Strengthening Municipal Education Systems

Improving the delivery of local services is a key component of the Government of Angola's (GRA) efforts to decentralize the country's services with special focus on social services.

With an estimated two million children out of school due to systemic limitations, education is an important starting point for strengthening municipal systems for service delivery.

To support the the GRA's efforts the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is funding the Strengthening Municipal Education Systems (SMS) project to strengthen the educational system and improve local service delivery in four provinces of Angola.

The aim is to increase the percentage of school-aged children enrolled, improve the primary school completion rate, reduce school dropouts, and reduce the number of children repeating school years.

To achieve these goals the SMS project focuses on working with local stakeholders, providing them with the tools for the successful implementation of the decentralization of services in the education sector.

The SMS project provides tailored training to municipal authorities to maximize the use of resources allocated for the education sector and assist in developing municipal education strategies in Cacuso (Malanje), Londuimbali (Huambo), Catabola (Bie) and Baia Farta (Benguela).

In addition, the SMS provides training to school managers on school management and administration, as well as training teachers on pedagogical skills and monitoring and evaluating learning outcomes.