The Local Meanings of Educating All,and the Process of Adopting EFA
Development Goals in Kenya,
Tanzania, and Ethiopia

The Local Meanings of Educating All,and the Process of Adopting EFA
Development Goals in Kenya,
Tanzania, and Ethiopia

Edited by Shoko Yamada

July 2007

Yacob Arsano, Eustella P. Bhalalusesa,
Fatuma N. Chege, Regina M. Karega,
Ayalew Shibeshi

GRIPS Development ForumCopyright © 2007
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
Development Forum
7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 106-8677 JapanAll rights reserved.
First Published 2007

Contents

Contributors
Forewordvii
xi

Chapter 1 Overview and Synthesis
1 Introduction
2 The Influences of Global Forces on National Education Policy
3 Shifting Foci in Educational Policies — An Historical Perspective
4 Events in the Process of Adopting EFA Goals— A Synthesis of Findings from the Three Country Studies
5 Conclusion
Chapter 2 The Case of Tanzania
1 Introduction
2 Emerging Themes
3 Programmes Supported in Relation to EFA Goals
4 Concluding Remarks
Chapter 3 The Case of Ethiopia
1 Introduction
2 Conceptualization of ‘Education for all’3 Awareness of EFA Goals
4 EFA Goals Stressed Differently in Policy and Implementation
5 How Far was Decision-Making in EFA Influenced by External
Factors, Local Concepts, and the Local Way of Doing Thing?
6 What Factors Characterize EFA in Ethiopia?
7 Emerging Issues
Chapter 4 The Case of Kenya
1 Introduction
2 Contextualising EFA in Kenya
3 The Research Process

1
6
19
39
64

73
77
104
112

117
120
125
131
145
152
155

157
158
167

v

4

Research Findings

172

5Internationally Agreed upon EFA Goals

189

6

Newness of EFA Goals in National Programmes

195

7

Influencing Policy and Decision Making

202

8

Programme Funding

211

9Programme Funding Modalities

218

10

Funding Modalities Influencing Institutional Operations

227

11

Linking EFA with MDGs, plus Other Emergent Issues

231

12

Discussion and Conclusion

240

Appendix I
Appendix IIInterview Guide
Letter of Cooperation to Institutions

Tables
1-1 Trends of aid dependence
1-2 Trends of educational expenditure
4-1 List of interviewees
Figures
1-1 Share of recurrent expenditure by subsector
1-2 Trends of gross enrolment rates in three countries
1-3 Trends of gross enrolment rates in Kenya, 1970–2002
1-4 Trends of gross enrolment rates in Tanzania, 1970–2000
1-5 Trends of gross enrolment in Ethiopia, 1967–2002
Boxes
4-1 Education is a very broad concept
4-2 These ideas are brought again as if they are new
4-3 Mobile School Project
4-4 We help in a small way
4-5 We fundraise for our projects
4-6 We call it Sector Wide Approach to Planning.
4-7 Our beneficiaries are planning partners
4-8 The children shall feel out of place

vi

253
254

13
17
170

15
16
27
30
31

182
198
214
215
223
225
229
238

Contributors

Yacob Arsano, Assistant Professor of Political science and International
Relations and Dean of College of Social Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Eustella P. Bhalalusesa, Associate professor in Adult Education and
Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Fatuma N. Chege, Senior Lecturer and Chairperson, Department of
Educational Foundations, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Regina M. Karega, Senior Lecturer and Chairperson, Department of
Sociology, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Ayalew Shibeshi, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Planning and Management, College of Education, Addis Ababa University,
Ethiopia
Shoko Yamada, Associate Professor in International and Comparative
Education, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japanvii

Foreword

The papers collected in this volume are the outcomes of a comparative
study conducted in three east African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, andEthiopia. In February 2005 I visited these countries with a short research
proposal to meet with academic researchers in each country and to assemble a team to investigate the process by which educational policies weredeveloped, especially in relation to the Education for All (EFA) Development Goals. The fundamental goal of this project was to find out to what
extent national educational changes represent local responses to the global
economic and political factors—including internationally-shared policy
agendas like EFA—, and to what extent these changes are determined by
local conditions such as historically-rooted local views and systems of education and the political, social, and economic conditions at the time of policy development. The negotiation between endogenous and exogenous
motives for policy changes influences whether the introduced policy will beapplied successfully and take root or become an empty slogan. However,
too often, this policy process is considered to be a field of practitioners andis not examined critically. Therefore, this research intended to shed lighton what is happening, who is involved in the process of policy-making, andhow those involved see the situation.
To investigate these issues, involving qualified local research partners was
crucial. Because I planned to use a qualitative interview-based approach, it
was important to find people with the skills to conduct interviews in a sensitive context and analyze the data generated. As some of the country
teams later found, interviews with high-profile policy-makers on a hot issue
like EFA can be very sensitive; people sometimes become cautious or try to
avoid disclosing their personal opinions. Although I did not realize themagnitude of this difficulty at the time the team was forming, I knew that
this research would depend largely on the capability of my local partners
and teamwork. As a foreigner, I would not be able to interview the respondents myself because they might find talking to me threatening or restrictive. Therefore, my roles were mostly in establishing the basis for comparix

ing the three country cases to ensure they went in the same direction andthen in analyzing the results.
The authors of the country papers that follow (Chapters 2–4) are people
with whom I got along well. Two and a half years after this project began, I
look back and see that this team worked wonderfully. We have diverse academic backgrounds. While Ayalew has long been in the field of educational
policy studies, another leader of the Ethiopian group, Yacob, has publishedextensively regarding communal activities of minority populations in southern Ethiopia. Bhalalusesa of Tanzania is a specialist in adult literacy education who had consistent zeal for research throughout the challenging times.
As for the Kenyan group, Chege is an excellent qualitative researcher on
girls’ education, while Karega belongs to a sociology department working
with many rural populations. Regardless of this diversity, we shared aninterest in knowing the things happening in the educational policy process.
We gathered as a team twice: in Dar es Salaam in 2005 and in Nairobi in
2006. In Dar es Salaam, we developed the common research frameworkand list of questions (Appendix I) which were to be followed in interviews
and data analysis. We also reconfirmed the core ideas behind the constructivist approach of discourse analysis as a basis for each country group to
train research assistants. After the data collection and preliminary analysis,
we gathered again in Nairobi. This time, our purpose was to comment oneach other’s papers to improve the quality and make sure that the synthesis
by myself and three country analyses were written on the common grounddeveloped in Dar es Salaam.
Here we are happy to present the outcomes of our extensive work. We
hope that this will contribute to the educational policy studies in Africa andother parts of the world. We believe that the unique approach of thisresearch—deconstructing the discourse on EFA from the perspective ofcountries which adopt that agenda instead of seeing it in the global arena—
will provide insights to other developing countries which are experiencing
similar policy processes.
This research was made possible by a Grant-in-aid for Scientific Researchxand funding under the 21st Century COE Program, both provided by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. I would
like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Ken’ichi Ohno and Professor
Izumi Ohno for allocating sizable resources from the 21st Century COE Program to this research and for providing us with a supportive environment. I
also thank Ms. Azko Hayashida and Ms. Asuka Suzuki for their administrative assistance, which allowed us to navigate the maze of complicated procedures needed to manage this multi-sited research. Dr. Joyce Ndalichako,
who was an original member of the research team, was unable to continue
because of her promotion to the position of executive secretary at the
National Examinations Council of Tanzania in 2005. I would also like tothank her for insightful contributions at the earlier stage of this work.

Shoko Yamada
July 2007

xi

Chapter

1

Overview and Synthesis
Shoko Yamada

1

Introduction

In 1990, the World Conference on Education for All was held in Jomtien,
Thailand. Six development goals were agreed upon and aggregately came tobe called Education for All (EFA). Their aim was to achieve universal
access to primary education of acceptable quality for all school-aged children, without fees charged, in tandem with elimination of gender disparities therein. The EFA’s aims also included the expansion of early childhoodcare, adult education, and improvement of the adult literacy rate. TheseEFA goals were not achieved but were endorsed again in 2000 by officials
gathered in Dakar representing major bilateral and multilateral donors, aswell as the governments of developing countries. Meanwhile, two of the
EFA goals, namely, achieving universal primary education (UPE) and eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education, were integrated into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for social and economic development.
UNESCO, the World Bank, and UNICEF—three agencies which led themove towards EFA, had different organizational cultures and mandates (forexample, see Jones, 1999; Heyneman, 2003; Mundy, 1999). However, theyshared the short-term need to secure resources for educational programmes, a purpose for which WCEFA was very successful (Mundy, 1999).
Chabbott argues that the ideas presented at the WCEFA were invoked fromearlier conventions and declarations—with which participants werealready familiar—and the WCEFA’s format was an imitation of other earlier
1

conferences (1998). Even so, heavy mutual referencing among documents
produced gave declarations such as the EFA a weightiness that acts as normative pressure on both aid-providing and assisted governments. Later on,
respective governments would be required to develop national plans ofaction outlining their intended means to achieve EFA goals, a systemicchange which operated to further anchor the adoption of EFA goals within
national policy.
The effect that this global discourse has had on standardizing the outline
and delivery of EFA has itself given rise to an academic debate over theissue of cross-national transfers of educational ideas. The motivation for
countries to both lend and borrow educational policies and models
amongst themselves has been a driving force behind the development ofcomparative education as an academic field from its beginning in the earlynineteenth century (Arnove, 1999; Noah & Eckstein, 1969). At first, suchtransfers had been based on one-to-one relationships established between
individual nation-states. However, starting from the late colonial period,
the transfers became globalised, which resulted in the spread of singulareducational models to multiple sites at once (Yamada, 2003). Following
suit with earlier styles of multi-site adaptation, the current discourse on
EFA can be seen as a form of educational transfer in the era of globalisation.
Many scholars (for example, Benavot, Cha, Kamens, Meyer & Wong, 1991;
Chabbott, 1998; Samoff, 1999) have pointed to this standardizing effect of
the global discourse on EFA. At the same time, various reports show thatwhile such standardization may take shape in international and national
political arena, it may not produce substantial changes in the field (Astiz etal., 2002, 86; McGinn, 1997, 44-45) nor even its intended results (Mayer,
Nagel, & Conrad W. Snyder, 1993; Nagel & Conrad W. Snyder, 1989). The
process of reinterpreting external terms and ideas to local contexts andvalue systems accompanies adaptation. In this process, the hybridisationof differing ideas—indigenous and exogenous, old and new—occurs(Carnoy & Rhoten, 2002; Dale & Robertson, 2002).

2

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

In fact, our research evidences that popularized slogans associated with
EFA policy are most likely not even new to countries that have committed
themselves to EFA goals. It is true that the current package of six EFA
goals was adopted at an international conference and thereupon brought,from the outside, to each signing country. That is indisputable. The three
countries which we have focused on in this study—Kenya, Tanzania, andEthiopia—have been signatories to a variety of regional and global proclamations and declarations, all which were in one way or another related toeducation, starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as
adopted by the United Nations in 1948. This Declaration asserted that‘everyone has a right to education’, a commitment re-affirmed by subsequent international conferences as well as normative texts, and as such has
continually been recognized as a mission to be achieved. These countries
also took part in all the Regional UNESCO conferences held at Addis
Ababa, Karachi, Santiago and Tripoli in the early 1960s; the International
Seminar on Campaigning for Literacy in Udaipur in 1982; and the World
Summit for Children and the Convention on the Rights of Children in 1989.
Further, in addition to such international agreements, all three countries
have a long history with initiatives generated by the national government
for the promotion of education. Tanzania is known for ‘Education for SelfReliance’, promoted by its first president Mwalimu Nyerere. Kenya has a
tradition of Harambee schools, which trace their origin back to a popular
movement of the 1920s, which aimed to establish truly local (non-missionary) schools in opposition to control exercised by European colonizers.
Ethiopia, on the other hand, hosted the first African regional conference on
education, co-organized by UNESCO and the U.N. Economic Commissionof Africa in 1961 (Addis Ababa Conference). In each of these three countries, the public demand for education has always been high. Accordingly,
each respective government has demonstrated its commitment to education. In all honesty, the level of commitment was not consistent over time,and demonstrated ebbs and flows; furthermore, resurgences towards educational expansion were just as often politically motivated, for such purposes as to increase popularity or spread propagandistic ideology, as they
were pursued out of sincerely educational concerns. But even so, the idea3

of educating the country’s people has been there. It may not be possible to‘educate all’ but, at the very least, the people were familiar with the constantly resurging government campaigns geared towards the provision of
educational opportunities to as broad a range of the populace as possible.
However, it is also an irrefutable fact that the governments of Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia have focused far more resources into the education sector now than ever before and indicators show rapid expansion, especiallyat the primary education level, over the last few years. Then, to what
extent is this growth driven by external forces and to what extent does itstem from the domestic initiative of each country’s own government—
albeit simultaneously in different countries? Donors and their consultants
have placed an abundance of effort into tracking the course of educational
reforms and evaluating the degree to which they fulfil set indicators for
EFA achievement. However, their work rarely goes deep enough to sufficiently probe into the policies underlying these initiatives and the policymaking process. On the other hand, academic work addressing EFA discourse looks mostly at international fora and institutional actors, but notmuch at the domestic processes of negotiating ideas that were developed atsuch fora so as to adopt them into national policy. This paper intends to fillthat gap by focusing on local responses to global discourse, as is made evident over the course of EFA adoption. Teams set up in each country interviewed key ministry officials, aid officials, NGO representatives, and academics involved in policy-making processes pertaining to education. Basedon analyses of the interview data, this paper will attempt to answer somequestions about the processes of policy-making and negotiation. Some key
issues discussed will be: 1) How, if at all, were EFA goals mainstreamed
into each country’s education policy; 2) What kind of decision-making
mechanisms are in place; 3) Who holds the most power and influence in thepolicy-making process; and 4) Who are most conversant with regard to setsof EFA goals?
Another major point of interest is the opportunity research provides toshed light on characteristics distinguishing EFA goals, signed in Jomtienand Dakar, from the broader general concept of ‘educating all’. Too often,
4Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

EFA goals are equated solely with universal primary education and ensuring gender equity in primary schooling—only two guidelines from a total of
six EFA goals. In reality, the broadly-applied concept of ‘education’ caninclude any act wherein a person learns something (i.e. academic study, life
skills, vocational skills, basic literacy, human interactions in society, etc.).
‘All’ could very well mean every living person on the planet. Upon noting
the vast territory contained by the concept of ‘educating all’ in contrast
with the narrow focus of EFA, the current research team came to wonder
exactly how these words were defined and what rationale could exist to
explain any interpretive gaps. Are such gaps not recognized or are people
consciously and selectively limiting their definitions? To investigate thismatter, all respondents were requested to define ‘education’, ‘all’, and ‘education for all’ in their own terms. In addition, respondents were asked
about official areas of focus from within the range of EFA goals. By posing
a series of questions on specific definitions, the research team directed its
efforts towards illuminating the ways in which official priority is similar to,or differs from, what individual respondents perceive Education for All tobe.
Interviews with educational policy-makers, aid officials, NGO staff, andacademics were conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. These wereused as primary data for the discourse analysis to understand how people
in different social and institutional positions conceptualize EFA. For thecomparative study to be successful, it was critical that an analytical common ground be established. Therefore, a two-day workshop was held for
discussing and agreeing on a common list of questions, after which eachcountry’s team became responsible for assuring that all interviewers knew
to follow this one list, especially since the interviews themselves would be
conducted in an unstructured and flexible manner. Although the interviews
were the primary source for analysis, documentary analysis was also conducted in order to support interview analysis findings as well as examine
programmatic patterns and financial distribution among educational subsectors over the years.

5

2

2.1

The Influences of Global Forces on National
Education Policy
Education for all development goals and global donor
discourse

The World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand in
1990, marked the beginning of a new era of global agreements in the field of
educational development, where the commitment to achieving a set ofdevelopment goals came to be shared broadly by a multitude of organizations and countries. Seeing as these goals had not yet been achieved ten
years after their inception, vows to meet these goals were made anew at
the Dakar Conference with new target years. The development goals
agreed upon at the Jomtien and Dakar conferences, later referred to as the
Education for All (EFA) goals, consisted of six key elements: (1) Expansionof early childhood care, (2) Universal free compulsory primary education
by 2015, (3) Expanded access to adult education, (4) 50 percent increase in
the adult literacy rate by 2015, (5) Eliminating gender disparities by 2005,
and (6) Improvements in the quality of education.
When the top administrative branches of the leading donors, such as theWorld Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF, agreed to organize the Jomtien Conference, their primary concern was to attract greater degrees of politicaland financial commitment to the education sector from national governments that fund multilateral development organizations. Unlike the healthsector, which had succeeded in building a consensus agreement at theWorld Conference on Primary Health Care, the education sector lacked
similarly internationally-agreed priority areas. The governments of assisting countries, along with donor organizations, were often reluctant toinvest in activities in the educational field owing in part to the fact that
there was no clear professional or intellectual consensus about the priority
in this field (Chabbott, 1998). The collaboration of these multilateral international organizations looked for a breakthrough in circumstances that had
long obstructed funding in education. UNESCO’s involvement lent technical and intellectual legitimacy to the conference owing to its formal man6

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

date over, and experience in, overseeing UN education initiatives. UNICEF
had the success of the Health for All campaign under its belt. And theWorld Bank controlled the most financial resources (Heyneman, 2003). All
three of these organizations agreed on the necessity of a normative framework for the field of education, as well as illustrative plans of action therein
and the Jomtien and Dakar Conferences proved to be successful in serving
that objective (Chabbott, 1998; Mundy, 1999).
The World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF, however, each brought in different focuses. UNICEF, by its mandate, is more concerned about education
provided to children, in both formal and non-formal structures. UNESCO,on the other hand heavily stresses inclusiveness for all people. Its longcommitment to adult literacy education was predication for its strong push
to ensure minimum levels of literacy for All, including children and youth,both enrolled and out-of-school, as well as adults. The World Bank, for thatmatter, emphasized Education for all while envisioning schooling, andespecially children’s formal primary schooling, over non-formal training in
non-diploma courses. These differences in interest among multilateralorganizations were ultimately ensconced in the six EFA goals which broadly spanned early childhood care and adult literacy while giving equal attention to both sexes. However, with time, the emphases have been demonstratively narrowed down so that they apply to fewer activities.
In 2000, the same year as Dakar Conference, a meeting was held at theUnited Nations headquarters wherein which representatives from member
countries agreed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for achieving the “ultimate eradication of poverty” (United Nations 2006). Two of the
EFA goals—universal free compulsory primary education by 2015 and eliminating gender disparities by 2005—were integrated into the MDGs, which
are themselves composed of eight goals: (1) to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; (2) to achieve universal primaryeducation; (3) to promote gender equity and empower women (including
equity in schooling); (4) to reduce child mortality; (5) to improve maternal
health; (6) to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) to ensure
environmental sustainability; and (8) to develop a global partnership for7

development. Having been adopted as MDGs at the dawn of the new millennium, these two EFA goals were assigned a special place within the
global discourse on social development for poverty reduction. It meantthat these goals, especially universal primary education, would be elevatedto a level of higher strategic and financial priority than the other EFA goals
owing to this underscoring of their ability to contribute to poverty reduction. Success indicators were developed for each MDG and these wereused to measure the level of effort achieved in each developing country.
Evaluation with regard to how well such indicators were being met may be
used to determine whether developing countries would be rewarded withadditional funding pledges, or sanctioned by the suspension of funds.
The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) is a telling example of how global forces
influenced government policy and practice to converge over a notably narrowed focus in developing countries. The FTI was launched in 2002, under
the auspices of the World Bank and UNESCO, as a platform for deliveringtargeted assistance with the specific purpose of achieving universal accessto primary education (UPE) by the year 2015. The FTI functions as one
common focal ground, shared between 30 bilateral and multilateral donors
and developing countries, that serves to accelerate UPE fundraising and theflow of these funds to countries that have been endorsed after satisfying set
conditions. So far, 45 developing countries have had their education sector
plan endorsed, and 20 countries have already received FTI catalytic funds
for programmes. Ethiopia and Kenya are among the latter. The focus on
primary schooling, which grew more apparent in the last few years, fromamong EFA goals can be, at least, partially explained by the dependence ofdonor organizations and the developing countries on the financial and intellectual resources of the World Bank. While resource reliance is a significant factor in educational initiatives’ gravitation towards UPE, normative
factors also contributed to the convergence of donor assistance withindeveloping countries. Basic (primary and lower secondary) education is an
educational sub-sector that is more likely to be subject to a consensus
agreement on its importance than would other educational sub-sectors.
The widely shared assumption suggests that school-based basic education
has been the backbone of development in industrialized countries, and8

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

therefore it must stand as a precondition for modernization (Astiz, Wiseman, & Baker, 2002; Carnoy & Rhoten, 2002; Mundy, 1999). Furthermore,access to basic education has been articulated in various conventions anddeclarations concerning children’s rights and education time and time again
since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948,
which itself embodied normative pressure on donors and governments byinsisting that the failure to effectively work towards achieving this goal
could be judged as a neglect of human rights (Chabbott, 1998). Such repetition of fundamental terms outlining universal basic education in official
documents, as well as publicization of progress towards its achievement,
has acted as a normative coercive force which has bound both donors andgovernment involved in international discourse. Thus, 1) the interrelationship among groups of institutions in developing and assisting countries, 2)
the normative pressures created and reinforced among them, and 3) addedpressures created by financial dependence on limited sources, are factorsthat have effectively resulted in the convergence of policy and action for
educational development over the standardization of EFA goals—and more
specifically towards universal primary education.

2.2

Internationally accepted models brought to local
contexts

In each developing country, groups of donor organizations and the government have institutionalized a variety of fora for negotiation, such as sector/sub-sector technical working groups, regular donor-government coordination meetings, and annual review meetings for education sector programmes, among others. Such arrangements for inter-party consultation
have had greater sway since the late-1990s, when internationally-held consensus aimed that the relationship between assisting and the assisted countries should not be coercive or compelled but rather an equal ‘partnership’encouraging the development of policy ‘ownership’ by the assisted party.
That’s why donor organizations now call themselves ‘development partners.’ Furthermore, governments are encouraged to establish domestic
channels for more ‘democratic’ decision-making and ‘partnership’ with civilsociety organizations as well. Thus, it is not unusual in this day and age to9see representatives from NGOs—often times from national advocacy NGOs
and NGO federations—taking part in important meetings and sector coordinating bodies. ‘Partnership’, therefore, is broad and multifaceted, inasmuch
as it is applied to the government’s relationships with donors, NGOs, andother external stakeholders, while, at the same time, it also signifies intragovernmental relationships kept among ministries, departments, and divisions.
Another term in vogue at this time is ‘ownership.’ With recent international
commitments to fostering the ‘ownership’ of assisted countries, donororganizations have began pressuring one another to terminate conventional
forms of projects, i.e. those implemented directly by consultants hired by
the donor and managed under a steering committee independent of the
Education Ministry. Newer mainstream perspectives, made known by
recent donor discourse strongly led by the European donors and the World
Bank, direct that supporting governmental budgets, rather than running
projects, is the more advanced model for providing assistance to developing countries. Budget support is a modality of assistance invented toencourage the autonomy of the developing countries and their governments
in policy development. While reflecting on negotiation, donors may elect toendorse national or sector development policies and action plans developed by the government after which financial support would be provided;
this is expected to replace the conventional model where donors push theplanning and implementation of parochial projects without coordinatingwith the assisted government or other donors. As will be discussed, there
are several ways of allocating budget support, for example, by requiringsector-level or government-wide earmark that support for use in a specificsector or field of activities, or by even allowing for the disbursement of
unconditional budget support. But these are all commonly based on theideals of ‘partnership’ and ‘ownership.’ The multitude of meetings held
between donors and governments are considered important channels forconsensus building, especially since donors are now expected to be lessinvolved in the implementation of development activities. Donors, therefore, are careful to ensure through the consultation process that the government’s programme goes along with their advice—not unlike highhanded
10Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

orders, in some cases, consciously taking advantage of the donor’s financial
and political power. Though many bilateral donors, UN bodies, and NGOs
still implement hands-on projects for assisted countries instead of providing budget support, it has become more and more important as a pre-condition that they do so only as part of a ‘partnership’ process, wherein they
may exercise influence over policy-making and convince third parties ofthe value of their ‘projects’.
It is understandable that as donor organizations have shifted to the provision of budget support, their in-country staff then try to control the flow
and outcomes of such assistance; this is because in-country staff themselves are under pressure to follow the donor’s organizational mandate
while simultaneously demonstrating the assisted government’s progress
towards targets. Among donors that provide assistance to developing
countries in line with the government’s development plans, it is not uncommon that the success of these governmental plans, and thus the efficacy ofthe donor’s own investment, be measured based on agreed indicators. This
close tie between assessing government performance and donor effectiveness often tempts the donor’s staff in the field to individually attempt tocontrol policy processes in assisted countries, regardless of widely-accepted norms of ‘partnership’ and ‘ownership.’In the late 1990s, the World Bank and the IMF started to require that Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) prepare Poverty Reduction Strategic
Paper (PRSPs) in order that these countries be qualified for relief from debt
accumulated through donor loans. This HIPC debt relief initiative symbolized a major shift away from structural adjustment, as previously favored
by Bretton Woods institutions, and it possessed a heavy focus on improving
macro-economic performance in developing countries while minimizing thefunction of governments, including offices in social sectors. However, theWorld Bank and IMF gave up on this structural adjustment scheme after
witnessing unsatisfactory improvement in macro-economic indicators coupled with growing inequality in target countries. They concluded that heavily-indebted countries caught in negative debt cycles—meaning that payments only covered interest on debt but not the loan capital—would never11

be able to rightly launch their economies unless relief from debt was delivered. Also, since domestic inequality grew across the board during thestructural adjustment era as a result of cuts in social services, the newagenda was to reduce poverty while giving special priority to the social
service sectors, particularly in basic education and primary health care.
The Millennium Development Goals adopted at the U.N. general assemblyin 2000 follow the same line of reasoning: poverty reduction. Poverty
Reduction Strategic Papers, which are basically national development
plans, must be prepared by HIPC governments under their own initiative(‘ownership’), but are only approved by the World Bank/IMF when compliant with a specified framework. The existence of this tacit framework has
contributed to vast similarities in the PRSPs of varying HIPCs. Amongthese tacit conditions was the need to give priority to basic education whenallocating resources and strategic emphasis.
Aid modalities such as PRSP, debt relief, and budget support based on sector development plans are all closely linked to MDGs since MDGs act as thebenchmark for assessing the performance of national governments andtheir sector ministries. Aid modalities are also linked to donors’ shared initiatives like the FTI. For example, out of the 20 countries whose education
sector plans have been endorsed by the FTI secretariat and now are qualified to receive catalytic funds, 13 are HIPCs and, moreover, 10 of them areconcentrated in Africa. The enforcement of two EFA goals adopted as
MDGs, namely, universal free compulsory primary education and eliminating gender disparities, in addition to the conditionalities and modalities
thereby put into effect for development assistance, have resulted in bringing both the attention of the international assistance community, and thepolicies of developing countries structured under strong donor influence,
to rest on a narrower target of increasing access to and gender equity inbasic, especially primary, education from among the six original EFA goals.

2.3

Patterns visible in statistical and financial data

Table 1-1 shows trends in two kinds of aid dependence indicators. Among
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, Kenya is consistently the least aid depend12

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

ent in terms of both Aid per capita and Aid as percentage of GNI, while
Tanzania and Ethiopia are both highly aid dependent. Whereas the average
figure for aid as a percentage of GNI in the sub-Saharan Africa region is 5.3,
these two countries exceed it by three to four times. However, in terms of
the actual dollars of aid inflow (aid per capita), Tanzania receives thelargest amount. Though Ethiopia receives less than half of what Tanzania
receives in aid from donors, its GNI per capita, far lower than that of Tanzania or Kenya, is the reason why its proportion of aid against GNI statistically balloons. It is difficult to estimate from the overall inflow of aid alone
the exact amount of foreign assistance directed to the education sector.
This is especially so because of the great extent to which resources fromoutside which are not counted in the governmental budget (off-budget
assistance) flow into the sector. However, since the PRSPs of these three
countries unitarily indicate education as a priority sector, it would be safe
to conclude that general patterns in the development of relations withexternal assistance also apply to the education sector.
In this vein, Kenya is an interesting outlier. Even though it is least dependent on external assistance, it has devoted a greater proportion of public
expenditures to education than the other two countries. The education sector makes up a quarter to more than a third of public expenditures, which issurprisingly high assuming that the data is reliable. Educational expenditures consist of a high proportion against the GDP as well—consistently
around 6 percent of the total GDP or, at times, closer to 7 percent. According to a regional comparison of UNDP data, it is among the highest in subSahara Africa, following only Zimbabwe and Lesotho, which allocated 10.4
percent and 10.0 percent of their GDP respectively to the education sector
during the period from 1999 to 2001 (UNDP, 2004).
Table 1-1
GNI per capita(US$)

Trends of aid dependence

Aid per captia ($)
2001
2002
2003
15
13
15

2004
19

2001
4

Aid as % of GNI
2002
2003
3.2
3.4

2004
4

Kenya

480

Tanzania

320

36

35

47

46

13.3

13.2

16.3

16.2

Ethiopia

110

16

19

22

26

17.5

21.7

22.8

23

Note: From World Development Indicators, 2003-2006, World Bank.

13

Kenya’s pattern of allocating resources among sub-sectors in education also
differs slightly when compared to Ethiopia and Tanzania. Kenya allocatesless to primary education and more to TVET and secondary education (seeFigure 1-1). This pattern may indicate the kind of choices in the education
sector a government would make when there is less external interference.
It also suggests that Education for All in Kenya may have different operational priorities than in the other two countries. In interviews conducted in
Kenya, respondents tended to talk more about reaching out to vulnerable
populations or seeing that diverse educational needs, including special education, are met. This contrasts, for example, respondents in Ethiopia who
repeatedly pointed out that providing even the minimum of access to basic
education for the majority of school-aged children is a big challenge. The
high proportion of resources allocated to education in Kenya can be seen
as a sign of the government’s commitment to educating its people, and thisstands pretty independent of international trends. Probably as a result of
this strong political will (together with other economic and social factors),
Kenya had maintained a fairly high primary gross enrolment—only a little
less than 90 percent—before it grew to more than 100 percent achieved
with the additional resources invested in this educational sub-sector at thedawn of the new millennium (see Figure 1-2). In regard to its place on thecontinuum of achieving Education for All, one may say that Kenya has now
nearly completed the stage of quantitatively expanding primary educationand soon aims to include the population which has been difficult to bereached into the system or further improve the quality of education.

14

Chapter 1

Figure 1-1

Overview and Synthesis

Share of recurrent expenditure by subsector

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

Adult ed / nonformal ed

University

Secondary

1

0

0–0

200

9

9–0

199

8

Tanzania

Administration

8–9

199

7

7–9

199

4

6–9

199

3

3–0

200

2

2–0

200

1

1–0

200

0

200

9–0

0–0

4

Ethiopia

199

2

3–0

200

1

1–0

200

0

0–0

200

9

9–0

199

8

8–9

199

7–9

6–9
199

199

7

0%

Kenya

Teacher training

TVET

Primary

Note: Ethiopia• For the years 1997/97-2001/02: “Ethiopia focusing public expenditures on poverty reduction,” by
the World Bank, 2001c.
• For the year 2003/04: “Education sector development program III (ESDP III) 2005/2006 –2010/2011 Program Action Plan,” Ministry of Education, The Federal Democratic Republic ofEthiopia, 2005.
Tanzania• For the years 1999/00-2000/01: “Tanzania public expenditure review FY 03,” by the World Bank,
2004.
• For the years 2001/02-2003/04: “The United Republic of Tanzania: Education sector public expenditure review 2005,” by Altair Asesores S.L., 2005
Kenya
• For the years 1996/97-1999/00: “Public expenditure review 2003,” by the Republic of Kenya, 2003.
• For the year 2000/01: “Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP): Consolidated
National Performance Report, 2002/3,” by the Ministry of Education, Ethiopia, 2004a.

15

Figure 1-2

Trends of gross enrolment rates in three countries

%
120
100
80
Kenya
60

Tanzania
Ethiopia402001993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
–94 –95 –96 –97 –98 –99 –00 –01 –02 –03 –04
Note: From “Education Management Information System (EMIS), Education Statistics Annual Abstract
2002/3,” by the .Ministry of Education, Ethiopia, 2004; “Education sector development program III(ESDP III) 2005/2006 – 2010/2011 Program Action Plan,” Ministry of Education, The federal democratic republic of Ethiopia, 2005; “Basic Statistics in Education. 1993-2003,” by the United Republicof Tanzania, 2005; “Education sector situation analysis final report,” Roy Carr-Hill, Joyce
Ndalichako, and others. The united republic of Tanzania, Prime minister’s office, 2005; and, “Reportof the Sector Review and Development,” by Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Kenya,
2003.

In terms of primary gross enrolment rate, Tanzania is second to Kenya. Not
unlike Kenya, its GERs have numbered high and remained pretty consistent, yet it did not reach Kenya’s ranks until last few years. On the other
hand, GERs in Ethiopia increased steeply from 20.5 percent in 1993/94 tonearly 80 percent (79.2 percent) in 2004/05. Tanzania’s first president after
independence, Mwalimu Nyerere, was very committed to education.
Ethiopian political leaders of Nyerere’s generation were no less serious
about education, as attested by the fact that the country hosted the firstinternational education conference in the region in 1961. As the author will
demonstrate later, the commitments of the government to education may
have fluctuated, but never disappeared in any of the three countries. However, Ethiopia was relatively less successful in its educational endeavours,
probably due to factors such as its vast territory, diversity in population, theonslaught of natural disasters, and political turmoil.
Table 1-2 shows that both Tanzania and Ethiopia have been increasing public expenditure on education seen as a percentage of its GDP over the past
16

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

few years. In Ethiopia’s case, education has also gained an increasing shareof total public expenditure, which means that the education sector is growing at the cost of other public sectors. In contrast, spending on educationin Tanzania has grown at the same pace as other sectors, but its proportion
to total public expenditure is consistently around 16-17 percent. Of all
three countries, Tanzania receives the largest amount of aid and the financial resources of its government are growing larger than ever before. That
is why public expenditure (including education) is increasing when measured against GDP. However, so far as financial data tell, even though primary education held priority status in the Tanzanian PRSP, the bargaining
power of the Ministry of Education relative to other ministries may not bevery strong when it comes to budgeting.
In Tanzania and Ethiopia, priority within the education sector has beenbasically given to primary education, where roughly 60 percent of the total
educational budget goes. Allocations to primary education once increased
in Tanzania to 74.7 percent in 2000/01, but the next year it was reduced andsince then has been maintained at a level of around 60 percent (Altair
Asesores S.L., 2005).1) Ethiopia also allocates a large portion of its funds toprimary education. The difference however between Ethiopia and Tanzania

Table 1-2

Trends of educational expenditure

Educational
Educational
Educational
Educational
Educational
Educational
expenditure
expenditure
expenditure
expenditure
expenditure
expenditure(as % of public (as % of GDP) (as % of public (as % of GDP) (as % of public (as % of GDP)
expenditure)
expenditure)
expenditure)
Kenya

Tanzania

Ethiopia
11.50

3.5

6.2

9.60

3.2

29.10

5.8

13.90

4

2001

31.70

6

16.96

2.8

17.00

5

2002

28.70

6.8

17.23

3.41

2003

16.14

3.53

2004

16.33

4.25

1998

36.90

1999

37.10

2000

Note: From “Public expenditure review 2003,” by Republic of Kenya, 2003; “Tanzania public expenditure
review FY 03,” by the World Bank, 2004; “Joint review of the primary education development plan
(PEDP): Final report,” by United Republic of Tanzania, 2003; “The United republic of Tanzania:
Education sector public expenditure review 2005,” by Altair Asesores S.L., 2005; and “Ethiopia
focusing public expenditures on poverty reduction,” by the World Bank, 2001.

17

is that Ethiopia has recently increased its allocations to tertiary education
and TVET, while at the same time reducing allocations to primary education year by year; primary education comprised 66.7 percent of the total
educational budget in 1996/97 and 48 percent in 2003/04. The Ethiopian
government has shown that it possesses a strong will to promote both
TVET and tertiary education, though it has had to face rather strong opposition from the World Bank and other donors (World Bank, 2001). Indeed,
the fact that the Ethiopian government has domestically achieved suchrapid expansion of popular access to primary education, on the one hand,
while not necessarily concentrating its limited resources on primary education alone, is amazing. Even though percentages representing the proportion of money channelled from the educational budget to primary education have shown a decrease, the actual monetary amount of funds allocatedhas increased. Also, Ethiopia’s educational system seems to depend largely
on community contributions as well as assistance derived from donors,
NGOs, and other resources outside of the governmental budget (off-budget
support). According to the financial plan for the Education Sector Development Program (ESDP), community contributions are estimated to cover
more than 10 percent of the total programme cost (Ministry of Education,
2005, 72). All the same, even when considering these factors, it is still not
clear how the government of Ethiopia manages its huge budget deficit so as
to achieve universal primary education (Yamada, 2007).
Aid dependence is a significant factor determinant of resource allocation
patterns and strategic prioritization in educational sub-sectors. Tanzania,
the quickest of the three to increase reliance on foreign financial assistance, has been seen by donors as a showcase of new aid modalities; it has
been more accommodative to ‘partner’s advice’ than the other two countries studied. Ethiopia, which is said to show strong ‘ownership’ of its policies and does not easily succumb to external pressure, depends less on foreign assistance than does Tanzania. The irony here is that although theinternational aid community says that it welcomes expressions of ‘ownership’ by recipient countries, when taken literally, a government’s expressionof ‘ownership’ may mean non-compliance with the prescriptions of funders.
Kenya’s unique pattern of resource allocation can be partly explained by its
18

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

low aid dependence. In fact, it has been said that donors were reluctant tocommit to Kenya financially in past decades because of persistent andwidespread practices of corruption. In sum, aid dependence reflects quite
well the magnitude of external influence, which in turn affects recipient
governments’ policy decision regarding Education for All. At the sametime, external actors do not exercise their influences in a vacuum. They
often negotiate terms with the government, while advocating selected
points so as to make sure policy will focus on specific areas. The variety ofmeetings and other mechanisms of ‘partnership’ are useful channels forsuch negotiation. However, after all is said and done, it is the government
who enacts the policy and implements it. Therefore, unless the government
demonstrates the commitment and will to carry out terms as agreed, priorities dictated by the donors may gradually be forgone, as visible when the
Ethiopian government gradually shifted its budget away from primary education to the tertiary and TVET sub-sectors. Therefore, the attitudes ofdomestic actors—not only government officials at the Ministry of Education, but also officials at other ministries and agencies, and stakeholders
from NGOs, academics, media, and the general public—would be important
determinants in the process of adopting and localizing EFA goals hailingfrom the outside. These domestic stakeholders act based on their knowledge of and experience in the existing educational system, national politicalculture, educational development history, and other socio-political andinstitutional factors. Here then, it is quite important to understand the cultural, historical, political, and organizational contexts in order to makesense of interactions relating to the process of policy-making.

3

Shifting Foci in Educational Policies—An Historical
Perspective

In this section, the author will present a brief historical review of the global
discourse on educational needs in developing countries as well as subsequent prioritizations in policy as had affected each of our three case countries since the 1960s (and after independence in the cases of Kenya andTanzania). Just as in the current EFA-era, policy enhancing the develop19

ment of national education systems in each country has been, throughout
their histories, influenced by global discourse on education in developing
countries. The international community has been dominated by a few fanciful educational ideas which are brought under limelight one after anotherat the interval of a decade or so. These include ideas of educational adaptation, or education for manpower development. In the time that an idea isdominant, many donor organizations along with the governments of developing countries tend to align their priorities in terms of strategy andresources to the trend. After a while, some drawbacks or less-than-satisfactory results to interventions arise and stakeholders will start to think ofmodifying their guiding principles. In this way, the focus of educational
policy, as determined internationally, will swing like a pendulum from one
arena to another. This section will herein present a timeline of some of the
major educational ideas which framed policies and programmes developedby donors and governments. History tells us that policy-makers, even when
they work for unique and charismatic leaders like Nyerere, cannot be kept
fully independent of external influence. In the case of Nyerere, one may
claim that his philosophies of self-reliance and adult literacy influenced
international discourse, and not the other way round. This statement holds
true because of how ideas are cross-fertilized as policy-makers learn fromand replicate the good practices of others. But even including such cases,
where reciprocal relationships entail the borrowing and lending of policies,
a country cannot be free from the influence of others. When accompanied
by technical and financial assistance, advice from donors may bring about
rather abrupt change in policy without a clear designation of any underlying contextual necessity. Such policy changes often contributed to the discontinuance of certain educational policies or practices where, as a result,the priority programmes of earlier times would be abandoned while still
incomplete, before their goals were ever achieved. As the author will discuss later, drops in primary school enrolment in Kenya and Tanzania in theearly 1980s can be explained by this sudden shift in focus stemming, atleast partially, from external factors.
In other cases, however, domestic circumstances were more responsiblefor discontinuity in policy than external factors. As some interviewees crit20

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

ically explained, especially in Ethiopia, policy-makers have a tendency towant to negate the ventures of earlier regimes, even those that drew positive results, and are in need of continuous governmental intervention tomaintain/further the effect or, as was observed in all three countries, politicians may pledge increased commitment to educational expansion, no matter how limited governmental resources are, in response to public pressure.
Local factors—whether they are socio-political, cultural, or economic,
among others—are, therefore, just as influential in the policy process asexternal ones. Therefore, the second part of this section will review
changes in the orientation of each country’s policy since the 1960s. By longitudinally reviewing the trajectory of global trends along with their related
national contexts, one can see the ways in which external and local factors
determined the direction and formation of policy and the overall extent of
their impact in each of the three countries respectively.

3.1

External policy agendas commonly affecting the three
countries

Many European colonies in Africa gained their independence in the late
1950s and early 1960s. Prior to this, and after the Second World War, European colonizers had shifted their focus in colonial policy from maintaining
rule over African subjects to enhancing processes that would instill African
self-government as a path to independence. In this connection, education
was considered a means of training African leaders for replacing Europeans in key positions in both the public and private sectors. To fill the gap
existent between the demand for highly educated white collar workers andthe actual number of such workers available and qualified, the European
administrations, alongside newly established international organizations
such as UNESCO and the World Bank, made the development of generalsecondary and higher education in emerging states a priority. It was during
this time that many universities were established in Africa, some of whichwere reconstructed post-secondary educational institutions, while others
were newly established. Makerere University in Uganda is an example ofthe former and Nairobi University in Kenya is an example of the latter(Lulat, 2005, 228-230; Otiende et al., 1992, 97). During this period, an inter21

national consensus on the need to direct urgent attention to the development of skilled and professional manpower had taken hold, wherein the
strive towards UPE was marked desirable as a long-term goal.
As time passed, greater weight came to be placed on more vocationally- or
technically-oriented education rather than general education, although
donor organizations were still mainly concerned with schooling at the secondary and tertiary levels. For example, between 1964 and 1969, secondarylevel vocational education was the second largest area recipient to WorldBank educational loans. During this period, total Bank lending to vocational type of education (conducted across different sub-sectors such as secondary, post-secondary, non-formal, and teacher education) reached 51 percent, while primary education gained only 6 percent (Jones, 1992, 182).
This policy angle, centering on developing manpower at middle- and highlevel posts, dominated discourse until the entry of the 1980s.
Together with the theory of manpower development, the theory of “basic
human needs” arose in the international aid community. BHN is the ideathat all people should have access to the physical materials necessary forsurvival (i.e. food and shelter) as well as the skills for living self-reliantly.
In this line of thought, the advantage of adapting education to students’learning needs and local contexts was emphasized. During this period,
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania all enhanced their commitment to primaryeducation. Community schools established solely by the work of communities increased in number, whereby donors provided support for improving
the quality of education to better meet local needs at these schools(Buchert, 1994, 123-143).
Somewhere along the same line as BHN, lifelong learning and adult literacy
education also gained strong ideological support, mainly from UNESCO.
Because of UNESCO’s rather weak financial capacity, its influence overother donors was limited. Even so, many governments in developing countries devoted a great deal of effort to developing curricula, training teachers, and extending the opportunities of adult literacy education to the masses. All three countries studied here, especially Tanzania and Ethiopia, were22

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

among the most enthusiastic in this regard. At the time, post-colonialstates in Africa, Latin America, and Asia were keen to learn from eachother, and adult education was among a number of activities that thesecountries preferred to adopt. Julius Nyerere, the first president of independent Tanzania, was an influential figure with his philosophy of “Education for Self-help.” Some African countries that had taken the path tosocialism—Guinea and Congo, for example—announced education policies
similar to Tanzania’s. Adult literacy education was a major component of
Nyerere’s education policy (Mulenga, 2001). Here, an important matter topoint out is that external influence may just very well be from multiple
sources, and mutual learning among countries that believe they share commonalities (such as African neighbours or post-colonial states) often provides a strong drive for policy-making.
A clear break in the orientation of policy happened in the early 1980s, whenstructural adjustment programmes (SAP) were introduced by the World
Bank/IMF to many developing countries which displayed weak macroeconomic performance. A guiding principle of SAP was minimizing the role ofthe public sector so as to encourage the free and active engagement in business activities by the private sector. Social services like education wereseriously hurt by this policy, because the number of government officials,
including teachers, was reduced and parents were expected to share thecost of schooling their children. The education sector as a whole received
far less attention than it had during the earlier period, although it did notaffect as badly people who could afford the cost of schooling and thus havebetter access to education higher than primary. Criticism echoed from avariety of directions asserting that social disparities had widened becauseof the SAP. In many African countries, including Kenya and Tanzania, primary enrolment dropped after peaking at the beginning of the 1980s. A
common explanation for this widespread phenomenon of decreasing enrolment rates suggested that it was rooted in Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic
recession and the reduction of governmental budgets administered as aresult of it. However, the World Bank admits that in 18 of the African countries that adopted SAPs, various macroeconomic indicators took a turn for
the worse (World Bank, 1993), which implies that the SAPs were at least a23

part of causes of the economic slump in this region, rather than the bad
economy hampered SAPs and educational provision.
Widening poverty and growing social disparity were lasting ramifications of
the SAPs, and by such the international aid community was presented with
an open invitation for self-reflection; the pendulum swung here again
towards the alleviation of poverty. In the education sector, primary education made it back to the limelight once more. This is how EFA goals
emerged within the overall framework of the poverty reduction paradigm.
EFA goals then, when put in an historical context, are one part of an
extended paradigm shift, and in discussions on the topic echoes with thepast, theory of Basic Human Needs often abound.

3.2

Educational development in Ethiopia, Kenya, andTanzania since the 1960s

This section will review the history of educational development in eachcountry. The purpose herein is to see how local and external factors both
worked in the process of policy-making and how different mixes of thesefactors led to different outlooks on education systems. The author will use
gross enrolment in primary education as a yardstick for overall trends.
Indicators for enrolment and the state of school facilities quite accuratelyreflect how the government has committed itself to education since theseareas show change soon after policy decisions are made, in contrast to thelag in such evident change when measuring quality, efficiency, and student
performance. It is well known that gross enrolment rates tend to drop
almost immediately where the government has not continued investing its
energy and resources in the educational sub-sector. Therefore, when grossenrolment shows a downward trend, one may assume that the government
directed its emphasis to an educational sub-sector other than primary—such as secondary, tertiary, technical & vocational, or adult literacy—or to
altogether different public sectors—such as industry, agriculture, or health,among others. In other words, observing gross enrolment rates can allow
one to check whether priority changes in documented policy have brought
about changes in practice. Using primary enrolment as a yardstick to gauge
24Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

such changes also serves an additional purpose—allowing UPE’s current
global agenda to be located within its greater historical context. If increases in enrolment coincide with points where UPE policies were introduced,
one may assume that the recent impact of UPE/EFA policy was significant.
However, if enrolment trends show patterns not easily distinguishable, thenthere should be other factors, either local or external, which have affected
policy-making.

