Supporting Education in Developing Countries
Firelight
Foundation strengthens communities in Africa that
have been heavily affected by poverty, HIV and AIDS, working to support the
health, resilience and education of children. With the Foundation’s help,
Firelight supports more than 2,100 children ages 0 to 10 by assessing and
improving the quality of community-based early childhood development centres in
Malawi.
Global
Fund for Children (GFC) works to transform the lives
of children on the edges of society, including trafficked children, refugees
and child labourers. With the Foundation’s help, GFC strengthens
community-based organizations that provide early childhood development programs
to nearly 3,300 children ages 0 to 5, primarily in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.
The
International Rescue Committee (IRC) supports
children, youth and adults whose lives are shattered by conflict and disaster.
IRC uses the Foundation’s support to improve early childhood programming and
wrap-around supports for 3,600 children ages 3 to 10 in six refugee camps in
Ethiopia.
Save
the Children invests in childhood, giving children
around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from
harm. Save the Children has used the Foundation’s funding in Uganda to develop
a “Boost for the Youngest” toolkit to help parents and caregivers support the
cognitive, social and emotional growth of young children, ultimately reaching
5,000 children.
For many developing countries
bilateral aid is critical to meeting the 2015 Education for All and Millennium
Development Goals. Although it is easy to say this reliance is due to a
lack of political will to invest in and improve basic education systems, the
reality is that a large number of developing countries do not have the
financial or other resources necessary to extend quality basic education to
every child in the country. For example, for every dollar some developing
countries invest in education, twenty-five cents comes from external
assistance. Unfortunately, the projected stagnation or decline in support for
basic education could lead to substantial and avoidable losses in improvement
progress made over the last decade.
The
Good News
The good news is that not all donor countries plan
to reduce their aid to education in developing countries. In fact, some
countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia plan to increase basic
education investment over the next several years. The UK has shown
leadership in the area by pledging to increase aid to basic education through
the year 2015, when it will account for twenty-five percent of its total amount
of foreign aid. Australia has also pledged to increase its total
allocation to basic education in developing countries. France and Germany
have indicated their overall aid to education will increase, although it is
unknown at this point to what extent this aid will be allocated toward basic
education and what will be reserved for technical or tertiary education.
The Bad
News
On the
other hand, many donor countries plan to decrease their support to basic
education. The Netherlands has been the number one donor to basic
education for many years. They now plan to eliminate basic education as a
priority sector altogether by decreasing their total amount of bilateral aid to
education, as well as reducing their number of developing country
partners. The Netherlands claims they do not have comparative
advantage in the education sector, an assertion we consider absurd given its
long and respectable history of expertise in basic education in developing
countries. It should be noted that the Netherlands are adamant that they
will coordinate its gradual withdraw, while simultaneously making a
generous commitment to continue providing funding to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative. The United States also
plans to decrease its support to education in developing countries, due to
current and ongoing budget constraints, a Congress that is wary of increasing
foreign aid and the prioritization of other development sectors over
education. Spain and Denmark plan to cut support to bilateral aid for
education, although Denmark intends to reallocate its bilateral funding through
multilateral channels.
The
Biggest Losers
Burkina
Faso will be among the countries hit hardest when donors begin phasing out
education aid. They will lose an absolutely staggering total of 53
percent from at least five donor countries, including the Netherlands and
Canada. This comes at a time when only 63 percent of school-aged children
enroll in primary school, just of half of whom will complete their primary
education. Nicaragua will lose five donors including the Netherlands, which
provides 35 percent of the country’s external aid to basic education.
Nicaragua struggles to improve its basic education system as well: its primary
completion rate is lower than the regional average at 75 percent and the
poorest children complete only 2.5 years of school. Other countries that
will lose significant amounts of support include Zambia, Benin, Mozambique,
Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Rwanda and Ghana. External financing has
been critical to making gains in primary education in these countries;
discontinuing this support for important education system investments will pose
serious challenges to current reform efforts.
Education is a
human right and is central to achieving many other sustainable development
outcomes.
A quality
basic education gives children and youth the knowledge and skills they need to
face daily life challenges, and take advantage of economic and lifelong
learning opportunities. It is also a key driver for reducing poverty, fostering
economic growth, achieving gender equality, and social development.
These
benefits are even greater when support to education is targeted toward girls.
Girls who complete their primary education tend to find better jobs, marry
later and have fewer children. They are also:
- half as likely to have children who suffer from malnutrition
- less likely to have children who die before the age of five
- less likely to turn to prostitution
- less prone to be victims of sexual violence or become infected with HIV
Education
is particularly important to communities that are fragile or rebuilding.
Education provides stability, structure and hope for the future, helping children
and youth to overcome trauma caused by war, disaster, or conflict.
Having a
safe learning environment also makes children and youth less vulnerable to
exploitation, kidnapping, and recruitment by militant groups or organized
crime.
However,
around 59 million children in developing countries do not have access to
basic education. The quality of education is also a key concern: 250 million
children are unable to read, write or count, even after four years of
schooling.
Many
young people in developing countries who have not been able to complete a
quality education are lacking the foundational and high level skills for work
and life.
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