Recent Developments in Financing
for Education in Low-Income
Countries: Implications for Girls and
Women
Bob Prouty
EFA FTI Secretariat
CIES Gender Symposium
March 18, 2008
1
Outline
• Trends for coordination of financial support to
education sector plans
– Gender implications
• Trends in domestic financing for education in
low-income countries
– Gender implications
• Trends in external financing for education in lowincome countries
• World Bank trends as a precursor?
– Gender implications
• Trends in girls’ enrollment
The FTI Compact
Low-income countries:
• Prepare sound national education plans
• Allocate adequate share of the national budget to
education
Donors:
• Mobilize additional resources
• Make aid more predictable
Goal:
• Accelerated progress toward universal learning
Gender Implications of FTI
Processes
• Opportunity to ensure gender lens applied
to preparation of ed sector plans by
national governments
• Opportunity to ensure consistent approach
and support by donor partners
• Risk that non-primary sub-sectors will
receive less
Domestic Financing Trends
• GMR 2008 reports a mixed picture
• Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia
performing well
• 9 of 14 LICs with >1% increase in share of
GNP for education are FTI-endorsed
FTI Countries pay most of the
education bill themselves
Typically, in FTI countries 70 to 80% of
education costs are financed domestically
Bilaterals
Domestic Funding
External Aid
Multilaterals
FTI Catalytic
Fund
Relationship between Education Expenditure and Primary Completion in FTI Countries
Gender Implications of Domestic
Financing Trends
• Sustainability
– If it is to be sustainable over time, it will need
to be included in government budgets and
supported through domestic resources
• Effectiveness
– Increased financing, coupled with solid
policies, leads to more girls completing school
7
6
5
Total
4
Basic
3
Secondary
2
1
Commitments
Disbursements
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
0
1999
US$ billions (constant 2006)
External Financing for Education
in Low Income Countries
US$ billions (constant 2006)
Education Aid Flows
in Low Income Countries
6.5
7
5.6
6
5
4.1
4
3.5
3.3
Total
3.0
3
1.9
2
1.9
1.6
Basic
1.0
0.9
0.9
1
0.4
Secondary
0.3
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Commitments
Disbursements
Girls’ Education Lending, IDA
ODA to Basic Education in Low-Income Countries as a Percentage of GNI
0.000%
0.005%
0.010%
0.015%
0.020%
No rway
Netherlands
Ireland
United Kingdo m
Canada
New Zealand
Sweden
Denmark
B elgium
France
Luxembo urg
2002
A ustralia
2005
P o rtugal
Japan
United States
Germany
Spain
Switzerland
Italy
A ustria
Greece
Finland
Share of basic education in education ODA
Share of Education and Basic Education in ODA Disbursements from DAC Countries
to Low-Income Countries in 2005
100%
United
States
United
Kingdom
Canada
EC
80%
Denmark
Norw ay
Ireland
60%
Spain
IDA
Japan
40%
Australia
Netherlands
Italy
Sw eden
Luxembourg
New Zealand
Greece
Belgium
Sw itzerland
20%
France
Portugal
Germany
Austria
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Share of education in sector-allocable ODA
50%
Leveraging policy change?
• FTI countries show increased hours of
schooling
• FTI countries lower repetition rates much
faster than others, with high PCR gains
• FTI countries that have abolished user
fees see faster PCR gains
Source: FTI Annual Report 2007
A Shift in IDA Financing—Primary
as % of Total Education Credits
• 1990-94
42
• 1995-99
45
• 2000-2004
46
• 2005-2007
29
Emerging Trends: IDA Credits
Secondary vs. Primary
•
•
•
•
1990-94
1995-99
2000-04
2005-07
23 %
19 %
19 %
57 %
Gender Issues Linked to External
Financing Trends
• How to ensure predictable financing
• How to protect financing for primary
• How to ensure shift toward secondary
gives due attention to gender issues
• How to finance marginalized populations
• How to increase financing, and spread it
more evenly among donors
• How to leverage positive change on
gender issues
Girls’ Access Trends--Primary
• 1990-94
• 1995-99
• 2000-05
from 77% GER to 78%
from 78% GER to 80%
from 81% GER to 99%
Male and Female GER—Upper
Secondary
Benin
Burkina
Faso
Guinea
Ethiopia
Girls
14
5
14
11
Boys
27
9
27
20
Mozambique
Mauritania
Djibouti
Yemen
3
19
13
25
5
22
21
55