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Key questions

Approaches to improving the delivery of educational services in difficult environments where both capacity and will are weak Dr Pauline Rose Centre for International Education, University of Sussex, UK. Key questions. How can education be delivered in fragile states?

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Key questions

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  1. Approaches to improving the delivery of educational services in difficult environments where both capacity and will are weakDr Pauline RoseCentre for International Education, University of Sussex, UK

  2. Key questions • How can education be delivered in fragile states? • How can education contribute to a move away from fragility to promote ‘turnaround’? • How can donors balance rights and risks to ensure Dakar commitments are fulfilled in fragile states?

  3. DAC’s definition of fragile states Countries where there is a lack of political commitment and weak capacity to develop and implement pro-poor policies. These countries tend to be characterised by poor governance and are prone to violent conflict: • Arrested development (Lack of will, may have moderate or high capacity) • Deterioration (Conflict/risk of conflict. Declining capacity and/or will) • Post-conflict transition (Transitional phase, with risk of return to conflict. Low capacity, will may be high or low). • Early recovery(High will but low capacity)

  4. Political will • Commitment - political and legal • Leadership - influential international and national, and traditional/grassroots leaders • Responsiveness - accountability between citizens, governments and education providers

  5. Capacity • Individual capacity • Human capital, skills • Organisational capacity • Human resources, financial systems, decision-making processes, information • Institutional capacity: formal and informal • ‘rules of the game’ that shape the way individuals and organisations act and behave

  6. Prioritising Education in Fragile States

  7. Turnaround Education’s role in: • supporting sustainable change in governance • catalysing change outside the education sector • stemming negative spillover effects from one region or country into the other regions or a neighbouring country Resulting in improved policy context which enhances pro-poor growth potential identified by: • durable cessation of violent conflict • sustained economic growth • sustained improvements in human development indicators

  8. Education priorities in promoting turnaround • Curriculum development • Teacher training and recruitment • Post-basic education • Cross-sectoral approaches

  9. Short- versus long-route of accountability?

  10. Sustaining education service delivery during fragility: Where there’s a will – there’s a way • Arrested development • service delivery sustained by community initiatives, with coordination through the UN system to enable transition to a state system when this becomes possible • Deterioration • seek to stay engaged with government as long as possible, while addressing ways in which the education system is interacting with conflict • where it is no longer possible to work with government, education can be supported locally, while paying attention to state-building for sustainability in longer-term • Post-conflict transition/early recovery • scale-up community initiatives through system-wide planning • support decentralised planning • support government working with/through non-state actors.

  11. Challenges • Danger of fragmentation of service delivery – with challenges for capacity • Issues of accountability of alternative service providers • Communities not homogenous – and may lack capacity • Context counts!

  12. Donor engagement in education in fragile states: balancing rights and risks Rights: • Universal declaration of human rights • Education’s symbolic value in (re-) establishing the legitimacy of the state But risks: • no guarantee that reductions in fragility will occur through education investment; they are more likely not to. • Some initial will on the part of the national government is a critical pre-condition for enhancing the prospects of turnaround

  13. Problems of fragile states’ transition: Will and capacity of donors …and reality: • Donors exercise preferences – the rights/risk calculus is often dependent on historic links, habits, geo-politics… • Greater attention needed to inter- and intra-agency coordination • Possibilities for a new financing strategy to manage transition and/or • A new role for the EFA Fast-Track Initiative?

  14. Beyond business as usual… • Where incipient political will exists, support planning for donor endorsement – e.g. via FTI’s Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) • Move beyond ‘indicative benchmarks’: Principles for fragile states building on INEE process and DAC Principles • Plan beyond MDGs - prioritisation via conflict analysis; balancing educational quantity/quality in scaling-up provision • Prepare strategies to address potential absorptive capacity constraints • Address challenges of sustaining service delivery through non-state providers, while supporting longer-term state-building

  15. Meeting Dakar commitments • Once political will and plans in place – what next….? • Where insufficient political will remains - potential bridging role of UNESCO/ UNICEF in supporting strategic planning…?

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