New solution? Can a sectoral approach to education meet international targets?

The late 1990s saw a shift in many funding agency education support packages from relatively small, often stand-alone education projects towards sector wide approaches (SWA or SWAps). When and how are such larger, broad-based system support programmes effective? Recent research by Ratcliffe Macrae Associates looks at the strengths and limitations of SWA to education, drawing on international evidence. The report examines the lessons learned from current funding approaches that strengthen effectiveness of the education sector by promoting partnerships to achieve national and international policy objectives.

The shift from supporting small, one-off projects to backing larger-scale approaches to education was driven by funding agency and government dissatisfaction with the impact of education sector outcomes on poverty reduction. Despite the growth in the planning and implementation of sector-wide approaches to education, debate currently stands at the level of general discussion rather than focusing on specific operational issues or resolving tensions between governments and funding agencies.

Are sector-wide approaches, the report asks, more or less likely than others to reach the education development and poverty reduction targets set by national governments and development agencies? Do sector-wide approaches provide an effective way of forging strong partnerships with governments, civil society and the international community in meeting agreed international targets? The study examines public sector management, governance issues and multi-sectoral evidence and draws on current practice and case studies from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, South and Central America and the Pacific.

The study proposes that:

• The correlation between country income per capita and education indicators is weak.
• Poverty reduction and better education standards are more dependent on effective spending than how much money is spent.
• Effective spending requires real commitment to reform, willingness to make hard choices that may affect strong vested interests, and a capacity to make open and transparent managerial decisions and to improve institutional quality.
• Assistance to the education sector will be more effective within a strong policy and macroeconomic environment that integrates the views of civil society organisations and the private sector.
• Countries with difficult political or bureaucratic histories and that seem suspicious of open debate, such as Ethiopia or Tanzania, are among those with the poorest education indicators.
• Countries emerging from conflict, such as Rwanda, Uganda and Cambodia, may be in a stronger position for speedy reform and improvement.

Policy-relevant lessons include suggestions that:

• National government ownership and leadership of SWAs are necessary for successful implementation.
• Decentralisation, community mobilisation and effective information exchange at the design stage are highly desirable to overcome potentially critical barriers to service provision.
• A sector wide approach may require up to three years to implement after the development of an initial strategic framework that is based on long term vision expedient for the sector.
• Institutional development, civil service reform and capacity building targets and outcomes need to be incorporated into SWA planning, alongside education access, quality and efficiency objectives.
• Decentralisation (political and managerial) strengthens the operational ability of countries undertaking an SWA.
• Successful SWA implementation depends on there being a robust finance/budget planning system that includes a medium term budget framework and active participation in annual public expenditure reviews.
• Partnership processes are central to SWA development, particularly partnerships between government and donors and between donors themselves.

Source(s):
‘Sector Wide Approaches to Education: A Strategic Analysis’ UK Department for International Development, Education Division, Educational Research Serial #32 by M. Ratcliffe and M. Macrae (August 1999) Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development 1998-1999

id21 Research Highlight: 30 June 2000

Further Information:
Mike Ratcliffe
9 East View
Easington Colliery
County Durham
SR8 3NQ
UK

Tel: +44 (0)191 527 3260
Fax: +44 (0)191 527 3261
Contact the contributor: hrdc@compuserve.com

Ratcliffe Macrae Associates

Murray Macrae
The Granary
Molesden,
Morpeth,
Northumberland, NE61 3QF
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1670 775 446
Fax: +44 (0)1670 775 441
Contact the contributor: macraemason@compuserve.com

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