Project Information

Dubai Cares launched the Real Assets through Improved Skills and Education for Adolescent Girls or RAISE Project in October 2014 to help marginalized children in two of the Philippines’ poorest provinces, Masbate and Northern Samar, to attend and finish school. The $2 million (Dh7.3 million) project provide cash allowances for the school needs and fees of rural poor pupils. Plan International Philippines (Pip), a non-governmental organization that teamed up with Dubai Cares last 2014 to execute the project, has also committed about $300,000 in funds and services.

RAISE will directly affect nearly 11,000 pupils. Seventy per cent are girls between the ages of 10 and 19 from 32 farming and fishing villages. Nearly 4,000 parents and teachers in eight municipalities across the two provinces will participate. The programme’s primary focus is to address basic barriers preventing children from attending and continuing school. Through Raise, children will be provided family planning guidance and grants to help cover the costs of transport, school supplies, food or any other financial burden identified as a barrier to their education.

The initiative is also supporting existing education programmes by training teachers how to administer alternative and flexible learning programmes that allow students to study at home.

RAISE project mid-term evaluation  have two primary objectives:

1. Provide an accurate reflection of the current program’s progress, based upon the program stated outputs and outcomes.
2. Evaluate the programs coordination mechanisms, identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement to increase the program’s effectiveness.

The mid-term evaluation utilized mixed method design which included a quantitative component that incorporates analysis of the recent survey data sets provided by Plan, and implementation of a new survey for out-of-school adolescents, those involved in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) that provided point estimates for key indicators.  Quantitative methodology involved a Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) survey in 30 ALS centers in Masbate and Northern Samar among 300 out-of-school youth participating in ALS.  The data collection tool was designed to measure program progress specific to ALS program outcomes, and to provide valid and robust data to measure future progress against. While, the qualitative methodology involved semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to assess impact and attribution based on beneficiary testimony, with a proposed distribution of 33 FGDs and 44 KIIs across the main project intervention domains.

• Managed the 5-day training of researchers;
• Managed and implemented the data collection activities (KAP survey of 300 ALS students,  33 FGDs and  44 KII) in close coordination with TANGO consultants;
• Performed data entry of information collected using tablets; and
• Performed data quality checks and editing.