Kenya
In Kenya under British rule, the education system was segregated along
racial lines and educational opportunities for Africans at governmental andgovernment-aided schools were limited. At the time of independence in
1963, the net enrolment rate of Africans was 34.7 percent, compared to 77.5
percent, 74.6 percent, and 35.8 percent for Asian, European, and Arabschool-aged populations respectively (Otiende et al., 1992, 75). Africans
were resentful of being subject to such discrimination, especially since education was seen as a channel to white collar jobs with cash income. It wasin this environment that the independent school movement emerged in theearly 20th century from among the Kikuyu people. Independent schools
mushroomed and became a major channel of education for the rural
African population. Traditionally, they were fully funded by contributions
from the masses and, as such, enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, although
the quality of education was generally low.
Reconstructing the education system for an independent Kenya consistedof merging the racially segregated school systems into a singular non-segregated one, but the rural masses, as before, largely depended on the former
independent schools. Because of this, the Kenyan education system faced
the peculiar difficulty of having to balance a tradition of local autonomy
with a demand for central control over school administration and standardization. At the same time, the tradition of independent schools succeededin allowing local educational authorities to operate with less financial
dependence on the central government. Local communities were ready toshare the cost in one way or another. Centralization of the system, as
desired by Kenya’s independent government, has meant an increase in25

financial burdens the government must bear (Cowan, 1970).
Also, as the history of independent schools shows, public awareness of theeconomic and social value of education was high. Constant pressure formore and better education obliged the government to increase its commitment to education, especially at the lower rungs of the system. In theircampaign for the 1963 election, the Kenya African National Union (KANU)
promised to bring free universal primary education making this issue a hot
topic of debate between KANU and Kenya People’s Union (KPU), the opposition party. Financially, the gap between what was available and what wasneeded made the actualization of free universal primary education (fUPE)
seem quite unrealistic. Also, in Kenya, because teachers’ unions stood as astrong pressure group, it was not possible to fire teachers or reduce theirsalaries, and a majority of the recurrent budget was spent on teachers’salaries.2) Education’s share in total government expenditure increased
from 14.5 percent in 1969/70 to 23.5 percent in 1987/88, out of which, theshare of development budget had not increased and consistently stayed ataround 4-6 percent. On the other hand, the share of the recurrent budget
increased from 17.7 percent to 33.04 percent over the same time (Otiende
et al., 1992, 127). Regardless of financial difficulty, politically Kenya did nothave the option of withdrawing from its promise of fUPE. After much hesitation, the Kenyan government abolished primary school fees in 1974, andthis policy lasted until a cost-sharing policy was introduced under the SAP
in the early 1980s.3)
Owing to the government’s strong will to achieve UPE in conjunction withthe abolition of school fees, the gross primary enrolment rate reached ashigh as 120 percent in 1980, but from then on, it embarked on a long downward trend until 2000. One major cause of this sudden decrease is the
adoption of the SAP. Until 1980, educational trends in Kenya showed thatthe country developed with little external influence. Rather, local politicalfactors governed matters to a large extent. The acceptance of the WorldBank’s structural adjustment loan opened the way to donor funding for
Kenya. Between the 1980 and 1988, the amount of net ODA received fromall donors more than doubled from US $397 million to US $836 million
26

Chapter 1

Figure 1-3

Overview and Synthesis

Trends of gross enrolment rates in Kenya, 1970–2002

%
140
120
Primary Total
100
Primary Male
80

Primary Female

60

Secondary Total

40

Secondary Male

20

Secondary Female

0
200
2

200

4
199
6
199
8

199

8
199
0
199
2

198

2
198
4
198
6

198

6
197
8
198
0

197

197

0
197
2
197
4

0

Note: Data on primary education – World Bank (2001) and Ministry of Education, Science andTechnology, cited in Bedi et al. (2002)
Data on secondary education – World Bank (2001) and Ministry of Education, cited in Legovini(2002)(World Bank, 2001, 293).4) Up until this time, the Kenyan education system
was mostly financed by local sources, regardless of difficulties they may
have had in securing funds. However, by the time EFA goals were broughtin during the 1990s, the system had become far more aid-dependent than
before. The same holds true for Tanzania and Ethiopia to an even greater
extent (see Table 1-1 for aid dependency in the 2000s).

Tanzania
Tanzania achieved its independence from the British in 1961. Similar to
Kenya, Tanzania’s racially segregated education system, developed during
the colonial period, was unified soon after national independence. Tanzania’s approach to development was inward-looking, based on the unique
ideas promoted by their first president Nyerere, who adapted socialism to
the African traditional philosophy of Ujamaa. This approach towards
national development was quite different from Kenya, which had opened
itself to the market economy, or Ethiopia with its imperial regime. The government nationalized private enterprises and the salary levels of modern
sector employees were adjusted in accordance with rural incomes of the27peasantry. The communal production mechanism of Ujamaa villages wasdeveloped so as to replace individual farming. In doing so, Ujamaa pushed
for communal solidarity and liberation from inequalities brought by thecolonists.
The philosophy of Ujamaa required social transformation along with areorientation of the people’s consciousness. Education was expected toplay a major role in this process and the educational philosophy in alignment with Ujamaa was called ‘Education for Self-Reliance.’ To spread theideas of Ujamaa, the government devoted much of its energy andresources to enhancing various modes of education from formal to non-formal, for all populations including school-aged children and adults. But thearea for which President Nyerere was best known in the world was adultnon-formal education. The fact that Nyerere was awarded a UNESCO
international award for his contribution to education tells us much about
the widely-accepted importance of his work, not only in Tanzania, but also
across the globe (Mulenga, 2001). Education for Self-Reliance (ESR) was aclear break from the British policy of manpower development, which
focused mostly on the middle- and high-levels of education. Under the ESR
philosophy, teaching and learning materials were made relevant to village
life, and both the school and students together were expected to take partin production and social activities of the village.
By far, the larger share of the Tanzanian government’s recurrent revenues
was generated through taxation, which accounted for 82-88 percent of its
total revenues during 1961-1980. Development expenditures were partly
financed by foreign assistance, but this share was inconsistent and fluctuated anywhere between 90 percent and 24 percent throughout the 1960s, ultimately rising again to 75 percent in 1978. An overall budgetary deficit did
exist from the early 1970s, and this had doubled by the 1980s. Of social
services, education always consumed a greater portion due to manpower
needs and its prioritization by the government. The share of educational
expenditure measured against GDP shows an increase from 2.7 percent to
5.7 percent during 1962/63–1975/76, which was largely retained in 1980/81
at 5.3 percent, although as a proportion of total government expenditure it28

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

was in decline (Buchert, 1994, 98-107).
Just as in Kenya, the government’s ability to maintain political stability wascontingent on its will to provide educational opportunities, a major meansof satisfying public demand. Therefore, even though its budgetary deficit
was extremely indicative of its limited capacity to expand education, politically, the government had no choice but to keep reaffirming its commitment to do so.
According to ESR policy, adult illiteracy was to be eliminated by 1975 andUPE was to be achieved by 1977. As far as education for the masses wasconcerned, there was a steep increase in primary school enrolment frombelow 40 percent up to nearly 100 percent between 1970 and 1980. The provision of adult education courses succeeded in reducing the number of illiterates in the general population from 90 percent to 20 percent between theyears 1962-1981 (Buchert, 1994, 112).
As was the case with Kenya, in Tanzania the introduction of the SAP in 1982
caused a drop in primary enrolment. The basic concern of education policy
was redirected to academic quality in post-primary education, from its previous focus on access, equity, and curricular relevance at the primary level.
In both Kenya and Tanzania, the dominant vernacular is Kiswahili. During
the Education for Self-Reliance period, Kiswahili was used as the languageof instruction throughout Tanzania, unlike the educational system of Kenya
which utilized English from the upper-primary level. However, new education policy under the SAP recognized English as the official language of
instruction at the post-primary level. This case is evidence of how curriculathat were “Africanized,” or adapted to local needs, just prior to the SAP
were returned to a more abstract and universal academic format. Hereagain, the SAP and its accompanying increases in external funding had astandardizing effect on education policy, bringing it in line with the global
consensus, whereby Tanzania’s own development of unique educational
policies became less likely in this shifting environment.

29

Figure 1-4

Trends of gross enrolment rates in Tanzania, 1970–2000

%
120
100
Primary

80

Lower secondary

60
40
20
0
1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

Note: Mbelle and Katabaro (2003).

Ethiopia
In the 1960s, reflecting the atmosphere of a new Africa eager to develop
skilled manpower for rapid economic development, Ethiopian education
policy gave precedence to establishing technical training schools while
expanding academic education. This policy declared, for the first time in
Ethiopia’s history, universal primary education to be a long-range objective.
Between 1961 and 1971, the government expanded the public school system more than fourfold. Even with this increase, however, enrolment atprimary and secondary schools was marginal with around 600,000 pupils in
only 1,300 schools in 1971 (Library of Congress, 2006) compared to
12,309,375 enrolled in 17,219 schools for grade 1–10 (Primary up to the second year of secondary) in 2004/05 (Ministry of Education, 2005a). In the
period between the overthrow of the imperial government in 1974 and therise of the military government in 1977, enrolment growth had stagnated.
However, the setback proved to be only temporary and enrolment at all levels grew by 20 percent the following year (World Bank, 2004, 22)(see Figure
1-5).

30

Chapter 1

Figure 1-5

Overview and Synthesis

Trends of gross enrolment in Ethiopia, 1967–2002(No. of enrolment)
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000

Imperial
regime(1947–74)

Military
government(1977–91)

New
government(1994–)

7,000,000

Primary(Grade 1–8)

6,000,000
5,000,000

Secondary(Grade 9–12)

4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
01967 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003
–68 –71 –76 –81 –86 –91 –96 –01 –02 –03 –04
Note: reproduced from World Bank 2004:22

Consistently throughout Ethiopia’s history of educational development,each government administration has involved the communities in school
construction. During its rule, the military regime proactively utilized community resources as per its policy and spawned an increase in the numberof primary schools, from 3,196 in 1974/75 to 7,900 in 1985/86 (Library ofCongress, 2006). Although the earlier governments succeeded in making
noteworthy improvements in primary and secondary education in its own
right, when the current government took office in 1994, prospects for universal education in the near future did not seem bright. In that first year,
following continuous efforts to expand education, the gross enrolment was
only a meagre 34 percent.
As is evidenced by the enrolment trends shown in Figure 1-5, efforts toward
universal primary education were strengthened with the entry of each new
government. This trend implies the political significance of education within government cunning to gain public confidence and establish the legitimacy of its rule. The installation of social outreach services, such as healthposts and schools, is highly visible at the grassroots level as a form of government-provided benefits. Therefore, not only in Ethiopia but also inmany African countries, it is common practice for contending or newly31

incepted factions to promise the expansion of education in their pursuit ofpolitical power. In addition, withdrawal of the regime’s word, once committed and spread to the villages, becomes difficult due to fears that public
expectations will be upset and the basis of its rule would be weakened
thereby. One case in point would be the Ethiopian general election campaign in May 2005. Both the ruling (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary
Democratic Front) and opposition (Coalition for Unity and Democracy)
parties promised stronger commitment to education and health services intheir manifestos - promises, which were propagated widely via mass-media
and personal contacts.
Such examples show that politicians often use education as a means to
induce the general public to support the legitimacy of their rule, as was also
the case in Kenya. The rationale that education is a right that every child isguaranteed is often brandished in political debates together with utilitarianjustification naming it as a form of investment in national development.
However, in many cases, politicians’ commitment to education, a sector
which requires a large portion of the limited national budget, is motivatedmore by political circumstance than idealistic convictions to the guaranteeof human rights.
In relation to the politics of education, the author would also like to mention the National Literacy Campaign implemented by the military regime
between 1975 and 1990. It was introduced along with a massive amalgamate of social mobilization programmes. While condemning social injustices perpetrated by the imperial regime, the military government pledged
to redistribute property and empower the rural masses. It began with thedeliverance of more than 60,000 students and teachers all over the country
for two-year terms of service. According to government sources, about 1.5
million people eventually worked in the campaign, including students, civil
servants, teachers, military personnel, housewives, and members of religious groups. According to the government figures, the literacy rate grewfrom not even 10 percent during the imperial regime to about 63 percent in1984. Other sources, however, estimated the latter figure at around 37 percent. Whichever the case, the skyrocketing growth in adult literacy
32Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

achieved during the literacy campaign was not sustained for long. According to UNESCO data, the adult literacy rate in Ethiopia was 28.6 percent in1990 and 39.1 percent in 2000 (UNESCO, 2005). Ethiopia’s experience relating to this powerful, yet ultimately unsustainable, mass literacy campaign
has spurred scepticism among some Ethiopian intellectuals of the current
government’s achievements in increasing enrolment at primary and secondary schools.
However, educational development in Ethiopia has been a little moreuncustomary in nature, when compared to Kenya and Tanzania, sincedomestic political factors have clearly delivered greater influence overprogress than paradigm shifts in the international community have. Introduction of the SAP did not even stir any great changes in gross enrolment
rates as it had in Kenya and Tanzania. Ethiopia was also less affected byeconomic factors. Despite the fact that it is heavily aid dependent and serious gaps exist between available financial resources and the estimatedamounts necessary for realization of UPE, somehow Ethiopia continues toadvance steadily forward in achieving higher enrolment year by year. As
the author has demonstrated elsewhere (Yamada, 2007), the government isheavily dependant on communities and parents for financial support andthe tradition of one-party autocracy has solidified a structure reinforcing
the obedience of the masses by the flow of socio-political pressure from the
top down.

3.3

Policy framework

As reviewed earlier, the dominant discourse on aid modalities from the
1990s has been based on the philosophy of encouraging developing countries to recognize their own subjective commitments (‘ownership’) in policy-making, alongside which donors may act as ‘partners’ but do not interfere excessively. Within such a structure, dialoguing on policy receives
more and more emphasis. The logic behind these new modalities, such as
budget support, is that once donors and the government have spent enoughtime discussing matters, and both parties find the finalized policy satisfactory, then will the donors trust governments with implementation of these33policies enough to release the agreed supporting funds. The aim is to eliminate donors’ past practices of picking up parochial areas of interest and single-handedly implementing projects without making the proper local alignments to government structure and administrative procedures. At thenational level, policy framework within the newer system of ‘partnership’ isbased on the Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PRSP). Then, at the sectoral level, a sector-wide program (SWAP) based on the sector development
plan is developed in partnership with donors and other stakeholders (e.g.
NGOs).
The coordination arrangement and relationships among ‘partners’ under
sector programmes change quickly and the situation of the year before canbe very different from what one would observe now. In this paper, thedescriptions of sectoral policy environment in three countries provided
below are based on the information updated between July and September
2006.

Kenya
In 2005, the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(MOEST) started the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (KESSP),
developed in collaboration with donors. Even though the shift toward
SWAP has proceeded at a slower pace than in Tanzania and Ethiopia, education has been given top priority in Kenya, too. The Free Primary Education program, which was enacted in January 2003, preceded KESSP as atransitional arrangement.
In Kenya, where the gross enrolment consistently hovered at around 90 percent from the early 1990s and has exceeded 100 percent over the last couple of years, many are concerned with reaching populations that needfocused assistance such as those that reside in urban slums, Arid and Semi
Arid Lands (ASAL) and pockets of poverty, in order to better enable theirschooling and thereby achieve EFA goals. The need to support education
for women and girls has also been clearly identified in order to achieve gender parity.

34

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

23 sub-programmes are kept under KESSP, although only a few of them
have been brought to functioning order as of August 2006. Active programmes include teachers’ in-service training (INSET) and access improvement for ASAL and urban slums. Four donors—CIDA, the World Bank,
UNICEF, and the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID)—
have signed a joint financial agreement for the INSET programme and alsoestablished a pooled fund. The INSET programme brings together theexperiences of different donors in operating teacher in-service training. In
doing so, the programme contributes to harmonizing INSET activities funded by different donors so as to reduce duplication and conflict.
World Bank and the DfID are leading other donors in the development of
the SWAP in Kenya’s education sector. Because of corruption, donors havegenerally been reluctant to commit to general budget support in Kenya, andeven the WB and the DfID—who are fundamentally oriented towards disbursing budget support—do not expect a fast transition. Therefore, mostforeign assistance in Kenya’s education sector comes in the form of projects. More than 90 percent of MOEST’s development budget in 2002
(approx. 8500,000 Ksh) was assistance in the form of projects. Donors
active in the education sector include the World Bank, World Food Programme (WFP), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), UNICEF, DfID,
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), EC, Belgium, African
Development Bank (AfDB), SIDA, CIDA, Italy, and Deutsche Gesellschaft
fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ: German technical cooperation
agency). JICA has a successful secondary-level in-service teacher training
project (SMASSE: Strengthening Math and Science in Secondary Education) in Kenya, and a large presence in the region. It has been co-chairing adonor meeting together with the DfID.

Tanzania
The second phase of the Primary Education Development Program (PEDP
II, 2001-2006) is about to reach its conclusion in Tanzania. This programme
is a sub-sectoral SWAP, which has followed a sub-sector five-year development plan. Its goals are to improve access to, and the quality of, primary35

education as well as to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Education
and Culture (MOEC) to plan, manage, and provide educational services.
Much like a showcase of donors’ newest schemes, Tanzania adopted a variety of public sector reforms and modalities introduced by the assistingorganizations. The Tanzanian government took rather seriously the causeof SWAP-approach, which was to minimize time and administrative burdens on assisted parties by harmonizing the funding procedures of PEDP II
donors. Groups of donors working in the field of education also invested a
lot of time and energy into the approach with the hope of opening paths toproviding better aid. At the height of this zeal towards new modalities, theterm ‘donor coordination’ was almost synonymous with the harmonizationof funding procedures. It was not just a matter of collaborative attitude, butmore importantly, it demanded the participating donors to unify the rules of
disbursement, monitoring & evaluation, and so on. Six donors signed theMemorandum of Agreement with the Tanzanian government so as to pool
donor funds in to one common bank account erected to serve the agreed
objective of teacher education. Although the funding was specified to be
used for teacher education, the overall scheme was considered as an exercise towards harmonizing the different regulations and funding modalities
utilized by each donor. Formal parties who participated in this pooled fundwere: the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Netherlands, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Finland, and Belgium. The DfID’s position is that by providing direct budget support to the
Ministry of Finance, it supports PRSP priority areas including basic education remotely. The rather acute attempts of some donors and the Tanzanian
government to shift aid from coming in the form of projects to that of budget support have at times resulted in problems with foreign assistance
whose procedures are judged non-harmonious. Similarly, organizations
that provide assistance in the form of stand-alone projects or thematic initiatives (e.g., the United Nations Children’s Fund’s, or UNICEF’s, global initiative for girls’ education) tended to be viewed as uncooperative. Also,
donors who joined the pooled fund found that actually harmonizing funding
procedures was more difficult than anticipated and it was not long before
36Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

complications compounded because some donors were unable to release
funds due to certain conditions not met by the government (e.g. lacking or
inappropriate information included in reports; governmental failure to complete activities within their scheduled timeframe). In the end, at least during the 5-years of PEDP-II, the pooled funding system seemed not have succeeded to reduce time and energy for interaction (transaction cost) and,rather, both increased such costs and exhausted stakeholders in theprocess. As a result, donors have become far less zealous to continue committing to the primary education sub-sector; it is still unclear how many willremain involved after the termination of PEDP-II and how the government
will attempt to financially sustain the already expanded primary education
system.
Another sub-sector programme—the Secondary Education Development
Program (SEDP)—began in 2004. This programme has also been led by theWorld Bank and the DfID. Other donors have not been keen to follow suitat any point since, and the government itself has not placed much priority
on secondary education as far as resource allocation and implementation
are concerned. Therefore, nearly two years from its inception, SEDP has
still not shown much progress in practice.

Ethiopia
In contrast to Tanzania’s sub-sector programmes (PEDP and SEDP),
Ethiopia’s Education Sector Development Program (ESDP) has covered thewhole education sector. The first phase of this programme began in 1997,
before Tanzania’s border conflict with Eritrea (1998-2000). However, during
the conflict, many donors withdrew their assistance. In 2002, as thesedonors came back, ESDP was re-launched. The Ethiopian government andits officials are notorious for their tenaciousness in negotiations. In a way,
their tough manner has been interpreted as a sign of the Ethiopian government’s strong sense of ‘ownership’ over its policy making. However, in theinformal conversations with the author in Ethiopia, donor staff often complained about government officials’ stubbornness and unwillingness to listen to recommendations. The World Bank’s review of the ESDP also reports
cases of difficulty in negotiations (World Bank, 2001).
37

Ethiopia’s ESDP emphasizes technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and tertiary education, which is in marked contrast to Tanzania,
whose main sub-sector programme (PEDP) focuses exclusively on basic
education. Although the international aid community has set the benchmark for the allocation of public funds to the primary sub-sector, as suggested for qualifying for FTI assistance, at 67 percent of the total educationbudget, in Ethiopia the percentage of resources allocated to primary education has been in decline since the beginning of the ESDP. (However, theactual monetary amount of budget resources disbursed to the primary subsector has been increasing—the proportional decline is the result of evengreater funding increases to the education sector as a whole). Generally,
investments in TVET are costly, and it is difficult for the public educational
programmes to catch up with changes in the labour market. Furthermore, it
is unclear whether Ethiopia’s focus on TVET and tertiary education is factually based on analysis confirming the absorptive capacity of the labour market. This is one of the reasons behind the reluctance displayed by the WorldBank and some other donors in supporting TVET policy. As a matter of fact,
this question also underlies the arduous nature of negotiations between the
Ethiopian government and its donors.
Ethiopia’s ESDP accepts foreign assistance through three channels. The
first channel is the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development(MOFED), which accepts both earmarked and non-earmarked funds. The
second channel is through the line ministries (including the Ministry of
Education). Assistance through this channel does not go through the budgeting process of the MOFED. The third category is assistance in the form ofprojects whose funds are appropriated as part of the government’s development budget but which are handled by independent project implementation
bodies. In addition to assistance through these official channels, there areprojects run by NGOs whose budgets are not included in the government
budget (thus termed as ‘off-budget projects’). According to one source at
the Oromia Regional Education Bureau, aside from bilateral and multilateral donors, more than 60 NGOs run independent projects in the region outside of any governmental structure (Interview in September 2004). In
December 2004, the Ethiopian government (MOFED and MOE) signed
38

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

together with a group of donors (the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, SIDA,
Finland, and the DfID) a memorandum of understanding concerning apooled fund for teacher education. However, this pooled fund had not yet
been operationalized by July 2006. Nevertheless, such pooled funds, when
they function, are an example of support through the first channel.

4

Events in the Process of Adopting EFA Goals— A Synthesis of Findings from the Three Country
StudisesIn the above sections, the author has shown that global mechanisms suchas international conferences and foreign assistance have a clear standardizing effect on education policies as a result of imbalances in financial, diplomatic, and/or political power between donors and the governments ofdeveloping countries. Also, analyses of power negotiations held among key
donor organizations in the international assistance community—such as
UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank—revealed that the increasing
incorporation of EFA goals into policy frameworks shared globally over thelast decade or so was not purely for the cause of education. Furthermore,
the heavy focus unitarily given to universal primary education and, to alesser extent, the reduction of gender disparity is also explained by analysisof trends in the global discourse. Although there are six EFA goals, only
the two goals given above were integrated into the Millennium Development Goals, partly because they comprised a minimum common groundbetween the mandates, areas of interest, and experiences held by influential donors. Also, the World Bank, with its strong financial base, has played
an influential role in the process of narrowing the focus of the global agenda to the expansion of school-based education, a field more readily measured statistically than other educational sub-sectors. These global factors
affect developing countries whose governments have signed the EFA Declaration and are thereby committed to its achievement. Terms regarding policy framework and operational prioritization, all negotiated in the global
arena, are applied indiscriminately to each of these countries who, by signing declarations on not only EFA but also rights of the child, basic human39needs, and poverty reduction, among others, are unquestionably bound bynormative pressures to fulfil their responsibility in guaranteeing education
to the public as both a human right and a means to reduce poverty. And
now, there is another global factor which affects the decision-making
process set into motion when adopting internationally-agreed EFA goals
into domestic contexts. Over the last few years donors have brought a setof aid modalities to developing countries which place more emphasis on
the donors’ participation in sectoral policy-making, with the aim of avoiding
the implementation of separate projects neither coordinated among eachother nor aligned to government policy. The idea is to increase efficiency inand the effectiveness of aid provided by donors. But mechanisms introduced to ensure the participation of donors and other stakeholders in decision making are used by some to influence the government to incorporate
their areas of interest into policy. The normative forces of international
declarations, the impact of new aid modalities and the political and economic powers of external actors like donors are all closely bound to eachother and cumulatively, in effect, become a strong external force capable ofstandardizing education policies in different countries to specific areas prioritized in MDG/EFA paradigms. These external factors have worked, to alarge extent, to similar ends in the three countries studied.
At the same time, each country has its own unique educational system andhistory. Each has also developed relationships with donors and otherstakeholders in a different way. Out of consideration for these fundamental
truths, the author first reviewed the financial and statistical data relating tothese countries in order to detect patterns in the allocation of educational
resources, financial relations with donors, and the degree to which educational services reach their beneficiaries. Kenya’s consistently low figures
for aid dependence seem to explain its unique pattern of educational
financing, where a considerably large proportion of resources are allocatedto both secondary and technical/vocational education. In comparison to
Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia are highly aid dependent. 23 percent ofEthiopia’s GNI and 16.7 percent of Tanzania’s for the year 2004 consisted offoreign assistance. In terms of the actual dollar amount of aid inflow, Tanzania exceeds Ethiopia by 150 percent to 170 percent (Table 1-1). Keeping
40Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

pace with the increase in aid dependence, resource allocations to the education sector have also increased in both countries (Table 1-2). Tanzania
allots about 60 percent of its educational funds to the primary sub-sector,
whereas Ethiopia shows a clear interest in reducing resources for primaryeducation and increasing those for tertiary education. Given their aid
dependence, both countries are potential disadvantaged when negotiatingwith donors. But most likely owing to the Ethiopian government’s tenacious manner in pushing forward its own priorities in policy, it has managed to direct resource allocation towards its preferred area—tertiary andtechnical/vocational. Compared to that, Tanzania, not unlike a showcase ofdonors’ new approaches, has constantly given high priority to the primarysub-sector just as the donor community has emphasized to the greatest
degree. As such, the level of a country’s aid dependence discernibly stands
as one explanatory factor behind its choices in policy prioritization.
An historical review of education policies demonstrates that in Ethiopia,
Kenya, and Tanzania, both the policies and their guiding philosophies wereunique and rooted in local needs and contexts in the times before structuraladjustment, which had either positive or negative consequences. Kenya
had a long tradition of independent schools voluntarily established by communities and key to widening the basis of primary education. Independent
schools generally provided low quality education and teachers tended to be
sub-standard. The public’s resoluteness in demanding greater access tohigher quality education in addition to strong pressure from teachers’
unions left the government in a constant state of budgetary deficit. However, while acknowledging that such difficulties and financial constraints had
their own impact, one may still argue that the field of primary education
was covered quite well in Kenya and grew at a good pace until 1980. Prior
to the 1970s, Kenya’s education system was financed primarily by domestically generated funds. Although Kenya is the least aid-dependent of thethree, the amount of its aid inflow more than doubled during the 1980s,
which ultimately resulted in a magnification of external influence. Tanzania’s first president Nyerere is internationally known for his educational
philosophy ‘Education for Self-Reliance.’ Under his African socialism, Ujamaa, Nyerere expected education to play a significant role in spreading the41

idea of returning to the traditional African value of communal living, and,with that in mind, he attempted to adapt the education system to village
life. The lower rungs of the educational structure, especially the primary
and adult literacy levels, were given special emphasis in his policy of egalitarianism and localization. Just as with Ethiopia and Kenya, populardemand for education was constantly high. Therefore, Nyerere’s ESR was
advanced by great demand and itself directly led to dramatic improvementsin access to education. Between 1975 and 1980, the gross primary enrolment rate doubled and reached 100 percent, higher than it ever was in the
1990s. Ethiopia, on the other hand, hosted the first international education
conference attended by representatives from numerous African states in
1961—the Addis Ababa Conference. Not only did it host the conference,but the imperial government of Ethiopia committed itself resolutely to education. Following the conference, Ethiopia underwent a few changes ingovernmental regimes, but the political will to the expand education system
has always been there, even if only sporadically.
History tells us that, even though the government’s commitment may havefluctuated, the fundamental will to promote education had remained thesame. In all of the countries studied, matters pertaining to educational
expansion were often political in nature given the consistency of high public demand. Governments, whether or not it was financially feasible,
repeatedly affirmed their commitment to primary education often as a tool
for maintaining political stability. The down side, however, was the difficulty faced when attempting to allocate governmental resources in a more balanced way, because, as in Kenya’s case, primary education comprised sucha large portion. Anyhow, the expansion of education prior to the 1980s waslargely driven by domestic factors meaning that each country necessarily
discovered its own unique approach. However, structural adjustment in the
1980s heralded the beginning of a new era in which donors more consciously coordinated aid under one singular framework and applied similar prescriptions to different countries. Systematic and wide-spread standardization, coupled with massive amounts of financial assistance, started during
this time, and it levelled the ground for the next PRSP-era. At the sametime, no government would be able to adopt and operationalize EFAs with42

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

in domestic policy unless they made sense locally. The process of introducing EFA policies is, therefore, an act of domesticating newly introduced
concepts in accordance with national histories, diverse social conditions,and the organizational cultures of the Ministry of Education and otherstakeholders. What is not well known is the way in which policy-makers
strike a balance between exogenous and endogenous factors, or how theyin actuality perceive this process.
The focus of this section then is to analyse what happens when local educational systems meet with policies developed at the confluence of local andglobal forces, the latter directs education policy to EFA goals and especially to universal primary education and gender parity. The analysis herein is
predominantly based on interview data taken from the three case countries.
At the time of the interviews (from the middle of 2005 to early 2006), eachof the three countries was in the midst of different political situations,
thereby limiting the scope and exact content of data that the teams wereable to collect through interviews. In Ethiopia, the May 2005 national elections for parliamentary representatives complicated research. The leading
party, intending to maintain its authoritarian control, both overtly andcovertly suppressed the opposition parties. Although the election itself wasconcluded without any apparent major turmoil, many political leaders of
opposition parties were placed in jail and numerous complaints of the leading party manipulating votes were heard. Violent uprisings of opposition
supporters in Addis Ababa and other large cities even took place in November, half a year after the election. Within this sensitive political environment, the government of Ethiopia became very sceptical of research on
issues relating to what the government is doing. Moreover, mistrust haslong existed between the government and academia. For these reasons, it
was extremely difficult to secure interviews with government officials, and,additionally, the unwillingness of government officials to take part tended
to negatively impact the openness and general candid nature of participating respondents, thereby broadly affecting the kind of information the team
could acquire. In Tanzania, as well, an election had taken place andresearch was interrupted briefly as a result. Also, as in Ethiopia, some key
officials had been transferred to other positions. At the beginning of 2006,43

a conflict arose between a prime advocacy NGO called Hakielim and thegovernment. Hakielim publicized a critical analysis relating to the government’s primary education program (PEDP) and the government reacted byordering school principals to not allow the use of textbooks produced by
Hakielim. Government officials also decided to exclude Hakielim and therepresentative of an NGO coalition, TENMET, from appearing at the annual
sector review conference, which is the largest forum attended by donors,
government officials, NGOs, and other stakeholders. University academics
openly voiced disapproval of the government’s action for non-democratically negating Hakielim’s freedom of expression, and this disagreement itself
led to a rift in relations between the government and academics. This
series of events made it suddenly difficult for the team to interview officials. However, the strong personal network researchers have maintainedwith education officials and donor staff helped to overcome this situation.
The Kenyan team, on the other hand, had very good connections with
NGOs, and Kenya itself has been a very interesting case for the fact that
NGO staff feel that they can influence, and have influenced, the government’s making of educational policy. In deep contrast to this, many respondents accused the Ethiopian government of failing to turn their ear to thevoices of academics and NGOs. According to interviews with some university professors, the mutual mistrust palpably existent between the government and universities in Ethiopia developed historically over time. Universities had always vocally criticized the authoritarian governments andwere, more often than not, at the very centre of political agitation. The governments, as a result, became suspicious of anything coming from the universities or other non-governmental bodies. Tanzania is also, perhaps
because of its history of rule by a single party socialist regime similar to
Ethiopia, less accustomed than Kenya to the participation of civil society inpolicy process. Kenya itself was long governed under the authoritarianleadership of former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi. But its
economy was always open capitalism. Our current study cannot provide
concrete evidence attesting to whether historical, political, and economic
systems have had any decisive influence on the government’s openness todomestic stakeholders. Nevertheless, findings from Kenya do provide
insight into NGO perspectives on educational policy processes, so often
44Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

dominated by government administrations and donors in many other countries. NGO perspectives follow their specializations within the field of education, such as those concerning refugees, girls, and adult literacy to namea few, and give insight into a diversity of issues which EFA goals touchupon. The fact that a considerable number of NGO interviewees believedthat they have succeeded in positively influencing government policy israther impressive, as it would indicate that the government has successfully
adapted decision-making mechanisms for democratic ‘partnerships’ to its
functional structure. The fact that so diverse educational issues wereraised by interviewees may be partly attributed to the common understanding that since Kenya has nearly completed outreach to school-aged children
in ordinary settings, the issue now is how to reach the disadvantaged (i.e.
the last 5 percent of the population)—including residents of remote areas
and urban slums, refugees, and the disabled, among others—and input
regarding the way to approach diverse groups of population is far more crucial than when the government could simply focus on providing facilities
and teachers.
The whole research group—three country teams and the author, who coordinated this comparative study—met twice before finalizing this paper: thefirst time in June 2005 in Dar es Salaam, and then in Nairobi in July 2006.
The main purpose of the Dar es Salaam workshop was to develop a single
common research framework before beginning with the main body ofresearch, namely, interviews with key government officials, academics, andstaff at donor and civil society organizations. On this occasion, all participants agreed on use of the following research questions to similarly guideresearch undertaken by the three country teams.
(1) How have actors involved in policy-making in each of the countries,
such as politicians, officials at MOE and other ministries, NGOs, anddonor staff, conceptualized “Education for All”?
(2) Which parties are more conversant of EFA goals and what makes themso?

45

(3) Which EFA goals are official areas of focus? In what sense are theyclose to or different from what individual respondents perceive “Education for All” to be?
(4) How have external factors influenced the historical development ofconcepts of “Education for All” in each country?
(5) What has actually happened in the process of adopting EFA goals into
educational policies of respective countries?
This research holds an interest in reconstructing what EFA goals meanfrom a local perspective and thereby illustrate what has happened or is currently taking place as EFA goals are built into national education policy. In
other words, this study looks at the influence of human agencies—both
individual and group interests—on domestic policy process and structure
at the juncture where the historical development of educational systems,
domestic and international politics, culture, and institutional power relations all intersect. National discourse on EFA has not involved Ministry of
Education officials and other stakeholders evenly. Certain groups of people have become more conversant regarding EFA goals than others. Also,
depending on their field of work or position, some persons have acquired
deeper knowledge of a few specific EFA goals while knowing little aboutothers. The first three research questions are, therefore, meant to determine individual interpretations of what EFA is about and how these interpretations may match or stray from the government’s official position. The
remaining two questions were designed for uncovering more information
on institutionalized structural factors affecting policy process. Based onthese five research questions, the researchers also developed a single interview guide which was again used commonly in all three countries (seeAppendix I). The Dar es Salaam workshop in 2005 was important for thewhole team as it allowed the establishment of a consensus on fundamentals
for inter-national comparison and shared interests to be pursued throughresearch. The whole team gathered again in Nairobi in 2006, following
completion of all interviews, as well as their subsequent transcription andanalysis. Three country papers and one synthesis paper were shared
46

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

among all members, upon which comments were exchanged for improvement.
The analysis presented below is based on the transcribed interviews from
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. It makes use of the same data found in
three country papers following this chapter, but its content derives from an
independent analysis specifically directed at finding overarching issues
linked internationally regardless of the differences in local context. The
reader may therefore find it interesting to compare the general analysis
found in this chapter of factors affecting EFA adoption with the detailed
analysis of emerging issues as found in each country paper. Specific common issues emergent from interview analyses, which the author will discuss, are: (1) interviewees’ conceptualization of Education for All and its
relation to official areas of focus; (2) the issue of operationalizing policies
negotiated at high-levels in the central ministry; and (3) issues related to‘partnership’ whereby each stakeholder tries to influence the policy-making
processes and make sure their mandates are mainstreamed.

4.1

Conceptualization of Education for All andits relation to official focus areas

The first issue here, interviewees’ grasp on the concept of Education for All
and its relation to official areas of focus, relates directly to the firstresearch question. Since this was the first question presented to interviewees, all had responded with their views. Many responses have been quoted in the following country papers. Therefore, in this chapter, details concerning respondents’ conceptions will not be discussed. Overall, when
asked to define Education for All as a general term, people responded that
it literally means education for everybody of all age, regardless of sex, location, religion, ethnicity, and physical condition. Most people also said that
it is not restricted to school-based education, but also non-formal education, adult literacy programmes, and workplace education. However, several respondents articulated an express distinction between the ideals andthe practical application of the term. The EFA coordinator of the Ministryof Education in one country claimed that their national conception of EFA
47

is narrower in scope than international ones:
Education for All [means] educating all people, including
school-age children, adults and youth. This is the definition of
Education for All according to the international concept. But
according to [our country’s] context, the priority is given to
education for all school-age children. That is how we define
Education for All according to the priority of the government,in consideration of school-age children. (Author’s emphasis)

Conscious narrowing of the scope of Education for All at the national level,as given in the example above, happens largely as a result of concerns forresource limitation.
Well, [availability of] budgets is, I think, the difficulty. One cannot say that we have enough budgeting [in] any sector. Butbalancing, reallocating, [and] prioritizing is what we can thinkof. And also, there are huge demands and these huge demands
have made pressure on the existing budget. And also, in thelong experience of this country, the security issue and thehumanitarian issue, disaster, the natural disasters, the conflicts
and these are the issues which are making pressure on the
country’s budget, so in this situation it is very difficult to saythat enough budget is allocated to education. (Director of an
Ethiopian NGO)

Prioritization of fields within Education for All may be also carried out inaccordance with the interest of influential stakeholders in the policy
process. The EFA coordinator of one country was also concurrently the
director of a sub-sector other than basic education. Upon being asked why
this sub-sector had not received enough attention in the Ministry regardlessof his position as the EFA coordinator, he responded:
It was not prioritized. Because… all funds were released byWorld Bank. World Bank had their priority—universal primary48

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

education and that any component which will complement theuniversal primary education …also gets the priority.

Facing the reality of resource limitation and power politics, therefore,
many respondents shared with researchers the de facto, practical versionof Education for All, although they invariably confirmed that “all” is an
inclusive term. On the other hand, there were individuals who argued thatthe reduction of applicable focus in policy is problematic and that the government must create and enforce holistic policies. A chief education officer at one Ministry of Education said:
As a matter of fact, when we are talking of EFA, it [should be]
the entire education system. It is not only primary education…
We also need trained teachers to teach in the increased number of primary schools as well [as] secondary schools.

Here is one dilemma: On the one hand, people realize the moral and developmental value of ensuring access to education for all segments of population. They also know that for the holistic development of the education
system, policy needs to be balanced without giving disproportionate weight
to primary education. On the other hand, resources are limited and thegoal of achieving universal primary education by 2015 alone is far too heavy
a burden for governments to shoulder with their limited capacity.
Also, in relation to this, the tug-of-war between MDGs and EFA goals oftencauses confusion in the policy-making of developing countries. As quoted
above, the World Bank and other major donors concentrate their resourcesin primary education, as it is the area which was prioritized in the MDGs.
However, the EFA touches upon wider educational areas than MDGs, andgovernments develop their EFA action plans according to the broad policy
framework agreed upon in 2000 at the Dakar Conference. Here is where
the twist occurs, while the government talks of all-inclusive and broadlystretched education plans in their documentation, the international push
has pinpointed itself atop the two EFA goals included in MDGs. As one
staff member of an advocacy NGO in Kenya mentioned, the EFA lost its
49momentum largely because of a financial push.
At least, the international community is trying to put much
more focus on MDGs at the expense of EFA and I think wewant to blame UNESCO… UNESCO left some kind of vacuum,
then UNDP and World Bank came over, and now it is talking
about MDGs. Little is being talked about in terms of EFA and[the fact that EFA is] losing momentum would mean focus andprogress will be lost… For us, the EFA provides some muchbroader framework than the MDGs, and we cannot [simply]
ignore EFA…and begin to focus on MDGs. MDGs are important because they also provide a platform through which we
can focus on other issues which affect education like trade, aid,
debt, poverty environment and international partnerships.
Those are very core issues affecting education, but we must
work on MDGs within the EFA platform as education campaigners.

As this interviewee aptly pointed out, EFA is an important campaign platform and can serve as a normative reference point. For this purpose, its
synoptic and comprehensive nature is expedient because it justifies commitments in almost all educational sub-sectors. For all practical reasons,however, MDGs set the tone of discourse and practice. Many interviewees
explained that the concept of Education for All is itself not new, but themechanisms for setting a global agenda, by selecting clear targets, a timeframe, and the means to measure progress are new. Establishing a force tomonitor implementation itself requires building the capacity to do soamong Ministry staff, which cannot be done without augmenting theresource basis. Therefore, what is being perceived as new within EFA is, infact, the wholesale mechanism for achieving MDGs. Because of EFA’s lackof momentum, the post of EFA coordinator, assigned to officials withineach EFA signatory country, has little real decision-making power and isoften sidelined. Nevertheless, as a few interviewees had mentioned, EFA
brought about the sense of duty as a member of the global society and it
widened the perspectives of policy-makers. The flip side is that the coun50

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Overview and Synthesis

tries are now compared to one another and must compete according toindicators that estimate quantitative progress towards unified goals. Suchstandardized comparison is convenient for the purpose of establishing andmodifying global agenda, but the true meaning of set standards rarely stems
from local contexts. Yet, this standardization is an influential factor overthe course of guiding policy, a circumstance that did not exist in earlier
times when government would develop policy almost exclusively based on
local conditions.

4.2

Operationalizing EFA policies

The next issue of importance to emerge from the interview is concerns
regarding strategy for operationalizing EFA-related policies. Referring to
the EFA in policy documents is one thing, but connecting it to practice isanother. And, in order to operationalize, the government must have a strategy with actual programmes, activities, staff-in-charge, and resources. As
stated below by the acting director of the Department of Policy and Planning in a Ministry of Education, whether or not the government has a separate policy for achieving EFA will not be an issue so far as the right elements are included in the country’s policy. However, programmes must be
developed in order to adapt EFA principles into the specific context of any
given country:
There is one thing I think I have to point out: When issues of
EFA have been talked about internationally, [it] is just a framework [according to] the way I see it. And because it’s a framework every country has its own way of taking that framework[into] implementation. You see though, there has been [a] tendency of some people trying to ask; “where is now the EFA
national plan? Where is EFA national strategic plan?” I thinkthese people misconceive EFA issues. They are taking things
as if they are different. But, as I said, this is just a framework.
For us, our educational policy tries to point out measures,
which could be taken in order to effectively ensure educationdelivery for the people of [our country]. So within the policy,

51

elements of EFA are there. But a policy is a policy. It needs tobe translated. We don’t just leave it, you translate it and in thatcase that’s why the government … came up with the education
sector [programme] in order to translate some of the intentions
which are within that policy.
The aim is now to put into operation or to translate the policy
statements. … That’s why within the umbrella of [sector programme] we have come up with a primary education development programme, that is the programme which is taking
care of EFA goals, that is the programme which is translating
EFA goals into concrete activities. ... You see, that is the styleof our country. In fact, I become surprised when people start
asking where is EFA? … No, No, No, it’s a misconception.
(Author’s emphasis)

Meanwhile, some of the areas which are also included in EFA goals and are
mentioned in policy documents are not operationally programmed as primary education. The acting director quoted above slipped into argument as
if under the assumption that, by having a primary education development
programme, the country is then fully operationalizing EFA. However, persons concerned with educational areas other than primary school education have expressed their own concern about the lack of, or insufficiencies
in, an operational plan. A locally-hired education specialist for a European
donor said:
So, when a government has an education sector development
programme like [this country] has, I will say they have a schooling sector development programme, not education. And [thereis] very little talk…action, and commitment about formal andnon-formal education, about adult education… In the policy
document, in the five years plan, there is some reference but
there is no strategy, there is no [implementation] plan… there
are no resources particularly allocated to this at the federal
level. So, education now means, for most people,
schooling…school education, I am afraid. There is no discus-

52

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesission the government took here about education outside ofschool.

Here one can see the loop created by the focus on primary education forschool-aged children within MDGs, subsequent resource concentration tothis sub-sector, and the resultant lack of funding, strategic commitment,
and practice in other sub-sectors. Therefore, within the Ministries of Education, while some people do experience major changes in policy-making
for education and structural operations after the introduction of EFA, others do not at all because they belong to sections in charge of areas otherthan those included in the MDG-focus. These individuals are not often
involved in up-to-date discussions on EFA and may tend to see references
to EFA in policy documents as simply lip service.
When discussing the implementation of EFA-related policies, the government’s lack of capacity is also raised as a concern. Resources flowing into
the primary education sub-sector have been growing at a remarkable rateand so, in order to effectively run the system, the government must develop
various kinds of administrative, managerial, and technical capacities at alllevels, from central to regional, district, and school. Areas in need of
capacity building include planning, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting,fund management, procurement, curriculum development, assessment,
pedagogy, and school management, just to mention a few. If one of thesewere lacking at any level of the system, trouble in delivering efficient andeffective service would result relative to the resources managed therein.
Therefore, donors try to grasp the threshold at which the government canutilize financial assistance, given its institutional and staff capacities, which
they call “absorptive capacity.” As the local education specialist for a European donor explains below, donors want to see results coming from theirassistance, but the government’s lack of capacity often hampers theachievement of objectives:
I don’t know if…individual governments signed these EFA
agreements with full knowledge of their capacities, both financial and human. …There is…not enough money from the inter-53

national community [to achieve these goals]. Second point [isthat] if you go to the countryside…the capacity [is not enough].
There is also a question that if money is available, can the sector absorb it? It is the absorbing capacity, the implementation
capacity of the government. That is an international question,a donor-wide question. It is also a question I have to answer to[the headquarters]. If we give you our money, [then we willask], “…Are you sure that this money will be used — utilized
properly?” So, the capacity issue runs through the federal
level, regional level, [district] and school. We know this. We go
and look at schools. We go and discuss with [district education
offices], we go and discuss with regional education bureaus.
There is a tremendous, huge capacity problem in the nation.

Also, because of the decentralization that accompanies the adoption of
PRSP framework in most developing countries, planning and budgeting aretheoretically becoming administrative fields that operate from the bottom
up, while schools and district offices are empowered to make plans basedon their own localized knowledge and needs analysis. However, in reality,
national education plans are often criticized for being abstract and notaccurately reflecting the diversity of needs seen in the field, a problem most
likely rooted in the lack of capacity at lower levels of the government structure and the long-lasting tradition of top-down decision-making. Therefore,
another point of contention often raised by the interviewees involves thelack of capacity to handle research and identify the needs of the people
before plans are made. For example, an education and training team leader
at one Ministry of Education said:
You know, this is a challenge in problem solving, [which] has tobe related with capacity… First of all, we have to scrutinize
and, at the same time, we have to see [what the issues are]before we…launch [any programme]. And at the same time wehave to have a vision, not projection. So, to make it empiricallythe vision, first of all [you have to] identify the problems, ofcourse, you have to identity the actors starting from the com-54

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Overview and Synthesis

munity, bringing the community first, before you [apply] theprogramme into the activity, you have to consult the community, because they are the basis for their day-to-day problems andthey know their strengths and they know their weaknesses. So
that kind of assignment was not done. Because of that, many
challenges have been faced.

