Written evidence submitted by the Global Partnership for Education

Education is a vital human right and plays a key role in human, social, and economic development.  The UK recognizes the importance of investing in education and is the largest bilateral donor to education, however the scale of the problem requires additional and complementary action.

The Global Partnership for Education works to improve learning and equity through stronger education systems. We mobilize globally funding, knowledge and political will; and act locally, locking together better planning, more financing, and mutual accountability to build strong education systems and better schools.  This in turn leads to better education outcomes, more children in school and greater equity and eventually to the world we want of less poverty, more productivity, empowered citizens and healthier people.

GPE delivers results:

• Over the last 10 years GGPE has mobilized over $4.4 billion in financing for education in developing countries and leveraged billions more in domestic financing.
• 31 GPE developing country partners are close to or have achieved gender parity in primary education.
• 69 percent of girls in GPE-supported countries completed primary school in 2012, up from 56 percent in 2002.
• In GPE-supported developing countries, the number of out-of- school children of primary school age fell from 56 million in 2002 to 41 million in 2012.
• The primary school completion rate in GPE-supported developing countries has increased from 63 percent in 2002 to 73 percent in 2012, with the increase mainly occurring in fragile and conflict-affected states.

The UK is the largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education.  By investing in GPE, DFID has been able to use this broad multi-stakeholder partnership to drive results, including leveraging increased domestic financing for education, and to extend the geographic reach of UK aid in low- and lower middle- income countries where it has no bilateral programs. It also allows DFID to increase the impact of its aid by working together across the full range of partners at the country and global levels to strengthen education systems. Recognized as a model of aid effectiveness, GPE contributes to more effective DFID bilateral interventions through both strengthened systems and increased coordination and alignment of aid at the country level. 

DFID has been a key driver of reforms in GPE.  These success of these reforms were acknowledged in the 2015 Annual Review which awarded an A grade to GPE, as well as the release of 100% of the reform-based conditional tranche of funding for 2015.  With a tighter operational model, a results framework, and a strong monitoring and evaluation capacity, GPE is now poised to lead in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for education. 

Global Partnership for Education Written Submission to the UK Parliament International Development Committee Inquiry:  DFID's work on education: Leaving no one behind?

The Global Partnership for Education’s written submission will focus on the following two areas of inquiry:

• Access: getting the most marginalized children into school 
• Quality: ensuring children receive a high standard of education at the primary and early secondary levels, with good learning outcomes

The terms of reference of the inquiry propose a broad range of questions.  This written submission will focus specifically on the question: “How effective are DFID’s interventions through multilateral organizations?” and specifically through the Global Partnership for Education.

Background

1. Education is a vital human right and plays a key role in human, social, and economic development.  Girls and boys who learn to read, write and count will provide a better future for their families and countries. With improved education, so many other areas are positively affected. Education promotes economic growth, saves lives, promotes peace, raises crop yields and promotes gender equality.  As such, education is a cornerstone for achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals.

2. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) works with 65 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, the most vulnerable and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

3. GPE mobilizes financing for education and supports developing countries to build effective education systems founded on evidence-based planning and policies.  GPE drives results at the country level and provides leadership at the global level.

4. Established in 2002 as the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI), the Global Partnership for Education has evolved into an independently governed partnership of governments, civil society, multilateral organizations and the private sector. 

The United Kingdom and the Global Partnership for Education

5. The UK, through the Department for International Development (DFID), is the largest bilateral donor supporting basic education spending. However, the scale of the challenge of getting all girls and boys into school and learning effectively needs additional and complementary investment.

6. By investing in the Global Partnership for Education, DFID has been able to use this broad multi-stakeholder partnership to drive results, including leveraging increased domestic financing for education, and to extend the geographic reach of UK aid in low- and lower middle- income countries where it has no bilateral programs, including fragile and conflict- affected states (e.g. Côte d’Ivoire, the Central African Republic, Chad and Mali).  It also allows DFID to increase the impact of its aid by working together across the full range of partners at the country and global levels to strengthen education systems. Recognized as a model of aid effectiveness, GPE contributes to more effective DFID bilateral interventions through both strengthened systems and increased coordination and alignment of aid at the country level.  As such, GPE was cited as good value for money in the 2013 DFID Multilateral Aid Review and received and A in the 2015 Annual Review.

