The Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Tumba College of Technology

Phase-2 (2nd Year)

The Republic of Rwanda

Project Progress Report (2nd Year)

December 2014

System Science Consultants Inc. (SSC)

Exchange Rate

1RWF=0.159JPY 1USD=109.06JPY

(Ref: JICA Exchange rate, November 2014)

Photos of Project Activities

Observation of VTC PU activities with

Marketing Officer

MOU signing ceremony with Manumetal

Advisory meeting on questionnaires for Students’ Tracer Survey and Employers’ Satisfaction Survey conducted by WDA

Training of enumerators of TCT Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

Third country training (Fab Lab at Takoradi Technical Institute in Ghana)

Hearing from IPRC-South about activities related to TSS&VTC coordination

PU-ET activity：PC Refurbishment

PU-ET activity：Temperature Sensor installation (Sorwathe Tea Factory)

Action Plan 2013/14 Q4 Review and Annual Evaluation Retreat

Sharing session of RDPU Manual

Discussion on the contents of Asset &

Consumable Management Manual

PU-IT activity：Asset Management

Software Development

Workshop on the collaboration between IPRC-North and TSS&VTC in Northern

Province

PU-AE activity：

Simplified Solar Water Heater

IT-FYP：Meeting on the software

development project for Manunetal

AE-FYP：Meeting with Practical Action

Report on the progress of community outreach activities at Rulindo District

PU-AE activity：

Improved cook stove development

PU-AE activity：Biogas Plant installation

Training on effective Action Plan

development

Training in Japan：

Lecture on entrepreneurship (Ritsumeikan University)

Training in Japan：

Lecture on students’ career support (Tokushima Prefectural Senior High School

of Science and Technology)

Explanation of analysis method of School

Management Effectiveness Survey

The 2nd JCC

Table of Contents 1. Background .................................................................................................................. 1 2. Project Overview ............................................................................................................. 3

2.1 Project Title ............................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Project Period .......................................................................................................... 3 2.3 Overall Goal ............................................................................................................ 3 2.4 Project Purpose ....................................................................................................... 3 2.5 Outputs .................................................................................................................... 3 2.6 Activities .................................................................................................................. 3

3. Project Inputs ................................................................................................................ 5 3.1 Deployment of JICA Experts .................................................................................. 5 3.2 Equipment ............................................................................................................... 5 3.3 Local Costs ............................................................................................................... 6 3.4 Local Sub-Contract .................................................................................................. 7 3.5 Provided Training (Japan, third countries and Rwanda) ...................................... 7 3.6 Inputs from Rwandan side ..................................................................................... 8

4. Project Implementation Process ................................................................................ 10 4.1 Changes in Project Design Matrix........................................................................ 10 4.2 Joint Coordinating Committee ............................................................................. 10 4.3 Activities conducted in the 2nd year .................................................................... 10

4.3.1 Activities for Output 1 .................................................................................... 10 4.3.2 Activities for Output 2 .................................................................................... 15 4.3.3 Activities for Output 3 .................................................................................... 16

5. Project Achievements ................................................................................................. 19 5.1 Baseline ................................................................................................................. 19

5.1.1 Baseline of Output 1 ....................................................................................... 19 5.1.2 Baseline of Output 2 ....................................................................................... 21 5.1.3 Baseline of Output 3 ....................................................................................... 22 5.1.4 Baseline of the Project Purpose ..................................................................... 23

5.2 Achievements ........................................................................................................ 23 5.2.1 Achievements of Output 1 .............................................................................. 23 5.2.2 Achievements of Output 2 .............................................................................. 29 5.2.3 Achievements of Output 3 .............................................................................. 38 5.2.4 Achievements of the Project Purpose ............................................................ 42

6. Challenges, Approaches and Lessons in the Project Implementation ..................... 44 6.1 Output 1................................................................................................................. 44

6.1.1 Challenges met in the RDPU support ......................................................... 44 6.1.2 New approach applied for the RDPU support ............................................. 46

6.2 Output 2................................................................................................................. 47 6.2.1 Challenges met in PDCA cycle of Action Plan ............................................... 47 6.2.2 Commitment of the counterpart to work process .......................................... 48

6.3 Output 3................................................................................................................. 48 6.3.1 Challenges in implementation of the activities for Output 3 .......................... 48

7. Priority Activities for the 3rd Year ............................................................................ 50 7.1 Priorities of Output 1 ............................................................................................ 50 7.2 Priorities of Output 2 ............................................................................................ 51 7.3 Priorities of Output 3 ............................................................................................ 52

List of Tables

Table 1：JICA Experts Deployment (2nd year) .......................................................... 5 Table 2：List of Equipment ................................................................ 6 Table 3：Breakdown of Local Costs（2nd year） ........................................................ 7 Table 4：Local Sub-Contract ....................................................................... 7 Table 5：Participants and Training Content .............................................................. 8 Table 6：TCT Recurrent Budget Implementation .................................................. 9 Table 7： Activities of Output 1 ............................................................................... 10 Table 8：Activities of Output 2 ................................................................................. 15 Table 9：Activities of Output 3 ................................................................................. 17 Table 10：Baseline of Output 1 (As of Mar 2013） .................................................. 19 Table 11：Baseline of Output 2 ................................................................................. 21 Table 12：Baseline of Output 3 (As of Mar 2013） .................................................. 22 Table 13：Baseline Information of Project Purpose ................................................. 23 Table 14：Achievements of Output 1 (as of December 2014) .................................. 24 Table 15：Achievements of Output 2 (as of December 2014) .................................. 29 Table 16：Rules, procedures and templates of Asset & Consumable Management

Manual ................................................................................................................ 31 Table 17：Challenges and measures for problem-solving identified in PDCA cycle of

Action Plan 2013/14 and the actions have been/to be taken ............................. 34 Table 18：Group-wise overall mean scores .............................................................. 37 Table 19：Mean scores of question items related to PDCA cycle of Action Plan .... 38 Table 20：Indicators of Output-3 of the PDM .......................................................... 39 Table 21：Targets in Employers’ Satisfaction Survey .............................................. 40

List of Figures

Figure 1：TCT RDPU Operational Structure .......................................................... 25 Figure 2：Satisfaction rate against each question ................................................... 40 Figure 3：Operational structure for student-focused RDPU projects ..................... 47

List of Annexes

Annex 1 ：Report on the Training in Japan Annex 2 ：RDPU Third Country Training Reports Annex 3 ：Minutes of the 2nd Joint Coordinating Committee Annex 4 ：RDPU Operational Manual Annex 5 ：Staff Incentive Policy Annex 6 ：Marketing Experience Survey Annex 7 ：RDPU Marketing and Promotion: List of Visited Organizations Annex 8 ：RDPU Cooperation Development with External Partners: List of Visited

Organizations Annex 9 ：MOUs signed in 2014 Annex 10：List of RDPU Projects Annex 11：RDPU Project Participants List Annex 12：Deliverables of Production Unit Activities Annex 13：Final Year Project Basic Concept Annex 14：Outline of 2014 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey Annex 15：List of Projects conducted by IPRC-North Consultancy Company

Annex 16：Reports on Quarterly Reviews of Action Plan Annex 17：Training Report on Effective Action Plan development Annex 18：Monthly Report Format Annex 19：Minutes of the meeting at IPRC-South Annex 20：Concept Note of the IPRC-North Workshop Annex 21：Presentation for IPRC-North Workshop Annex 22：Report on IPRC-North Workshop

List of Appendixes Appendix 1：2013/14 RDPU Annual Report Appendix 2：2014 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey Report Appendix 3：Good Practice Case-1 IAP Appendix 4：Good Practice Case-2 Graduates Tracer Survey Appendix 5：Good Practice Case-3 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey Appendix 6：Asset & Consumable Management Manual Appendix 7：School Management Effectiveness Survey Report 2013

List of Accornyms and Abbrebiations

AE Alternative Energy DAP Director of Academic Programs ESSP Education Sector Strategic Plan ET Electronics and Telecommunications GP Good Practice HOD Head of Department IAP Industrial Attachment Program ICT Information and Communication Technology ICRC International Committee of Red Cross IPRC Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center IT Information Technology JCC Joint Coordinating Committee JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency MOU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non-Governmental Organization OJT On-the-Job Training PDCA Plan-Do-Check-Act PDM Project Design Matrix PU Production Unit R&D Research and Development RDPU Research, Development and Production Unit R/D Record of Discussions RWF Rwandan Franc SWH Solar Water Heater TCT Tumba College of Technology TSS Technical Secondary School TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training VPAC Vice Principal for Academic Trainings VPAF Vice Principal for Administration and Finance VTC Vocational Training Centre WDA Workforce Development Authority WS Workshop

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1. Background Rwanda’s Vision 2020 aims at a knowledge-based and technology-led economy and gives high priority on human resource development in the field of science and technology. The industrial sector, however, faces serious shortages of practical technicians as a consequence of the genocide which occurred in 1994. Also in the educational sector, it is urgently needed to increase the opportunity of the secondary and upper level education, as it has been focused on expanding the basic education. Rwanda’s Educational Sector Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 (ESSP 2010-2015) aims at improving education, particularly skills development, to meet the labor market demand, by increasing the coverage and quality of nine-year basic education and strengthening post-basic education, which includes technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

Accordingly, the government of Rwanda decided to establish a College of Technology with a curriculum aimed at producing higher technicians and set up Tumba College of Technology (TCT) in July 2007. In this effort, the government of Rwanda, in collaboration with JICA, conducted a five-year project, the “Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Tumba College of Technology” from July 2007 to June 2012, which resulted in the strengthening of academic and administrative capacity of the school, and the establishment of the TCT as an effective A1 level institution in Rwanda. Further, during this project phase, many attempts were made to strengthen the tie between the school and the industry, which brought a number of positive effects, for instance, reflection of industrial needs to the curriculum, implementation of industrial attachment programs, and improving the employment rates of TCT graduates. These practices were taken up by the Rwandan government as good practices, and disseminated to other Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools.

On the other hand, TCT faces some challenges. For instance, TCT is lacking continuous skills development system for its academic and administrative staff. What is more, in order for other TVET schools to effectively benefit from TCT’s good practices, dissemination activities need to be more strengthened. In this understanding, the Government of Rwanda requested the Japanese Government to further carry out “the Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Tumba College of Technology Phase 2”.

This project aims to strengthen the capacity of TCT, focusing on skills development of its academic staff and improvement of school management, and to advance the quality of TVET sector in Rwanda, through providing good practices of TCT to the Government of Rwanda.

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This report contains the progress of “the Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Tumba College of Technology Phase 2” during its second year, covering the period from March to December 2014.

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2. Project Overview 2.1 Project Title

Project for Strengthening the Capacity of Tumba College of Technology Phase 2 in Republic of Rwanda 2.2 Project Period

From March 2013 to February 2018 (5 years) 2.3 Overall Goal

TCT’s good practices are applied to other TVET institutions in Rwanda 2.4 Project Purpose

TCT becomes a model institution that provides Government of Rwanda with effective approaches for improving TVET sector. 2.5 Outputs

Output 1：Continuous capacity development system is established in TCT for the provision of practical technical education

Output 2：Improvement mechanism of school management is established in TCT Output 3：WDA and TCT share good practices useful for TVET sector 2.6 Activities

1.1 Formulate action plan of the production unit 1.2 Set up Production Unit Management and Operation Guideline 1.3 Conduct a needs survey 1.4 Conduct production unit activities 1.5 Conduct technical training according to the production unit activity 1.6 Review and evaluate production unit activities 2.1 Formulate school management plan 2.2 Design a monitoring system that fits to the actual situation of TCT 2.3 Conduct the monitoring 2.4 Identify issues to be tackled 2.5 Share the issues to be tackled among TCT staff 2.6 Discuss the causes of issues and measures for improvement among TCT staff

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2.7 Implement the measures for improvement 2.8 Carry out the activities of 2-3 to 2-7 above as a cycle 2.9 Conduct an internal satisfaction survey for TCT’s school management

3.1 WDA and TCT identify issues in TVET sector for the quality improvement 3.2 TCT reviews TCT’s activity regularly 3.3 WDA and TCT summarize TCT’s good practices and lessons learned 3.4 TCT supports WDA to implement the dissemination of good practice

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3. Project Inputs 3.1 Deployment of JICA Experts

Some 10 JICA experts including one from Nepal were dispatched during the 2nd project year for a total of 35.3 man-months. The deployment period of each expert is shown in the following Table 1.

Table 1：JICA Experts Deployment (2nd year)

R J

0.40 1.40 1.33 1.17

4.30

4 15 31 11 13 21 27 30

1.00 1.60 2.40

5.00

8 6 6 22 18 28

1.80 1.60 1.60

5.00

5 27 1 17 13 29

1.00 1.93 1.57

4.50

4 2 20 16 16 31

1.10 0.90

2.00

15 16 15 11

0.50 1.50

2.00

8 22 3 17

1.00 1.50

2.50

8 6 19 1

1.00 1.90

2.90 0.40

26 25 26 21 29-12/6

0.70

0.70

4 24

1.17 2.53 0.90 0.90

5.50

4 7 11 25 7 3 4 30

0.50

Training in Japan 10/13-18 0.50

0.90

34.40

Assignment in Rwanda

Assignment in Japan

Assignment in Japan

Assignment in RwandaTotal 35.30

Japa

n Japan TrainingManagement Erika Asada

School Management 2 /Project Coordinator Erika Asada

Procurement and AssetManagement Makiko Oda

School Management 1 Yumiko Ono

Rwan

da

Chief Advisor /TVET Policy

RyuichiNishiyama

Production Unit 2 /Training Planning Nana Kondo

Production Unit 3 /Electrical Engineering Takumi Honda

Information Technology Naoyuki Sato

Production Unit 1 Tatsumi Aragaki

Electronics andTelecommunication

JunichiroTomiyasu

Alternative EnergyRavi Bhanu

Chhetri

September October Nobember December2014

July August

Title Name

2014 MM

March April May June

Besides the above man-months, Mr. Ravi Bhanu Chhetri (Alternative Energy) supported RDPU

activities of AE department from 1st – 30th November under the budget of local costs.

3.2 Equipment

The project purchased the equipment listed in the Table 2 during the 2nd project year.

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Table 2：List of Equipment Currency: RWF Equipment Qty Amount Usage Installed Place

Fluke Portable CO Meter

3pc 221,340JPY (1,392,075RWF)

AE Dept. RDPU activities

AE dept. Biomass Lab

Universal Moisture Taster

3pc 436,080JPY (2,742,641RWF)

Ditto Ditto

Flue Gas Analyzer with direct CO2 measurement

1pc 191,360JPY (1,203,522RWF) Ditto Ditto

Electronic Balance 1pc 360,000RWF

Ditto Ditto

Electric Blower 1pc 330,000RWF

Ditto Ditto

Laptop PC 6pc 3,210,000RWF IT Dept. RDPU activities

JICA Experts’ office

UPS 1pc 850,000RWF

To prevent breakdown of photocopier/printer

JICA Experts’ office

Total 10,088,238RWF

Note: The figures in brackets are converted from JPY to RWF.

3.3 Local Costs

About JPY 18,5 million1 was spent to cover the local expenses for implementation of the project during the 2nd year. These local costs were mainly utilised for hiring local staff and cars, sub-contracted services, purchase of equipment, travel/transportation, training-related expenses, printing documents, purchasing of materials for RDPU activities and other consumables etc. The breakdown of the local costs is given in the Table 3.

1 This is equivalent to approximately RWF 116 million. (1 RWF = 0.159 JPY)

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Table 3：Breakdown of Local Costs（2nd year） Items Amount（JPY）

Local Staff 4,248,299

Consumables 6,376,745

Travel/transport related expenses 4,201,402

Hotel conference room rent 73,640

Equipment maintenance 76,862

Communication 447,621

Printing and photocopying documents 48,448

Sub-contracted services 339,744

Training in Japan 493,124

Equipment including transport 1,801,200

Miscellaneous 407,654

Total 18,514,739 Note 1: The expenses for JICA experts are not included. Note 2: The above amount is based on the expenses before approval of JICA.

3.4 Local Sub-Contract

The project made a sub-contract with one local company in the 2nd project year. The service worth USD 3,115.2 was contracted out. The provided service was training on CompTIA A+ to 3 academic staff of IT department. The details are given in the Table 4.

Table 4：Local Sub-Contract Currency: USD

Contractor Contract Period Contract Amount Service

1 Techno Brain Rwanda Ltd 7-28 Nov 2014 3,115.20 Training on CompTIA A+

3.5 Provided Training (Japan, third countries and Rwanda)

The training in Japan was conducted from 13-18 Oct 2014 to Principal, Vice Principal for Administration and Finance, and Director of Academic Programs in the 2nd project year. They have visited 3 institutions, namely, Naruto University of Education, Tokushima Prefectural Senior High School of Science and Technology and Ritsumeikan University. They have learned good practices in the area of career support, incubation center operation, entrepreneurship, industry-academia collaboration, faculty development, personnel

evaluation, management by objectives and school management in general. (See Annex: 1)

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The training in the third country this year was conducted in Kenya and Ghana for 5 days from 12-16 May 2014 for 3 TCT staff members. They have visited Fab Labs located at University of Nairobi in Kenya and Takoradi Technical Institute in Ghana. They have learned technologies and innovation, operation and management system, business ideas, good practices in community outreach etc. (See Annex: 2)

The training in Rwanda was conducted for 3 IT department academic staff. They have learned CompTIA A+ by a subcontracted local company in Rwanda. The participants, period and contents of the above-mentioned trainings are summarized in the Table 5.

Table 5：Participants and Training Content Name Position Country Period Training Content

1 Mr. GATABAZI Pascal Principal

Japan 13-18 Oct

2014

Career support, Industry-academia collaboration, HR management and school management in general

2 Ms. KAYISIME

Nzaramba Vice Principal for Administration and Finance

3 Mr. MANIRAGUHA

Muhamad Director of Academic Programs

4 Mr. ABA YISENGA

Emile Vice Principal for Academic Trainings

Kenya Ghana

12-16 May 2014

Effective and efficient management of RDPU

5 Mr. NKURANGA

Jhon Bosco Director of RDPU

6 Mr. TWIBANIRE

Aimable AE Dept. HOD

7 Mr. HAVUMIRAGIRA

Etienne

IT Dept. Assistant lecturer

Rwanda 8-24 Nov 2014

CompTIA A+ 8 Mr. HITIMANA Sabin IT Dept.

Instructor

9 Mr. HABINEZA Jean

de Dieu

IT Dept. Instructor

3.6 Inputs from Rwandan side

As of October 2014, 84 staff (Female:16, Male:68) were employed at TCT. Out of them, 34 were administrative staff, 42 were academic staff and 8 were technical/support staff. Based on the project activities, the project worked with various staff as its counterparts.

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The Rwandan government has allocated approximately 1.7 billion RWF in 2013/14 and 2.2 billion RWF in 2014/15 to TCT for both recurrent and development budget. Out of this, the amount transferred to TCT account is shown as TCT recurrent budget implementation in Table 6. The recurrent budget was utilized for school management such as purchase of goods and capital expenditure. The salaries and wages of the staff were directly paid by WDA. The total amount paid in 2013/14 was 550,743,352 RWF and 188,067,653RWF in 2014/15 (as of Oct 2014). Apart from the recurrent budget, development budget is directly paid by WDA.

Table 6：TCT Recurrent Budget Implementation (Currency：RWF) 2013/14 2014/15

Revenue 738,684,623 73,239,642 Expenditure Total

(Breakdown) 614,329,555 154,857,147

Purchase of Goods 473,295,835 125,125,506 Social Assistance 6,084,500 2,000,000 Other expenses 9,212,908 2,650,000 Capital expenditure 125,736,312 25,081,641

* Fiscal year starts in July and ends in June. ** Revenue and expenditure for 2014/15 are as of 31 October 2014.

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4. Project Implementation Process 4.1 Changes in Project Design Matrix

No changes were made in the PDM (Project Design Matrix) during the 2nd project year. 4.2 Joint Coordinating Committee

The 2nd Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) was held on 21 November 2014 at Workforce Development Authority. After reporting the project progress in the 2nd year, the committee approved the activities planned in the 3rd year. The detail of the JCC is as per Annex 3: Minutes of the 2nd Joint Coordinating Committee. 4.3 Activities conducted in the 2nd year 4.3.1 Activities for Output 1

Project Output 1 is described as follows: “continuous capacity development system is established in TCT for the provision of practical technical education”. In order to achieve this output, the following activities, shown in the Table 7, were carried out by the project.

