Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

281
The World Bank representatives were equally associated with the plan
preparation and provided technical expertise and professional guidance,
especially for financial analysis, projections of school population and education
spending and assisted with educational planning.
The whole process was dynamic and innovative in approach. Thus, though
there were several external collaborators, the whole exercise remained an
essentially national undertaking, with international experts joining our national
working group from time to time to provide expertise and to act as
catalysts for the policy dialogue. This involvement of external agencies from
the very outset of the exercise facilitated the acceptance of the plan, gave it
added credibility and contributed to the building of consensus on major
policy issues.
Dialogue and resource mobilization
After the formulation of the plan, the next phase was the mobilization of
resources for its implementation. This constitutes another example of the
efforts made to genuinely build in dialogue, participation and national ownership
in development co-operation. UNESCO played a key role in this exercise
by hosting a donors’ meeting at its headquarters in Paris. The list of donors
was drawn up with the assistance of UNDP, which had a coordinating
role. The donors’ meeting brought together the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF,
UNESCO, UNIDO, ILO, the African Development Bank, the Commonwealth
Secretariat, the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, the Caisse
Centrale de Co-operation Economique, the European Economic Commission,
the Swiss Investment Development Agency, the Organisation of European
Economic Community as well as representatives of some donor countries,
namely Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK and USA.
The donors’ meeting involved careful preparation and the Mauritian government
was fully conscious of the need to demonstrate its seriousness,
credibility, and strong commitment to implement the plan. The dialogue
with the donors was based on the arguments that investment in education
could only lead to positive results for economic growth and social development
and that it would be beneficial to the country as a whole.
We indicated to the donors that the government’s past investment in
education had yielded rich dividends and that Mauritius had been ranked in
the UNDP Human Development Report as a country with a high human
development rate (Human Development Report, 1991). We further argued
that investment on education is a global concern and that educational inequalities
hinder individual freedom, the respect of human rights and
achievement of peace. We also demonstrated the government’s genuine and
firm commitment to implement the plan and that it would, above all, ensure
the rational utilization of donors’ resources.