literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS: TIME TO ACT / 127
Box 4.8
Building capacity to meet demand
Norwegian Education Trust Fund: Technical
support for sector programmes a
NETF-supported work identified six areas where the
Fund could provide technical support to countries in
Africa to implement critical components of their
sector programmes: textbooks and training materials;
training of, and support for, teachers; system and
school level management; the impact of HIV/AIDS on
education; education simulation models for preparing
sector programmes and budgets; and
decentralization. Each area is critical to quality
improvement and to accelerating the implementation
of sector programmes. Work is progressing in the
first five areas, in close cooperation with other
partners, including the Association for the
Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). b
The programme on textbooks and training materials
illustrates NETF’s approach. The objective is to help
countries develop sustainable systems for the
development, procurement, financing, distribution
and use of textbooks at the school level. After
decades of donor support, most low-income sub-
Saharan African countries continue to have a severe
shortage of learning materials. The main constraint is
not financing (most sector programs provide support,
and more would have been provided had
implementation been better) but poor policies, weak
national publishing capacity, insufficient support from
external publishers for the development of capacity
in Africa, and weak implementation capacity in
education ministries.
A major review of the World Bank’s support for
textbooks from 1985 to 2000 (World Bank, 2002b)
served as an instrument for working with countries in
regional workshops (Burkina Faso in 2003; Uganda in
2004; Mozambique in 2005) to address weaknesses
and develop national plans to achieve an ‘adequate’
supply of materials over a two- to three-year period,
implemented as part of the countries’ ongoing sector
programmes. After the workshops, NETF provides
support for systematic follow-up at the country level,
at national workshops in large countries, and through
punctual support for national teams through the
work of two textbook specialists, one of whom was
recruited to help countries resolve problems in
implementing national programmes.
NETF’s approach seeks to:
Create national ownership: by giving priority for
assistance to countries actively engaged in solving
a problem in an area critical to the success of their
education programme.
Give help to countries when their programmes need
assistance: by ensuring that the assistance is of a
high quality, is easily available, fully grant-funded
and additional to other support received under
sector programmes. The local donor group can
assist in identifying bottlenecks in programme
implementation that requires technical support.
Help mobilize, strengthen and utilize existing
capacity by: (a) providing punctual (not resident)
assistance by a specialist or team of specialists
‘on call’, over several years if needed, to assist
when a national team needs support; (b) using,
as much as possible, national and regional
specialists and institutions; and (c) promoting
regional cooperation and knowledge-exchange
(e.g. facilitating building of ‘quality node networks’
among countries working to address a particular
implementation problem).
Notes:
a. Set up in 1998, the NETF supports the preparation of
high-quality, poverty-focused, education sector development
programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. It is managed by the Human
Development Department of the Africa Region of the World Bank.
It has three medium-term objectives: (a) to strengthen
governments’ political commitment, national consensus and
ownership; (b) to support the development of technical and
analytical capacity; and (c) to enhance institutional and systemic
capacity for sector development. Total receipts to NETF amounted
to $34.5 million (June 2004) of which $29.4 million had been
disbursed (85%). For a full review of the work of NETF see
World Bank (2004b).
b. Established in 1988, ADEA is a network of African Ministers
of Education, development agencies, education specialists,
researchers, and NGOs. Based in UNESCO-IIEP in Paris, its work is
described at http://www.adeanet.org/about/en_aboutADEA.html
Source: Fredriksen (2005a).
UNESCO’s
mandate to
provide
international
leadership for
EFA stands firm
Strengthening UNESCO’s role
UNESCO’s mandate to provide international
leadership for EFA stands firm, although the
EFA Global Monitoring Report has suggested
that UNESCO has interpreted its role rather
conservatively (UNESCO, 2002b), has missed
some opportunities to create a politically
influential platform for EFA (UNESCO, 2003b),
and needs to develop a stronger international
policy voice (UNESCO, 2004a). These judgements
were made with an understanding of the resource
constraints under which UNESCO operates,
of its growing attention to EFA in its national
and regional programmes, and of the inherent
difficulties of coordinating a very diverse set
of EFA stakeholders.