Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia - Ethiomedia

Education Sector Corruption in Ethiopia 111
The government’s ambitious, needs-based approach to planning can
result in weak links between plans and budgets, thus undermining
accountability mechanisms. (Note the variability of aid flows to education,
as figure 3.2 showed.) The more predictable aid flows provided
by Direct Budget Support (DBS) were intended to reduce this risk.
Following the suspension of DBS, it was recognized that the political
vulnerability of aid flows risked undermining the long-term objective
of sustainable provision of basic services. The decentralized PBS program
made progress in this regard, but donors have not yet achieved a
clear and transparent system of “graduated response.” Such a system
would ensure that aid structurally cofinancing basic services such as
education would not be hostage to political difficulties. 18
Taken together, the following observations suggest a degree of inconsistency
between the supply-side accountability mechanisms of government
and those of donors, with the result that reporting channels can
Figure 3.2 Overview of Corruption Risks in the Ethiopian Education Sector, by
Function
service delivery
procurement
policy development
3
2
1
0
management
other countries in region
Ethiopia
planning and budgeting
fiscal transfers
Source: World Bank 2009.
Note: Numerical values along the radii, depicted on the vertical axis, designate the degree of estimated average
corruption risk within each education sector function, as follows: 0 = no corruption risk; 1 = low risk; 2 = medium
risk; 3 = high risk.