The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

accountability and corruption led donors to conduct an audit, the results of
which ‘were pathetic.’ After an initial effort at a full SWAp in the mid-1990s, the
Ministry and donors negotiated and developed the Basic Education sub-Sector
Investment Program (BESSIP).
The BESSIP goal of improving primary access and learning outcomes for all
children was supported by activities increasing inputs (teachers, classrooms,
resources to government and community schools); donor conditionalities
influencing change in resource-allocation and decentralization policies, activities
strengthening of Ministry systems and capacities and the development of
platforms for dialogue between donors and MOE. BESSIP marked a transition in
external support—from a preponderantly projectized environment to hybridized
environment where donor development partners financial and technical support
were guided by the SWAp. Under BESSIP, donor agencies provided technical
assistance, resources, and projectized support to EMIS, decentralization,
community schools, literacy and testing, infrastructure and school materials,
and teacher professional development.
To allay donor fears of corruption and weak MOE accounting and management
systems, BESSIP was implemented through a Program Implementation Unit
(PIU), which operated parallel to the MOE. Donor interest in supporting
community schools and concern of MOEST capacity, led them to create the
Zambia Community Schools Secretariat, an advocacy body for community
schools, in 1997. A study funded by UNICEF, (Cashen, 2001) reflects the tone
of donor engagement with MOEST during the BESSIP era.
Community initiatives to provide children with a basic education emerged in
response to the [poor] state of government-run primary education. In the face of the
government’s declining capacity to educate all of Zambia’s children, the government
of Zambia has begun to recognize the importance of community schools
(Cashen, 2001).
The MOESP and FNDP focus on the entire sector, highlight areas for institutional
and systems development and Ministry leadership in policy and planning cycles
(as opposed to prioritizing direct service delivery and inputs). MOESP and FNDP
emphasis on Ministry priorities and leadership reflect the change in the donor
environment (including the departure of the World Bank as a driving force in the
sector, the trend toward harmonization and country ownership, and away from
conditionalities), the transition of the presidency in 2002 to Levy Mwanawasa
(and subsequently reduced donor fears of corruption), and Zambia’s economic
recovery which started in 2003.
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SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES