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STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE CLOSE OUT REPORT 
A. SO Name: Better Educated Rural Society 
B. Number: 520-002 
C. Approval Date: 
On March 13, 1997, USAID/W approved the USAID/G-CAP bilateral strategy 1997-2001 (later 
extended to 2003), including the Strategic Objective (SO) No. 2 “Poverty Reduced in Selected 
Geographic Areas” and its Intermediate Result (IR) No. 3 “Improved Quality of and Expanded 
Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education.” Subsequently, on December 9, 1998, AA/LAC 
approved the reformulation of the Poverty Reduction SO into two new mutually reinforcing 
strategic objectives: “Increased Rural Income and Food Security” (SO4) and “Better Educated 
Rural Society” (SO2). 
D. Life of SO Funding: 
$ 41,512,083 ($19,754,000 DA + $21,758,083 Peace SpO ESF) 
This amount does not include $1,900,000 ESF in local currency scholarship programs that were 
managed by SO2; it also does not include the additional $1,100,000 that were made available to 
the SO from EGAT/Women in Development (WID) for SO2 program implementation. 
$ 44,512,083 total funds managed by SO2 for program implementation 
E. Completion Date: March 31, 2005 
 
F. Counterpart Contributions: 
The Ministry of Education fulfilled planned levels of counterpart contributions. The Strategic 
Objective Agreement (SOAG) committed the Ministry of Education to providing $6,718,490 in 
in-kind contributions. As of December 31, 2004, the MOE had contributed $7,130,126, 
representing 106% of their commitment. The Academy for Educational Development reported a 
contribution of $2,237,442 (almost 9.5 times the cost share commitment of $216,450). World 
Learning contributed 107% of its cost share ($3,553,114 versus $3,310,194). Enlace Quiché, 
which ended February 2004, exceeded the cost share for their agreement ($406,947 against the 
commitment of $212,910, i.e., 191%). The EDUMAYA commitment for $1,133,667 was also 
exceeded ($1,213,380, i.e., 107%). 
G. Other Partner Resources: 
USAID has pioneered alliance building in education. Three public/private alliances were in place 
during the strategy period that contributed directly to SO2 efforts. (1) Through the Academy for 
Educational Development, USAID’s partner under the Educational Development Center Dot￾EDU Leader Associate Award, the education program secured a total of $338,700 (34% 
leveraging ratio) in software licenses and “Microsoft-certified” training from Microsoft 
Corporation in support of the efforts to bring computer technology to the education sector. (2) 
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The Kennedy Foundation committed $34,000 in in-kind contributions, including technical 
assistance and a set of modules for the training activities, in support of the education reform 
process and special education in Guatemala. USAID committed $75,000 for local technical 
assistance and specialized education materials (channeled through the World Learning/Access to 
Intercultural Bilingual Education Cooperative Agreement) towards this alliance (45% leveraging 
ratio). (3) Through a Purchase Order ($24,495) with the Centro de Investigaciones Económicas 
Nacionales (CIEN), a total of $13,000 was leveraged as cash contributions from the business 
community, and $1,200,000 (339% leveraging ratio) in media time was secured from the 
National Advertising Council (CNP). This effort also included working with a new association 
of business leaders (Entrepreneurs for Education) to enhance their commitment to key education 
issues. The public awareness campaigns and the policy-level work carried out under this alliance 
during the 2003 electoral process in Guatemala contributed in significant ways to the country’s 
increased support for education. The Vote for Education media campaign was aired prior to the 
elections to get education squarely on the political agenda. A second media campaign, kicked off 
soon after the new administration took office, was in response to the Minister’s plea for help in 
the face of a Q12,207,890 budget deficit. The Pencil Marathon led to civil society and the private 
sector donating almost seven million pencils and other school supplies that were delivered to 
children of Guatemala’s 17,000 public primary schools. The USAID EQUIP2 activity is 
continuing to partner with Entrepreneurs for Education and the CNP to sponsor important 
workshops for business leaders and other stakeholders on various topics, including education 
investment and public-private partnerships for education. It also carried out the national media 
campaign in support of primary education for all, “Help Children to be Big when they become 
Big” (in coordination with BANCAFE, National Association of Journalists, CIEN, Publicity 
Commission), that began in late 2004.
 
H. Geographic Impact Area: 
The principal customers of the SO included rural populations, the indigenous, girls and women. 
IR1 enhanced primary education in the department of Quiché. IR2, which was also part of the 
Mission’s Peace Special Objective (SpO), covered the Zonapaz (Peace Zone), the rural areas 
(including Quiché) directly affected by the armed conflict. University scholarship recipients 
were drawn from throughout Guatemala, with focus on the Zonapaz. Drawing upon data and 
experience generated in the Zonapaz, IR3 sought national level impact through policy reform. 
I. Principal Implementing Partners: 
Ministry of Education, including the General Directorate for Intercultural Bilingual Education 
(DIGEBI), the National Program for Community School Management (PRONADE), and the 
Directorate for Educational Quality (DICADE); World Learning; Universidad Rafael Landivar 
(URL); Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC); Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala 
(UVG); Management Systems International (MSI); Educational Development Center Inc.(EDC); 
Academy for Educational Development (AED); American Institutes for Research (AIR); Juárez 
and Associates; Creative Associates; Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña (AEN); Fundación para 
el Desarrollo Rural (FUNRURAL); Asociación Guatemalteca de Educación Sexual (AGES); 
Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales (CIEN); Entrepreneurs for Education; 
National Coffee Association (ANACAFE); Save the Children.
The SO coordinated closely with three LAC regional education activities: PREAL (Partnership 
for Educational Revitalization in the Americas), CERCA (Civic Engagement for Education 
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Reform in Central America), and the LAC Presidential Initiative, CETT, (Centers of Excellence 
for Teacher Training). The SO’s work with the Entrepreneurs for Education, a private sector 
advocacy group for education, was undertaken in coordination with PREAL. Shared objectives 
were to generate demand for education reform by establishing a coalition of leaders and 
institutions to raise the profile of education issues among opinion leaders, with particular 
targeting on the corporate business sector. In coordination with the SO, CERCA undertook case 
studies of successful community participation in education and piloted the development of 
school report cards as a tool to increase community support of schooling and hold schools and 
policy makers accountable for educational quality. The CETT program, implemented in 
Guatemala by Del Valle University (UVG), was targeted at improving reading skills of children, 
grades 1-3. The SO provided additional assistance to the Central American CETT -- and 
specifically UVG -- to develop and adapt the classroom diagnostics and assessment tools and 
instructional materials and methodologies to improve reading skills of rural, non-Spanish￾speaking primary school children. The special emphasis on strengthening and expanding the 
CETT model for use in intercultural and bilingual classroom settings-- viewed as key for 
reducing the high incidence of first grade failure in rural areas-- was coordinated with the 
Mission’s improved classroom instructional efforts (and especially the “Save First 
Grade/Salvemos Primer Grado” pilot). 
J. Summary of Overall Impact at SO and IR Levels: 
The performance of the Education SO during the strategy period exceeded all expectations. All 
result indicator targets were met, and in most cases, significantly exceeded. 
SO Level: USAID made significant impact in education, especially in the geographic areas 
where the activities were focused. In the Quiché Department, over 150,000 boys and girls were 
the final customers of a basic education program intensively focused on intercultural and 
bilingual education. Results in Quiché at the end of the strategy demonstrate that USAID’s 
concentrated investment and intervention have led to a significant increase in the three SO 
indicators - Net Primary School Enrollment, Girls’ Gross Primary School Enrollment and 
Primary School Gender Equity Ratio. Net primary school enrollment in Quiché increased 
120%, from 47.6% to 104.6% (CY 1996-2004), and girls’ gross primary school enrollment 
increased 98%, from 62.1% to 122.7.0%. The primary school gender equity ratio (the ratio of 
girls enrolled in primary school to boys) in rural Quiché increased from 74.2% to 86.8%. In 
1992, when USAID’s pilot girls’ education activities began, the gender equity ratio in rural 
Quiché was 70.8%, showing a steady improvement in the past 12 years in closing the gender gap 
in primary school access. 
IR1: Children of Quiché have increased access to primary intercultural and bilingual 
education
A longitudinal study of education in Quiché shows that there have been significant achievements 
in education that are attributable to the implementation of quality intercultural and bilingual 
education. Teacher and supervisor training that USAID has carried out in Quiché (and extended 
to other departments of the K’iche’ language area: Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, and Sololá), 
utilized participatory approaches, and the hands-on, culturally contextualized learning materials 
developed have significantly improved the quality of classroom instruction, especially in the 
early grades. Among the significant achievements, third grade completion rates for rural 
girls increased by 96%, from 18.2% to 35.8% (CY1996-2004). Also, the percent of bilingual 
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teachers who demonstrate mastery of intercultural bilingual education methodologies has 
more than tripled, from 14.6% in 1998 to 59.6% in 2004, and the percent of schools with 
parents participating in education processes (maintenance, and administration or learning) 
increased from 72.0% to 82.0% during the same period as parents’ involvement in education 
management and learning accelerated. 
IR2: Rural communities of the Zonapaz have greater access to educational services
The program also managed Peace funds to help rural communities in the Zonapaz gain access to 
educational services. Under the EDUMAYA program with the Rafael Landivar University and 
the three local currency supported university scholarship programs, the cumulative number of 
scholarship recipients has reached 2,335, including a cumulative number of 1,242 
indigenous university graduates. Additionally, between 2000 and 2004, a total of 15,061 non￾university one-year scholarship recipients benefited from the local currency supported rural 
Quiché girls’ scholarship program, the junior high girls scholarship program in the K’iche’ 
highlands, and the primary scholarship activity for rural boys and girls at risk of dropping out of 
school. 
IR3: Education strategies and policies that enhance gender equity and cultural pluralism 
are implemented 
USAID’s education policy reform activities have focused on strengthening policy analysis and 
dialogue capacity among government and private sector institutions with the aim of legitimizing 
education reform, building constituencies, improving the education policy environment, and 
orienting public sector policies and strategies on increased and improved investments in primary 
education. A total of 25 key policies and strategies have been implemented that enhance 
gender equity and cultural pluralism, and that are attributable, in part, to USAID’s policy-related 
efforts. 