In regard to understanding the needs and realities demonstrated in thefield, NGOs—especially those working in advocacy—seem to feel that they
can and have been playing important roles as purveyors of informationfrom the field for policy process. The following is a quote from an interview with the director of an NGO who explained how they try to link theirfield experience and knowledge of people’s needs with policy-making:[We influence policy-making] through dialogue where we areworking among the community in the grass root. We know therealities of those communities and we are part of the community. We do have policies of the country which are sometimes
drafted centrally, but discussed and shaped [in a]participat[ory] manner so in those discussions we express theknowledge we have on the ground, so that grass-root interests
are addressed by the policy. The policy gives space for thegrass roots [to raise their voices], not just working on something that we think is good for the grass roots. They do also
know what is good for them, and we take these interests to thepolicy-makers. We use the forums and the opportunities givenin the discussion on these policy issues and we make mainly
dialogues and influence in that way. And that is done positively
because the policy is drafted or formulated to serve the people.

4.3

Exerting influence over the policy-making process— Partnership with stakeholders

To what extent and by which means do external stakeholders—donors,
civil society organizations (NGOs) and academics—exert influence over55

policy-making? What do contemporarily popularized concepts of ‘partnership’ and ‘ownership’ mean when set in the context of actual interactions
between government and stakeholders? A variety of meetings and taskforces, all which provide donors and civil society organizations (NGOs)
with regular fora for actively taking part in the policy-making process, havebeen organized over time as new aid modalities gained currency. Democratization is another global normative force which has set international system convergence in motion. In recent decades, the governments of many
developing countries have introduced a number of mechanisms meant toencourage the participation of stakeholders. For example, domestic NGOs
have historically been given very limited opportunity to express their opinions for integration and use in the policy process. Yet today, Ethiopia,
Kenya, and Tanzania have each set up regular consulting committees foreducation sector development, in which a couple of seats are specificallyreserved for NGO representatives. As a result, many of the NGO staff that
we interviewed expressed feeling that they now have more influence overpolicy-making than before, although several did simultaneously complain
that, though their voices are reflected in sub-sectors of government policy
like adult literacy or special education, these areas neither receive enoughfunding nor strategic priority at operational levels. One characteristic ofrecent development among NGOs in these countries is the growth andsophistication among organizations specializing in advocacy and in NGO
federations as well. Although wider civil participation is encouraged under
the oft-touted norms of ‘democratization’ and ‘participation’, practically, it
has not been deemed feasible to let all civil society organizations participate equally in the policy process. Therefore, an NGO federation in eachcountry has been entrusted with the responsibility of appointing one or two
representatives from among its member NGOs. In a system such as this,NGOs and individuals who are more adept at speaking with government
officials and donor staff using common jargon with eloquence become
more influential than those who might be more skilled in the implementation of effective work in the field but are not good at making appeals for it
publicly. Therefore, some advocacy NGOs in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania
that were either small or even not in existence ten years ago, are now
becoming very powerful. Whereas the global standard dictates taking
56

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

NGOs’ firsthand knowledge and incorporating it into committee activities,
governments are not always comfortable with or used to handling what
they perceive as open criticism from these domestic bodies. Their aversion
to what may constitute critical input was well demonstrated in a 2006 incident in Tanzania, where the government ordered school heads not to use
textbooks produced by Hakierim, a prime advocacy NGO, and banned NGO
representatives from attending the annual sector review meeting. Also, in
Ethiopia, the government consistently shows mistrust for non-governmental bodies and universities. Therefore, even though NGO representatives
are present in committees and meetings, many of them feel that they are
not being heard:[The] education donor group insists that the NGO sector should
be represented [in the education sector development committee], because [they think that] in other countries’ education
sector, the NGO sector plays an important role. So the ministryof education accepted [us] as members and invited us to attend
meetings. But every time we go to those meetings, we arevery disappointed because they not only don’t give any attention to our situations, but they usually try to play down thecontribution of NGOs. … Instead of coming together and trying
to learn from each other, they usually try to, in fact, pretend as
if you don’t exist. But the donors, they know and usually they
mediate. They say, “Never mind about the government. … We
know that you are contributing.” (An NGO representative in
Ethiopia)

It is noteworthy that donors always want NGOs present in decision-making
fora so as to make it, at least superficially, ‘democratic’ though the government’s willingness to actually integrate input into action is dubious. This isjust one example of how the recent aid modalities have produced results
other that what was originally intended, that is, to harmonize assistancegiven by several donors’ to certain sector programmes and ensure that the
government has greater autonomy in planning and implementing development activities. Harmonized assistance, especially budget support, often
57

contributes to strengthening the power of central government, and especially ministries and sections in charge of finance, budget, planning, andpolicy-making. The operational aspects of governmental function has been
losing relative power yet, at the same time, the development models of‘democratization’ and ‘decentralization’ require the government to widen
the basis of consultation input for developing policy so as to make theprocess bottom-up.
Some staff at NGOs consider the government’s negative attitude towards
their work to be an expression of jealousy or rivalry since NGOs have theirown connections with international NGO networks from where they may
directly attract funds. From the point of view of the government, such
independent fund raising by NGOs create a parallel system, while the government expects to capture all fund inflow into the country under annual
resource management and sector development plans. An NGO representative in Ethiopia describes the situation as follows:
For [the government officials], getting their hands on fluid cash
is more important than what [NGOs] do and show, because we
do not give money directly to the government. We get moneyfrom donors, and we implement it. We show them what wehave done but they are always after their big donors who canbring in cash, ready cash. (An NGO representative in Ethiopia)

The fact that the donor community is not unified, wherein some donors
preach the virtues of budget support while others continue with their conventional manner of project-based assistance, sends a conflicting message
to governments and NGOs and consequently becomes a source of mistrust.
Also, issue-based funding—such as the UN’s global funds for HIV/AIDS prevention or girls’ education—or global campaigns run by international NGOs
do not always fit recent trends in unifying funding channels.
As much as negative or soured elements within relationships between
NGOs and governments may exist, for all practical reasons, when it comesto actually implementing plans on the ground, the government may be com58

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Overview and Synthesis

plemented by NGO involvement in operating projects in areas where thegovernment itself is not focused on or does not have the necessary
resources for. In fact, in some areas, after officially admitting to limited
capability, the government would invited NGOs and communities to playcomplementary roles. For example, the Ethiopian government admitted tohaving only limited capacity to handle expansion of education and thereby
left the construction and operation of non-formal schools in the hands ofNGOs and communities. The government limited its own role to that ofproviding guidelines in and a policy-framework for this same field. The
huge financial gap, among other issues, that the government is facing in its
venture to achieve Universal Primary Education came into play in this casein Ethiopia (Yamada, 2007). However, some people consider this to be apositive step towards greater government-NGO collaboration in a country
where the government has not turned a ear to insight from the public for along time. In interviews in Kenya, a greater number of NGO staff positively
assessed the relationship between the government and NGOs in theirrespective fields of operation. This may be partly because more NGO staff
were interviewed in Kenya. But it can be also said that more NGOs in
Kenya have more experience and are more deeply involved in advocacy andpolicy dialogue than those from Tanzania or Ethiopia.
Partnership between the government and donors is another issue. Democratic participation in the policy-making process would allow for the expression of a diverse range of ideas, which may delay or convolute settlement
on certain decisions. Every stakeholder, whether a donor or an NGO, has
its own mandate and is meant to promote its area of specialization. On theother hand, as the author discussed earlier, education policies are being
standardized on a global scale and this would not be happening if decisions
were made based on the equal participation of a variety of stakeholders.
Some parties may possess greater weight, or be more vocal, or have better
strategies than others. Donors, especially the ones with stronger financial
power, tend to have larger vocal power. However, donors do not want people to view their involvement as interfering in a nation’s domestic sovereignty, or as a tactic for imposing their own agenda. Under the principles of‘partnership’ and ‘government ownership’, donors try to make sure that59

their main concerns will be reflected in government policy. Given the international community’s consensus dictating that donors should intervene lessin the independent activities of governments, the relative importance ofnegotiations when making policy has increased. As a staff member of
UNICEF pointed out, this is part of an effort to ‘leverage’ resources to theirmandated areas:
We think UNICEF should not just try to get money for itself. It
should even look at the money which government has in its coffers and, through its partnership, encourage governments toleverage that money to areas where our mandate is.
It can be [through] persuasion, it can also be through negotiation, bargaining… That usually happens through education
sector planning because there will be meetings, where they will
decide where the money is going… Through those negotiations, we need to find ways of putting forward very tangible
proposals by showing that, from what we are doing on the
ground, if you invest this amount of money which is in yourcoffers, [there will be] returns. So it also needs a lot of [background] research, persuasion and even lobbying. [Leveraging]
implies advocacy, lobbying, persuasion, and marketing, toensure that money is really pushed.

Donors utilize an assortment of means in order to effectively ‘leverage’
their influence. One form of this would be in offering the knowledge andtechnical assistance for a government to develop policy. A national representative working under the World Bank said, the Bank “acts like a knowledge bank, not only lending money but also providing expertise.” He continued:
We try to engage with government in policy dialogue and we
also share with the government experiences of other countries,
practices from other countries. And we offer the government
materials, or knowledge, and ideas for the government to use.
But the decision to do this or that, to take this strategy and60

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Overview and Synthesis

leave the other strategy is left to the government.

Therefore, the provision of knowledge and expertise accumulated in otherparts of the world would help donors to enrich the research-based foundation for areas they promote, and indirectly allows them to influence thedirection of policy in their dialogue with the government.
Advocacy is another form of providing knowledge. It is different from technical assistance, though, in the sense that information is compiled by advocates themselves, and governments are not encouraged per se to research
and accumulate information on their own. For example, UNICEF is an
advocate of girls’ education, HIV/AIDS issues and non-formal education forout-of-school children. UNHCR is concerned about education provided forchildren in refugee camps and the communities around them. Some donors
are deeply involved in teacher’s education or technical and vocational education. There are NGOs active in the area of adult literacy education. All ofthese stakeholders advocate, to varying degrees, the importance of theirarea of concentration within education. National NGOs, with little financial
or technical advantages over the government, mostly utilize advocacy as amajor means towards influencing policy-making, based on their own experience in field operations or critical study on the effectiveness and efficiency of the government’s educational work.
Further, donors play the role of “watchdog”—as one staff member of
UNICEF articulated—which means keeping an eye on the government bymonitoring and evaluating its work based on indicators agreed on in theearly stages of policy implementation. The assessment of certain measurements plays a significant role in judging the efficiency and effectiveness ofgovernment policy implementation, which many respondents point out as a
new phenomenon in the EFA-era. Donors monitor progress by measuring
developments through the use of indicators and set the timeframe forachieving specific goals. When progress is not satisfactory, donors may
suspend the disbursement of pledged funds. The suspension or delay offunds is a very powerful and oft-used way of ensuring that the donor has
influence. The following excerpt is taken from an interview with a high offi61

cial in the Policy and Planning Department of a Ministry of Education, andillustrates such tactics as commonly employed by the donors:
Sometimes you get money from DP’s (Development Partners =donors) in a style of a carrot [and a stick in] that “[if] you do
this, [then] I give you this,” or “if you don’t do this, I don’t give
you this!” The government can’t be run in that way... A mechanism as we do have now [is to measure the] performance[according to] indicators at the macro level to cross check if themoney which have been given to the government has been utilized effectively. What I don’t like is to be given assistance witha threat and that is what has been happening.

The suspension of funds happens not only as a means to pressure governments, however, but also in power plays that arise among donors. The harmonization of funding and other support of priority areas among donors ona country-by-country basis has been easier said than done, particularly
since donors are to satisfy their own organizational mandates that uniformly bridge all offices in different countries. Donors’ country offices are, as
the government is, in a position to adapt the globally-accepted, but non-specific, norms of EFA in a way fitting for local contexts. Donors’ overall
agenda are set within the political environment of their home country as
well as by diplomatic concerns that arise via the global discourse on EFA.
In a nutshell, all donors and governments are talking about EFA. However,priorities within, or means to approach, the issues often differ among them.
Thus, the dilemma faced by donors’ country staff is as follows. On the one
hand, it is their job to make sure that their organizations’ area of focus will
be pushed forward (mainstreamed) in the government’s policy. On theother hand, they face a reality which is unique to the country’s political,
economic, and developmental contexts within a specific time. Given these
conditions, the harmonization of efforts and resources among donors, andalignment with the government’s policy, sometimes becomes a highly political issue. Taking the example of the budget support, there are several steps
from where the governmental sector policy and operational plans areendorsed to where the money is actually disbursed to the Ministry of62

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

Finance’s account. Even though policy is always endorsed by the education sector development committee, and the committee meetings areattended by NGOs and major donors in the education sector, each donor
signs the memorandum of agreement with the government separately on its
own individual terms. This means that when it comes to the disbursementof funds, donors can still apply their own rules and judge whether the government is in fact ready to receive their funds according to their own criteria. In Tanzania in 2004 and 2005, pooled funding for teacher education wasamassed but not fully released because several donors employed such tactics. Similar things can happen in different countries too. While it is a formof pressure that can be applied by donors to the government itself, elements of donor rivalry also come into play so that, if some donors are nothappy with the direction of the government’s policy as influenced by other
donors, or they just no longer want things to proceed, they can apply thebrakes. With all factors considered, one cannot simply say that the concepts of ‘partnership’ and ‘ownership’ have brought about positive changes
for the government. Partnership has meant that even the government is notallowed a free hand in consensus-building with domestic and international
partners, which can curtail its ownership of policies.
The last issue which the author would like to point out with regard to partnership pertains to intra-governmental relationships. General budget support has empowered the Ministry of Finance relative to line ministries,
including the Ministry of Education. Donor funds in the form of generalbudget support are managed centrally by the Ministry of Finance, and theamount of resources each ministry can get from the overall governmental
budget largely depends on the persuasiveness of its budget proposal as submitted to the MOF. At the same time, the education sector receives a large
sum of funds that have been earmarked for and flow mostly into the primary education sub-sector. These earmarked funds help the MOE to exert
bargaining power within the government. This differentiation of power
exists within the MOE, as well. The departments of primary education, policy and planning, and budgeting carry more influence than others. When it
comes to achieving EFA goals, though, the involvement of various sectionsof the government is vital. The goals touch upon more than primary educa63

tion alone. As many respondents pointed out, adult literacy education,teacher education, secondary education, and other educational sub-sectors
all relate to primary education. In fact, to achieve qualitatively and quantitatively balanced development within primary education, partnerships
across offices and departments in the MOE is essential. It has been agreed
globally that a sector-wide perspective in planning, policy-making, andoperation should be the basis for educational administration. However, theway in which both resources and strategic foci have been prioritized creates a hierarchy among educational sub-sectors. As the author mentioned
earlier, after the Dakar conference on EFA, some governments establishedinternally the post of EFA coordinator. However, in one of the countries westudied, even the MOE high officials did not really recognize the responsibility of the EFA coordinator, although they would see the coordinator in
sector consultative meetings. Some respondents from this MOE said thatthe director of primary education is in the focal position regarding EFArelated matters instead of EFA coordinator. EFA as its own field and commitment has not carried much momentum partly because of difficulties insecuring financial backing for areas other than primary education, and partly because of a lack of leadership in top administration at either the Ministry of Education or within the government as a whole.

5Conclusion

In this paper, the responses of three East African countries—Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia—to EFA development goals were addressed so as tolocate the EFA development goals within the context of each country’s historical development of education, as well as in relation to specific politicaland socio-economic environments. While the global agenda has been quite
influential in determining the direction of policy in these countries, mostinterviewees stated their belief that the concept of Education for All itself
is not new. Each government’s commitment to expanding education, as
well as public demands for that expansion, have been there since even
before independence in Kenya and Tanzania, and during Ethiopia’s imperial
era. In earlier times, drives for educational development were more rooted
64

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

within each country than from the outside. However, structural adjustmentin the 1980s triggered the formation of a new international environment inwhich there is less diversity of policies across countries, especially amongdeveloping countries receiving a large sum of foreign assistance. Such systematic and wide-spread standardization, coupled with the massive
amounts of financial assistance available during this time, set the stage for
EFA goals embedded in the Poverty Reduction framework. Therefore, assome respondents had mentioned, EFA goals are new in the sense that theycame with indicators and measured assessments, which are yardsticks forevaluating how far certain governments had progressed towards achieving
EFA goals compared with others.
The author has used in-depth interviews conducted in each of the three
countries with key government officials, staff from donor organizations andNGOs, and academics to illustrate what is happening and how people perceive the process of EFA goal adoption. As a general term, Education for
All has meant for most people education given to all people of all ages,
regardless of sex, locale, religion, ethnicity, etc. It also includes different
forms of education from school-based to non-formal or social education.
However, when it comes to the EFA goals, many people have more or lessnarrowed their definitions specifically to school-based education for children: some did so unconsciously, others did so knowingly as part of a practical judgment, and still others were critical about the disparity between theoriginal meaning of the term and the widespread usage of it.
Achieving ‘universal primary education by 2015’ has been given priority
over other aspects of the six EFA goals owing to a combination of different
factors. One factor is international in origin. While the globally shared
norm dictates that education is a basic human right which should be guaranteed to everybody, funding provided by donors is largely focused on only
the two EFA goals that were additionally incorporated into the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): universal primary education and gender equity. While government policy covers the all educational areas raised in EFA
goals, the government can only expect substantial sums of foreign assistance in a limited range of areas. Many respondents specifically took issue
65with the lack of operational strategies meant for corresponding to broadened government policy. Governments have not developed detailed operational plans for sub-sectors in which they have not secured the resources,
despite the fact that they have talked of effecting growth in all educational
fields. The concentration of resources in certain sectors has served to reinforce a skewing of the government’s focus, and vice versa, wherein the gap
between prioritized and non-prioritized areas is consistently growing.
Decentralization is another matter contained in the global agenda, which
has been brought to the attention of many developing countries. Primaryeducation is one field among many that are most influenced by this change
because of the assumption that schools at the primary level, as opposed tothose at the higher levels of education, are best run locally so that they may
be more sensitive and responsive to diverse community realities. However,many interviewees expressed concern about the lack of government capacity, especially at the local levels. Some respondents said that this lack, in
conjunction with insufficient understanding of realities in the field, has had
visible impact on planning and policy-making enforced by the central government despite the fact that the guiding principle is often trumpeted as
being decision-making executed from the bottom-up.
This study has also illuminated the frailty of the concepts of ‘partnership’and ‘ownership’. The rise of new aid modalities has resulted in an increaseof varying channels, prepared by the governments of many developing
countries, for donors and NGOs to participate in policy-making. Even withinternationally and nationally devised mechanisms, every stakeholder does
not have equal say, and some power imbalances exist. The author has
pointed out that while NGOs were encouraged to participate as a form of‘democratic’ ‘partnership’, governments are, at the same time, not often
comfortable with receiving potentially critical input, and may end up ironically suppressing NGO voices. Also, the government itself is not free fromoutside pressure to act in ‘partnership’ meaning that it cannot make formal
decisions on its own policy without the agreement of ‘development partners’, or, its donors. Further close examination of discourse shows that
there is no single ‘donor communities’ and ‘governments’, and within these66

Chapter 1

Overview and Synthesis

groupings issues of power relations and partnership exist.
To what extent is the EFA local or global? This question is not easy toanswer. In each of the countries researched for this paper, the desire forand commitment to education has long been around. In that sense, education is locally-rooted. Even though EFA goals themselves were brought inover the last ten to fifteen years, the process of domesticating these externally constructed concepts has been unique in each country. One thing thatshould be noted, however, is that at each level of the decision-making
process, foreign actors have used their influence so as to ensure that theiragenda will be reflected in policy. Many developing countries, including
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania, foresee considerable gaps between available and necessary resources for achieving universal primary education,even after counting for the massive inflow of foreign assistance. Whether
the government should have put such policies into effect is a matter thatshould be considered in the context of each country. The author will conclude with a quote taken from an interview with an Assistant Minister of
Education, who pointed to the importance of true national ownership ofpolicy, in no ambiguous terms:
We need to see [the EFA] much more as something that comesfrom the indigenous countries themselves, you know, from theAfrican countries themselves. Usually, these goals are decided
by international organizations and foreign governments andthen we are called to meetings to discuss them. So that when
we have African governments get to these meetings…they are
actually discussing ideas that are based on other people’s
resources. Sometimes [these are] idea[s] that come out ofplans and designs of other countries. So, that is a problem. I
think we should look at EFA and millennium goals, based on
our own resources, based on our own designs and those
designs should be [based on] what is…possible, given…thetime and resource constraints, and our own unique experiences.

67

Notes
1)

2)

3)

4)

Tanzania’s sub-sectoral distribution of educational expenditures differs widely
according to the source. If one follows the data from the World Bank’s Tanzania public expenditure review of 2003, primary education’s share has stood atmore than 70 percent since 2000/01 (World Bank 2004).
The tendency towards allocating high salaries to teachers still exists in presentday Kenya. According to the World Bank (2002), teachers’ salaries tripled
between 1995 and 2000 and teachers in Kenya enjoy the highest salary among
all public servants.
At the secondary level too, the government faced difficulties in meeting thefinancial costs of taking over the voluntary (Harambee) schools. Mwiria
demonstrates that the governmental pledge to increase support to communityconstructed schools caused an explosive increase in the number of Harambee
schools. Contrary to the original plan of reducing education costs by encouraging communities to establish schools, expenditures in education increased significantly. However, the government could not withdraw from its pledge out offear of losing public support (Mwiria, 1990).
All three countries studied experienced a dramatic increase in aid inflow during this period. Ethiopia received US$ 212 million in 1980, which increased to
US $963 million in 1988. Tanzania received US $679 million and $1 billion
respectively.

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72

Chapter

2

The Case of Tanzania
Eustella P. Bhalalusesa

1
1.1

Introduction
Background to the study

The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)-Japan has been
conducting a comparative study on the process of adopting Education for
All (EFA) Millennium Development Goals in three African countries, namely, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. In February 2005, one of the GRIPS
researchers visited the aforementioned collaborating countries in order todiscuss modalities for undertaking the study. Among other things, it wasagreed that each country should conduct a preliminary study so as to shapeinterview questions and establish common ground for proceeding with acomparative study. Findings from the preliminary studies were presented
in a two-day (22nd June-23rd June 2006) workshop that involved all
researchers from the participating countries, as well as those from Japan.
The preliminary studies revealed a number of elements that may possibly
hinder progress in achieving the comparative study’s intended ultimate purposes, but also revealed conceivable means to overcoming these samepotential problems. It also lent direction to the main study upon which thepresent paper is based.

1.2

Research questions

The research referenced herein focuses on the process by which actors,
each with varying intents and motivations, negotiate concepts relating to73

Education for All thereby creating a hybridised version reflecting the introduction of sector-wide approaches and other aid modalities. The following
research questions have been addressed in the study:(1) How do actors involved in national policy-making, such as politicians, officials at MOE and other ministries, NGO workers, anddonor staff, conceptualise Education for All?
(2) Who are more conversant in EFA goals and what makes themso?
(3) What EFA goals are officially recognized as areas of focus? In
what sense do they resemble or differ from how individual
respondents actually perceive the agenda for Education for All?
(4) How did specific external factors influence concepts of Education for All as they historically developed in each country?
(5) What actually happened as EFA goals were adopted within eachcountry’s educational policies?

1.3

Methodology

This study was designed to assure that data would be collected throughdocumentary analysis and interviews. However, the report herein is based
primarily on information gathered from in-depth interviews. The main purpose of the interviews is to discern perceptions concerning EFA development goals that current educational policy-makers, aid officials, and civilsociety advocates have. Approaches taken in this study are based in discourse analysis to understand how people in different social and institutional positions conceptualise EFA. Questions asked during the interviews
included how individual respondent’s conceptualised Education for All, as
well as how they became conversant in international EFA agenda and towhat degree they became conversant in the goals. Other questions narrowed in on the official areas of focus from among EFA goals, which wasthen compared and contrasted to foci perceived by individual respondents.
Interviews also aimed to draw out information on external and internal factors and how they historically influenced development of Education for Allconcepts. Furthermore, respondents were given additional questions per74

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

taining to what actually happened as EFA goals were adopted into the local
context.
As a way of grasping the shift taking place in government and donoremphasis in the education sector, researchers examined programmes funded and supported under the umbrella of Education for All, while also looking at the funding modalities and how these programmes actually align with
EFA goals. Even though the focus of the research lies on policy-making
processes rather than on operations, analyses of trends in programmingand financing did indeed provide researchers with an idea of how EFA policies, hammered out in line with multiple parties’ concerns, were translated
into practice.

1.4

The research processThis study was intended to draw certain information from specific parties,
particularly those involved in decision-making and policy-making processes. For this reason, purposive sampling was used to select key informants.
We, as researchers, proceeded with caution and a keen eye in selecting oursample. We selected to our utmost ability cases that were illustrative of certain features or processes in which we were interested. We also had to be
critical in selecting parties who are conversant in educational matters andplay key roles in decision-making and policy-making processes. For thesereasons, we had to limit the scope and coverage of the study, therefore concentrating on the Dar es Salaam region only (almost all ministries and international NGOs are based in Dar es Salaam). We identified a number of key
players within the Ministry of Education and Culture (now the Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training), some international NGOs operatingwith direct relation to issues of educational access and quality. We managed to contact a number of individuals involved in policy-making and theimplementation of EFA goals in order to inform them of study aims andrequest their participation in interviews. We did not encounter any individuals unwilling to participate in the study, although scheduling times suitable for both the researchers and individual interviewees proved to be
problematic.
75

We managed to conduct twenty interviews as agreed at the June 2005 workshop with the following distribution:
Ministry of Education officials

10

Donor Staff

6

NGOs

4

TOTAL

20

As many interviews as possible were tape-recorded and transcribed. Taperecording was essential because an analysis of people’s values and perceptions would have been difficult from field notes alone. As people tend to
avoid speaking overtly about their values, or are not even aware of what
they hold to be true deep inside, their perceptions and values may only befound by interpreting their spoken words.

1.5

Data analysis

In summary, the following steps were taken to analyse data.
Each recorded interview was dated, transcribed, and labelled according towhen it was collected. The transcripts were read over carefully and all
grammatical errors were corrected to get a sense of the totality of the data.
The second phase of the analysis involved establishing categories and sorting out units of data accordingly. The research questions were used as an
appropriate guide to creating a categorical framework. Each interview transcript was then read carefully so as to pinpoint general statements illustrating relationships among the categories. The exercise was carried out separately for each research informant, while necessarily using different sets ofinterview guides. This preliminary stage of data analysis was divided into
three levels. Interviews with ministry officials were analysed before moving
on to those with donor staff, and finally on to NGO respondents. This facilitated systematic progress and avoided confusion.
During data processing, new ideas and themes emerged. Writing these ideas
down and then deciding on which data in what form should be referred to76

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

in order to best justify ideas or possible conclusions was helpful inanalysing the findings.

2
2.1

Emerging Themes
Conceptualisation of Education for All: Definitional
issues

The first question presented to all individuals taking part in this study was
how they conceptualise “Education for All” in their own terms. The general
impression that emerged from the interviews was that no universal or standardized definition of the term existed. Each individual had his or her own
way of defining Education for All. Some conceived of Education for All as:1) an education fundamental to one’s life that more or less resembles lifelong learning, and also, 2) as a right. Others took it as inclusive, basic education that must be made available to specific groups, such as, mostnotably, children eligible for primary school, persons who never entered orcompleted primary education and illiterate adults. It was also interesting tonote that each individual would personally emphasize key aspects within
the definition as important depending on her or his own field of work andresponsibilities. Individual respondents from NGOs, for example, conceptualised Education for All with a rights-based approach in mind. This was not
surprising given the fact that most NGOs play advocacy and activist roles.
Emphases made by government officials seemed to differ according to thedepartment of employment. The Director of Primary Education, for example, placed emphasis on school age children, whereas officials from theadult education section visualised the term in the context of life-long education, with a particular stress on the provision of opportunities for adults.
The following interview extracts are a sampling of different conceptualisations.
Education for All for me means provision of education for all
persons, especially children of school age who have to attend

77

primary education. Included in this group are also children
above seven years who missed the opportunity to join primaryeducation at the right age, that is seven years. (Director of Primary Education)
Every child who is supposed to enrol in primary education
should enrol and receive and complete primary education. So,
for Tanzania, they have been focusing on that primary education based on whatever curriculum they have and so forth. But,of course, when you go to other places now, they would kind of
define it very broadly in terms of including so many things in,but, as I said, I would just stick to what I understand about
Tanzania and for primary education, which is seven years ofage. (World Bank Official)
It means education for life [meaning] that all people at their different stages should have their education needs met, [that] thegovernment policies should ensure that there are plans which
aim at meeting the learning needs of every person, from thetime of childhood to the adulthood until when they die. (Official from Adult Education Unit)
Education for All refers to the situation whereby education istaken as a right. You consider the various levels right from earlychildhood. You are also talking of pre-school, primary or basic
and adult literacy. So these are the groups, or the levels of
focus for the groups, which are expected to have access to education as a right. It does not exclude anybody. (Action-Aid Tanzania)

2.2

Common features within the conceptualisation of
Education for All

Despite the wide variety of ways in which Education for All was conceptualised, common features characterising the overall idea behind Education
for All became evident, particularly in regard to the relativity between the78

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

words EDUCATION and ALL. All respondents referred to the term ‘ALL’ aswholly inclusive, even those who limited the field of their definition to particular levels like primary education.
All includes the disabled, those who cannot pay school fees,
those who are from hunting and gathering areas—which areusually overlooked, for girls and everyone in society, and notjust those children of school-going age. ALL here should
include even those that are disabled, as they have a right tocontribute and benefit from the process of education in theirnation. (CARE-Tanzania)
Yes, as I said before, it includes all the children starting fromthose in the day-care centres, going through to those who arein the formal system. I mean pre-primary, primary and secondary age cohorts, which I already mentioned. But also those whoare not in school, like the COBET programme and, of course,
the adults. (Education Desk Officer: UNICEF)
Here, we are really talking of children of ages 2-4 and also
Early Childhood Development (ECD) of ages 5-6, and again
school ages 15-17 and 18+. Since we are talking of the right, weneed to differentiate UPE and EFA. (Education Advisor: Action
Aid)
Then, ‘all’ to me is inclusive. If you talk about education, actually we tend to forget some groups of the population. As a matter of fact, when you say education for all, you’re reflecting theyoung children, but what about the adults and their education,
what about the non-formal system? Is a person 50 years old notsupposed to have an education? To me the term ‘all’ is inclusive
in terms of ages because I have never experienced a country
which has no adults; the adults need education so to me this
could also be taken into consideration, although there areinternationally agreed standards… (Ministry of Education Official)

79

2.3

Education for All versus Basic Education

There was also a consensus in the conceptualisation of education as aprocess wherein one acquires knowledge, skills and values that are usefulfor sustainable development. However, it was also observed that implicitly
education, especially in the context of Education for All, was taken to mean
basic education. This was unmistakeable even when respondents were trying to define the term ‘ALL’. They mentioned different categories of people,
while at the same time referring to the term ‘basic education’.
For a lot of people, they think EFA to be non-formal… EFA
should have been defined as equal to basic education. (Retired
Ministry Official from Adult Education Unit)
As I said before, for us in Tanzania, the way we interpret Education for All, we really zero in basic education. That is why I
have been saying that other levels do not fit in our definition of
education for all. But, on the other side, if you consider adulteducation, there are aspects of functional literacy because
basic education includes also functional literacy. We believethat in order to fight poverty every person must have the functional literacy skills. (Ministry of Education Official from Primary Education Department)

In real terms, basic education is both broad in scope and relative. As a
response to the Jomtien Conference on Education for All in 1990, for example, UNESCO conceived of basic education as being education that aimed
to meet people’s basic learning needs. These needs include both essential
tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem-solving
skills) as well as elements of basic learning (such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitude) needed by human beings for survival, personal life development, informed decision-making, and the continuation of learning. It
should not be confined to only formal schooling because knowledge, skills
and values can be obtained just as well informally and from outside of theschool system. Nonetheless, in the context of this study, and for a majority
80Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzaniaof respondents, basic education was narrowly taken to mean primary education and/or basic literacy skills for adults; hence, it was deemed justifiable to include all children and adults who never had the opportunity to go
to school.
So education for all means a kind of education that can reachthose who go to school, but can reach also those who are usually trying to go and seek education, and we see them and try to
make them come to school. But also, we have to take into consideration the issue of access to education of even those whoare living in different difficult conditions, like the disabled…
In my mind, basic education is that primary education thatis within a particular timeframe, say either 10 years or 7 years,
and can be provided to everyone i.e. all people in our society.
(CARE-Tanzania Desk Officer)
You know, when we talk of Education for All, the word ‘basic
education’ is very relative. basic education for us Tanzanians
practically ends with standard seven, but for others they goeven up to secondary education, although practically this is not
right. So when you talk of education for all in our context, secondary education is not included. So I think it is contextual
since in other context even secondary education is basic education. It depends on how one conceptualises. (Ministry of
Education Official from Primary Education Department)
Maybe, as a matter of fact, every country could have its own
way of defining ‘basic education’. I am saying this because itgoes with EFA and, in most cases, there are international definitions of basic education, but sometimes we differ country tocountry on how we should tackle these things. My experience
when talking to donors about basic education, they will pin you
to that end and all their efforts and their strength of funding
they will argue, “We are funding basic education,” and when we
look at it, its primary education. So I was asking myself, “Is primary education the end of itself? If we don’t open chances, are
we going to have a society which has got education for all quot81

ing that definition of basic education, i.e. a society of primaryschool leavers?” So to me it doesn’t make sense. Even now wesometimes don’t understand each other with donors, and wekeep on telling them in this reform there are five elements:
That is, pre-primary, primary, secondary, adult and non-formal
and teacher education. This is what is basic to us. You will havepre-primary which goes to primary, and these people will needto open the door to secondary education. But we have teacher
education here because they are servicing the primary education and at the same time they are also servicing part of secondary education that’s why we are including them. Adult isalso important. It is crucial element. It is basic… Adults needbasic 3Rs and so on. The functional literacy to us is also basic.
So this is the way we see it. (Official from the Institute of Adult
Education)

2.4

Education for All: An agenda to improve education inpoor countries?

As basic education is conceived of as relating to primary education andadult literacy, many also possessed a sense that EFA comprises a powerful
agenda for the improvement of education in developing countries and thatits impact at the national level has also been very beneficial. EFA’s most significant accomplishment, for example, has been to expand among parties
involved in education the awareness that all children and young people
have the right to benefit from basic education. This, in turn, has strongly
affected recognition of the plight of groups that are disadvantaged or at risk
in some way or another. Today, there is at the very least a growing recognition that formal education systems do not yet reach all children and that,
thus, non-formal education systems must be adjusted to specific local andfamily circumstances. Thus, complementarity and, to some extent, equivalence are increasingly regarded as essential in the EFA context. Numerous
circles are progressively recognizing that learning environments ought tobe responsive to children with special learning needs, and also be genderfriendly.

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Further analysis of the findings point to the fact that financiers of programmes initiated under the umbrella of EFA, to some extent, influenced
the conception of Education for All. The establishment of the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) in Tanzania, for example, washeavily financed by the World Bank and what they thought Education for
All meant or should give priority to. Other programmes which receive outside support, like the Complimentary Basic Education in Tanzania(COBET), are taken as representative of efforts towards accomplishing the
installment of a universal primary education system.
Maybe, as a matter of fact, every country could have its own
way of defining basic education. I am saying this because itgoes with EFA and, in most cases, there are international definitions of basic education, but sometimes we differ country tocountry on how we should tackle these things. To others, when
you say basic education they are only touching primary education, and in it they will touch pre-primary education or childhood education. My experience when talking to donors aboutbasic education they will pin you to that primary education anddirect all their efforts and their strength of funding to that end.
They will argue that they are funding basic education and when
you look critically, it is actually primary education. (Ministry of
Education Official)

Deriving from the above discussion, one can say that in principle Education
for All is an inclusive term that covers the provision of educational opportunity and, in particular, the availability of basic education to every person
regardless of sex, status, age and geographical location. When viewed in its
broader manifestations, and as defined by the World Conference on Education for All, ‘basic education’ will vary according to the context in which itis applied. This common, central conceptualization is agreeable to everybody. However, in practical terms, education in the context of EFA is
equivalent to basic education and ought to be provided to all children, atleast up to the primary school level of education. Most developed countries
have already achieved this. Hence, the argument that Education for All may
83realistically be conceived of as a global movement particularly geared toassist developing countries achieve universal primary education.

2.5

Knowledge of the internationally agreed EFA goals:
Who knows what and why?

Apart from investigating how Education for All was conceptually viewed byrespondents, this study was also interested in determining individuals’ personal ability to discuss the following internationally agreed EFA goals as
stipulated in the Dakar Framework For Action.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood careand education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
Ensuring that by 2015 all children particularly girls, children indifficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities,
have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults
are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life
skills programmes.
Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by
2015, especially for women, and equitable access to appropriate
learning and life skills programme.
Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015,
with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to andachievement in basic education of good quality.
Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring
excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning.

Note: From EFA Global Monitoring Report, Summary Report (2003) p. 5.

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The general impression imparted by the different interviewees is that they
all knew that a plurality of internationally agreed EFA goals existed. Some,
especially those working with NGOs and their development partners, wereable to give the exact number and list them one by one. These individuals
had hard copies of the list of goals either kept in files or posted on the wall,and in some cases these parties even volunteered to provide a list of thegoals to the researcher, as evidenced in the following interview extracts.
These are six; you can read them from my notice board. (TENMET)
Yes, as I told you before, they are six dealing with issues of universal primary education, gender equality, quality education,
equity issues, and early childhood development as well as adultliteracy. In fact, I have a document which has a list of all the six
goals, and I shall give it to you when we finish this interview.
(ACTION-AID)
Free access to at least primary education, that is, basic education for all. The other goals stress that those who are enrolled
should be given good service (quality education). Then we
have literacy training to adults and younger people who dropout from school. One of the goals of course is eradication ofilliteracy, but I don’t know exactly the target. But I can checkfrom the document where they are listed. (Developing Partner)
It’s not just a matter of thinking what the goals are. The EFA
goals are six. They are known and we are not “cooking” them
(The interviewee mentions the goals chronologically anddemonstrates knowledge of them). (UNESCO Country Coordinator)

However, there were also a good number of interviewees, especially Ministry of Education officials and their development partners, who were
unsure of the total number of goals and could only remember some of themin a random order. The following examples illustrate this observation.
85

I might not remember all the goals, but I understand every
child who is supposed to go to school has to go to school. The
goals are many, I wouldn’t remember them all, but we all talkabout EFA goals; the goals are intended to provide education
which will be useful to that particular individual. The goals aresupposed to enable those who are getting education to fit into
the society into the changing world. The goals are part and parcel of trying also to fight poverty. (Ministry of Education Official)
The internationally agreed goals of EFA focus on childcare(silence), I remember gender equality and equity. It is also
focusing on youths and adult literacy and quality of education.
(Ministry of Education Official)
You mean the goals? I think they are six, isn’t it? Yes, six ofthem, we are actually trying and we have addressed themthrough PEDP and SEDP, as I said before. You can look into the
documents and see since they are available. (Ministry of Education Official)
I think the goal of EFA again is primary education for all. For‘All’, this would depend on the way that country defines ‘All’,
but you would see that internationally they have been talking
about gender parity, disabled children and so forth. You know
all should be included, I think, locally also. In Tanzania, that’s
what they are also discussing. So those are the goals for EFA
goals. (Developing Partner)
They are six. One is on early childhood care development, thesecond is on the universal primary education, universal andquality of primary education, thirdly, is the issue of adult literacy. Fourthly, the social and life skills, fifthly, the assessment,
and the last one is gender and equity. (EFA Country Coordinator)

From these findings one may conclude that the nature and position held by86

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The Case of Tanzania

the interviewee have an impact on their knowledge of EFA goals. Given thenature of NGOs and their responsibilities, desk officers dealing with education have to be conversant in matters of education, such as education-oriented documents and policies enacted at both the national and international levels to be able to play an active role in advocacy and monitoring. Developing partners need to know these matters only so far as they must communicate with governments and, at times, prioritise and rationalise decisions made. UNESCO acts as the custodian of goals that have been agreed
upon internationally. Therefore, knowledge of the goals should come withthe territory.
The failure to articulate goals, as demonstrated by a majority of the Ministry officials—especially in the case of Tanzania, could stem from the factthat EFA was taken as a separate agenda that only the Country Coordinatorneeds to tend to. The EFA Country Coordinator normally attends all international meetings that relate to EFA, thus explaining why is the coordinatoralone remains well-informed and able to discuss goings on (perhaps including why the coordinator was able to identify the goals).
We have an EFA coordinator and I think he is in a good position
to talk of EFA goals. He normally attends international meetings related to EFA. The problem in Tanzania is seeing things incompartments. Since Mr XX coordinates EFA, then it is his
baby and none of their business. (UNESCO Education Desk
Officer)
I attended a certain meeting with the former permanent secretary, but when I came back and tried to give feedback, people
seemed not to understand. I tried to explain but they took it asa stand-alone programme. People are used to talk of EFA but I
don’t think they really understand what EFA means. (Ministry
Official)

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2.6

Aspects of EFA goals: Where is the priority and why?

One notable observation resulting from this study is that, although there
are six EFA goals, not all of them receive equal attention, and not all ofthem are even necessarily recognized. As shown before, priority among
these goals has been accorded to the provision of basic education (i.e. primary education to all children). Hence, even in terms of resource allocation, the primary education sub-sector is given more attention. The aspectof gender equity is also being effectively brought to the fore, wherein gender imbalance at the primary level has been addressed. At independence,for example, girls constituted 40 percent and 23 percent of standards one
and seven respectively. By 1996, girls comprised 49 percent of standards
one to seven. Since then, the ratio of girls to boys is nearly 1:1 (United
Republic of Tanzania, 2005). The survival rate is also quite high within the
primary school level.
Other sub-sectors, like early childhood care, special education needs, andadult basic education, have been marginalised to the effect that any efforts
made on their behalf are only meant to compliment work being done in the
primary education sub-sector.
With regard to early childhood care, although it is well stipulated within
Education and Training Policy, the coordination and implementation of programmes and matters pertaining to it have been left in the hands of another
Ministry, namely, the Ministry of Community Development—Gender andChildren Affairs. This makes tracking progress and obtaining reliable statistics problematic for the EFA Country Coordinator. More often than not,NGOs, churches and private individuals take on the implementation of programmes in the field of early childhood care and development.
When taking into consideration the fact that every interviewee admitted
that Education for All meant providing every child with an education, one
may also conclude that special education is another area that has undergone marginalisation, albeit for the most part unwittingly, for an extended
period of time since. The TEMET Coordinator, who is also a specialist in88Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

special education, had this to say:
But Universal Primary Education (UPE) does not necessarily
or automatically mean Education for All because, in the implementation of UPE, children of special needs were still secondclass citizens. They were still relegated and delegated to special schools and units that were very few. That is why to date
we have only 1 percent of children with disability attending
school. So can we call this education for all? So Education for
All was on the agenda since 1961, but the implementation was
at fault [and] many children were still being excluded. The
exclusion was both conscious and unconscious. Conscious
because when you read various documents, you will find that itis stated that education must be provided according to the economic situation of the country at [that] particular time. Special
education at that time was considered expensive, and so notmany resources were made available and financially not much
was allocated to it. But unconsciously many children werebeing excluded.

The third ranking sub-sector in terms of its marginalisation was adult basic(literacy) education. Almost all respondents, even those hailing from NGO
and donor institutions, agreed that in Tanzania today the standing of adulteducation within the education system is consistently marginalized. For
example, it has been noted that adult education, which used to have its own
independent department and its own budget at the ministerial level, hasbeen reduced to one simple unit within the Office of the Commissioner for
Education. As a result, allocations provided to the unit are wholly dependent on the priorities of the Office of the Chief Education Office. In theAssessment Country Report on Education for All (URT, 2000). Tanzania
provides a critical review of the major decisions and actions undertaken
since the World Conference on Education for All and, therein, makes evident adult education’s marginalisation. The report places heavy emphasis
on primary education, while adult education is only partially shown as one
component of basic education. For example, the section annotating invest89

ment in EFA from 1990 does not detail how much was allocated to or spenton adult basic education. Rather, it shows budget allocations made to primary education and other education sectors such as secondary and technical, as well as higher and teacher education. It is not clear whether thebudget allocated to primary education covers adult education as well.
It is important to also note that although Tanzania’s special Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP), as conceived in 2001, has started to
produce positive results, a review team assessing its first two years has
found that out-of-school children, amounting to about 3 million heads, stillpose a problem. The government, through its Non-Formal Education Strategy (again, part of PEDP), planned to enrol this group in a special programme known as COBET (Complementary Basic Education Programme)—now called MEMKWA (Mpango wa Elimu ya Msingi Kwa Watoto
Walioikosa), a direct translation of COBET in Kiswahili. However, this programme has made slow progress. Children registered in classes feel thatthey are yet placed at a disadvantage (see Galabawa, 2003 COBET Evaluation Report), as their classrooms are not accorded equal staffing and thesame material resources as normal primary school classes. They are treatedas second-class.
For quite some time now, people have asserted that some sub-sectors, suchas adult literacy, are not being recognized sufficiently because of a lack ofdrive among policy makers. This is often contrasted to circumstances in the
1970’s, when one of the major contributing factors to great achievements
made at that time within the education sector was the strong political will
inherent within both government and political leaders. The Late President
Nyerere (1961-1985), in particular, endeavoured to instil in his citizens anunderstanding of the importance of education and the public’s role in
implementing UPE through his numerous speeches. Resources were therefore made available to facilitate community mobilisation and advocacy.
These events, they say, have stood as vivid memories of a proud past.
While one is inclined to indeed agree with these assertions, it is also a fact
that, at times, policy makers do not have the power to dictate terms. So
long as the implementation of any given plan relies on external assistance,
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the external institution will implicitly have greater say in determining priorities, as can be seen in the following interview extract.
Sometimes you get money (funding) from development partners in a style of a chicken and carrot: that you do this and I
give you this. If you don’t do this, I don’t give you this. (Education Advisor Action-Aid Tanzania)

2.7

EFA goals: Old wine in new bottles?

In addition to questions exploring their knowledge of the EFA goals,
respondents (with the exception of development partners) were also presented with inquiries as to whether they thought internationally agreed
goals were new to Tanzania or not. Almost all respondents agreed that not
all of the goals were new. The aim of providing education for all, and especially for children, was there from even before the Jomtien Conference, but
has now only been given more emphasis and attention. This was evidenced
during an interview with the Education Advisor of Action Aid-Tanzania, as
excerpted below:
Personally, I don’t think they are new. Only that some of them
have been given emphasis for a longer time than others. For
example, in Tanzania, we have been emphasising that children
must go to school and, if possible, continue with secondary
education and possibly climb the ladder up to the university.
But for now we are also keen as to how many should, and whogoes to school. We understand that everyone deserves to get abasic education. This was not there before EFA goals. But
since, when we started the Primary Education Development
Programme, that is, when people started to realise that education is essential for each and every child. Even the issue ofcomplimentary basic education wasn’t there. It has started
recently and UNICEF initiated this as a pilot programme. It is a
new concept but it is within the framework for enrolment.
COBET intended to ensure that every child is captured and isenrolled in school. Of course, something else which is given91

emphasis now and was not there is the issue of disadvantaged
groups like children from the nomadic populations. We
assumed and took it for granted that it is their culture that they
didn’t like schooling. Nobody bothered to think that even thesechildren needed to join school. This has been given emphasis
now. For example, we had boarding primary schools for theMasai people since they are mobile. The government decided
to support them so that their children could remain in school
while the parents move from one place to anther for grazing.
But nobody made a close follow up to see if the children wereactually joining these schools. We are now ensuring that theseschools are fully utilised by Masai children.
We have also introduced Satellite schools for those whostay far away from the school and have to walk long distance.
These will soon be transformed into full-fledged schools. The
issue of the disabled and inclusive education has been given
more emphasis also. We insist that all children should joinschool. It is their right. The emphasis wasn’t there before. So
basically, what I am saying is that, we had the commitment ofproviding education for every child. But nobody really bothered
to see that all children were actually going to school. So I think
it is a matter of emphasis. We are reviving things that were
there, but forgotten.

