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ASP won the support of donor agencies that provided funds and technical support for capacity building for decentralization at all levels of the Ministry of Education. Another strategy that was part of the decentralization push was municipalization, which involved fiscal transfers to the municipality to administer limited school responsibilities. This initiative was short lived, in part because it competed with the ASP. This kind of control at the municipal level undermined the role and authority of the school councils (Gershberg, 2002). In political terms, it meant giving power to Sandinistas who held many municipal-level positions. When the MECD launched initiatives early in the 1990s, there was not a clear vision of what the education system should look like. There was no policy framework of the system’s mission, goals, directions, or reform strategies, a factor that might have actually contributed to the success of the ASP program (Gershberg 2002) 2 . Rather, the development of school directive councils was launched, and workshops and capacity building programs were done with community members, parents, teachers, and local level ministry officials in order to communicate the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders in the system. Councils of parents, teachers, and community members, whose involvement in education was a founding tenet of school autonomy assumed decision-making responsibilities. The ASP program garnered international donor support early on even though only later, in 2002 did the Ministry articulate the rights and roles of each stakeholder and guidelines about how council should work in the Ley de Participación Educativa, the Education Participation Law (MECD, 2002). Additionally, the administration of Arnoldo Aleman brought on Belli as minister, the only one who was reappointed from the previous administration; a factor that solidified political support for the ASP (Gershberg, 2002). As the direction of education reform was established, the Plan Nacional de Educación 2000-2015 outlined the direction and goals for educational development until 2015 and was to be the basis for education policies (MECD, 2004b). It communicates the principles of the education system, and affirmed a participatory and decentralized education structure as an overarching tenet of the system (MECD, 2004b). The National Plan also acknowledges a commitment to meet the Education for All goals by the target date of 2015 (MECD, 2004b). The Ley General de Educación, the General Education Law, articulated a mission and vision for the education system, which include the various modalities in the system (primary/secondary education, adult education, teacher education, higher 2 For a broader discussion of the ways the lack of a policy framework might have influenced the successes of reform initiatives, see Gershberg (2002). SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES 101
education, etc), strategies for education quality, and the qualities that education sought to reinforce in individuals and communities (MECD, 2006). Most recently, the newly elected MINED has articulated a commitment to do away with the ASP and re-centralize the education system (Porta and Laguna, 2007). Its main critique is an equity argument based on the imposition of school fees by primary and secondary schools. Under ASP, schools were allowed to impose fees to supplement the fiscal transfers from the central ministry, and while they were “voluntary” for primary school, there were instances where students were prohibited from class if they were not able to pay them (Gershberg, 2002). This equity issue is one main concern and part of the policy platform for the new administration. Classroom level reform efforts were initiated through various donor programs. One of the largest and long-term efforts, the Escuelas Activas reform, introduced an active learning methodology, instruction that incorporates group and selfpaced learning, teachers as facilitators of learning, community involvement, and democratic behaviors, through the support of USAID. In 1993 USAID initiated support to the Ministry of Education and has maintained its commitment through several administrations. USAID partnered with the Ministry of Education to transform the education system from the classroom level up, starting with Nicaragua Basic Education Projects BASE I and II, and continuing with the EQUIP1 EXCELENCIA Project. The continuity and effectiveness of the EA have resulted in the MINED’s decision to institutionalize and expand the model to all schools across the country. Impact The education system has improved since the early 1990s in terms of access and completion. The primary enrollment increased from 70 to 90, and survival to Grade 5 has improved, although a still serious dropout problem continues. Overall, the efficiency of the system is still an issue, with relatively high levels of repetition and dropout. No learning outcome measures were available for comparison. 102 SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES
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The Power of Persistence Education
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table of Contents Acknowledgments F
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generously granted us their time an
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Foreword The United States Agency f
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Executive Summary EQUIP2 Education
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local points of contact. In fact, b
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Namibia has successfully developed
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Sustainability in the context of sy
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• Manage policy engagement and re
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After more than 50 years of develop
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to the point of functional literacy
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An obvious question for donors is
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• Was the investment in education
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A final perspective on ownership, a
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and recipients. The World Bank has
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the term differently. Donors someti
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Country commitment to improving pol
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The importance of these insights, b
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Table: Simple, Complicated, and Com
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Basic principles of systems thinkin
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Among the many aspects of systems t
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EQUIP2 Education Systems Reform Fra
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may or may not be influenced by the
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• There are no magic bullets. Par
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These case studies look at educatio
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El Salvador Egypt Namibia Nicaragua
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eform support during the 1980s and
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system. In the same year, the USAID
Page 64 and 65: CASE ANALySIS: DIMENSIONS OF REFORM
Page 66 and 67: increased during this period, parti
Page 68 and 69: militant groups (at least until 199
Page 70 and 71: the growing political will and capa
Page 72 and 73: political will and experience in bo
Page 75 and 76: EgyPT TIMELINE
Page 78 and 79: El Salvador: Summary COUNTRy CONTEx
Page 80 and 81: financing, and ensuring adequate le
Page 82 and 83: Impact Structurally, the education
Page 84 and 85: CASE ANALySIS: DIMENSIONS OF REFORM
Page 86 and 87: 2005, USAID assistance further stre
Page 88 and 89: EDUCO’s success exemplifies a tec
Page 90 and 91: workshop with representatives of bo
Page 92: • The continuing commitment to th
Page 95: El Salvador Time Line Before 1988 1
Page 98 and 99: Strategies Especially in the early
Page 100 and 101: In terms of quality, the impact on
Page 102 and 103: The second aspect is that the profe
Page 104 and 105: • The complex and holistic nature
Page 106 and 107: efforts have been studied closely,
Page 109 and 110: NAMIBIA TIMELINE
Page 112 and 113: Nicaragua: Summary COUNTRy CONTExT
Page 116 and 117: Nicaragua Education Indicators Indi
Page 118 and 119: Though the strong leadership of Min
Page 120: eform. Starting from the early 1990
Page 123: Nicaragua Time Line Before 1986 198
Page 126 and 127: growth; primary enrollment expanded
Page 128 and 129: accountability and corruption led d
Page 130 and 131: Selected Reform goals, Policy Chang
Page 132 and 133: Increased sector leadership from MO
Page 134 and 135: it have to cope with major governme
Page 136 and 137: management and administration that
Page 138 and 139: the education system and have limit
Page 140 and 141: help an overextended MOE to meet se
Page 143 and 144: ZAMBIA TIMELINE
Page 146: 3 summary Findings and Conclusions
Page 149 and 150: In addition to an EFA-inspired emph
Page 151 and 152: from political changes. After 15 ye
Page 153 and 154: ased management, but were limited t
Page 155 and 156: is not necessarily limited to indiv
Page 157 and 158: sector limited the agenda-setting m
Page 159 and 160: and every new government seeks its
Page 161 and 162: 8. USAID and other donors have been
Page 163 and 164: CONCLUSIONS This review of five cou
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Ownership It is a central tenet of
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actors is a never-ending process. T
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was beyond the mandate of the Minis
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IMPLICATIONS FOR USAID POLICy AND P
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Bibliography general References Alv
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UNESCO. 2007. EFA Global Monitoring
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Healy, F. & Crouch, L. (2007, Novem
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Sidhom, S. & Al-Fustat, A. (2004, J
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Crouch, L., J. Gillies, A. Florez.
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LLECE, “Conclusiones del estudio
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Miller-Grandvaux, Yolande and Karla
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1875 Connecticut Ave., NW Washingto
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