 
K. Summary of activities used to achieve the SO and their major outputs: 
The USAID/Guatemala Better Educated Rural Society Program addressed the educational needs 
of school age children and youth in the Quiché Department and other rural, indigenous areas of 
the Zonapaz of Guatemala. Development Assistance (DA) resources were used to increase 
educational access, improve educational quality, and enhance the capacity and commitment of 
the Ministry of Education and civil society to formulate and carry out education reform 
strategies. The program included three components: (a) increased access and quality of 
intercultural bilingual education for Quiché children through teacher training, development of 
multicultural materials and methodologies, and increased parent participation; (b) greater access 
to education services for rural communities (coordinated with the Peace Special Objective); and 
(c) implementation of education policies and strategies that enhance gender equity and cultural 
pluralism. 
IR1: Children of Quiché have increased access to primary intercultural and bilingual 
education 
More than 150,000 boys and girls from the Department of Quiché now have increased access to 
quality intercultural and bilingual education as a result of USAID’s basic education program that 
intensively focused in this department. A longitudinal study of education in Quiché demonstrates 
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significant educational achievements over the past five years, and these are directly attributable 
to the delivery of quality intercultural and bilingual education. With USAID support, primary 
schools in Quiché reduced drop-out rates by over 40%, and in bilingual schools drop-outs were 
reduced by over two-thirds across all grade levels. The largest decreases in percents of drop-outs 
were in preschool and first grade, where the drop-out rates are highest and where USAID has 
focused policy dialogue and programmatic attention. Observations show that classrooms are now 
more active, that teachers interact more readily with girls as well as boys, and that Spanish is 
now being taught in a more systematic way, using sound second language methodologies and 
materials. Use of Mayan languages by teachers for instructional purposes has increased 
dramatically. To illustrate, in 1999 only 21% of second grade teachers reached criterion of 
Mayan language use in the classroom, but in 2004, 75% of the teachers reached criterion. 
Overall, teachers’ mastery of effective intercultural bilingual education teaching methodologies 
rose significantly (from 10% in 1999 to 60% in 2004, exceeding the ambitious end-of-strategy 
target of 50%). 
At the request of the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s Bilingual Education and Educational 
Quality Directorates ((DIGEBI and DICADE respectively), World Learning/Access to 
Intercultural Bilingual Education Project (PAEBI) trained central Ministry and departmental 
education authorities and supervisors (CTAs), from the 13 predominantly indigenous 
departments (and intensively in Quiché, Sololá, Totonicapán and Quetzaltenango) in intercultural 
bilingual education (IBE) methodologies and materials. These efforts, as well as networking 
with other donors and the private sector, collaborative work with local NGOs, and the 
distribution of project-developed guides, modules and books, have allowed the project to 
disseminate and institutionalize its strategies and experience in support of IBE and educational 
quality. As a sustainability strategy, PAEBI staff organized a legal Guatemalan entity, 
“Asociación KemowEtamanik Bilingüe Intercultural” in 2004. After the close of the activity on 
March 15, 2005, it continued its bilingual education service delivery with other funding sources, 
including a contract with the MOE to train and monitor parent-teacher education committees 
(Juntas Escolares in Quiché). 
As a transition activity to the Central America and Mexico (CAM) Regional Strategy, Guatemala 
Country Plan (2004-2008), PAEBI implemented the Salvemos Primer Grado pilot. This cost￾effective, easy-to-implement intervention consists of a package of classroom reforms designed to 
reduce drop-out and repetition in the first grade. Teachers use monthly standardized tests and 
other continuous assessments to monitor students’ learning of curriculum-based competencies. 
Their individual performance is tracked on progress charts that parents consult as well as 
teachers. Active learning approaches are integrated into the instruction and include the use of 
materials made from local resources, such as the “Magic Worm” (a flexible wire threaded with 
corn cob segments that teachers and students use to form letters, numbers and shapes). Due to 
the overwhelmingly successful outcomes of the pilot’s first year of operation (promotion rates 
jumped by 15%) and concerted USAID advocacy, the Ministry adopted the program’s name and 
many of its components for nation-wide implementation. PAEBI supported the Ministry’s 
nation-wide upgrade training for first grade teachers, by training teachers, supervisors, education 
technical specialists in Quiché, Totonicapán and Quetzaltenango in Salvemos Primer Grado
approaches. USAID/Measuring Educational Indicators and Results (MEDIR) evaluated the pilot 
and identified determining factors in first grade failure, so that best practices and lessons learned 
can be taken to national level under the CAM Strategy.
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One of the biggest challenges for education in rural Guatemala has been encouraging the 
involvement of communities and parents in the education process as strategies to increase 
accountability and quality. A principal goal of the USAID education program in Quiché, an area 
where noteworthy progress was made is fostering greater community participation in schooling. 
Schools in Quiché where parents serve as members of the parent-teacher education committee 
board and participate in supervisory or other decision-making capacity increased from a paltry 
10% in 1998 to an appreciable 56% in 2004, Schools where parents help their children with 
homework or volunteer in the classroom almost doubled, from 45% in 1998 to 82% in 2004. In 
2004, the program trained 3,300 teachers, 12,000 parents and 619 normal school students in 
educational rights and responsibilities, techniques to help children with school work and 
learning at home, making educational materials with local resources, functions and operations of 
parent-teacher education committees, foundations of IBE, and other topics. At the request of the 
MOE, under the Ministry’s community participation goal, “Schools Belong to Communities,” 
PAEBI partnered with FUNCAFE to set up and train parent-teacher education committees in 435 
communities of Totonicapán, Sololá, Quetzaltenango, and Huehuetenango. It is clear that 
considerably more needs to be done for effective decentralization of education services, but 
USAID’s groundbreaking work in this area provides significant capital for future efforts. 
USAID’s pioneering work in Information Communication Technology (ICT) with Enlace 
Quiché, under LearnLink (AED) and Dot-EDU (EDC and AED) and complementary ICT 
endeavors with World Learning (PAEBI) and URL (EDUMAYA) have sparked tremendous 
interest throughout Guatemala in the uses of technology as tools to achieve social and 
educational goals. Efforts have led to the successful development and application of creative 
ways for ICT to be used to improve teacher training; increased the availability of didactic 
materials for students, teachers, and social organizations; contributed to distance learning for 
professional development; and helped revitalize Guatemala’s indigenous languages and cultures, 
a central tenet of the Peace Accords. The Agency considers “Enlace Quiché” to be one of its 
most successful ICT projects across the globe, and it has received much national and 
international acclaim, including the recent selection of its director for the prestigious Tech 
Museum Award (from 580 candidate worldwide). In partnership with Microsoft, Enlacé Quiché
equipped and made operational state-of-the-art technology centers in 13 rural teacher training 
secondary schools or community centers, and built capacity in partner institutions to create their 
own interactive digital materials. Over a dozen model CD-ROMs supporting improved 
classroom learning, teacher training, and first and second language skills were created, several 
winning international awards. Working in collaboration, PAEBI and Enlace Quiché set up 
computer centers in 16 rural Quiché primary schools. These schools serve as the prototype for 
the Ministry’s new “Future Schools” program. Enlace Quiché’s legacy also includes 
establishing a virtual community of students, teachers and professionals through the creation of a 
Web Portal www.ebiguatemala.org http://www.ebiguatemala.org. Prior to its closing in 
February 2004, Enlace Quiché evolved to an independent Guatemalan NGO, Asociación AjB’atz 
Enlace Quiché, that already has entered into contracts with the MOE and Ministry of Culture and 
Sports and obtained grants from Microsoft and Canada’s Institute for Connectivity. 
IR2: Rural communities of the Zonapaz have greater access to educational services 
The program also managed SpO funds to help rural communities gain access to educational 
services and to foster greater indigenous participation in public life. Through the the Rafael 
Landivar University/EDUMAYA activity, 2,000 indigenous men and women received 
Comment [JBR1]: Check this 
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scholarships to study 38 different degree programs. A total of 1,234 EDUMAYA students, 
including 656 women, have graduated by the close of the activity in December 2004. With 
USAID support, the EDUMAYA students and alumni are organized into a formal association 
(CNEPU-MAYA) that is developing leadership skills and fostering greater participation in 
political and social arenas. With the initiatives of the Peace Process, it was noted that the 
education promoters who had served as teachers for the displaced/returned refugee communities 
generally did not possess the minimum education standards for teacher certification required by 
the MOE. Under EDUMAYA, four NGOs (Cooperación Mesoamericana para el Desarrollo de 
la Paz (COMADEP), Proyecto de Desarrollo Santiago (PRODESSA), Escuelas Sin Fronteras, 
and Niños Refugiados del Mundo) were funded to support professionalization for promoters 
programs in underserved communities, training 380 community education promoters to become 
certified as bilingual primary and pre-primary teachers. They also received training to introduce 
innovative education models in their schools, leading to more effective community involvement 
and increased student leadership. EDUMAYA also delivered an adult literacy diploma program 
for 48 government literacy providers, and field tested the 17 materials and the set of five training 
CDs that comprise the Integrated Community Literacy (ICL) package for initial and post I and II 
literacy training in two indigenous languages (K’iche’ and Ixil) and Spanish. The ICL 
methodology and some of the materials were originally developed by the USAID-Save the 
Children/COMAL (Comunidades Mayas Alfabetizados) activity (1998-2002), which also 
elaborated a simple, but thorough, monitoring and evaluation system and a booklet on lessons 
learned and ICL best practices. Through the collaboration of EDUMAYA and PAEBI, 1,125 in￾service teachers (511 women and 614 men) participated in a one semester, university –accredited 
Diploma program in Intercultural Bilingual Education. 
The San Carlos, Rafael Landivar, and Del Valle University local currency “matching” 
scholarship programs awarded scholarships according to the programming established with 
USAID. Since late 2000, a total of 335 students have received scholarships to study in university 
degree programs and 44 of these students have now graduated. In addition, the programs 
absorbed 65 EDUMAYA scholarship students who, at the close of EDUMAYA program in 
December 2004, still required one to three years of study to complete their degree programs. 
Over the strategy period, UVG offered a total of 2,529 scholarships for extension short courses 
in such areas as eco-tourism, agro-industry, setting-up nurseries and greenhouses, cultivation of 
orchids and bromeliads and food preservation as well as bilingual education. UVG also offered 
scholarships to a total of 61 high school students from rural areas of Sololá and the south coast to 
participate in innovative plus-up programs at the Altiplano and PROESUR campuses. Under this 
Instituto Tecnológico program, the students studied their final two years of high school as well as 
the first four semesters of a university technical program.
