Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

010CHAPTER 22Education for All Global Monitoring ReportSub-SaharanAfrica accountsfor abouttwo-thirds of thefinancing gap,or US$10.6 billion66. This is calculatedby dividing the averagefinancing gap by theaverage projected GDPof all countries includedin the costing exercisefrom 2008 to 2015.Table 2.11: Average annual financing gaps in low-income countries, 2008–2015Education levelPre-primaryUniversal primary educationAdult literacyBasic education financing gapLower secondaryTotal financing gapsector and region. The deficit that will have tobe covered by increased development assistanceis projected to widen to 2015 before narrowing asthe domestic resource base expands and theneed for additional capital spending declines.Results of the analysis include the following:Estimates of the financing gap for basiceducation are about 30% higher than theprevious global estimates.Assuming that all low-income countries reachthe ‘best effort’ thresholds by 2015, theaggregate average annual financing gap in basiceducation for the low-income countries coveredis equivalent to about 1.5% of their collectiveGDP. 66 The cumulative deficit for basic education,calculated on a country-by-country basis, isaround US$16 billion annually from 2008 to 2015.Current aid levels cover only a small part ofthe Education for All financing deficit. For thelow-income countries included in this exercise,development assistance for basic educationamounts to US$2.7 billion (Figure 2.49). 67A sixfold increase in aid to basic educationwill therefore be required if the basic educationgoals are to be achieved.Financing gap Sub-Saharan Africa South AsiaConflict-affectedcountries(constant 2007US$ billions) (%) (%) (%)5.8 66 23 299.8 68 28 480.6 42 37 5116.2 66 27 418.8 60 35 4225.0 64 30 42Note: The financing gap is the difference between the total investment requirement indicated by the costing exercise and levels of domestic financing associatedwith all countries reaching ‘best effort’ thresholds by 2015.Source: EPDC and UNESCO (2009).Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 66%of the financing gap, or US$10.6 billion.Low-income countries affected by conflictaccount for 41% of the gap, or US$6.7 billion.Adding the costs of lower secondary educationincreases the gap to US$25 billion – a figure thatillustrates the enormous increase in resourcesrequired if countries are to universalize access.However, without addressing the financing gapsat the basic education level and building stronglearning foundations, increased investment inpost-primary education is unlikely to be equitableor to lead to the skills improvement thatgovernments and parents demand.The global costing exercise raises importantquestions for the international community. Withjust five years remaining to the target date for theEducation for All goals and the wider MillenniumDevelopment Goals, the United Nations Secretary-General has called on donors to act on their 2005commitments, made at Gleneagles tosubstantially increase aid by 2010. Such a movewould clearly help narrow the education financinggap, but it would not fully close it. Holding constantthe distribution of aid between low-income and67. Chapter 4 showsthat aid commitments tobasic education in 2006and 2007 averagedUS$4.9 billion (seeFigure 4.7). The lowincomecountriesincluded in the costingexercise received 55%of these commitments.130