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

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proach is expected to facilitate broad campaigns to address high priority
goals, for example literacy or improved access for girls or students from
disadvantaged regions.
It is important to note here that while it is common to present the programmatic
or sectoral approach as new or relatively recent, in practice some
foreign assistance has for many years had a sectoral character. That is, from
the funding agency’s perspective, discussions about overall assistance began
with an assessment of the state of the education sector, the agency’s interests,
and the government’s priorities. Attention then turned to individual
projects. Though funded separately, they were expected to be complementary
and, ideally, mutually supportive and reinforcing. Hence, it may be that
what is new about the sectoral approach is neither broad approach nor budgetary
support but rather increased coordination among the external agencies.
It is equally important to note that governments have necessarily had a
sectoral approach to managing the education system. While particular projects
and other activities may receive special attention, they are accountable for
the education system as a whole.
If sectoral support is the wave of the future (or present), what exactly is
it? Once again we find sharp differences among agencies (and governments).
Most of those involved understand a sectoral approach to include: (a) explicit
leadership by the national government, including coordination of external
assistance; (b) active participation by all or nearly all the organizations and
agencies that provide support; (c) focus on the education sector as a whole,
or on one of its major sub-sectors (for example, basic education); (d) a nationally
developed policy statement and programmatic framework, with an
associated projection of revenues and expenditures; (e) harmonization of
externally supported activities, guided by national policy and priorities; (f)
common implementation, managerial, and administrative structures (generally,
governmental rather than external agency or externally created,
funded, or managed institutions), including reporting formats and periodic
reviews; (g) assured long-term assistance; and (h) pooled sectoral funding,
leading toward direct budgetary support.
Perspectives on several of these elements, however, remain sharply divergent.
For some, a sectoral approach implies a commitment to direct budgetary
support, if not in the present then at some point in the future. A variant
on this position, often termed ‘basket funding’, expects external assistance
from several agencies concerned with the same activities to be pooled.
To reiterate, this perspective – that a sectoral approach implies budgetary
support or common funding – is sharply debated. Some involved in education
support understand a sectoral approach to suggest simply a broader or
more inclusive orientation than a focus on a particular project or a more
holistic approach to education development, with clearer recognition of
the interconnectedness and interdependence of the many activities of the