As part of the Mission’s effort to assist food insecure families and generate temporary 
employment and other income transfers in vulnerable communities of Quiché, Sololá, San 
Marcos and Huehuetenango, USAID awarded a one-year cooperative agreement (January 2002 
to January 2003) with the National Coffee Association (ANACAFE) and its social development 
arm, the Fundación para el Desarrollo Rural (FUNRURAL—now known as FUNCAFE), to 
provide 3,432 scholarships for boys and girls at risk of dropping out of school. In addition, 4,749 
parents were offered incentives to work on school improvement projects. The nearly perfect 
promotion rate of the scholarship students (94.9% total: 94.8% girls and 95.1% boys), despite the 
significant pressure on families to migrate out of their impoverished communities to obtain work 
suggests that not only are parents interested and committed to their children’s education, but, that 
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when minimal economic assistance or labor opportunity incentives are available to them, parents 
make sure their children remain in school. 
The Junior High Girls’ Scholarships Program, implemented by the Guatemalan Association for 
Sex Education (AGES) in 2002-2004, supported during each successive year of the program 300 
indigenous girls from the K’iche’ highlands to study junior high (Grades 7-9). The activity met 
its target, with 289 of the Year 3 scholarship recipients receiving the Ministry of Education 9th
Grade certification. Of the original cohort of 300 girls, 165 or 55.3% completed the three grades 
of junior high in three years. This rate surpasses the national rate for all sectors of 45.7%, 
demonstrating the success this program had supporting rural girls to study post-primary 
education despite their families’ economic hardships and other obstacles to girls gaining higher 
educational levels. During the three years, the girls helped a total of 1,750 community members 
become literate as “social pay-back” for their opportunity to study. Several girls so competently 
provided literacy training that some of their learners received first grade, third grade, and even 
sixth grade primary school certification by the National Committee for Adult Literacy 
(CONALFA). 
IR3: Education strategies and policies that enhance gender equity and cultural pluralism 
are implemented 
USAID assistance has been pivotal in propelling education reform in Guatemala. Under the 
Improving Educational Quality (IEQ II) IQC, the key objective of the MEDIR I (Measuring 
Educational Indicators and Results) Task Order with American Institute for Research (AIR), 
implemented by its sub contractor Juarez & Associates (1998-2003) was to enhance Guatemalan 
capacity for monitoring, evaluation and applied research in key Guatemalan organizations, 
particularly the Ministry of Education’s General Directorate for Bilingual Intercultural Education 
(DIGEBI), in order to provide the basis for analyzing and assessing the elements of schooling 
that affect student performance and the quality of education in bilingual settings. IEQ II provided 
technical assistance and tools to support the MOE, DIGEBI, and other key public, private and 
nonprofit entities to enhance their respective capabilities to focus on quality and gender equity in 
bilingual settings and to identify and make decisions regarding improvement in the quality of 
bilingual education service delivery. A second key focus was to improve and expand the 
dialogue on educational quality for under-served populations (primarily rural, indigenous and 
girls) in order to encourage positive changes in classroom practice and educational policy 
leading to more successful student performance. MEDIR has proven to be a crucial resource of 
information for the wide range of entities involved in the Guatemala education reform process, 
and a particular support to promoting understanding of and support for gender equity and 
bilingual intercultural efforts in Guatemala. 
In 2000, the Portillo administration identified as educational priorities the reduction of illiteracy; 
universal access to primary education; intercultural bilingual education; curricular 
transformation; teacher professional development; and decentralization of education 
administration. Although the goals were important and critical for achieving a better educated 
Guatemala, the ministry was limited in its ability to develop or implement a coherent and 
comprehensive education policy and programmatic interventions. With donor support, progress 
was made in the education reform that emerged from the Peace Accords, but with shifting 
priorities, a lack of strategic planning, and a teachers’ strike at the beginning of the 2003 school 
year that paralyzed public primary education for 51 days, the reform lost considerable 
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momentum. Despite setbacks in the political environment for policy change, USAID’s education 
policy reform activities continued to focus on strengthening policy analysis and dialogue 
capacity among government and private sector institutions with the aim of legitimizing and 
constructing support for education reform, building constituencies, and improving the education 
policy environment. USAID provided support for 14 civil society organizations (CSOs) for 
education policy dialogue and advocacy at the local and departmental levels. The capacity of the 
CSOs to participate in educational political dialogue as measured by an advocacy index (scale: 0-
5) rose from a score of 1.2 in 2000 to 3.3 in 2003. 
With USAID support, proactive policy dialogue and advocacy by civil society during 
Guatemala’s 2003 elections ensured that education was positioned high on the political agenda. 
MSI’s Support for Education Policy Implementation Activity (that closed in mid January 2004) 
held a series of 75 political mobilization fora in municipalities and departmental capitals, and 50 
radio fora with mayoral and congressional candidates. Education reform and the need for 
increased resources - especially at the school level - were underscored. Oscar Berger 
campaigned under the slogan “Education, Education, and More Education,” and once in office 
included education and social sector investment as priorities within his administration. The new 
Minister of Education has called upon USAID and its partners for policy and programmatic 
orientation. Five ambitious goals lead the government’s 2004-2007 education plan and clearly 
reflect SO2 programming, the impact of USAID’s policy dialogue and the CAM Guatemala 
Country Plan: 1) universal primary coverage, “Primaria Completa para Todos;” 2) educational 
quality and classroom reform, “Reforma en el Aula;” 3) community participation, “La Escuela es 
de la Comunidad;” 4) education for competitiveness, “Educación en el Mundo Competitivo;” 
and, 5) national and cultural identity, “Soy Orgulloso de Ser Guatemalteco.” Intercultural and 
bilingual education and gender equity permeate the five goals, reflecting USAID’s enormous 
success in overcoming political resistance to these important areas. 
The EQUIP2 Education Finance Policy Dialogue Cooperative Agreement with the Academy for 
Educational Development (AED), was signed in March 2004 to facilitate a national dialogue on 
social investment, with particular emphasis on education, leading to the adequate allocation of 
resources to reach educational goals. Soon after the agreement with AED was signed, the new 
Minister of Education established that any significant dialogue on education should be done with 
her leadership and full participation. The Minister thus proposed a broader role for the activity: 
(1) help strengthen the Ministry’s capacity to play a strategic role in education as the rector, 
convoker, driving force, and leader on educational dialogue; (2) assist the country in defining a 
new vision for education; and, (3) help build consensus around a coherent and sustainable 
financial strategy to address the goals, priorities and challenges in the sector. To this end, and 
with EQUIP2’s help in designing the Vision Education strategy, the Minister formed a Grupo 
Promotor of seven leaders (the Minister, a University Rector, Congressional member, Mayan 
leader, a teacher involved in education reform, a businessman, and an NGO education leader) 
who then brought together the Grupo Constructor, consisting of 60 people from government, 
different civil society organizations and the private sector, and together they were to be 
responsible for designing the 20-year vision and setting the goals and strategies to achieve the 
vision. The content of what to advocate would emerge from Vision Education, which would 
also provide the framework, consensus, momentum and networks through which to make the 
vision – and the project results – a reality over the short, medium and long term. EQUIP2, the 
facilitator and research arm of the Vision Education process, funded three studies under the 
coordination of a local think tank, the Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales
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(CIEN): macro-economic and macro- finance issues related to education; the costs of funding the 
new educational model and goals; and, the role of municipalities and mayors in education and 
education finance. EQUIP2 further supported the process by providing international technical 
assistance to review the studies and assist in finalizing the results. The Vision Education 
activities have spawned a nascent commitment to raising an adequate level of social investment 
needed to enable the country to achieve its goals and commitments. 
To assist the new Ministry in planning and decision-making, USAID, through USAID/- Basic 
Education and Policy Support (BEPS) field support, funded FLACSO to undertake a study of 
teachers’ unions and CIEN to carry out a situational study of private education. The Minister 
utilized the later study to orient the installation of a private education office within the Ministry 
and work on new education legislation that includes private education. USAID/MEDIR was a 
crucial information resource for the education reform process, by making available to a wide 
array of actors and the Arzu, Portillo and Berger administrations, solid sector-wide data and 
evidence-based policy analyses. The profile of education compiled by MEDIR (CD-ROM 
Education for All: Will We Arrive Where We Want to Go?) was avidly utilized by the Ministry, 
as well as other donors, CSOs and NGOs, for establishing priorities, performance indicators and 
targets. MEDIR II (2003-2005) undertook two operations research studies central to CAM 
policy dialogue: determining factors in first grade failure, particularly in rural areas, and the 
effectiveness of the MOE’s community-level decentralization strategies. Early in her 
administration, the new Minister requested USAID to do national-level studies of student 
learning achievement and teachers’ basic skill competencies. Funds for these important studies 
were provided by the USAID/Women in Development Office and a Task Order was signed with 
Juarez and Associates to: 1) work with Del Valle University to administer and analyze a battery 
of math and language tests to a sample of approximately 20,000 first grade and 15,000 third 
grade students; 2) undertake a study of approximately 1,500 teachers’ basic skills competencies 
in language and math; and, 3) train 10,000 teachers in the girls’ education active learning 
manual, Sugerencias de dinámicas que apoyan mi trabajo, that was developed in 2001 by the 
USAID Girls’ Education Activity. 
L. Prospects for long-term sustainability of impact and principal threats to 
sustainability: 
USAID’s performance in improving access to quality education for Guatemala’s indigenous 
people achieved outstanding success in 2004, crowning the final full year of strategy 
implementation with remarkable gains at the national policy level and in the SO activities 
focused on ensuring sustainability of the interventions and transitioning programming to the 
CAM Strategic Objective No. 3 “Investing in People: Healthier, Better Educated People” 
strategy. With USAID support, proactive policy dialogue and advocacy by civil society during 
Guatemala’s 2003 elections ensured that education emerged as a leading issue on the political 
agenda. The new Minister of Education has called upon USAID and its partners for policy and 
programmatic orientation. Intercultural and bilingual education and gender equity permeates the 
five goals of the government’s 2004-2007 education plan, reflecting USAID’s formidable 
success in attenuating political resistance in these important areas. Our policy dialogue with the 
MOE using evidence-based best practices and lessons learned continues in 2005. 
