises

a

series

of

case study

exercises

(cs1'8) for

different

professional

groups.

Sample answers

with

corresponding numbers can be found ori pages

1-14'

of the Case Study Booklet.

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

District

Educotion

Directors

6roup

rn

the toble

below

ore 8 foctors

of

deprivotion

for

which

informotion

is

ovoiloble

from

the

onnuol

school

census,.

school

mopping

ond

poverty

mopping.

You hove been

asked

by your

District

Assembly

to

develop o

deprivotion index

for

the

schools

in

the district

to

help

them

ollocote

resources.

Review

the

foctors

below.

For

eoch

foctor

proPose

o

scole

for

high,

medium

ond

low

deprivotion

ond

o

weighting

for

thot

foctor.

The

moximum score

for

o

school

scoring highly deprived

in

oll

cotegories

should be 100. Complete

the motrix

ond. moke ony comments on

the

result

thot

you

think will

be

useful

to other porticiponts

including ony

importont

meosuroble

foctors

thot

hove been excluded.

CS'

Deprivation Index

for

District

X

Factor Comment High Med Low Weight

ino

I Poverty Zone

The

district poverty

map

defined6zones:6=worst

6&5 4&3 1&2. 20

2 Pupil Teacher

Ratio

This varies between 20:1 &

60:1 with a mean of 45:l

<50 50-40 >40 .5

3 Pupil Classroom

ratio (cement/

oood condition)

This

varies

from

7:40

to

1:300 with a mean of 1:80

<90 90-60 >60

4 Av. Distance

pupils travel to

school

This varies from 0.5km

to

5 kms with a mean of 1.5 km

5 Pupil to Seat

ratio

This varies from 1:1 from 1: 0.02 with a mean of 1:0.75 6 The school has

ootable water?

The answer to this is Yes or

No.

7 Distance from

the DEO?

This

varies

from

0.2km to

65km with a mean of 15km

8 Proportion of

female teachers

This varies between 85o/o to

0olo with a mean of 30o/o 9 SMC involved

actively

The

school mapPing score

varied from 70

to

23 with a mean of 40

10 Completion rate

to P5

This

varies

between B2o/o

and 32o/o with an average of

620/o

The Index should add to 100 for a school scoring high on aI Factors 100

TransParencY

CS,

DEO FOCB Training Handbook

servtces.

Assistont Directors

Finonce

ond Administrotion

The

Director

of

Ed-ucotion hos

decideJ

io

hove o comploints

Box

fixed ot

eoch

school whicr.

will

u"

_"mptied

by

the

circuit

Supervisors

eoch

time

they visit

tt,"

sctooi.

n

iunio. offic"r

under your direction

will

then

tobulote

tt"

compioints

ona

p.oau."-o

.oiptoinis

index

by

school eoch

term. The DEo

hos

osked

thot

you;;;;"

o

sipje

figure

for

eoch

schoolbasedonthenumberofcomp|ointsodjustedfortheseriousness

of

porticuto..ot"gJ.,"i.

tL"

officer

hos

iusi

come

to

you

with the

row

doto

in

rough cotegories'

Suggest

o

weightin

g

f

or

diff

erent^ryPes

of

comPloint

with

0

being

the

lowest

multiplier

(ni

weight)

ond

10

beingthe

moximll.

Sugg"st

how you

woufd

fike

to

use

the

index

in

impro-ving

the

delivery

of

educotion

Assistont Directors

Humon Resource Development

Be|owisotob|eofcurrentpupilteocherrotiosinyourdistrictwhichhos

l0schools.Youtrove15newteochersthotyouconposttoschoo|sthis

Yeor.

Comp|etethetobleusingtwonewcolumns:..NetPosting,,ond..Resu|ting

PTR" showing how

fou

_'*ia

redeploy

teochers

for

the

coming

yeor'

a-L

ffiweishting

No.

in

sample

ProPcsed Weiqhting

20 6

1 Pupils sent home wttllou!

tlulsll'^v'""""'

""'

₄₅ 10

2 Pupils made to worr ror LedLr rgr >

ilpils

beaten bv.teachers

,

_,

,

TGils

not qiyer'

leernilg:ry:elals

4

3 11

4 ₃

5 Pupils not alloweo to stt exg'-l'--- ₅

6 Teachers refuse to rrteet wttt ' t'o'

""-Teachersry

B9

7 ₄

B Teachers harasslng 9rr!- P9UIP

----

₁₁

9 Teachers have nof pdlu LllErr rvgrrJ ₆₀

10 F{ead teachers mlsuse te>ut,'t='

H"ud

t"u.l"rt

ubt"nl

_,,,,r.

