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

is not necessarily limited to individual characters, and program interventions
can sometimes enhance other strengths within particular systems. The political
leadership that maintained the reforms in El Salvador for 20 years was not
solely due to the individual ministers, but also reflected the group dynamics of
the civil society leaders involved in the sector assessments and other consensusbuilding
activities. The commitment to building national consensus on
education, combined with the active social marketing of the reforms, created a
dynamic that was not dependent on the lifetime involvement of one individual.
In Nicaragua and Namibia, one observes a bottom-up effort to create
broad-based political acceptance that led to national policy change. While it
was important in both countries that respective school-based management
programs had support from senior leaders, the policy changes were enabled
by the development of a critical mass of advocates in the regions, districts, and
schools, along with evidence of improved outcomes. This was particularly clear
in Nicaragua, where a powerful and charismatic Sandinista MOE entered office
expecting to terminate the previous regime’s programs. However, because of the
advocacy of communities, principals and teachers, and supervisors around the
country, the Active School approach not only survived the transition, but also
was adopted as national policy.
The process of supporting reforms was an important factor in all of these
countries. In Namibia, the existence of the Steering Committee along with
the close working relationship with USAID, were important factors in
developing trust and the ownership of the initiatives. Combined with the highly
participatory professional reflection activities in the Northern regions, both
in schools and in the circuits, the reforms gained deep ownership at both the
national and local levels. The reforms in El Salvador were influenced not only
by ministry and civil society leaders, but also by a strong and credible source
of information and data from EMIS systems and evaluations. The reform
agenda in Egypt was strengthened by significant amounts of information and
data, and high profile events (notably, a high-profile technical mission and a
decentralization conference) that engaged the education sector and mobilized
support. Also important were development of capacity, and commitment of
sub-national ministry personnel and other stakeholders.
5. Contextual forces outside of the national education sector can impact the
potential for reform, creating opportunities for and constraints on change.
The driving forces for system change may be external or domestic, but can
be critical to enabling change. One of the core elements of system reform
is the idea of ‘creating space’ in the system; that is, finding opportunities to
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SECTION 3: SUMMARY fINdINGS ANd CONClUSIONS