While securing this political commitment is key to future progress, the nation’s educational 
system is still characterized by severely inadequate financing, insufficient coverage, poor quality, 
11 
centralized decision-making, little accountability, and ethnic and gender inequities. With some of 
the worst education statistics in the region (and according to a UNESCO study, Guatemala 
figures as the worst country in the hemisphere with regard to educational quality), the country 
faces enormous challenges. Well-targeted assistance from USAID addressed fundamental 
educational needs of school age Maya children and youth, focusing most directly on the Quiché 
Department and other rural, indigenous highland areas of Guatemala that suffered most during 
the nation’s 36-year civil war. Resources were concentrated on key elements of educational 
quality, access, efficiency, and equity, with special emphasis on multi/interculturalism and 
gender equity, and enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Education and civil society to 
formulate and carry out education reform strategies. The program focused on three areas: (1) 
increased access and quality of intercultural bilingual education (IBE) in the Quiché department; 
(2) greater educational services for rural communities; and, (3) development of educational 
policies and strategies sensitive to gender and cultural diversity. While the overall education 
situation in Guatemala remains alarmingly deficient, the USAID program has made outstanding 
contributions toward a better educated rural society, virtually turning around important trend 
lines, especially in the geographic areas where activities were focused. Between 1996 and 2004 
in the Quiché department, net primary school enrollment for girls increased an astonishing 
132%, from 43.1% to 100.4% (and significantly exceeds the 2004 national net enrollment rate 
for girls of 90.6%). Third grade completion rates for rural girls increased by a notable 102%, 
from 18.2% to 36.9%. Boys’ enrollment and third grade completion rates also showed similar 
improvement. The primary school gender equity ratio (the ratio of girls enrolled in primary 
schools to boys) in rural Quiché increased from 74% to 87%. Teachers’ mastery of more 
effective bilingual teaching methodologies increased from 1998 to 2004 by over 500% (from 
9.6% to 59.6%) and parents’ involvement in education management and learning accelerated, 
contributing to improved school attendance, retention and promotion, especially in intercultural 
bilingual schools. A heightened commitment to educational reform was galvanized by launching 
concerted advocacy efforts and forum to get education on center stage of the 2003 election 
agenda. USAID’s policy-related efforts, in tandem with PREAL and CERCA education policy 
reform advocacy and CETT’s early reading initiative, played a key role in shaping the new 
administration’s policy orientation and programs, including a clear prioritization of improving 
primary education quality and efficiency and the adoption of the USAID pilot Salvemos Primer 
Grado as the cornerstone of Ministry initiatives.
 
The public financing needed to address Guatemala’s education problems is substantial; 2004 
government primary education expenditures amounted to only 1.29% of GDP and public 
expenditures for the education sector at large was only 2.5% of GDP. This lags far behind the 
public investment needed for universal coverage of basic services and is well below that of other 
Central American governments. Greater targeting of education funding is also needed. 
Assistance from USAID/Guatemala, under the new CAM SO3 “Investing in People: Healthier, 
Better Educated People” for the period 2004-2008, will increase and improve social sector 
investments. Policy dialogue in health and education will focus on increased public investments; 
improved accountability and transparency; effective decentralization of services; and, increased 
quality, efficiency, and equity of government programs. USAID’s education assistance will 
focus on improving primary school completion rates by promoting policies and actions that 
increase the quality of education and reduce internal inefficiency (drop-out and repetition, 
especially in the early grades). USAID will encourage private sector partnerships to advance 
these objectives, capitalizing on a sharp increase in corporate social responsibility programs. 
12 
Assistance from USAID will contribute to bridge the enormous health and education gap 
between rural indigenous highland populations and the rest of the country, leading to increased 
access to quality basic education, health and nutrition services. 
 
M. Lessons learned: 
The lessons learned during the strategy period are organized around the principal activity 
groupings. 
1. EDUMAYA Program (with Rafael Landivar University) 
• The dramatic socioeconomic and cultural divides between indigenous and ladino populations 
in Guatemala contextualize all potential interventions that could benefit indigenous peoples. 
If the significance of this is not addressed adequately in project design and implementation, it 
can limit the potential impact on indigenous peoples. To allay or eliminate bias and 
prejudice, intra- as well as inter-culturally, cross-cultural training is required, from 
orientation, implementation, and follow-up, for all participants in the scholarship program – 
faculty, students, program coordinators, directors – and even those not in the program (such 
as ladino students) through continuing education, workshops, discussion groups, reading 
circles, or other means. University faculty, in particular, should participate in orientation or 
preparatory workshops to learn more about ethnic and minority cultures in Guatemala, the 
transition to the university experience for first-generation students, and the benefit of 
mentoring by concerned faculty. 
• Experienced EDUMAYA graduates, who overcame family opposition, relocation and 
housing considerations, employment and economic issues, etc., can provide rich resources 
for future planning and mentoring. 
• There is need for longitudinal research on the impact the EDUMAYA program has had on 
university faculty, administrators, and non-EDUMAYA students. 
• The university graduates overall appear to have gained a greater sense of personal identity 
and a clearer understanding of their historical, political, economic, and cultural place within 
Guatemalan society. Also, most graduates are optimistic, energetic and proactive – all signs 
of a developed sense of self-worth. Learning more about the process by which the program 
has accomplished this result merits further investigation, since this could have great 
relevancy for other programs involving disadvantaged populations. 
• The National Council for Professional Maya University Students (CNEPU-Maya) needs 
support in clarifying its potential long-term role in Guatemala, to avoid becoming just 
another NGO or project implementer. The generation of EDUMAYA graduates represents a 
unique resource with enormous long-term potential that could have social, economic and 
political impact at the highest level. CNEPU-Maya has great potential for communicating 
news, information, and issue-oriented content about common issues; mobilizing the 
community members to action on vital concerns; and coordinating and facilitating useful 
follow-up and training programs; providing EDUMAYA graduates a ready-to-hand 
mechanism to channel and leverage their skills into positive action, while enhancing their 
potential through continuing education, professional licensing, etc. 
• The Integrated Community Literacy (ICL) model is an effective approach to bi-literacy 
training, especially in the context of a post-conflict society, and where indigenous peoples 
want educational services to which they normally have had limited access. ICL develops 
basic reading, writing and math skills concurrently with the obtention of greater 
13 
empowerment, leadership and community development skills. By initially instilling literacy 
and numeracy in the learner’s maternal language, and with sufficient oral proficiency gained 
in the second language, skills are more easily transferable to Spanish. The learning process 
is more demanding and time consuming than many learners, anxious to become proficient 
and literate in Spanish, expect, and thus there can enter a certain frustration factor that can 
undermine a program. It is critical that literacy workers and participants know and 
understand the reasoning behind the methodology before literacy services begin so that 
adequate explanations regarding the need to work harder are provided from the onset. 
2. ENLACE QUICHÉ - QUICHÉ NETWORKING PROJECT
 (with AED/LearnLink and DOT-EDU) 
• The range and breadth (and inherent complexity) of the program activities greatly 
outweighed both the financial resource allocations and proposed timeframes of the project. 
Extraordinary results were achieved in diverse areas such as websites and materials 
development, center diversity, and a unique elementary school pilot experience. However, 
technical focus was diluted by difficult logistics and a seemingly “scattered shot” effect of a 
fifteen-center rotation. 
• The center assistance model, while plagued by logistic hindrances (caused by donated 
equipment), did maximize the utilization of the available project resources. Better 
coordination between the intercultural bilingual education focused activities and those aimed 
at upgrading and streamlining center operations would have possibly enabled more useful 
experiential knowledge. The accrual and translation of such knowledge into incisive 
instrumentation (i.e., more tangible tools and products) for the classroom environments 
immediate to the centers would have provided a higher added-value in terms of necessary 
curricular review and enhancements to teaching practices. 
• Valuable field experience, drawn from repeated first-hand contact with teachers and students 
as they progressively incorporated technology into their productivity, remained poorly 
documented and devoid of adequate feedback loops into ongoing decision-making. In￾classroom follow-up and support did not take place in systematic fashion and thus, the 
project lacked the more valuable knowledge to support and further curricular enhancements 
to EBI. 
• Project partnerships exemplified a well balanced and effective mix of public/private 
stakeholder scenarios for technology-driven educational initiatives. A sense of progress is 
highlighted in the recognition of valuable skills transfer, effective and relevant products 
delivered. A useful understanding of “next step” planning, design and implementation was 
conveyed by the institutional partners. 
• Cost-effectiveness aspects of certain program elements did not yield the expected results. 
Donated equipment that overburdens support staff and engulfs program management and 
administration in excessive public sector red tape should be avoided in the future. A more 
balanced approach in terms of coverage vs. the depth of program inputs must be favored. 
Overall program design and timeframes must more realistically consider actual access and 
protocol related to key actors and authorities in relevant public sector realms. 
• Mini-Bilingual Education Technology Centers of Excellence (CETEBIs) established in 16 
rural primary schools offered a unique mix of direct teacher involvement and corresponding 
materials production. Inferences regarding optimum scale, depth and scope of observation 
and a closer program proximity to the actual bilingual classroom environment will be of 
critical importance to future program design. 
14 
• Surveys covering users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications in 
general, and teachers as a special class of user need to be better incorporated into mainstream 
program activities. Surveys relevant to the engagement of key actors and educational 
authorities seemed detached from other cross-referencing opportunities provided by other 
program actions. The surveys were not significantly useful in better profiling and mapping 
pre-service or in-service perceptions and attitudes regarding ICT-driven curricular 
enhancements, their appropriateness, or their feasibility. 
3. Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education -PAEBI 
(with World Learning and Save the Children) 
• PAEBI proposed major paradigm shifts in the Guatemalan education system, and it 
advocated major shifts in gender relationships within Mayan families, as well as shifts in 
attitude and relationships between the Ladino schoolteachers and Mayan parents and 
children. These were indeed ambitious goals and ultimately required all parties to embrace 
shared visions in order to achieve them. Changes of this magnitude cannot be imposed on 
stakeholders. Additionally, teachers, government authorities, parents, and students must be 
involved and convinced that these strategies and actions are useful; otherwise, they will not 
respond as desired. Projects are sustainable only when there is a verifiable overlapping of 
interests and goals on the part of the host government decision-makers, its clients, and the 
international donor community. 
• Community members, parents, teachers, and government officials had long understood 
education for indigenous-speaking children as classroom immersion in Spanish. Monolingual 
Spanish teachers used materials and methodologies appropriate for teaching Spanish. 
Confused, bored, and frustrated, a large percentage of the students dropped out or were failed 
by the end of the first grade. PAEBI’s success was in creating an appreciation on the part of 
teachers, public education officials, parents, and society at large that everyone learns best, 
including children, in their primary language of understanding. If children cannot understand, 
cannot communicate with the teacher, they cannot readily learn. Teaching in the student’s 
language of comprehension was the key strategy to ensuring that monolingual K’iche’ and 
Ixil primary students learn Spanish, and thus be able in the future to participate fully in a 
predominantly Spanish-speaking economic and social milieu. 
• When giving community training about parental rights and responsibilities in the education 
system, it is best to incorporate teachers and school directors so that they do not feel that 
parents are being trained to confront them. If they feel threatened, they will not cooperate. It 
is important to develop a clear understanding by government officials, teachers, parents and 
the community at large that education is the responsibility of all. 
• PAEBI took an active, “hands on” approach in the classrooms, developing practical materials 
and methodologies and field-testing them. By showing that the same materials and processes 
could be modified and used for languages other than K’iche’ or Ixil demonstrated the ease of 
adapting the materials and methodologies for use in other language areas of Guatemala as 
well. 
4. Education Policy Reform Support (with MSI) 
• In order to develop replicable and sustainable activities, project staff early on in the activity 
must establish strong relationships of trust and respect with stakeholder organizations and 
15 
leaders. Staff must appear neutral on the issues and take care to be positive and supportive of 
national processes and leadership, despite apparent or inherent weaknesses. 
• Strategic selection of a manageable number of Civil Society Organization (CSO) partners 
should be undertaken to allow projects to provide tailor-made technical assistance (TA) and 
training. A careful selection of partner CSOs – combined with a rapid needs assessment to 
determine the areas of need, interest, actions taken, and degree of influence of CSO partners 
in policy reform – enhance the impact of the project’s TA and training. 
• To increase the likelihood of sustainability of policy analysis and advocacy, an activity 
should develop TA and training that are flexible, dynamic (e.g., a set of sessions for CSOs to 
select from), and coherently designed to meet participants’ needs, interests, and institutional 
abilities. A training strategy that starts from where the individuals/organizations are, and is 
designed to socially empower participants while developing political analysis skills, has 
potential for replicating sustainable skills. 
• Having relevant TA and training tools ready to use as requested by interested and capable 
stakeholders, so that momentum is generated early in the activity and maintained throughout, 
is key to increase the chance that partners will replicate policy reform processes. 
• It is advantageous to develop synergies with other relevant activities and projects, and use the 
same products to reinforce the message and information communicated. 
• It is important to develop alternative strategies for assistance in the face of weak, but 
nevertheless key institutional actors. It is also crucial to clearly assess and be realistic about 
the capacity of the institution to work with strategic consultants and actually absorb such 
assistance. Even if there is verbal commitment and genuine ownership with regard to the 
initiation of strategic processes of change, it is important to assure that sufficient material and 
human resources are assigned to those processes. 
• Education policy cannot be mandated by projects, especially those which are heavily subject 
to changes in the political environment. The most they can do is assist in furthering a process 
of policy change. It is important to carefully assess the elements that will permit or facilitate 
the sorts of policy change sought. Lateral policy changes critical to education reform, such 
as fiscal reforms to increase the level of resources available, cannot be considered simply 
collateral or incidental processes – such changes may be more difficult to achieve than the 
education reforms sought. 
• When selecting project partners, one must carefully assess the real and direct interest in the 
policy change sought (i.e., is the group a primary stakeholder? what does it have to lose if the 
policy is not changed? what will it gain if the policy is changed?). Those who are not primary 
or direct stakeholders will likely be ineffective partners and will not possess either the 
genuine incentives for or commitment needed to stay the course of serious change. 
• CSOs that most closely represent the interests of primary stakeholders in education, i.e., 
parents and teachers, have little capacity for advocacy. Successful advocacy requires the 
possession of appropriate resources (such as a large constituency with status, credibility, or 
financial resources) and sufficient knowledge of the decision environment to carry out 
influence strategies. Moreover, most primary stakeholders have virtually no capacity to act 
at the national level. Training in advocacy and the development of initial strategies for 
advocacy must therefore be aimed at decision levels appropriate to the stakeholders – e.g., 
local, municipal or regional levels. 
5. Indigenous Girls’ Education in Rural Lower Secondary Schools in the 
K’iche’-speaking Departments of Guatemala (with AGES) 
16 
• A project of this nature needs to be very realistic when planning strategy and tactics to factor 
in the obstacles facing girls in rural, indigenous communities who wish to continue their 
education beyond primary school, and which adversely affect the desertion rate. Progress 
under the project improved with greater involvement of the mothers in meetings, 
participation in the committees involved with the bilingual promoters (teachers) working 
with the implementation partner in the selection of scholarship recipients, the organization of 
activities in the schools, the collection of data, and the management of the scholarship fund 
and the use of funds by the family for expenses related to their daughter’s education (school 
materials, books, transport, etc.). 
• The economic hardship of families makes it difficult to convince parents, especially the 
father, of the benefits of a daughter’s education. Girls are needed to help out with income 
activities, or to assume many of the responsibilities around the house to free up her mother’s 
time for income activities. 
• Rural indigenous girls often marry at an early age; many times resulting from a commitment 
made by the father without the girl’s prior knowledge. Seven girls abandoned the project for 
this reason; one of them was only 13 years old, and she died a year later during childbirth. 
• The distances that the teachers and the students have to travel are often extensive and without 
available transport. With the onset of the rainy season and the bad condition of the roads, the 
desertion rate increases. It also means that not all the classes are given and the material is 
compressed into fewer classes, creating problems for the students. At times the amount of 
homework given to the students doesn’t leave sufficient time for community service nor for 
reinforcing their understanding of what is taught in class. The academic performance of the 
students is much higher the nearer they are to the urban centers. 
• The teachers’ poor preparation and scant teaching experience, and the students’ own lack of 
academic preparedness to study the difficult junior high curriculum, often meant that the 
bilingual promoter had to reinforce the efforts of the teachers in study groups with the 
students. 
• The curriculum needs to be revised, especially for those subjects which gave the scholarship 
students the most difficulty: Mathematics, English, and Music. The poor preparation in 
primary school leaves many students unprepared for the demands made on them in 
Mathematics in junior high. Their second language is Spanish, English implies learning a 
third and foreign language; and Music brings with it a vocabulary and topics that are more 
readily understandable and accessible in an urban setting. Other subjects that would be more 
useful for rural students are lacking, such as how to take care of the environment, health 
education, especially reproductive health, as well as vocational education. 
 
6. Education Finance Policy Dialogue (with AED/EQUIP2) 
• In past decades, the MOE has not been the driving force in educational dialogue, and 
therefore dialogues have had limited influence both in policy and practice. Building up the 
Ministry as an institution with the capacity to play a strategic role in education, assisting the 
country define a vision for education, enhancing its ability to inspire and form a new 
constituency for that vision and more funding for education is the sine qua non of achieving 
any of those goals. 
• In order to have a critical mass and political support – and the appropriate level of financial 
commitment to the new goals – decision makers, all members of the broader educational 
community and the public need to understand, identify with, own and assume the 
responsibility for monitoring and funding the new vision and goals, i.e., the process has to be 
17 
inclusive. It is not the same thing to be “sold” a vision of education that was made by others, 
as it is to participate in the creation of a vision for which one will be co-responsible, fund, 
monitor, identify with, etc. The solutions to the problems of education are not just technical – 
they are political, historical, structural, cultural, and economic. Having the “right technical 
solution” is necessary but not sufficient in implementing solutions and achieving goals in the 
education sector. It is not just a question of people complying with the vision, it is a question 
of people committing to the vision. In past decades, the MOE has not been the driving force 
in educational dialogue, and consequently, dialogues have had limited influence both in 
Ministry policy and practice. Building up the MOE as an institution with the capacity to play 
a strategic role in education, assisting the country define a vision for education, enhancing its 
ability to inspire and form a new constituency for that vision and more funding for education 
is the sine qua non of achieving any of those goals. In order for the project to be meaningful, 
it was important to support the Minister’s initiatives, and not duplicate or undermine her 
efforts. 
• In order to have a critical mass and political support – and the appropriate level of financial 
commitment to the new goals – decision makers, all members of the broader educational 
community and the public need to understand, identify with, own and assume the 
responsibility for the new vision and goals. It is not the same thing to be “sold” a vision of 
education that was made by others, as it is to participate in the creation of a vision for which 
one will be co-responsible, fund, monitor, etc. The solutions to the problems of education are 
not just technical – they are political, historical, structural, cultural, and economic. Having 
the “right technical solution” is necessary but not sufficient in implementing solutions and 
achieving goals in the education sector. It is not just a question of people complying with the 
vision, it is a question of people being the proponents for and committing to the vision. 
Competencies and roles and responsibilities need to be built at all levels. 
• Project staffing can be a challenge when dealing with politically sensitive issues. An 
expatriate Chief of Party was not affordable within the project budget, and hiring local staff 
proved complicated because of the need for the project to be seen as non-partisan and not a 
front for other organizational and institutional interests. These types of issues demand a non￾partisan staff with high levels of technical capacity and low levels of personal political 
ambitions. 
• Short term projects are typically under high pressure to show tangible progress. With an 
effective project life of only 12 months, intense pressure existed to show progress, and the 
compressed timeframe highlighted the perception that each missed milestone was critical. 
After the first six months – half the life of the project – tangible measures were not evident: 
the planned workshops were not completed and little cost-share had been generated. The 
challenge became balancing the specific project outcomes within the larger context of 
developing national consensus and building a long-term vision for education in Guatemala. 
• Country-led processes and initiatives require partners and donors to find flexibility, 
challenging their own institutional policies and procedures, to aim for a more substantive and 
sustainable outcomes. It was vital for USAID to be a respectful partner and have a low 
profile when necessary in order to be invited and involved throughout the entire process. 
7. Measuring Educational Indicators and Results – MEDIR I, II, III (with 
Juárez and Associates). 
• The core of MEDIR’s work, that of working closely with organizations to undertake applied 
research and then use the data/information results for planning and policy reform 
18 
implementation, is replicable. MEDIR’s experience in Guatemala demonstrates that 
organizations and individual leaders from public, private and nonprofit sectors need credible 
and reliable data/information with which to increase public awareness, make evidence-based 
public statements, shape policy reform, and use in program planning and monitoring. 