^::;:;;i,.;

;;;n;;

39

11 ₆

t2

Head teacner q _{u.9llq!-sfrylL'l l--"llj''' "} "'

_"

5 13 Paren6 oon L 5uPP9r ! u'=-':'jYY-'--- _t3

t4

Instructional matertats ate

30 15 Tgachers don'[ Know tttett

>uutot-

---Some of the scnoor ouilEings are in danger of falling

Some-scno-cnoolf acilitiesarelac

7

16 ₂₄₀

T7 6

18 Pupltl not ser,,ous:'?

i'liii;;;

;;

n;i;

;;

;ii.!

7l

19 Circult supgrvlst'lts.otc

tt-v"!'""" "' '"-" -

₅

20 DiqclDllne In cld55 15 Pwr

-t7

2 Therg ts no nomewull\ grvsrl

CSo

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

Assistont Directors

Supervision

& lionitoring

The

DEO hos osked

you

moke

o

regulor public

ossessment

of

the

performonce

of

Circuit

Supervisors.

He

hos

suggested

thot

they

be

scored ogoinst

the

criterio

described in

the

toble. The

DEO hos osked

you

to

suggest o woy

of

turning

the

row scores

into

o

weighted

sco?e.

Complete

the toble

below

to

present

your

_ProPosols

to

him'

@on

of

Teac{rers

b

Schools

in the

Coming

Year

Cument year Prcoosed

School Pupils Teachers PTR

I{et

Postino

Resulting

PTR

1 School A 130

l4

32.5

2 School B

350

B 43.7

3 School C 780 18 43.3

4 School D 200 7 28.6

5 School E 356 9 39.5

6 School F 460 20 23

7 School G 58 3 19.3

8 School H 580 7 82.8

9 School I 260 7 37.1

10 School J 140 2 70

Total

Perftrrnanoe

ll*t(

b]

Clrcult Superuicors

Factor Performance in term High Med Low

Weight-ino

1 School Visits Range 15

-

40 mean 23 <25

20-25

>20

2 SMC Meetinqs

Ranqe0-9mean4

<5 5-3 >3

3 Classes

obserued

Range 20

-

150 mean 43

4 Inservice courses held

Range 3

-

20 mean 7 5 Activity reports

submitted

Range

5-52

mean 18

(submitted to AD Supervision)

6 Teachers

aooraised

Range 13

-

53 mean 34 7 Awareness

raisino

Range 2

-

15 mean 7

(activities _with communities)

8 Census forms

checked

Not applicable this term

9 Investigations

Range0-5mean2

(deoendinq on complaints) 10 Days absent Range 0

-

30 mean 4 (with or

without leave)

The Index should add to 100 for a superuisor scorinq high on allfactors 100

CS'

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Transparency

Budget

Otficers

The

DEO hos osked you

to

show

trends

in

the

district

educotion budget

between

lost yeor

ond

this

yeor.

You hove

extrocted

the

informotion

in

the toble

below ond now you wont

to

present

it

os o Pie Chort.

Prepare

the

pie

chort

(oreos

don't

hove

to

be exoct)

ond

o

short

text

giving possible explonotions ond

implicotions

for

chonges.

Suggest

other

pie

chorts

thot

might

be

useful

to

present.

Accountonts

The

District

Assembly

is

comploining

that

government

expenditure

on

primory

educotion in

your

district

is

declining.

The

DEo

hos osked you

to

prepore

a

presentotion

to

the

Assembly showing

the

trend

in per

pupil

expenditure between

2ooo/o1

ond

2oo4/05.

The doto you

hove

extrocted from the

occounting

records

ond

received

from the Stotistics

Officer

is summorised below.

Prepare

o

column

bor chort

showing

the

trends

in

o

school

unit

expenditure.

How could

you

moke

the

chort

more

interesting

ond useful

for

the

Assembly?

