Sour, Sweet, Bitter and Spicy Wang Guo Cai 1963 – 2020

For development practitioners the greatest prize of any initiative is sustainable change - especially sustainable behavioural change. And one of the most effective ways to secure that prize is to find effective local champions, both individuals and institutions who can help make that change and carry it on long after donors and their short term projects have gone.

In the world of development education Wang Guo Cai was probably one of the most effective and influential local champions – most likely without his even knowing it.

He was a tall man with an open, friendly face and chubby cheeks. He always seemed a little shy, but smiled often. It was his eyes that told you that he was engaged, he was listening – and often that he was bursting to speak. And when he spoke he commanded attention. Not in an authoritative, way – in fact, his voice was a little nasal and lightly pitched – but, he spoke passionately and often with an urgency which made people take notice.

For a rural Chinese official he could also be unusually critical of local practices, a courageous habit given the potential risks.

Wang Guo Cai became involved in the Gansu Basic Education Project (GBEP) in 2000 as we began to pilot a number of initiatives to improve the access and quality of basic education in four very poor rural counties in this Western province in a predominantly Muslim area (though he himself was Han). One of those initiatives was School Development Planning – where the aim was to bring the school and community closer together to focus on solving the problem of low enrolment by girls and disadvantaged children and poor standards of achievement.

Our design meant that we needed trainers to train over 700 primary and junior middle school headteachers, senior teachers and their local community representatives. The sheer numbers meant that we had no option but to train some of the local officials to become trainers. That had not been the original design, which envisaged using professional trainers or consultants to undertake the training. But, the numbers to be reached in a short time frame together with the remote nature of the counties being supported meant we had to adapt our design to use officials as trainers.

And so, what started out as a pragmatic solution to a logistical problem became, accidentally, the bedrock of Cambridge Education’s sustainable change strategy – one we went on to incorporate, deliberately, in the design of many other systems strengthening projects around the world.

Because, by using officials as trainers we turned the traditional gatekeepers of the system into the most powerful advocates for change. As local officials they had power, influence and resources in their small fiefdoms. When they saw the need for change and realised they could use external funding and expertise to help bring that about, they became the agents of change themselves.

But, first they had to be persuaded.

Wang Guo Cai was the first and most enthusiastic of these local officials to really understand the type of change GBEP was driving at and to throw his whole weight behind it. He attended a training session on School Development Planning that we held in Jishishan where he was a county official - and made an instant impression on us and the direction of the programme.

We had been prepared for a slow start to the training, with plenty of resistance and questioning – why was this needed, wasn’t it foreign and not suited to the local context etc ? And those attitudes certainly came out, but they were also countered by the enthusiasm for change that Wang Guo Cai, and one or two other bolder officials, expressed. A lively and sometimes heated discussion about the need for change, and what it meant, took shape, took place among these officials.

The impact of this was to create a momentum for change, a readiness to discuss it and a readiness to accept it. That debate and its positive outcome influenced similar debates in other project initiatives – gender, teacher training, disability, early years, stipends etc. It was the start of the snowball : a lot of other snow had to gather to increase that momentum – but it needed a Wang Guo Cai, a local champion, to initiate it, believe in it, advocate for it.

At the end of the project, Wang Guo Cai, reflecting on the GBEP experience, wrote :

“When I review the last six years’ experience in school development planning, there is a mixture of sour, sweet, bitter and spicy. I feel deeply that the process was more important than the result. The process of these six years is the development of ourselves, as well as of schools.”

Wang Guo Cai went on to become engaged in many different aspects of the work we piloted including reform of the inspection system from a tick-box compliance model to one which focused on learning and supported schools. In each of those areas he showed the same enthusiasm, energy and dynamism, the same curiosity and inquisitive nature, the same passion and humour that made him so likeable and supportive. He inspired and encouraged others to follow his lead.

Quite quickly other champions emerged – other county and prefecture officials, some influential headteachers, some local teachers who became effective trainers. Behaviour change needs a critical mass to take root. People have to see that change is possible, but, someone needs to take the first step. Without those initial champions nothing takes hold.