The TENMET (Tanzania Education Network) Coordinator also had a similar view:No, actually, these goals are not new to Tanzania. Tanzania wasan active member of the 1961 Conference of Education Ministers. And the target of 1980 was also part of the agenda of Tanganyika and, later, Tanzania. And because the target was 1980,
Tanzania felt that we could not reach that target without making a conscious effort, and that is why the Musoma Resolutionof 1974 resolved that 1977 should be the Universal Primary
Education implementation year—and indeed in 1977 we saw
the beginning of the first UPE.

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The Education Advisor of the World Bank shared the same views:
I think, in Tanzania, it is a good example of a country where
EFA was there since independence. You remember 1970, when
the policy was adopted, [and] that there must be UPE (Universal Primary Education) whether it was achieved or not—that issomething else. But the concept was there, and it should not beseen as an international kind of concept. Nyerere was veryclear about this. So I’d say that it’s not new.

In the eyes of the majority of respondents, EFA goals seemed to take focus
just after Tanzania gained independence. Case in point, immediately after
independence in 1961, the government felt that leaving adult illiteracy
untouched would be unwise, for doing so could conceivably delay thecountry’s development for generations. The country’s development depended entirely on the work exerted by literate men and women, and the supplyof such individuals in the human resource pool was already limited. Hence,in 1970, Tanzania launched a comprehensive national literacy campaign toreduce illiteracy among the adult population, and also declared that year to
be Adult Education Year. On the eve of the New Year, former president
Mwalimu (meaning ‘teacher’) Nyerere made an appeal to the nation stressing that adults must be educated before anything else, since their impact on
development would be immediate. In Mwalimu’s view, children were a longterm investment requiring many years before society would directly benefit, as can be seen in his statement below introducing the second Development Plan (1964-1969) to the Parliament.
First, we must educate adults—our children will not have an
impact on our economic development for five, ten, or eventwenty years. The attitudes of the adults, on the other hand,
have an impact now. (United Republic of Tanganyika, 1964)

Generally, this literacy campaign was characterised by a high level of motivation visible among the people and the leadership, stemming from theirequally high expectations. The campaign led to a rapid rise in adult literacy
93rates; where 15 percent of adults were literate at the time of independence
in 1961, the numbers grew to 90.4 percent by 1986.
In 1974 the government launched an ambitious Universal Primary Education programme, which aimed to ensure that every child between the agesof 7 and 13 was enrolled in school by November 1977. Education wasunderstood to be a basic human right, and to any longer delay measuresleading to the provision of education would be politically inconsistent, asthen President Nyerere convincingly stated:
In Tanzania of 1975, 46 percent of the children can not go toschool… And perhaps with no hope of going to school in thenear future. For how long shall we continue like this… Everytime we suggest universalisation of primary education, we pickup our pens and papers and make calculations of expenses andthis frighten us. We are frightened by the cost of educating all
our children.

The idea behind the scheme was to provide education to the masses
through the improvement of adult education, as well as to universal primary education for children. In order to achieve the goal of universal literacy over a short time, the entire population was mobilised. Enrolment immediately expanded as everyday children took advantage of UPE and theopportunity to enrol that it provided. In 1980, the gross enrolment ratio
reached an estimated 93 percent. The number of pupils enrolled in Standard One in 1978 was 878,321, compared with only 248,000 in 1974—anincrease of 354 percent (Sumra, 1995).
In 1978, National Education Act No. 25 (amended in 1995) was passed in an
attempt to consolidate UPE efforts. Section 35 of the Act requires compulsory primary school attendance from every child aged 7-13:
It shall be compulsory for every child who has not attained theage of thirteen years to be enrolled for primary education.
[Also,] the parent or parents of every child compulsorily

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enrolled for primary education shall ensure that the child regularly attends the primary school at which is enrolled until hecompletes primary education.

Parents who had violated the terms of this Act were fined or imprisoned,
although in most cases the issue was resolved at the school level via interaction between parents and head-teachers.
These examples all demonstrate that what was new was the specific articulated concept of Education for All, but not necessarily the structural plans,
activities and means to provision implemented therein. Respondents also
felt that perhaps the collective global effort put into trying to fight ignorance was something quite new in itself. It would seem that the world is
now coming together to ensure that things are handled uniformly, all thewhile reviving what we had only just forgotten rather than re-inventing thewheel.
While it is true that Tanzania had plans to provide education for all, some
respondents admitted that some of the goals were new. These goals included an emphasis on quality education and social and life skills, as can beseen in the following:
The life and social skills. Yeah, that is very new. For the firsttime in 1990 they started talking about it. The other one isschool quality and measurement, which was not emphasised
before, but now is being emphasised.
This issue of measurement of the quality of education which isprovided is new. I think it came in 2000. So this one is completely new.

2.8

Integration and adoption of EFA goals: Rhetoric or
reality?

The information obtained collectively from all respondents indicates that
95

EFA goals have been integrated into making national educational policy.
The following policies were cited:

Education and Training Policy (ETP) 1995
The Education and Training Policy (ETP) of 1995 acts as a form of guidance
for the provision of education and training. For more than three decades,
Tanzania did not have a singular comprehensive education and training policy (URT, 1995). In the past, programmes and practices pertaining to education and training were based on and guided by short- and long-term development plans. These educational plans and programmes underscored theneeds and demands of formal, and vocational, education and training without any mention of integrating them with adult education. Thus, the Education and Training Policy (ETP) of 1995 encompasses the entire educationand training sector. The Education and Training Policy touches on all areasof EFA as it spells out the government’s intent to guarantee that all citizens
have access to primary and adult basic education as per their rights. In
addition to access, quality, equality, equity, adult literacy and even vocational education are emphasized as well. Only one goal, as noted earlier, falls
outside the mandate of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
This is Childcare Development, which is multi-sectoral.

Education Sector Development Programme (Ed-SDP)
The government is committed to policy-based reform and development in
the education sector that is aimed at addressing problems observed whenfacing the provision of basic education. The broadened policy guidelines
for basic education reform are outlined in the Education and Training Policy (ETP) of 1995 and were translated into detailed strategies, plans andprogrammes in the Basic Education Master Plan (BEMP) and the Education Sector Development Programme (Ed-SDP). In order to address theaforementioned problems, the government, in collaboration with NGOs andlocal communities, is determined to ensure access to quality education toadults and out-of-school youths and especially to girls and women.
The broad policy objectives which were to have been achieved by 20022003 include:
96Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania• reduction of the illiteracy rate to 5 percent by 2002;• provision of high quality and sustainable universal basic education;• working towards a 50 percent reduction in the incidence of poverty;• ensuring the realisation of the Basic Human Rights of Education
for All (EFA);• promotion of the acquisition and development of basic knowledge
and functional skills that are relevant to personal development andlife in the community; and• a better educated workforce for a diversified and semi-industrialised economy.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) is a medium-term plan set in
the HIPC debt relief initiative. It is anchored on the premise that sustainable development will only take place as long as education levels increase
and improve. A popular lack in basic education will ultimately undermine
any efforts to improve health and nutrition, and impede efforts to get at theroot of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS. Adult education and non-formal education programmes are being developed in response to the Government of
the United Republic of Tanzania’s overriding goal—that is, reducing poverty
under the guiding framework of its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, 2015.

Tanzania Development Vision 2025
The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 envisages the total elimination ofpoverty by 2025; it therefore accords a higher priority to the education sector, which it perceives to be a cornerstone for socio-economic transformation. Within the context of Vision 2025, education is a strategic agent fortransforming the minds of the people and creating a well-educated nation,
one which is sufficiently equipped with the knowledge and skills needed tocompetently, and competitively, solve challenges in development facing thenation. In light of this, policy has transformed the education system in both
qualitative and quantitative terms, with a focus on promoting a scientificand technological culture from the foundation up, while seeing to high stan97

dards in education provided to children and adults. The Vision emphasizes
the need to ensure that science and technology, as well as awareness of
their role in enhancing productivity and reducing vulnerability to poverty,
permeate the whole of society through the conduits of continuous adultlearning and publicity campaigns.

The Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP)
The Primary Education Development Programme was conceived in 2001
and started active operation in 2002. PEDP is a development plan for primary education with strategic priorities in the areas of enrolment expansion, quality improvement, capacity building, and the optimum utilization ofhuman and material resources, wherein all areas address EFA goals.
The Ministry of Education and Culture (now the Ministry of Education and
Vocational Training) saw a need to develop within the PEDP a mediumterm strategy for non-formal education along with a 2003/4-2007/8 implementation plan, as an important step within the Education Sector Development Programme. This strategy specifically addresses three target groups:(i) 11–13 year old children and out-of-reach/disadvantaged children aged 7–13 who are on the streets, disabled, orphans, out-of-reach and/or fromnomadic communities; (ii) youth 14–18 years of age; and (iii) adults 19
years of age or older. In the case of the age group ranging from 11 to 13
years of age, the objective is to mainstream the children into the formal system after they’ve completed an intensive two-year course that prepares
them for the Standard IV examination. The 14–18 age group undergo athree-year course designed with the objective of preparing them to not only
sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), but also to acquire
skills that they can later use for entrepreneurship and self-employment.
With the adult group, the objective is to provide them with basic literacy,
communication skills and life skills so as to augment their livelihoods andreduce poverty.
The above-mentioned policies show clearly how Tanzania intends to integrate EFA goals within its domestic education policies. But what is more
important is the extent to which these policies are translated into strategic98

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activities with concrete efficacy on the ground. One needs to move beyond
the policy statements to determine real commitment. Seeing as the scope of
this study did not include looking at implementation, we do not have firsthand information from the field. However, information obtained fromresearch reports and interviews, especially those conducted with development partners and NGO staff, indicate that achievement of Education for
All by the year 2015 is still a distant goal. A national report assessing thechallenges posed by, and achievements towards, Education for All (EFA)
over the ten year period spanning 1990-2000 clearly pointed out that,
although Tanzania has strongly committed itself to education for all andsuccessfully set in motion a new course for basic education, progress
towards EFA goals has been much slower than anticipated. The report also
noted with concern that the primary school Net Enrolment Rate (NER) had
dropped from 69.7 percent in 19?? to 56.7 percent in 1998, whereas the literacy rate, which had reached almost 90 percent in 1986, dropped to 84 percent in 1992 and has been dropping at the annual rate of 2 percent sincethen. The literacy rate is currently estimated at 68 percent. The gross enrolment rate improved to reach 106 percent, while the net enrolment rate
stands at above 95 percent. However, the problem with dropout rates still
remains (United Republic of Tanzania, 2003). The analytical frameworkprovided within the EFA Global Monitoring Report also indicates that Tanzania is one of a number of countries at-risk of not achieving the goal
(p.93). Several factors contributing to this have been suggested by various
scholars. Bhalalusesa (2005), for example, observed that since the time of
the Dakar Forum, international and national attention given to the matter
have focused more on getting children into school than adults and youth. A
country’s potential for achieving EFA goals becomes increasingly dubious
under circumstances where some segments of the population have beenleft behind. The Education Advisor for Action Aid Tanzania had the following to say:Yes, the goals are integrated, but the implementation leaves
much to be desired. Theoretically, it has been taken very clearly in the PEDP (Primary Education Development Plan) document and also PEDP has taken on board some of those targets,99

but in practice it is still problematic. I think emphasis has beenon quantitative targets, as pupils had to be enrolled first. But
qualitative issues are underestimated, neglected or forgotten.
To give an example, adult education, though it is part of PEDP
and actually belongs to PEDP, was not given sufficient funding.
But there is a good strategic plan made by the Ministry of Education.
What I would say is that, Yes, they are integrated. If you
look at any policy document you could see the intent is there.
The documents read so well, but the problem is translation into
strategies and implementation. For example even in the Constitution it is indicated that Education is a right for all. But then,what happens to a girl child when she gets pregnant? Unfortunately, there is no policy in place to keep her in school, or analternative programme to enable her to continue acquiring education as a right. The girl is termed as a victim of her own [making]. The right is violated.
Again, look at adult literacy. This is another fundamental
right, which is very well documented in our educational policy
documents. But the government translation and financial commitment is hardly there. In fact, there is no financial commitment and hardly [anything] is taking place. Even the issue ofquality. This is another critical and complex issue. Look atteachers, for example, they live in pathetic conditions. They
also work in critical situations. With the increased enrolment,teachers teach in overcrowded classes. And if you look into thepercentage of children who pass to secondary schools, it is still
very low.

2.9

Influences acting on the integration of EFA goals innational educational policies

The above section has illustrated how Tanzania has been integrating internationally agreed EFA goals into its domestic educational policy. However,this study was also designed to uncover what factors had influenced
domestic integration and adoption of the goals. Post-research analyses of100

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The Case of Tanzania

the findings revealed two main factors.

The global movement
For many respondents this seemed to be an obvious influence. In theireyes, it is only logical that Tanzania conforms to global movements seeingthat it is part of the world. In the context of EFA, the following examples
can be provided:• Tanzania believes in equality and also in each individual’s right to education. This belief has been expounded in the constitution of the Ruling Party as well as in that of the United Republic of Tanzania from1977, later amended in 1984 (although it is not legally enforceable incourt). Both constitutions emphasize equality among human beings,
the need to recognise and value humanity, and maintain equality
before law. The constitution provides for the individual freedom ofpeople, regardless of sex, to pursue education up to any desired level.
Article XI (2) of the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania(URT) states that: “Every person has the right to self-education, andevery citizen shall be free to pursue education in a field of his choice
up to the highest level according to his merits and ability” (URT, 1998,
p.19).
• Tanzania has signed the United Nations Declaration acknowledging
that all humans are equal and deserve the same rights before the law
as well as applied in distribution of social service resources, such as
those including basic education. Tanzania has also signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the
UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education; The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and ratified the United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination
Against Women.
• Tanzania is one of the countries that participated in the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990
and also committed to the Dakar Framework for Action of 2000,
which gave the world and, in particular, African countries a new
impetus to provide educational opportunities to all. Tanzania signed
101

and made a commitment to the implementation of EFA goals. Much
like other countries, Tanzania was required to develop national plansof action in order to achieve EFA goals and further enforce theiradoption into national policies. Therefore, it was no accident that
EFA goals were incorporated into national policy, and national education policy, in particular.
One Ministry of Education official had this to say:I think because this is a global agreement, which Tanzania can
not run away from, we are part and parcel of it so long as wehave signed and ratified both treaties including, for example,
the convention on the right of the child. I think we have an
obligation to ensure that we are implementing the agreement
in one way or another.

It was interesting to note that some interviewees did have a different opinion on this. More often than not, such persons were NGO staff. They felt
that, apart from pressure that came from terms contained in agreements
signed and ratified, a hidden pressure existed somewhere. This pressure
generates from the need for financial assistance. Tanzania, as any otherdeveloping country, is not self-sufficient and, hence, depends very much on
donor funding. These funding institutions, as we noted before, dictate
terms and priorities. Voicing his concern, an interviewee from an NGO had
this to say:
Our governments are usually influenced by those with powers
and resources, but always those with power will be listened to,even though we have given our views, for example, in meetingsof PEDP, all participants listen to the World Bank.
You know what? I think that at the world level, those thathave more resources can forecast and think [further] ahead
than those without. Usually they lead the way, and moveeverybody at their own pace. Therefore, they influenced theintegration.

102

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

Financial dependency
While it is true that Tanzania is part of the global movement, some respondents felt that external influence rooted in dependence on donors can not
be disregarded. As a rule, developing partners take part in meetings and, in
so doing, they can also influence decisions. One could say that the party
who pays the piper also calls the tune. One World Bank interviewee illustrates this point clearly:
Well, there is no organization that has no influence on something, especially if you are financing or supporting to achieve
their goals and objectives. In primary education, for example, I
think the Bank has influenced. Maybe the word ‘influence’ issometimes negative… but has influenced in a positive way. We
have tried to help the government to achieve its goals.

Similarly another interviewee (Development partner) responded that:
This is a good question. I think you know partly that, becauseof the difficulties in dialogue we have with the government,
let’s say during the implementation process of ESDP and PEDP,
there is less influence than we had expected as they refuse to
take up some of our ideas…

Officials from the Institute of Adult Education and CARE Tanzania had thesame observation:
My experience when talking to donors about basic education [isthat] they will pin you to that end, and [with] all their efforts
and their strength of funding, they will argue we are funding
basic education and when we look at it its primary education. It
is the thinking of development partners that basic education is
only primary education, but is that our only requirement? (Official from the Institute of Adult Education)
Our governments are usually influenced by those with powers
and resources, always those with power will be listened to,103even though we have given our views; for example, in meetingsof PEDP, all participants listen to the World Bank member.
Usually they lead the way, and move everybody at their own
pace. (Education Desk Officer from CARE-Tanzania)

The power developing partners have in influencing policy decisions is evident, even when it comes to funding modality. Currently, developing partners have reverted back to funding through budget support and have left
the once-renowned basket funding, famously used to fund PEDP, behind.
Policy makers feel they have no choice other than to dance to the tune. In
this context, even the less powerful developing partners have to comply
with those who have more power.
It is difficult. If another donor is backing me, then the point will
be taken into board. But if it is only myself and I have to fight,
for example, the World Bank, then certainly I will have no say.
(Education Advisor, JICA)

3

Programmes Supported in Relation to EFA Goals

This study focused on matters at the policy-making level and did not directly look at the field to obtain first-hand information on programmes undertaken. Therefore, we must note that all information presented herein was
obtained through interviews with key parties. Several programmes werementioned, although specific responses varied by agency.

3.1

Government supported programmes

Government supported programmes, mentioned earlier, include the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP), its corresponding Complementary Basic Education Programme in Tanzania (COBET) and the Integrated Community Based Adult Education (ICBAE) Programme.

104Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

PEDP
PEDP is a development plan that targets primary education and structuring
strategic priorities in the areas of enrolment expansion, quality improvement, capacity building and the optimum utilization of human and material
resources. The World Bank has yielded substantial financial resources forthe government to put to use in implementing PEDP. Several development
partners have also made available to the government significant financial
and technical resources for the same purpose.
Through its active move to operations, which began in 2002, PEDP has
started to produce positive results. Findings uncovered by a review teamassessing the first two years of PEDP implementation indicate that the primary education sector across Tanzania is experiencing changes. Considerably more children are in school now than ever before (United Republic of
Tanzania, 2003). PEDP was supposed to have ended in 2005, although there
are plans for its extension.

Complementary Basic Education Programme in Tanzania(COBET)
The Complimentary Basic Education Programme in Tanzania (COBET) is apilot project that was designed to ensure the effective implementation ofand success in taking steps towards children’s universal rights to basic education. COBET emerged as part of a stock-taking exercise, part of an
extraordinary global effort coordinated by the United Nations family ofagencies, aimed at measuring how nations of the world faired in implementing the noble goals of EFA. Its overall objective was to contribute to
the provision of basic education to girls and boys currently not in primaryschool, but who ought to be; That is, children 11-18 years of age who have
either dropped out of school or are simply not enrolled. The objective wasto mainstream school-age children into the formal system after having themcomplete a three-year course and sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination, after which they would be free to compete for selection by secondary schools. The target group in this project was divided into two cohorts.
Cohort one comprised 11-13 year olds, and cohort two comprised 14-18
year old children and youth. UNICEF mainly funded the pilot programme.
105

As a pilot programme, COBET was run in 50 centres in five districts(Kisarawe, Songea Rural, Ngara, Musoma Rural and Masasi Districts). The
total enrolment was 1560 children and youth. This coverage was consideredrelatively small compared to the actual number of out-of-school children(estimated to have reached three million by 2002). The Evaluation Reportof the pilot programme (Galabawa, 2003) shows that the COBET pilot project made a useful overall contribution to improving access to and the quality of basic education, and since achievement levels observed in COBET arecomparable with those in formal primary schools, COBET has proven itself
successful. The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Culture within the framework of PEDP has decided to scale up the programme to all
districts in the country, but under its new Kiswahili title, Mpango wa Elimuya Msingi Kwa Watoto Walioikosa, or MEMKWA.

Integrated Community Based Adult Education (ICBAE)
Programme
This programme was only brought up by officials working within the Adult
Education Unit of the Ministry of Education. The rest of the respondents
just mentioned PEDP and COBET. This is not surprising because, to many
people, Education for All is equivalent to education for all children and,hence, access to primary education.
The Integrated Community Based Adult Education (ICBAE) began as apilot project designed to develop and test a learner-centred, communitybased approach to learning for adults and out-of-school youths. This pilot
project was developed in response to the fact that national literacy andpost-literacy programmes were planned through top-down and inflexible
approaches. The curriculum for these programmes did not take into consideration the varied needs and aspirations of learners and communities. Literacy skills training was, therefore, made an integral part of the projects targeting persons who have never learned how to read and write, as well as
neo-literate and out-of-school youths, with a special focus on girls (Bugeke,1997). Reading, writing and numeracy were therefore finely integrated into
ICBAE projects and credit schemes so as to solve community problems.

106Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

ICBAE started operating as a pilot programme in four project areas. Withfinancial assistance from the African Development Bank (ADB), ICBAE
was expanded into eight other districts in Tanzania’s mainland, namely,
Masasi, Newala, Songea Rural, Tunduru, Nachingwea, Liwale, Biharamulo
and Kigoma districts. To-date, this programme has extended to cover theentire country. This study has not focused on assessing implementation tosee how the programme is faring. However, available information (Dachi
and Ndalichako, 2003; Bhalalusesa, 2005) indicates that, while ICBAE waswell received by members of the communities where it was run, programme results could not be sustained owing to low levels of funding. During an interview, the Deputy Director of the Adult Education Unit commented that:…Of course, this is one of the programmes which we havestarted late to implement because of the lack of funds. The first
disbursement came [in] November last year (2004). It was notprioritized. Because, as I said, all funds were released by World
Bank. World Bank had their priority—universal primary education—and that any component which will complement the universal primary education and COBET was supposed to complement primary education. So, COBET also got the priority. But
it was just up to last year, November, when we started getting
funding for the literacy education after seeing that, you know,
there is a big problem.

3.2

Programs and projects supported by NGOs

Through interviews with representatives of different NGOs, it became clearthat NGOs have made considerable efforts to help the government address
problems with out-of-school children and young people in order to ensurethat education is provided to all children. The programmes they mentioned
included the following:

ACTION-AID Tanzania: Satellite Model
With financial assistance from DFID, Action Aid Tanzania pilots the107

ACCESS (Appropriate Cost-effective Centres for Education within the
School System) methodology in two districts in Tanzania to help maximise
learning opportunities available to children in areas without schools. The
central idea underlying ACCESS is the establishment of an appropriate,flexible, and cost-effective basic education programme for children, one
which would operate as both an integral part of, and a feeder to, the existing formal school system. Unlike formal schools, ACCESS adheres to nonformal approaches, with due emphasis on flexibility in all stages of the programme, so as to effectively accommodate the special needs and life conditions of poor communities and disadvantaged children in rural and urban
areas. ACCESS centres operate in more or less the same manner as COBET.
The difference is that they only focus on children out-of-school staying indifficult-to-reach communities so that these future students can be mainstreamed into the formal school system at grade 3 or 4.
According to the Education Advisor, there is now a shift in the way ActionAid is supporting programmes. Currently, alongside their research andadvocacy, they put more emphasis on empowering communities in understanding their right to education, rather than becoming involved in direct
support or implementation of the programmes.

CARE -Tanzania
CARE Tanzania supports several activities in education. The official who
participated in this study indicated that their strategy incorporates their
aim to contribute to success in EFA goals. This is demonstrated by a number of programmes geared towards assisting disadvantaged children accesseducation, as evidenced in the following interview extract.
CARE, as an organization, we are educationists whose strategy
is to contribute to EFA goals. So, in the whole conceptualization, we focus on children who are not in school—especiallychildren in difficult circumstances, including girls. For example, we have a programme running in Tarime which looks at
girls absences in education due to cultural issues. We are also,in Kahama, piloting initiatives which spearhead learning, teach-108Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

ing and leadership as a central role among pupils and teachers,
and literacy skills so as to improve quality of education. We arepiloting how to give schools money to buy books [in order] to
involve community committees.

Additional information relating to programmes offered by NGOs other than
ACCESS and CARE was extracted from documents pertaining to previous
studies (Mushi et al., 2001; Mushi and Bhalalusesa, 2002) and has been used
to summarise the organizations as follows.

Children for Children’s Future (CCF)
Children for Children’s Future is an NGO that was founded by a group of
Arusha residents in 1994 to address the needs of the ever-increasing number of children living in the streets of Arusha. The major objective of CCF is
to try to assist the children in finding a lasting alternative to life on thestreets.
Currently, CCF runs two centres for rehabilitating street children. The firstcentre is known as Tupendane Reception Centre. This centre welcomes all
children under 13 years of age for a period of up to 4 months, during whichtime staff members help integrate them with their families, after addressing
their basic needs. The children also take part in basic literacy and numeracy classes, English, art and sports programmes as well as work at cultivating vegetables for sale to the public; all such activities are offered so as toprepare the children for re-entry into primary school and re-integration into
society.
The second is known as Maji ya Chai Residential Centre. This centre
accommodates children for longer periods wherein they attend primaryschool and, at the same time, learn vocational skills, such as carpentry andgardening vegetables. This enables them to learn how to support themselves in the future. Presently, the centre has 60 children (all boys). The
centre also supports 5 girls at the Longido Girls Boarding School.

109

Sanganigwa Street Children Centre
Sanganigwa is a street children’s centre in Kigoma, run by CARITAS on
behalf of the Catholic Diocese of Kigoma. The Catholic Church in Kigoma
initiated the facility based on their concern over the rapid increase in thenumber of street children in Kigoma town. A study to determine the statusof the street children and the magnitude of the problem was conducted; itfound that there were about 1,000 street children—200 of whom were off
the street (eating, working and sleeping on the street) and 800 were on (eating and working on the street, but sleeping at home). Of these children,
about 30 percent were refugees from Congo, Burundi and Rwanda.
Like any other street children’s centre, Sanganigwa conducts several programmes, such as counselling, life skills training, work, reintegration andliteracy skills.
The complementary basic education programme is a major one, and has
two principal functions. The first is to aid children who might return toschool so that they may learn behaviours needed in formal environments
such as classrooms. The second aim is to augment development in children’s language and numeracy skills. The most important aspect of the former function is determining which children wish to return to school andassist them in succeeding. So far, the centre has managed to register 192
children in the formal system. For those who do not want to go to back toschool, the centre attempts to determine alternative activities it may offer
relating to the development of vocational skills.

Dogodogo Street Children Centre
The centre was established in Dar es Salaam in 1992 and registered as anNGO, known as the German Christian Association, with the objective ofproviding basic needs such as food, medicine and clothing to street children 6-17 years of age. Later, in 1994, demand for more services, including
education, arose. Currently, the centre provides vocational and basic literacy skills, family life education and health-related skills, all adapted to theneeds of street children. The centre has 97 children and has succeeded increating employment opportunities for some of them while others are re110

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

united with their families. Mainstreaming for those who wish to proceedwith primary schooling is allowed up to standard 4.
The Kuleana Street Children Centre was established in Mwanza in 1991 toprovide alternative basic education to street children and youths 6-18 yearsof age. The centre has incorporated in its programme life-skills education
covering health, personal and social development as well as communication skills. The programme has been adapted to suit specific needs of thetarget group, with a focus on empowering children, and promoting children’s rights, self-expression and participation.
The curricular package is split into three specific areas, namely, ‘Me andMyself’ (social skills/personal development), ‘Me and My Body’ (basic personal hygiene/health) and ‘Me and My Future’ (bargaining/budgeting skills,
relationships and sexual health). Since children vary in many different
ways in terms of age, experience, culture and values, the precise nature ofindividual differences is taken into account before the education programme is developed.

Child in the Sun Centre
The centre was established in Dar es Salaam in 1992 as a rehabilitation centre for street children 7-18 years of age. Most of them, about 70 percent,come from rural areas and have been out of school for several years.
The programme aims at rehabilitating street children both socially and economically, and helps them build new relationships with their families. The
programme also seeks to reconstruct broken relationships they have withrelatives and/or their culture. Currently, the centre has 70 registered children in vocational training programmes adapted to their needs and interests. The children also learn Kiswahili, Arithmetic, English, Politics, Sociology, Group Therapy, Life Skills, Business Education, Economics and Geography via individualised learning approaches designed for each individual’ssituation. Vocational training programmes in building, carpentry, welding,agriculture, animal husbandry and gardening are also arranged with thehope that they would provide youth with the skills required for improving
111living conditions in rural areas. The duration of their studies is usually 3-4
years.

3.3

Critical issues and concerns

Analysis of the programmes offered by NGOs reveals a set of critical issues
and concerns. To name a few:
• Programmes offered by NGOs in each region are not centrally co-ordinated by the responsible Ministry for education. Accordingly, most ofthem do not have clearly defined guidelines for operationalisation,
including specific curricula for guiding educational practice. Furthermore, there is no monitoring or quality control mechanism;• NGOs have relied heavily on external funding. Once this assistance iswithdrawn, the overall capacity to implement programmes would beseverely affected. Nonetheless, it is evident from the examples
demonstrated in this report that where and when resources are available, these programmes can be used to provide quality complementary basic education;• Most programmes offered by NGOs are urban-based and enrol moreboys than girls. This, as observed by Mushi et al. (2001), means that
there is an increasing number of children in the rural areas, especiallygirls, who do not attend school;• The centres supported by NGOs utilise untrained instructors. There is
no standard as regards their recruitment. As a result, the methods
used in teaching are mainly teacher-centred and neither encourage
nor nurture the creativity and potential latent in learners.

4

Concluding Remarks

The overall picture one gets from this study is that Education for All is not
something entirely new in Tanzania. Although, the literal concept andexpression itself are mainly associated with the 1990 Jomtien Conference
and the later 2000 Dakar Framework For Action, the mission and vision of112

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

achieving education for all has long existed. This is evident given what has
been recorded in available policy documents as well as what has been
demonstrated through Tanzania’s commitments made in signing and ratifying international statements on education for all. The current global movement is indeed a renewal of these early initiatives. Regardless of this, threenotable issues have emerged from this study.

4.1

Lack of policy continuity in the history of education
development

The first issue of concern is the fact that policy continuity has been lacking
in Tanzania’s history of educational development, a history which specifically necessitated changes to government policy and/or shifts in emphasis.
As observed in earlier sections, immediately after independence, the government became very much concerned with ensuring that education was
equitably distributed to all segments of the population. During the time of
the Late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the first president, for example, Tanzania
was troubled by the fate of more than half of their school-aged children,
who were not enrolled in primary school, during and after the colonial period. One solution was promoting mass adult education campaigns for furthering literacy and numeracy for the young and old outside of school. The
other was promotion of universal primary education in order to ensure thatevery child was enrolled in school, regardless of their class, race, tribe, religion, gender or location. Then-president Nyerere emphasised quality education using the concept or notion of “relevant and functional education”.
Major government resources were allocated to meet the goals of equity, justice, and access for all to primary and adult education.
The education system was turned around by macro reform policies, whichwere increasingly adopted in the mid-1980’s along with sectoral reforms. As
observed in Lema et al. (2004), the very first blow against equity in education and the principle of education for all was the imposition of school fees,
i.e. cost sharing in education, which was one of the conditions for WorldBank loans in early structural adjustment days. The proportion of schoolaged children enrolled in school began to drop immediately. From a peak of113

98 percent gross enrolment in 1980, gross primary school enrolment
dropped to 71 percent in 1988 and rose to 78 in 1997. In 1999, the situation
appeared as follows:• Out of every 100 children of primary school age, only 56 wereenrolled in school;• Of these 56 children enrolled in school, only 38 completed primaryschool;• Of the 38 who completed primary school, only six proceeded to secondary school (Lema et al., 2004).
The present status of basic education in Tanzania has improved considerably since 2001 as a result of the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP). The government’s abolition of primary school fees andmandatory cash contributions led to an immediate leap in enrolment. Net
enrolment rates have increased from 59 percent in 2000 to 91 percent in
2003, and gross enrolment rates have increased from 78 percent to 108 percent during the same period (BEST, 2003). However, the issue of quality
education remains a great challenge.

4.2

Human and structural complications in the process ofdecision-making

This paper has noted throughout that although a numerous targets are
acknowledged within EFA goals, it would appear that primary education
receives far greater attention than other kinds. Other fields such as adultbasic education and special education are marginalised, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. As a result, a segment of the population has been
pushed aside. There is no doubt that sub-sectors like special education or
adult education need to become subject to greater capital investment inorder to recruit competent personnel, and financial support could go a longway in running the programmes. However, harsh economic realities andinsufficient resources mean that success would depend on whether thegovernment in power would voluntarily consent to allocating and distributing necessary resources. We have seen, for example, that during the first114

Chapter 2

The Case of Tanzania

president’s time, the government saw educating children as a long-term
investment. Instead, assisting the adult population was seen as strategically
preferable since adults impact development in a more immediate sense. As
a result, adult education programmes received considerable support form
the ruling party and government leadership. The leadership took part inadult education activities that educated and mobilized people through literacy programmes. Directives were issued calling upon the people to eradicate illiteracy. The ideological basis for the adult literacy programme was,certainly, highly sensible.
Nonetheless, following a growing trend in privatisation and liberalization
policies, the country’s development strategy, which had focused on growthand equity, was abandoned in favour of planned development strategy that
focused more on growth and efficiency. Adult education, including adult literacy, was no longer central to development initiatives and this was reflected in important agenda in political circles.

4.3

Difficulty of conceptualising / operationalising EFA

The difficulty respondents have had conceptualising Education for All, andEFA goals in particular, is the third observation clearly drawn from thisstudy. It seems that Education for All has been viewed in holistic terms toinclude all segments of the population regardless of their physical capacity,age, location, sex and status. Education is viewed as a right for every person. However, when it comes to putting policy into practice, the six goals
on which the concept of Education for All is based do not receive equal
treatment. In operational terms, Education for all has been reduced to theprovision of basic education (primary education) for all children.

115

Chapter

3

The Case of Ethiopia
Ayalew Shibeshi & Yacob Arsano

1

Introduction

1.1

Background

Nearly fifteen years have passed since ‘Education For All’ was adopted in
Jomtien, Thailand. Parties representing major bilateral and multilateral
donors as well as the governments of developing countries once again
mutually agreed upon dedication to EFA goals in Dakar in 2000. Among thesignatory countries at each conference was Ethiopia.
The National Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) Japan is now conducting
a comparative study on the process by which Education for All (EFA) is
being adopted in three African countries, namely, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. This paper is a report for the study on Ethiopia. As such, it has
stayed with research questions agreed and shared with the researchers
from Kenya, Tanzanian, and Japan under this project.

1.2

Research questions

This research aims at exploring the extent to which educational changes
reflect local responses to global economic and political restructuring, andthe extent to which views generated by international discourse are manifested in these changes. Hence, the focus of the research will remain on
the processes and space in which differently motivated actors negotiate
terms regarding how Education for All is to be conceived, thereby ultimate117

ly creating a hybridized version of the agenda. This analysis will thuslyattempt to address the following research questions.
(1) How have actors involved in policy-making in each of the countries,
such as politicians, officials at MOE and other ministries, NGOs, anddonor staff, conceptualized “Education for All”?
(2) Which parties are more conversant of EFA goals and what makes themso?
(3) Which EFA goals are official areas of focus? In what sense are theyclose to or different from what individual respondents perceive “Education for All” to be?
(4) How have external factors influenced the historical development ofconcepts of “Education for All” in each country?
(5) What has actually happened in the process of adopting EFA goals into
educational policies of respective countries?

1.3

Participants in the study

As a first step in selecting study participants, the authors identified four
ministries, five multilateral donor organizations, ten bilateral donor organizations, and five civil society organizations. All organizations were selectedby their perceived relevance to the problem under study.
Since access to the organizations as identified was bound to be difficult, letters explaining the purpose of the study and requesting cooperation weresent to each organization in order that access to research assistants bekindly provided (see Appendix II). Accordingly, contact with a total of 26
individuals was established, of whom 24 were willing to take part in interview sessions. These 24 individuals included seven government officials,
five civil society organization leaders, and seven and five officers frombilateral and multilateral organizations, respectively.
All participants possessed long years of experience. In terms of qualifications, one possesses a bachelor’s degree, thirteen possess master’s degrees
and six hold PhDs. The remaining three did not relate their qualifications.
118

Chapter 3

The Case of Ethiopia

Furthermore, 18 of the participants are Ethiopian nationals, while theremaining six are of foreign citizenship.

1.4

Data collection

Data was collected through interviews conducted in the English language
and using instruments prepared by GRIPS. Participants were informed
prior to the interview about the objectives of the study and the proceduresthat would be followed; the interview itself proceeded only upon their consent.
The interviews were conducted on a person-to-person basis and each was
carried out in the interviewee’s office. A small tape-recorder with a built-in
microphone was used to record the interviews. Only in one case, where agovernment official declined to have his voice recorded, was note-taking
used instead. The recorded interviews were then transcribed, culminating
in a document 252 pages long. The apparent candor on the part of most of
the interviewees makes the document quite an enjoyable read.

1.5

Problems encountered and strategies used inovercoming them

Absence of institutional linkages
Authors were not formally representing their academic institution, Addis
Ababa University; therefore, without an official letter verifying that bothresearchers and the research project had institutional support, the authors
knew that it would be very difficult, in fact impossible, to arrange the necessary interview appointments with organizations and officials. We
approached the chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) for institutional support. Since one author is afaculty member at the department and, furthermore, the research topic isrelevant to policy study relating to research programmes at the PSIR
Department, the department head kindly provided the much-needed letter
addressed to all potential interviewees.

119Difficult political climate
The national and regional elections of May 2005 ended in a dispute between
the incumbent government and various opposition parties. As a result, officials from government organizations, though they had agreed to the interview, were not available. They were either too preoccupied with the postballot political tug-of-war, or they were too unsure of their positions to findthe mental wherewithal for entertaining academic pursuits. When the electoral squabble subsided somewhat in November 2005, some of the government officials had been removed from their posts, and some had been
appointed to new jobs. This far-reaching political uncertainty also affected
potential interviewees from bilateral and multilateral agencies, and evenfrom civil society organizations. As a result, the interview programme took
longer than expected, but patience and an allowance for more time effectively mediated the problem.

2
2.1

Conceptualization of ‘Education for All’
Definition of EFA

When defining ‘Education for All’, interviewees used a variety of phrases
such as “all citizens,” “all sectors of society,” “all people,” nobody is left
behind,” “all groups of people,” “education for every body” and “all people
where ever they live.” There seemed to be agreement among most respondents that ‘education for all’ implies providing education for every humanbeing regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, geographicallocation, etc.
This idea was demonstrated very clearly within the responses to the question “What do you think ‘all’ means when you talk of ‘education for all’?”The following statements taken from interviews illustrate this general conception.
The very concept of “education for all” is beyond the schoolage children because the whole idea of “all” is referring to the120Chapter 3

The Case of Ethiopia

society. [It refers] to all groups of people, as I said—people withdisabilities, the women, the adults, the children in school, thechildren out of school, different nationality groups, different
language groups—without any discrimination based on language, ethnic background, political background and barriers.
Actually, without making distinctions based on any limitations
means education for all citizens.
All means education... [it] must be taken as a right. Any humanbeing should get it.
All means as to me all. We have the school age children who
have to go to school. We have the dropouts, out of school children. We have adults. We have women, mothers, kids and wehave also people on the street. We have also the disadvantaged,
the marginalized, and also the disabled and education for allmeans to reach all these segments of society. You shouldn’t
target one component or one unit [only] like focusing on children or focusing on adults. Education for all means for all, forall of us.
All means for me men, women, children, adults, people in all
walks of life.
Well, all means actually every member of any country... It might
be all boys and girls in a country, or adults, youngsters, it alsomeans children with disabilities, children with economic hardship, i.e. orphans and, well, literally all means any body living ina country as EFA declared, has [a] right to education.

Thus, except for a few individuals who restricted ‘all’ as simply meaning“people who don’t read and write,” “all young people” and “farmers,”
respondents overwhelmingly perceived ‘Education for All’ as an agenda
including every citizen and person in a country.
With regard to the meaning of ‘Education’, however, respondents did
121express a number of different conceptions. These responses can be broken
down into three categories, i.e. basic education, meeting learning needs andeducation as a means for development.

2.2

Basic education

Many of the respondents understood education to mean the provision ofbasic education. One of the respondents stated,.... I think when we say “education for all,” we obviously do notmean that everybody should have a qualification. But, on thebasis of their need [and] their ability, of the time they have andlife style that they are leading, they should have a minimum
level of education, like, for example, to read and write, to be literate and numerate. That is what I see, when I think of education for all.

This view is shared by a number of respondents from among all groups.
The following statements illustrate the same idea.
Well, you may say that education [is] largely, when you say education for all... may be basic education, which will help you
transfer information or a piece of information so that people
will be able to make informed decisions.
Well, education is a broad term, but in this case, when we say
education for all it means a minimum of reading, writing,numeric skills and most importantly also skill[s] which [are]beneficial to the lives of citizens.
Education for me... means basic, acquiring the minimum basic
skills of being literate and numerate, so that you can read andunderstand written materials that are relevant to your daily
life...

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This group of respondents thus understands education to mean basic education, consisting of reading, writing, numeric and some life skills. This
conception, obviously, does not cover all EFA goals since it leaves out atthe very least early childhood care and education.

2.3

Meeting learning needs

A second group of respondents perceived education as a means to meetlearning needs demonstrated by different groups. One respondent evencontends that “education might not be the really correct term” to use. He
further states,...we have tried to capture the needs of all these groups in different nations, ethnic groups, etc., by defining “learningneeds.” Education is actually the response to learning needs ofthese different groups. But the emphasis is actually on learning, and learning starts with the individual and with groups,
and not with teacher. So, education is actually the provision of
the needs of different groups.

Another respondent also takes meeting learning needs to be at the core of
education. He commented,
Well, in the context of “education for all,” what I understand by
the term “education” is, again, an education that essentiallymeets the learning needs of citizens of our country. It has to bevery practical and it has also to meet the different learningneeds, which need to be identified before even providing education.

This view takes into account the idea of education for all as inherently
catering to different groups of people with different types of needs,
because all these needs could not be met by one uniform type of education.
Hence, unlike those who understand education as meaning basic education
alone, these respondents agree that education is providing services to meet123the needs of a plurality of groups, what ever their learning needs might be.

2.4

Education — A means for development

A third category for definitions given by respondents to the meaning of education is comprised of those who viewed it as a means for development.
They placed more emphasis on what is achieved through the provision of‘education for all’ rather than the actual education offered. Their responses
to the question “What do you think education means when you talk of education for all?” include:
Well, education is a key for development. ... Educated people
can change the life of the people. [Thus] the millennium development goals given attention to education for all people [whichis] is also very important and key factor for achieving othergoals of the millennium development goal—eradicating poverty, addressing gender issue, addressing the health and population issue. So education is a key point in this regard for development.
I presume that education is key to creating, applying andspreading new ideas and technologies which, in turn, are critical for faster and sustained economic growth.
[By] education, when you talk [of] saying ‘education for all’, wemean development. Education is a means for development,
and we [call] it “education for all” to achieve it.

The most interesting part of this category of views is that all persons who
responded in this manner were government officials. It might thus be areflection of what the government thinks education is for.
To summarize, the interviews conducted indicate that an agreement on
what ‘all’ means does seem to exist. On the other hand, no universal orcommon understanding of what ‘education’ means does. Some respon124

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dents thought of ‘education for all’ as basic education, others as “a means
to meet learning needs”, and the remainder considered it to be “a means ofdevelopment”.

3

Awareness of EFA goals

The interviews revealed that the level of respondents’ familiarity with EFA
goals differed among groups and individuals. Only two of the seven government officials were able to list the EFA goals, one of them elaborated as follows:
I think these six goals are: expanding early child hood care andeducation, providing primary education for all, promoting
learning skills for young people and adults, increas[ing] adultliteracy, achiev[ing] gender parity and enhance educational
quality. These are [the] six goals.

Three officials equated the goals to universal primary and basic education
alone while another confused them with MDGs. He stated that “They are
the millennium development goals”. The most surprising response was thatof the official who said “I don’t have this statistics, I cannot really entertain
this question”.
The officials interviewed were from ministries that directly relate to education, but do not consider themselves obliged to know all the details. The
following statement gives a general sense of the environment.
Because, as you know, education is mainly for the ministry ofeducation—though it is part of our duty—I am sorry if I cannot
answer this question [since] I don’t have the data.

There is even less familiarity with EFA goals among interviewees from civilsociety organizations. Two of them did not even address the question,
while another two confused them with MDGs.
125

Well, generally the goals are laid out in the millennium goals,
which indicate a bench-mark up to 2015, which also includes
poverty and also reducing illiteracy. So it is generally associatedto the millennium goals. (Deed)I know that there are eight goals in different areas—health,education, eliminating war, narrowing the gender gap (genderdisparity) in education, poverty, hunger HIV/AIDS and also caring for the environment, creating a sustainable environment
and also development of global partnership development.
These are the goals that I am familiar with.

The MDG goals contain only two of the EFA goals. The source of confusion
for these individuals could stem from the fact that they each lead organizations with a broad range of objectives.
Unlike respondents drawn from government official and civil organization
pools, a good number of interviewees from the multilateral and bilateralorganizations seemed well-informed about EFA goals. The following
excerpt, for instance, demonstrates a detailed knowledge of the goals.
Education for all has a lot of components. To be exact, it has
six components. When we say education for all these components have to be seen separately as well as independently. So
when we say education for all, each country has been committed to it [as] was defined in terms of goals. So these goals were
to be achieved by 2015, meaning in 15 years. And these components [were] just simply put, to expand this pre-primary education for instance. Expanding early childhood care and education, especially for the vulnerable and deprived children, thatis one, the other is to achieve primary education... it is not only
free but also compulsory [for] all children of primary school
age. So that is the second goal to be achieved by 2015. The
third component is in terms of gender. Achieving genderequality of primary and secondary education. This was actually
2005. And full equality across all levels through out education
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by 2015. That is the third element of when we say ‘education
for all’. The 4th and 5th are, for me, interrelated because they
deal with youth and adults, so providing life skills for the youth
and adults, kind of on a continuous basis, so that they canadopt new features. And related to this, to increase adult literacy by 50 percent in each of these countries by 2015. And lastly, but which is very critical, is to improve the quality of education

These informants are mostly educators and economists, by profession, whohave many years of experience in Ethiopia’s education system and are now
serving as education advisors and programme officers within multi-lateraland bilateral organizations. Their in-depth knowledge of EFA goals can be
attributed to their educational and professional background, as well as tothe nature of their current jobs.
On the other hand, some interviewees, mostly foreign citizens, from multilateral and bilateral organizations did not seem to have the slightest idea of
how to answer. One senior officer did not even like the question. She said,... All will be found in UNESCO’s policy document. I can give
you a copy and my advice is to read it.

Three others honestly admitted that they did not know the EFA goals. Theirstatements were as follows.
I don’t know actually, I don’t think I should guess on that
because I do not know exactly what the definition is.
Honestly, I can tell you only that I am not completely sure.
I don’t know, I don’t have to get to know all. Well, I think someof the things are set in articles. Equal access for all girls, andspecial training and so on.