CSu

District Education Budget Trends

2qt4/05 2OO5/06 Expenditure Category Arnount

Cedis M

Per-ent

Amountm Ceda

Per-cent

Note

l1

GES Salaries 42,000 54,600 I0o/o

lsalaries/ staff

2 GOG Admin 700 52s

3 GOG Service 1,400 700

4 GOG Investment 7.700 77

5 DP Services 3,500 7,000 Support to

caoitation

6 DP Investment 6,300 6.930

7 IGF School Fees 2.100

B GET Fund (& HIPC) Invest _2,800 2B 2 55 projects end

9 DA student teacher sponsorshio

7 7

I

0

DA Investment 700 7

1 1

GES Instructional Supplies 2,800 1,400

Total _{70,000 7L.274}

CS'

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

Stotistics Officers

You hove

beenosked

by

the

DEO

to

odvise

theBudget

Officer

on how

to

ollocote

the textbook

budget

of

fi

66,875,000

for

the

year

between

the

district's

10

primory

schools.

You

hove summorised

the

dqto

from

the

onnuol school census ond

the

school mop oS shown in

the toble

below.

Propose

on ollocotion

of

funds

for

submission

to

the District

Assembly

for

opprovol.

Assume

thot

the

averoge

textbook

cost

is A ?5,OOO.

PrimarT Schools

District

Assemblies

oo/01 04l05 Notes

1 Number of Primary Schools 35 40

2 Number of Pupils 12.250 16,200

3 Total spent on teachers salaries 23.000 47,000 Millions cedi

4 Total spent on non-teaching staff 2.100 3,400 Millions cedi

5 Text books delivered by GES 1s,000 56,000 Av cost S

20,000 (01) 2s,000 (0s)

6 School fees retained at schools 9B 0 Millions cedis

7 Caoitation orants sent to schools 0 486 Millions cedis 8 Investment spending from all solrces 1400 2900 Millions cedis

9 Various school focused support activities such as training and superuision

250 370 Millions cedis

10 Other miscellaneous resources spent on schools

90 170 Millions cedis

11 Annual rate of inflation 00/01 to 04/05 Bo/o

Proposed

Allocation of Textbook budget by

School in

the

Coming

Year

Current year Proposed

School Pupils Textbooks

3

core

subiects Av TxtPR

Proposed Budget

Resulting TxtPR

1 School A 130 390 J

2 School B 3s0 420 1.2

3 School C 780 624 0.8

4 School D 200 s00 2.5

5 School E 356 570 1.6

6 School F 460 506 1.1

7 School G 58 52 0.9

8 School H 580

rr02

1.9

9 School I 290 667 2.3

10 School J 140 252 1.8

3344 s083

Avl

boo 'xTPR

= average text book in the three core examinable subjects by dividing total

G bv ouoils

CS'

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Transparcncy

Choirmon

of

DA Sociol

Serryice Committee

You hove

decided

to

conduct

on

onnuol

survey

to

ossess

porentol

satisfoction with their

children's school.

Prepare

o

plon

for

the

survey

showing how

you

would

somple porents

(ossume

40

schools

ond 14,000 pupils) ond

the

guestions

you

would csk

the

porents.

E

District selection

of

5

priority activities for

implementation

In

this

section,

District teams identify

and

commit

to

five

priority

areas for

increased accountability

and

transparency

in

service

delivery.

The format

for

DEO FOCB Training Handbook TransparencY

5.

Post

Training Implementation

and

Monitoring

A

Post

Training

Activities

In

section E you, as district

team

members, identified and committed

to

five

priority

areas

for

increased accountability

and transparency.

Specific

activities

were

developed

and

recorded

in

your action

plans.

These plans should

be

publicly displayed and widely shared with stakeholders in the district.

B

Monitoring

Indicatons

of Implementation

in

the

Field

Specific

new

accountability

and

transparency measures

are

adopted

and implemented

on

a

consistent

basis.

The

indicator

could

be

a

scale

of 0

-

5

depending

on

the

number

of

new

tools

adopted

by

a

district.

A

more

objective indicator

would be

to

develop

a

weighted index

of

tools taking

into

account pre-existing measures. This would

then

produce a transparency and accountability index by district. Such a task could be undeftaken by civil society.

C

Role

of

the

Region

or

Headqualtens

in

Implementation

To

develop monitoring indicators which can

be

used

by

Regional Supervision teams in assessing progress of districts in this activity. Initially this could be based on follow up of Action Plan implementation.

D

Accompanying

non-training

measures

suppoftive of

success

.

