National Education Sector Development Plan : A result-based planning handbook

Abstract

This material illustrates the way the Logical Framework Approach can be used in strategic educational planning and in the design of specifi c project documents for the implementation of the national education development plans. It is meant to be a practical guide on result-based, strategic and action planning with two restrictions. First, it deals with the planning issues of education systems at the macro level (national, or state/provincial level, especially in the case of federal systems), rather than at the micro level (e.g. institutions). Second, it addresses planning and management issues at “upstream stages”, rather than at the actual implementation phase. The term “upstream” is meant to designate the stage of the development of national education policies, programmes and/or projects, because it comes before the implementation of the programmes, or “downstream” phase. Many management aspects are not the object of this guide insofar as they concern “downstream stages”. The handbook presents fi rst a synoptic view of the different stages of the strategic management cycle in the education sector (Chapter I). Subsequent chapters describe the different stages of strategic and action planning by means of the Logical Framework Approach: system analysis (Chapter II), policy design (Chapter III) and action programming (Chapter IV). Resource costing techniques, especially through simulation modelling, are also explained (Chapter V).