This paper reports on the findings of a pilot school-based professional development programme for Tanzanian primary school teachers launched in February 2011 and evaluated in December 2012 by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training with the support of UNICEF. The study set out to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of the pilot programme in changing pedagogical practices before it was scaled up nationally. It was found that teachers who had participated in the school-based training showed significant differences in their pedagogical practices and demonstrated a positive attitude towards their training and their pupils, and saw teaching and learning as an interactive, communicative process. Drawing on the findings, the paper explores the challenges and the lessons learned for scaling up school-based teacher development at the national level in Tanzania and other countries in the east and southern African region.
SDG16 cuts through, affects and is affected by the other 16 SDGs. This study involved a number of steps; the first step was computing the degrees of compatibility/alignments of SDG16 targets as individual targets against the targets of the other 16 SDGs using a scoring system that ranged from -3 to +3. The next step in data treatment involved computing the means for each row in each table to get the compatibility scores between SDG16 targets and each goal and then we used the columns to compare the SDG16 with the targets of each of the other goals. The final steps involved computing the mean compatibility scores between the SDG16 goal and the goals of the other SDGs on one hand and those between the SDG16 targets and the other 16 SDGs on the other. The approach is based on the strategic management principle that objectives and targets are set in ways that their achievement help in the achievement of the aspirations of the goal. The study approach is new, and it has not been done before. The compatibility examination showed that the aspirations embedded in the development of SDG2 (Zero Hunger) targets and those of SDG16 were least aligned and do not effectively support each other. SDG16 and SDG5 (Gender equality) were the most aligned, suggesting that the achievement of the SDG16 targets go a long way in supporting the achievement of SDG5 targets. An approach like this can be used as stand alone or in conjunction with the often used qualitative methods and will be a very helpful tool during SDG or related reviews, as it is useful in identifying targets and goals with high mutual transfer benefits among themselves. The study concludes with some recommendations.
Policies are management instruments that organizations employ to ensure their stakeholders and others understand their guiding principles. This paper examined the importance and impacts of policy coherence, mandate overlaps and policy management towards achieving policy effectiveness. The authors examined some extant development policies in Nigeria for policy coherence and assessed some agencies that implement these policies for mandate overlaps and mandate clarity/exclusiveness. To reduce policy incoherence and mandate overlaps, the paper recommended that policy makers should consult widely to understand all the issues involved and use multi-sector teams to ensure the development of effective policies that are robust in nature. Finally, it canvassed that policies be reviewed or evaluated from time to time to strengthen identified areas of weaknesses and enhance their effectiveness.
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