I doubt whether Wang Guo Cai ever appreciated the influence he had, not just on the reform process in Gansu, but much further afield. His enthusiasm for change and influence in helping stimulate that first debate led to a ripple effect of enthusiasm within the project. That ultimately led to success in the project overall….which in turn stimulated interest and support for an expanded project in 36 more counties in Gansu…which in turn led to a project across four more Provinces under the South West Basic Education Project (SBEP)….which has led to even more examples of influence across China…and even further afield, internationally (see The Ripple Effect, a report about the influence of GBEP).

In fact, the methodology of using local officials as trainers in education projects has been a key feature of the system strengthening approach Cambridge Education has developed ever since that time, in major projects in Nigeria, Tanzania, Pakistan, South Sudan, Uganda, etc. That approach was born from the success we found in Gansu, and, although it was not unique, the way we, as a company, adopted it as a systematic and deliberate approach to local change made it a defining characteristic of our approach to making change happen in education systems.

None of this is to say that Wang Guo Cai was solely responsible for this success and influence. But, as the saying goes : “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”. Wang Guo Cai could easily be credited as that single step.

By the end of the project in 2006 GBEP had provided scholarships to 14,000 children, 70% to girls ; 6,200 teachers had received multiple training, 700 headteachers had been trained and 180 schools had been renovated or built. Among the key outcomes were that net enrolment rose by 12% overall and 26% for minority girls – in just six years.

Eleven years after the end of the project, I and two colleagues revisited Gansu to see whether what we had piloted through GBEP in those six years had been sustainable, to see what remained (link to film / article]. We were excited to meet Wang Guo Cai again in Jishishan, still in the county education bureau, but now in charge of the Inspection Department. He enthusiastically confirmed that the learning-focused inspection system that we had piloted (inspectors had to spend at least 50% of their time in classes observing lessons) not only continued but had influenced the design of the inspection system at the province level for all of Gansu’s 84 counties.

In a visit which revealed a mixed picture – mostly positive – of sustainable change from GBEP, Wang Guo Cai stood out as an example of a development champion, one of many champions still there, still influencing change. We interviewed him for a film about the visit (Gansu Revisited) and he was typically forthright in his analysis of what had happened to the SDP process in a number of schools after the project finished. He wanted SDP to succeed but he was direct in identifying where the barriers lay :

“After the project finished and with no external expert support, some schools became lazy. Because SDP requires the participation of the community and involves interviews and discussion, it’s very complicated. So, some headteachers choose the easy route and don’t do it. Frankly, the reason it cannot be expanded is due to our decision makers in our education departments.” (8:40 in film link above)

Not only did Wang Guo Cai have this impact on GBEP and other projects, he influenced my way of thinking about what sustainability means - and both the bright and dark sides of being a champion. When we talk of how to make change happen, I always think of him and his example. I think of his directness, his boldness, his willingness to say the unpopular thing. I think of how GBEP gave him an opportunity to realise the change that he could see was needed and which he wanted, but which, until then, was not a mainstream view. He gained respect and praise from those of us encouraging experimentation and change, and he emboldened others.

Every successful project needs at least one Wang Guo Cai.

But, I also think of what it cost him – and all those champions of change in similar circumstances. By aligning himself so closely with a project that was foreign funded and had many consultants involved, he was often teased and, worse, suspected – particularly by those who resisted change by framing GBEP as a foreign intervention. The outspokenness which international and national consultants valued in him, was not valued by all in a conservative, rural administration. In searching for champions of change we must not underestimate the risks they take and the personal costs of being in the vanguard.

For many days since I heard of his early death at the age of 57 I have thought of him – largely happy, grateful and appreciative thoughts. But, also many sad thoughts of a loss much too soon.

I have thought of the many times I have sat with him in the depths of a cold winter, overcoats on, warming our hands round the single stove in the Jishishan education bureau office, eating the delicious walnuts native to that area, and sipping cup after cup of steaming-hot green tea. I have thought of the many meetings I have been in with him where he has cut through obfuscation and hyperbole to make a direct, critical point ; of the many training sessions where his humour and straight talking has had everyone laughing.

Guo Cai was valued and respected by so many colleagues, Chinese and international, and his influence extended far, far beyond his native area. Of him you could truly say that he personified the old adage :

“Be the change you want to see”

Andy Brock

Team Leader of the Gansu Basic Education Project

Consultant Team, 1999-2006

February 2021