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eform support during the 1980s and 1990s targeted central government units. The most significant and productive efforts to introduce decentralization began with the Alexandria Pilot Project (2002-2004) and the Education Reform Program (ERP: 2004-2009), both of which targeted those governorates that were seen to be more conducive to decentralization and other reform initiatives. Increased community participation in education was supported by the Egyptian government even before 1981, primarily in the form of land donations, financial support, and volunteer labor (e.g., for school repairs). A 1993 ministerial decree called for parent and teacher councils to participate in school governance. A 1999 decree promoted an education-related role for NGOs, while also restricting their ‘political’ activities, and a 2002 decree reiterated NGOs’ education role, while also loosening restrictions on their activities and allowing them to receive funds from non-Egyptian entities. As was the case with decentralization, the reform-conducive regions were targeted for pilot work in the Community School Project, New Schools Project, Alexandria Pilot Project, and the Education Reform Program. Initially, community participation was narrowly defined by stakeholders as increasing donations and voluntary contributions. Support for decentralization and community participation was framed in terms of democratization and improving educational quality, particularly in the context of international organization-funded projects. By the early and mid-2000s, successful implementation of decentralization and community participation processes reinforced the use of these approaches in the design and implementation of new projects. Strategies From the late 1990s and early 2000s, a number of approaches implemented by USAID and UNICEF projects, among others, received explicit support from the GOE and put decentralization and community participation into practice. Among these were the community school and new school programs, girls’ education, boards of trustees, and other forms of school based management and community participation. During the period under review (1981-2007), Egypt experienced sporadic movement toward increased decentralization, moving from calls for deconcentration of responsibility in the early 1980s to restrictions on local decision-making authority in the 1990s, and back toward delegation and devolution after 2001. The MOE first delegated responsibilities for education reform to the governor of Alexandria in 2001, supported by the USAID-funded Alexandria Pilot Project. In 2003, similar delegation of responsibilities followed 50 SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES
in Aswan, Bani Suef, Cairo, Fayoum, Minia, and Qena in anticipation of support from the USAID-funded Education Reform Program. With the development of its National Strategic Plan for Education during 2006–2007, the Egyptian government and other stakeholders committed to more school-level reform, financial, and decision-making responsibility. During 2006–2007, high level, inter-ministerial committees charted the course for financial and administrative decentralization pilots in a small number of governorates. The calls for greater community participation also represented a struggle between education reformers and political caution. Throughout the 1990s, the reforms alternated between action toward deeper forms of community involvement and reactions that blocked such reforms for fear of excessive militant influence. In the years since 2000, various central government actions sought to mobilize (and to control) community involvement through Parent and Teacher Councils and Boards of Trustees at the school and local levels. However, throughout this entire period, most of the substantive work was limited to select governorates and supported by donor-funded projects, including the UNICEF Community Schools, USAID New Schools Program, Alexandria Pilot Project, and Education Reform Program). Similarly, NGO involvement in schooling tended to be greater in governorates and communities in which international organization-funded projects were operating. Impact The Egyptian education system had substantial success in expanding access and improving equity in this 20-year period. Universal primary education was largely achieved, and secondary enrollment increased to 88 percent. Primary completion was maintained at very high levels and dropout was reduced dramatically. Gender equity also improved substantially in the period. Throughout the 1990s, progress from the perspective of international donors was counted in terms of visible projects that demonstrated some effective practices such as girls’ education, new schools, standards, and community schools. These initiatives were primarily small-scale demonstration activities whose impact was limited by the continuing system-wide inertia. Major reforms on issues such as decentralization had fits and starts. Significant progress on major issues began with the Alexandria decentralization pilot project in 2001, a highly visible project that set in motion a reform dynamic. The success of the Alexandria pilot fostered an outgrowth of like-minded efforts and reform leaders. In 2003, the Ministry of Education granted seven governorates the authority to pilot more decentralized systems in selected districts, and adopted the National Standards, representing a major step in reforming the management and governance of Egypt’s educational SECTION 2: lESSONS fROM COUNTRY CASE STUdIES 51
Page 1 and 2:
The Power of Persistence Education
Page 4 and 5:
table of Contents Acknowledgments F
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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 and 50: may or may not be influenced by the
Page 51: • There are no magic bullets. Par
Page 55 and 56: These case studies look at educatio
Page 57: El Salvador Egypt Namibia Nicaragua
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
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Nicaragua: Summary COUNTRy CONTExT
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ASP won the support of donor agenci
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Nicaragua Education Indicators Indi
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Though the strong leadership of Min
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eform. Starting from the early 1990
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Nicaragua Time Line Before 1986 198
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growth; primary enrollment expanded
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accountability and corruption led d
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Selected Reform goals, Policy Chang
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Increased sector leadership from MO
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it have to cope with major governme
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management and administration that
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the education system and have limit
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help an overextended MOE to meet se
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ZAMBIA TIMELINE
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3 summary Findings and Conclusions
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In addition to an EFA-inspired emph
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from political changes. After 15 ye
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ased management, but were limited t
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is not necessarily limited to indiv
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sector limited the agenda-setting m
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and every new government seeks its
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8. USAID and other donors have been
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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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