127

The general impression that emerged from the interviews is that not manyof the respondents could expound on EFA goals, while some were notaware of the distinction between EFA goals and MDGs. It seems the MDGs
have overshadowed EFA goals.

3.1

EFA goals — Old wine in a new bottle

Although knowledge of the EFA goals seems limited, as shown above, aconsensus also seems to exist among all groups of interviewees that the
EFA goals are not new to Ethiopia. When given the question “Which aspectof the EFA goal(s) is new to Ethiopia?” only one of the seven government
officials, did not answer the question because he had declined to answer
the preceding one. All the remaining six, however, indicated that they did
not believe the goals to be new. Some of their statements follow.
I can’t say these are new, I think the only new thing done is theintensification of implementation.
EFA goals [are] not new for Ethiopia, for that matter, because
Ethiopia... before, during the emperor’s era, had such goals.
Because of different problems, [such as] capacity shortages, we
could not reach [the goals]. Actually, what we are working on
here is that we are working to achieve the EFA goals in coordination with the internal community. That is what the difference is.
Related to education, it is not new for Ethiopia... This international agenda is not new to Ethiopia. International fund[ing] isvery important to run this programme. The new thing is that it
has global priority. (Emphasis is added)

The government officials have expressed their thoughts to the effect thatnone of the EFA goals are new to Ethiopia. The difference they see
between the present and the past, with regard to EFA, is in the level of
implementation, in its being a global priority and in that it is carried out in
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cooperation with the international community.
Respondents from other organizations were not as absolute in their opinions as the government officials were. They indicate some aspects of EFA
that they believe are new to Ethiopia. A senior officer in a multi-lateralorganization states,
Well, as to me almost all these were, in one way or another,addressed in the Ethiopian school system even during the Derg
period. But the compulsory primary education is new, and still
Ethiopia has not adopted this policy of compulsory primaryeducation. Primary education is free but not compulsory. The
other ones, I mean, early childhood development, life skills for
adults, adults literacy programme, gender disparity, quality
education, all these were in the policies of the previous government, and also especially with the new educational training policy. So, they are there, but the question is, are they implemented?

Another respondent from a civil society organization also made a distinction between goals that he thought are new, and those not new, to Ethiopia.
Well, there are six goals. One is education for all, and this is not
new to Ethiopia. Starting from the era of Menilik,1) in the era ofHaileselassie or the provisional Military government ofEthiopia, those three governments were trying to reach thewhole of society and education for all is not new to us. But likegender parity in primary education, reaching the adults, I thinkis new to our situation. Previously we were not concentratingon these issues. We were just trying to provide education.

Both of the above respondents indicate that, with the exception of a few ofthe goals, the idea of EFA was included within polices formulated by previous governments. One respondent from a bilateral organization further
augments this idea by narrating what happened during Ethiopia’s successive regimes and stating,129

...education for all is not new really for Ethiopia. Menlik was
the first one to say, to proclaim, to declare education for all in
Ethiopia. It was very clear he was the first progressive [man]talking about fidel 2)...

A series of proclamations relating to education have been made in
Ethiopia’s history. Menilk proclaimed that “all six year old boys and girls,
should attend school” in 1906. Some years after Menlik’s death, Empress
Zewditu made an education proclamation that obliged parents to send toschool all children between the ages of 7 and 21. In the 1950’s, what wascalled the Ministry of Community Development at the time conducted an
educational programme known as ‘Timhirt Le Hulum’ which, when literallytranslated, means ‘Education for All’. In the 1960’s, a programme known as‘Ye Fidel Serawit’, or ‘Army of the Alphabet’ was launched with the motto“Hulum Yimar” (Let all learn). Considering all of these facts, one of the
respondents commented,
The scale is new... the deadlines may be new... the name EFA,
the designation EFA, the nomenclature EFA is new...[there]
may be a little bit of new elements, modifications, expansions,but education for all is not really new for Ethiopia.

This particular respondent implies that the concept of EFA may not be new
to the whole of Africa either. He states,
Addis Ababa was a seat of the ministers for planning the 1961
conference, organized by UNESCO, which established a deadline to achieve UPE in 1980. And every government, of course,
signed. Everybody sang. Everybody danced to the music. But
the deadline came and went. But the target was not met.

He concluded by saying,
It is the practice, it is the organization, it is the provision andthe scale that is new. Of course people change and we think

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this is new. No! We are talking about really, essentially old winein new bottles.

4

EFA Goals Stressed Differently in Policy and
Implementation

The EFA goals are: 1) Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, 2) Ensuring that by 2015 all children have accessto complete compulsory primary education of good quality, 3) Equitable
access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes, 4) Achieving 50
percent in levels of adult literacy by 2015, 5) Eliminating gender disparities
in primary and secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender equality
in education by 2015, and 6) Improving all aspects of education. One of thebasic questions posed to all groups of participants was “Are the EFA goals
integrated into the government’s educational policy? If yes, what do you
think influenced that integration? If no, why do you think it is not integrated?”
All participants responded positively to the question, albeit with different
opinions regarding the degree of integration. However, one participant, anofficial of a bilateral organization, responded, “Not at all, I think they haveverbally accepted [and] signed [but] not implemented”. Asked for the reasons why the goals were not integrated, he commented as follows:
Well, we say sometimes Ethiopia has a certain reform resistance. It is very difficult. You have a very long culture and people, despite their difficult situation, say why should we change?
We have always been like this. So it is very difficult to summon
this problem to the people to change, and this is the experience we have. They simply say, “We have always done like this,why shouldn’t it go on?”The remainder of the participants indicated that EFA goals have been integrated into the government’s educational policy, yet, they explain, differ131

ences can be observed with regard to how EFA goals are integrated. Twogovernment officials reflected that,[T]he education policy of Ethiopia addressed all these goals.
According to our education policy we cover all the EFA goals.

A participant now working for a multilateral organization, but who had
many years of experience in the Ministry of Education, maintains that EFA
goals are integrated, but in a different way than commonly seen in manyother countries. He comments,
Yes. It is integrated... I know that well! EFA, in other countries,
usually [has an] EFA coordinating body [and] coordinating
office. But in Ethiopia, there is no as such...body organizing
EFA. Here, what is done is EFA is integrated in the Education
Sector Development Programme (ESDP). Well, for that matter,
the Dakar Declaration is also in the strategy. It mentions that, it
does not mean that each committee, as long as countries havesector programmes, can incorporate EFA in it and then implement it. So, what Ethiopia is doing is that it has education sector development programme; already, the two programmes
were implemented and now the third one has started. So moreor less, you know all these issues. Programmes are incorporated in the sector development programme.

Another participant reinforces the same point when he stated,...Government says, “My education policy, my education sector
development programme is EFA... What takes care of EFA? I
don’t need a separate programme for EFA. My policy, my programme is all-inclusive.” Because other countries have beenrequired to produce, to write a separate EFA policy and they
have done [this]—Ethiopia argued this is my document for
EFA.

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What stands out from the views presented above is that no separate officehas been established to act as a responsible body, and no independent policy document has been written; EFA goals are instead incorporated in the
ESDP. But how many of the goals, and which ones, have been integrated
into the ESDP? Most of the participants did not think that ESDP covers all
the goals.
The Education Sector Development Programme seemed to focus on
increasing enrolment. One participant elaborates,...[the focus of the] education development programme was primarily on increasing access. To achieve your B.E. (Basic Education)...[you must] somehow get more children to school. Yes.
That has been the drive. That has been the interest. That iswhere a reasonable amount of the resources went. It was not
as much as was really agreed on in the international forum.
Girl’s education, yes. It is part of the education policy and programme. Adult education, as I said before, is not. In fact, thelast minister, the one just replaced, about a year ago said very
openly, told the donors adult education is not her priority...
Quality has also been very problematic for the government
because of limited resources.

A senior officer in a multilateral organization also points out that adult education and early childhood education are not given the attention they
deserve. She comments,
Well, in the past you would say emphases have been shifting.
For instance, education of pre-school, early childhood care anddevelopment, and adult education. Ethiopia had a very good
Faculty of Education, Department of Adult Education, Adult
Literacy in Addis Ababa University, and then at one point focus
was shifted from that one to another, and then the department
was almost closed, I don’t know. And now effort is made torevise it because if you want to achieve EFA goals, you also
have to focus on adult literacy. If you want to have quality edu-

133

cation, ...reduce the school dropout rate. If you have to go torural Ethiopia, parents who don’t know, who have not gone toschool, [their] appreciation of school education differs, fromparent to parent. And the way they emphasize education for
their children is also different. So, if we have to achieve EFA
goals then we need to focus also on early child education andadult education so that we have a comprehensive and articulated vision and implementation of programmes in education.

Ethiopia is now in its third ESDP programme, which the government claims
also serves as the documented form for EFA. The latest ESDP document
seems to cover all EFA goals, except maybe compulsory education. But theemphasis is still on increasing access and bringing gender equity. The
response of one participant is quite revealing. He stated,...the third ESDP includes all these EFA goals in terms of, say,pre-primary education is there; the 2nd, increasing enrolment
rate of primary education, is there; so is to achieve the goal by
2015; gender is there; and emphasis on gender in promoting
girls’ education, for instance; and adult education and literacy
is also mentioned in the ESDP document. Of course, quality
education is cutting across all sectors, it includes these [as a]whole. All these EFA goals and MDG goals are part of ESDP.
The point is it doesn’t mean all these goals have been accorded
equal priority. The priorities are in two goals. UPE and gender.
These are the priorities. Less emphasis is given to pre-primaryeducation. Adult education and literacy, although mentioned
in the document, are given less emphasis actually.

The quality of education has now reached a sad state, mainly because of
the push for increasing enrolment. The new (3rd) ESDP however seems toprovide it with adequate attention. One informant elaborates the situation
as follows:
The new Education Sector Development Programme...pays
direct reference to the quality of education, thanks to the push

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from several donors. I don’t know, this may be my personalbias, [but] maybe it was a campaign trick. [The] government
was also talking very loudly, very clearly towards the end of lastschool year about the quality... I don’t know whether that was apolitical game or not.

Education was one of main issues of debate during the May 2005 elections,with the opposition seriously criticizing the quality of education. Maybe asa result of the above circumstances, on top of the push from donors, quality
seems to have been put on the agenda.
Education in Ethiopia is offered at no cost up to the end of general secondary, but it is not compulsory.
Compulsory education requires a law defining the admission
age and defining the duration of primary school, in otherwords, the time children are expected to stay. We don’t haveanything, anything appropriate to carry on this.

Although vast strides have been made in increasing accessibility, primaryeducation has not yet been made compulsory. Generally, from among thestated EFA goals, UPE, girls’ education and, more recently, quality are
stressed above all others in the ESDP. On the other hand, 1) Compulsory
education, 2) Early childhood care and education, and 3) Adult literacy,
have all received less attention. What influenced the integration of the former three EFA goals and why were compulsory education, early childhood
education and adult literacy neglected? Respondents provided varying reasons for both cases.

4.1

What influenced integration?

The facts as shown above have demonstrated that UPE, gender equality
and, more recently, quality of education have been stressed in education
policy. What brought about this integration? The views expressed show
some variations.
135

Government commitment
Most of the government officials interviewed attribute the integration of
EFA goals to the commitment demonstrated by the government. The following responses were given to the question, “What do you think influenced the integration?”
It is the government’s plan.
Well, I think since Ethiopia is one of the signatory countries foreducation for all, the country put in place its commitment by
developing education and training policy...(Head of a research
institution under the MOE)
The indigenous government has the right to design its own
educational policy. No external influence. No intervention. Of
course, the donor groups, the multilateral and bilateral donors
have their contribution in supplying resources. (Official of Ministry of Federal Affairs)
Because Ethiopia has committed itself and signed... to achieve
the millennium development goals as far as education is concerned. (Official of Ministry of Finance and Economic Development)

There seems to be a consensus among the government officials that EFA
goals were indeed integrated owing to the commitment of the government.
Obviously, their position as government officials would make their opinion
as such understandable. In a government where coercion and power are
strategic means to implementing policy, one can hardly expect to find freely
flowing information, or officials honestly speaking their mind.

Pressure from the international community
Responses given by interviewees hailing from civil society organizations to
the question “What do you think influenced the integration?” were diametrically opposite to those expressed by government officials. A Deputy Executive Director of the local branch of an international NGO, comments,
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I think the first is the pressure from donors. You know, when
you examine various publications that come out, because
donors now are getting more serious and are taking MDGs as ayardstick for measuring progress in each area. There is a verystrong push and pressure from donors.

Addressing the same question, a staff of a bilateral donor organizationreflected as follows:
Well, first of all it is internal commitment. The education for all
movement has become, so to say, your movement. And
UNESCO is the lead UN organization on the implementation of
education for all and has provided a lot of mechanisms.

Another respondent from the civil society sector boldly comes to make thepoint that donors influence decisions through the provision of funds. He
states,It (the government) always says that it is there to materialize
and to bring about the desired results of either the EFA goals
or the Millennium Development Goals. I think the government
has accepted these for various reasons. One, Ethiopia cannot
exclude itself from the international community and, two, there
are donors giving us money, giving our government money, andto please these donors the government has to abide itself bysome internationally established rules and regulations andactivities.

This respondent further elaborates that pressure from donors is not only
strong, but also, on the whole, fail to be uniform, thus making choices ofprogrammes difficult. He comments,
For instance, donors will ask you to do something. Unless andotherwise you accept that, they won’t give the money. Since
we are poor, we have to accept what the donors are saying, and137

there are quite a lot of pressures. Some donors will say focus
on primary education, another says focus on TVT, and others
will say focus on higher education. So, if you want to get themoney you have no choice. So, as to me, there are a lot of elements in giving money [to the] government and putting pressure on it.

An academic comes out very clearly in declaring that:
The integration is influenced by the pressure from the international community, pressure from the World Bank... [P]ressure
even from UNESCO really affects the decision of the government to make statements to adopt declarations, conventions
etc... Taking your words that EFA goals are integrated to thegovernments education policy—if it is done, that is because of
the pressure from various organizations like the World Bank
and BESO.

This respondent even suspects that various education sector development
programmes are not produced by the MOE staff itself. He states,
I am not sure if ... 10 of [the officials], in the Ministry who canwrite that kind of document. I challenge that because many of... the senior people—competent people—have left the Ministry.

Furthermore, he resents the fact that influence is often asserted without abasic understanding of the problems of the country. He comments,
But, at the same time, we tend to forget the hard peak of thecountry, how vast the problems are. Because Ethiopia is a big
country, it is very complex. [There are] 72 million people, some70 or so ethnic groups, religion, the diversity of the land itself
and then the population growth. So when sometimes decisions
are made, when authorities make decisions, I get worried that138

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The Case of Ethiopia“Do really they comprehend how complex this country is?”Ideas and influences can come from anywhere, but are thoroughly discussed and debated before being adopted. The above respondent continues,
I feel that the culture of debate and discussion does not exist
well. What must be done is: you research, you debate, you discuss and take the better option that works. What is really goodfor Ethiopia? What has worked for other countries in similar
situations etc? This culture of debating, discussing researchand taking alternatives does not exist.

Generally, the interviewees from civil society perceive the integration ofsome EFA goals to be a result of the influence of the international community and donors. In addition, some of them indicate that not all are basedon the needs and realities of the country.

4.2

Two-way interactions

Much unlike the views vocalized by both government officials and civilsociety interviewees, respondents taken from multilateral and bilateralorganizations kept to the middle ground. They indicated that interaction isa two-way street, and the fact that some EFA goals were integrated into
education policy is a result of this interaction. As an illustration, excerptsof responses given by four interviewees from multilateral organizations andthree from bilateral organization follow in order below.
The push-factor from the state then. There is this push frompartners, development partners, to give education a priority[within] governments over all programmes. I mean, these are
the reasons behind accepting EFA goals by Ethiopia and othercountries. (Staff of a multilateral organization)
Definitely there is an aspiration within the government... I

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think, essentially it is within, but one cannot say there is not
any influence from the outside world. (Staff of a multilateralorganization)
It is the realization that education is a right. Ethiopia is like all
the other [signatory of EFA goals]. So, if it signed the agreement, it means it is convinced, it is aware, it knows it is important and also agreeing, it is respecting education is right. (Staffof a multilateral organization)
I think the government itself is committed... So the commitment is there, but also the source (resources) most of the timecomes from donors; they have also their own influence. I
mean, we cannot say simply because of commitment. There is a
two-way interaction. (Staff of a multilateral organization)
I think [it is] both the will of the government and the pressure
from donors. Especially two donors. UNICEF and UNESCO
are the kind of...leading donors to achieve this EFA. So donors
influence very strongly. I believe. But at the same time, I could
feel that the Ministry of Education is working in this issue quite
seriously. (Staff of a bilateral organization)
It is government initiative, government owned and driven.
Ours (donor agencies) is only to facilitate, ours is only to provide technical assistance, and ours is only to provide the funds.
And of course yes, we try to influence policy through as I said
before, the monthly donor-government meetings and also
through joint review missions. (Staff of a bilateral organization)
The first thing is the initiation of the government. But also theeducation donors or some body else in education component orin education sector who is really to assist. (Staff of a bilateralorganization)

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4.3

The Case of Ethiopia

Why have certain EFA goals been de-emphasized?

Ethiopia was one of the participants in the World Conference on Education
For All (WCEFA) held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. It also renewed its
commitment to the same goal in Dakar in 2000. Accordingly officials from
the MOE view the EFA goals as items handled within the ESDP—the sector-wide programme—in an integrated manner. The document itself statesthat “the six major components of EFA are given prominence through out
the proposed programme of action.” Despite this statement in the document, however, interviews seemed to evidence that equal attention is notprovided to all EFA goals. Compulsory education, early childhood education, and adult literacy are not given the emphasis they deserve. Three reasons for this imbalance emerged from the interviews.

Lack of resources / Priority
Ethiopia is a very poor country with a large population, each person ofwhich has several basic needs that come before education. A comment by
one respondent tells it all:
There is an increasing demand for education in the face of various challenges. There are still quite many people who are notproperly fed. It is very basic and a question of survival. At thesame time, there are quite many people who could not haveaccess to school simply because of displacement of their families [and even] of the children themselves—due to conflict, due
to draught, due to poverty—from one place to another. Thereis a serious threat actually in this country. There is a serious
threat of poverty, a serious threat of instability. In this circumstance, actually, the idea of education for all and the idea of
quality education face very big question and, ultimately, it boils
down [to the matter] that education does not serve the purpose
it intends to serve.

Addressing all these needs would require that extensive resources andextremely difficult choices would have to be made in order to allocate141enough funds to cover all EFA goals. Hence, what is to be implemented
needs priority. One respondent states the point explicitly,
The priorities are in two goals, UPE and gender...basically, it isbecause of resources. The government cannot afford [all], andin the [ESDP] document the private sector is encouraged toparticipate in pre-primary education, adult education and literacy.

With regard to early childhood education, the ESDP admits that it plays apositive role in developing the learning potential of children. It, however,limits the government’s role in policy development and standard setting.
The government undertakes only four activities in this respect, i.e. developing curriculum, providing supervision, setting standards for facilities andissuing licenses for the institutions. The actual work of establishing theinstitutions themselves is left to the private sector, NGOs and the community. The parents are responsible for supporting their children by paying
tuition fees and providing educational materials. Obviously, this cannot be
education for all.
The ESDP has also provided some working space for adult and non-formal
education. It has designated three sub-components, namely, a programme
for out-of-school children 7-15 years of age, a literacy programme for youth
and adults over 15, and offering basic skills training to youth and adults inthe community skill training centers. It also emphasizes that non-formal
education can be a shortcut and a cost-effective alternative way of providing basic education. In practice, however, none of the government budget
is allocated to these programmes and they must be initiated by the regional
education bureaus in tandem with the contributions of community and
NGO involvements.
The education programme specialist of a multilateral organization looks at
the omission of some goals as a question of priority. She stated,
It is a question of focus and prioritizing and what kind of trade142

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The Case of Ethiopia

offs [there are]. So you cannot maybe implement simultaneously everything, but you have to prioritize. Even though you aretrying simultaneously to implement, you have to prioritize andknow where your trade offs are in the context of the country,
because education has to be financed... And [Ethiopia] is a
developing country and you have to emphasize the implementation of EFA goals within the socio-economic context of thecountry, and the ability within the reach of the country.

Thus, the argument is that Ethiopia’s economic capacity has prevented itfrom implementing all of the EFA goals.

Emphasis magnified by MDGs
One line of rationale that emerged from the interviews was the fact thatMDG goals may also be at the source of the emphasis ultimately placed on
UPE and gender equality. The MDG goals include only two of the EFA’s six
goals, and these two—universal primary education and the promotion ofgender equality—are exactly the aims that have been put ahead of all else
since Education for All’s early days. On respondent comments,
First, to say further, on the same year in 2000, two of these
Education for All goals—universal primary [education] andgender equality—were adopted in the UN millennium Development Goals Declaration the same year 2000. Although ‘education for all’ has six components... these goals were considered
as more critical and adopted in the MDGs to be achieved by thesame year in 2015.

Once the UN selects two of the EFA goals as being ‘more critical’, thatalone would in a way effectively reduce the status of the others to a subordinate position, a move which would not happen without catching theattention of many governments. An Ethiopian national staff of a bilateralorganization explains its direct impact,...because of the pressure from the millennium development

143

goals, education is widely regarded here as schooling. So,
when a government has an education sector development programme like [the one] Ethiopia has, I will say they have aschooling sector development programme, not education... sothere is the international pressure related to the millennium
development goals. The millennium development goals don’t
speak about adult education, they don’t speak. Achieve universal primary education, beka,3) nothing. So, this is also anothersource.

Lack of policy continuity
Another reason that surfaced during discussions, particularly with regard
to adult literacy, was the lack of policy continuity and the tendency of eachruling administration to start again from scratch with every regime switch.
Ethiopia was under the rule of a military government from 1974 until thepresent government overthrew it in 1991. The military government hadlaunched successive literacy campaigns reaching every nook of the country
and gained international recognition for its ability to profoundly alter theliteracy landscape. Unfortunately the campaigns ceased with the change ofgovernment.
The director of a bilateral organization, who has been working hard torevive adult education, comments,
We were not working in Ethiopia during the Derg 4) time. So, formost of us, it was a new chapter after that. You know that a lotof things had to start right from scratch and, that is, it used to
be a big challenge and still it is a huge challenge.

An academic, laments the lack of policy continuity and circumstances
faced when starting from scratch. He stated,
One of our problems is not only in education; [it is foundrepeatedly in] administration, in decision-making, in various
issues—we don’t look at what existed, [or] build on what exist-

144

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The Case of Ethiopia

ed [to] improve on what existed. So, what happens with new
education policy, new administration etc.? We tend to knockout what existed and start literally from scratch... The education policy, for example. All of those mesrete timhert,5) all
those gomatta,6) all of those experiences should have beensome lessons, should have learnt from all those rather thanreally starting from scratch or criticizing only, or only finding
the weak.

Basic education materials had been developed in 15 vernacular languages,
and more than 500 community skills training centers were established during the Derg era campaigns, but all these were ignored after the change ofgovernments. The literacy programme was perceived as the military government’s brainchild and, as such, it was left to expire with its parent. A
national staff of a bilateral organization explains the situation succinctly as
follows:...the earlier government had adult literacy as its flagship. And
I must say, in general, what the earlier government has done islooked down on as something dirty, not worth talking [about],
not worth touching aba cheguare.7) That is very unfortunate.

To summarize, while compulsory education, early childhood education andadult literacy have received less attention, the reasons for this, according to
the interviewees, are evidently rooted in Ethiopia’s lack of resources (andthe subsequent need for prioritizing), pressure to meet certain MDGs andthe lack of policy continuity.

5

5.1

How Far was Decision-Making in EFA Influenced
by External Factors, Local Concepts, and the Local
Way of Doing Things?
External influences

The EFA’s six internationally set goals, namely, 1) Expand early childhood
145care in education, 2) Provide pre-primary education for all, 3) Promotelearning skill for young people and adults, 4) Increase adult literacy, 5)
Achieve gender parity, and 6) Enhance educational quality, have been
adopted and effected by both the government and the communities. In a
respondent’s statements, the following came out rather clearly:
Well, in my opinion, Ethiopia is undertaking in its education
system six of the goals. But...there may be priority which canbe given by the Ethiopian education system according to theoverall development of the country, unless otherwise the six
goals are undertaken in our country... So, these goals areincluded in...five-year education sector development programme strategies.

According to this respondent (staff of a bilateral organization), none of the
EFA goals are funded by donors, “...all the education sector development
programmes [and] programme components are funded by collaborative
arrangements [between] donor and government”. But these goals are not
new to Ethiopia. For instance, the topical aims of poverty reduction, narrowing the gender gap and education for all have been a consistent part of
the national move to make improvements in the education sector, despite
the numerous revolutionary changes in the regimes and political systems
over the past 30 or so years. According to the Director of an institution
under Ministry of Education, the EFA goals are, rather, taken as a challenge
to be overcome. He explained, “it is the government which allocates budget
for its [EFA] activities. Whatever funds are given as budget and support arealso provided to us through the government. I think there may be special
funds for the pastoral and semi-agriculturalists”. One can surmise from theabove response that funding for EFA goals is not entirely directed from theoutside, but rather internally managed to a great degree as well. International agencies such as the European Union, World Bank, Africa Development Bank, UNICEF and UNDP provide budgetary support to Ethiopia’s
Education Sector Development Programme. Twenty percent of the national
budget goes to the education sector. Hence, International Agencies do notdirectly support the EFA.
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The Case of Ethiopia

All respondents from multilateral, bilateral and civil society organizations,on the other hand, made it clear that they, in their positioning as external
institutions, have no direct influence on EFA. However, that they are invited to participate in discussion forums relating to the Education Sector
Development Programme, which is prepared by the Ministry of Education.
An Education Project Officer of a multilateral organization, explains,“There is always donor-Ministry of Education meetings monthly in the Ministry of Education... All donors, including [ours]...discuss with the Ministryof Education whenever there are policy issues to some extent.” He further
explained that donors also take part in the joint annual review mission toevaluate the performance of the Education Sector Development Programme. Similarly, a social development specialist in another multilateralorganization in Addis Ababa, explained that direct external influence is no
more the fashion of the day. He said, “I think there is a trend among development partners, that development should be led [and] owned by eachcountry, and gone are the days where any donor intervenes [in] the policymaking decisions of each country”.
Two arenas often subject to external influence, especially by multilateraland bilateral organizations, can be noted. One is involvement in policy formulation forums. At that stage, they may offer ideas and lend expertise, as
evidenced in the special tasks exercised by UNESCO. Ministries foundinvolvement at this level to be important so that they could indirectly negotiate financial support for policy, and external partners used this stage toexact influence on policy. The second arena of influence is the ESDP policy
evaluation stage since performance evaluations provide feedback that often
dictate whether the partner will continue to align itself with the programmeor not.

5.2

The influence of local concepts

According to a respondent, all EFA goals are integral to the Ethiopian Education Sector Development Programme. EFA goals have also been incorporated into the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Programme. She explainedthat “the EFA goals are included in...the five years education sector devel147

opment programme strategies”. In terms of the curricular integration of
EFA goals, another respondent explained as follows:... we are using different modalities, particularly in education.
... [W]e have started alternative basic education for the pastoral[ists] and semi-agriculturalists. We are also going to initiate
a programme for those children who could not go to school at
the age of seven, so that they could complete their education ina shorter period. ... [W]e are also dealing with non-formal education and also developing a curriculum for special needs education, not only for the handicapped, [but] for special needs ingeneral, because if you are talking about EFA goals in education, you have to talk about also special needs education, special needs groups...”According to a respondent from the Ministry of Federal Affairs, bilateralagencies like USAID and GTZ are mostly involved in providing support incapacity building to regions, especially the “four emerging regions”, i.e.,Afar, Benishangul-Gumz, Gambella and Somali. These four regions are classified as “more backward in development” and categorized as needing special support from the federal government. They have been placed under theparticular mandate of the Ministry of Federal Affairs.
The Ministry perceives EFA as pertaining to more than just literacy; itbelieves that EFA should include programmes in such essential fields as
agriculture, health, the environment and HIV/AIDS. According to the Federal Affairs Ministry, Education for All should aim to improve the people’s
livelihoods. Hence, any EFA operation must be adapted in consideration of
local conditions. It will also inevitably have to compete with the plethora ofexisting traditional educational systems. In the predominantly Orthodox
Christian and northern highland areas in Ethiopia, children—especiallyboys—are taught how to read, recite and sing hymns of Biblical origin.
They have been taught this way for centuries. But such training does not
usually extend to the learning of writing skills, numeration or production
technologies. Production skills are learnt in family settings and accumulat148

Chapter 3

The Case of Ethiopia

ed through life experience. Every person in the family is engaged in a production activity where some kind of skill is employed and, thereby, learnt.
According to the division of labor in that traditional community, children
and younger persons assist their elders while simultaneously learning andacquiring skills through doing the work. This kind of learning is not usuallyconceived as literacy knowledge. In the Ethiopian cultural setting technicalskills such as metal work, weaving, leather-work, and pottery, for instance,are each assigned based upon social segregation—that is, a system where
work is determined through caste or occupation groups.
In the lowland pastoralist areas (especially among the Afar and Somali
communities), literacy was carried out to only a limited extent for a few
select Moslem families. Like in the highland areas, this form of literacy ispassed along for the express purpose of reading the Koran and reciting religious scriptures. Traditional popular skills in the lowland arid and semi-arid
areas of Ethiopia relate to livestock and the environment. These theninclude: livestock breeding, breed selection, human and animal health, livestock feed and watering points, and strategies for seasonal mobility withselected or whole herds. Patterns of relations with neighbors in conflictand peace are also very important aspect in local education for pastoralist
areas. And, just as in the highland areas, skills pertaining to productive
technology are learnt by individuals born or assigned to occupation groups
or caste in the pastoralist lowland areas.
Education for people living in the geographically peripheral regions ofEthiopia has been planned in a special way. The geographically peripheral
regions of the country comprise about 61 percent of the nation’s territory,
and are inhabited and tended to by pastoralist communities. The pastoralists in Ethiopia move livestock on a transhumance basis between pastures.
One respondent suggests that their living circumstances would require an
adaptive system for imparting education, which would have to be developed in order to suit the population groups in the in the arid and semi-arid
areas of the country. According to him, the government would have to: 1)
adopt a means for the alternative basic education, 2) prepare a modular
educational delivery system to move with the people, 3) adopt a flexible
149

educational system applicable to the life circumstances of the mobile pastoralist communities, 4) adopt an integrated educational system which
combines agriculture, health, technical skill training, etc., and 5) provide
special funding for pastoralist educational development.
The above gives more of a curricular plan for development incorporating
the particular circumstances of mobile communities in the arid and semiarid peripheries of Ethiopia. There is no evidence from the responses of theinterviewees that any such curriculum has been put into effect as part ofefforts to meet EFA goals. The fact that a curriculum for mobile communities has been thus perceived indicates the potential for employing an adaptive educational programme to achieve EFA goals in the arid and semi-arid
regions of Ethiopia.
According to a respondent from the Ministry of Federal Affairs, the Ministry carries the mandate to head overall development of the peripheral
regions. The emphasis of education there is not on meeting EFA goals, butrather on augmenting human power development at a higher level. Whenpresented with the question “What programmes are funded by donors in
relation to EFA goals?,” this respondent explained as follows:
Yes, let me [re]call what we have done in the last ten years. The
UNDP is the major donor agency. UNDP has funded over 200
million Birr to the regions. Regional capacity building, which
includes Woreda [district] and zonal administrative and professionals, which are included in this programme... The programme [was] multi[purpose]. We have advanced training toeach region. Each region has developed and established management institutes... Based on this we have trained more than
250 thousand administrators...

When asked “How is the Ministry’s programme aligned with EFA goals?”, heresponded,... As long as capacity building is concerned, yes, EFA aligns with
our programme. Our programme aligns with EFA goals. ... Edu-

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The Case of Ethiopia

cation is part of capacity building, manpower development is different.

According to the same respondent, the change in the operationalizing of theadministration in the mandated regions is more critically and immediately
important than EFA. He explains,
Ten years ago our personnel in the regions and also here, there
was no understanding that the lower management is accountable to the upper management. The lower management thinks,“we are equal, we fought for freedom and were in the field asguerrillas and we had the same status and we did not obligate
to the above management. There is no above management,
there is no middle management, there is no bottom management.” That was the thinking we had. ... The Woreda staff
never responded to the zone. ...the zone never respond to theregions, and the like. After we assessed the problem we started
giving the training. Different [kinds of] training, [such as] leadership training [and] management training. [Because of thesecapacity building trainings, local government personnel] understood the chain of command, and whether someone is at thebottom line or upper line, all of them work for the same development goals. They understood that. They reflected what they
have done before. And that has brought smooth changes,
smooth understanding, and smooth work processes.

As can be seen above, the Ministry of Federal Affairs’ response shows thatit has given more priority to the training and upgrading of currently educated human resources for the immediate purpose of local and regional administration than it has to EFA goals. The ‘liberation’ fighters were assigned to
the local and regional administration posts when the EPRDF regime took
over political power in the country. The government needed to train andreorient their inclinations from fighting in guerrilla forces to handling civil
administration.

151

6
6.1

What Factors Characterize EFA in Ethiopia?
Political factors

Responses given by interviewees have taught us that the Ethiopian government has been committed to EFA. According to an advisor to the Ministerof Capacity Building, every eligible citizen should receive basic education
as a [matter of] right. In order to more effectively act on this commitment,
four specific plans have been laid out at the national level. 1) The Ministryof Education has a policy of reaching out to all children at the age of seventhrough the formal education scheme. 2) The government provides an education to those who are out of school through its non-formal education
scheme. 3) The government provides an education to children who cannot
go to school at the age of seven through its stop-gap education scheme(with about one million candidates in this category). 4) The government
provides and facilitates education through its special curriculum. The special curriculum is designed to enable learners to complete primary education in a shorter period of time than the formal system. The special curriculum is a way to provide education that engages learners under the premiseor assumption that they have acquired substantial levels of life experienceand practical knowledge already.
The integration of EFA into the formal education system is not donor-driven, but, rather, based on the plan and budgetary of the government. Education is lead by the sectoral developmental programme, which sets priorities
in government investment and, first and foremost, aims at mitigating poverty. According to the Education and Training Team Leader in the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development, the Ethiopian government gives theorder of priority for the sector development programme as being road construction, education, health, water and agriculture. This respondent from
MOFED emphasized his ministry’s belief when saying, “But philosophically,
we have to think that the final result of quality of education is in developing
the human resources and utilization of [it] for achieving the EFA and themillennium development goals. Otherwise it is going to be hilm.8)”

152Chapter 3

6.2

The Case of Ethiopia

Social factors

Ethiopia is multi-lingual country with about 80 languages. Primary education classes are taught in the local languages. EFA is also supposed to beprovided in the local languages. However, three primary arguments havebeen made against the local-language policy for primary education. These
are: 1) There are operational hurdles in translating teaching and learningmaterials into the local languages, 2) Educated locals who can work as educators for implementing EFA among the numerous, often sparsely settled
rural communities are difficult to find, and 3) Education in local languages
acts as a barrier to the mobility of human resources in the country.
Social problems also considerably detract from the implementation of EFA
goals in each of the numerous localities of the country. These problems
often include widespread and gnawing poverty, displacement of populations due to conflict, social instability, and other calamities such as recurrent drought and seasonal or occasional flooding. This point was brought
up clearly in an academic’s response, when he stated,
There are still quite many people who are not properly fed. It isvery basic and a question of survival. At the same time there
are quite many people who could not have access to school
simply because of the displacement of their families, of thechildren themselves due to conflict, due to drought, due topoverty... There is a serious threat in this country. There is aserious problem of poverty, a serious threat of instability. In
this circumstance, actually, the idea of education for all and theidea of quality education faces very big question and ultimately
it boils down [to the fact] that education does not serve thepurpose it intends to serve.

According to him, the many social challenges in the country compromise
the quality of education that the government aspires to achieve. He thus
argues,153

... And the whole idea of education is actually providing a quality education, quality in a sense [that] relevant education thattransforms the daily lives of those who participate in the system of education. So, as long as education is not playing thatrole effectively, well, it would be really difficult to tell about
success stories.

6.3

Economic factors

Eighty-five percent of Ethiopians live in rural areas and base their livelihood in subsistence agriculture. Improved modern technologies have notyet been applied to benefit traditional Ethiopian agriculture. The singular‘maresha’, each pulled by oxen, is still the most dominant form of farming
technology in the highland areas, while hoe farming continues to be theonly technology available in the southwestern peripheries of Ethiopia.
Hence, farming families know no other way but to toil day-in and day-out
throughout the year. There do not have the time to leisurely participate in
EFA matters. In the highland areas, farmers’ hamlets and rural settlements
are so dispersed in form that organization for learning, community, andother purposes is tremendously difficult. Furthermore, no permanent settlements exist in the arid and semi-arid rural areas where pastoralism predominates. As such, it is equally or even more challenging to programmesystems in line with EFA goals for the mobile communities. Hence, the government would have to make great economic investments in order to overcome these challenges and create feasible means to pursue and achieve
EFA goals. One way to do so would be to install and organize community
centers of learning while also linking education to economic activity. One
respondent (academic) explains this possibility in a rather visionary manner,[Education] is not simply the [matter of] children, the teacher,the school, the curriculum, [and] the formal education system,
but it considers the basic schools, the community learning centres, centres of innovation, centres...that serve the community
in terms of skill training, dissemination of knowledge, etc. Well,

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The Case of Ethiopia

these centres could closely work with the formal education system, non-formal education, other community centres for, like,basic literacy education. It could be [effective] in terms of primary health, basic minimum knowledge, capacity to read about
new agricultural inputs, and methodologies in terms of economic transformation. So, education could be seen as an important means of linking it with economic and social transformation of communities.

7

Emerging Issues

EFA in Ethiopia is conceived to be part of the national drive towards development. It has been conducted as an element of Ethiopia’s ESDP and also
is an integral part of the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Programme. The
Ethiopian government has been the implementing agency, while all external
support has been geared to supplement the government’s budgetary capacity. The merit of this approach lies in the fact that EFA goals have become apermanent focus of priority for the government and one of the Ministry of
Education’s core tasks. A possible setback to this approach, however, isthat any inefficiency stemming from bureaucratic inertia in the government
may, in effect, slow down or obstruct EFA goals.
In arid and semi-arid lowland areas, EFA goals must be implemented by
way of a special approach that takes into consideration circumstances surrounding the livelihoods of pastoralist communities. Two options in thisapproach are:
• Align EFA activities with the transhumance pattern of the pastoralist
communities, such as Borana, Afar and Somali. This approach has
been conceived of by the Ethiopian government for several decades
but has not been fully implemented.
• Resettle the pastoralists and develop institutions and infrastructure
ripe for development in general and EFA implementation in particular. This idea is currently being upheld by the Ministry of Federal
155

Affairs. Strategy as currently designed espouses that the transhumance six-month settlement can be changed into a permanent settlement for the mobile pastoralists (Interview with a staff of MFA).
Another emerging factor concerns the linkage between EFA goals and traditional knowledge. Literacy can be extended to EFA’s stated scope, which
can itself be used as a vehicle to transmit and expand upon traditional
knowledge. In other words, traditional knowledge can be integrated into
EFA goals. Traditional knowledge can be organized as a tool for transmitting existing knowledge, skills and methodology to others who might needthem. The task of selecting the topics within, and relevance of, traditional
knowledge for EFA goals becomes an important activity for educational
programmes responsible for implementing EFA goals. Hence, it can beargued that the capacity and benefit of traditional knowledge is muchgreater than the EFA goals. Traditional knowledge can be the basis forresearch and solutions regarding many development problems in developing countries like those in eastern and north-eastern Africa. Furthermore,
traditional knowledge can be used and should be used as a fallback to there-conceptualization of contemporary development issues.

Notes
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

156

Emperor of Ethiopia, who declared UPE in 1906
Amharic Word for Alphabet
Amharic Word for “finished”
Amharic name for the military government
Amharic world for “Basic Education”
Amharic word for “Community Skill Training Centers”
Amharic word for one species of the army-worm which people do not dare
touch
Amharic word for “dream”

References
Bhalalusesa, E.P. (2005). Education for All in Tanzania: Rhetoric or Reality? Adult
Basic Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Adult Literacy Educators, Vol. 15 No. 2.
Bugeke, C.J. (1997). Adult Education and Development in Tanzania, A paper presented at REFLECT Workshop, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Dachi, H., & Ndalichako, J. (2003). Assessment of Learning Needs for adult and Nonformal Education Programmes, Temeke Municipality and Mukuranga District. Dar es Salaam: JICA Tanzania.
Galabawa, J. (2003). Complementary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET), Evaluation Report submitted to UNICEF. Dar es Salaam: UNICEF.
Lema, E, Mbilinyi, M., & Rajan, R. (2004). Nyerere on Educatio. Dar es Salaam:
Mwalimu Nyerere Foundations.
Mushi, PAK., & Bhalalusesa, E.P. (2002). Non-Formal Status Report. Dar es Salaam:
Ministry of Education and Culture.
Mushi, PAK., Bhalalusesa, E.P., & Malekela, G.A. (2001). Moving Beyond the Classroom: Expanding Learning Opportunities for Marginalised Populationsin Tanzania. A study funded by IDRC and organised by FAWE. Dar es
Salaam.
Sumra, S. (1995). Enrolment Trends in education in Tanzania, Papers in Education
and Development, No 16. Dar es Salaam.
United Republic of Tanzania. (URT) (2000). Basic Statistics in Education. Dar es
Salaam: Ministry of Education and Culture.
United Republic of Tanzania. (URT) (1995). Education and Training Policy. Dar es
Salaam: Ministry of Education and Culture.
United Republic of Tanzania. (URT) (1998). The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977. Dar es Salaam.
United Republic of Tanzania. (URT) (1964). The First Five Year Development Plan.
Dar es Salaam.
United Republic of Tanzania. (URT) (2000). The 2000 Assessment. Progress
Towards EFA Goals, 1990-2000. Core EFA Indicators. Technical Annex.
Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Education and Culture.

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Chapter

4

The Case of Kenya
Domesticating EFA Goals: Policy and Decision
Making Processes Among Education Partners
in KenyaFatuma N. Chege & Regina M. Karega
EFA goals are generally a revision of what had been agreed
upon at the Jomtien Conference of 1990 with the aim of making
them a little more sharper; … more relevant, … more timely, inthe context in which we find ourselves.
(Capacity Building Coordinator, ANCEFA)

1

Introduction

This chapter is generated from the Kenyan report on research that was partof a broader regional study designed to investigate the implementation of
Education for All (EFA) goals from the perspectives of the policy and decision makers working for the education sector in three selected Eastern
Africa countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. The chapter is divided
into three sections—the introduction, main body, and conclusion—and themain body in turn comprises three sections as well. The first presents abackground exposé in the form of a literature review, where EFA is positioned in the historical context of educational development in Kenya. Outlining the pertinent historical development of education is key to understanding and appreciating the contemporary endeavours of domesticating
EFA goals in post-colonial Kenya. This first section also highlights themethodological procedures that were followed in generating the data
whose findings are presented herein.
157

The second section comprises the study findings in an interactive and discursive manner. Citations of actual discussions with the research subjects
are also presented, with the aim of strengthening and supporting analyticalarguments and interpretations that are developed within a thematic framework derived from research questions. In the third section we present a discussion of the findings from which conclusions are drawn and recommendations made. Throughout, the concept of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) shall be used interchangeably with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in order to distinguish them from Government sectors andDonor Organisations.

2
2.1

Contextualising EFA in Kenya
Historical context of EFA

The goal of providing Education for All (EFA) has been on the Kenyan government’s agenda throughout its history, although emphasis has sometimes
shifted depending upon the prevailing socio-political context. Government
policy and the immediate demands and needs existing at the local andnational levels have dictated the direction of EFA activities and programmes (GoK, 1999; Eshiwani, 1993). In the period following independence, particularly from 1964 to the 1970s, EFA in Kenya was conceptualised
mainly in terms of providing Universal Primary Education (UPE). The goalof attaining UPE was articulated in various government documents, including the Kenya African National Unions (KANU) manifesto of 1963; the
Kenya Education Commission (Ominde Report) of 1964 (MOE/UNESCO,
1994; GOK, 1965); the Sessional Paper No 1. of 1965 on African socialism
and its application to planning in Kenya; and the 1965/66 to 1969/70 National Development Plan. Universalising Primary Education was a response to
the rising demand for formal education among Kenyan citizens, which wasperceived to be the avenue for social and economic advancement. This perception had a foundation in the previous socially and racially desegregatededucation system (GOK, 1965), which had sidelined education for the
African communities as opposed to that of Asians and Europeans. In addi158

Chapter 4

The Case of Kenyation, the provision of minimum basic education for all through UPE wasviewed as a vehicle for ensuring development in the emergent modern sector (Bogonko, 1992; Sifuna, 1990) that was gradually being Africanised. This
discourse was not only informed by the prevailing utilization model ofdevelopment, but also by the report on the Conference of African States onthe ‘Development of Education in Africa’, which met in Addis Ababa in 1961
(Sifuna, 1990). The UNESCO-sponsored Addis Ababa conference named1980 as the year when all African states would achieve UPE (Bogonko,
1992). This was considered the critical step toward Education for All thatwould benefit future generations.
The publication of Kenya’s Education Act in 1968, which officially made primary education the responsibility of the Kenyan government (GOK, 1968),
provided a boost to EFA-related policies. Due to inadequate resources,
however, UPE was unfortunately not given as much priority as the expansion of secondary, technical and tertiary education, which took precedence
over primary education in order to meet the high-level human resource
requirements of the emerging independent nation. These sentiments wereclearly articulated in the 1970-1974 Development Plan, as follows:
The contribution of education to the development of skill andeducated manpower [sic] is particularly important for Kenya at
this time. On purely economic grounds, the development ofprimary education cannot be given a high priority as secondary, technical and higher education. (GOK, 1970, p.306.
Emphasis added).

