Title: Renewing the International Compact on Education for All: A Global Fund for Education
1Renewing the International Compact on Education
for All A Global Fund for Education?
- Sarah Beardmore
- RESULTS Educational Fund
2The Global Compact Education for All
- The EFA Compact is a worldwide commitment to
provide quality basic education for all children - First launched at the 1990 World Conference on
Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand but for
a decade not much was done - In 2000, the World Education Forum adopted the
Dakar Framework of Action committing to provide
the resources necessary to help countries
strengthen their educational systems. The
Millennium Development goals further enshrined
this as global public policy with goals 2 and
3. - The framework provided goals, strategies and
resource commitments to achieve Education for
All.
36 Education for All Goals
- Early childhood care and education
- Universal Primary Education
- Meeting the lifelong learning needs of youth and
adults - Adult Literacy
- Gender
- Quality
4The Scope of the Problem
- 75 million children of primary school age are not
in school, Almost half of this age group live in
sub-Saharan Africa. - 226 million adolescents are out of secondary
school and 770 million adults currently lack
basic literacy skills. - 55 of out-of-school children are girls
- Fragile states account for at least 37 of out of
school children over 30 million children - 8 countries have more than 1 million
out-of-school children Bangladesh, Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia, India, Kenya, the Niger, Nigeria and
Pakistan
5Financing Education
- The estimated financing gap to achieve universal
quality basic education is estimated by UNESCO as
11 billion dollars annually. DFID has an even
higher number at 16 billion which considers
lower secondary school as well. - In 2005, donors pledged to increase aid by 50
billion by 2010. Current aid commitments point
to an impending shortfall of 30 billion against
this pledge, almost half of it in sub-Saharan
Africa - Aid commitments for basic education have
stagnated since 2004, calling into question
medium-term financing commitments - Total aid last year was US3.8 billion from a
handful of donors but with the fiscal and
economic crises many donors will be temped to
scale back their support to developing countries.
6Is the Global Compact Failing?
- Global Monitoring Report Press Release
- Sharp drop in aid to basic education jeopardizes
school chances for millions - Paris, 23 April Sharp declines in aid to basic
education to developing countries threatens to
reverse progress towards the international goal
of universal primary schooling. This is the stark
conclusion drawn by UNESCOs Education for All
Global Monitoring Report Team. -
- According to the latest figures from the OECDs
Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) for
2007, total aid commitments to basic education
declined from US 5.5 billion in 2006 to US 4.3
billion in 2007, representing a decrease of
nearly 22.
7Education and the Economic Crisis The Triple Hit
- The current global economic crises has already
pushed 100 million people into poverty in 2008
alone. Looking ahead, the crisis could lead to
expenditure cuts as incomes fall and domestic
fiscal revenues drop sharply. Families,
governments and donors will have less to spend on
education. - With declining household incomes, direct and
indirect costs of schooling become a heavier
burden - Dwindling resources may put pressure on school
quality - Teachers may seek income elsewhere and a large
number of students may transfer from private
schools to public schools - Countries will have less fiscal revenues to
dedicate to the education sector - Cuts in international donor assistance would
exacerbate an already tight fiscal situation.
8Hope?
- Amidst this crisis, Barack Obama announces a
commitment to provide 2 billion dollars for a
Global Education Fund.
Above all, we must do our part to see that all
children have the basic right to learn.Thats
why the third commitment Ill make is working to
erase the global primary education gap by 2015.
Every child every boy and girl should have
the ability to go to school. To ensure that our
nation does its part to meet that goal, we need
to establish a 2 billion dollar Global Education
Fund. (Clinton Global Initiative, September
25, 2008)
9US Leadership on EFA
Nita Lowey, Ranking Member of the House Foreign
Operations Appropriations Subcommittee affirmed
this commitment just 2 months ago. President
Obama has called for a Global Fund for Education.
The next few years, under this leadership, the
United States can demonstrate we will stand
behind our commitment to support a global effort
to creatively and holistically provide the
resources, expertise, and technical assistance to
put every girl and boy in a quality school.
There are conversations in Washington and in
other donor capitals about what the next steps
should be in the global effort to meet the
Education for All goals. Later this year, the
evaluation of the World Banks Fast Track
Initiative will be released offering the global
community the opportunity to come together to
develop a new way forward. Taking lessons from
FTI and other global campaigns, the basic
education community should establish its
strategic plan for reaching the 2015 goals.
10Fast Track Initiative
- A global partnership between donors and
developing countries to accelerate progress
toward achieving Universal Primary Education
(UPE). - Designed around the idea of mutual commitments
- Developing countries
- prioritize primary education,
- produce national education plans
- increase domestic education funding
- Donors
- provide coordinated and increased financial and
technical assistance
11Building on FTI
- Achievements
-
- Grown from a fairly small partnership since 2002
to a large international initiative with 37
endorsed countries and 17 donors. - 1.3 billion pledged to support countries basic
education strategies - Operationalized harmonization and alignment of
donors at country level around NEPs - Model of country ownership with country level
processes which put the implementing partner
governments in the drivers seat - Driven policy dialogues and capacity development
which have changed the way donors work together,
with some very positive impacts - BUT it currently faces a shortfall of 1.2
billion just to meet the needs of these countries
through the end of 2010.
12FTIs Evolution
- The FTI has evolved considerably since 2002 to
respond to the changing context of its role. - More inclusive governance, with expanded seats
for implementing countries and for civil society
on its Steering Committee - Expanded the Catalyic Fund from a small
last-resort source of financing for countries
lacking sufficient external financing into a
first resort lending source for all eligible
low-income countries - The EPDF fund for technical assistance and
capacity development has reached a new cycle and
there is discussion of its financing being made
available to other players besides the World Bank - The Education Transition Fund has been
established under UNICEF to reach
conflict-affected countries, which previously
were not eligible under the framework of
country-led national education plan endorsement - The FTI has commissioned an independent
evaluation, which will potentially point the way
forward to continue to improve and expand the
FTIs impact and incentivize uninvolved donors
like the US to engage both in its country level
processes but also to contribute to the
multilateral pooled funds currently managed under
FTI.
13Convergence, the Opportunity to Revive the Global
Compact on Education for All
- The Global Fund for Education should build on
existing coordination mechanisms such as those
pioneered by the Fast Track Initiative. To
capitalize on this opportunity it is critical
that the global education community and our
political leaders be bold, ambitious and
aspirational in order to operationalize a
framework which is truly capable of achieving
EFA. The design of such a Fund should ensure the
principles of - National Ownership
- Participatory governance
- Multi-lateral, multi-donor, multi-instrument
- Increased, longer-term and more predictable
financing - Accountability for results
14The Future of a Global Fund for Education
- Model for Multilateralism and Aid Effectiveness
- The Global Fund for Education provides an
opportunity to build off the strengths of
existing mechanisms and translate innovations
from health and other sectors to provide a model
for responding to global challenges. The Global
Fund for Education could leverage more effective
bilateral education assistance from diverse
donors and enhance the results of multilateral
funding translating into better outcomes for
learners. - What is needed now is a multi-stakeholder
process to formulate the design of a Global Fund
for Education, both to drive a serious expansion
of FTI, but by building on its current reforms to
ensure that they address the full scope of
challenges facing the FTI so that it is fit for
purpose in a world that requires the safety net
of education more than ever before.