Project: Meta-Analytical Review of DFAT Education Programming in Papua New Guinea

Over the past 20 years, the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has implemented several Education Portfolio Plans (EPPs) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with the most recent being from November 2018 to December 2022. Currently, there is no EPP in place; however, DFAT is considering producing a new EPP (Strategy) that reflects the recently released Australia-Papua New Guinea Development Partnership Plan 2024-2029 (DPP).

To inform the development of a new Education Strategy, the DFAT PNG Education and Leadership team requested the Human Development Monitoring and Evaluation Services (HDMES) program to conduct a desk-based meta-analytical review of 14 education reports. HDMES subcontracted Limestone Analytics to undertake the meta-analytical review to answer the following research questions:

• What can be learned about the overall quality of the reports?
• What are the common strengths and weaknesses across the programs based on the reports?
• What are the findings and conclusions across the common themes of the reports?
• What are the findings and conclusions across the political economy analyses (PEAs), and is there evidence that programs are responsive to PEA factors?
• What are the overarching conclusions from the meta-analytical review?
• What considerations emerge from the meta-analytical review that can inform the development of the new Education Strategy?

Limestone conducted the review from October to December 2024, summarizing the findings in a report and presenting them to DFAT in a roundtable discussion in December 2024.