How can the effectiveness of education aid in fragile states be assessed and improved? This paper from the Journal of Education for International Development presents an assessment framework based on OECD principles of coordination, state building and ‘do no harm’. The framework is applied to four approaches to education aid (sector-wide approaches, trust funds, social funds, and UN-led approaches). No single approach will provide all the answers. Planning structures that include a wide range of stakeholders are particularly important in fragile state contexts.
The framework set out by the OECD, in its Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States, identifies coordination, state building and ‘do no harm’ as relevant guidelines for assessment. Major obstacles currently block the delivery of effective education aid in fragile state contexts in these areas.
Obstacles to the coordination of stakeholders in the education sector include weak host government leadership, projectised donor interventions that bypass government systems and fail to build local accountability structures, lack of agreed standards, and International NGOs which resist coordination by the UN. In many fragile states, government revenues dry up, so teacher wages may either not be paid at all or may be paid erratically. Another obstacle is the state using the education system for political or ideological ends. This can happen if curriculum content or access to education is skewed in ways that privilege one group over another.
Cases from varied contexts (Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Nepal) illustrate the benefits and challenges of working within a government-led framework, towards such a framework, alongside it and outside of it. Findings include the following:
- Donors usually have the ability to bring stakeholders into a joint planning process. Encouraging government ownership of this process, even if only at sub-national levels, was important in all of the case studies. When working with and through government structures, complementary efforts to build human resource and systems capacity are crucial.
- Predictable, long-term financing for teacher salaries can be mustered even in difficult circumstances. Both the trust fund and partial SWAps managed to deliver aid successfully to support recurring teaching costs. Community-based efforts to support teachers can complement appropriate government involvement.
- A combination of poor government capacity, limited site access and curricular concerns has hampered progress in aiding the education sector.
- Instituting meaningful dialogue efforts was vital for the incubation of long-term strategies to ensure the equity of education efforts. Such dialogue also provided a steady flow of information to allow for the monitoring of progress, especially with fragility as an ongoing concern.
Planning structures which include a wide range of stakeholders are particularly needed in fragile state contexts, where non-state actors may be more active in service delivery. The World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative (FTI) could provide a framework for bringing these stakeholders into a joint planning process. Further implications are that:
- Pilot projects undertaken locally can achieve results, but integrating these approaches into government policy is challenging.
- In Somalia, community schools were empowered to do the hiring and paying of teachers. This innovative approach might bolster the supply of teachers in remote or challenging areas, but quality control will need attention.
- The FTI’s Education Programme could serve as a major source of funding for bringing equity and inclusion issues to the forefront of education aid discussions. Undertaking analysis and capacity building of this type would lay the groundwork for broader efforts in the future.