Table 7： Activities of Output 1 1-1. Formulate

action plan of the RDPU

・ Revise RDPU action plan based on the feedbacks from the retreat for Action Plan Quarterly Review and Planning (April, October)

・ Developed 2014/15 RDPU action plan (July)

1-2. Set up RDPU Management and Operation Guideline

<RDPU Operational Manual>

・ Drafted and revised RDPU Operational Manual (April- November)

・ Developed formats for RDPU project proposal and reporting (August)

・ Shared the RDPU Operational Manual draft to the management team and receive inputs for finalization (September, November) (See Annex 4)

<Staff Incentive Policy>

・ Conduct Staff Incentive Policy briefing workshop for all TCT staff (See Annex 5)

1-3. Strengthen RDPU management

・ Agreed on a management procedures according to the newly agreed “department-led” RDPU structure (March)

・ Hired permanent staff for RDPU, and developed a TOR and an

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and operational structure

activity plan each officer (March)

・ Collected all the documents for RDPU related projects conducted in the past, and developed a document filing and management structure

・ Set up the RDPU office (September)

1-4. Strengthen RDPU marketing

・ Conducted a training on basic marketing approach to the RDPU marketing officer (May)

・ Visited other TVET schools and a PR company to learn from their experiences and collect information regarding their marketing practices (May, September) (Number of organizations visited: 5 schools and 1 company) (See Annex 6)

・ Developed a contact information database of external partner organizations (May-June)

・ Developed product catalogues (September-October)

1-5. Conduct a needs survey

・ Selected TCT products and services to be promoted and chose potential customers to be visited for marketing (August)

・ Visited external organizations and marketed TCT products (May-June, September-October) (Number of organizations visited: 17) (See Annex 7)

1-6. Strengthen cooperation with external organizations

・ Visited external organizations to discuss about possible cooperation (March-June, November) (Number of organizations visited: 6) (See Annex 8)

・ Drafted MOUs with external partners (March-June, November)

・ Conducted MOU signing ceremony (April) (See Annex 9) ・ Conducted a briefing meeting with TCT incubatees to discuss

possible joint venture ideas (April)

・ Participated in Glocal, an industrial event conducted in Kigali. ET HOD joined a panel discussion on innovation, and three incubates showcased their products. (November)

1-7. Conduct production unit activities

・ Conducted following RDPU activities (March – November) (See Annex 10,11,&12)

ET PC Refurbishment Project (community outreach) Sensor installation for a private factory

(research & development, application)

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Participation in Kenya Robotics Competition (research & development)

IT Asset Management System development

(research & development) Leave Management System development

(research & development) Design of a Telecenter in Tumba Sector

(community outreach) Facilitation of basic ICT skills trainings

(community outreach) (Carried out by TCT staff only) Reviewing of IT Training Courses at Kigali ICT Center

(income generation) AE Solar Water Heater development and installation

(joint research & development with an external partner, community outreach, and income generation)

Installation of biogas at TCT (capacity development, installation)

Facilitation of biomass trainings (community outreach) (Carried out by TCT staff only)

Concept paper development on improved cook stove testing center (income generation)

Research Project on the usage of Electric Cook Stove in the Communities (contracted research) (Carried out by TCT staff only)

Installation of a foundry at TCT (capacity development, installation)

Submission of proposals for R&D funds (FONERWA) (preparation of proposals)

ET&IT joint project Installation of fiber optic system at TCT

(capacity development, installation) Facilitation of basic ICT skills trainings

(community outreach) (Carried out by TCT staff only)

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1-8. Conduct student-focused RDPU activities

<Final Year Projects> (See Annex 13)

・ Developed a basic concept and objectives of RDPU final year project, and conducted a briefing meeting to HODs (August)

・ Visited external organizations to recruit as partner organizations for the RDPU final year projects (September - November)

・ Selected students to be involved in RDPU final year projects (October-November)

・ Developed and determined the detailed research themes (October-November)

AE Improved Cook Stove Development

(Partner: Practical Action）

Solar Water Heater Development for community use (Partner: Neighboring Community)

IT Management Information System Development

(Partner: Manumetal)

・ Held a meeting with the partner organizations and TCT students to determine the detailed research themes (November)

<Fabrication of TCT Products through practical lessons>

・ Agreed to conduct the following project and conducted activities (July-November)

ET Fabrication of power supplies and multi-meters

(Partner: Rulindo District) <TCT incubatees>

・ Sent a TCT incubatee to DEMO Africa, an event conducted in Nigeria to showcase African innovations and raise supporting funds for young entrepreneurs

1-9. Conduct technical trainings according to the RDPU activity

・ Conducted following technical trainings ET Sensor Technologies (March, June-July) PC refurbishment review on approach and skills

(June-July)

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Power supply unit design, proto-type development, experiment and evaluation (June)

Multi-meter unit design, proto-type development, experiment and evaluation (June-July)

IT Asset management system development (June-August,

September-October) IT skills development training on CompTIA A+

(November) AE Design and installation of a biogas (July-August,

November) Solar water heater product development (March,

July-August, November) Improved cook stove product development (November) Foundry design and installation (July-August,

November) Proposal writing skills (July-August)

1-10. Conduct a third country training

・ Planned a third-country training to learn the approach to strengthen the RDPU collaboration with external partners and conducted a briefing workshop on FabLab. (March)

・ Conducted the third-country training (Visited institution and country: Nairobi University, Kenya and Takoradi Technical Institute, Ghana) (May)

・ Summarized the findings in a report, and conducted an information sharing workshop to share the lessons learned (June) (See Annex 2)

・ Conducted a reporting meeting to JICA Rwanda office (September)

・ Received a FabLab feasibility study mission from the USA (October)

1-11. Review and evaluate production unit activities

・ Developed 2013/14 RDPU Annual Report and shared at the management meeting conducted in August (August) (See Appendix 1)

・ Conducted RDPU monthly meetings, and monitored the progress of individual RDPU activities (March-November)

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4.3.2 Activities for Output 2

Project Output 2 is described as follows: “Improvement mechanism of school management is established in TCT.” The priority area for the project 2nd year was asset management. At the same time, the project continued to support PDCA cycle of Action Plan, which was the top priority area of the 1st year. Individual activities were conducted to achieve Output 2, considering the following 8 steps of PDCA cycle specified in PDM. The project supported the following activities listed in Table 8.

(1) Formulate school management plan (2) Design a monitoring system that fits to the actual situation of TCT (3) Conduct the monitoring (4) Identify issues to be tackled (5) Share the issues to be tackled among TCT staff (6) Discuss the causes of issues and measures for improvement among TCT staff (7) Implement the measures for improvement (8) Carry out the activities of (1) to (7) above as a cycle

Table 8：Activities of Output 2 2-1. Establish Asset

Management System

・ Developed Asset & Consumable Management Manual (Jun-Nov)

・ Provided recommendations to improve their work to staff in charge of asset management through OJT (Jul) Provided necessary information to develop Asset Management Software (Jun-Nov) Conducted monitoring on operation of Asset Management Software (Sep-Nov)

・ Shared the content of Asset & Consumable Management Manual to management members (Nov)

2-2. PDCA cycle of Action Plan

・ Conducted a retreat for Action Plan 2013/14 Q3 Review and Q4 Planning (Apr)

・ Conducted a retreat for Action Plan 2013/14 Q4 Review and annual evaluation (Jul)

・ Provided advice on the report of quarterly review (Jul) ・ Summarized and shared the lessons derived from the retreat

for Action Plan 2013/14 annual evaluation (Aug) ・ Provided inputs to improve monthly report format, which

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aims to monitor each staff activities (Oct) ・ Conducted a retreat for Action Plan 2014/15 Q1 Review and Q2

Planning (Oct)

・ Conducted training on effective Action Plan development (Nov)

・ Developed Action Plan 2015/16 (Nov) 2-3. Conduct School

Management Effectiveness Survey

・ Reviewed and corrected questionnaire, survey methods and analysis methods used in 2013 together with Quality Assurance officer and Planning officer. (Sep-Nov)

・ Conducted School Management Effectiveness Survey (Oct-Nov)

・ Analyzed the data and wrote a report (Oct-Dec) 2-4. Conduct training

in Japan ・ Made necessary arrangements for conducting training in

Japan (Sep-Oct) ・ Conducted training in Japan (Oct) ・ Held a debriefing session at JICA Rwanda Office (Nov)

4.3.3 Activities for Output 3

Output 3 in the project is “WDA and TCT share good practices useful for TVET sector”. Due to the progress of IPRC Concept, however, the methodology of sharing TCT’s good practice with WDA, aiming dissemination to other TVET institution, became less practical. Normally the PDM should be modified in this situation. But it is suspended due to the following factors.

The dissemination of good practices through WDA is not actively implemented due to the progress of IPRC Concept where IPRC headquarters should supervise other TVET institutes in each province and Kigali city.

TCT is currently appointed as IPRC North that is a headquarters in Northern Province. But a new facility accommodating the levels of VTC, TSS, and A1 is under construction in Musanze, which is a capital city of Northern Province, by the support of Chinese government. There is a possibility for that facility to be a headquarters of Northern Province after its completion.

The relation between TCT and the above mentioned new facility in Musanze is unclear. So it is not sure whether TCT continues to have a function as a headquarters in Northern Province or not.

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Considering the above situation, the project implemented Employers’ Satisfaction Survey in the 2nd year as one of the good practices of TCT. Also the project extracted some good practices out of the past activities, and filed them as document so that those good practices can be shared with other institutes at any time. Furthermore, TCT provided WDA with some inputs from its practical experience to the tracer survey and employers’ satisfaction survey that were conducted by WDA. The project supported the activities shown in the Table 9 for Output 3.

Table 9：Activities of Output 3 3-1. Implementation of Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

・ Provided advice to Quality Assurance officer in the questionnaire revision, data analysis, and report making for the 2nd Employers’ Satisfaction Survey（March - September）(Appendix 2：2014 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey Report）

・ Provided advice to Quality Assurance officer to extract remarkable points and lessons learned from the practical experience of survey implementation and assisted to make “Outline of 2014 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey” (Annex 14) (September)

3-2. Sharing the good practice of employers’ satisfaction survey and graduate tracer survey

・ Quality Assurance officer of TCT shared the knowledge and experience of its employers’ satisfaction survey and graduate tracer survey at the preparation meeting in WDA among the donors and relevant persons for the said surveys, and gave advice to the revision of the questionnaire. (March)

3-3. Filing the good practices

・ The following 3 good practices were extracted out of the past activities of TCT and were filed as documents so that those good practices can be disseminated to others. (November) Industry Attachment (Appendix 3) Graduate Tracer Survey (Appendix 4) Employers’ Satisfaction Survey (Appendix 5)

3-4. Supervision of TVET institutes in Northern Province

・ Concept of Supervision of TVET sector in Northern Province by IPRC-North was formulated, after studying the actual activities for TSS/VTC of IPRC South. (July)

・ Called the school managers of TSS/VTC in Northern

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Province to TCT and explained the function of IPRC and collected the needs from the schools. (September)

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5. Project Achievements 5.1 Baseline

Baselines of the project outputs as well as the project purpose at the time of project commencement, i.e. March 2013, are explained below. 5.1.1 Baseline of Output 1

Baseline of Output1 is shown in Table 10 below, according to its objectively verifiable indicators.

