GlobalGiving.org: Help a Student Stay in School in Uganda

Parent Involvement in School Savings Program

Sarah Kabay — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:12:06 GMT

Festo speaks to a classroom full of parents

Working closely with schools and administrators gives us considerable insight into the many issues affecting them and the challenges they face. From our experience, qualitative research and a simple survey with teachers in all 136 schools, we identified parental involvement as one of the critical issues affecting primary education in Uganda.

With the introduction of Universal Primary Education, and the government's taking control of the majority of schools, many parents have become distanced from their children's education. Additionally, as many parents have not gone to school themselves, schools can seem intimidating and demanding as parents struggle to raise the resources and supplies to keep their children enrolled. Teachers called for "parent sensitization."

We saw the same need in relation to the Super Savers Program. Over the past year, we noted that many children were saving on their own. Though this was a valuable learning experience, we were concerned that it might not lead to keeping children in school, as fees are most often paid by parents or guardians. Decreasing drop out rates would require greater parental involvement.

This term we started a "Parent Sensitization" program. 39 of the treatment schools were randomly selected to participate in the first term of this year, February to April 2011. We hosted and directed parents meetings at each of the schools, inviting parents, providing a meal or snack and discussing the roles and responsibilities of schools, the government and parents under Universal Primary Education. We then transitioned into talking about the Super Savers Program and how it can not only provide a valuable learning experience for children, but help parents raise the funds necessary to keep them in school.

The program has had a tremendously positive response. Attached is a photo of Festo, one of our program officers, explaining the savings process to parents during a meeting.

Another year begins with more school savings!

Sarah Kabay — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:48:14 GMT

With the Ugandan school term beginning on Jan 31st, we are about to start our second year of implementation. We finished last year with 4,961 pupils in 81 schools saving just over 5 million shillings.

We have many goals for this year! We hope to increase the number of pupils saving and improve the savings behavior of those that are. This will include increasing the amount, frequency and continuity of savings.

One of the ways in which we hope to reach our goals, is by testing an add-on intervention of "parent sensitization." We will randomly select half of our 78 treatment schools to be offered a general parents meeting to be run by one of our program officers. The program officer will lead a discussion with parents about why education is important, how can parents support their children's education, what the exact roles and and responsibilities are assigned to various stakeholders under the government's policy of Universal Primary Education and how the Super Savers Program can help. We will be interested to see what kind of effect this program could have.

Our program officers have been working to write a script to use when speaking to parents. Here's an example, taken from program officer Sula's script: "It's important at this point to inform the participants that FINCA does not give interest on pupil savings. I always use the slogan "kyosiga kyokungula" meaning that what you sow is what you reap." We look forward to your interest and support as we continue implementation and plan for the endline data collection exercise, scheduled for the end of this year!

SuperSavers Back to School Update

Sarah Kabay — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:01:13 GMT

Students saving in class

Following the mid-September start of Uganda's third school term, the Super Savers team has just completed the pay out of savings in each of our 81 active schools. During the pay out, all 4,036 participating pupils received their savings and were able to either continue saving or use their money. At this point the difference between the two treatment groups is readily apparent. The schools where pupils receive their money in cash are saving significantly more than those in the voucher treatment group, where pupils receive a voucher which they have to spend on something educational. We have been monitoring the trend, speaking to pupils and teachers to learn more about this dynamic. We would love to hear any hypotheses you might have as to why voucher schools are saving less!

Looking ahead to the end of the scholastic year and the beginning of the next, the team is preparing to focus on parents. Starting the program in each school required a strong presence at the school. Now that the program is up and running and we have earned the schools' trust, we are ready to reach out into the community. To ensure the sustainability of the program and to effectively engage parents we believe it's necessary to move beyond the school. We look forward to this exciting new direction!

As always we would like to thank our donors for their interest and support!

Smoothing the Costs of Education: Microsavings in Ugandan Primary Schools

Sarah Kabay — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:15:43 GMT

Buyengo Primary School Meeting

Having just completed the baseline data collection exercise, we are now scaling the program to 78 new schools!

We have a full time team of 11 based in Jinja. At the end of last year we held meetings with headmasters, school management committee members and parent -teacher association chairs. During the break in the school semester, we've been working on team building and other exercises to prepare for visiting schools in February, when the new school term begins. Then we'll begin meeting directly at schools, with teachers and parents to lay the administrative foundation for the program.

Here's a picture of one of these meetings we held last year at Buyengo Primary School of Jinja District. The attendance at this meeting illustrates how primary education and the effort to keep children in school is a community effort.

We look forward to the start of the school semester and accordingly our busiest time yet as we work to expand from 8 pilot schools to 78 new schools of the full impact assessment!

September Update

Sarah Kabay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:05:27 GMT

The Super Savers Program has been met with great enthusiasm and excitement ! Our eight pilot schools have embraced the program and more than 1000 children are currently enrolled and saving. We've conducted two pay-outs, where the bank drove to all eight schools to disperse the children's savings. Schools arranged for a small fair to enable pupils to use their savings to pay for their school fees and scholastic materials. Savings have been used to pay for school lunch, extra lessons and general school fees, as well as the purchase of uniforms, pens, pencils, exercise books and mathematics sets. During this pilot phase we also experimented with a matching grant, or financial incentive to save regularly, in addition to a voucher system which ensured that at least half of a pupil's savings went towards educational expenses. Encouraged by the success of the pilot, we are now gearing up for the scale up and a full impact asssessment of the program. We'll be collecting data from 136 schools, or every government primary school in Jinja district, as well as from a couple subcounties in Iganga and Mayuge districts. Throughout October we'll be conducting individual pupil surveys, school administator surveys, classroom surveys and aptitude test for those pupils in classes Primary 4 and 5. Once we complete the research phase, we'll begin implementation in 76 new schools. It's a very exciting time. We want to thank all of our supporters for the interest and involvement and hope many more people can become a part!

Spring Update

Sarah Kabay — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:21:00 GMT

As part of its Behavioral Savings Initiative, IPA is currently working on a micro-savings scheme for primary schools in Uganda. Like many developing countries, Uganda has directed significant resources and effort towards achieving Universal Primary Education. Though the country’s UPE policy has been remarkably successful in increasing enrollment rates, more than 50% of children drop out before completing primary school. The central research question for IPA Uganda’s micro-savings scheme is can a primary school savings program decrease student drop-out rates by incentivizing and financially enabling children to stay in school?

In collaboration with the Private Education Development Network and FINCA Uganda, IPA is in the process of creating the Super Savers Program. Currently in its pilot phase, the program offers government primary schools a system through which pupils and their families can save money throughout the school term. At the beginning of the following term, the savings are paid out to pupils and their families to be used to pay for school requirements and scholastic materials. Working with eight primary schools in Jinja district, the Super Savers Program is being defined by the feedback and opinions of school administrators, students and their families. Having learned from the experience of the pilot, IPA Uganda expects to scale the program to a full study with 120 schools in September

As one mother expressed, the program will, “Discourage drop-out, a child feels she cannot leave her savings behind when she drops-out, it is a skill that can be developed, they will learn the spirit of savings.” The Super Savers Program has been driven by the ideas and suggestions of participants like this mother. Even though the program is only in its pilot phase, we’ve received wonderfully positive feedback from all stakeholders, school administrators, teachers, parents and children alike. We’d all like to thank you for your support! If you have any questions about the research design, Ugandan context or our experiences thus far with the pilot, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to provide feedback in our comments section!