About ECC

Term of Reference (ToR) For

Education Coordinating Committee (ECC)

The Human Resource Development Board (HRDB) through its Steering Committee and Working Groups/Taskforces has played a major role in enhancing coordination and alignment in the education sector since its establishment in December 2008.  It has ensured that it maintains its role as a key platform for policy dialogue between sectoral ministries and development partners. However, the education sector is expanding rapidly and requires more in-depth and focused technical discussions with education sector players in order to more closely monitor progress of primary and secondary education and find solutions for program bottlenecks. Afghanistan’s membership to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in March 2011 and the efforts that led to the development of Afghanistan’s Application to the GPE further consolidated the joint collaboration of Ministry of Education (MoE) and its development partners.  As part of this process, the MoE and development partners agreed to establish a forum that would function under the HRDB but would have a more focused agenda to coordinate issues concerning primary and secondary education.

The Education Coordinating Committee (ECC) will serve as an arm of the HRDB to further enhance coordination between the MoE and its development partners.  It will serve to promote oversight of educational programming in Afghanistan in the area of primary and secondary education.

Purpose:

To improve effectiveness and efficiency of primary and secondary education for improved access, quality and relevance.

Expected mid-term results

1. Improved planning: Ministry of Education and the development partners jointly prepare and approve annual work plans and budget (on and off-budget). Sub-sector strategic plans are jointly developed, updated and approved.

2. Improved M&E: MoE and development partners jointly monitor on and off-budget programs and release periodic monitoring reports. MoE and the development partners carry joint annual review of the plan implementation.

3- Improved coordination: MoE and the development partners regularly meet, share information, discuss policy related issues and coordinate program implementation.

4- Forum created for dialogue on policy and program related issues such as strategies for expanding access and quality, teacher professional development, assessing student learning outcomes, certification of students taking accelerated learning programs, capacity building at the provincial and district level, provincial budgeting etc.

Chair and Co-chair

The Chair of the ECC will be a senior staff member of the Ministry designated by the Minister of Education on an annual basis in consultation with Development Partners. 

The Co-Chair will be a representative of development partners active in the education sector in Afghanistan. The Co-Chair of ECC will be selected from among the development partners in consultation with the MoE. 

Role of the Chair and Co-Chair:

• Chair and co-chair the meetings of the Committee
• Report to MoE on activities of the Committee  
• Forward policy and programming recommendations to the MoE on behalf of the ECC
• Liaison with HRDB Steering Committee the issues concerning policy and sector reform.

Membership

The Committee Members (25-30) will include the ECC Chair, Co-Chair, representatives from MoE departments: TED, CD, GE, Supervision,  Finance, Procurement, Construction, Planning/EMIS, PMCU, EQUIP; and, development partners: USAID, Canada, Denmark, UNICEF, UNESCO, Germany, France, AUSAID, Japan, Norway, Sweden, India, WB, DFID, Netherlands, New Zealand, SCA, SC, ANCB and private school association . 

The members of the Committee will be nominated by their respective organization. The committee members should be a senior representative of their organization. Each organization is invited to send one observer to the meetings anticipating that they may be required to serve as an alternate when the official representative is unable to attend.

Other education stakeholders (MoE, private sector, NGO’s, CSO’s, Local government, independent experts) can be invited to participate in the ECC meetings on specific request of the chair and co-chair.

Meeting Frequency:

Meetings will be held every month, on the third Wednesday of the month. Ad hoc meetings may be held (as required) based on emerging needs.

The agenda of the meeting and any other material that will be discussed in the meeting should be shared in advance with members.

Minutes of the meeting should be shared with the members within a week and any comments should be provided within 3 days.

Relevant departments need to follow up on the agreed action points prior to circulation of the minutes.

Role and Responsibility of the  Committee Members

• Review and provide technical advice on identified educational issues and concerns in the areas of policy, programming, funding, alignment and coordination. 
• Ensure necessary support and assistance to the Committee by providing technical inputs such as research results, information from monitoring and evaluation systems, tested models or methodologies and lessons learnt, etc.
• Establish and maintain a functional contact with the chair and co-chair and other members of the Committee.
• Report on his/her organization’s/department recent activities as well as ensure that decisions of the ECC are reported back to the organization/department.

Deliverables:

1. Annual work plan and budget (on and off-budget) is prepared and approved by MoE and development partners (3) months before the New Year.
2. Annual Joint Review of the sub-sector is carried out within (3) months after completion of the year.