MEDIR has also confirmed that by holding continuous training activities over time rather 
than short one-time sessions with people from different sectoral organizations, new skills and 
perspectives are developed, established, and then replicated or passed on to others. 
• In completing the work, Juárez and Associates, relied on a series of steps to assure the 
quality, relevance, and timeliness of the information provided under the task order: (1) using 
a team of local specialists known for their expertise and commitment to Guatemalan 
education to carry out the work (this team also had extensive experience working with 
USAID projects and USAID reporting requirements); (2) building on long-term relationships 
within the Guatemalan education community to facilitate access to programs and personnel; 
(3) involving decision-makers at all levels from the beginning of the research/evaluation 
effort, so that they would view themselves as the users of the information, and (4) employing 
a variety of information formats and dissemination channels, especially those that allow 
information users to manipulate data to respond to questions of specific interest. 
• A national system of education research and evaluation is urgently needed in Guatemala in 
order to increase accountability and provide information needed for better decision making. 
Student and teacher performance evaluations generate little or no opposition if personal 
consequences do not evolve from the evaluations and if the information generated through 
the evaluations is communicated clearly and in a timely manner. The MOE has very limited 
technical and institutional capacity to carry out evaluations and research due in part to the 
lack of qualified human resources as well as its low capacity to retain qualified personnel 
The lack of learning standards and communications about standards impedes the learning 
process. Students’ performance and achievement are hindered because teachers do not know 
or are confused about the degree of reading, writing and math skills students should possess 
at different grades and levels of the education system. Education policy reform 
implementation activities in the classroom require parallel and sustained teacher training 
efforts. 
8. Rural Emergency Response: Primary School Scholarship and School 
Maintenance Program (with ANACAFE and FUNRURAL). 
• The ease and speed with which the ANACAFE/FUNRURAL alliances produced significant 
results suggests that long-term alliances can and should be constructed to provide continuous 
development assistance to motivated community committees. Long-term alliances are an 
important means by which communities can count on continuous development investment 
rather than windfall infusions that are short-lived and erratic by definition. Partners working 
together on a common goal can achieve more than single projects working alone. The funds 
leveraged under this activity also confirms that communities are very motivated and able to 
“match” external resources, particularly when the resources are used for improvements that 
they themselves define, prioritize and work on. 
• Coordination with municipal and education authorities is a critical element in the start-up and 
implementation of any education community development activity. Informing authorities 
about purpose, scope, actors and outcomes of the program activities and involving them in 
the implementation prevents misunderstandings, confusions, and potential lack of 
19 
coordination. It also goes a long way towards enlisting their support for solving problems in 
effective and timely ways. 
• The design and implementation of new related activities should follow guidelines for 
strategic “investment” rather than sporadic, short-term infusions of development assistance. 
Some principal lessons learned from this and other similar education community activities in 
rural poor contexts include: education is top priority for parents of rural poor children in 
Guatemala; rather than passive ‘beneficiaries, parents are key stakeholders that can and do 
mobilize as well as generate resources to ensure that their children have a chance to go to 
school; when given the opportunity and minimal economic support (such as through 
scholarships), girls and boys attend primary school in nearly equal numbers and do not drop 
out; minimal external economic support such as scholarships or income generation for 
community improvements, go a long way and can be used effectively to leverage substantial 
community or family ‘matched’ financial, human and material resources; and, alliances are a 
powerful means of joining forces to augment the amount and impact of limited resources. 
9. Literacy Activity (Comunidades Mayas Alfabetizadas – COMAL) 
(with Save the Children). 
• Integrated Community Literacy (ICL) is a ‘living model’ because it requires creativity and 
participation from all actors and, as such it is advisable that it be amended and improved at 
regular intervals. Paramount to enhancing commitment to continued education as well as the 
strong performance by all actors in the ICL process is a tangible model that all actors share 
that includes a practical learners’ and teachers’ curriculum; a clear methodology; and 
dynamic, culturally relevant learning materials and techniques. The methodology and 
materials must be basic enough to meet all actors’ needs and, simultaneously, flexible 
enough to allow for people’s creativity and initiative in pursuing their desire to learn and to 
teach (a strong motivator indeed among rural populations of Guatemala that historically have 
been excluded from equal access to formal and non-formal education services. 
• Supervision by well-trained supervisors, oriented to having a supportive role rather than the 
more traditional role of critic and task master, is fundamental to the improved performance 
among ICL facilitators and high efficiency rates among participants. 
• Using materials existing in the community such as print material, road signs, litter, sacks, 
food containers, etc. that are familiar and accessible to participants and facilitators is a 
dynamic and cost-effective way of obtaining learning materials in a country with scarce 
resources. 
N. A summary of performance indicators used and an assessment of their relative 
usefulness for performance management and reporting: 
See Annex 1 for the SO2 Indicator Performance Tables. Significant achievements are discussed 
in the section summarizing overall impact at the SO and IR levels, and the discussion in the 
subsequent section of the activities used to achieve the SO and their major outputs. In general, 
the indicators accurately and clearly reflect the focus of technical approaches and program 
activities under the SO, as well as meeting the criteria of being: direct, objective, practical, 
adequate, results-oriented, within USAID’s manageable interest, useful, easy to communicate 
and credible. The SO level indicators – Net Primary School Enrollment, Girls’ Gross Primary 
School Enrollment, and Primary School Gender Equity Ratio, all of which are focused on the 
department of Quiché – reflect the highest level of achievement and program impact, considering 
20 
that the principal customers of the SO included the poorest rural populations, especially the 
indigenous and girls, that previously had very limited access to quality basic education and 
specifically intercultural bilingual education, and that the geographic focus of the DA-funded 
interventions under the SO was the department of Quiché. The achievement of results in a 
sustainable way was contingent on a concentration of SO resources on key elements of 
educational quality, access, efficiency, and equity, with special emphasis on 
multi/interculturalism and gender equity, and enhancing the capacity and commitment of the 
Ministry of Education and civil society to formulate and carry out education reform strategies. 
The three intermediate results served as an organizing tool for the public, NGO and CSO 
education actions and interventions that were required to achieve the IR and SO indicators. Each 
intermediate result is comprised of a set of lower level results that are logically linked to the 
processes for achieving the strategic objective. 
The SO performance management plan allowed for monitoring both short-term (annual) and 
medium progress toward the achievement of the SO. The USAID Improving Educational Quality 
(IEQ) II project (known in Guatemala as “Measuring Educational Indicators and Results” – 
MEDIR continuation under subsequent Task Order instruments) has built capability in 
monitoring/evaluation and applied research to help identify the elements of schooling affecting 
performance so that sound decisions can be made regarding improvement in the equity and 
quality of basic education and specifically bilingual education service delivery. By financing the 
activities under MEDIR, the SO has met Agency performance reporting requirements and, at the 
same time, supported the GOG’s need for high quality, objective and verifiable data for planning 
purposes. The MEDIR Task Orders have permitted (1) continued monitoring support of ongoing 
USAID-funded education activities, with special focus in the Quiché department; (2) operations 
research on the effectiveness of the USAID basic education and intercultural bilingual education 
approach (with special emphasis on its Salvemos Primer Grado pilot and PAEBI model schools) 
for improving education efficiency, quality and equity; (3) operations research on selected 
aspects of the Ministry of Education’s decentralization strategy for community-managed schools; 
(4) applied research on the determinants of the high incidence of first grade failure among rural 
boys and girls; (5) analysis of the impact of the girls’ scholarship program; (6) systematization of 
longitudinal and comparative data for selected indicators for monitoring education trends; (7) 
updating educational statistics through the integration of multiple data bases (e.g., 2002 National 
Census data and the 2002 National Maternal Child Health Survey - ENSMI), and (8) continued 
education policy dialogue support through the provision of information and analysis on 
Guatemala’s educational status to decision makers. 
O. A list of evaluations and special studies conducted during the life of the SO: 
Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education (PAEBI): 
• http://www.worldlearning.org/. 
• Manual de Participación Comunitaria. Guatemala 2002. 
• Guía para la Aplicación de la Escala de Desarrollo del Niño y de la Niña K’iche’; Guías de 
Materiales para Apoyar la Educación Bilingüe Intercultural; Guías para el Uso de Materiales 
Didácticos Producidos por PAEBI; Diseños para Capacitar Docentes, Padres y Madres de 
Familia. Guatemala 2004. 
• Kemow Eta’manik Tejiendo el Aprendizaje. Guatemala 2004. 
• Manual para Promocionar y Fortalecer la Participación de la Mujer dentro del Proceso 
Educativo de sus Hijos e Hijas. Guatemala 2004. 
21 
• Ramírez-de-Arellano, Julio. 2003. “Weaving Our Learning.” CIES Conference Paper, New 
Orleans, Louisiana. 
• World Learning, Inc. 2003. Indigenous Education in the Americas: School for International 
Training. Occasional Paper. Issue No. 4. Vermont. Available at 
http://sit.edu/publications/docs/ops04.pdf/. 
DOT-EDU Quiché Networking Project (Enlace Quiché): 
• Academy for Educational Development. 2003. Digital Opportunities for Development: A 
Sourcebook on Access and Applications. USAID Document PN-ACT-484. 
• http://dot-edu.org/. (DOT-EDU home page). 
• http://www.ebiguatemala.org/. (Intercultural Bilingual Education home page in Guatemala). 
• http://enlacequiche.org.gt/. (Proyecto Enlace Quiché home page). 
• Lieberman, Andy. 2003. Invigorating Mayan Language, Culture, and Education. 
AED/USAID. Available at 
http://learnlink.aed.org/Publications/Sourcebook/chapter3/guatemala_case study.pdf/. 
• USAID. 2004. Enlace Quiché: Using ICT Tools to Support Intercultural Bilingual Education. 
Final Report under the Dot-EDU/Guatemala project. USAID Document PD-ABZ-798. 
Measuring Educational Indicators and Results (IEQ II/MEDIR): 
• Chesterfield, Ray, Fernando Rubio, and Juarez and Associates. 1998. The Status of Primary 
Education in El Quiché in Relation to Other Departments Served by DIGEBI and to 
Guatemala as a Whole. USAID Document PN-ACK-716. Guatemala. 
• Chesterfield, Ray, Fernando Rubio, and Rigoberto Vásquez. 2003. Study of Bilingual 
Education Graduates in Guatemala. USAID Document PN-ACU-137. 
