This means, as the sub-title implies, comprehensive support over a period of time from needs assessment to planning, project implementation and monitoring learner performance. This is best achieved within the framework of a partnership that envisages responsibility for staff capacity building, among others, towards sustainability of the intervention.

GSS services are a form of Technical Assistance (TA). However, the difference between hiring conventional consultants under TA and engaging the services of GSS could be summed up as follows:

Broadly, consultants leave a report and a set of recommendations for the organisation to implement, a second set of consultants to monitor the process of implementation and possibly a third set of consultants to review the results. The stakeholders including the organization, in other words, the project holder, the donors and the consultants hope that the results would be achieved through "incremental progress". Thus the process continues.

GSS, on the other hand, stays with the organization encouraging the staff to work alongside, helps the organization implement the key elements of the project, develop the instruments for supervision, the monitoring indicators and the tools for assessing individual learner performance. Thus, the process allows the project staff to build their capacity hands-on. This, in turn, helps with the project's sustainability. GSS not only undertakes a baseline survey to help assess organizational needs, it involves the key personnel including the teachers, the supervisory staff and the Trainers in transforming the learning environment inside the classrooms and in implementing the elements of active teaching learning. It also involves training up a core group of Trainers and supervisors. Currently, GSS has a partnership with Save Children Sweden and Demnark (SCSD) for extending comprehensive TA to over a 100 learning centres operated by 10 SCSD local partner organizations.

There are different types of organizations which would benefit from comprehensive support:

• Organizations with access to resources and but without much experience and are willing to learn about primary education of quality;
  
  
• Organizations that are not confident of planning or implementing a basic or a full primary programme of high quality.
  
  
• Organizations that may have had Technical Assistance in any one of the key areas of quality teaching and learning but have been unable to implement the recommendations with confidence or to its satisfaction;
  
  
• Organizations that have managed a basic or primary education programme for sometime and would like to improve learner achievement.

It would ordinarily take at least three years to implement the key elements (see section 3, Key Elements) of active teaching and learning in a full primary programme.