Table 10：Baseline of Output 1 (As of Mar 2013）

PDM Indicators Baseline

1-1. Production Unit Management and Operation guideline is formulated and activities are conducted according to the guideline

・ Establishment of the PU core structure and the basic operation: Detailed studies and discussions undone

・ TCT PU administration and management guideline: None existing

1-2. The percentage of academic staff who have been involved in production unit activities for more than once: More than 80% by the end of the project

・ Number of academic staff involved in PU activities: 5 staff / 46 academic staff

・ 5 academic staff were assigned as PU members2 Breakdown:

Head of PU 1 academic staff Department representatives 4 academic

staff (ET 1, IT 1, AE 2)

1-3. Number of activities adopted and implemented by production unit: at least 6 activities/year

・ Number of adopted PU activities: 1 Breakdown:

Biogas plant installation project funded by ICRC

1-4. Improvement of technical skills of academic staff in their respective field of expertise

・ Technical skills level of academic staff: Able to teach and conduct classes in the

concerned field, yet practical skills are not sufficient to conduct business activities targeted to external customers

The indicator is to be modified.

2 1 administrative staff from finance unit was also assigned as PU member, yet excluded from the list, since the objectively verifiable indicator is targeted to academic staff.

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The details are explained below for Output 1 related baselines, which are not captured in the objectively verifiable indicators of the PDM. ① PU set-up and its operational structure

PU set-up and its operational structure at the time of project commencement were as follows;

Establishment of the unit： February 2013 Allocated office：None PU staffing：

- Head of PU 1 (fulltime PU staff) - Representative from finance unit 1 (non-fulltime PU member) - Department representatives 4 (ET 1, IT 1, AE 2) (non-fulltime PU

member)

As preconditions of the project, it was agreed in the Record of Discussions (R/D) to establish a production unit with a head of the unit and basic facilities such as an office set-up. The head of PU was appointed before the project commencement. However, the unit started its operations without proper office set-up.

As for the PU staffing, representatives were appointed from each department and finance unit. Administrative staff to support PU operation, however, was not placed in the unit, at the time of project commencement. No additional staff, neither academic nor administrative, was hired for the unit start-up.

At the time of project design, the Japanese detailed planning survey team and TCT agreed to place a representative from each department as a PU member, whose departmental workloads are exempted to none, so that he/she can fully devote his/her time to PU activities. However, due to the problems of understaffing in TCT, the four representatives assigned as PU members kept concurrent responsibilities of both respective departments and PU. ② PU budget

There were not budgetary allocations designated for PU within 2013/14 TCT budget compilation, and accordingly PU was compelled to start its operation without having any sufficient budget to support its activities. This was caused by the fact that the action policy of PU was not clear at the time of 201/14 TCT development in December 2012. PU was unable to develop a detailed action plan, nor budget plan for its activities.

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③ Enthusiasm of TCT academic staff to participate in PU activities

At the time of project commencement, the core concept of PU, such as its structure, functions and roles, were not clear. Accordingly, TCT did not have a shared understanding of what PU is. It was also unclear for TCT staff as to how they could participate in PU related activities. As a result, the project was commenced without sufficient levels of enthusiasms from TCT staff to participate in PU activities.

④ General guidelines concerning income generation activities of TVET institutions

Rwandan government is encouraging TVET and higher learning institutions to strengthen their financial self-sufficiencies, and to conduct more income generation activities. However, at the time of project commencement, there were no regulations or guidelines provided by the government, and each institution was conducting business activities in its own individual way. 5.1.2 Baseline of Output 2

Based on the indicators specified in PDM, baseline information of Output 2 is given in the following Table 11.

Table 11：Baseline of Output 2

PDM Indicators Baseline

2-1. PDCA cycle on school management is in practice.

PDCA cycle is not in practice on school management. (As of March 2013)

2-2. Satisfaction level of TCT staff to the school management is improved.

According to the results of School Management Effectiveness Survey targeted TCT staff, overall mean scores of all staff as of November 2012 are 2.84 out of 4-point-scale.

With regard to the Indicator 2-1, the concept of PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was little understood in different areas of school management at the beginning of the project. Action Plan, which was the priority area of the 1st year, was not well developed considering the link with Strategic Plan and adequate involvement of units and departments. Since there was no recognized monitoring and evaluation system where challenges and lessons are shared among the staff, TCT tended to experience the same challenges every year. Similarly, staff performance contract was not well liked to TCT

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Action Plan or monitored adequately.

With regard to the Indicator 2-2, a survey was conducted for the first time by the project to measure the effectiveness and level of improvement in school management in the project 1st year. Instead of measuring satisfaction level of TCT staff in school management, the survey aimed to measure the effectiveness and improvement level recognized by TCT staff. Their perceptions about different areas in school management were asked for both as of November 2012 and November 2013. Therefore, the perceptions as of November 2012 are used as baseline data. The overall mean scores of all staff as of November 2012 were 2.84 out of 4-point-scale (The higher the mean scores are, the more positive or confident they are.). The details will be discussed in “5.2.2 Achievements of Output 2”.

Apart from PDM indicators, it is wise to mention another baseline information of inadequate coordination and communication among units and departments. It is expected to improve their communication so that various units and departments work together as one team to achieve TCT mandates. 5.1.3 Baseline of Output 3

The baseline of Output 3 against the indicators described in the PDM at the time of project commencement is shown in the table below.

Table 12：Baseline of Output 3 (As of Mar 2013） PDM Indicators Baseline

3-1. Regular meeting are held between WDA and TCT for sharing good practices

Regular meeting are not set between WDA and TCT for sharing good practices.

3-2. Dissemination of TCT’s good practices to other TVET schools are included in WDA’s action plan

Dissemination of TCT’s good practices to other TVET schools are not included in WDA’s action plan.

3-3. Number of events collaborated between WDA and TCT for the dissemination of TCT’s good practices to other TVET schools: 5times during the project period

Number of events collaborated between WDA and TCT for the dissemination of TCT’s good practice to other TVET schools: 0 times

Since TCT has performed various activities during the project phase-1, it has accumulated some GPs that are considered useful to other TVET institutions. In the phase-1, the project took up TCT’s Industrial Attachment Program (IAP) as a GP on

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trial, and supported to conduct a workshop co-organized by WDA and TCT for sharing it to other TVET institutions. Although it was found that there was a need of GP sharing among other TVET institutions, WDA’s system was not yet ready at the time of phase-2 commencement to take up GPs implemented on the ground and disseminate them to the other institutions.

It was observed that TCT intends to be an advanced model among the TVET institutions in Rwanda. However, spontaneous activity was not implemented by TCT for compiling its GPs and sharing them to other TVET institutions. 5.1.4 Baseline of the Project Purpose

The baseline of the project purpose against the indicators described in the PDM at the time of project commencement is shown in the table below.

Table 13：Baseline Information of Project Purpose PDM Indicators Baseline

TCT’s good practices are adopted in the plan of activities of WDA

TCT’s good practice are not adopted in the plan of activities of WDA. (as of Mar 2013)

Employment rate after one year of graduation : more than 80%

Employment rate of each batch of the graduates from the tracer survey conducted in March 2012;

(period after graduation) 1st batch: 86.7% (2 years and 4 months) 2nd batch: 69.1%（1 year and 4 months） 3rd batch: 53.2%（7 months） 4th batch: 26.6%（3 months）

Employers’ satisfaction rate of TCT graduates after one year of employment: more than 85%

Employers’ satisfaction survey is not yet conducted.

5.2 Achievements 5.2.1 Achievements of Output 1

Output 1 was set as “Continuous capacity development system is established in TCT for the provision of practical technical education”. Achievement status of Output1 is shown in Table 14, according to its objectively verifiable indicators.

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Table 14：Achievements of Output 1 (as of December 2014)

PDM Indicators Achievements

1-1. Production Unit Management and operation guideline is formulated and activities are conducted according to the guideline

・ TCT RDPU administrative and management guidelines:

- Developed “RDPU Operational Manual” - “Staff Incentive Policy” was approved

and briefing workshop was conducted to all TCT staff

1-2. The percentage of academic staff who have been involved in production unit activities for more than once: More than 80% by the end of the project

・ Number of academic staff involved in RDPU activities in 2013-2014:

・ 27 staff / 43 academic staff Breakdown of 27 academic staff:

・ ET 6, IT 11, AE 10 ・ Number of academic staff involved in

RDPU activities in 2014:

・ 22 staff / 43 academic staff Breakdown of 22 academic staff:

・ ET 6, IT 9, AE 7 (See Annex 11)

1-3. Number of activities adopted and implemented by production unit: at least 6 activities/year

・ Number of adopted PU activities in 2013-2014: 273 Breakdown：ET 5, IT 8, AE 12

・ Number of adopted PU activities in 2014: 18 Breakdown：ET 3, IT 5, AE 8 (including

continuous projects from 2013) (See Annex 10)

1-4. Improvement of technical skills of academic staff in their respective field of expertise

・ Technical skills level of academic staff: ・ The indicator will be revised according

to the modifications of PDM, which is now under consideration

3 Listed all the individual RDPU activities conducted in the 2nd year, regardless of the size, status, and results, as the selection procedures are not established yet. Projects conducted through IPRC-North Consultancy Company (See Annex 15) are excluded, since the objective of the projects was income generation, not capacity development. Additionally, student-focused RDPU projects, such as final year projects and fabrication of TCT products, conducted in this year are also excluded, since under the current PDM, it is still not clear to how to position those activities in the project design.

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Below are supplementary explanations for the above listed achievement status of Output 1.