• MEDIR/USAID. 2001. “Educación para Todos.” CD-ROM presentation (2003 update). 
USAID Document PN-ACU-113. 
• Rubio, Fernando. 2002. “Teacher Language Proficiency, Training, and Language Use.” Paper 
presented at the annual meeting of Comparative and International Education Society, Orlando, 
Florida. USAID Document PN-ACT-153. 
• Rubio, Fernando, Justo Mactzul, and Rigoberto Vásquez. 2002. Monitoring System for 
DIGEBI Bilingual Intercultural Education. USAID Document PN-ACT-155. 
• Rubio, Fernando, Rigoberto Vásquez, and Hipólito Hernández. 2002. “IEQ Case Study: 
Research for Improving Bilingual Education in Bilingual Settings.” In Pathways to Quality. 
IEQ-II/USAID/EGAT. Washington. 
• AIR-Juarez and Associates/IEQII. 2003. “Educación en Guatemala, Situación y Desafios: 
Retos para Alcanzar Educación para Todos.” 
• AIR-Juarez and Associates/IEQII and AIMAGUA. 2003. “Midiendo Resultados: Avances en 
Programas Educativos para Mayas de Guatemala.” 
• CD-ROM power point presentation “Education for All: Will We Arrive Where We Want to 
Go?” 
• Chesterfield, Ray, Kjell Enge, and Fernando Rubio. “Categorización cognitive transcultural 
de los alumnos por parte de los maestros en Guatemala.” In Etnicidad, Raza, Género y 
Educación en America Latina (eds) Donald Winkler and Santiago Cueto. PREAL: Lima, 
October 2004. pp355-372. 
Measuring Educational Indicators and Results (MEDIR II): 
22 
• Juarez and Associates. March 2004. Trends in Bilingual Education in El Quiché: A Five-Year 
Study. 
• Chesterfield, Ray, Otto Rego, and Fernando Rubio. March 2005. School Success amid 
Hardship: First Grade Completion in Rural Guatemala. 
• Rubio, Fernando and Otto Rego. March 2005. The Effectiveness of the USAID Approaches 
for Increasing Quality, Equity and Efficiency in the Early Grades of Primary: Intercultural 
Bilingual Education. 
• Rubio, Fernando, Ray Chesterfield, and Otto Rego. March 2005. The Effectiveness of the 
USAID Approaches for Increasing Quality, Equity and Efficiency in the Early Grades of 
Primary: Salvemos Primer Grado. 
• Núñez, Gabriela. March 2004. “Estudio de la efectividad de la descentralización a nivel de la 
escuela y la comunidad.” 
• Leal, Angela. December 2004. “Estudio Intensivo: Estudio de la efectividad a nivel de la 
escuela y la comunidad.” 
• Fernando Rubio and Angela Leal “Evaluación del programa de becas de la USAID en el 
Quiché.” 
Measuring Educational Indicators and Results (MEDIR III): 
• Juarez and Associates. February 2005. “Evaluación del rendimiento en lectura y matemática 
de estudiantes de primer y tercer grado primaria de escuelas oficiales de Guatemala.” 
(nacional, departmental, local reports) 
• Rubio, F. y Salanic, V. (2005). Reporte de Maestros: Resultados de la evaluación realizada a 
maestros de primer y tercer grado. (One report per teacher, 1323 teachers). 
• Rubio, F. y Salanic, V. (2005). “Diagnosis of First and Third Grade Guatemalan Public School 
Teachers’ Reading and Mathematics Basic Skills.” 
• Juarez and Associates. (March 2005). CD-ROM “Education for All: Will We Arrive Where 
We Want to Go?” (updated version) 
EQUIP2 Education Finance Policy Dialogue Project: 
• Lavarreda, Jorge. (2005).The Financing of Education in Guatemala. 
• Vargas, Jorge. (2005). Model for Education Planning. 
• Escoto, Jorge. (2005). Fiscal Decentralization in Guatemala: A Preliminary Balance. 
• Gonzalez, Lissy. (2005). Qualitative Analysis of the Research of National Leaders and Elites 
to Guide the Social Marketing Campaign for Education: Analysis of 27 Leaders. 
• Gonzalez, Lissy, Monterroso, Arturo, Ramirez Margarita. (2005). Success Stories: 
Guatemalans for Education (A proposal, and analysis, and 79 articles). 
EDUMAYA Program: 
• http://url.edu.gt/defaultprincipal.htm/. 
• Martin, L. and N. Grimm. 2003. Evaluation of Edumaya Program and Impact on its Graduates. 
Cleveland, Ohio: K’inal Winik Cultural Center, Cleveland State University. 
• Proyecto Edumaya of USAID-G-CAP and “El Impacto de Sus Graduados.” 2004. “Edumaya 
Sistematización del Componente de Modelos Innovadores de Educación Comunitaria.” 2004. 
• Proyecto Edumaya of USAID-G-CAP and Universidad Rafael Landivar. 2003. “Edumaya: 
Diez Historias de Vida.” Contract No. 520-A-00-98-00013-00. Editorial Serviprensa, S.A. 
Guatemala. 
23 
• USAID and Universidad Rafael Landivar. 2003. “Edumaya: Apoyando el Futuro en el 
Presente.” DVD produced by the Communications Experience. 
Others: 
• GSD Consultores (MSI). 2003. “El Financiamiento de la Educación en Guatemala, Situación 
y Desafios.” 
• Wolff, Laurence. 2003. Education Development in Guatemala: Promoting a Strategy for 
National Change. Washington: Creative Associates International, Inc./ Basic Education and 
Policy Support (BEPS) Activity. 
• Brush, Lorelei, and Cory Heyman. 2002. Description and Analysis of the USAID Girls’ 
Education Activity in Guatemala, Morocco, and Peru. USAID Document PN-ACP-189. 
• Delfino, M. A. 1999. Informe evaluación del “Programa de Becas para Niñas del Area 
Rural” en Guatemala. 
• Empresarios por la Educación. 2003. “Una propuesta para impulsar la educación.” 
• http://www.cien.org.gt/ (CIEN home page). 
• http://educategirls.com/
• http://www.equip123.net/equip2/index_new.html/ (EQUIP2 home page). 
• http://www.empresariosporlaeducacion.org/
• Juarez and Associates. 2002. GEMS: Guatemala Country Study. Prepared for USAID Contract 
No. LAG-C-00-99-00042-00. USAID Document PN-ACX-064. 
P. A list of activity close out reports prepared for contracts, grants, and cooperative 
agreements: 
• Cooperative Agreement with Save the Children for the COMAL (Comunidades Mayas 
Alfabetizadas) Literacy Activity under Award 520-A-00-99-00004-00 (November 16, 1998 to 
June 30, 2002). 
• Task Order with American Institute of Research under Improving Educational Quality (IEQII) 
IQC Contract OUT-HNE-I-809-97-00029-00 Task Order No. 809 (December 13, 1999 to 
March 31, 2001) for Public Awareness of Education Reform. 
• Task Order with Academy for Educational Development (AED) for LearnLink/”Enlace 
Quiché” under IQC No. OUT-HNE-I-807-96-00018-00 (January 14, 2000 through March 10, 
2002). 
• Task Order with American Institutes for Research under IEQII IQC Contract No. OUT-HNE￾I-805-97-00029-00 (June 19, 1998 through July 15, 2003) and the Measuring Educational 
Indicators and Results (MEDIR) Project. 
• Task Order 809 of Contract OUT-AEP-I-809-95-00034-00 (March 3, 2000 to March 29, 2001) 
for Phase I of Education Policy Reform Support Project with Management Systems 
International (MSI). 
• Task Order No. OUT-AEP-I-800-00-00005-00 of Contract No. AEP-I-00-00-00005-00 
(March 30, 2001 to January 16, 2003) for Phase II of Education Policy Reform Support 
Project with Management Systems International (MSI). 
• Cooperative agreement with World Learning for the Access to Intercultural Bilingual 
Education Program (PAEBI) under Award No. 520-A-00-00042-00 (April 13, 1999 to March 
15, 2005). 
• Cooperative Agreement with the Rafael Landivar University (URL) under the EDUMAYA 
Project and Award No. 520-A-00-98-00013-00 (December 15, 1997 to December 31, 2004). 
24 
• Local Currency University Scholarship Funds established in the Rafael Landivar, Del Valle 
and San Carlos Universities of Guatemala (July 7, 1999 to December 31, 2004) under Project 
520-0426 and the FY 1999 ESF Cash Transfer (PIL No. 46 dated July 7, 1999). 
• Expansion of the Rural Girls’ Scholarship Program in the Quiché department of Guatemala 
(December 22, 1999 to November 30, 2003) under Project 520-0426 and the FY 1999 ESF 
Cash Transfer (PIL No. 60 dated December 22, 1999). 
• Purchase Order No. 520-03-Q-016 with Centro de Investigaciones Economicas Nacionales
(CIEN) in support of Empresarios por la Educación and key education reforms (May 5, 2003 
to May 4, 2004). 
• Fixed Price Contract No. 520-C-00-01-00112-00 (September 28, 2001 to November 30, 2004) 
with Asociación Guatemalteca de Educación Sexual (AGES) to design and encourage 
indigenous girls’ education in rural lower secondary schools in the K’iche’-speaking 
departments of Guatemala. 
• Associate Cooperative Agreement No. 520-A-00-02-00109-00 with Academy for Educational 
Development (June 6, 2002 to February 5, 2004) under DOT-EDU Leader Award No. GDG￾A-01-00011-00 with Educational Development Center Inc. for the Quiché Networking Project 
(Enlace Quiché). 
• Associate Award with the Academy for Educational Development to provide support for a 
program in education finance policy dialogue under EQUIP2 - Cooperative Agreement No. 
520-A-00-04-00074-00 (March 22, 2004 to March 31, 2005) and G/EGAD/AFS Leadership 
with Associates (LWA) Cooperative Agreement No. GDG-A-00-03-00008-00. 
• USAID/Guatemala Task Order 520-03-P-014 under IQC No. GEW-I-02-02-00020-00 
(MEDIR – Phase 2) with Juarez and Associates, Inc. (July 1, 2003 to March 31, 2005). 
• Task Order No. GEW-I-801-02-00020-00 issued by USAID/Guatemala under IQC No. GEW￾I-00-02-00020-00 (MEDIR – Phase 3) with Juarez and Associates, Inc. (May 13, 2004 to 
March 13, 2005). 
Q. Names and contact information of individuals who were directly involved in various 
phases of the SO: 
USAID/Guatemala: Julia Richards (SO Team Leader); Otilia Lux de Cotí, Irma Itzoy, Wende 
Duflon, Eleuterio Cahuec, Karina Lam de Ruano, Celso Chaclan, Carlos Pérez Brito (CTOs and 
Activity Managers). 
Ministry of Education: Arabella Castro, Roberto Moreno, Mario Torres, Maria del Carmen 
Aceña (Ministers); Cynthia del Aguila, Julieta de Morales, Demetrio Cojtí , Bayardo Mejía, 
Floridalma Meza, Miriam Castañeda, Celso Chaclán (Vice-Ministers). 
Universidad Rafael Landivar: Gonzalo De Villa (Rector), Guillermina Herrera (Rector, Vice￾Rector), Anabella Giracca de Castellanos (General Director/EDUMAYA), Ricardo Lima 
(External Projects Director/EDUMAYA). 
Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala: Hector A. Centeno and Roberto Moreno (Rectors). 
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala: Efrain Medina Guerra and Luis Alfonso Leal 
(Rectors). 
World Learning: Charles Tesar and Julio Ramirez (Activity Directors), Pamela Baldwin, Joshua 
Muskin, Naoko Kamioka (Home Office); José Angel Zapeta, Claudio Tzay, Anya Wingert, 
Mechor Agaré (Technical Directors). 
Management Systems International: Benjamin Crosby, Elizio Sic, Gabriela Nuñez. 
Educational Development Center Inc./Academy for Educational Development: Andrew 
Lieberman (Activity Director), Steven Dorsey (Home Office). 
25 
Juárez and Associates:Nicandro Juárez, Ray Chesterfield (Home Office), Fernando Rubio 
(Activity Director), Rigoberto Vasquez, Gabriela Nuñez, Otto Rego, Alvaro Fortín. 
Academy for Educational Development: John Gillies, Audrey Moore, (Home Office), Tom Lent 
(Senior Advisor), Ann Jimerson, Gustavo Arias, Saúl Morales. 
Asociación Eduquemos a la Niña - AEN: Gabriela Nuñez. 
Fundación para el Desarrollo Rural - FUNRURAL: Mynor Maldonado. 
Asociación Guatemalteca de Educación Sexual –AGES: Gloria Cospin de Hernandez 
Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales - CIEN: María del Carmen Aceña, Jorge 
Lavarreda, Verónica Spross. 
Empresarios por la Educación: Gabriel Biguria, Ricardo Cordón, Jaime Camhi. 
R. Information Sources: 
• Procurement instruments and the periodic progress reports, annual reports and final reports 
submitted by the implementing partners under the various procurement mechanisms. 
• USAID/G-CAP annual portfolio review reports and financial management reports. 
• Evaluation reports and special studies (see listing in Section O). 
• Activity close-out reports (see listing in Section P). 
S. Annexes: 
Annex 1: Performance Indicator Tables 
Annex 2: Analysis of SO funding by implementing partner and funding source. 
26 
Annex 1 - SO2 Results Indicators 
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2 
BETTER EDUCATED RURAL SOCIETY 
 Fiscal Year Planned Actual 
Girls Boys Girls Boys 
SO Indicators:
Gross primary school enrollment ratio in 
Quiché 
Original 2002 target: 72.4% girls
SOAG 2004 target: 95.5% girls 
Annual Report: Net Enrollment
1997 (B) 
1998 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005(T) 
64.4% 
72.0% 
89.0% 
94.0% 
94.5% 
101.0% 
101.5% 
115.0% 
81.1% 
84.8% 
103.0% 
110.0% 
109.8% 
115.0% 
115.5% 
125.0% 
62.1% 
64.7% 
79.1% 
91.3% 
94.1% 
100.3% 
100.4% 
114.0% 
122.7% 
79.6% 
82.0% 
97.3% 
111.3% 
110.3% 
115.9% 
115.9% 
124.0% 
137.2% 
Primary school gender equity ratio in rural 
Quiché 
Original 2002 target: 81.4%
SOAG 2004 target: 84% 
Annual Report
1997 (B) 
1998 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005(T) 
75.3% 
76.9% 
78.5% 
79.5% 
83.0.% 
85.0% 
86.5% 
86.5% 
74.2% 
75.1% 
78.1% 
78.7% 
82.8% 
84.4% 
86.2% 
85.8% 
86.8% 
IR 1 Indicators: Children of Quiché have increased access to primary intercultural and bilingual 
education 
First grade cohort in rural Quiché schools 
completing third grade 
Reported for girls 
Original 2002 target: 26.7% 
SOAG 2004 target: 31.0%
1997 (B) 
1998 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005(T) 
21.5% 
22.9% 
24.1% 
28.0% 
30.3% 
30.0% 
31.0% 
34.0% 
25.5% 
27.3% 
28.8% 
28.0% 
29.4% 
28.0% 
28.5% 
37.0% 
18.2% 
22.6% 
22.0% 
28.0% 
29.9% 
29.2% 
31.1% 
33.6% 
35.8% 
22.2% 
26.7% 
26.0% 
26.7% 
29.1% 
27.6% 
31.1% 
36.9% 
37.9% 
% of bilingual teachers who demonstrate 
mastery of intercultural bilingual 
education (IBE) methodologies, in 
sentinel schools; % in parentheses 
represent teachers in sentinel schools who 
have participated in IBE Diploma training. 
SOAG 2004 target: 30.0%
CY 1998 (B) 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 (T) 
20.0% 
23.0% 
23.0% 
26.0% 
30.0% 
31.0% 
14.6% 
9.6% 
13.4% (20.0%) 
24.8% (29.0%) 
29.4% (33.3%) 
57.8% (72.7%) 
59.6% 
% of schools with parents participating in 
education processes (maintenance, and 
administration or learning), in bilingual 
sentinel schools [1998-2000] 
SOAG 2004 target: 80% 
CY 1998 (B) 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
(10%) 
(13%) 
70% 
74% 
75% 
72% 
78% 
65% 
72% 
73% 
80% 
27 
2004(T) 80% 82% 
IR 2 Indicators: Rural communities of the Zonapaz have greater access to educational services 
Cumulative number of indigenous 
university graduates/ Cumulative number 
of scholarship recipients 
Original 2002 target: 500 graduates 
Original 2004 target: 985 graduates 
1998 (B) 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005 
0 / (500) 
50 / (1000) 
200 / (1300) 
750 / (1415) 
850 /(1637) 
940/(1917) 
1104/(2136) 
1230/(2325) 
0 /(806) 
18/ (1278) 
240/(1409) 
769/(1445) 
 873/(1912) 
 945/(2136) 
1133/2298 
1242/2335 
Number of non-university one-year 
scholarship recipients 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2,450 
2,500 
6,000 
2,750 
300 
2,681 
2,500 
6,206 
3,316 
358 
Community education centers operational 
and applying community models of 
education 
1998 (B) 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 (T) 
75 
250 
450 
575 
575 
55 
135 
299 
502 
590 
596 
28 
IR 3 Indicators: Education strategies and policies that enhance gender equity and cultural pluralism 
are implemented 
Cumulative number of key policies and 
strategies implemented 
Original 2002 target: 5-6
1998 (B) 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004(T) 
0 
1 
2 
8 
13 
17 
21 
0 
1 
7 
11 
16 
19 
25 
Index of participation of target civil 
society organizations in education policy 
dialogue and advocacy (scale: 0-5) 
1999 (B) 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 (T) 
1.0 
1.5 
2.5 
3.0 
.5 
1.2 
1.8 
2.7 
3.3 
29 
Annex 2: Analysis of SO2 funding by implementing partner and funding source 
Development Assistance (DA) Funds 
Bilateral Obligations: 
 520-0425.30 520-0431 
Activity CSD CSD DA Sub-total Total 
PAEBI/World Learning *1 2,521,573 3,954,069 3,710,922 7,664,991 10,186,564
MEDIR/American Institute 
 for Research/IEQ2 
675,763 509,452 324,523 833,975 1,509,738
MEDIR II/Juarez & Assocs. - - 859,255 859,255 859,255
LearnLink/AED 400,000 509,791 - 509,791 909,791
Dot-Edu/EDC - 290,590 709,366 999,956 999,956
Policy I/ MSI - 559,579 - 559,579 559,579
Policy II/ MSI - 1,394,309 90,782 1,485,091 1,485,091
EQUIP2/AED - - 542,000 542,000 542,000
EDUMAYA/URL *2 - - 150,000 150,000 150,000
CIEN/Empresarios por 
la Educación 
- - 24,495 24,495 24,495
Sub-total for Technical A. 3,597,336 7,217,790 6,411,343 13,629,133 17,226,469
Management 442,664 997,209 787,658 1,784,867 2,227,531
SOAG Subtotal *1 4,040,000 8,214,999 7,199,001 15,414,000 19,454,000
Funds transferred to CETT 200,000
Funds transferred to BEPS 100,000
Subtotal for DA 19,754,000
*1 Includes $500,000 direct obligation to World Learning 
Economic Support Funds (ESF) 
 520-0413 520-0426.22 Total 
EDUMAYA/URL *2 720,000 13,197,000 13,917,000 
COMAL/Save the Children - 6,518,847 6,518,847 
Social Communication/ 
American Institute for Research 140,036 - 140,036 
Rural Crisis/ANACAFE scholarships - 344,395 344,395 
Management 185,172 584,633 769,805 
Subtotal for Peace (Education) 1,045,208 20,644,875 21,690,083 
Other funds from Peace
Equip2/AED 68,000
Subtotal for ESF 1,045,208 20,712,875 21,758,083 
Other Funding Sources for 
Education (not included in SOAG)
ESF DA Total 
MEDIR III/EGAT/WID 750,000 750,000 
AGES/WID 250,000 250,000 
Materials Printing 100,000 100,000 
Additional Funds managed by SO 
(Cash Transfers) 
1,900,000 1,9000,000 
Subtotal for OFS 1,900,000 1,100,000 3,000,000 
Grand Total Managed by SO 2 44,512,083
*2 EDUMAYA total project $14,067,000.
30 
Strategic Objective Close Out Report 
Clearance Sheet 
J Richards _______________________ Date ____________ 
L Magno ________________________ Date ____________ 
R Morales _______________________ Date ____________ 
L Salazar ________________________ Date _____________ 
F Loy ___________________________ Date _____________