By Sisera Simon

Wednesday, April 1, 2020 — The OECS/USAID Early Learners Programme has launched an online modality for its monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER) using a platform called Toladata®.  The use of this platform will enable the six Member States of the OECS (Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) to monitor, evaluate and report on progress in real time. The ELP team, with the support of their Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Consultants (Targeted Development Consulting Inc.), recognized that effective planning and decision-making regarding student reading at the regional and national level requires that data is collected systematically, and integrated into the implementation process, for relevant analysis and decision making to occur.

The use of the Toladata ®  software is part of the wider performance-based Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting system developed by the M&E consultants to focus on the results of the programme initiatives in a more holistic way and importantly, from a country-level monitoring perspective.  The system provides for an integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting framework for use at the Member State level to determine, at regular intervals, the extent to which the implementation activities are effectively contributing to the desired outcome of increasing students’ reading abilities at the early primary grades. Furthermore, it is expected that the adoption of this new Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting system will provide clarity and focus on the ELP project objectives, provide early warning signs if things are not progressing as they should and finally, will assist with forecasting for effective decision-making.

According to the Project Manager for the OECS USAID Early Learners Programme (ELP), Aretha Darcheville,

“A Results-Based Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting system which has been established using Toladata, is a powerful tool for the OECS/USAID ELP to use to improve the way we achieve and report on results.   Furthermore, such a system allows the OECS/USAID ELP team and the respective governments as well as donors, partners and other stakeholders to assess whether and how results are being achieved over time, to report these results and use them for future planning and decision making.  As the ELP project comes to a close in September of 2020, this Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting system will be in place to enable the Ministries of Education it the respective countries to continue to track, analyze and effectively course correct as necessary to ensure that the early grade reading levels continue to improve throughout the OECS Member States in the future.”

By July 2020, all six Member States will be trained in the use of Toladata® to facilitate a full handover before the end of the ELP lifecycle.

About OECS/USAID ELP: 

OECS/USAID Early Learners Programme is a Programme within the Education Development Management Unit of the OECS Commission and was established in March 2015 to improve the reading skills of children in the early primary grades with the goal of providing a foundation for improved learning outcomes and enhanced opportunities for students in the six (6) independent Member States of the OECS (Antigua and Barbuda, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines).

To date the ELP has achieved a number of tangible outputs with over 17,000 learners reached at the Primary level, over 1500 Grades K to 3 teachers supported through job embedded professional development, 1426 lessons observed and 1031 coaching sessions with teachers have been completed by ELP Coordinators. Further, 60 schools across the Member States have received development grants to support reading enhancement projects and 173,114 teaching and learning materials have been provided to 750 classrooms across the OECS. The OECS/USAID ELP will run through to September 2020 continuing to develop and implement impactful initiatives that advance early grade reading throughout the OECS.