Nevertheless, the Kenyan Government continued to recognize the need toaddress EFA goals by improving access to primary education in areas oflow participation. To this end, the government abolished school fees
between 1970 and 1974 for ten of the mainly Arid and Semi-Arid Lands(ASAL) districts, which include Baringo, Samburu, West Pokot, Turkana,
Olkajiado, Narok, Wajir, Mandera, Garrisa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Tana River and
Lamu. Access to primary education was further improved by the introduction of school fee remissions for parents who could not afford them, as well159

as the provision of boarding facilities for primary school pupils from pastoralist nomadic communities (GOK, 1970).
Despite the fact that the Government placed emphasis upon expanding secondary and higher education, schools at the primary level experienced thehighest level of growth. For example, primary school enrolments almost
doubled between 1963 and 1972, with 890,000 in 1963 and 1,676,000 in 1972
(Eshiwani, 1993). Credit for the continued expansion of primary educationis accredited to the local communities that decided to build and maintainschools through Harambee (self-help) activities amidst low government
contributions (Bogonko, 1992).
The Kenyan government made its first attempt to provide UPE in 1974,
when free primary education was declared beginning with Standard One toFour. Education was thereafter made progressively free until 1979, when it
became free for all classes (GOK, 1970, 1975). The de-prioritisation of primary education was again demonstrated, however, when the government
failed to provide alternative funds for this new venture (GOK, 1974, 1979).
Consequently, the congestion in primary schools that resulted fromincreased enrolments against limited learning facilities prompted the government to encourage funding from local communities. In 1979, School
Committees and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) were introduced inprimary schools in order to mobilize alternative funding. These, in turn,introduced a development fund as a stopgap measure to the deteriorating
quality standards in schools (Bogonko, 1992). The goal of achieving EFA
through the provision of UPE in Kenya was thus thwarted, because thedevelopment fund—which was popularly referred to as the ‘building
fund’—was much higher in most schools than the school fees charged prior
to the Free Primary Education (FPE) decree (Bogonko, 1992; Sifuna, 1990).
The socio-economic framework of the 1980s and 1990s did not offer an
improved environment for the advancement of UPE in particular, and EFA
in general. The problem of mass unemployment also posed considerable
challenges for the Kenyan education system, which was changed in 1985
from 7-4-2 to 8-4-4 in order to try and address the rising school leaver unem160

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ployment problem. In order to ensure self-reliance through self-employment for primary school graduates, the primary school curriculum was not
only vocationalized; its cycle was also lengthened by one year. In addition,
the average university education increased by a year as well (GOK, 1985).
The eight years of primary education were also restructured in order tooffer numeracy and literacy skills in the first six years, as well as basic education with a practical orientation in the last two years (GOK, 1985).
While the government presented the new 8-4-4 system as a noble package
in terms of addressing the education and employment needs of its youth,
various challenges also emerged. First, more money was required fromboth the government and parents for additional classrooms, workshops,
home science rooms, laboratories and maintenance of school gardens. Second, the quality of primary education suffered due to a lack of trainedteachers (especially for technical schools), and the employment of 12,000
untrained teachers to handle the extra Grade 8 class. Third, some scholars
argued that the amount of time taken to teach practical subjects at theexpense of cognitive skills had a negative impact upon the quality of functional literacy and numeracy skills of those pupils who terminated theirlearning at the primary level. Fourth, the new system impeded efforts toachieve EFA due to increased dropouts and the low transition rate that it
created (Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2004). Finally, the 8-4-4 system was introduced when Kenya, like many African countries, was experiencing an economic recession that paved the way for the entrenchment of the Structural
Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) that were introduced by the World Bankand the International Monetary Fund. The SAPs in Kenya instigated a shift
in the national economic policy, where limited government provision ofservices was encouraged amidst increased private sector participation(Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2004). Drawing from this perspective, and specifically informed by the World Bank publication titled ‘Education in Sub-Sahara:
Policies or Adjustments, Revitalization and Expansion’ that endorsed user
fees in recovering education costs, the cost-sharing policy in education was
introduced in Kenya in 1988 (Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2004; World Bank,
1988).

161

The cost-sharing policy in education was based on the recommendations of
the Presidential Working Party on Education and Training for the next
Decade and Beyond and the subsequent Sessional Paper No. 6 (GOK,
1988a, 1988b), which made it official that the government was only responsible for meeting teacher salaries, administrative costs and funding some
limited school facilities. Parents, on the other hand, were to meet the costsof tuition and textbooks, as well as fees for activities and examinations.
Each community’s responsibility was to put up and maintain physical facilities and infrastructures (Bogonko, 1992; Sifuna, 1990). This move on primary school financing legitimised the end of Free Primary Education(FPE), which had long ceased to be a practical reality. The implication of
the cost-sharing policy and the transferring to parents of the cost of education curtailed the achievement of EFA, by increasing educational disparities
in terms of access to and quality of primary education amongst various
social groups of differing economic potentials found within various regionsin Kenya (Deolalikar, 1999).
The above facts notwithstanding, the Kenyan government continued toaddress EFA through employment of alternative modes of education that
included Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Adult Education (AE), (GOK,2005). Of the two, AE has received more focus, with its programs having
been introduced just after independence in a bid to address educational disparities emanating from the colonial legacy. The main focus of AE was literacy as a vehicle for eliminating poverty, diseases and ignorance, whichwere perceived as the three great evils of society (GOK, 1966). AE structures, which initially belonged to the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, were relocated to the Ministry of Education through the Adult Education Act of 1966. In the same year, the Board of Adult Education wasformed to coordinate all activities in the sector. Coupled with the activitiesof the new literacy campaign, these efforts encouraged growth in the AE
sector, with 1,747 centres and 38,592 students being registered in 1974
(GOK, 1975). NFE, unlike AE, did not receive government focus in spite ofits role in directly responding to the youth and the inadequacies of the low
access, completion and dropout rates. Historically, the NFE programme hasreceived little (if any) government funding. Notably, the recent government
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response of establishing an NFE desk has yet to achieve tangible results interms of the achievement of EFA goals (GOK, 2005).
In recent times, gender has emerged as a key factor that has continued tohamper the achievement of EFA. Also important, moreover, is education for
special needs (UNESCO, 2003). Gender issues in education and employment received little attention until the turn of the 21st Century, thus creatingclear disparities. In fact, gender as a goal for education did not appear in
the Government Development Plans until the late 1980s. Similarly, despite
the persistent gender gaps in education, only one strategy (which involves
the re-admission of pregnant girls back into the school system) has existed
to date in order to address the problem of gender disparity. Special needs
education has fared relatively well in terms of policy, as noted in the 1968
Sessional Paper No. 5 on Special Education (GOK, 2005) and the Sessional
Paper No. 6 on integration of special education children into regularschools. In terms of gender equality, however, 2003 statistics show that of
12,464 boys and 10,900 girls enrolled in schools, only 2.3 percent of the 1
million special needs children benefited from the integration policy (GOK,1968; GOK, 2005).
Early Childhood Education (ECE) is another area of EFA that has received
only minimum focus by the Kenyan government. Because ECE was excluded from the Education Act of 1968, it has remained a private enterprise forwhich parents have always paid. Like Special Education, most children are
not enrolled in ECE due to the high cost involved (Wawire, 2005). This is
despite the fact that enrolling in ECE has for a long time been a prerequisite for enrolment in primary school—thus indicating a direct impact upon
the achievement of EFA.

2.2

EFA adaptation process in Kenya

For Kenya, the process of adapting and domesticating EFA goals is linked
with several pre-Jomtien forums that helped create awareness about education for all by using regional and national perspectives in preparation for
the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA). Mainly
163

taking place in the course of 1989, a year before the WCEFA, such forums
included the Eastern and Southern African Regional Consultation on EFA
held in Nairobi, the National EFA seminar in Eldoret, and the Civil Society
Organisation (CSO) forum at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). Drawing from government ministries, CSOs, universities and the donor community, consensus was built upon the view that Kenya’s social and culturalexperiences should inform the EFA process at a global level. In addition,
the self-help spirit (Harambee) would be enhanced through community initiatives supported by churches, welfare organizations and CSOs (Elimu
Yetu Coalition, 2004).
Much activity was registered after Jomtien in Kenya to domestic EFA declarations, including the process of translating the draft plan into action
through various forums. These were, namely, the 1991 National Seminar on
Promotion of Basic Education and Literacy in Nyeri, the National Seminaron Post-Literacy Strategies in Nakuru in 1992, the National Conference on
EFA in Kisumu, and the 1994 Symposium on Education for the Girl Child(UNESCO, 1999). This was followed by capacity and infrastructure building
via different strategies that included seminars, workshops, research andtraining, construction of schools, the purchase and supply of learning materials and facilities, curriculum development, and the promotion of nutrition
requirements for children (UNESCO, 1993). Orginisations and institutions
such as the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP), UNESCO,UNICEF, and ILO participated in implementing the EFA objectives. Civil
society participation was realised through local CBOs and CSOs such as
Action Aid, Children Christian Fund (CCF) and Care Kenya, among others(UNESCO, 1993). Unfortunately, EFA internalisation efforts dwindled after
the mid-1990s. This was mainly because of low donor assistance, poor government policy and programme formulation, as well as limited civil society
involvement in educational decision-making.
Coinciding with what was happening globally, Kenya’s re-awakening in the
pursuit of EFA goals was done prior to the World Education Forum held in
Dakar, Senegal, in 2000. Dakar 2000 grew out of the global realization that
one decade down the line, the world had not achieved its Jomtien objective
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The Case of Kenyaof adopting policies and programmes to ensure Universal Basic Educationby the year 2000 (UNESCO, 2002). This re-awakening during the preparation for the Dakar Forum entailed the formulation of the Kenya Master Planon Education and Training in 1997-2010, as well as the EFA assessment document preparation and participation in the regional EFA conference inJohannesburg (GOK, 1998, 1999, 2001). In fact, the EFA handbook isreferred to as a ‘wake up call’ that articulated the issues and challenges facing EFA in Kenya, and set out an overall framework of approach (GOK,2001).
Though commendable, these efforts were insufficient in warranting Kenya’s
inclusion in the donor EFA financial assistance programme that was run
mainly by the Commonwealth Education Fund and the World Bank. Kenya
had not complied to certain newly introduced education reform requirements, such as the existence of a credible National EFA plan of action, UPE
policies, and the employment of a sector-wide planning approach integrated into macro-economic contexts and the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP) (UNESCO, 2002, 2005). Between 2001 and 2005, however,
Kenya embarked on an EFA compliance journey. Activities to this end
include the launching of the Poverty Reduction Paper 2000-2003, the enactment of the Children’s Act in 2005, and—more importantly in terms ofdonor funding—the re-introduction of Free Primary Education (FPE) in
January 2003. Notably, the launch of FPE attracted the promptest donor
funding response in the Kenyan history of education (UNESCO, 2005).
After the FPE policy pronouncement of 2003, the Education Sector Review
and Strategic Plans were completed and then followed in the same year by
the completion of the National Action Plan on Education For All 2003-2015.
A National Conference on Education, Training and Research was held in
2004, which yielded the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 that provided a policy
framework for education, training and research (GOK, 2005). All these
events culminated in the completion of the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP) 2005–2010, which earned Kenya a nod for donor
support. The KESSP document provides a new framework for formulating
education policies, and costing them by employing a sector-wide approach
165

(SWAp) to the planning and implementation of programmes (GOK, 2005).
Consequently, Kenya was eventually included into the major EFA global
funding programme, referred to as the Fast Track Initiative (FTI), to join
the few other African countries such as Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique and Niger. This placed Kenya
within the FTI framework, which is a global partnership between donors
and developing countries that is aimed at expediting the process of realizing EFA and the Millennium Development Goals on UPE by 2015
(UNESCO, 2005).
The internalisation, adoption and domestication of EFA goals in Kenya
have further been enhanced by the growing role of CSOs through theiradvocacy campaigns and service provision mechanisms. These efforts arestrengthened by the formation of national coalition networks such as
Pamoja Kenya and the Elimu Yetu Coalition operating under the umbrellaof the African Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA), which
coordinates the activities of all Civil Society Organization in the African
region that work in the educational sector (UNESCO, 2002). In line with the
Dakar framework of Action that emphasized the partnership of all actors at
all levels in National EFA action, the Kenyan Government has involved the
CSOs through coalitions, in the process of policy formulation, and in theimplementation and evaluation of EFA activities (UNESCO, 2002).

2.3

EFA progress towards Dakar

A critical review of how Kenya has performed so far in achieving EFA
objectives indicates that wide disparities have emerged between theexpression of the goals agreed upon at Jomtien and reaffirmed at Dakar,
and the practical actualisation of such goals. In Kenya, consequently, EFA
has been domesticated into mainly UPE—thereby explaining why the formal primary education sector has received more focus in terms of policy
and programmes from all stakeholders, at the expense of other equallyimportant aspects of EFA such as NFE, ECE and adult literacy. Similarly,
disparities exist due to poor mainstreaming of cross-cutting educational
issues such as gender, special education and quality (GOK, 2005). Notably,
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EFA internalisation has been influenced by internal factors such as the history, socio-economic and political context, as well as external factors suchas donor funding policies and global education reforms (especially thosefrom Jomtien and Dakar), and now the MDGs. Therefore, the achievementof EFA has relied on a process of negotiating and adopting global concerns
into National Policy Programmes (GOK, 2005; UNESCO, 2002).
Kenya’s recent donor-related events indicate a bright future for the achievement of EFA goals. Caution should be sought, however, because thesereforms have been steered toward the endorsement of the global agenda
being fronted by the World Bank and the IMF, and may require local perspectives in order to ensure sustainability (UNESCO, 2002). The following
statement from the KESSP document illustrates this view:
The apparent failure by the international community to provide
significant educational resources since Dakar has made theattainment of EFA elusive for many poor countries in the developing world, including Kenya. Consequently, the Kenyan government has had to rethink how to strategise for accelerationof achievement of EFA goals through its National Education
Planning. (UNESCO, 2002)

The above contextualisation of EFA initiatives in Kenya provides the foundation upon which to locate our study and its findings. The next section,
therefore, provides an exposé of the research processes in investigating
how the educational policy makers, donor agencies and the CSOs understood, interpreted and implemented the agenda for achieving EFA goals in
Kenya within the broader context of Millennium Development Goals.

3

The Research Process

The Kenyan study was part of a regional research project initiated by the
Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS), and in which Ethiopia andTanzania participated as well. The aim was to generate a sub-regional com167

parative study on the realisation of EFA goals within local contexts. Herein,
however, we focus only on the Kenya component of the research.

3.1

Preparing for field research

Research preparation was completed in two phases: identifying the assistant researchers, and then training them on how to do qualitative research(specifically, how to conduct the one-to-one interview, which was the main
method of data collection). The assistant researchers received a one-day
training, which comprised key topics on qualitative research such as observation, documentary analysis and interviews.

Interview guide
The interview guide was divided into three sub-groups of questions thatallowed a separate focus on each category of interviewees: education officials, donor personnel and CSOs. This approach eased usability, and eventually the data processing and analysis as well.
Apart from critically studying the interview schedule, the assistants practiced using the schedule through interview simulations, which proved very
instrumental for the peer-critiquing performance of each researcher. Interview simulations generally helped in re-focusing researchers’ attention
upon the value of deliberate and conscious listening, and pursuing issues
raised by the interviewees without losing sight of the research themes uponwhich the interview guides were developed.

Sampling procedures and research samples
Sampling was done in three stages. The first stage consisted of the development of what resembled a sampling frame, which was comprised of a threecolumn matrix where each column reflected the three categories of thebasic sample (namely, personnel from the Ministry of Education, Scienceand Technology (MoEST), donor community and CSOs). In the second
stage, the researchers completed the matrix with possible interviewees inthe decision-making level. In the third stage, researchers began to makecontact with potential interviewees through telephone calls and personal
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The Case of Kenya

visits. This activity posed considerable challenges, mainly among thedonor organisations and also to some extent within the MoEST, where
many of the sampled potential interviewees claimed to be too busy with
official duties to afford the time for interviews. However, there were exceptional cases within the Ministry where the personnel did not hesitate tocooperate, and fixed an interview time instantly on request. This response
proved to be a catalyst for researchers to keep trying, and to utilize alternative strategies when they did not receive immediate interview appointments. Most of the donor organisations that were approached also posedhitches that were based mainly upon protocol. For example, in someinstances interviews could not be held without arrangements to include
various other personnel, such as information or press attachés to do theirown recording. The most enthusiastic participants came from the CSOs, bycontrast—many of whom readily availed themselves for the interviews,
thus constituting the largest proportion of the entire sample (a total of 24
interviewees, as presented in Table 4-1).

3.2

Interviewing and transcribing data

Conducting interviews
Apart from the expected snags in fixing interview appointments and striving to ensure that interviews actually took place, most of the interviewees
portrayed enthusiasm in addressing the issues raised by the research, andeven brought in other issues that were clearly of concern to them. Also,
apart from a few cases where male and female interviewees declined to beinterviewed on tape, most of the subjects talked willingly and allowed theirinterviews to be recorded. Research ethics demanded that the interviewers
respect the wishes of those few who declined to be recorded, and so only
notes were taken in those cases. In a fewer number of instances, respondents requested intermittently to have sections of their interviews unrecorded. In one instance, a male respondent selected which questions to
respond to, and in which order he would respond. This encounter served asa demonstration of how the politics of interviewing and power relations
could at times reverse the expected routines of interviewing. This notwithstanding, however, the researchers were satisfied with the research process169Table 4-1

List of interviewees

ORGANIZATION / INSTITUTIONINTERVIEWEE*

1. Kenya Society for Deaf Children

Director

2. Action Aid

Educational Child Rights Coordinator

3. African Network Campaign on Education for All(ANCEFA)

Capacity Building Coordinator

4. Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF)

Coordinator

5. Compassion International (Kenya)

Project Facilitator

6. Concern Worldwide Kenya

Country Director

7. Elimu Yetu Coalition

Coordinator

8. Girl Child Network (GCN)

Senior Programme Officer

Female Male

✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓

9. Kenya Alliance for Advancement of Children’s Rights Deputy Director(KAACR)
10. Kenya Adult Education Association (KAEA)

Director

11. Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MOEST) Director (Basic Education)
12. MoEST

Asst. Minister of Education (post primary sector)

13. MoEST

Deputy Director Non-formal Education (NFE)

14. MoEST

Deputy Director of Schools Programmes at
Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)

15. MOEST Senior Deputy Director Non formal Education Senior Deputy Director Non-formal Education
16. Mothers’ Rural Care of Orphans (MORCAO)

Founder Member in Charge of Projects

17. Reach the Children

Education and Other Special Programmes

18. Save the Children Sweden

Programme Officer Education (Sudan)

19. UNHCR

Community Development Officer

✓

✓
✓
✓

20. UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office Regional Educational Adviser(ESARO)✓

21. University Academic Staff

Professor✓

22. University Academic Staff

Professor

23. University Academic Staff

Lecturer

24. World Bank

Education Consultant

TOTAL

06

✓
✓
✓
✓

✓
✓

✓
✓
✓
18

* Job description as provided by respective subjects

and its outcomes. The interviewees were explicitly friendly in most cases,
and provided relatively detailed information on research issues such as relevant literature.

Issues emerging from interviews
It is noteworthy that in the course of interviewing, some respondents
expressed concern regarding our silence on the link between EFA goals
and the MDGs. Because of this, we resolved to include a sub-question for
ensuing interviews focusing on how respondents conceptualised the link
between the EFA goals and the MDGs. Eventually, 6 out of the 24 intervie170

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The Case of Kenya

wees (25%) had the chance to discuss this perceived link.

Transcribing interviews
All of the tape-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim as a way oftransforming the spoken data into literary form. The researchers subsequently read through all of the interview transcripts in order to ensure thatthey represented the interviews verbatim. The reading also enabledresearchers to get a general feel for how the respondents addressed theresearch themes, and how they brought in themes that were important tothem. This initial reading also served as a basis for monitoring, transcribing
and ensuring that the researchers gained insights into the coding categoriesof data that were computerised using the NUD*IST (Non-numerical
Unstructured Data* Indexing Searching and Theorizing) analysis package.

Processing and analysing data
The initial analysis began with reading the interview transcripts to identify
the key research themes, as well as other emergent themes that the respondents generated. A thematic approach was then used to develop a coding
structure that reflected the major thematic categories, as well the subthemes. This exercise was followed by the processing of data by transforming and importing it into the NUD*IST software, and then coding it accordingly. Reports for each individual interview were generated and analysed,
and cross-referenced reports were also generated for the analysis of issues
across different categories of interviewees. These activities helped to yield
the basic understanding of the study findings, which the researchers subjected to theorising and then organised into the present form.

Generating understanding
Once data analysis was complete, the researchers held a three-day workshop to familiarise themselves with the categorisation of themes from thedata and transform the analysis into report format. The process involved
not only going through the computer-generated reports, but also linking
these with the raw interview transcripts. This exercise was critical inenabling the researchers to get a reasonable grasp of the emerging thematic
issues, as well as to cross-reference data from different sources for a better
171

understanding of how various individuals domesticated the EFA goals.

Evaluating the research
The researchers set aside time to evaluate the process of data collection.
This evaluation was in the form of reflection on the process of the actual
research, highlighting the strengths, shortcomings, general experiences andlessons learned. The evaluation process revealed satisfaction in the
research activities, particularly with regard to the manner in which data
was generated using interviews, the cohesiveness of activities by the different assistants and researchers, and the transcription process that yieldedverbatim recordings.

4

Research Findings

The study findings are presented thematically in order to reflect the
research focus, while at the same time foregrounding sub-themes thatemerged from the respondents’ perspectives during the interviews.

4.1

Defining EFA

The concept of Education for All shall be represented interchangeably by
the acronym EFA, while the term EFA goals shall be used to refer to the six
goals as outlined in the Dakar Platform of Action. This distinction is important in that findings show that the history of Education for All surpasses
that of the Education for All goals as understood in contemporary educational and political debates.
There were a few instances whereby some of the respondents portrayedapparent confusion in trying to distinguish between the concepts of Education for All, EFA goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In
some cases, for example, interviewees claimed that the goals of Education
for All were synonymous to those of the MDGs. Also important to note is
the thin line that separated the respondents’ personal views and those of
the organisations or institutions to which they belonged. Even when asked
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to define concepts such as EFA (Education for All) in their own terms, forexample, the interviewees would consistently make reference to the organisational position—clearly adapting it as their own definition.
Generally, the interviews revealed different ways in which respondents constructed meanings around the concept of Education for All, reflecting familiarity with official documentation as well as their own understandings andcreative thinking. In the process, the tendency to portray inclusiveness ineducation for all was evident in the use of phrases such as ‘every child’,‘children and adults’, ‘everybody including the marginalized and disabled’,‘continuing education’, ‘inclusive education’, ‘both genders’, ‘all ages’ and soon as demonstrated in the ensuing sub-sections.

UPE, Life-long and Basic Education
According to the Director of KAEA and the capacity building coordinator of
ANCEFA, the concept of EFA could be well-understood in the context of
the Jomtien and Dakar education conferences, where goals were formulated for the achievement of universal primary education that were interpreted as being necessarily free for all children without discrimination. Amongthe interviewees, these views were evident in the expressions of a University Professor of Education, a CEF Coordinator, a WB Education Consultant,and a GCN Senior Programme Officer—all of whom argued that UPE wasthe foundation of EFA. Tracing the historical development of UPE in Kenya,with its roots found in a government declaration of free primary education(FPE) in 1973, the University Professor of Education criticised what hedescribed as poor implementation of programmes without taking into
account the required resources and budgetary implications. Both the CEF
Coordinator and the WB Education Consultant expressed a similar view,and the WB consultant added that education for all was important insofar
as it was meant to reach the majority of children right from early childhood. He explained:
In order to reach many children, we should target basically all
children in Kenya, including those at the early childhood development (ECD) level, those in primary (6-13 years), so that173

they attain basic and primary education. (Education consultant, World Bank, Kenya)

The ANCEFA coordinator claimed that access to basic education was foreverybody within a rights-based perspective of quality education thatshould be life-long. He identified the focal areas of EFA goals, namely, earlychild development, Universal Primary Education, gender, youth skills, quality and Adult Education as constituting the guiding tenets of EFA. Consequently, he defined education for all as such:
Education for all in my own understanding is the broad understanding about giving people, children, youth, adults an opportunity to learn [and] in terms of having access to enjoy the rightof basic education. And we talk of basic education in the sensethat if we look at those goals, they are goals that focus on basic
education…, which is the focus of EFA. (Coordinator, ANCEFA)The Coordinator of ANCEFA rationalised the function of EFA as a launching pad or platform upon which continuing or life-long education could
thrive. He observed that the international community was focused on abroad consensus reached at the Dakar meeting, whose aim was to provide
every world citizen an opportunity to receive education of some kind.
Accordingly, success for EFA depended upon how well each component ofeducation linked up with the other (for example between early childhood
development and UPE, gender, youth skills, quality and AE, and so on).
Further, according to the Senior Programme Officer of the Girl Child Network (GCN) and the WB education consultant, EFA would be better conceptualised within a framework that made basic education compulsory forchildren and young people both in formal and non-formal settings. By implication, then, governments would have to ensure that children were compelled to pursue primary education, and that they were enabled to do sowhether or not they were enrolled in mainstream schooling. This would
also mean that parents would not only be enabled materially to enrol their174

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school age children in school, but that they would be legally compelled to
do so.

Inclusive education and the discourse of rights
In a country with approximately a quarter million registered refugees, theidea of inclusive education did not escape the UNHCR Community Development Officer (CDO) and Education Programme Officer. According to the
CDO of UNHCR, people of refugee status are usually out of sight of regular
life, and hence require special attention in order to be able to access basic
education. According to the UNHCR, the concern for refugee children in
the context of EFA was unique because refugees came from diverse origins
with varying educational systems. The UNHCR officer argued that EFA
should not discriminate by age or gender, but should allow every person
requiring basic education an opportunity to receive one. The UNHCR CDO
explained as follows:
In my perspective, I would define Education for All as anopportunity where you make available chances for every boy
and girl, not only within the bracket ages … We have aged-out
children, who come from poor countries; who did not have an
opportunity to go to school until they are fifteen. … We havegirls who drop out of school because of pregnancy or otherharmful traditional practices. Even when they have children at
home, we still give them an opportunity to go back to school.
So Education for All is an all-encompassing approach only
when you give opportunity to anybody who is available to go toschool. Even be it adults, they are given an opportunity tolearn. Be it little children… (UNHCR, CDO)

Other children who were perceived to need special attention in the context
of EFA were those with special needs, as explained by the Save the Children Kenya-based Education Programme Officer (EPO), Sudan. In what hedescribed as his own simple understanding of EFA, the EPO argued that
education for all should be accessible to all children, even those with special problem or disabilities, regardless of their origin or background.
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According to EPO, EFA is an embracement of the rights discourse that
presents education as a right for every child regardless of physical or mental capacity. He described EFA as:
A global strategy that ensures provision of education to eachand every individual as their basic right. Here we are looking at
each basic education where all children, whether they have any
special problem whether they have disability, whether frompoor countries or poor background, they are able to accesseducation. I think that is how I look in my own simple understanding. (Kenya-based Save the Children, EPO)

From Elimu Yetu Coalition (EYC), the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)and the Mothers Rural Care for Orphans, Education for All was the kind of
education that included everyone in all sectors of society—children andadults alike—regardless of their position in life. There was explicit convergence and unanimity that in the context of EFA, no person should bedenied the right to basic education. This convergence is captured in thewords of the EYC’s coordinator, who explained as follows:
I think essentially when we talk of education for all; we aretalking about an all-inclusive education and education thattakes care of all sectors of the society, all the way from earlychildhood, non-formal, adult education, continuing education,
primary education. So it is basically that education that is inclusive and does not leave out any body. It assumes that everybody fundamentally has a right to education. (Director EYC)

The KIE Deputy Director of Schools expounded upon this understanding bybringing in the idea of equalising socio-economic classes. He defined EFA
prescriptively, saying that it ought to embrace education that is explicitly
pro-poor and in ways that acknowledged that poor people had equal rights
to education.
Basic education, …it is in away, is kind of a right, that we feel

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that it should be extended to as many, many Kenyans as possible, especially the children, so that they have a basic education
which can enable them to live a good life in the country. So thatto me is the definition of Education for All, where in this sense,
education is provided irrespective of difference of community
or race… irrespective of socio-economic status; that they [people] are provided with the minimum basic education… Thatwould be what we call Education for All in a broad sense.
(Deputy Director of Schools, KIE)

The above-cited sentiments seemed to echo the views of the Senior Deputy
Director for Non-formal Education, who described EFA as a process ofbringing everybody on board the education agenda without necessarily
focusing on matters of net enrolment rates, whose concern is on particularage groups and is thus not inclusive. In addition, his view was that EFA wasprimarily concerned with the education of all children where literacy andnumeracy were basic concerns, including the very young (from three years
old to adulthood). Further, his conception of EFA comprised the need foreveryone to understand issues of environment and health.
The Coordinator of CEF extended the discourse of the rights of the child by
localizing the educational concern within the Children’s Act, which was
adopted in Kenya in 2005. He pointed out that:… Basically education for all means that right from the convention on the rights of the child, the CRC and in the Kenyan context, the Children’s Act you know to make provisions that aresupposed to enable children of school age to be able to accesseducation. Beyond that, we are also saying education may bebroader than just primary education, and here we are looking
at adult literacy and basically we are encouraging that at least
we should have a literate society within the broader education
goals. Basically EFA from our perspective revolves aroundthose issues. (Coordinator CEF)

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The discourse of rights was alive, not just among the CSOs and MoEST personnel, but also among the donor community. For example, the Regional
Educational Advisor of UNICEF ESARO explained concisely that:
Education for all, in my own understanding, is that every childhas a right to education irrespective of gender; irrespective of
ethnicity, class, any form of division or difference including disability. So… to me, what it means is that every child has a rightto education. (UNICEF Regional Educational Advisor, ESARO)

Quality education and transitions to further education andintegration to society
According to some interviewees, an EFA agenda that did not focus on quality would be difficult to achieve optimally. The Country Director of Concern
Worldwide argued that if EFA was going to be meaningful to individuals
and nations, it was crucial to strive for quality education—not just at primary education level, but also for post primary levels. He explained by saying:
We feel like almost everybody else feels that every child shouldhave access to quality primary education. And all the opportunities that it brings with it both in terms of the learning at thetime, the opportunity to progress to secondary and further
education and just the opportunity that education opens up as
well as that its every child’s right to education, to have accessto quality primary education. (Country Director of Concern
Worldwide)

Even as the CEF director conceded that Education for All was a broad concept, he pointed out that as far as CEF was concerned, only what he calleda small component of EFA was prioritised (namely, primary education). He
observed that the MDGs prioritised primary education, and hence rationalized that this was what Kenyan society needed in order to forge ahead with
development. He explained:

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Education is broad and like I would say we are looking at theother small component of it. When you talk about EFA, we areconcentrating ourselves with more of the primary education,
which is well captured by even the MDGs. So we are not looking at broadly education in all its levels including tertiary; weare very keen on primary education because we believe that it
is basically, in that, that children are able to gather and learn
the basic literacy and numeracy skills. So we believe that withprimary education at least the society can move forward as aliterate society. (Director, CEF)

Implicit in the above-cited views is that literacy skills, as well as skills forlife, are at the core of the EFA concept. The gist of these views is encapsulated in the words of the CEF coordinator, who explained EFA as a concept
broader than schooling. With regard to the CEF policy, he explained as follows:
We are also saying education may be broader than just primaryeducation, and here we are looking at adult literacy and basically we are encouraging that at least we should have a literatesociety within the broader education goals. Basically, EFA fromour perspective revolves around those issues. (Project Facilitator of Compassion International)

Clearly, each of the organisations whose views were analysed in this section revealed that there were many areas of consensus in the conceptualisation of EFA, and that points of divergence often reflected unique organisational focus and a specific mission. Just as evidence shows organisational
priorities in the pursuance of EFA, so were national priorities. This was
expressed by the KIE Deputy Director of Schools, who observed that eachcountry was bound to have some localised needs that needed appropriate
strategies of domesticating the concept of EFA. He explained:
Education for all can also be defined in the context of thiscountry (Kenya), because what we will be doing in Kenya, in179

pursuance of the same, may not be the same as Uganda or Tanzania, as far as attaining education is concerned; it will varyfrom one country to another depending on the resources available, and also the kind of National philosophy that guides theeducation system in that particular country. (Deputy Directorof Schools, KIE)

4.2

Conceptualising Education in the Context of EFA

What is ‘Education’?
It is important to point out that as the interviewees discussed the conceptof EFA, many of them explained the concepts of ‘Education’ and of ‘All’
concurrently, which seemed a natural thing to do. Asking them later to discuss the concepts in isolation appeared superfluous, and hence theresearchers avoided the situation. This notwithstanding, however, it was
clear that most of the respondents perceived education as a broad conceptthat transcended basic literacy and numeracy. Generally, there was explicit
unanimity among interviewees that education was a multi-dimensional concept and process through which a person acquires knowledge and skills
that are deemed prerequisite for human development. The interviewees
were also unanimous that education occurred throughout life via interactions between various categories of people in social situations, including
formal and non-formal settings such as schools and communities where
values, knowledge, attitudes and skills were perpetuated or createdthrough day-to-day activities.

A broad concept of education focusing on citizenship andsocial responsibilities
While the fundamental educational goal for many organisations was identified as the attainment of primary education for everyone, this goal was notdeemed sufficient to define the concept of education in a comprehensive
way. According to the Country Director of Concern Worldwide Kenya, forexample, education should encompass citizenship; i.e., learning how to
become good citizens who are economically empowered, analytical andcritical about human life. This, he explained would be better achieved not
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just through primary education, but also secondary. The Country Director
expressed the need to connect education and human development, suggesting that trying to discuss education in isolation was unrealistic. He said:
One of the things I would be concerned about with regard to
EFA, …here in Kenya, as well as FPE, is the expansion to secondary education. I know primary is the first goal, and for us asan organization are concerned that primary is the prime goal.
But for children to make best use of education and opportunities, then, secondary education especially for a country like
Kenya, which hopes to benefit from increasing industrialization[is crucial]. Is a primary school qualification sufficient, you can
ask yourself? Would it be sufficient for someone to become economically empowered and be able to have a job be it in the formal and informal sector and to progress themselves? So I think
one of the big goals is first lets get everybody into primary education, but then, how can that be stretched then…offer secondary education. (Director, Concern Worldwide)

The UNICEF ESARO Regional Education Advisor captured the voices ofmany of the respondents when she defined education as beginning at birthand carrying on throughout life until a person dies. In this context, some of
the interviewees defined a good education as one that empowers a person
to function effectively in society throughout the duration of life. Importantly, education was perceived as going beyond the process of preparing forformal employment to encompass the guiding of people through theprocess of maturing socially, mentally and intellectually. Further, according
to the Assistant Minister of Education and the Regional Educational Advisor for UNICEF ESARO, education should be viewed in terms of the professional, social and value-based skills that are needed for every day life, withthe aim of guiding children and young people in ways that would enable
them to share the aspirations of their society.

Personal development as a basic component of EFA
The Director of Concern Worldwide expressed the view that education con181

Box 4-1
Education is a very broad concept
Education is a very broad concept. It is inclusive of the broad skills and knowledge
one needs in order to be prepared to fit better in a society. It entails skills such as
being able to read and write, do simple calculations, and more importantly, to use
those skills to better fit in society and be of service—whether in the field of health,agriculture, or politics. Education also goes beyond that which is acquired in formal
schools. It is the broad knowledge that one picks, not just academic, but which also
prepares one much better to do other things besides just being able to read andwrite.
Assistant Minister of Education (post primary)cerns personal, intellectual and spiritual development, which is key to thedevelopment of the different aspects of citizenship. The UNICEF Regional
Educational Advisor described education as a total package that addressed
the development of the whole person in the context of society. In the sametenor, the Assistant Minister of Education encapsulated his views on theconcept of education as shown in Box 4-1.
According to the Assistant Minister, the concept of education encompasses
traditional as well as modern knowledge, allowing for reasonable socialtransitions and transformations in the fields of health, agriculture and politics, among others. Like the Assistant Minister, the Director of Basic Education viewed education as exposure to survival skills that help children andyoung people to participate in economic activities of the country. She
observed that education encompassed a people’s way of life in some cases,
through also comprising culture and religion. In light of these views, education was perceived and interpreted broadly within both the formal and nonformal contexts.

4.3

Conceptualising all in the context of EFA

What do we mean by ‘All’?
When asked to discuss their understanding of the concept ‘All’ within the182Chapter 4

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EFA discourse, the interviewees were quite convergent upon the idea that‘All’ was the term that suggested inclusiveness and non-discrimination. The
following captions exemplify some of the responses that emerged in discussions:
All is like everybody… everybody. I believe that when they say
EFA, means that every person should be given an opportunity
to have an education. (Education and Special Programme Officer, Reach the Children)
People of all ages from young children to adults, boys and girls,
men and women, irrespective of colour, race, religion, healthstatus … (Female university professor)

The human rights perspective
A few of the interviewees stressed the role of the human rights perspective
and the importance of gender equality as key to actualising the idea of ‘All’in education. In other words, it would be impossible to achieve EFA if morethan half of humanity (women and girls) were ignored. The Director of the
Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Rights of Children (KAARC), as
well as the Director of the Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF), bothemphasised that the crucial function of the concept was to focus on local
situations with the aim of ensuring that everybody was included. In addition, the Director of KAARC had the following to say in this regard:
When we come to the question of all, then we begin to look at
who is it that is supposed to receive education? And we say any
member of this society, and when I say this, I want to refer the
Kenyan society. I want to say everybody in Kenya has a right toeducation. It is a human right; it is no longer a need and therefore becomes imperative that the government has to go out of
its way to provide facilities and opportunities for everybody toaccess education regardless of the status or the gender. (Director KAARC)183

In the same tone, the Regional Educational Advisor for UNICEF placed thisconcept squarely within the rights-based approach to education, whichstates that every child in the world has the basic right to education. She
expounded upon and stressed this rights-based perspective, saying:
It means each and every child… That is why, to me, Education
for All is saying, every child, …and every child in the world, hasa right, to education. That’s why we say all. It means there is
not even one child excluded; every child has a right.

According to the Director of Save the Children Sweden, it was obvious that
inclusion was the key factor in the concept of All:
Of course ‘‘All’’ will be looked at from the idea of each andevery individual, being part of this learning system. ‘All’ meansthat nobody should be left out.

The CEF Country Director explained the organisational view that:… ‘All’ means taking on board the gender issues in education,
the marginalized groups in the society, that is, the disabled. By
this I mean we should have an inclusive education that shouldbe able, you know, to fulfil their needs, be they be incapacitated in terms of sight, in terms of, hearing—all those—theyshould be able to access education of good quality or of quality
similar to any other children. So for ‘All’ to us means inclusive
in terms of marginalized, in terms of gender, you know, where
we look at boys and girls as equal participants in education.
(Director, CEF)

The issue of gender emerged as key not only for the organisations that
focus on girls’ education, but also among others that perceived the educational situation of girls as facing relatively greater challenges comparedwith that of boys. For example, the Director of KAEA stressed that the concept ‘All’ underscored the importance of focusing on those girls who were184

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pulled out of school for various reasons, least of which was the undergoingof female genital excisions that were responsible for preparing them for
womanhood and symbolised by presumed readiness for sex and marriage.
To him, the concept ‘All’ should be viewed primarily in the context of gender disparities in education.
Yeah... gender; gender disparity, gender disparity… They(girls) are all there because, for example, when I was there [inthe communities]; it was the … just last week before theschools opened. But I understood there were about one thousand girls kept somewhere who had gone under… throughFGM and they would take another three months before they
are released back [to the community]. So these girls are goingto miss education. So what I thought ‘All’ is that inclusive
regardless of sex. We don’t talk about gender. Mostly people
talk about a girl and a boy. They don’t look at it as a genderissue. That is what I understand … I would say that would be
my understanding about ‘All’. That is, everybody is put onboard so that the people can go together. (Director, KAEA)The Director of the Kenya Society for Deaf Children (KSDC) explained thatfor him, the concept of ‘All’ included not only the gender dimension, butalso the concern for every person’s ability to be educated throughout thelife cycle (thus, implying lifelong learning). The director argued that eventhose people who remained at home needed to be targeted for education,
particularly on important social and health issues such as HIV/AIDS, with
their implicit and often explicit gendered and sexual dimensions.
One emergent key point of concern was the fact that while some interviewees tended to embrace the idea of education for people of all ages—fromvery young children to adults, and including boys/girls and men/women
irrespective of colour, race, religion and health status—others viewed the‘All’ as specifically referring to children who were below the age of 18 years
as prescribed by organisations of the United Nation Organisation.

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Flexibility and fluidity in education
The fluidity with which the concept of ‘All’ should be understood in thecontext of education was captured by the Director of Action AID, whoseview was that every person should be able, metaphorically speaking, towalk in and out of an educational institution, be they young or old; parents
or non-parents.
I think ‘All’, especially in our concept as Action Aid; it means
especially that education is inclusive and that you are able toget it at every moment of life; that people can go to school andwork and back to school. [It means] that young girls can fall
pregnant and get children and still get an opportunity later forschool; that street children can be rehabilitated and still beaccorded that opportunity; that people living in informal settings like slums can be accorded that opportunity; that educational opportunity can be accorded to the hard-to-reach areas
like the semi arid areas; that there could be opportunities forthe marginalized [people] like the pastoralist communities … inspite of their nomadic life. (Director Action AID)The Country Director of Concern Worldwide felt that the term ‘All’ implied
the availability of life-long access to education for every person who
desired it. He argued that skills for life should constitute an appropriate
educational package, since if a curriculum was not right for its intended
recipients, they would not seek that education and the meaning of ‘All’
would be lost. As he xplained:… ‘All’ talks about life-long learning, about people learning
throughout their lives etc. and we would recognize this in a lotof the programmes we do in livelihoods etc.; where people arelearning new skills as adults [and] in literacy which is part ofthe education programme as well. But for our organization in
Kenya, we would be focusing on, say, the children who are currently not able to access FPE so that’s what we say when wesay ‘All’. While we recognize there’s need for life long learning,186

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while we recognize that increased female literacy has an impact
on children’s ability to learn, the support they get at home etc.
in terms of our focus it would be children who find it difficult toaccess free primary education. So we would also see that incorporating early childhood as well. So eh, yeah, for as it is, earlychildhood education to primary education for All … From ourresearch and working here, what we see, ‘All’, means everybody …; the little ones that you don’t see inside the classrooms. (Director, Concern Worldwide)

Education as a minimum package for everyone
The idea of a minimum package of education for everyone kept emerging indifferent contexts of the interviews, thereby attracting special attention.
For example, the Deputy Director of Schools Programmes at the Kenya
Institute of Education (KIE) argued that since the concept of ‘All’ encompassed everyone, a nation was duty-bound to package what would be perceived as the minimum acceptable education for all people. The idea of
Universal Primary Education (UPE) was one such package for children,
and adult literacy and life skills could be seen as another minimum package. As expressed by the Deputy Director KIE:
When we talk about Education For All, I think we are talking
about a kind of a minimum package of basic education which
every citizen would require in order to operate meaningful in asociety where he [sic] is based and to contribute in a meaningful manner both as an individual and also as a member of thecommunity where he [sic] finds himself. That to me will be themeaning of Education For All. …So there is even what we callthe primary universal sort of concept of Education For All, andwhere nations are supposed to endorse, to ensure …they contribute or they enable their people to get that education.
(Deputy Director, KIE)

The Elimu Yetu Coalition Director expressed similar views on the concept‘All.’ He specified, however, that it focused primarily on ensuring the inclu187

siveness of children and adults who came from what he referred to as the
remotest of places, where the majority of the people were often left out ofmainstream education. He observed that many children had been excluded
from mainstream education for a considerable length of time, and it was
only recently that efforts were being made within and outside government
to make education inclusive of every child. For Kenya, then, the concept of‘All’ is practically a novel way of addressing the inequalities of education.
He expounded upon this view by saying:
I think maybe we need first to understand why in the first place
did we talk of ‘All’? Why the terminology came about… I think
the whole idea here is; it is a doctrine that tries to ensure thatthe excluded are brought on board because for quite a while
we had categories that simply could not access education. So
here I think our main concern is those categories of people andchildren who … were excluded from the mainstream, and thatis, we are saying for example that we are asking the government here to support non-formal education because that I amode of education for the excluded in marginalized regions. We
are talking about pastoralist children and adults, those are thepeople who have been excluded and once we talk about education for all then we are saying that even those ones, even those
ones, even those children and adults and everybody in the
remotest region has a right to access education. (Director,
Elimu Yetu Coalition)

The ANCEFA Director argued that the idea of ‘All’ within the EFA framework embraced a non-discriminative approach to education. He observedthat the concept of ‘All’ encompassed everybody regardless of age, so thatno one was sidelined in accessing education. This implied that even children who were below school-going age were entitled to early childhood
development that would prepare them for education in later years. Thus,
The concept of ‘All’ here means that everybody, from childhood
to the last years of adulthood …, we are talking of all citizens

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captured in this bracket. That children; both those who needcare and support at home, they should not be forgotten
because education for all says that we need to talk about education of children when they are still with their mums at home
and their care givers; and when they move to childhood development centres like in early childhood educational programmes, then to UPE. (Director, ANCEFA)The Director of ANCEFA added that the first major goal of the EFA agenda
is—or ought to be—ECD. Hence, even before we start talking about children’s education in school, he explained, there is a need to address theirearly development; and only after this may we move on to youth skills,
adult literacy or other children’s educational programmes. Further, he said,
only then could we talk of quality and continuing life-long learning—thereby making the concept of ‘All’ more holistic in terms of the quantity andquality of education.

5

Internationally Agreed upon EFA Goals

The process of initiating discussion regarding specific EFA goals that areinternationally agreed upon seemed to elicit uncertainty on the part ofmany of the respondents, particularly because the activity appeared to test
their memory. This was in turn transferred to the researchers, who also
became apprehensive lest they be misconstrued to be testing their subjects.
In the process, many of the subjects who could not recall the actual goals
appeared to grapple with the general understandings of EFA, and did thebest they could to say something that made sense within the framework of
Education for All. In this situation, it was also imperative for the
researchers to try their best not to persist or appear hell-bent on grilling the
respondents on the EFA goals. Hence, this particular item of research wasapproached with caution and pursued with considerable sensitivity in orderto minimise feelings of anxiety or embarrassment.
There were instances when respondents declared that they did not remem189

ber the goals, and phrases such as I think its the seventh goal or I don’t
remember which one it is were therefore commonplace. When this happened, researchers assured the respondents that it was all right if they
could not recall the EFA goals. In one interview, for example, the respondent requested that the researcher switch off of the tape-recorder so thathe could explain his ignorance about the EFA goals. Even with this kind ofconfession, however, the respondent confidently continued to discuss otherissues related to EFA.

5.1

What constitutes EFA goals?