Some examples

of

MoES practices

at

national level

to

encourage use

of

transparency

tools

by

districts;

e.g.

publication

of

resource

transfers;

district

performance league

tables;

annual

unit

costs of

different education levels etc.

Name

of District:

Activities

to

Increse

1

2

3

4

5

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Transparency

.

MoES

to

send public

message

to

district

emphasizing

role

of

district assemblies in supervising the work of

the

DEO

E

Fufther reading

_/

Sources

Comrption Fig hters Tool kit : Transpa rency I nternationa I

Ghana

Integrfi

IniUative

is the local chapter of Transparency InternaUonal

(021-782-364) [email protected]

2OO5

International

Federation

of

Accountants Handbook

on

International

Public

Sector Accounting Standard Board Pronouncements (available at the IFAC website)

has a useful standard on the disclosure of related

pafi

transactions (IPSAS 20)

The World Bank publishes an Annual Report on Investil;aUons and Sanctions of

Staff

Misconduct and Fraud and Cornrption in World Bank

Projects.

This is an example of an institution setting it up its own disclosure system for wrongdoing. This is available at the www. worldbank.org

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

Resource

Allocation

in

Budgeting

and

Planning

1.

Introduction

As

the

decentralisation

process

in

the

education

sector

proceeds,

districts

will manage an increasingly larger share of

the

sector

budget'

As a result, they

will

have

u

grujt"1. influence

o-n'tn"illocation of

resources.

If

national policies

with

regard to

&i,i,V

of service delivery are

to

be achieved then district teams

will

need

to

have the skitts

to

carry out appropriate targeted distribution

of

resources.

Currenly where

districts

are given

discretion

in

resource allocation

they often

use

inequitable systems of distribution such as:

'

setting a uniform fixed sum per institution

'

ad hoc based on lobbying

.

rather crude definitions of deprivation.

Allocation

of

scarce resources is one

of the

fundamental tasks

of

management' This session

should

provide

districts

with

a

number

of

simple allocation

and

targeting tools

that they

can use

to

improve

the

equity

of

distribution and pro-poor targeting' This should have

a

positive impact

on

the

poor and support

the

implementation of

national poverty reduction strategies within the sector.

2.

Competencies

Ay

the end of this

session,

participants

will

be

able

to:

Develop

simple

multi-factor

atlocation formula using

a

variety

of

rational techniques

such

as

fixed

and

variable elements;

per

capita

bases,

unit costing and indices

Develop locally appropriate deprivation rankings and incorporate

these into allocation formula

3.

Evaluation

The following

will

be used

to

evaluate session success:

.

the capacity of the professional groups

to

use data in section C

.

_the

appropriateness

(in

terms

of

value

of

resource, potential

for

better targeting, district has mandate) of district plans

to

review allocation formula'

DEo FocBTraining

Handh@1

Resource

Allocation

4.

Issues

covered

during this

unit

A.

An introduction

to

allocation formula

B.

ConcePts

of

EquitY

C.

Using equitable allocation bases

D.

Identifying current resource allocation practices

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

A.

An

introduction

to allocation formula

The allocation

of

scarce resources is one

of

the

fundamental tasks

of

management. There are almost always several methods one can use in allocating a given resource.

Let us take a simPle examPle:

Donqted School

Furniture

Allocotion

Imogine

your

District

is given o donation

from

o

rich

businessmen

of

200

pupil's desks. You hove 10 schools in

your

district

ond

there

ore 600 children

without

desks

ot

present.

How will you

distribute

them?

There are many different rational ways

of

making this decision. You could:

.

give eoch School

20

deSkS in

order to

be

"foir"

ond So every community

will oppreciote

the

big mon's generosity. But some schools moy

not

need

ony so

thot

could be

wosteful

.

meet

the

whole need

of

one

or

two

of the

most

needy schools

with the

highest

pupil

to

desk

rotio.

So some schools

will

be

very

hoppy ond

others

will receive

nothing

.

give

to the

neorest

schools

to

reduce

the tronsport

cost

.

give only

to

P6 closses becouse you wont

the

exom closses

to

be

comfortoble

.

gitie only

to

schools

with

good lockoble clossrooms in

order to

ensure

thot

the

desks

ore

kept

safely

.

try

to

be os

foir

os possible by

ottempting

to distribute the

desk so

thot

oll schools ended up

with the

some pupil

to

desk

rotio

.

reword schools

thot

hove

performed

well in

the

post yeor.

