Final-Edition

2.5 International aid
A number of international agencies have offered substantial financial and advisory support to
Burma’s education reform process.
In 2014 the World Bank initiated a 100 million USD project to support pre-existing government
education initiatives aimed at expanding access to education. 37 In another large-scale effort,
a Multi-donor Education Fund (MDEF) has been established, pooling resources from Australia,
Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, UNICEF and UNESCO. The
MDEF is valued at around 65 million USD and is scheduled to run from 2012-16. 38
Using resources from the MDEF, and in partnership with the Burmese government, UNICEF
has implemented a Quality Basic Education Programme, aimed at supporting access to
Primary-level education through teacher training, resource provision, non-formal education
initiatives and Pre-Primary Education. 39 The initiative involves advisory support on national
education policy and service provision to 34 selected “disadvantaged townships”. 40 Notably,
around a third of these townships are in Mon State; after the programme began a decision
was made to extend interventions to a “Whole State Approach”, across all of Mon State’s 10
Townships. 41 Alongside work with each of these townships’ government Education Offices,
the approach has also included engagement with the Mon National Education Committee
(MNEC), a key non-state education provider in Mon State (see Section 3 below).
37
Kyaw Hsu Mon, “World Bank Project Puts $100m Toward Education in Burma,” The Irrawaddy, May 21,
2014, accessed April 2, 2015, http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/world-bank-project-puts-100m-towardeducation-burma.html.
38
Japan Ministry of Finance, Myanmar Donor Profiles (2012), accessed April 2, 2015,
https://www.mof.go.jp/about_mof/councils/customs_foreign_exchange/subforeign_exchange/proceedings/material/gai240625/03.pdf.
39
Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minutes from External Grant Committee Meeting June 17, 2014
(Bangkok: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2014).
40
“Quality Basic Education Programme,” UNICEF, accessed March 16, 2015,
http://www.unicef.org/myanmar/education_20838.html.
41
Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minutes from External Grant Committee Meeting June 17, 2014.
WCRP Ι June 2015
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