The McGovern-Dole Promotion of Educational and Economic Performance in Educative Communities—also known as Melhoria do Rendimento Escolar e Economico das Comunidades Educativas na Guiné-Bissau (MeREECE)—aims to strengthen the education system in Guinea-Bissau and improve the literacy of school-aged children in the regions of Oio, Cacheu, Quinara, Bafata, and Gabu. Over its four-year lifespan, the project will work in 350 schools across the country.
STS will serve as an external evaluator for the project, conducting mix-methods performance evaluations of MeREECE at the project’s baseline, midline, and endline. Structured around research questions set forth by CRS, STS’s research will both assess progress against and provide actionable knowledge to achieve MeREECE’s two strategic objectives: improved literacy of school-age children and increased use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices.
During the three assessment periods, STS will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative tools that include:
- School attendance tracker
- Student reading assessment adapted from ASER
- Student survey
- Municipal authority survey
- Cooks assessment
- Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members survey
- Observation of WASH practices in kitchens and latrines
- Classroom observation of teacher practice and student activities
- Focus group discussion
- Semi-structured key informant interviews