Note

that

for each alternative allocation basis you must have

two

elements:

.

An objective

that

you are

trying

to

achieve. The

possible objectives

mentioned

above

included

equity,

operational

cost

reduction,

peformance motivation among others.

.

Data on

the factor you

have chosen. In

this case one key piece of data is

the

current stock

of furniture

in each school and another is

the

current pupil enrolment.

A

third

could be

the

capacity

of

existing lockable classrooms at each school. The

first two

items

of

data are part of

the

annual school census

but

the third

item is

not.

Perhaps

a

proxy measure can be used

for the

third

item, such as

the

number of cement classrooms in good condition.

B.

Concepts

of

Equity

National Education Objectives

When a district is considering how

to

allocate its resources

it

should bear

in

mind its responsibility

to

promote

national education objectives. These

are

many

and

each

DEO should have a copy of

the

Education Sector Plan

to

refer

to

in their office. Some

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

of

the

key objectives in

the

plan which impact on resource distribution at

the

District include the following:

Key Policy Goals

1.

Promote and extend pre-school education

2.

Increase access

to

and participation in education

3.

Provide girls with equal opportunities

4.

Improve the quality of teaching and learning for enhanced pupil achievement

National Strategies

1.

Achieve equitable teacher deployment according

to

staffing norms

2.

Increasing the average PTR gradually

to

35:1 in primary and 22:1 in

JSS

3.

Increase deployment of teachers especially females

to

remote areas and reduce attrition

4.

Ensure effective decentralisation and community ownership

5.

Ensure equity in resource allocation by reviewing and developing

formula

Equity

Whenever

there is

discussion

of

resource allocation

the

concept

of

equity

quickly surfaces. EquiW is based on

the

concept

that

each individual human being has equal rights which include rights of access

to

basic services.

The achievement

of

equity is one of the fundamental justifications

for

the large scale

intervention

of

the

state

in the

provision

of

basic education.

If

not

for

equity,

education services

could

be left

to

market

forces

and

individual

family

purchasing power.

It

is one

of the

pillars

of

modern development theory

that

universal access

to

basic

education

is

essential

if

a

nation is

to

overcome

poverty

and

achieve balanced economic

growth. The

example

of the

high growth

Asian countries

where

national investment focused

on

early provision

of

good

quality

basic education is contrasted

to the

experience

in

many African nations in

the

last century where dispropoftionate

resources were invested

in

higher education and

other

sectors and as result

a

large part of

the

workforce remains illiterate and poorly equipped

to

participate

in

modern sectors of the economy.

Achieving equity

in

resource distribution is intended

to

provide each child

with

equal education opportunity.

In

practice,

it

may mean several things,

for

example:

A

The state provides each

child

with

exactly

the

same education inputs (crude equality of opportunity).

B

The

state

provides each child

with

different

inputs according

to

their

need

but with

a

roughly

similar

total

value

(appropriate

equality of

opportunity)

C

The state provides resources

to

children based on need and means so

I

.'1

DEO F(rcB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

suppoft

(the

ultimate aim

of

equity being

to

try

to

achieve equality of outcomes).

In

reality most states

fail

to

achieve

A while

a few

rich

countries manage

to

move towards B and almost no country seriously attempts

C.

The challenge

for

Ghana and most developing countries

is

to

move towards

A.

Usually

per

capita expenditure is

biased towards

the

rich through subsidies

to

higher levels of education where middle class children

are

the

dominant participants.

But

even

with

basic education the children

of the

better-off tend

to

receive higher per capita spending

for a

variety

of

reasons:

'

the

better-off

live

in

towns where schools have

received

substantial accumulated expenditure

over

many years and where

its

is easier

to

recruit and retain teachers

'

the

middle class are

very

skilled

at

arguing

for the

need

to

focus resources on their "model" schools on

the

pretext

of

maintaining standards

'

the

transaction costs

in

remote

rural

schools

are often

higher

because

of

transportation,

lower per

school

pupil

numbers, customary neglect

and

low capacity

to

lobby

for

resources,

Let us return

to

our furniture

example

at the

beginning

of this

section.