(1) Strengthening of RDPU Operational Structure

RDPU management was strengthened through the reinforcement of the TCT RDPU operational structure (Figure 1), which had been approved last year. By placing academic departments as part of RDPU, a chain of commands and responsibilities of concerned staff were clarified. For instance, Head of departments (HODs) are, with supervision of the Director of Academic Program (DAP), now in charge of selection, assigning of staff, monitoring, and evaluation of individual RDPU projects. Additionally, monthly RDPU meeting, participated by RDPU Director, DAP and HODs, has become a monthly practice, and the project monitoring function was strengthened.

Figure 1：TCT RDPU Operational Structure The administrative division of RDPU, which is in charge of overall management and coordination of RDPU activities, was also strengthened. In particular, the project activity focused on strengthening the RDPU document management system. Various documents regarding past income generation projects, which had been kept at different departments and units, were collected and filed at RDPU, and the document management structure was clarified.

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(2) RDPU Guidelines and their implementations

<RDPU Operational Manual> (See Annex 4) RDPU Operational Manual was developed, and clarified the following concepts and procedures;

RDPU vision, mission and objectives Organizational structures and functions of RDPU Areas of RDPU activities Selection, Monitoring and Evaluation procedures, and others

The Manual was drafted by RDPU administrative members, revised after sharing the document with the management team, and finalized in November.

<Staff Incentive Policy> (See Annex 5) Adjustment was made to the Staff Incentive Policy developed last year, and after finalizing the document, briefing seminar for all TCT staff was conducted. Currently, application of the policy is being considered for two projects, namely, solar water heater fabrication and installation for Sorwathe, and software development for external organizations.

(3) Strengthening of RDPU Marketing

RDPU marketing function was strengthened for improved needs assessment and customer expansion. The project worked closely together with a newly recruited marketing officer at RDPU, and developed database of external partners, prepared RDPU marketing documents, and conducted company visits.

In addition, in order to learn the best marketing practices from other institutions, school visits were conducted to 1 IPRC, 3 VTCs, and 1 TSS, and 1 private public relations company (See Annex 6). As a main finding, it was discovered that in most schools, direct marketing in the neighboring communities is the adopted marketing approach, and advertisements on popular media is rarely used due to insufficient funds. The findings were shared at RDPU, and it was agreed that RDPU will also focus on direct marketing methods, such as promotional visits and marketing events.

This year, promotional visits were conducted to approximately 20 external organizations to introduce TCT products and services (See Annex 7). As part of this activity, software demonstration was carried out by IT department staff at a few different organizations, and the sales of TCT-developed software, namely, Leave Management System and Asset Management System, is currently under negotiation

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with Don Bosco, and SOS Children’s Villages International, a social NGO running private schools and hospitals.

(4) Strengthening of partnership building

In order to strengthen cooperation with external organizations, partnership building activities were conducted, together with the marketing activities mentioned above. As a result of this activity, 2 new MOUs were exchanged with Rulindo District and Manumetal (See Annex 9), and various RDPU projects are currently conducted based on the agreed cooperation.

For Rulindo District, three community outreach projects, based on the technical advantages of each department, are currently being conducted. In order to strengthen the provision of community outreach projects, MOUs with other district offices in the Northern Province are also under preparation at the moment. As for Manumetal, a joint R&D project is currently conducted, with an objective to develop a locally-made solar water heater, which is cost effective and suitable for Rwandan conditions, and can replace imported high-cost products commonly sold at the Rwandan market. As a first activity, an experience sharing session was conducted (See Annex 12) and AE department team gained the commercial knowledge on solar water heaters. A proto-type of a simplified solar water heater for community-use was developed by TCT and the performance is being monitored at the moment to be shared with Manumetal.

(5) TCT potential products & services were identified

From a number of potential RDPU activities suggested last year as a result of the needs survey, several potential activities were identified so far through the activities conducted in the last 2 years. Examples are, various solar water heater related projects and research projects on improved cook stoves for AE, software development and provisions of short-term IT trainings for IT, sensor application projects and PC refurbishment projects for ET. These projects and activities are based on technical advantages of TCT, and gaining recognition from external organizations. More products and services will continue to be explored.

(6) Student-focused RDPU Projects

As a new approach, TCT and the project adopted to focus on the establishment of “a system that students can acquire practical knowledge and skills by participating in RDPU activities” (reasons for the new approach are summarized in “6.1.2 New

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approach applied for the RDPU support”).

More specifically, it was agreed to conduct students’ final year projects by closely involving external organizations with expertise in the concerned fields. According to the basic concept of the RDPU final year projects (See Annex 13), each department has selected the areas of focus for this year, and recruited partner organizations for the selected research topic. IT department has come to an agreement with Manumetal, and the students are now working on the development of Management Information System development for the company. AE department, on the other hand, has selected two research topics; improved cook stove development in partnership with Practical Action, and simplified solar water development for the community use. Currently, discussions are taking place with the partner organizations to clarify the requirements and determine the detailed research theme. As for ET, the department faced difficulties in identifying a partner organization, and accordingly, decided to first collect research themes from students, and decide whether to link some selected projects with external organizations.

Furthermore, as part of community outreach projects for Rulindo District, ET department has decided to fabricate TCT products through practical lessons. Power supplies and multi-meters will be fabricated by TCT students, and distributed to schools in Rulindo District to be utilized as science teaching equipment. So far, the designs of power supplies and multi-meters as well as its fabrication manual have been developed.

(7) Third Country Training in Kenya and Ghana (See Annex 2)

Third country training was conducted in Kenya and Ghana. The mission team, consisting of VPAC, RDPU Director, and AE HOD, visited MIT-promoted FabLabs4 located in two institutions, namely, Nairobi University in Kenya, and Takoradi Technical Institute in Ghana, and learned the approach to strengthen RDPU collaboration with external partners in the process of product development and technology transfer.

4 Fab Lab is a small scale workshop equipped with fabrication tools, such as 3D printers and cutting machines, to offer technical prototyping platform for innovation and invention. Its concept was introduced by MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld in his book “Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop - from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrications”, and becoming increasingly well known around the world. As key characteristics, Fab Labs are operated in compliance with the Fab Charter, and provides public access. Also, Fab Labs are required to participate in the larger global Fab Lab network.

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At each institution, the mission team gained understanding of management issues concerning Fab Lab, including historical background of its establishment, operational structure and challenges, relationship with the hosting institution, details of installed equipment, and others. In addition, the mission team was introduced to examples of products, activities, and cooperative projects with external organizations and neighboring communities.

In particular, “human-centered design”, i.e. collaborative manufacturing, was introduced at Nairobi University, and the importance of understanding the needs and requirements of target population in the production development process was recognized. Takoradi Technical Institute, on the other hand, is focusing on cooperation with local private enterprises, and the mission team was introduced to some examples of products, which had been developed using Fab Lab facilities and equipment, and commercialized by local companies. The findings from the visits were shared with TCT management team and RDPU.

5.2.2 Achievements of Output 2 Output 2 was set as “Improvement mechanism of school management is established in TCT”. Achievement status of output 2 is shown in Table 15, according to its objectively verifiable indicators.

Table 15：Achievements of Output 2 (as of December 2014)

PDM Indicators Achievement Status

2-1. PDCA cycle on school management is in practice.

・ The concept of PDCA cycle is well understood among the management members and quarterly reviews of Action Plan are now recognized as regular event of the college.

・ The monthly report system was modified for its better implementation, in which individual staff makes an activity plan at the beginning of every month, reports to his/her supervisor at the end of every month and receive feedback from the supervisor.

2-2. Satisfaction level of TCT staff to the school management is improved.

According to the results of School Management Effectiveness Survey targeted TCT staff, the overall mean scores of all staff are increasing year by year. 2012：2.84（Baseline）(out of 4-point-scale)

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2013：2.94 2014：3.07

Below are supplementary explanations for the above listed achievement status as well as individual activities of output 2. (1) Establish Asset Management System

The results of School Management Effectiveness Survey conducted in 2013 pointed out the inadequate asset management at TCT. Moreover, due to the request from Vice Principal for Administration and Finance, the project supported to establish an appropriate asset management system in the project 2nd year. According to the preliminary results from School Management Effectiveness Survey conducted this year, evaluation of TCT staff about asset management has improved compared to the last year. It can be interpreted that the efforts put into establishing an appropriate asset management system this year are acknowledged by TCT staff. The main achievements under “establishing asset management system” are as follows;

① Develop Asset & Consumable Management Manual

Various rules and procedures such as procurement, registration, codification, handover, maintenance, disposal etc. were not well set and management of assets and consumables needed to be improved. Asset & Consumable Management Manual was therefore developed with the project support for about 6 months. (See Appendix 6: Asset & Consumable Management Manual)

The counterparts were involved in the manual development, providing various inputs, which led to the enhancement of their readiness to improve their work. Furthermore, the involvement of the staff in charge of asset management at Naruto University of Education as a project expert ensured the validity of asset management system by referring to practices in Japan. Rules and procedures stipulated in the manual as well as required templates are described in Table 16.

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Table 16：Rules, procedures and templates of Asset & Consumable Management Manual

Rules and Procedures Templates

1. Definition of Assets and Consumables 1. Procurement Requirement Form

2. Objectives of Assets and Consumables Management

2. Asset Hand-Over Form

3. Process of Assets and Consumables Management

3. Asset Stock List

1) Asset & Consumable Requirement Planning

4. Asset Register

2) Asset & Consumable Procurement 5. Asset Type

3) Reception and Storing of Assets & Consumables

6. Asset Inventory Verification Form

4) Asset Registration 7. Consumable Inventory Verification Form

5) Asset Codification 8. Asset Movement Form

6) Asset Handover 9. Asset Maintenance Request Form

7) Consumable Requisition 10. Asset Damage or Loss Form

8) Physical Verification of Asset & Consumables

9) Asset Movement

10) Asset Maintenance

11) Asset Damage or Loss

12) Asset Disposal

4. Roles and Responsibilities of Each Stakeholder in Asset Management

② Asset & Consumable Management Manual sharing session The content of the Asset & Consumable Management Manual was shared in November with the management members to reflect their opinions as users of the manual. The sharing session was organized by the Directorate of Administration and Human Resource Management which is in charge of asset management. The explanation of the entire manual was made by the staff of the Directorate. Based on the suggestions raised in the session, minor corrections were made in the manual. Vice Principal for

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Administration and Finance appreciates the fact that the manual was developed internally without outsourcing to consultants, which led to the full understanding of the content. The actual implementation of the manual needs to be monitored from next year. ③ Develop Asset & Consumable Management Software

Asset & Consumable Management Software is being developed as a RDPU-IT activity. Directorate of Administration and Human Resource Management as a user unit of the software conducted the following activities together with the project experts:

List the needs of software users (Identify required information, develop report formats, decide asset search options etc.)

Decide various rules and definitions related to asset management system （Information to be recorded in the asset register, asset type, list of responsible units/depts., list of locations, useful life-span of assets, design of codes etc.）

Develop a database of existing assets Prepare a list of consumable items ④ Monitor the operation of Asset & Consumable Management Software

The Asset & Consumable Management Software consists of 2 modules, i.e. fixed asset module and consumable module. The fixed asset module is already being operated by logistics officer and storekeeper and they have provided their feedback on some errors of the software to the IT instructor who is responsible for its development. By providing useful feedback from the users, the effectiveness of the software is improving. At the same time, there is a progress in developing the consumable module too. It is expected that TCT staff will finalize the module within this year without project support. The project 3rd year will aim to complete the practical and useful software on the ground, by monitoring the operation of the software. (2) PDCA cycle of Action Plan

In the 1st project year, 3 steps, i.e. Plan, Do, Check out of 4 steps of PDCA cycle of Action Plan were targeted to improve under the project. However, the project put a more focus on Act step this year, as Action Plan 2013/14 ended in June 2014. Although it takes a longer time for TCT to get accustomed to Act step, the importance of the step is now being recognized by the staff through not only annual but also quarterly PDCA cycle.

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The major achievements are as follows:

① Achievements through quarterly reviews of Action Plan

Quarterly reviews of Action Plan is now recognized as regular event of the college. The concept of PDCA cycle as well as its effectiveness are well understood among TCT staff. Some improvements were also observed each time the quarterly reviews were conducted.

The management members receive questions and comments from other members including senior management after presenting self-evaluation against the targets. It develops positive pressure as well as a sense of responsibility among the members, which assisted them to realize the importance of management of their work by objectives. Especially, if they cannot provide fair justification for pending or non-completed activities, they will be questioned by the members and therefore, significant improvements are observed in the staff attitude towards their work. Quarterly reviews provided an opportunity to the staff to have a habit of thinking why they could not complete the activities and what should be done.

The activities which require coordination and collaboration with other units/depts. are made clear, which led to the increase of awareness to prevent delays of activities.

Quarterly reviews facilitated the TCT staff to identify new challenges, which were not discussed in the monthly management meeting, since they discuss only the existing challenges in the management meeting.

TCT staff used to write “next quarter” or “next year” to implement the pending or non-completed activities. However, they are getting accustomed to mention the specific month to make sure the implementation of those activities.

Japanese experts provided continuous OJT (on-the-job training) to Planning officer for conducting quarterly reviews of Action Plan. As a result, the planning officer understands her roles properly and can take initiatives to prepare, facilitate and conduct quarterly reviews of Action Plan.

Quarterly reviews contribute to team-building of the members by providing an opportunity to share the activities and learn from other units/depts.

Through the instructions of Japanese expert to Planning officer, the reports of quarterly reviews have improved to include comments and suggestions raised in the quarterly reviews. (See Annex 16: Reports on Quarterly Reviews of Action Plan)

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② Achievements through reviewing PDCA cycle of Action Plan 2013/14 At the time of the retreat for Action Plan 2013/14 Q4 review and annual evaluation, TCT staff reviewed each step of PDCA cycle of Action Plan 2013/14 in groups and discussed the challenges faced in each step and suggestions to overcome them. Though the suggestions need to be more relevant and effective, the fact that the TCT staff themselves drew some lessons to have more efficient and effective PDCA cycle shows their sense of ownership over their plan. Moreover, some actions are already being taken to improve some of the challenges identified in the group discussion. It can say that PDCA cycle of Action Plan is going along on the right track. The following Table 17 shows the challenges and measures for problem-solving identified in the group discussion as well as the actions which have been/are going to be taken.

Table 17：Challenges and measures for problem-solving identified in PDCA cycle of Action Plan 2013/14 and the actions have been/to be taken

Identified challenges Measures for

problem-solving Actions have been/to be taken

Plan

There is a mismatch

between TCT strategic

plan and government

priorities.

Develop a strategic plan that

matches with government

priorities and shared it to all.

Revise TCT Strategic Plan by

June 2015.

Planning was not

appropriately

participatory.

Set outputs, activities and

tasks involving relevant

people and units/depts.

Outputs, activities, tasks of

Action Plan 2015/16 are

developed by each unit and

department.

Inadequate knowledge on

planning terminologies

and their relationships

Workshop on planning

activities in Rwandan

context should be conducted

before development of action

plan.

Training on effective Action Plan

development was conducted on

6-7 November. TCT

management members learned

the terminologies, concepts and

their relationships.

Do

Mismatch between action

plan and budget allocation

Consider planned activities

during budget allocation,

market reality and budget

implementation. Inform user

In the above-mentioned

training, TCT management

members learned how to plan a

budget by using WBS (Work

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departments of the revised

budget.

Breakdown Structure).

Breakdown an activity into

small tasks from which costs can

be calculated.

Inadequate collaboration

across units and

departments

Increase frequency of

management meeting from

monthly to weekly.

VPAF and VPAC call a meeting

regularly under his/her

supervision.

Delays on submission of

user departments’ needs

for procurement

Provide detailed

procurement needs at the

beginning of financial year.

In 2014/2015, procurement

needs were submitted on time

and no delay was observed.

Payment process is

delayed.

Make a contract for those

activities that require

pre-payment.

Under consideration

Lack of individual

responsibility to do follow-

up of activities

Always individuals have to

follow up the activities.

Under consideration

Plan is not implemented

timely.

Always respect deadlines

and activity calendar.

Under consideration

Check / Act

Monthly reporting is not

properly done.

Monthly reports should be

closely evaluated by heads of

units/depts. Planning officer

should file them.

Monthly report template has

been modified and reports are

now managed online to facilitate

reporting and feedback easier.

There are no departmental

action plan reviews.

The quarterly reviews should

be preceded by department

action plan reviews.

Under consideration

Inadequate attention by

participants during

quarterly review retreats

Organizers of quarterly

review retreats should

provide strict guidelines

regarding computers and

telephone use during the

retreats.

There was an improvement in

the retreat for Q1 review of AP

2014/2015.

③ Achievements through training on effective Action Plan development Training on effective Action Plan development was conducted on 6-7 November by external facilitators. It aimed to improve mainly understanding of planning concepts,

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setting appropriate indicators and targets, and budgeting. On the 1st day, theoretical training was conducted covering planning concepts, Action Plan development and budgeting based on the plan. On the 2nd day, group work was conducted to set activities, indicators, targets and budgets to a given output. Moreover, TCT Action Plan 2015/16 was examined together with the facilitators and they found out several points which lack a logical relationship. The TCT staff learned how to correct those points. Besides, the training covered the relationship between performance contract and Action Plan. As the actual TCT Action Plan was used as a material in the training, two-day training was practical enough and led to the improvement of understanding effective Action Plan development. The report submitted by the facilitators is attached as Annex 17. ④ Achievements through development of Action Plan 2015/16 TCT was preparing its Action Plan 2015/16 in order to submit to WDA in November 2014 which was the same schedule of the last year. However, it was instructed to submit it in October this year. Due to the fact that TCT had only a few days to the deadline at that time, TCT could only modify the Action plan 2014/15 and submit it in time. Even after the submission of the Action Plan, TCT felt the needs to develop an appropriate Action Plan based on the learnings from the above mentioned training on effective Action Plan development. The spirit to develop a better plan involving all units and departments of the college is highly appreciated. ⑤ Achievements through the introduction of monthly reports The system to monitor the activities of individual staff by using monthly report was established last year, considering the fact that the Action Plan and individual performance contract are already linked. After it was implemented for a while, the TCT staff requested to modify the report format as well as the way to receive feedback from supervisors. Based on their requests, the format was revised (See Annex 18) and feedback from their supervisors would be given online. By planning at the beginning of every month and reporting the progress at the end of every month, TCT staff are now more aware of importance of work progress management as well as achieving the activities listed in performance contract and Action Plan. (4) School Management Effectiveness Survey

School Management Effectiveness Survey was conducted in Oct-Dec 2014 targeted at TCT staff to measure the effectiveness and level of improvement in school management. The survey questions include Action Plan based on PDCA cycle, individual work

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management, HR management and evaluation, procurement and asset management, budget management, collaboration among units and departments, career support, information sharing etc. The staff were requested to choose 1 out of 4 scales (4: strongly agree, 3: agree, 2: disagree, 1: strongly disagree) per question.

The project involved Quality Assurance officer and Planning officer in the process of conducting survey as much as possible this year. The technical knowledge in survey methods and analysis methods was provided. At the same time, various useful inputs were provided by the officers. As a result, new question items have been included, which are found to be important to measure the improvement level at TCT.

As Table 18 shows, the results of the survey last year and this year revealed that overall mean scores of all staff are increasing every year from 2.84 in 2012 (baseline) to 2.94 in 2013 and 3.07 in 2014. It can be said that the achievement level of indicator 2-2 “Satisfaction level of TCT staff to the school management is improved.” is being on the right track. According to the above survey results, we can say that TCT staff as a whole is feeling the improvement of school management at TCT.

Table 18：Group-wise overall mean scores

All staff5 Academic staff6 Admin. staff

2012 2.84 2.90 2.73 2013 2.94 2.94 2.92 2014 3.07 3.10 3.03

PDCA cycle of Action Plan is one example area where remarkable improvements can be observed. Table 19 shows the increase in mean scores of question items related to PDCA cycle of Action Plan year by year. The results prove the achievement of the project support, which led to the improvement in the understanding of Action Plan and PDCA cycle.

5 Senior management (principal and 2 vice principals) are not included in all staff since the questions

they were asked are different. They were asked their perceptions as senior management overseeing the organization as a whole.

6 In the survey conducted in 2013, HODs and DAP were asked their perceptions as supervisors. Since the questions were different, they were not included in the group of academic staff. However, in the survey conducted in 2014, those questions were cancelled and HODs and DAP are included in the group of academic staff.

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Table 19：Mean scores of question items related to PDCA cycle of Action Plan Question Items 2012 2013 2014

An appropriate action plan is developed at TCT. 2.89 3.11 3.16

Activities are implemented based on Action Plan at TCT. 2.82 3.07 3.11

Staff are able to understand all concepts utilized in action plan.

2.25 2.44 2.86

Action Plan is regularly reviewed to find out problems at TCT. 2.64 2.82 3.08

Measures for problem-solving are reflected in following Action Plan at TCT.

2.66 2.76 2.98

On the other hand, mean scores of the question items related to students’ career support and appropriate information sharing are still low and they are the areas where more efforts are need to be made. Therefore, the project in the 3rd year will put a priority on students’ career support and attempt to make a difference. The detailed information of the survey conducted in 2013 is found in Appendix 7: “School Effectiveness Survey Report 2013”. The report of survey conducted this year is now being drafted. (5) Training in Japan Training in Japan was conducted from 13-18 October 2014 for 3 TCT staff, Principal, Vice Principal for Administration and Finance, and Director of Academic Programs. They visited 3 institutions in Japan, namely, Naruto University of Education, Tokushima Prefectural Senior High School of Science and Technology, and Ritsumeikan University. Training covered various topics including career support, incubation center operation, staff performance evaluation, faculty development, industry-academia collaboration and school management in general. The satisfaction level of the participants towards overall training course was very high and they could learn various good practices in Japan, which can be reflected to TCT. The details of the training are given in the “Report for Training in Japan” (See Annex: 1). 5.2.3 Achievements of Output 3 Output 3 aims to achieve “WDA and TCT share good practices useful for TVET sector”. The indicators of Output 3 of the PDM are shown in Table 20.

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Table 20：Indicators of Output-3 of the PDM Indicator

3-1. Regular meeting are held between WDA and TCT for sharing good practices. 3-2. Dissemination of TCT’s good practices to other TVET schools are included in WDA’s action plan. 3-3. Number of events collaborated between WDA and TCT for the dissemination of TCT’s good practices to other TVET schools: 5 times during the project period.

As mentioned in 4.3.3, the activities of Output 3 were modified from the original design. So the above mentioned indicators are currently inconsistent with the activities carried out for Output 3 in the 2nd year. Therefore the achievements are not explained based on the indicators. The supplemental explanations on each activity are described below.

(1) Implementation of Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

TCT conducted the second Employers’ Satisfaction Survey this year after having done the first survey in the project phase-1. While the project experts took their initiative to conduct the first survey, TCT conducted the survey this time with its strong ownership under the initiative of Quality Assurance officer. The project experts provided only the minimum support. It is a great achievement for TCT that the series of all activities of the survey (planning, data collection, data analysis, and report making) were done with Quality Assurance officers’ responsibility.

The 2014 Employers’ Satisfaction Survey Report is attached as Appendix 2. TCT had six batches of graduates at the time of the survey and the total number of companies or institutions employing the graduates was 294. The targets selected by sampling method are shown in Table 21.

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Table 21：Targets in Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

Category of Employer No. of sampled target

No. of respondents

No. of graduates covered

Private company 59 22 27

Central / local government and public institute 31 44 51

Higher education institute 9 11 32

Technical school (TSS/VTCs) 24 22 34

Total 123 99 144

As shown in the table, the number of respondents is 99. Some employers employ plural number of the graduates, so the total number of graduates covered in the survey is 144.

In this survey, the rate of comprehensive satisfaction resulted in 100%7 since all the employers selected “very satisfy” or “satisfy” to the question asking their comprehensive satisfaction rate. The satisfaction rates against each question are shown in the Figure 2.

Figure 2：Satisfaction rate against each question

7 The comprehensive satisfaction rate in the 1st Employers’ Survey conducted in 2011 was 97.4%.

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As shown in Figure 2, every item records high satisfaction rate. “Knowledge” and ”Comprehension/ability to understand” mark relatively high rates, while “Creative and innovation ability”, “Foreign language skills”, and “Communication and reporting skills” mark relatively low rates.

Also many of the employers made the following comments;

Practical classes should be increased or improved

Curriculum should be kept upgrading corresponding to the outside market needs

Industrial attachment should be improved

Teaching methodology should be included in the curriculum

Training facilities should be improved

(2) Sharing TCT’s Experience of Tracer Survey and Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

WDA called the stakeholders including donors in March 2014 for the meeting on implementation methodology of the graduate tracer survey and the employers’ satisfaction survey targeting all TVET institutes in Rwanda. Quality Assurance officer of TCT, who has experience in conducting both surveys, attended the meeting with the project expert (School Management 2). He shared the knowledge of TCT and gave advice to the questionnaires to be used in the surveys. As a result, TCT’s questionnaires were used as a base of WDA’s surveys. The survey results are being processed by WDA.

(3) Filing TCT’s good practices

The project compiled the documents of following three activities as good practice extracted from the TCT’s experience so that those GPs can be shared with other TVET institutions. IAP Graduate Tracer Survey Employers’ Satisfaction Survey

The common format was developed for all good practices. The format structure is as follows: Definition of the activity and its position in TCT Importance of the activity Implementation method in TCT Challenges Attachments

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It is not clear at this moment which school between Tumba and Musanze will have a function as headquarters in Northern Province. So the project so far tried to accumulate examples of good practices. Once the TVET system in Northern Province is confirmed, the way of sharing and disseminating the good practice shall be discussed.

(4) Support in supervision of TVET institutes in Northern Province

TCT is currently appointed as IPRC-North having a function of supervising the TVET institutes in Northern Province. At the beginning of the project 2nd year, a directorate of TSS/VTC was established in TCT, and then a director and an officer were assigned. This directorate should have a function of disseminating good practices within Northern Province, though it is not confirmed that the directorate will remain in TCT after completion of Musanze campus. Hence, the project provided minimum support for its activity.

Study visit was made to IPRC-South in July 2014 for observing the activities related to the supervision of TVET institutes. Also various formats and reports to WDA were shared, which were helpful to TCT. Based on the information, IPRC-North made its concept note of supervision of TVET institutions in Northern Province. The minutes of meeting at IPRC-South is as per Annex 19.

TCT held a workshop at Tumba campus inviting managers of TSSs and VTCs in Northern Province in September 2014. In this workshop, TCT explained the function as IPRC and asked the needs of the schools. The Concept Note of IPRC North Workshop, the presentation of TCT director, and Report on the workshop are as per Annex 20, 21, and 22 respectively. Almost all participants pointed out the needs of pedagogical training. The teachers and instructors do not have pedagogical skills even though they have enough skills as technician.

5.2.4 Achievements of the Project Purpose

The project purpose is “TCT becomes a model institution that provides Government of Rwanda with effective approaches for improving TVET sector”. The indicators to measure the project purpose are as follows.

TCT’s good practices are adopted in the plan of activities of WDA. Employment rate after one year of graduation: more than 80% Employer’s satisfaction rate of TCT graduates after one year of employment: more

than 85%

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As already mentioned, the first indicator should be modified due to the situation change according to the progress of IPRC concept. The dissemination of good practice is recognized as a function of IPRC and not of WDA. Moreover, the demarcation of function is not clear between TCT and a new facility in Musanze.

Regarding the second indicator, it is difficult to measure at this moment since a graduate tracer survey was not conducted in the project 2nd year. The result of the survey conducted in September 2013 shows an employment rate as 43.6% after one year from the graduation, which has large gap between the result and the target.

The target of the third indicator is achieved according to the result of Employers’ Satisfaction Survey conducted in March 2014, where the comprehensive satisfaction rate recorded 100%. TCT plans to conduct the same survey every three year. So the next survey will be in 2017 that is the last project year. The achievement should be measured by the result of the next survey.

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6. Challenges, Approaches and Lessons in the Project Implementation 6.1 Output 1 6.1.1 Challenges met in the RDPU support

TCT RDPU is currently facing a number of challenges which hamper the efforts to realize efficient operation of RDPU. The main challenges include:

(1) Aims and objectives of RDPU (2) Budget implementation and procumbent procedures within public schools (3) RDPU operational structure (4) Lack of project management skills (5) RDPU projects for ET department

(1) Aims and objectives of RDPU supported by the project

In Rwanda, income generation activities at TVET and higher education institutions are promoted in order to strengthen the self-support accounting and funds management at school levels. Accordingly, in 2014/15 Action Plan making, TCT was obliged by the Rwandan government to specify in the plan the amount of income to be generated in the concerned year. Under such circumstances, RDPU was appointed as a unit responsible for coordinating income generation activities at TCT, and accordingly, the expected income was adopted as an indicator for RDPU, in the 2014/15 Action Plan, to evaluate the achievement of the unit. While the primal objective of the project is to establish a continuous capacity development system for TCT academic staff, the RDPU activities sometimes have to focus on fulfilling its responsibility of income generation, which may not contribute to the capacity development of the academic staff.

(2) Budget implementation and procurement procedures within public schools

All the public institutions, including TCT, are required to follow the regulations set by the Rwandan government for their budget implementations and procurement of goods and services. TCT has been coping with the regulations and significant improvements are observed. Yet, it sometimes faces difficulty in availing necessary materials in time for flexible RDPU operation due to the procurement process. Also, there is a challenge to build a consistency between an annual school action plan and a budgetary plan for RDPU activities. While an annual school action plan is developed during the preceding year and difficult to change once it is approved by the government, RDPU activities require flexibility, and not all the necessary budget can be predicted in a detailed manner.

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In order for TCT to operate its RDPU more effectively under such regulations, it needs to select its activities more strategically, for instance by prioritizing activities which can be preplanned. Furthermore, it is crucial to strengthen the administrative functions of TCT, which enables faster budget implementation as well as more efficient procurement.

(3) Staff organization for conducting RDPU projects

As was mentioned above, by placing academic departments as part of RDPU, a chain of commands and responsibilities in RDPU project implementation process have become more clarified. However, RDPU is still facing problems caused by shortage of staff for implementing approved RDPU projects. The amount of time academic staff can spend for RDPU projects are limited since they have regular academic tasks to conduct. As TCT is planning to expand, by accepting more students and opening weekend A1 courses, it is likely that the academic staff will become even busier with their regular tasks, and have less time to attend for RDPU projects. Furthermore, the volume of workload for Heads of Departments is increasing due to a number of supervising tasks assigned to them, making it difficult to properly monitor the progress of individual RDPU projects.

In order to make the most of the limited human resources at TCT, RDPU projects have to be selected with careful consideration. From various project ideas, priorities should be determined according to the project size, necessary inputs, technical advantages, interference with other school activities and others. Furthermore, the division of labor and responsibilities of each concerned personnel, for instance, project manager, technical workers, marketing officer, and administrative staff, have to be clarified, so as to realize the efficient implementation of RDPU projects. .

