2025 Volume 34 Issue 2 Pages 29-46
This paper reexamines the management and evaluation of educational cooperation under SDG4, “Leave No One Behind,” through the case of the Advancing Quality Alternative Learning Project (AQAL) implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Pakistan, from a decolonial perspective. Conventional international cooperation has emphasized donor-led evaluation frameworks that prioritize efficiency and scientific reliability, often at the expense of local agency and indigenous knowledge. In contrast, this study applies the “fifth paradigm” of evaluation―emphasizing indigenous knowledge systems and relationality―and Patton's “third level of accountability,” which highlights accountability for learning, development, and adaptation, as its analytical framework to examine AQAL's unique features.
Pakistan faces a severe challenge, with an estimated 26 million out-of-school children, a problem that cannot be solved by conventional schooling alone. AQAL introduced flexible learning opportunities for out-of-school children and low-literacy populations, notably through Accelerated Learning Programs (ALP), while institutionalizing the recognition of learning achievements. The project also strengthened educational administration, established collaborative platforms that included government agencies, NGOs, and universities, and introduced the data-driven management tool NFEMIS, which enhanced evidence-based decision-making and flexible and needs-based implementation.
A distinctive characteristic of AQAL lies in its independence from rigid donor frameworks. It incorporated local knowledge and experience into evaluation processes and fostered a culture where failure was treated as a resource for learning. Evaluation functioned not merely as performance measurement but as a “device for co-creating value,” enhancing the agency of local governments and civil society. Consequently, AQAL facilitated the emergence of a “self-evolving system” that contributed to broader educational reforms and dynamic social transformation.
From AQAL's experience, this study identifies seven key elements―dialogue-based decision-making, data as a shared language, a culture of learning from failure, codification of tacit knowledge, crossdisciplinary knowledge creation, integration of adaptive management and coproductive evaluation, and cyclical learning mechanisms. These elements constitute a tentative “AQAL model,” offering a transferable framework for educational cooperation. The model demonstrates the potential of moving beyond evaluation as measurement toward evaluation as a process of jointly creating value in pursuit of inclusive education.