It

is easy to

see that several commonly employed allocation formula would in fact be pro-rich:

'

equal distribution

ignores

the fact

that

poorer

schools

start

with

less

accumulated resources

'

reducing

transpott

costs means

that the

better-off

schools near

the

district centre

will

receive all the desks

'

emphasizing good security and storage again rewards

the better

established schools

'

rewarding

the

best performing _{schools further disadvantages under-achievers}

'

focusing

on

P6 classes ignores new schools (usually poor) which

do not

have

P6 classes.

And

yet all of

these

four

bases

for

allocation have

a

strong

rationale

and

are

not uncommon. To overcome

the

natural bias

to "give

more

to

those who already have" there is

a

need

for

commitment and also

for

more sophistication

in

developing and justifying equitable resource allocation formula. That is the challenge in this module.

C.

Using

equitable allocation

bases

The following section

is

a

brief

introduction

to

some

basic

resource allocation

principles _{and formula, and includes some case study exercises (CS}

_9-16)

_(Sample answers

with

corresponding numbers

can be

found

on

pages

L4-23

of

the

Case

Study Answers Booklet).

In

attempting

to

achieve

equity

_{one can develop much more complicated formulas}

which

try

to

balance many

different factors,

but

one

should

be

careful

about

too much complexity.

A

complex

formula

lacks

transparency

and

will

be difficult

to

explain

to

local

stakeholders. Complex

formulas

can

sometimes

defeat

their

designers and have unintended biases.

DEo FoGBTraining

Handbook

Roource

Allocation

A good allocation formula should balance the following factors:

.Need:bothinthesenseofpovertyandnumbersofbeneficiaries

'Expectedcoststodeliveraseruicewhichwil|haveafixedandvariable

element

and

will

differ

accoJng

-to

the

circumstances

of

each

service delivery Point

.Pre-existingresourcesmayimpactonrecurrentcostsortheremaybean

imperative

to

redress past inequities

.Dataavailabi|ityandre|iability.Ifdataisnotavai|ab|ethecostofobtainingit

may outweigh

the

benefits

_"f

.;;;to-u.J

fottuta' If

the

data

is

unreliable

the

formula'i

objective may not be met

'Thepolicyobjectivebeing..pursued.Whileequitymaybeoneobjectivethere

may be offrer

iervice

qua-lity o|.

tlnug"ment

intentives which

the

formula is

intended

to

Promote'

Per CaPita

often the

best and simplest method of allocating resources is

a method based on the

numberofbeneficiaries.Inthecaseoreoucationthemostcommonformulaisaper

pupiiuffo.ution

based on enrollment'

This is commonly used

for

items like school operating gosts, textbook

funding' school

feeding

progrurr.s

where

tne

cosiJ

ur.

.itptAeJ

to

[,ttt

very

closely

to

pupil

numbers'

costs

of

Asimplepercapitabasiscanbeadjustedtotakeu::o:ntofdifferencestn

important

,ro-griJpr:loi.ru*plejh"

allocation

pt'

p'pit for text

bogks could be

varied between

rower

and

upper

p?,*..v

*nere'it

is

believed

that the cost

per

student is very different'

A

simple

per

capita basis may-1-ot

nerfect'

W:1li:tses

include failure

to

take

account of fixed costs (see

n.*t

rejio;i"it"

redress existing inequities

in

resource

provision.

CSn

_{?::1##:T::.fiT,}

to

work

ror

two yeors

in

rhe

Repubric

or

Donzilond. Show

h;-;

would divide o

copitotion gront

of

donzis

?7

,852,00O receivte|from

the

notionoi

gou"tn^"li

b-"Y"en

8 schools

with the

following

"n-rr."ntr,

s.t

oot

i

zgo (110), School B

780 (240)'

Schoolc360(80),Schoo|D56(o),scnoo|E304(160),Schoo|F80(0),

school

G

540(340), school

H 1go

(80)

where

the

f

igure

in

brockets

is

theenro||mentingrodesP4-P6ond*h"."thedistrictossemblyhos

decidedthottherotioofcopitotionto.pt-gtoP4-6shou]dbe70:100.

Produceotob|eshowingtheo|locotionofthegrontsintoto|byschoo|ond

the

overoge omount

per

pupil' Assuming

thot

Schools' D ond F

ore

new

schools

with few

resources in o

remotJ

port of the

district'

Provide

comments on

*ft"tft"'

the

proposed

ollocotion

CSro

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

Fixed

and

Variable

Costs

Some

costs

vary

closely

with

the

number

of

beneficiaries.

