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and to create space for substantive reform. In some cases, the most difficult reforms are only possible in the face of driving forces. The space at the center of the EQUIP2 framework is the essential process of education system reform—it is the space for learning on both an individual and organizational level. These tools can help to create reinforcing feedback loops, and mutually reinforcing activities that address weaknesses to create a productive dynamic out of the political, institutional, and technical dimensions of reform. This is perhaps the point of greatest leverage and value added to facilitate the interaction between technical innovations, institutional responses, and political empowerment. It may also be an area of substantial underinvestment, both by donors and by the countries themselves. An effective policy dialogue strategy that is a process linking information, awareness, engagement and commitment, action and assessment in an ongoing spiral of improvement leading to improved results is built out of multiple, interlocking interventions. Information includes new research, data development, collection and presentation; awareness includes activities leading to the visibility, analysis and understanding of issues in the health and education sectors and their inter-dependencies; engagement and commitment include the active recognition by actors of their role and responsibility in facilitating change; action refers to the changes in behaviors, competencies, institutions and structures that lead to desired outcomes; and assessment involves producing information about action and results that can be turned into useful guidelines for a new cycle. As the cycle progresses, information and learning from experience enable continuous improvement in the quality and quantity of interventions. In this framework, communications, social marketing and advocacy are mostly about translating information into engagement; capacity building is about building the bases and systems for translating engagement into effective action; and research and monitoring and evaluation translate outcomes into information for accountability and for a new cycle of change. The implications of this model, and of the underlying research that defines education as a complex adaptive system in a sensitive political-institutional context, can be summarized as follows: • Education reform does not have a purely technical solution. Improved system performance in education is a mix of technical, institutional incentives, political support, and human factors. The role of outside donors and players must be appropriate to this context. 40 SECTION 1: INTROdUCTION
• There are no magic bullets. Paradoxically, while virtually everyone accepts this truism, the underlying structure of many development programs implicitly assumes a single solution that looks a lot like a silver bullet. Effective development requires not a recipe per se, but rather some known principles about learning, human behavior change, and organizational development that need to be adapted and modified. • There are many routes to improved performance. There is a strong element of discovery, of revision and modification of plans. The process of organizational learning is in effect a reinforcing feedback loop that uses information, indicators of success, and reflection that enables a process consistent with Easterly’s “seeker” mentality. • Having a proven approach is not enough. Even the fact that a Minister may agree on an approach is not enough—it must be accepted by others throughout the system, internalized into the operating infrastructure and policies, expertise developed at all levels, and supported by incentives and accountability. The more diverse stakeholders who value an approach, the more likely it is to be sustained. • The education system is made up of many individuals. Each school is a distinct entity—change happens on a retail basis, not a wholesale basis. • As in any complex system, there is a strong tendency to the status quo. Forces at both the personal and system level gravitate against change. So a common phenomenon is to have the appearance of change that ultimately has little impact in the core activity of teaching and learning. Big changes are gradually eroded into little changes. An offsetting dynamic feedback loop is required to brings the focus back on the ultimate goals. • Change is not a binary choice—reform or no reform. Change, by its nature, does not stop, but continues to evolve. The challenge is to continue to build, and not let the next change derail the previous improvements. In a political environment, this is challenge is best addressed through establishing broadbased support and clear evidence of effectiveness. SECTION 1: INTROdUCTION 41
Page 1 and 2: The Power of Persistence Education
Page 4 and 5: table of Contents Acknowledgments F
Page 6 and 7: generously granted us their time an
Page 8 and 9: Foreword The United States Agency f
Page 11 and 12: Executive Summary EQUIP2 Education
Page 13 and 14: local points of contact. In fact, b
Page 15 and 16: Namibia has successfully developed
Page 17 and 18: Sustainability in the context of sy
Page 19: • Manage policy engagement and re
Page 23 and 24: After more than 50 years of develop
Page 25 and 26: to the point of functional literacy
Page 27 and 28: An obvious question for donors is
Page 29 and 30: • Was the investment in education
Page 31 and 32: A final perspective on ownership, a
Page 33 and 34: and recipients. The World Bank has
Page 35 and 36: the term differently. Donors someti
Page 37 and 38: Country commitment to improving pol
Page 39 and 40: The importance of these insights, b
Page 41 and 42: Table: Simple, Complicated, and Com
Page 43 and 44: Basic principles of systems thinkin
Page 45 and 46: Among the many aspects of systems t
Page 47 and 48: EQUIP2 Education Systems Reform Fra
Page 49: may or may not be influenced by the
Page 55 and 56: These case studies look at educatio
Page 57: El Salvador Egypt Namibia Nicaragua
Page 60 and 61: eform support during the 1980s and
Page 62 and 63: 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 114 and 115:
ASP won the support of donor agenci
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
Page 165 and 166:
Ownership It is a central tenet of
Page 167 and 168:
actors is a never-ending process. T
Page 169 and 170:
was beyond the mandate of the Minis
Page 171 and 172:
IMPLICATIONS FOR USAID POLICy AND P
Page 173 and 174:
Bibliography general References Alv
Page 175 and 176:
UNESCO. 2007. EFA Global Monitoring
Page 177 and 178:
Healy, F. & Crouch, L. (2007, Novem
Page 179 and 180:
Sidhom, S. & Al-Fustat, A. (2004, J
Page 181 and 182:
Crouch, L., J. Gillies, A. Florez.
Page 183 and 184:
LLECE, “Conclusiones del estudio
Page 185 and 186:
Miller-Grandvaux, Yolande and Karla
Page 188:
1875 Connecticut Ave., NW Washingto
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