Somalia Education Evaluation -- Head Teacher Qualitative Data

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a 5-year accelerated basic education (ABE) program, Bar ama Baro - “Teach or Learn” (BAB), in targeted Somali states to increase access to quality education for out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) targeting ages 9-16. To better understand the outcomes of this endeavor, USAID contracted a multidisciplinary evaluation team, through LASER PULSE, led by Purdue University’s Evaluation and Learning Research Center (ELRC), in collaboration with Makerere University's Resilient Africa Network (RAN) and the Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI) to conduct an external evaluation of the BAB program. The evaluation aimed to provide rigorous and comprehensive evidence for improving program operations and informing evidence-based decision-making. It examined the relationships between the BAB program and outcomes of interest pertaining to access, retention, safety, learning outcomes, and contextual elements relative to formal primary students in the same communities. 

This dataset comprises 18 files representing interviews and focus groups with 36 Somali head teachers from BAB schools across the 3 states and Benaadir region included in the implementation. The head teacher interviews and focus groups complement quantitative teacher and head teacher surveys, key informant interviews and focus groups with community members, head teachers, implementing partners, and government officials to provide a holistic understanding of the levers and barriers to successful outcomes for diverse students.

The dataset also includes a head teacher attributes table listing the state, district, interview tool, participant numbers and genders, interview year, and school location type associated with each interview file.

The transcript data files have a naming convention of 4 alphanumeric characters, an underscore, and the year the data was collected (ie. HBF3_2023).

The first alphanumeric character indicates the respondent, where: T = teacher, H = head teacher, C = community member, D = district official,  G = government official, P = parent group, I = implementing partner

The second alphanumeric character indicates the State or Region where the data was collected: B = Benaadir region, F = Federal, H = Hirshabelle, J = Jubbaland, S = South-West

The third alphanumeric character indicates the type of protocol, where: I = interview and F = focus group    

The fourth alphanumeric character indicates the interview or focus group number.

Interview and focus group files are either verbatim transcripts or summaries from a recording or, when recordings were not possible, contemporaneous notes. When necessary, Somali partners translated transcripts from Somali to English.

Funding Acknowledgement

This dataset was made possible through support by USAID/Somalia through USAID/IPI/ITR/R’s Long-Term Assistance and Services for Research (LASER) PULSE Program under the terms of Cooperative Agreement No. 7200AA18CA00009. This activity is undertaken by a multi-disciplinary research team through the LASER PULSE consortium members, with Purdue University leading the effort, in collaboration with Makerere University and Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI) in Somalia, a member of the Makerere University’s Resilient Africa Network (RAN). The authors also acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the implementing partner, Creative Associates, International, the Somalia Ministry of Education, Culture, and Higher Education, and the funder, USAID/Somalia, to this work.   

This dataset includes 18 interview or focus group files with 36 Somali head teachers in Hirshabeelle, Jubbaland, South-West, or the Benaadir region of Somalia. Participants explored school characteristics and experiences with accelerated basic education.