Other

types

of

cost, however,

are fixed

according

to

some stable

factor,

regardless

of the

number of

beneficiaries.

In

the

case

of

schools,

common

examples

of

fixed

costs

that

do

not grow

in

proportion to

the

number

of

pupils include:

.

games fields

.

watchmen

.

travel to

the

District Education Office

.

teacher Attendance books

.

SMC costs

.

head teachers (although not always)

Fixed costs

tend

to

be

a

higher

proportion

of

costs

for

smaller

units.

That

is

why economists

often

encourage

larger units

of

production

so that they can

achieve "economies

of

scale". But bringing education close

to the

poor is very impoftant and often means encouraging small schools.

In

this case a pure per capita allocation of a

resource like operating costs may disadvantage those schools.

It

may be appropriate

to

provide

a

standard

fixed

cost

for

each school

with

an

additional second amount based on a per capita sum.

Assistont Directors

Finonce

ond Administrotion

Part A

The

District

Educotion

officer

hos osked you

to

moke o proposol

_for

o

fixed

bosic omount

of

operoting

costs

to

be

given

to

eoch

of the

district's

eight primory

schools

from the

copitotion

gront 5efore

af focoting

the

re-st

of

a

per

copito

bosis.

Identify

costs which you

think are

largely

fixed

ond

estimate

how much o

typicof

school spends on eoch

of

them per

term.

Present o

toble

showing

the

items ond

the

omount per school.

Parf

B

Assume

thot

your

district

hos

eight

schools

wifh the

following

pupil

enrolments:

(?36,78O,360,56,3O4,80,

540

ond 180) ond hos

just

received cedis ?7 _,85?,OO0

for

one

term's copitotion gront.

Produce o

toble

showing how

this

money would be

divided

bosed on your proposed

fixed gront

per school

with the

bolonce

of

funds

divided on o

simple eguol

per copito

(pupil)

_bosis.

The

toble

should hove columns

for

school nome, pupil numbers,

fixed

gront,

vorioble

grant

(bosed on pupil numbers),

totol

gront

ond overoge

grant

per

pupil

(totcl

divided

by pupil

numbers).

Write

o

short

commentory

highlighting

the

moin issues orising

from

your

proposof.

Unit

Costs

unit

costs

are

basically average costs

where

a total

expenditure such as

the

total spending on

a

school is divided by

the

number

of

pupils,

to

arrive

at a unit

cost per child.

Unit costs can

be

based

on

actual expenditure

or

on

some analysis

of

"essential or desirable costs,, based

on the

curriculum

and

some norms

for

inputs

such

as

the PTR.

The latter can be

a

powerful

tool

in

advocating

for

more

resources from

decision makers.

often

it

is

useful

to

include

items

of

expenditure

borne

by

guardians of the child at arriving at totals.

Unit costs can be highly aggregated such as

the unit

cost

of

educating one primary school child per

unnir'inctuOing

all systems costs

or it

can be broken down

to

help

in

budgeting

and developmeniof

resource allocation

formula

as in the

example

shown below:

DEO FOCB Training Handbook Resource Allocation

ffiPrimaru

Education in Sololand

dl

rrins

2(Xr5

Items

Cost

(Solos

oloage

Q:lerioc 150.000 55o/o

School Operating Costs

Textbook Provision

lnfrastructure Investment

30,000 20,000

1s,000

tlo/o

7o/o

5o/o

5 Inservice tr 2.000 Lo/o

2.000 Io/o

6

'falrl Cnln tGawarnrnent 218,000

Uniforms 30,000 !Lo/o

B Other scholastic materials 18,000 7o/o

q _{Private tutorinq costs} 6.000 2o/o

Total Cost Per Child 273,OOO 100o/o

Actual unit costs can be compared across the same type of institution

to

help reveal inequities if the basic accounting data is available.

Accountonts

Colculote

theper

coPito

unit recurrent

expenditure

per

school

of

5 somple schools

with

doto

f

or

each school on pupils,

teochers,

solories,

copitotion,

textbooks

ond serviceS ond

comnent

on voriotions.

CStt

ffiiorpri@

Thousands of Cedis

Name Pupils Teachers Salaries Capit-ation

Text-books

Other service

Total Unit Cost

1 A 340 7 252000 10200 11900 680

2 B 59 4 144000 1770 2065 118

3

c

140 6 216000 4200 4900 280

4 D 2s0 6 216000 7500 8750 500