In some cases, interviewees did portray a reasonably good grasp of the centrality of internationally agreed-upon EFA goals as outlined in the Dakar
Platform of Action. Most of the respondents in the MoEST, as well as someof the interviewees from CSOs and donor organisations, demonstrated theirknowledge of the six EFA goals by identifying and explaining them individually. For example, the Director of Basic Education at MoEST stated all thegoals and specifically emphasised Early Childhood Education as key toensuring education for all. She said:
We have six EFA goals; starting from early childhood as goal
number one, and Kenya has been ahead of many countries in
the region. We do have an infrastructure and a programme for
Early Childhood and I think we are saying we have 1.6 million
children already in Early Childhood, attending preschools, butnonetheless we have very many other children who should bein Early Childhood and they are not. And we are saying weneed to increase access by talking to communities particularlyin the ASAL areas. Again, that is where the participation rate isvery, very low and especially in the districts that have Muslim
communities, where they think that the attendance of Duksis
and madrassa is better than early childhood education and we
don’t want to lose that. (Director, Basic Education)

As the Director of Education addressed the other EFA goals in considerable
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depth, she observed that with regard to the achievement of EFA in Kenya,
Universal Primary Education (UPE) was doing better than Early Childhood
Education because of the boost offered by the FPE programme. She also
foregrounded issues of adult literacy, gender, girls’ education, quality education and the monitoring of learning processes, as well as teacher development in the marginalized regions that the MoEST had prioritised throughthe Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP). Furthermore,because the achievement of EFA demanded that schools be made userfriendly, MoEST had undertaken to avail a mobile school system and a relatively new concept of multi-grade teaching to some of the nomadic communities in the country. Indeed, the question on EFA goals provided a platform
for the Director of Education to demonstrate, through discussion, how theministry was addressing each of the six goals.
The Assistant Minister of Education (post primary) was equally eloquent inaddressing the six EFA goals, which he did in considerable detail. As was
the case with the Director of Basic Education, however, the Assistant Minister addressed the goals using examples to demonstrate what the Kenyan
government was doing to enhance implementation. In addition, he critiqued
the process through which the goals were formulated vis-à-vis how stakeholders understood and domesticated the said goals. He was particularly
critical of the fact that such goals were decided externally, and without due
consideration of locally available resources for developing countries suchas Kenya. In view of this, he recommended flexibility in the process of
localising the EFA goals in order to ensure that they were responsive to
local situations and challenges. The following excerpt demonstrates his
views regarding this matter:
EFA, its predicated upon, the belief that governments can havea programme that is common across countries and … will be
implemented to achieve certain goals, irrespective of the difficulties in different countries; irrespective of the various levelsof development and irrespective of the fact that resources may
not be available. So for me, I will see education as basically …
in terms of Education For All goals. I think we must have some191

kind of flexibility in terms of all the projections we have fromcountries, depending on what resources we have to implement
that. But also, we need to see it much more as something thatcomes from the indigenous countries themselves, you know,
from the African countries themselves. Usually, these goals are
decided by international organizations and foreign governments and then; we are called to meetings to discuss them, sothat when we have African governments get to these meetings,
the representatives of these governments, they are actually discussing ideas that are based on other peoples resources. Sometimes its not an idea that comes out of plans and designs ofother countries, so, that is a problem. I think we should look at
EFA and Millennium Goals, based on our own resources, basedon our own designs and those designs should be, really around,what is it that is possible, given … the time and resource constraints, and our own unique experiences. (Assistant Ministerof Education, post-primary)Among the donor community, the UNICEF Regional Educational Advisor
talked explicitly and in depth about the EFA goals, explaining the priorities
for her organisation. She underscored the goal of attaining primary education, arguing that this goal was paramount because it encompassed thebroader concerns of basic education that focused on quality. Echoing theviews of the Assistant Minister of Education, she pointed out that theresource base of a country is critical in determining the pace, level andscope of attaining any of the stipulated goals in a given country. She
explained as follows:… At the moment, global countries are following the Dakar
declaration. … Most countries have interpreted that to mean
primary education. But countries which have gone beyond primary have integrated basic education to also include … secondary education and then again what to me is important isthat basic education also looks not just at formal education, but
it also looks at non-formal education; it looks at literacy wherever it is supposed to be. Even some aspects of vocational

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training can be included in this basic education. So you findthat some countries, depending on their means and theircapacities would just focus on primary, but they will still
include non-formal and formal education. Others will go
beyond that to also include, secondary education. [This is]because my understanding of … formal education and non-formal education is that these are two systems of education [that]are complementary. So that in the process of ensuring thatevery child has a right [to education], if some children are outside of the formal education system in several of East Africancountries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda that applies, one has tofind ways of bringing them back into the system. (Regional
Educational Advisor, UNICEF ESARO)

For many of the CSOs, it was clear that the focus was only on the EFA
goals that concerned their organisations. For example, the organisations
that centred on girls’ education such as the GCN tended to emphasise thegoals of gender parity and equality. Those whose focus was adult educationstressed the goal of adult literacy, and those that dealt with disability discussed the goals for vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Several ofthem that functioned as coalitions, however, including the African Network
Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA), provided a broad view thatencompassed many of the goals. As was observed by the MoEST and
UNICEF, the ANCEFA Capacity Building Coordinator underscored the goalon primary education as core to providing basic education. The coordinatornarrated all the goals and underscored the importance of early childhood
development as a foundation, suggesting that it was the critical point of
departure in pursuing all other educational goals. He emphasized the following:… One of the main goals was early childhood development. I
think this is the goal One in the EFA framework. The second
goal is that of UPE; making sure that every child has access touniversal primary education. Though we call it UPE, there are
two important principles that should … always be noted; that193

when we talk about UPE we mean Universal Primary Education, which is of quality and compulsory.

The ANCEFA coordinator cautioned, however, that unless primary education was made truly free, compulsory and high quality, the EFA goals would
remain inconsequential and directionless. His view was that government
needed to design strategies and put in place appropriate instruments tofacilitate effective implementation processes that would ensure that everyone had access to the UPE. Such strategies and mechanisms would involvethe development of relevant curricula that would be taught in quality environments by quality teachers. This kind of education was bound to attract
learners, retain them within the education system, and ensure successfultransition while guaranteeing quality educational outcomes for all.
With regard to education for young people and adults, the ANCEFA director
focused on EFA goal number three and four, which he identified with thelearning of life skills and enhancing literacy. He said:
The third goal is to do with youth skills, developing opportunities for young people. And this is where we are talking of nonformal education. This is where we are talking of technicaltraining programmes. Then we have goal four, which is talking
about … adult literacy. The idea is to have adult literacy by theyear 2015 and is focusing on adult education in terms of functional literacy, technical literacy. (Director, ANCEFA)The director continued to identify and explain the remaining EFA goals,
arguing quite eloquently that the gender targets as outlined in the Dakar
Platform of Action (PoA) seemed to be missed out on. Even though thedirector explicitly struggled to get the correct order of the goals in question, it was clear that he was conversant with the content of the Dakar PoA.
He also seemed critical about Kenya’s performance, as presented below:
Then the fifth goal is about … should be… I think gender… but
I don’t know if it should be the third but will confirm the order.

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And the gender goal focuses on trying to make sure that wehave [pause] we address the disparities in gender. And the target date for gender disparities in secondary and primary education, was the year 2015, which I don’t think we’ve done … better. Some countries like Kenya are doing very well, Kenya is
doing forty-eight, fifty two percent but this is not common inother African countries. Then the last one is on quality -thatyou make sure that across the board, when you talk about education for all, from ECE to adult literacy, you must make surethat all are programmes of high quality. So, quality actually cuts
across the other five goals. So, that is basically what we call the
Dakar Framework For Action. And the target date was 2015.
Though goal two on gender was; I think it was to be on [pause]
to be achieved by 2005, which we don’t see much. (Director,
ANCEFA)

6

Newness of EFA Goals in National Programmes

The question of whether any of the EFA goals were new in the Kenyan context elicited some confusion that yielded two perspectives. There were
those who focused on specific goals, and those who articulated generalideas regarding Education for All. Institutionally, as we shall see in this section, some of the organisations viewed specific EFA goals as new to them,while others argued that Kenya had generally been striving to attain EFA
since it attained its political independence. While many of the interviewees
thought that the concept of EFA was relatively old in independent Kenya, a
few of them discussed specific goals or ideas about them being relatively
new.

6.1

EFA goals not novel

It was striking to note that out of the six interviewees who considered all of
the EFA goals as old ideas being repackaged as new, none of themaddressed issues of specific targets or time frames as a relatively novel idea
for ensuring that EFA goals did not become mirages. For instance, the195Director of ANCEFA described EFA goals as a revision of what had been
agreed upon at the Jomtien Conference of 1990, and which were reaffirmed
during the Dakar Conference on Education for All in the year 2000. He
observed that such revisions were only meant:to make them (EFA goals) a little much sharper; to make themmore relevant; to make them more timely in the context inwhich we find ourselves. (Director, ANCEFA)The Director of the Kenya Adult Learners Association (KAEA) pursued asimilar line of logic, arguing that before EFA goals were pronounced, KAFA
still focused on components of education for all with an emphasis on adulteducation. He observed that it was only the MDGs that seemed to havebrought in a new goal of reducing infant mortality, however, which was nota priority area for the KAEA. The Director, who appeared to be quite conversant with the goals of EFA and the Millennium Development agenda,
was articulate when asked if any of the EFA goals were new. He replied:
Not really. I don’t see any… I don’t see any [goal], which is new.
I have them here. … This is why … in fact before this came,
KAEA was there and it was still having the same [goals]. …
There is no new … thing. The only new thing to KAEA andwhich was not part of what we were doing is in MDGs. That isnumber… number four, which was to reduce mortality rate.
That was not in our objectives. That was not in our objectives
in MDGs but now we are tying it up with offering materials tothem, to the learners so that they can be able now to come andread for themselves and know why, how they can reduce mortality rate. (Director KAEA)Is the goal of gender equity and equality really new?
The clearly increased level of gender awareness was evident in many of the
responses, whereby references to the goal on gender equity and equality
continually emerged. The female university professor observed that while
the gender goals may not have been necessarily new, it was the country that196

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had failed to mainstream gender issues into its education system over theyears. This view was not in synch with that of the CEF Director, however,
who was of the view that the concept of gender was being articulated in relatively new ways and understandings that seemed to ignite gender debates
in relation to EFA in new and more fundamental ways. He explained:
Basically maybe, we would say that we have had to do a lot ofwork in gender. Gender is not a very old concept, but we havecome along to realize that it is a major contributor towards, youknow, non-achievement of education goals. So basically among
those new goals to us has been gender and even from an organizational perspective we have been able to borrow a lot fromthe gender unit in the organization. (Director CEF)

An issue of terminology, not concepts
According to the KIE, none of the EFA goals were new, although they may
have been expressed differently in different contexts within and acrossgovernments in the process of domestication. The Deputy Director of
Schools Programmes in KIE argued:
when we look at and especially when you look at … the publication of education, all the way from old age, if you look at
issues that are articulated, you will find that these are theissues that cut across. Every nation ascribes to them, but it is
the form that may vary from one country to the other; but thebasic, the substance is the same. [However], the form and themode of delivery may vary depending on the state of the government of a country. … I wouldn’t say there is anything that is
any new to us as far as Education for All is concerned. These
are universal phenomena, but it is the implementation of themthat will vary from one country to the other. … We are expected to domesticate that and use your own context to interpretand pursue those goals with the means that we have. (Deputy
Director, KIE)

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Box 4-2
These ideas are brought again as if they are newNo, no, no, it is not new. We may not have called it EFA, but after independence…, we all spoke about the need to have our people educated and in fact, education
was one of the main services that the populations were crying for. In 1974,
Kenyatta (the first President of Kenya) declared education… free in primary. I mean
education was free as a way of trying to achieve that universal education. And weare doing it again. So actually we are interested in it. I mean we have been interested in it; it’s just that these ideas are, you know, brought again as if they are new.
And sometimes it’s because maybe we want to have a common agenda as a global community. But, you know, there has been interest. The question is whether or
not we are provided with resources for that; and whether or not we realize politicalcommitment to get these ideas through. That’s always a problem.
Assistant Minister of Education (post primary)

The view expressed by KIE found semblance in the explanations given by
the Assistant Minister of Education, who was emphatic that none of the
EFA goals were new to Kenya. His expressed view, as captured in Box 4-2,
was that any perceived newness might be in the use of terminology—not in
the concept itself.
The Director of Basic Education elaborated that even though the goals
were not seen as new, they were being interpreted in new ways so as togenerate educational effects and outcomes in new ways. She cited the goalof quality education, for instance, which had been in policy documents long
before the Dakar PoA, and yet was being perceived and interpreted in relatively novel ways. She observed that the Government of Kenya had
increased budgetary allocation to enhance quality in education, especiallythrough the provision of textbooks and stationery, the training of teachersand education supervisors, and improvements made to the teacher-pupil
ratio. She stated:
I think we are addressing quality in the fact that we are now in
the Free Primary Education programme and providing textbooks to schools. Currently we have text book-pupil ratio of 1:3

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in lower primary and 1:2 in upper primary for the all subjects.
The focus is to ensure 1:1 in all the subjects, in all the classes,
within five years and I think we have in the budget [and]resources will be made available to do that. Other than textbooks, we have also planned to do a lot of in-servicing of teachers so that they (teachers) can absorb the new technologies,
the new techniques in training; they can improve the way they
deliver the curriculum. We intend to introduce new methodologies like in Northern Kenya, [where] there are new methodologies like multi-grade and multi-shift, especially where we havesmall classrooms and teachers need probably to use or maximize the use of teachers. The other one we intend to do in thequality is, improving the capacity of our quality assurance standards officers, so that they can supervise our schools better;they can supervise the implementation of the curriculum better. (Director, Basic Education)

These new ways of addressing quality in education also entailed focusing
on learning competencies. The Director of Education explained that the
MoEST was to identify the competences (learning achievements) that children ought to receive in every class level in order to transit to the next.
Reportedly, the Ministry of Education developed the learning competences
to be achieved in every class with the aim of identifying the problems thatchildren encounter in the learning process before it was too late. Thus,
there would be adequate information to guide remedial classes and programmes where necessary before the children transitioned from one classto the next.

6.2

Perceptions of some EFA goals as new

According to the female university professor of education, the FPE was a
new EFA goal for Kenya in terms of both intent and modalities of implementation. She compared this with the Free Primary Education Programmes in Tanzania and Uganda, arguing that Kenya’s programme implementation was relatively new. This notwithstanding, there were instanceswhere the newness of the goals were confused with the newness of funding199

or implementation modalities. The SWAp and Poverty Reduction Strategies,
for example, were sometimes presented as new EFA goals.

Girls’ education prioritised and institutionalised
Among the respondents who identified aspects of EFA goals that they
thought were new was the UNICEF Regional Educational Advisor, who
revealed that her organisation had indeed considered girls’ education to bea new mandate for UNICEF since the Dakar Conference of 2000. Her view
was that even though some goals may not be new to government, they
could be new to sectoral/organisational missions. This was the case with
UNICEF and the UN Girl’s Education Initiative (UNGEI), which prioritise
girls’ education as key to the achievement of EFA. According to the Regional Educational Advisor, UNICEF’s role in the area of girls’ education fell
under the goal of gender equity and UPE. This presented a special responsibility that required UNICEF to embrace this goal as one of its new priority
areas in programming. Girls’ education in this context was perceived as a
new goal for UNICEF, in collaboration with other UN agencies and national
governments. The following excerpt encapsulates the Regional Educational
Advisor’s views regarding the newness of EFA goals for UNICEF:
I would say those six [goals]; the one, which UNICEF was given
specific responsibility for in Dakar by Kofi Annan, the secretary
general (UN), was girls’ education. … So, UNICEF was given
the responsibility in Dakar in the year 2000 to really focus on
girls’ education and to work with other UN agencies, with all
governments in really pushing the girls education mandate. It islinked to these partnerships for girls education, which is
UNGEI -United Nations Girls Education Initiative. … Based onthat special responsibility, our bi-annual development plan,
which we call Medium Term Strategic Plan for 2001, … I think
up to this year (2005) has a four-year development plan … Inthat plan, UNICEF focuses specifically on girls education andfor the last four years, the focus has just been on girls education and pushing, the girls education agenda with governments
and pushing it also with other UN agencies. (Regional Educational Advisor, UNICEF ESARO)
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New educational policies based on EFA goals
From the foregoing, it would seem that EFA goals elicited new ways of
institutionalising educational strategies. According to the Assistant Ministerof Education, Kenya had been struggling to provide EFA since independence, and new modalities were being progressively developed to enhance
implementation and achievement. He singled out, for example, the provision of infrastructure to support the FPE programme, and the devolution ofdecision-making to ensure that FPE implementation was conducted within
the concept of community accountability and local ownership. He said:
I think infrastructure is something new … because for a long,
long time, provision of physical facilities was and has been therole of the parents. But because of the extent of poverty, weare saying it is the right of the communities and the children in
those places where poverty is widespread for them to accesseducation. And we don’t want to penalize them for poverty andthat is why we are going out of our ways to make sure that …
we build classrooms; we build schools. The other new thingthat we have done in education is to devolve decision-making
and decentralize governance from headquarters to the field.

The Assistant Minister explained that the ministry provided money for textbooks directly to the primary schools through the FPE Programme, andexpected the school management committees and the head-teachers, aswell as the regular teachers, to manage the finances according to guidelines
provided by the MoEST. He expounded further:
We have provided the guidelines for the things that they[schools] need to do, but it is for the teachers and the schoolcommittee to decide the process of making sure that everyclassroom has basic books. … In the past, head-teachers would
collect fees from parents, and nobody would know exactly what
was happening, and therefore schools will go on without aproper financial base. But I think now we have empowered thecommittees, to be responsible for the funds … So, that is new,201

and we thought that is a big plus as far as accountability andgovernance [are] concerned. (Assistant Minister of Education,
post primary)

7

Influencing Policy and Decision Making

The idea of whether or not organisations perceive themselves as having
influenced government policy and decision-making elicited both positive
and negative responses. While many of the interviewees were of the viewthat they had influenced decision-making within the education sector, someof them were not able to give concrete examples of the areas of perceived
influence.

7.1

Influencing education policy

Within the framework of UPE, the KAACR felt that it played a crucial rolein influencing the formulation of the relevant policies in the implementation of the Kenya Free Primary Education Programme. For example, theDirector of KAACR observed that by being appointed to sit on the key commissions that deliberated on FPE, the organisation was able to offer analternative voice in pursuing EFA through FPE as the right of every childrather than a privilege. The Director explained how KAARC exerted thiskind of influence:
We have … worked quite a lot in looking at the non-formal education and also looking at the policy of Free Primary Education
as it is now. So we have had a number of opportunities to sit indifferent commissions that have been set and present [our]views as an alternative voice to advance education of girls andboys in this country. And like I said, as an organization wetreat education as a human right. It is no longer a need where
you go begging, that you have to do this; please if you don’t
mind. It is not charity, it is the responsibility of parents, andwhere parents cannot manage the state has an obligation, so

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we are saying the state has an obligation to fulfil education as ahuman right to every Kenyan right. (Director KAACR)

Using research to influence policy
The Director of Concern Worldwide (CWw) was of the view that the government also tended to influence organisational policy and decision-making, and vice-versa. He claimed that by working in close conjunction with
the Elimu Yetu Coalition, which he perceived to be quite influential in educational matters, his organisation was able to participate in influencing government policy-making. According to his view, influencing policy and decision-making needed to be worked out from the grassroots experiences thatbore realistic lessons. Accordingly, his organisation aimed at influencing
decision-making at local levels, and eventually at national levels. He citedpartnership with the local District Education Office, through which
research on basic education was conducted among marginalized communities. He explained:… This year we did a big study on marginalized children in
Suba [to find out] what are the factors that affect children andbring about marginalization. … So we hope to publish that andto make recommendations out of it. Hopefully that would get tothe point of not only influencing national policy [but also] at the
district level where we are already influencing policy. We areworking with, the DEO as one of our partners there. … The
whole analysis of what’s happening in education in Suba, theanalysis of the programme; they are part of that analysis team,so that we are finding that the district education planning is
becoming more responsive to the needs. Definitely at the district level we are already having an impact in affecting policy,
decision-making, and resource allocation and a higher profilefor out of school children. … We would hope in future to beable to influence policy at the national level. (Director, Concern
Worldwide)

Gender issues and girls’ education policies
Issues of gender equality emerged as central to institutional mandates.
203According to the Director of KAACR, his organisation played a critical rolein the formulation of gender policy in Kenya, and the eventual constitutionof the Gender Commission by the government in 2004. The policy supporting readmission of adolescent mothers into the education system is anotherarea where KAACR felt it played a role in policy and decision-making. The
views from KAACR on this matter are captured below:… Let me say that KAARC as an organization has played a critical role; first of all in the formulation of gender policy, andfinally the Gender Commission [of Kenya]. But I will focus
majorly on gender and for the girl child, which brought out policy on the girls [and] the readmission of girls who conceive
while in school. … The girl might have made a mistake, but I
should not punish her forever because she conceived at one
time. We should be able to give her an opportunity to go backto school [and] that has been an effort that KAARC worked tomake sure that those girls are readmitted. (Director KAACR)

The director of KAACR did not underplay the difficulties involved in ensuring that education policies related to gender issues were implemented. He
recalled the many occasions when the organisation had to intervene whenschools rejected adolescent mothers who sought re-admission. This bias
against the schooling of adolescent mothers was apparently based upondominant arguments that schools were meant for girls, not mothers. There
was hardly a single voice, however, arguing for responsible fatherhood interms of taking responsibility for the costs of lost opportunities for adolescent mothers and their new responsibilities of motherhood. It is in this context that the Director of KAACR explained the organization’s role in ensuring that the school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers was made functional:
I know schools where the heads of schools refused [to readmit
adolescent mothers], but we would still work around and see
how we … work with the Ministry of Education to ensure that
if such a girl sought admission, even if not in the same schools,

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they are readmitted in other school and they can continue with
their education. (Director, KAACR)

Linking policies across borders
The UNHCR Community Development Officer (CDO) explained new organisational EFA strategies that focused beyond the formal classroom toinclude a curriculum for repatriation. In this respect, for example, the
UNHCR articulated a new goal of training teachers who would help in continued implementation of EFA back in the Sudan. The Community Education Officer (CEO) for UNHCR conceded that the teacher capacity for repatriates was inadequate in terms of sustaining momentum toward education
for all children in Sudan. This necessitated consistent consultations withministries of education in both Kenya and Sudan, so as to develop a consensus about investing in teacher capacity as the best way forward in minimising educational wastage and ensuring a blend between the Kenyan
refugee experience and Sudanese expectations. Thus, an influence on the
curriculum policy for teacher training in the refugee camps was inevitable.
The CEO explained his perception of this policy as follows:… What we have agreed is that, we need to kind of create asafety belt by training more teachers in Kenya using a modified
curriculum that blends the Kenyan and the Southern Sudan
proposed curriculum. And then with this, we are focusing on
training all the teachers in Kakuma refugee camp to make surethat they are ready to go back to Sudan as trained teachers, butwith the specific needs of Southern Sudan. And that is one of
the new perspectives in that, we are looking at creating a
resource; a safety belt that would support children upon
return, so that even when they leave the Kenyan school, they
are not going to drop off when they cross the border and thenhave no continuity, because repatriation will surely come oneday. But we want to ensure that even as there is this transition,
the children do not feel left out but they continue across theborder and continue schooling. (CDO, UNHCR)

205

Special education curriculum and EFA
In order to enhance inclusive education in the pursuance of EFA goals, theDirector of the Kenya Society for Deaf Children (KSDC) described the organization’s role in influencing the development of a curriculum that is
responsive to children with hearing impairments. The Director praised the
Kenyan government for including the society in every major education
forum where decisions were made, and where the society was able to makean impact. Some of the forums that the society participated in included curriculum meetings at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) and the Kenya
Institute of Special Education (KISE). The Director explained in a relatively
modest way how his organization made a contribution in the area of special
education, and quipped about the self-praise he was making:We can’t say—of course—that is for somebody else to evaluate.
[However], you can say that we were focused on ensuring thatthe quality of education in Kenya, particularly for the disabled
and the HI (Hearing Impaired) in particular. … We were luckythat the Government; the Ministry of Education recognizes thesociety as a major player in this area and we are included
almost in every forum where education decisions are made. For
example, if you talk about curriculum development, I am amember at KIE special education course panel and when we
wanted to make sure that the deaf have their language taught;
Kenyan sign language taught; we lobbied the stakeholders.
(Director KSDC)

The Director of the KSDC observed that the society was represented inworkshops when the KISE curriculum and the Special Education Ministry
policies were being developed. He also noted that the KSDC was represented in the board that finalised curriculum decisions. Consequently, being
able to participate in every phase of decision and policy-making activities
placed the society in good stead for making favourable influences in theformulations of relevant policies. He narrated thus:
I was personally invited to go back and push the cases so, …

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when there was need for change, the society again is represented in the KISE council. I sit on the KISE council and so we areable to do that [influence decisions]. … I was personally there
in the syndicate that was formulating what was supposed to beappearing in Special Education curriculum. Now, there is a task
force on special Education. The society was represented. What
I can say is we have influenced policy because of representation. (Director of the KSDC)

7.2

Difficulties influencing government policy
and decision-making

In many instances, the interviewees described various difficulties that theyexperienced in trying to influence government policy and decision-making
with regard to education. For some organisations, it was clear that they did
not perceive the idea of influencing policy as being part of their priorities orimmediate mandate. Few of the organisations claimed that since they are
relatively new, it is too soon to evaluate how much their activities may haveinfluenced government policy. Other organisations blamed presumed hostility from government toward incorporating ideas from CSOs into theprocess of policy-making. Generally, government was also described as
being slow in responding to ideas on policy issues that emanated from
CSOs.

Government attitude and bureaucracy
According to the KAACR, the current political regime in Kenya was more
open to influence from CSOs compared with the former one, which wasperceived as being suspicious of the civil society organisations. Apparently,
the government thought that CSOs did not have the government interest atheart, and were perhaps hell-bent on destroying it. CSOs were also reportedly perceived to have the money, but lacked ideas worth of policy consideration. In addition, the fact that CSOs addressed issues of human rights
was construed as problematic to the government, which was often portrayed the organizations as anti-government. Therefore, because of theapparent conflict between the government and the CSOs, ideas generated
207

by the latter were sometimes blocked, and the chances of alternative voice
being heard were muffled. According to the Director of KAACR, however,positive changes were experienced in the new political dispensation thatwas perceived to be more tolerant to progressive transformations within
education. The Director had the following to say in the context of thisissue:
One of the challenges, which I would say that we have faced,particularly if I look at the past regime, was the attitude thegovernment officials had about the civil society organizations.
They believed that we have money, and have nothing we were
saying; that we have no entity of our own … because [we] areoffering an alternative voice. … So the attitude has been that… money has been poured to finish the government. The
NGOs are fighting the government. That attitude has been avery big challenge. Two, … this country is not used to talking
about human rights. When you talk about human rights, …
their official [position] has been that we are spoiling our children; that human rights are no longer an issue; it is not an
African issue. But all along we have persisted and said what iswrong about education. If the Ministry of Education is offering
education that is what we are saying is the human right of achild. So, what is it that is strange? What is it that is Western?

Other examples of how CSOs encountered difficulties in influencing government policy came from Action Aid Kenya and the Girl Child Network,
who supported the view that the government was either slow or had a negative attitude toward civil society organisations. The director of Action Aid,for example, observed that even though the modus operandi of CSOs wasat blame to some extent for the failures in influencing policy, the fact thatgovernment was resistant to voices from outside itself also contributed
considerably to those failures. These claim were also corroborated, moreover, by the Girl Child Network. As a way of demonstrating the difficulties
that entailed changing any status quo in Kenyan education, the Director of
Action AID cited some tangible examples as follows:
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Some of the barriers are our own internal. By internal I mean
the way we work among ourselves as civil society organizations.
But then, some of the barriers have also been in the workingsof the government. I mean the whole bureaucracy of the government; it’s very difficult to influence change in the government. I mean it takes a lot of time. It has taken us a lot of timeto have the Children’s Act enacted, it has been a long process
and still, as we speak, the Education Act… we are still referringto the education act of 1964 for something. … There are still
not sufficient things for example in terms of budgetary process;it’s still a government process. It’s still exclusive in terms ofwhat say, the people can have or what the civil society organizations can have and even influencing changes that are evenmore favourable to education, for example. (Director, Action
AID)

Government influencing organisational policies
Interestingly, some of the organisations claimed that instead of influencing
government policy, it was government that seemed to influence their organisational policies. The Community Development Officer (CDO) of UNHCR,
as well as the Regional Educational Advisor of UNICEF, expounded thisview explicitly. With regard to the UNHCR, the schools in the refugee
camps used the Kenyan school curriculum adopted by the UNHCR. This
notwithstanding, however, it was pointed out that although UNHCR had
injected aspects of gender issues and peace education into the curriculum
for both teachers and refugee students, this did not amount to influencing
education policy in Kenya. Rather, the UNHCR policy on education had toaccommodate the Kenyan policies on education. The UNHCR CDO
explained the status quo as being dictated by the fact that the UNHCR does
not have specific education programmes. He proceeded to say:
Our needs are dictated by the needs of the refugees, and thelegislation in the country that they are hosted. So when we arelooking at the curriculum we have borrowed the Kenya curriculum to suit the refugee needs, so mainly we have borrowed
more from the Kenya curriculum, but our influence can only be209felt in the areas of our operation where we have given an
opportunity to the local community to mingle with the
refugees. We have added value into the Kenyan curriculum in
our areas of implementation by co-opting other subjects likegender training, peace education. These are things that are notcommon in the Kenya curriculum. … We’ve made an effort tomake sure that our teachers are trained in that area and someof these are Kenyan teachers. So our contribution is that inthese areas, which are like a drop of ink in the ocean, then theywould have positive effect on the people they encounter or get
in touch with. But talking of influencing the education policies
in Kenya, I can say that this has not been done to such extend
because our focus is refugees.

The Regional Educational Advisor of UNICEF ESARO quipped that a question regarding organisational influence on government policy would be better placed if it were directed to the government, which was perhaps best
suited to make appraisals. However, she clearly supported the view that it
was government that seemed to influence the policies of organisations
rather than the other way around.
Traditionally, it seemed that UNICEF might not have focused seriously on
how it influenced government policy, but rather on its programming activities at community levels. In this context, the Regional Educational Advisor
expressed the need for her organisation to shift away from being perceived
as that of a big NGO, and toward its rightful image of a United Nations
agency that was potentially capable of influencing government policy on
important issues concerning children programme support—a key strategy
in the relatively new SWAp. In addition, UNICEF hoped to influence girls’
education more through the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative(UNGEI). Further, she argued that by pooling money alongside that of largeorganisations like DfID and the World Bank, UNICEF would be in a position to jointly influence policies on the up-scaling of girls’ education, which
was its top organisational priority. The Regional Educational Advisor hastened to add, however, that UNICEF would still continue to support grass210

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The Case of Kenyaroots programmes in response to its Medium Term Plan of 2006.
The idea of organisations influencing government policy was perceived as achallenge. This was particularly the case in the framework of SWAp, which
tended to downplay individual organisational identity in terms of funding
support.

8

Programme Funding

This section addresses issues of programme funding from the perspectiveof government, donor partners and civil society organisation (CSOs). Of
importance is the link between programme financing, emergent funding
modalities and the influence (real or potential) that such modalities tend tohave on the ways in which organisations and institutions conduct theirbusiness in education. Notably, the Ministry of Education and donor participants—as well as the CSOs—had much to share in this regard.

8.1

MoEST perception on programme funding

Support for physical infrastructure and teaching-learningmaterials
Instructively, the MoEST identified the World Bank, DfID and UNICEF as
the major funding players of its programmes. In addition, CIDA, OPEC, and
WFP offered considerable support to the education sector in the running ofspecific programmes. Further, the Africa Development Bank, according to
the Assistant Minister of Education (post primary), was scheduled to joinother development partners in supporting education programmes in the
country.
According to MoEST participants, the programmes that attracted high priority in donor support included those that dealt with infrastructure, textbooks and other learning materials, as well as girls’ education and school
feeding. In particular, school feeding programmes were perceived as critical not only in attracting children to schools, but also for retention and211improving participation through the enhancement of student health. Boththe Director of Basic Education and the Senior Deputy Director in chargeof non-formal Education observed that activities relating to the improved
quality of basic education, as well as the achievement of EFA goals andgender issues, tended to attract considerable financial support. For example, the World Bank was one of the strongest sponsors of activities under
the FPE programme. The Assistant Minister of Education summed up theseobservations by saying:
Textbooks [are] mainly [where] we have a lot of World Bank and
DFID for primary school textbooks. UNICEF is supporting theconstruction of low cost classrooms in North Eastern Kenya
and other places, as well as of course providing materials andsupporting the girl child education very strongly. The WorldBank is supporting programmes of ASAL; arid and semi-arid
areas. OPEC is also supporting that, [and] the construction ofprimary schools in disadvantaged communities. So, some of theexamples of donors that are very strongly involved such as theDevelopment Bank are also coming in very soon to support
other programmes but they’ll mainly be youth [related] via
youth polytechnics and secondary education. But DFID, World
Bank, UNICEF [and] the Canadians; these are organizations
that have been very, very strong, in supporting primary education. Yes, both in terms of providing resources to purchase thematerial, [and] also for training and the World Food Programmes, of course — with the school-feeding programme.
(Education Assistant Minister, Post Primary)

Teacher quality
In addition to infrastructure and teaching-learning materials, the improvement of teacher quality was a key area that attracted donor support as afactor contributing to the achievement of EFA goals. According to the
Director of Basic Education at MoEST, donor funding was relatively strong
specifically for the in-servicing of teachers, where substantial funds were
earmarked from DFID for the improvement of teacher development activities. This clearly underscored the idea that teacher quality had a direct212

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impact on the quality of teaching and learning for children and young people, and that investment in this area would enhance and hasten the achievement of EFA goals. The Director of Basic Education cautioned, however,regarding the imminent dangers emanating from over-stressing the teacher
education programmes in ways that would revert the country back to the
traditional pitfalls whereby most of the education budget was often allocated to teacher development costs and remuneration. This concern seems to
make sense in the light of contemporary questions raised with regard towhether it makes more economic sense to shorten the lengthy institutional
training of teachers, and perhaps spend more resources on in-service training. It is argued that such a strategy would allow teachers to learn more on
the job through what is referred to as hands-on training in real school situations, as they concurrently offered the much needed services (Japan Education Forum III, February, 2006, conference presentations).

Educational Innovations: mobile schools and non-sciencecurriculumWith support from donor partners, the Ministry of Education Science andTechnology has been directing resources to marginalized communities suchas the urban poor, and the pastoralists who need to access education
through types of schooling that are culture-responsive and communityfriendly. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education designed an investment
programme for nomadic communities aimed at ensuring that all of the children in question acquired knowledge and basic skills, even as they travelledaround with their parents in search of pasture. This was realised through anovel programme on mobile schooling that facilitated the use of camels toallow schools to follow the children in their ever-mobile lifestyle. Details of
how the mobile school project functions are captured in the words of the
Director of Basic Education in Box 4-3. For the mobile school project the
Ministry targeted ten ASAL districts, including Ijara, Garissa, Mandera,
Wajir, Marsabit Moyale, Turkana and some bits of Kwale. In each district,the Ministry aimed at establishing at least ten mobile units, resulting in a
total of 100 units. The schools were reportedly proving quite popular andeffective in attracting children who had previously not been attending
school because of poor accessibility. Based on the fact that the nature of213

Box 4-3
Mobile School Project
These (mobile) units will comprise at least a teacher or two, learning materials, amode of transport if it is a camel, if it is a donkey; we are also providing water, andlighting. So each education kit, will, will amount to 300,000 shillings, which we havealready factored into the budget. We have also done some piloting. In Wajir already
we have seven mobile schools. I have already visited two of them myself personally. I have been with the children, I have been with the parents and it’s a very exiting
program.
Director of Basic Education (MoEST)

nomadic pastoralist life works against the traditional stationary school, themobile school was perceived as a creative strategy through which the
Kenyan government provided alternative means of accelerating and achieving education for all children.
In extending education to marginalized and deprived children, the relatively
new MoEST investment programme designed a non-science curriculumthat would target secondary schools in the ASAL districts, as well as thosein non-formal educational settings. Thus, children in such schools would be
able to learn and confidently sit for national examinations, even minus thescience laboratories that are relatively expensive to establish and maintain.
The Director of Basic Education at MOEST observed that all pupils in secondary schools were currently expected to do pure sciences, which tended
to disadvantage schools in the informal settlements and in the ASAL.
Hence, the development of a non-science curriculum would ensure that all
children, irrespective of their socio-cultural and economic settings, could
attend secondary schools without being deterred by a lack of science laboratories.

8.2

Donor perceptions and programme funding

Views from the UNICEF ESARO, Concern Worldwide, Reach the Children,
Commonwealth Education Fund, and World Bank revealed that the SWAp
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Box 4-4
We help in a small way… we buy text books for the orphans; we do uniforms also for orphans. Sometimes
we come across orphans in a particular community particularly in rural areas who,maybe (a child), is about to sit for their KCPE examinations. These are bright children but they are having trouble like studying. So we try to see how we can help ina small way sometimes we buy like lanterns for these kids.
Director, Reach the Children

funding modalities of educational programmes was gradually responding to
the MoEST strategies—particularly in the area of textbooks, infrastructure
and other selected programmes/projects. In addition, another area of funding priorities was support for needy children in pursuing education. As captured in a section of the interview in Box 4-4, for example, the Director of
Reach the Children explained how his organisation funded children frompoverty-stricken households—thereby enabling them to attain an education. A founding member of Mothers Rural Care of Orphans also claimed
that due to the organisational savings, it was often possible to meet specified school costs for children at any level of their schooling from nursery to
secondary school. She noted that although primary school education was
free, certain required expenses such as school uniforms, shoes and books
tended to keep children from attending school.
According to the World Bank Education Consultant, the Bank’s funding priority for Kenya was the FPE programme that was introduced in 2003. The
Bank’s Education Consultant described the funding of its six-year-old ECD
programme, which had eventually been diversified in order to respond tothe country’s FPE through the Education Sector Support Programme(KESSP). Teacher capacity development and research were among the key
priority areas of support for the Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF)
Fund, which worked with the government on policy matters, budget implementation and tracking the effectiveness of programme performance.
UNICEF provided a relatively elaborate picture of the programmes that215

were in its funding priority. According to the UNICEF ESARO Regional
Educational Advisor, the organisation tended to focus on funding projects
and programmes related to girls’ education. Another area of focus was
HIV/AIDS education as a means of prevention, care and protection of both
uninfected and infected persons (children and teachers). This involved theteaching of life skills to children at basic education levels. It also included
support for different countries to develop national life skills frameworks
aimed at better coordination of the capacity development programmes.
This was particularly geared toward prevention of HIV/AIDS, within the
broader context of the gender and sexuality issues that tended to negatively
influence trends in girls’ education.
The broader issues of child protection and HIV/AIDS are so interdependentthat it was difficult to talk about one and not the other. Particularly, theissue of orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) was described as amajor priority for UNICEF by its ESAR Educational Advisor. Also of central
concern was the issue of violence against children, particularly in schools
and educational settings—an issue that prompted UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan to commission a global study in 2005-6 on violence against children in settings including school, the community, and care centres. As partof this study, UNICEF ESARO commissioned an inquiry into the issue ofviolence against children in schools and educational settings. The UNICEF
advisor noted that this was a crucial priority area, as evidence fromresearch in the region had shown that violence against girls—particularly
sexual violence such as rape and sexual pressure from older men—had
resulted in some girls getting infected with HIV, and others leaving school
because they felt physically and emotionally threatened while in school oren route between school and home. Clearly, violence is intricately linked toissues that affect the achievement of EFA—thus justifying the funding priority for UNICEF.
Another key area of funding for UNICEF is girls’ education, as well as related research in the context of gender and sexuality as they relate to HIV and
AIDS. Within this priority area, education researchers are encouraged to
document good practices in education for helping to combating violence216Chapter 4

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and HIV/AIDS in ways that could be shared, replicated and scaled up within
and across countries. The Educational Advisor underscored UNICEF support for baseline studies that form the basis of designing projects, and offer
guidelines for monitoring project progress. She argued that without baseline data, and in the absence of evidence-based information, it would be difficult to know the status quo at the start of a project—thereby jeopardising
meaningful comparisons that help determine project impacts and outcomes. UNICEF also supported operational research and programme evaluations based on this understanding.
Partnerships are critical to UNICEF in terms of its decision on which programmes are to be funded. Such partnerships include not just the national
governments and other donor partners, but also the children who are thereal beneficiaries of educational enterprise. An example of partnering withchildren was cited in the Girls Education Movement (GEM), which UNICEF
launched in 2001 and which is reportedly functional in several countries of
the ESAR. Since the children do not own material resources, they contribute their time and skills in ensuring that the programme thrives.
In GEM, the girls and boys intervene on behalf of other children who areout of school by talking to their parents and/or suggesting guidelines toenrol the children in the school. The programme educates the children on
how to empathise and contribute to their own families, their school andsociety in various ways—not the least of which is via different types ofincome-generating activities. The GEM members also act as role models toother children, and explicitly practise harmonious gender relations byworking with boys as allies in enhancing gender equality in education. In
addition, the school provides a space for GEM members to address pertinent issues such as sexual abuse, conflict resolution, early marriage andacademic improvement of girls’ performances in traditionally defined malesubjects such as maths, science and technology. Despite its slow start in
Kenya, GEM was portrayed as a success story that was bound to contribute
positively to the achievement of the EFA goals, which was also the case incountries such as Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.

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9

Programme Funding Modalities

The question on funding modalities invited responses that covered diverse
issues related to the actual processes of soliciting and allocating funds toparticular programmes. The interviews revealed that many of the respondents may not have been conversant with the concept of funding modalities, however, and hence appeared to talk more about their sources of funding rather than the actual processes involved in allocating the funds to particular projects or programmes. In such instances, researchers found it prudent not to pester the interviewees in ways that would embarrass them.
Nonetheless, in the few interviews with donor participants, the interviewees praised what they deemed as effective funding modalities that promoted partnerships and institutional self-reliance.

9.1

Self-reliance and modes of fundraising

About one-third of all respondents presented narratives of funding modalities within their sectors of operation. The major mode of funding wasorganised either from within the organisation or from external fundraising,as was explained by the ANCEFA, Concern Worldwide and KSDC. According to the Capacity Building Coordinator of ANCEFA, in addition to internalfunding from member subscriptions, external funds came from benefactors
such as UNESCO, CEF, DFID, the Dutch Government, and Oxfam in the
United Kingdom. The procedures, particularly for UNESCO, involved thedevelopment of proposals for specific programmes that were then submitted for consideration. Much of the UNESCO funds were used to support
research and other activities aimed at facilitating partnerships with the
Ministry of Education, and working with parliamentarians who had clear
intentions of influencing policy and decision-making. The coordinatorexplained:... First we rely on members’ subscription. But which is notmuch because members only pay I think three hundred dollars
a year. If you look at thirty members, that is not much to run aregional organization. So we have resorted to fundraising from218

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outside the network, … attracting support from international
agencies that are supporting education. … For capacity building work, we’ve also got support from UNESCO, for some particular policy based programmes… like whenever we have what
we call Forum For African Ministers of Education …MINEDAF,
then we get support from UNESCO to mobilize [action] workwith the ministers.

The ANCEFA emerged as one of the few CSOs that worked with teacher
unions to generate funds towards the improvement of education from theteachers’ perspectives. The Director further explained how activity-specificfunds were generated via support of international donor organisations suchas the Netherlands.
The Director of the Kenya Society for Deaf Children (KSDC) was quick topoint out that self-support was the main funding modality for the organisation. He argued that it was prudent to raise funds from within the organisation before moving out to solicit funds elsewhere, and he also stressed theidea of self-help as the best way to begin a funding process. Using actual
examples, the director explained:
It’s unfortunate because I thought you were going to ask what
support we get from within so that we tell the outside people
that this is what we are able to do for ourselves and this is the
gap that you can fill. … If it is a project of 10 million coming to
KSDC, their government will tell them that this is 10 percent ofthat [which] will be 1 million. Their role will be for example togo and organizing walks and to raise 1 million. Once [we] raise
the 1 million the government will give you the other 9 million
so long as you are within the EFA goals, for example. (Director,
KSDC)

Partnerships with the corporate world were also increasing, not just interms of funding, but also in prioritising programme areas in the new funding modalities. This procedure underscores the new thinking with regard to219

diversifying funding strategies, and the reality that funding could not be
confined to government departments in isolation. This way, the corporate
world is able to work more closely with civil society organizations, and support their commitment to advance education. The CSOs, including the
KSDC, were required to show their activity plans by indicating where they
were coming from and where they planned to go. They also needed to show
the aspects of their work that were government-funded. The Director of
KSDC acknowledged this kind of support, saying:.. we are happy that now corperate social responsibility is coming in, Mobil oil, Barclays Banks, Celtel, Safaricom; they arecoming in. They have not given us money directly but Mobil Oil
for example, has been setting aside 4.6 million for the disability
areas. (Director, KSDC)

Organisational newsletters also formed part of the funding modalities forsome of the CSOs, as was explained by the director of KAEA. He observedthat even with external funding coming from organisations who had specific areas of support priorities—such as CARE Kenya, the African Literacy
Group and Fair League—KAEA members contributed to the fund poolthrough newsletter and journal subscriptions. This approach increased thefinancial base, which was apparently impressive to funding partners including the Kenyan Government. The director explained how this modality
functioned as follows:… Since KAEA came into being, we have so many supporters… we call them partners. We don’t call them donors. For example, the KAEA Newsletter and KAEA Journal … we have people who have supported us and DVV (German Organisation)… So these are the people who have been assisting us in thatwork. CARE Kenya has also been a partner. On capacity building, that one has been through CARE Kenya. … On advocacy,
we have been assisted by… Fair League; we have been assisted
by African Literacy Group. There are groups, which haveassisted KAEA since, … but the group, which has assisted

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KAEA all through, is DVV, Germany; it is a German group.

Civil society organisations (SCOs) and funding partners
There were instances when CSOs were cited as the major sources of funding. The UNHCR, for example, as a United Nations organisation dealing
with externally displaced persons, attracts a substantial amount of funding.
According to the Community Development Officer, these funding sources
comprise a host of CSOs and donor agencies that participate in generating
funds in order to support activities aimed at alleviating the conditions facing refugees. Some of the donors were identified as the International Rescue Committee, Lutheran World Federation, Jesuit Refugee Services,
National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), UNDP, UNFPA, GTZ,
Randicap International, World Food Programme, and UNICEF—which all
help develop common objectives in educational and health programmes forchildren and young people. For refugee-related activities, mainly in the areaof reproductive health, education and life skills, the different fundingorganisations and agencies were required to manage their funds collectively. Reportedly, however, the WFP provided no cash—but instead gave only
food for consumption within refugee camps.

9.2

Partnerships with national governments

In an un-recorded interview, an education consultant with World Bank indicated that the FPE had, to some extent, influenced the Bank’s funding priorities. This resulted in an increased grant in 2005 that was higher than the
traditional loan of US$ 50 million, as well as chances of continued support.
UNICEF observed that because its partner was usually the state government, it was important that any funding modalities include close negotiations between the two parties. This way, UNICEF would be able to design
what it called ‘thematic funding’ in areas such as girls’ education, HIV/AIDS,
life skills, child protection, and so on. In such partnerships, UNICEF wasable to write proposals within selected themes and raise funds from Western government agencies such as the Norwegian Development Agency, theSwedish and Dutch governments JICA (Japan), and others. After receiving
221the money at its headquarters in New York, countries requiring funding(including Kenya) would be invited to write proposals within a specificfunding theme that outlined the objectives, purpose, type of activities, indicators and budget. The regional office appraised these proposals, ranked
them, and recommended financial allocation to specific countries. After
this, UNICEF used the successful proposal as a guide in monitoring thefunded programmes and projects. The Regional Educational Advisor
explains in this regard:
Since each country has its own proposal for girls’ education,
what we then do is we use that proposal to help to monitor the
girls’ education programme in that country. And we monitor
what is going on with girls’ education once a year through what
we call education network agencies, where we bring all thesecountries together, so that we see what is happening and thenof course we also go and visit these countries, and find out
what is happening on the ground.

Another funding modality for UNICEF was described as the NATCOM(National Committee) approach. This funding was not generated at
UNICEF headquarters, but through efforts at the ESAR office via a project
named Schools for Africa that comprised the six selected countries of
Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, Tanzania, Zambia, and Malawi. The Regional Educational Advisor for UNICEF apparently initiated this programme, which
eventually attracted funding from Germany and other National Committees
that raised funds for UNICEF in Europe, America, Canada, and Japan,
among others. The funds were directed to the support of child-friendly
schools in the six selected countries. According to UNICEF, other countries
including Switzerland and Italy also gradually joined the programme (SeeBox 4-5). In order to benefit, countries were required to adhere to proposal-writing guidelines provided by UNICEF. The regional office was thenresponsible for monitoring the programmes in the schools that were funded.

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Box 4-5
We fundraise for our projects
Last year, we as a regional office through the regional director, started theseschools for Africa. The money has been raised by the regional office and theGermans; but also the Swiss have now joined, the Italians are joining. This is
another, example of how some of these projects at country level, we raise fundsfor.
Regional Educational Advisor (UNICEF ESARO)

9.3

The Sector Wide Approach (SWAp)

While only a relative few of the 24 respondents made reference to the
SWAp as a programme funding modality, the comparatively explicit exposé
of how the SWAp functioned in the Ministry—and how this fit within the
Ministry’s mission as expressed in the KESSP—was noteworthy. Among thedonor partners, UNICEF ESARO was also quite explicit about its operations within the SWAp, as was the Director of the Girl Child Network.

Perceptions of SWAp as a funding modality
According to the Senior Deputy Director of Education (SDDE) in charge of
NFE, the SWAp was the logical way of resolving some of the funding problems that the MoEST had experienced in the past while dealing with different donor partners who seemed to conflict with each other in terms of programme funding methods. The SDDE observed, however, that the fact thatthe government had embraced the SWAp helped bring together planning
partners in the education sector, as well as development financing partners,
in ways that were conducive to the success of the Kenya Education Sector
Support Program (KESSP). In this context, the SDDE observed that the
MoEST organised its EFA priorities, which were then presented to its funding partners. Based on this observation, the MoEST persuaded its partners
to pool resources that would be earmarked for education development. The
Senior Deputy Director of Education underscored the value of pooling thefinances, even as some of the partners chose to retain some of their money
for specific project activities. The SDDE gave examples of how the SWAp
223

funding was meant to function for the MoEST, commenting as follows:
Currently we have 23 investment programmes in the Ministry
and all these are funded from a common pool. Some donors
have said, ‘we shall retain some small percentage for ourselves
so that we can, maybe, come in when there are issues like disasters’. For example …, UNICEF has said that they are going togive about 50 percent of their resources; the rest they will keep
… USAID have also said that they want to use their money intheir own way but with ministries concurrence. But ideally, theway forward now is pooling all the resources together; getting
money from ADB, getting money from the taxpayer, getting
money from World Bank, getting money from OPEC, and fromall the others —put in a pool and since already we have theinvestment programmes, we know secondary education program will require this amount of money, teacher education will
require this amount of money, the other programmes will
require this amount of money. Then the money now can be disbursed from that common pool. (SDDE, Non-formal Education)

The Director of Basic Education at MOEST concurred with her colleagues,
presenting the SWAp as a new government policy that was meant to coordinate donor partners. She observed that the genesis of the SWAp was driven
by a need to respond to traditional practices whereby donors would decideon their particular focus in education, and proceed to fund the same without due reference to government programme priorities. The Director
expressed satisfaction with the SWAp, arguing that it had the potential toenhance donor collaboration in unprecedented ways. The gist of her views
is captured in the excerpt below.
The donors are not having a field like they used to have; I think
we have coordinated them in a better way so that we also avoid
duplication, so that we avoid doing programmes that have been
done before. (Director, Basic Education)

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According to the Director, the Ministry responded to the EFA challenges byinviting all Kenyan stakeholders to a national conference, where they could
address their concerns for education and participate in developing ideas on
how to redress the perceived challenges. The outcomes of this conference
are contained in Sessional Paper Number 1 of 2005, which gave rise to the
Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP). Following the formulation of SWAp and KESSP, some of the donors reportedly started torespond by putting their money into the pool that combined with government capitation. This arrangement enabled the Ministry to solely disburse
the monies (from both the donors and government) to support programmesof its choice, including early childhood, primary education, non-formal education, and even secondary education. This was in the form of bursaries
and infrastructure, as well as teaching and learning materials (TLMs). Box
4-6 captures the essence of the Director’s views as she shared some details
regarding the benefits of the SWAp for the Ministry.
The views from the Assistant Minister of Education (post primary) regarding the functions of SWAp as a modality for financial partnerships converged with those of his colleagues. He described the SWAp as key in helping to respond to educational issues, both holistically and systematically.

Box 4-6
We call it Sector Wide Approach to Planning.
What we have done in the past two, three years, is to develop what we are callinga Sector Wide Approach to Planning, where we started with a national conferencein education. Kenyans and stakeholders of all walks of life came and made major
recommendations of what they want in all the programmes. And what we did is toprioritise or to take those priorities and make them into a sessional paper, which
was debated in parliament and was agreed on and those formed the priorities foranybody, whether it is the government, or donors … So the donors as they comenow, they have to follow the priorities that are already made by the ministry of education and other stakeholders as partnership. And those are contained in our
KESSP document, because KESSP is the implementation of the sessional paper.
Director, Basic Education (MoEST)

225

According to him, this was a progressive idea despite the apprehensions
that it created regarding donors’ willingness to sustain their support of programmes identified by the Ministry as opposed to their own self-engineered
programmes. He said:
You know the idea of sector-wide approach is to see education
in a total context … The problem really is whether, or not, you
can get these donors once you have agreed; this is the comprehensive plan. Are donors willing to put in their money in thebasket and … support whatever programmes that we agree on
as a Ministry. So, sector-wide approach is just to look at issues
comprehensively over a long period of time. It’s a good idea,
but it’s all a good idea if we all agree that we must sit down,
agree on programmes, put resources together and begin toaddress those problems from the resources that are available in
one place as a ministry, as opposed to resources coming fromdifferent donors identifying what they like. (Assistant Ministerof Education, Post-primary)

The UNICEF ESARO Regional Educational Advisor could not agree morewith her MoEST partners as she explained the challenge for her organisation to adjust to the new funding modality outlined in the SWAp. She
observed that SWAp was relatively new in Kenya, and she also revealed thatit had only been a couple of months earlier that UNICEF had put its money
into the Sector Development Plan, with the clear understanding that it
would be allocated to the Girls’ Education Programme as a priority area for
EFA through both UNICEF and the Kenyan Government. By being specificabout its funding preference, UNICEF would be in a position to know thekind of concrete government priority to which it was contributing. The
Educational Advisor’s explanations confirmed the apprehension expressedby some of the key interviewees in the Ministry of Education. This was particularly so for the Assistant Minister, whose thoughts were as follows:
Our idea is that that money is going to focus on the UNGEI (UNGirls Education Initiative) activities. We thought that if we put

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our money there; that the money is not just DFID money,
World Bank money, it would give us a place at the table
upstream. So … I think that is good. But at the same time, it
doesn’t mean all the money for education from UNICEF isgoing to be going into the basket. We also still want to havesome money in projects. So that is a challenge, which we reallyhave to keep working at, especially during this new Medium
Term Plan, which starts in 2006. … In that plan, the theme foreducation is basic education and gender equality, which meansthat we can still push the girls education issues, by looking
more at equality issues because we are thinking of 2015.
(Regional Educational Advisor, UNICEF ESARO)

Among the CSOs, the Girl Child Network (GCN) was of the view that in thecontext of the SWAp, there was a need to streamline the implementation ofprogrammes and projects that the government put in place. The Senior Programme Officer GCN was explicitly critical of the government tendency
toward what he described as the production of ‘well-documented’ or ‘wellresearched documents’ whose implementation proved difficult in at thepractical level. He claimed that the ministry tended to get bogged down in
the process of prioritising the allocation of resources, whereby the alreadydeveloped areas continued to get more funding than those that were developed less. In fact, it was difficult to ascertain through the interviews
whether or not this claim had merit. Based on these expressed reasons,however, the Senior Programme Officer of GCN felt that the SWAp ideals
were impractical on the ground—mainly because the funds may never benefit those activities that were the most needy. Clearly, while his doubts
echoed those of the Assistant Minister, the reasons offered were undoubtedly at variance.

10 Funding Modalities Influencing Institutional
Operations
For many respondents—particularly those who did not have much to say
227regarding the funding modalities in their organisations—the question ofwhether or not funding modalities resulted in institutional operatingchanges did not seem relevant. One respondent claimed that new funding
modalities did not necessarily influence operational changes in the organisation. S/he argued that ‘a beggar remains a beggar’, thus implying that theapparent changes would be superficial and of no essence or consequence if
governments did not endeavour to become self-sufficient as much as possible. The respondent observed that because of the dire financial needs,some organisations were likely to become dishonest by designing temporary transformations geared toward attracting the available funding—but
eventually fail to deliver expected outcomes. In addition, the director of the
KAEA expressed the view that because funding partnerships involved one
party giving and the other one receiving, it was unlikely that any operational changes would be substantive or long-term.
Notably, only those respondents who clearly defined how various funding
modalities functioned for their programmes appeared keen to discuss thechanges that were influenced by those modalities. In this context, seven of
the interviewees thought that their current funding modalities influenced
some changes in their operations. These changes include improved
processes of designing and implementing programmes, as well as theengagement of experts to guide the process of critically analysing programme progress and monitoring the effects. Secondly, some of the interviewees said that the new funding modalities required them to revise theways in which they managed their finances. Thirdly, others seemed to perceive the new changes as related to new forms of relationships with theirbeneficiaries, particularly at the levels of organisational decision-making
and programme planning. These observations notwithstanding, the GCN
Senior Programme Officer was of the view that changes would vary according to the nature of projects involved.

10.1 Changes in organisational operations
As encapsulated in Box 4-7, The UNHCR Community Development Officer
revealed that his organisation had adapted new modes of partnerships that228

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Box 4-7
Our beneficiaries are planning partners… We have realized that we need to consider our beneficiaries as planning partners, so that we do not plan for them, but we plan with them … We’ve implemented
an initiative where we are looking at gender, age and diversity in mainstreaming
our operations.. … We are looking at people at risk, vulnerable persons and allthat, so that when we plan, we do not plan for them but we plan with them. … Thisis a process that has been adopted by many development agencies in our circles,
where you have to talk to the community, talk to the beneficiaries, talk to the children and learn and understand whether they really like what you are doing, andwhether it meets their needs. And then, having captured their feeling … then you
can design the project to fit the needs of the community rather than sitting in theoffice and designing a project thinking that is what the community needs.
Community Development Officer (UNHCR)

required all refugees—in their many diversities—to be involved in all programme activities that affected them. Within this framework, a renewed
sensitivity toward social differences such as gender and age were foregrounded in the process of organising life in the refugee camps of Kakuma
and Daadab. The greatest changes were reportedly evident in the area of
EFA, because many of the funding partners insisted on participatory strategies of working with the refugee communities. The UNHCR benefited froma sense of programme ownership because of this experience, which it
attributed to the fact that all stakeholders were part and parcel of the functions in the refugee camp.
In the MoEST, for example, the Director of Basic Education explained thatnew funding modalities of the SWAp had ushered in operational transformations such as the Joint Financing Agreement, where all partners needed
to sign for a chosen mode of operation in terms of financing and reporting.
She explained this practice as a welcome departure from traditional methods, allowing donor partners to follow their unique ways of conducting
business with the Ministry of Education. According to the Director, eachdonor partner had its own reporting and financing system, which became
cumbersome to follow. Hence, a review and consequent development of a229

new funding modality logically became necessary. The Director expoundedon some of the challenges as follows:
The Districts and the Ministry would be accounting for thisdonor and that donor in different ways. So we have all agreed
that we are going to have one financing modality and one procurement modality. Incidentally, the procurement modality is
as per Kenya Government procurement systems. So that ismuch easier for both of us as well as the beneficiaries because
we are not going to be split amongst all the participating
donors and sponsors. (Director, Basic Education)

The Assistant Minister of Education (post primary) agreed with his colleague that new funding modalities brought about positive operationalchanges that were geared toward greater transparency, accountability andeffectiveness in funding educational programmes. He argued that the newmodels of funding had helped create an atmosphere of trust and goodwill
between the Ministry and the donor partners, forming a positive basis ofcooperation for both partners. However, he sounded apprehensive aboutsome of the donor partners who may not wish to work conjunctively withothers and who might prefer to continue supporting certain programmes
outside of the SWAp framework. He urged patience in the process of developing the capacity that was required to make the systems function effectively. He explained:… There are still some donors who do not subscribe to that;
who still have to only identify a project and support it. That will
be good but of course the ministry, we also have to have theright resources of people. We have to be more accountable than
we are, to be able to be trusted with that common basket andwe have to have people who are much more qualified, and confident to deal with the issues that go with it. So, I would say weneed a little bit more preparation, we need a little bit moretraining, but more importantly, we need much more capacityand goodwill from donors that are not used to working together

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under one umbrella in terms of the way they support a country.
(Assistant Minister for Education, Post Primary)In addition to discussing the new funding modalities of EFA programmes,
some of the interviewees wished to discuss issues that they perceived as apertinent link between EFA and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This, they argued was an important agenda in any study of EFA because the
MDGs embraced two important EFA goals almost in their entirety (namely,
numbers two and three). They also contended that most funding institutions focused on the MDGs because they covered a wider range of developmental issues such as education. Hence, to this group of respondents,
focusing exclusively on EFA was narrow and unrealistic. The researchersrespected this observation, and provided space for subjects to discuss thelink between EFA and the MDGS.

11 Linking EFA with MDGs, plus Other Emergent
Issues
As is expected in qualitative studies where research subjects are allowed toclaim space to introduce their agendas or pertinent issues that they consider to be of interest, this study presents no exception. It was commonplace
to encounter participants who introduced issues such as the MDGs, andpursed the agenda of linking these with the EFA goals. Other issues thatemerged have also been analysed and incorporated in this report. Notably,
many such issues have tended to lean towards the priority areas of theorganisations concerned.

11.1 Linking EFA goals with the MDGs?
The decision to detach EFA goals from the MDs had been endorsed during
the initial activities of designing this research in mid 2005, but was later discarded as a superfluous undertaking. This was based on the understandingthat EFA goals were relatively comprehensive in addressing educational
issues, as compared with the relatively broader Millennium Development
231

goals. During fieldwork, however, it became increasingly clear that many of
the MoEST personnel and some of the donor participants—as well as some
CSOs representatives—found it illogical to separate the two sets of goals. It
was argued that MDGs encompassed EFA goals in ways that linked education to other developmental concerns. Because of this, and in synch withqualitative research approaches that allow modification of field process as
dictated by continuous analysis of research processes, the researchers provided space for concerned parties to discuss this perceived link. For this tohappen in a systematic way, the researchers designed an annexed question
posed as a penultimate query that reflected this concern. Because of thelate inclusion of this item, however, only one fifth of the participants wereable to address the issue.
According to the Regional Educational Advisor of UNICEF ESARO, EFA
needs to be located within the broader MDGs since education cannot succeed in isolation from other development agenda. She argued that children
need to be healthy and free of the challenges posed by poverty and
HIV/AIDS, and that they also must be able to live and learn in healthy environments. In the same timbre, the Assistant Minister of Education statedthat MDGs place emphasis on universal primary education, which is crucial
in the achievement of EFA. To him, the MDGs identified primary educationas part of its core concern, which would contribute to one of the targets of
EFA if achieved. He explained further:… The Millennium Development Goals, the part of education…
the section dealing with education is really dealing more or less[on] universal education; you know achieving that, so in thatsense they are related … It’s basically looking at the same, but
the main, the real important thing as far as education is concerned is that, if we can achieve that Millennium Goal that
relates to Education For All, it would have much, much impact[on] the achievement of the other goals. So in many ways, I
think this would be the most important goal in that it has abearing on virtually all the other goals and for me, that is what I
would consider to be the more important thing.

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The Assistant Minister for Education observed that two of the MDG goals(those on UPE and gender) were fortunately already the goals of EFA. He
stated that for a holistic achievement, the Ministry of Education would be
obliged to participate very closely with other partners that focused on theother goals. The Ministry of Education also did not separate the goals ofgender and UPE, but rather treated them as if they were part and parcel ofthe same goal, addressed in an integrated and comprehensive regular programme focusing on Education for All. He also underscored gender issues
as key within the process of pursuing the achievement of EFA goals.

EFA and MDGs in the context of gender
The Assistant Minister underscored the concern that since the education
sector focused on ensuring that all children and young people received abasic education of good quality, it was imperative to ensure that educational outcomes take the gender dimension into account. Importantly, heargued further that unless the entire population moved together… socially,
economically, and in terms of health and education, it was difficult toachieve any of the global goals that were being pursued. He cited the goalof equality, which he also argued needed to be pursued using a multifaceted approach that included other sectors of development such as
health, environment and others as proposed in the MDGs. He explainedthus:
In terms of EFA, you know goals like … for instance, equality. I
think it is extremely important, and the reason is, part of theworld has only had a section of the population working, and bywork here I mean, economically viable activities, and basicallythis has been men. What women have done has not usually
been taken into account. They have not been involved fully.
And women constitute a big portion of the population… actually more than half. And, equality in these terms also means
incomes…if we measure our GDP by incomes, or outputs or
whichever other yardsticks. (Assistant Minister, Education)

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11.2 Other relevant emergent issues
Refuges, gender and EFA
Considering that refugee education takes into account cross-border diversities, the UNHCR interviewee explained the need to pay due attention togender and cultural issues in order accelerate the achievement of EFA in a
broader perspective. Toward this end, the UNHCR found it prudent to degender activities such as sports that tended to attract more boys than girls
to school. Girls were encouraged to not only attend school, but also to participate in the sporting activities. By underplaying the competitive nature ofsports and highlighting the cooperative aspects entailed, the UNHCR managed to transform sports into a forum where girls met and shared theirproblems as well as enjoyed playing with each other. With the boys, theyemphasised an approach that tended to enhance self-esteem and confidence.

Guidance, counselling and parenting
Another strategy used by the UNHCR was to counsel and provide guidance
to girls with regard to the value of education. This approach was also used
to encourage girls to attend school in groups, partly as a security measureagainst gender violence, as well as to provide a social and educational support system. In particular, guidance and counselling were key activities of
the refugee school system, which had to deal with traumatised children andtheir parents or guardians (for those who were lucky enough to have them).
The UNHCR also reportedly organised school activities that involved theparticipation of parents of refugee children as stakeholders. The empowering of children’s duty-bearers played an important role in enabling bothteachers and parents to effectively embark in the caring and supporting of
their children.
Of importance was the view that parents needed not only to be sensitised
about EFA, but also to be educated on how to participate through improving their own education and that of their children. For example, the Deputy
Director of the Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children stressed
the roles of parents—particularly in the nurturance of all children and their234

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The Case of Kenyarole in the care and protection of children. These roles, he explained, lay
not only in by providing uniforms, food and shelter; but also in being able
to understand how their children learned and matured into adulthood. In
addition, he stressed that parents should be empowered to promote norms
and values that would help all children to adapt life values, and grow in dignity and without undue frustrations. The Director argued that the successof FPE was strongly dependent upon the involvement of parents in the
management of schools. Hence, the strengthening of the PTAs and schoolboards needed to be redefined in order to ensure that parents and teachers
were clear regarding their roles in the context of EFA. The Deputy Director
further observed that a review of the approximately 40-year-old Education
Act would create room for greatly enhancing the EFA agenda. In addition,schools needed to work cooperatively with well-informed parents, as
observed below:… Their (parents) role in taking care of children is not only
providing the uniforms, providing food and shelter; but also
being able to understand how their children grow, and how
they can promote the values that will help the children to adapt
in life, is critical. And therefore the link between the school andthe parents is critical. The success of FPE is going to depend
strongly on the involvement of the parents in the running of
the schools. (Director KAACR)

Government policies on EFA programme support
There was an expressed perception that government was to blame for theways in which it developed educational policies without planning for thenecessary and adequate resources to effectively implement them. For
example, the Senior Programme Officer of the GCN argued that checks andbalances were necessary to ensure that government was able to reach eachof the marginalized areas without appearing to focus only on regions thatwere historically better endowed in terms of the provision of education.

Accelerating EFA via FPE and NFE
The idea of FPE in the country was challenged by a female professor of235

education, who expressed her doubts regarding the effectiveness of FPE in
the achievement of EFA goals by pointing out that so-called free education
was not accessible to all children. She argued that the government was
obliged to eradicate all of the factors that kept children away from formal
education, including poverty and poor (or lack of proper) sanitation.
According to her, non-formal education tended to be of low quality because
it was located outside the MoEST, where she thought it rightfully belonged.
She raised the question as to why non-formal education remained outside
the Ministry of Education, and stressed the need to provide the students in
those schools with equal attention regarding education policy formulation
and budgetary provisions. By clearly articulating the link between the nonformal and formal education, the Kenyan government was perceived to beon the right path of enhancing EFA in the country. Such a move required
the government to transfer all non-formal structures from the Ministry ofSocial Services to the Ministry of Education. The Senior Deputy Director of
Education in charge of NFE, however, addressed this concern by clarifying
the existence of a policy that would relocate NFE within the MoEST where
it seemed to naturally belong. Once approved, the policy would ensure thateach group with special needs was catered for within the Ministry of Education with respect to education.
Because of the current situation in the way that Ministries were organised,
the Senior Deputy Director of NFE conceded that non-formal education
learners seemed to receive a raw deal in terms of actual educational
processes, as well as the outcomes and benefits accrued. Even though thesystem of managing NFE was gradually changing, the Deputy Director was
critical of the fact that these learners were traditionally categorised as private candidates, and were required to pay for their education as well as pay
double for their national examination—even when children in publicschools paid much less or nothing in terms of schools levies. Although the
MoEST was reportedly changing the policy in order to accommodate thesupplementary costs of non-formal education, it was pointed out that withregard to the achievement of EFA, the discriminatory modality of funding
support was already a barrier to children in difficult circumstances. He
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explained thus:
We are making a barrier to already a disadvantaged child. … In
the Ministry of Education we have approached now the Senior
Management Committee. Senior Management, once it clears
the policy, a good document [as] a good concept paper, then it
will have brought the informal sector [of education] to the formal. And that is my business at the moment, I’m trying to chase
that; to see that we do not have two classes, one class of children who are out there and having so many difficulties and us(MoEST) making life even more difficult for them like charging
them more and making life more miserable. We want to bringall of them on board. (Senior Deputy Director of Education,
non-formal education)

Free primary education and the dynamics of socio-economic
conditions
In addressing EFA goals that would be achievable through UPE, the Senior
Deputy Director of Education (SDDE) for NFE described the government
policy on Free Primary Education as the ideal and most practical way ofproviding education for everyone. He argued that this was the one educational strategy that would guarantee education to children who would otherwise not have been able to enrol in school. He also observed that the FPE
posed various challenges, however; some of which were related to conditions of poverty and deprivation of material well-being for many families
living in the informal settlements and marginalized districts where there
were few or no schools at all. In such cases, the SDDE contended that
directing the children to go to schools that did not exist, or were unwelcoming, would be tantamount to expecting the impossible. In poor urban
settlements, the nearest schools would often be across the street—
although in most cases such schools were not accessible to children fromdeprived socio-economic backgrounds. Box 4-8 captures a gist of his
views—the implication of which is that children from such backgrounds
were likely to face difficulties in coping with social environments that they
were not accustomed to, and in which they were likely to feel alienated and237

uncomfortable. Generally, according to the SDDE, high levels of family
poverty and deprivation worked against the FPE programme, consequently
hampering the objectives of EFA in the ASAL regions of the country, as wellas the informal urban settlements. The issue of poverty had many implications for EFA, which did not escape the arguments advanced in the interviews. For example, the SDDE argued that many poor children were systematically excluded from the school system because:
Even if you tell them (parents) to go take their children toschool …, the children will not walk to school naked. They
require some bit of clothing. … For children, they need to be indecent uniform; they also need to have their tummies full,
because for someone with an empty tummy, education is secondary. And they would rather go to the streets and beg, or go
to the plantations and work and then think about education
tomorrow when their tummies are full. … In the rural areas,and especially in the ASAL, the schools are very spread apart.
So as much as you declare that education is free, a three-yearold child, a four-year-old child, will not walk for ten to fifteen
kilometres. So they cannot access that free education. (Senior
Deputy Director of Education, MoEST)

Box 4-8
The children shall feel out of place
So, even when you tell the children to go to school, where do they go? There areno schools. The nearest schools are across the streets and they are not meant for
those children. These children are used to unique environments. Even if you tookthem to those classes, they will not learn, they are not used to that life, they are notused to electricity; they cannot learn. Secondly there are not even enough places inthose schools. At the same time, … they will be out of place, even if they were
offered a place.
Senior Deputy Director Education (NFE)238

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The Case of Kenya

Walking the talk for EFA
The Assistant Minister raised similar concerns, cautioning about the dangerof having more talk than resources directed at the achievement of EFA. He
wondered aloud that perhaps there was too much rush to deal with a problem without a comprehensive situational analysis. He stressed, therefore,
the need for a proper analysis of the problems that continued to hinder
achievement of EFA. In the case of the Senior Deputy Director of Education cited above, for example, the Assistant Minister stressed the importance of government by ensuring that adequate human and material
resources were available for the effective implementation of EFA.
It is significant to note how the concerns of personnel within the MoEST
converged on pertinent issues regarding EFA policy and its implementationin the country. This suggests a relatively coherent functioning of the Ministry, which was evident in the transparent and seemingly honest ways thatviews were expressed and exemplified in the words of the Assistant Minister as he analysed issues in the context of EFA such as FPE, special needs
education, and poverty. He observed:
We may tend to talk a lot on what we want to achieve, and we
don’t give it the rightful share [of resources]. And of course, forinstance, to have every child go to school, we tend to assume
that if we tell children to go to school, they’ll just walk and go
to school. We don’t ask ourselves, do we have the schools? Do
we have the classrooms? Do we have the teachers? Suppose
half of the children who walk to school are special needs children? How do we take care of them? So I think these are theissues, and that is why we are not able to attain our goals. If we
could go first into serious assessment of the problem, I think it
couldn’t be a very big problem.

The above views notwithstanding, the SDD of Education summed up theconcerns for EFA goals by saying that Kenya’s response through the FPE
and KESSP was basically a very bright idea, and that he could see a lightat the end of the tunnel. He commended the government for putting in a lot
239

of resources aimed at the expansion of educational facilities, building new
schools and rehabilitating old ones. He rationalised that because of thisovert effort, the international community had responded positively andoffered considerable support in the various educational programmes andprojects—thus helping Kenya to accelerate its efforts towards the achievement of EFA goals.

12 Discussion and Conclusion
12.1 Discussion
This study provides insights into two pertinent conceptual issues that gave
impetus to the research design and implementation. The two relevant
issues are, firstly, that Education for All (EFA) is not a necessarily novel
concept in Kenya. Rather, it has been in operation within educational discourses since its political popularisation at independence in 1963. The concept was located within the national slogan that called for the eliminationof the three perceived enemies of development (namely poverty, illiteracy
and disease). This was further articulated in the sessional paper No. 1 of
1965, which sought to universalise primary education by ensuring that all
children of school-going age attained a primary school education.
Secondly, this study reveals that the majority of education stakeholders
who were in decision-making and policy-making positions, and who availed
themselves for interviews, were conversant with and rationalised the key
concepts under investigation in the context of their institutional operations.
Concepts such as education and education for all were defined in relatively
acceptable and broad terms. These reflected the acquisition of a specificminimum package of knowledge, skills and attitudes, which should beaccessible to every human being regardless of age, gender, regional origin,disability, religion and ethnicity (among other natural and social humandiversities). Of additional importance was the observation that many of theparticipants not only portrayed considerable knowledge of the meaning of
the concept of EFA, but also appeared well-informed of the six EFA goals
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as documented in the Dakar Platform of Action of 2000. It is also noteworthy that several of the participants were able to identify and explain thesegoals with impressive detail. The fact that a few of them appeared confused
about the six EFA goals does not negate the observation that they possessed general ideas regarding these goals as being aimed at ensuring thateveryone had access to some form of basic education. This notwithstanding, this study provided the interviewees with a chance to reflect not juston their organisational/institutional engagements, but also on their level ofknowledge. They also were provided space to express and weigh the direction of their attitudes towards the EFA goals agenda, and how it fit within
their work as education stakeholders who were charged with policy anddecision-making responsibilities.

Conceptualising EFA and UPE
While knowledge related to the concept of EFA may be taken for granted,
evidence reveals a few instances when this concept and that of UPE weretreated as unanimous (in other words, some of the interviewees presented
the two as if they were synonymous). While confusion of the two concepts
may raise questions regarding their application or use, the possible cause of
the apparent confusion lies in the fact that both concepts address issues ofprimary education. Indeed, EFA goals aim at achievement of UPE—but
within a specified timeframe. This notwithstanding, many of the interviewees defined EFA in broad and inclusive terms that allowed fluidity andflexibility in the provision of education—thus capturing not only the individual development aspect that includes life-long and continuing education,
but also the more diverse societal gains that accrue from both formal andinformal education.
The need to define a minimum package of education to be achieved withina given framework of localised EFA priorities was presented as an important strategy. This was particularly the case on the part of some of thedonor community fraternity, who were of the view that such definitions
would provide much needed directions and understandings of actual milestones covered (or yet to be covered) in the endeavour to attain EFA goals.
This observation is critical insofar as even though many of the education241

stakeholders were conversant with the actual statements of the EFA goals,
the implementation of those objectives would prove problematic unlessthey were interpreted and defined in localised terms that bore meanings to
the local educational situations. It is in this context that many of the CSOs
and the MoEST outlined their respective programme priorities such as girls’
education, adult education, education for marginalized communities and soon, with clear project activities. The sum-total of these different strategies
of providing education to different categories of Kenyans is bound to contribute positively to the attainment of Education for All. By instituting the
KESSP and working within the SWAp, the MoEST appears to be on theright track in domesticating the EFA goals within the diverse national challenges that have dogged the education system over the years.

EFA and quality issues
Quality education founded on the human rights perspective has clearlyreceived attention within the broad conceptualisation of EFA, as well as theparticular attempts to localise the EFA mandate in Kenya. Arguably, inorder for every child to enrol, participate equally and remain in school—aswell as enjoy and even benefit from educational outcomes in ways that promote and enhance human dignity—the educational processes and environments need to be made learner-centred, all-inclusive and non-discriminatory. Evidence adduced in this study shows, for example, that the presence ofqualified personnel, adequate and learner-friendly infrastructure, and learning-teaching materials are necessary conditions for the attainment of education for all. In addition, accessibility to education, gender sensitivity andresponsiveness, and the alleviation of material deprivation are all pertinent
to the provision of quality EFA and the overall attainment of EFA goals.
Clearly, the implementation of education for all has faced many challenges
along the way—not in the least of which has been the lack of an adequate
allocation of resources, and at times the direct interference of the country’s
priorities by funding organisations such as the World Bank and the IMF.
Ignoring ideas on home-grown educational ideas and lacking sensitivity
toward local needs, particularly with regard to household poverty, these
institutions often imposed alien economic agendas that sidelined local
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needs, jeopardised the quality of education, and effectively hampered theachievement of EFA—particularly the universalisation of primary education in Kenya. This scenario is part of the reason why the achievement of
Education for All continued to remain a mirage over time.

Negotiating the EFA agenda within specific poverty contexts
and cultural lifestyles
Poor socio-economic conditions, particularly the deprivation of material
well-being at the family level, have emerged as a key nagging concern in theimplementation and domestication of EFA goals. In addition, nomadic
lifestyles amongst some Kenyan communities also presented challenges for
the EFA goals agenda. Because of the heavy reliance on donor funding to
supplement education budgets, Kenya has suffered the effects of paradigm
shifts in donor priorities that have jeopardised the implementation of educational programmes—particularly in the primary cycle. Disruption of support for primary education, which is designed to be comparatively moreaccessible to many children, has had far-reaching implications in theachievement of EFA over the years. Hence, attempts to domesticate international declarations such as the Dakar Platform of Action—let alone the
Jomtien—have encountered economic challenges in addition to politicalones.
Arguments advanced in this study reflect the contextual significance of historical factors that have continued to retard the achievement of EFA in
Kenya. The effects of the global economy on education programmes in
Kenya in the 1980s and stretching into the 1990s, for example, was marked
by considerable economic challenges—particularly with regard to theachievement of UPE. Findings of this study reveal that because these challenges have yet to be surmounted, the negative implications of poverty on
education have persisted. Unlike in yesteryears when the infamous Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPS) and the funding conditionalities
imposed by the WB and IMF forced the government to introduce cost-sharing measures in education that disfavoured poor families, the Sector WideApproach (SWAp) to programming is perceived as a progressive funding
strategy that locates governments and their ministries at the core of pro243

gramme partnerships and budget negotiations. Hence, since SAPs wereidentified as a detriment to the provision of education, the SWAP is perceived as an accelerator of the EFA agenda.
In view of the above observation regarding the institutionalisation of EFA
goals within sector programming, the KESSP—which has over twenty programme priority areas—is clearly a viable strategy in recovering the lost
direction toward attaining the EFA for the country. With the introduction of
SWAPs, the MoEST is able to prioritise its educational activities and thenimplement them with the collaboration of development partners. Evidently,
this is a turn-around compared with the modes of operations from therecent past, when donors defined their funding priorities with a total disregard of local situations and proceeded to implement educational programmes and projects without meaningful reference to the relevant ministries concerned.
Further, dealing with cultural lifestyles such as the nomadic type has posed
great challenges to the adoption of EFA and the achievement of the pertinent goals. As is confirmed in this study, the role of NFE as a strategy for
EFA cannot be underrated. This strategy has given rise to the establishmentof mobile schools, where the schools must actually moved to the people inresponse to their nomadic lifestyles. This is evidence of noble directions
taken by the government in response to the diverse needs of its people. In
this context, it is understandable why only a few of the interviewees
described the Dakar EFA goals as new, while the majority of them portrayed them as old goals with new strategic orientations as characterised
by defined targets and the SWAp funding modalities.

Influencing policy and decision-making
The idea of who influences whom within the dynamism of implementing
EFA and working towards the achievement of EFA goals in local contexts
emerged as relatively complex. In the new political and economic dispensation in Kenya, the SWAp is perceived as key toward enabling government to
influence dominant trends amongst funding partners in ways that had not
happened in the past. Traditionally, donor agencies would factor in their244

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priorities, and then proceed to design and implement educational projectsof their choice in regions of their choice without due reference to the local
perception of the prevailing problems. This is no longer a welcome
approach as the Kenya government has embraced the SWAp, which
requires that funding be done through sector and programme support—not
through individual projects. All key stakeholders are also expected to participate in negotiating the funding partnerships. Findings presented hereindemonstrate that on the one hand, education stakeholders perceive the
SWAp and programme support approaches as favourable to government
and Kenyans because they provide the political space to influence decisions in open, transparent and accountable ways among all partners
involved (including donor organisations).
On the other hand, while donor organisations claimed to support the SWAP
and thus enhance local ownership, some of the MoEST and CSO personnel
perceived donors as reluctant to relinquish the power and control that they
had exercised over governments over time. They claimed that many of thedonors, even as they participated in the SWAp, continued to hold onto their
special project areas (outside the SWAp arrangement) through which theyretained their identities at project level. This way, they effectively deprived
the MoEST of its mandate as the implementer of its programmes. In thispolitico-economic alliance of donors and governments, only time shall tell
how long mutual trust shall hold and how far this partnership shall thrive
and accelerate the achievement of the EFA goals. According to evidence
demonstrated herein, it is credible to assume that many of the donors wereconcerned about maintaining an identity aligned to the nature of their support to particular projects. They were possibly anxious of being lost in theso-called joint basket of funding, whereby bigger donors would find it difficult to distinguish themselves with the assumed smaller donors. In the context of this apparent identity crisis, MoEST appeared convinced that SWAp
was the most appropriate funding strategy to ensure government ownership and control of its development programme.

Prioritising programme funding
Prioritising programme funding modalities calls for well-founded partner245

ships and strategic planning of activities. In an attempt to accelerate andenhance the achievement of EFA goals, the MoEST identified various programme priorities within its KESSP to guide its budgetary manoeuvres.
This is unlike in the past, when the government waited for donor-initiatedsupport that was defined outside its locally defined programme priorities.
According to this study, the MoEST has identified from amongst its priority
areas—regardless of emergent donor preferences—the issues of infrastructure and improvement of Learning and Teaching Materials (LTMs) that are
key within the EFA goals agenda. Although these are not new areas of priorities for the country, it is the first time that prioritisation has been exercised by the Ministry of Education rather than by the WB, CIDA, OPEC,JICA or UNICEF. The greatest challenges posed by this new funding strategy are the need for close coordination of ideas, resources, and—above all—dialogue and understanding. This notwithstanding, the MoEST is undoubtedly better positioned to analyse and categorise the country’s educational
needs, assess the material and human costs involved, and invite support
from development partners to dialogue and work with them in the allocation of budgets that are derived from a common basket.
In the same tenor, the MoEST is in a position to invite other government
sectors that are relevant to the provision of education to participate in atruly Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) that enhances educational programming and funding support. Through the SWAp, different partners have theopportunity to interrogate the details of what it takes to provide education
for all that is of good quality. In this study, for example, it has emerged thatthat when donors (and even government) provided stationary to be used atschools and food to nomadic communities (particularly from the North
Eastern Province), enrolments, participation and performance did not
improve in any significant ways. This may therefore be safely described as
an investment in futility, even though such investments yielded high identity profiles of the donors involved. Expecting that most students in the said
provinces would remain in the schools, amidst threats of banditry andother security concerns, as well as separation from the material and emotional support of their families as they traversed the regions in search offood and pasture, is logically unconvincing. In this context, the introduction
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and implementation of novel concepts such as the mobile school system,
which responds to cultural and economic needs, is clearly an appreciablestrategy to accelerate the achievement of EFA. This is the case not only
locally and nationally, but also perhaps regionally and internationally.
Arguments advanced in this study underscore the fact that a multi-sectoral
approach to programme funding is likely to have a greater impact on theachievement of EFA than would a single-sector approach. For example,
unhealthy children are most likely to miss school or to perform poorly.
Again, children and teachers alike face commuting difficulties where there
are no roads by which to access schools; thereby affecting enrolment andparticipation as well as delivery by teachers. This argument also applies tothe lack of water and sanitation facilities, where personal hygiene is criticalin retaining adolescent girls in school throughout the term. In this context,
the MoEST would be well-advised to co-operate with the Ministry of
Health, Ministry of Roads and Public Works, and Ministry of Water in planning for the provision of quality education.
With regard to teacher quality, capacity development was identified as a
key priority area in which programme funding was directed. Arguably,
when teachers are ill-equipped in terms of knowledge, pedagogical skills,
professional orientations and attitudes towards work, their engagements
and outputs are compromised. This has implications for learning processes
and outcomes that are likely to disillusion the learners and their families inways that could elicit apathy, disinterest, failure and even dropping out ofschool altogether for both girls and boys. These factors, singly or jointly,
are inconsistent with efforts to achieve EFA goals.

EFA goals and Millennium Development Goals
Even though the original objectives of the study did not seek to establish
links between EFA goals and MDGs, it was clear that many of the interviewees—particularly those from the MoEST and from donor organisations—were keen to discuss the perceived linkages. Some of them actually
demanded to discuss the MDGs in relation to EFA goals, arguing that MDGs
were the driving force within international funding modalities. MDGs are247

seen as more comprehensive in locating education on the same platform
with other development agenda, which include poverty and disease(amongst other elements). Allowing participants to pursue agendas thatthey deemed as pertinent and of interest to their work is commensuratewith qualitative research approaches, whose basic mandate is to establish
meanings that people attach to issues under investigation.
In contextualising EFA goals within the framework of the MDGs, it wasapparent that funding agencies considered the MDGs as a superior launching pad for the provision of EFA—perhaps because the MDGs were a creation of the United Nations through its 5 th Session of the Millennium Summit in September 2000. Discussions revealed, however, that even as theinterviewees explored the link between the two sets of internally agreedupon goals, the EFA goals remained clearly at the core since they focused
exclusively on education. Nonetheless, MDGs also had their place in theconceptualisation of EFA. Without the realization of education for all, it
would be difficult to envisage the attainment of the MDGs in terms of forging global partnerships, eliminating abject poverty, ensuring gender equity
and equality, empowering women, eradicating diseases such as malaria, andcombating HIV and AIDS (among other identified goals). Also, ignoring the
MDGs would present a conceptual gap in terms of locating education as thefoundation of all other developmental concerns.

12.2 Conclusion
It is clear that the concept of Education for All is not new in the Kenyan
discourse on education, as the concept has evidently been present throughout the history of education in independent Kenya. The relatively new components of the concept of EFA are found in the adaptation of the definedtargets and time frames as articulated in the Dakar Platform of Action. As
Kenya lags behind in achieving the EFA goals, questions arise as to whether
the Dakar time frames have been realistic for the domestication of the targets. Also begging for an answer is the question about the role played by
the Kenyan Government in the rationalisation of the said EFA targets, andthe time frames vis-à-vis the mobilisation of required resources. In view of248

Chapter 4

The Case of Kenya

this, the government should continue to utilize the MoEST to provide EFA
by focusing on strategies that are localised, as well as culturally sensitiveand responsive. In addition, the MoEST should continue to develop homegrown ideas and yardsticks with which to monitor and measure its sucesses with respect to defined targets. Comparing its achievement on a global
platform is useful only in as far as it reflects proportionate and relative
local achievements.
Secondly, while research findings suggest that most of the decision-making
processes cited in this study were guided by reasonably relevant and accurate information and knowledge on EFA, it is not obvious that all personnel
charged with decision-making and policy formulation in the area of education were adequately versed with the Dakar EFA goals per se. Evidenceshows that a few of them were confused about the goals and were uncertain of the actual content, let alone the set targets and time frames for goal
achievement. This observation calls for organisational self-appraisal aimed
at ensuring that all policy makers operate with adequate understanding of
the overall EFA agenda.
Thirdly, while the persistence of gender disparities in education remains amajor area of concern, the fact that all stakeholders were cognisant of thisfact—and also freely articulated their strategic responses toward eradicating gender inequalities—is an indication of the relatively high level ofawareness and positive attitudes with regard to gender issues. The challenge for the EFA agenda, however, continues to hinge on policy strategies
for poverty eradication, bringing on board marginalized communities, mainstreaming gender and gender budgeting, enhancing adult education and literacy skills, and additional factors that result in discrimination against particular categories of people.
Fourthly, with the inception of the KESSP and the adaptation of the SWAp
to programming, communication between education stakeholders and others participating within the broader sectoral dialogue appears to have
improved in the last two years. This situation creates room for operations
that are transparent to all partners, and in which the accountability of249

investments in education is rendered possible, systemic, holistic and conducive to the achievement of EFA goals. Whether such achievements need
to be measured against locally and/or internationally determined indicators
is an issue for continued interrogation.
Lastly, this study has yielded evidence regarding the existence of progressive strategies in the domestication of EFA goals. Metaphorically speaking,then, the MoEST is located in the driver’s seat, from where it is now possible to direct negotiations toward the achievement of locally defined educational priorities with respect to global targets.

References
Bogonko S. (1992). A History of Education in Kenya (1895-1991). London: Evans
Brothers Ltd.
Deolalikar, A.B. (1999). ‘Primary Education And Secondary Education in Kenya. A
Sector Review of Kenya.’ Unpublished Research Report. Nairobi.
Elimu Yetu Coalition. (2004). Reform Agenda for Education Sector in Kenya. Nairobi: CCCD Ltd.
Eshiwani G. (1993). Education in Kenya Since Independence. Nairobi: EA Education Publishers
Japan Education Forum III (February, 2006). Conference presentations
Republic of Kenya. (1964). High Level Human Resource Requirements andResources in Kenya. 1964-1970. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1964). Kenya Education Commission Report. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya Economic Survey. (1968-85). Nairobi: Governments.
Republic of Kenya. (1970). 1970-74. Development Plan. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1975). 1975-80 Development Plan. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1981). 1981-84 Development Plan. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1985). 1985-90 Development Plan. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1976). Report on The National Committee on Educational

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Objectives and Policies (NCEOP). Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1988a). Report on The Presidential Working Party on Educationand Human resource Training for The Next Decade And Beyond Nairobi:
Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1988b). Sessional Paper No.6 on ‘Education and Human
resource Training for The Next Decade’ Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (1998a). Master Plan on Education and Training 1997-2010.
Nairobi: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
Republic of Kenya. (1999). Commission of Inquiry into The Educational System in
Kenya. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (2001) EFA in Kenya: A National Handbook on EFA 2000 and
Beyond. Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (2003). National Action Plan on Education for All 2003-2015.
Nairobi: Government Printers.
Republic of Kenya. (2005). Kenya Education Sector Support Programme. 20052010. Nairobi: Government Printers.
MOE/UNESCO. (1993). EFA in Kenya. A Regional Evaluation and Planning Meetingof NGOs and Key UN Agencies. Nairobi: UNESCO.
Sifuna, D. (1990). Development of Education in Africa: The Kenyan Experience.
Nairobi: Initiative Publishers Ltd.
UNESCO. (1999). Education For All Assessment of Progress. Kenya Country Report.
Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2002). The Challenge of Achieving EFA in Africa. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2005). The Challenge of Free Schooling in Kenya. in EFA NEWS, 2005
Issue VII. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO. (2005) Kenya Education Reforms Win Donor Nod. in EFANEWS 2005
Issue IX. Paris: UNESCO.
Wawire V. K. (2005). ‘Factors That Impact on the Equality And Relevance of ECE in
Kenya.’ Unpublished PhD Thesis. Kenyatta University. Nairobi.
World Bank. (1988). Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Policies for Adjustment, Revitalization and Expansion. Washington D.C.: World Bank.

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Appendix I
Interview Guide
Professional Biography
1. Please tell me about your job and yourself.

EFA conceptualization
For all respondents:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Please define “Education for All” in your own terms.
What do you think “education” means, when you talk of Education for All?
Who do you think “all” means, when you talk of Education for All?
What do you think the internationally-agreed goals of EFA are?
Which EFA goal(s) is/are new to your country?
Are the said EFA goals integrated into the government’s educational policy?
6-1. If yes, what do you think influenced the integration?
6-2. If no, why do you think it has not been integrated?

For the staff of donors and civil society organizations:
7. Do you think your organization has any influence on the process of educational decision-making?
8-1. If yes, please explain.
8-2. If no, why do you think it has not been influential?

Programmes-in-charge
For donor staff:
1-1. What programme(s) do you support/fund in relation to EFA goals?

For government officials:
1-2. What programmes are funded by donors in relation to EFA goals?

For all respondents:
2. Please explain how your programme is aligned with EFA goals?
3. What kind of funding modalities were used for the said programme?
4. Do you think these modalities resulted in changes in your operations?
5-1. If yes, please explain.
5-2. If no, why do you think the modalities did not result in changes?

Open discussion
1. If there are any other issues you have not mentioned and would like totouch upon, please tell me.
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Appendix II
Letter of Cooperation to Institutions
Date; _________
Ref. No. ______The Ministry of Education
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Addis Ababa
Dear Sirs,
We are pleased to introduce Dr. Yacob Arsano, assistant professor of politicalscience & international relations and Ato Ayalew Shibeshi, associate professorof educational management, both of them from Addis Ababa University. The
two senior scholars have set out to conduct an interdisciplinary and comparative study on the discourse of Education for All (EFA) from the context ofEthiopia. The study is undertaken under the auspices of the Department of
Political Science & International Relations of Addis Ababa University.
As you may well know, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for
All (WCEFA) was held in Jomtien, Thailand. A set of development goals
agreed then came to be called “Education for All (EFA)”. Subsequently, theassistance programmes of donor organizations and educational policies of thedeveloping countries were framed. UNESCO, the World Bank, and UNICEF
led the move towards EFA, especially in sharing the short-term needs tosecure resources for their educational programmes, for which purpose the
WCEFA was very successful.
These EFA goals were reconfirmed in Dakar in 2000 among representatives ofmajor bilateral and multilateral donors and governments of developing countries. Meanwhile, most of EFA goals were integrated into the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG), which came to be employed as the backbone ofcomprehensive social and economic policies of developing countries. Respective Governments were required to develop national plans of action to achieve
EFA goals, which operated to further enforce the adoption of EFA goals tonational policies.
The two scholars are doing a comparative study of EFA together with theircounterparts in Kenya and Tanzania to help the global discourse on the
progress and prospects of EFA. Among others, their study looks into issues
254like: to what extent is their adaptation of educational ideas between the three
countries? Is there motivation for borrowing and lending educational policies
and models among the three countries? More specifically, the research questions include:• How do the actors involve EFA in policy-making in the respective
countries?
• What were their motivations to adopt EFA?
• What are the perceived changes caused by the introduction of EFA in
Millennium Development Goals?
• How are EFA goals linked to the aid modalities such as budget support or sector-wide approach?
• To what extent is the discourse shaped by contemporary global
forces vs. historical development in each country.
We believe that the study being undertaken by the two scholars is relevant andtimely, especially in view of Ethiopia’s national efforts to attain the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015. Therefore, we sincerely request the cooperationof your esteemed organization to kindly provide access to the two scholars
and their research assistant Ato Demissie Gudissa, to pertinent data, including
access to interview key personalities in the organization.
Sincerely

Dr. Kassahun Berhanu
Chairman,
Department of Political Science & International Relations
Addis Ababa University.

255