2. Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao
The Programme is part of DFAT’s assisted “Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao” (BEAM) i.e. ARMM
(BEAM) Programme. It envisages extending Islam-responsive kindergarten curriculum “Tahderiyyah”
(Islamic pre-school) to 800 Tahderiyyah centres (Madrassah). A phased Programme is then rolled out in
the Muslim dominated regions in Mindanao. It was implemented in three phases from June 2010 to June
2017.
The three stated objectives were to promote:
i) Universal access to primary education
ii) Gender equality and empowerment and
iii) Strengthening early childhood education (ECCD
The major stakeholders included: UNICEF, DFAT, DepEd (including DepEd ARMM), BDA, MILF Tarbiyyah
(Education) Committee, teachers and Mudirs (administrators) of the Tahderiyyah Centres, parents and
caregivers, and local NGOs.
3. purpose
The specific purpose of the evaluation is to: ‘generate evidence of Programme achievements, demonstrate
accountability to the stakeholders, document lessons learned, and list recommendations for continuity and
scale-up of the Programme’.
The evaluation has been designed and implemented using the overarching ‘Theory Based Evaluation
Approach’. In view of the evaluation objectives and questions, the evaluators applied ‘Descriptive’
design and the ‘Cross-sectional’ sub-design to respond to the evaluation questions and establish
‘causality’ in terms of Programmers contributions to the observed change/s.
4. Evaluation, design and implementation
The evaluation has been carried out using ‘mixed method’ and ‘participatory’ approaches. This included
information from both secondary and primary sources. Multiple primary data collection methods and tools
were applied to generate, corroborate and validate the information.
The Programme design and implementation exhibit equity integration in terms of prioritisation of communities
i.e. Bangsamoro Muslims, living in areas that feature insufficient and over-crowded public-sector education
infrastructure, and rampant poverty.
5. Programme assessed
The Programme has been assessed to be relevant to the context in terms of needs and aspirations of the
Bangsamoro Muslims in Mindanao. The Programme objectives were relevant and appropriate to the national
and regional priorities and local context. The Programme was effective, especially in terms of implementation
of strategies, interventions, partnerships, and structures.
The oversight mechanism in the form of ‘PAC’ worked effectively in providing opportunities for stakeholders
to interact and stamping ownership of the outputs. One such example is the approval of Tahderiyyah
curricula by DepEd, which enabled its mainstreaming.
.
6. The integration of WASH component
The integration of WASH component featuring mixed (soft and hard) interventions also proved effective in
raising awareness and facilitated restoration of water and sanitation facilities. Together, the capacity
development of Mudirs and teachers, with application of curriculum support materials (in terms of standards,
manuals, assessment checklists etc.) worked in creating desired teaching-learning environment
at Tahderiyyah Centres (TCs). The Programme also contributed to enhancing the BDA’s programme
management capacities, however not to the extent to enable them to continue to support TCs on their own.
7. Usable monitoring data
Only limited usable monitoring data was available to inform this evaluation. The approval of Tahderiyyah
curricula by the DepEd (in 2013) came up as one of the most glowing successes of the Programme,
enabling its mainstreaming. Despite success with approval of curricula, the Programme did struggle to
put in place effective and timely mechanisms for smooth transition of Tahderiyyah completers (to grade
01). The results of WASH component were found to be relatively more effective than those for
CP. Improving access to (kindergarten education) and preparing the conflict affected children of Mindanao
for schools, was largely achieved. The immediate impact in terms of facilitating the transition
of Tahderiyyah completers into mainstream education, has not been realized. For some, the impact has
been the rebranding of Madrassah to ‘adapt’ and ‘evolve’ to present day needs and realities.