(4) Weakness in project management skills

The implementation of RDPU projects face problems of constant delays due to a number of reasons, and quite regularly, TCT fails to deliver promised outputs in the planned timeframe. Such delays are, in most of the cases, caused by lack of project management skills, rather than technical skills, for instance, weakness in planning, task distribution, time management, administrative skills, customer communications, and others. Under the current RDPU operational structure, Heads of Departments are in charge of managing the selected projects, and distributing individual tasks to the department staff. However, distributed tasks are often not well delivered and even if delays are

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observed, proper measures are not taken to solve the problems. In order to strengthen the RDPU capacity as a whole, the improvement in project management skills for the project managing staff is urgently needed.

(5) RDPU projects for ET department

In order to achieve capacity development through implementation of RDPU projects, appropriate projects have to be selected that match with the needs of private companies and/or communities, and, at the same time, provides new practical experiences for TCT staff. However, many of the projects that ET department staff are interested in, such as automation technologies and micro-controllers, are not realistic to be considered as potential business ideas for the department. Such technologies can have an effect on a whole factory operation, yet TCT does not have prior experience to convince potential customers for quality service. Furthermore, some of the materials and equipment necessary for ET related RDPU activities, such as electronic components, are difficult to find in Rwanda, and challenges the sustainability of chosen projects. Taking the above mentioned concerns into consideration, RDPU has to examine what would be the best for ET RDPU projects.

6.1.2 New approach applied for the RDPU support

Initially, this project was designed to develop a continuous capacity development system for TCT academic staff through the establishment of RDPU, based on the assumption that by strengthening the practical knowledge of academic staff, the quality of practical technical education at TCT would be improved, and indirectly benefit the students. However, redirection of the project approach was discussed, since the efficient operation of RDPU faced a number of challenges as mentioned above.

As a new approach, TCT and the project adopted to focus on the establishment of “a system that students can acquire practical knowledge and skills by participating in RDPU activities” (See Figure 3). It aims to improve the provision of practical education at TCT by linking student-related activities, such as final year projects, practical lessons and internship programs, to RDPU, and directly involving students in projects conducted with and/or for external partners. The example activities are as follows; Each department identifies affiliated partners RDPU undertakes projects from affiliated partners, for instance, applied technology

development, product development, experimental studies, and others Under coordination between RDPU and the academic departments, the above

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projects are allocated to student-related activities, for instance, final year projects, practical lessons, internship programs, incubatee support and others

Teachers supervise students and incubatees for the implementation of selected projects

Project experts support to establish an operational system for the implementation of student-focused RDPU projects, and provide technical advice and trainings to supervising teachers

Figure 3：Operational structure for student-focused RDPU projects

6.2 Output 2 6.2.1 Challenges met in PDCA cycle of Action Plan As mentioned above (5.2.2 (2)), several achievements are observed in relation to PDCA cycle of Action Plan, and yet there are some challenges to overcome. The followings are the areas where some improvements are expected.

It is necessary to make it compulsory to report in the following quarterly review of Action Plan whether the suggested actions towards the identified challenges in the previous review were taken.

Due to inappropriate targets or indicators, many outputs are found to be difficult to

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evaluate. It is expected to improve target and indicator setting, based on the knowledge gained in the training on effective Action Plan development conducted in November.

As a result of the fact that TCT staff have to review the achievements at every quarter, some staff concentrate only on the planned activities and try to avoid useful and necessary activities for TCT but not included in the Action Plan.

The activities which require collaboration among different units and departments especially between academic and administrative staff, tend to be delayed, since the responsibilities of the work is not clear. It is expected to clarify the person in charge and at the same time, Vice Principal can follow up the work, when necessary.

Action Plan and budget are not well linked, which affects the implementation of the activities. Since TCT staff are aware of this issue, measures to resolve it are now under consideration.

6.2.2 Commitment of the counterpart to work process The approach of JICA’s technical project is to involve the counterpart into the work process so that they can develop their capacity through the practical experience. In Rwanda, government institutions however sometimes outsource their work to consultants and complete the work. The project put much efforts to withdraw commitment and ownership of the counterpart towards their own work.

One of the examples was seen in the development of Asset & Consumable Management Manual. In the beginning of the 2nd year, TCT had an intention that the project expert develop the manual with the information of needs which would be provided by TCT. The project experts continued to explain the JICA’s approach and finally TCT was fully involved in developing the manual.

Besides the Asset & Consumable Management Manual, School Management Effectiveness Survey was conducted involving TCT staff this year, while most of the work were done by the project experts in the last year. Various useful inputs were obtained from the counterpart in the questionnaire, survey methods, and the data analysis. The project will continue to put much focus on commitment and ownership of the counterparts by increasing their involvement.

6.3 Output 3 6.3.1 Challenges in implementation of the activities for Output 3 As mentioned in 4.3.3, the headquarters of TVET system in Northern Province is not

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yet confirmed between TCT and a new facility in Musanze. So it is difficult to discuss the methodology of sharing and disseminating the good practice. Under such circumstances, the project carried out the activities that will be useful in the future in terms of sharing and dissemination of good practices. The new school in Musanze is planned to start its operation with some courses from January 2015. Therefore the TVET system in Northern Province might be confirmed soon. It is necessary to discuss and modify the implementation of the activities for Output 3 as early as possible in the 3rd year after confirming the system. The PDM should be modified accordingly.

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7. Priority Activities for the 3rd Year 7.1 Priorities of Output 1

(1) Strengthening of student-focused RDPU projects

In order to realize “a system that students can acquire practical knowledge and skills by participating in RDPU activities”, the primal focus will be given to the formulation and implementation of student-focused RDPU projects. For final year projects, continuous support will be given to the three projects initiated this year, and results will be reviewed after the project completion in July, at the end of 2014/15 academic year. Based on the review, guidelines and operational procedures will be developed for effective implementation of final year projects in coming years. Furthermore, possibilities for other student-focused RDPU projects based on partnership with external organizations will be examined. As mentioned above, potential approaches include fabrication of TCT products through practical lessons, internship programs at TCT, and incubatee support.

(2) Strengthening of RDPU Operational Structure

The RDPU operational structure will be strengthened for more efficient implementation, supervision, and management of individual RDPU projects. In order to effectively utilize limited resources and staff for the implementation of various incoming projects, responsibilities of each staff, for instance, project manager, technical worker, marketing officer, administrative officer, and others, for each project planning and implementation step, will be clarified. Furthermore, RDPU individual project proposal and approving procedures determined in the RDPU operational manual will be reinforced, so as to realize more systematic and strategic operation of RDPU individual projects.

(3) Strengthening of project management skills

In addition to the strengthening of RDPU operational structure mentioned above, a focus will also be given to the capacity development on project management skills. A training on project management skills will be conducted, targeting Heads of Departments, Director of Academic Programs, Director of RDPU, and Vice Principal for Academic Trainings, who are responsible for managing individual RDPU projects. Through the training, participants are expected to gain understandings of, for instance, planning, quality control, human resource management, cost calculation, process management, customer care and others. The knowledge gained from the training will be shared to students, since the understanding of various project management skills will

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also be crucial to the successful implementation of student-focused RDPU projects.

(4) Networking with external organizations

As a continuous activity from this year, networking with external organizations will be given a focus, as one of the approaches to realize more efficient and effective RDPU operation. More concretely, possibilities for collaboration, including student-focused project collaborations, will be examined in terms of joint research, product development, and collaborative consultancy projects. Furthermore, possibilities and approaches for joint venture business with well-established graduate-run companies will be examined.

(5) Strengthening of marketing functions

Following this year’s project focus, marketing activities will be further strengthened. In the coming year, marketing effort will focus on the promotion of selected TCT products and services, which were identified this year as core products and services, as mentioned in 5.2.1.(5). Furthermore, marketing activities will be mainly targeted to private organizations and NGOs. Government institutions, including public teaching institutions, though showing interests in TCT products and services, cannot be regarded as favorable customers, since they need to follow the procurement procedures set by Rwandan government, and are not able to purchase products and/or services directly from TCT without tender process. 7.2 Priorities of Output 2

(1) Establish Career Support System Students’ career support was partially supported in the project phase 1. The achievements were, however, not sustainable except for Industrial Attachment Program, due to the absence of a responsible unit at TCT. As TCT’s mission is to produce graduates that are needed in the industries, support for the students to get a job or start a business is an urgent issue. Therefore, the project in the 3rd year will target to establish students’ career support including job placement, entrepreneurship and further studies. The detailed activities will be identified according to the Rwandan context. (2) Develop TCT Strategic Plan Strategic plan is one of the most important plans for TCT as it is a guide for annual Action Plan as well as future plan. The project will support to upgrade the existing strategic plan 2012/17, which was developed during the project phase 1, to match with

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the priorities in the current national policies as well as the current TCT situations. It is planned to establish a task force at TCT and encourage the staff to be involved in the development of strategic plan instead of outsourcing to consultants. (3) Asset Management System

Through establishing asset management system, which was the priority area of the 2nd project year, Asset & Consumable Management Manual was developed and shared with the management members. Moreover, Asset Management Software is being developed in collaboration with RDPU and further improvement is now being made. Under such circumstances, the project in the 3rd year will support to monitor the implementation of the developed manual and provide suggestions to improve the software to be more useful on the ground. (4) PDCA cycle of Action Plan

The project will continue to support PDCA cycle of Action Plan in the 3rd year. TCT experienced one cycle of PDCA of annual Action Plan and reflected some challenges extracted at the retreat of Q4 review and annual evaluation of Action Plan 2013/14. TCT is now able to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate the Action Plan and reflect the identified challenges to improve. Therefore, the project in the 3rd year will provide minimum support focusing on the quality of PDCA cycle especially in the Act step. 7.3 Priorities of Output 3

(1) Priorities of Output 3 As mentioned in 6.3.1, the activities of Output 3 shall be discussed according to the progress of TVET system in Northern Province. Among the project activities in the past two years, “Action Plan Development” can be considered as a good practice which is effective and fits to Rwandan context. It is recommended in Rwanda to link the contents of the national development plan to the action plan of each public institution. The project has been supporting TCT to develop its Action Plan as one of the activities for Output 2 since it started. TCT is now able to cover all the activities in its Action Plan by the performance contracts of each staff. Such achievement is strongly required in other public institutions. So it can be a potential activity to be picked up as a good practice in the 3rd year.