Ethiopia’s Quality Education Strategic Support Programme (QESSP)

Created On November 25, 2023 | Last Modified On August 6, 2026

Context and issue

Ethiopia has been pursuing wider general-education quality reforms but needed stronger Ministry capacity, policy coordination, and evidence to implement them effectively. QESSP's (Ethiopia’s Quality Education Strategic Support Programme) stated purpose is to improve the Ministry of Education's (MoE) ability to deliver reforms on access, quality and equity, strengthen policy dialogue and build evidence on the impact of reform.

Solution

From 2014-18, QESSP operated as a flexible fund - initially budgeted at up to £10 million - that combined embedded technical assistance grants for federal and decentralized capacity building, procurement of specialist services, policy events, study tours, and secretariat support to the Education Technical Working Group. The design aimed to let the Ministry respond to needs faster than large, pre-planned sector programs allowed.

Impact

The clearest reported results are institutional. It reports 20,000 staff directly trained, 7,900 days of technical assistance, 22 capacity-building projects, 15 major studies, and delivery units established across ministerial, regional, and university structures. It also describes studies informing teacher education, school leadership, pastoralist education and learning assessment. The program supported a nationwide education data system that reportedly reached more than 33,000 schools, enabling KPI and assessment data to inform planning and resource allocation.

Analysis

QESSP's strength is adaptability: an embedded adviser, flexible finance, and a mechanism for rapidly commissioning expertise made it well suited to bottlenecks that conventional pooled funds could not address. Its contribution was also intentionally instrumental - improving the evidence, coordination, and administrative capability behind broader reforms rather than directly delivering textbooks or classroom instruction. Important to note that which there are training counts, studies, delivery units, and data systems demonstrate implementation reach. There is currently no data that demonstrates improved teaching or student learning. However, QESSP help build a reform infrastructure and informed programs that would have direct effects on learning.

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