Data Collection for an Impact and Performance Evaluation for the Waache Wasome Programme

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Waache Wasome ‘Let Them Learn’ is a five-year programme funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that will work to improve enrolment and retention of adolescent girls in secondary school and influence harmful negative perceptions about the value of girls’ education.  The programme has the following objectives:

1) Build the agency, knowledge, and protective assets of girls in secondary school;

2) Increase family commitment and capacity to invest in girls’ education;

3) Foster a girl friendly and supportive school environment;

4) Increase access to youth friendly adolescent reproductive health services.

The programme will target girls aged 13-19 years that enrol in lower secondary school in January-February 2018, in the Arusha and Mara Regions of Tanzania. EDI have been responsible for configuring the questionnaire in surveybe and for all of the data collection activities including: recruitment of field teams, arranging logistics, managing the schedule for data collection, pre-testing, obtaining consent, data entry and submitting the final dataset.

The baseline data collection consisted of quantitative data, and included questions related to self-efficacy, and perceptions of school-related gender-based violence. The survey sample at baseline was 2,318 girls from 61 schools. The data collection took place in February 2018. In each school 38 girls were randomly selected and invited to be interviewed after having received the parental consent.

Having completed the baseline survey (2018) and administrative surveys (2018 & 2019), EDI Global has now completed the majority of components of the endline data collection for an Impact Evaluation of the Waache Wasome programme on behalf of NORC.

The quantitative endline component (January – March 2020) involved follow-up surveys with school girls and parents, as well as a new survey for teachers in sampled schools – all of which were completed prior to the COVID-19 lockdown. Following this, despite restrictions imposed on travel and social distancing in the last few months, the team were able to conduct part of the qualitative endline component (May-July 2020), by completing remote qualitative key informant interviews (KIIs) – covering teachers, programme volunteers and administrative officials. In the next year, EDI Global aims to complete the remaining qualitative endline data collection activities including more KIIs and focus group discussions (FGDs) as well as follow-up rounds of school administrative surveys.