More and better aid for education –the UK’s approach to supporting education indeveloping countries

Desmond Bermingham
Head of Profession,Education. DFID.
Tokyo. December 2005.

The case for education

Education – the key to unlock the door of ignorance

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

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DFID
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UK Department for International Development
Government department responsible for UK aid programme worldwide
Formerly the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) – a department ofthe Foreign OfficeBecame a full government department in 1997 with Clare Short as the first
Secretary of State for Development. Currently led by Hilary Benn
Total annual budget: £4.3 billion ($7.5 billion)
This will rise to £5.3 billion ($9 billion) by 2007/8
Aim of the department is to promote sustainable development and reducepoverty

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

DFID’s approach to supporting education

 From projects to programmes
 The sector wide approach to supportingeducation
 Support for country led development Support for national systems and budgets
 Education in fragile states and conflictedaffected countries
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2Working with others – the partnership approach With governments
 With other donors and international agencies
 With NGOs, the private sector and civil society
organisations

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EACapacity building – the key to sustainable
development

 Government
 Schools
 Civil Society And even donors…

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

3More Aid for EducationOver 115 million children still out of school
Estimated 4 million additional teachers needed in Africa alone
Governments will need to provide more resources for education
External aid will also need to increase - estimated additional 7 billion
dollars per year will be required The heads of state of the G8 countries made a commitment at theGleneagles summit to provide an additional 50 billion dollars in aidby 2010 to help all low income countries achieve the MDGs Education should get at least 15 – 20 % of that extra aid: 7 – 10billion per year

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

Better aid for education
 Our challenge will be to ensure that this aid is delivered effectively
 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness Joint planning and joint reviews
 Support for sector programmes Making aid more predictable Using national systems and institutions wherever possible
 In education, this will mean Fewer projects
 More support through sector programmes Closer partnerships

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

4The Fast Track Initiative

Global partnership to accelerate progress towards EFA goals
Focus on the MDG goal of universal primary education
Currently 18 low income countries within the FTI partnership
Supported by over 35 agencies, including the World Bank, UNESCO,UNICEF and all the major bilateral donor agencies including the UKand JapanUK currently co-chair of the FTIOver 140 million dollars committed in direct support to the FTI
Catalytic Fund
Significant additional finance provided through country programmes
Also provided support to capacity building and programme
preparation activities
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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

The FTI – what does it do?
 The ‘in-country’ Fast Track
 The Catalytic Fund
 The Education Programme Development Fund – support for the

preparation of sector plans, capacity building and knowledge sharing
activities.

 Set to expand to over 40 countries over the next two – three years
 Will provide additional support to the development of education
programmes in fragile states and recovering countries.

“Effective aid in action – in the education sector.” OECD DAC

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

5Conclusion
 We have an historic opportunity Chance for all of us to make a difference – and help to provide a

better future for tens of million of children in the poorest countriesof the world UK government has recently published a set of papers on moving
From Commitment to Action in education, health, growth andinfrastructure Now is the time to act Thank you

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Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA6