Assessment of executing agency capacity is critical when embarking on an ambitious sector-wide approach and particularly so in a large, complex primary education system like that in Bangladesh with development partners cofinancing the project. The high number of vacancies and limited capacity of the Directorate of Primary Education were acknowledged during the design phase, which should have prompted a need to consider a preparatory phase to get minimum preconditions in place before beginning the implementation. In the Second Primary Education Development Program, the first 2 years prior to the midterm review mission became by default the preparatory phase for finalizing organizational arrangements and policies.
Second Primary Education Development Program