7. UK has been an active member of the Global Partnership for Education since 2004 and has contributed more than US$876 million, or £660 million at current exchange rates, to date.  The UK is currently the largest GPE donor partner and has a seat on the Board.  They are the Grant Agent, meaning they manage the GPE grants, in Rwanda and Zambia.  The DFID pledge in the 2014 – 2018 GPE Replenishment was the largest single pledge, for up to £300 million, subject to a maximum of 15% of the total amount raised by GPE in the replenishment period.  The pledge included two conditional tranches of results-based financing.  At the GPE Board meeting of June 2016, DFID announced that GPE had met the reform-based conditions need to receive 100% of the first tranche of conditional financing.

Alignment of mission, vision, and goals

8. There is a very close alignment between the mission, vision and goals of DFID’s education policy and GPE’s Strategic Plan, “GPE 2020.”

9. GPE’s vision is the UN Sustainable Development Goal for education: "to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."

10. GPE’s mission is to mobilize global and national efforts to contribute to the achievement of equitable, quality education and learning for all, through inclusive partnership, a focus on effective and efficient education systems and increased financing.

11. GPE’s goals reflect its theory of change, that strengthening education systems is the key to unlocking access and equity, as well as quality learning.  To achieve these goals, GPE mobilizes partners globally to support developing country governments to maximize impact locally.

Effective use of aid

12. Employing funding criteria based on poverty, education vulnerability, and fragility, GPE has allocated more than US$4.4 billion over the past decade to support the building and strengthening of durable, resilient education systems in developing countries. As such, GPE is the third largest contributor to education in low-income countries. That investment has leveraged billions more in increased national spending, with GPE developing partner countries pledging over US$26 billion in additional domestic resources to education for the 2015-2018 GPE replenishment cycle. 

13. DFID has been a key driver on the GPE Board and within the wider partnership toward increasing effectiveness and monitoring and delivering results.  The 2013 DFID Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) rated GPE as good value for money but highlighted some areas for improvement which have now been addressed in a series of reforms.  The 2015 Annual Review acknowledge the strength of these reforms: 

• GPE’s new operational model provides funding for measurable results.  GPE grants strengthen education systems to improve access, quality, equity, and data collection, with 30 percent of the grant disbursed only after specific targets are reached.  The operational model also helps us to improve the return on investment in education through its results-based component which incentivizes partner governments to gradually allocate up to 20 percent of national budgets to quality education.
• GPE’s new Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 includes a results framework which allows for reliable monitoring and reporting on progress toward GPE’s goals and objectives.  With this framework, GPE now monitors not only the impact of its grants but the impact of the investment in systems on the goals of getting all children into school and receiving a quality education.  GPE can now show aggregate results against a clear set of targets and indicators.
• Reflecting the truly global nature of the partnership, GPE has steadily broadened its range of development partners administering GPE grants (“grant agents).While the host of the GPE Secretariat, the World Bank, continues to serve as the grant agent in most GPE developing countries, international organizations such as UNICEF, and bilateral agencies such as DFID, Sida (Sweden), AfD (France), and BTC (Belgium) have taken the role.  As stated earlier, DFID is now the grant agent in Rwanda and Zambia.
• A strategic financing review is also currently under way, which will help GPE diversify both its sources of financing as well as its funding mechanisms.

14. A key function of the Global Partnership for Education is to support the development of good quality education sector plans and to encourage donors to align their support with these plans, hence reducing aid fragmentation and transaction costs. By leading a government-wide analytical, policy and planning process in partner countries, GPE helps to improve how education funding is spent. GPE facilitates budgetary and policy transparency, and supports civil society organizations to hold governments accountable for implementing national education plans.

15. Developing countries supported by the Global Partnership for Education have shown measurable results:

• Increasing domestic financing: On average domestic financing for education in GPE developing countries has increased by 10 percent as a share of GDP after they joined the partnership.
• Achieving gender parity: 31 GPE developing country partners are close to or have achieved gender parity in primary education.
• Educating girls: 69 percent of girls in GPE-supported countries completed primary school in 2012, up from 56 percent in 2002.
• Reducing the number of out-of-school children: In GPE-supported developing countries, the number of out-of- school children of primary school age fell from 56 million in 2002 to 41 million in 2012.
• Increasing completion of primary school: The primary school completion rate in GPE-supported developing countries has increased from 63 percent in 2002 to 73 percent in 2012, with the increase mainly occurring in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Reaching the most marginalized

16. Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS)

An increasing proportion of the least-developed countries are fragile and affected by conflict.  Twenty-eight of 65 GPE developing country partners are classified as such.  In addition, 50 percent of GPE’s average annual disbursements, on average US$250 million, are financing the continuity of education in these settings, making GPE one of the largest sources of financing for education in emergencies and protracted crises.  DFID’s investment in GPE allows the UK to support the most vulnerable and resource-deprived education systems, including in countries where DFID may have no aid program or may have been forced to suspend its aid.  GPE steps in to support these education systems where children are more likely to have low primary and secondary school completion rates and inequitable access.

17. Over the past two years, GPE has adopted new policies and mechanisms to ensure a rapid response and flexibility when crises strike.  GPE’s operational model ensures a continuum between speedy support during an emergency and building stronger, more resilient systems for the future. In conflict and crisis situations, GPE supports transitional sector planning – which offers a unique starting point for policy coordination when countries emerge from crisis -- and specifically recognizes the need to link humanitarian action and longer-term development. Twelve “transitional” education plans are currently being supported by GPE; and more than US$22 million in accelerated funding has been provided to four countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia, and Yemen.

18. GPE is also investing in work to ensure that national education plans are planning for and responding to the needs of refugee populations. While GPE has played an important role in this space, much more needs to be done to secure the right to education for all children in these vulnerable contexts.

19. GPE is also an architect of the new Education Cannot Wait platform and fund, in which DFID has played a leading role.  GPE is working hard to ensure that Education Cannot Wait will deliver additional resources, greater efficiency and new approaches to providing quality education in emergencies and protracted crises. GPE is strongly committed to ensuring the success of Education Cannot Wait and is actively involved in the design and operationalization of the fund.

20. Gender Equality

The UK and GPE share the position that gender equality in and through education is critical to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  Advancing gender equality in education has long been a priority of the Global Partnership for Education.  GPE supports domestic investments in more equitable and gender-responsive systems in order to improve outcomes in access, retention, and learning for all girls and boys. Children in developing countries continue to face significant barriers to gender equality in educational opportunities, both inside and outside of the classroom. These barriers can include health, poverty, or security issues, as well as inequalities involving ethnicity, region or disability that can compound gender disparities. In this context, GPE provides funding and technical assistance to governments facing considerable challenges, including many in fragile and conflict-affected states. This support has contributed to an additional 9.3 million girls now in school across GPE countries and increased gender parity in both primary and lower secondary completion rates since 2002. In that time, the number of girls completing school for every 100 boys has risen from 83 to 94 for primary and from 86 to 91 for lower secondary. 

21. In an effort to reinforce and expand its existing commitment to advancing gender equality, the Global Partnership for Education recently adopted the Gender Equality Policy and Strategy 2016-2020. This policy and strategy, which will be implemented through annual action plans, supports GPE’s vision of inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. The policy focuses on four aims:

1. Increase gender equality in access, participation, and learning achievement for all girls and boys.
2. Improve gender equality in education systems. 

3. Strengthen gender equality in education sector legal frameworks, policy and planning processes.
4. Ensure robust execution of commitment to gender equality across the Global Partnership for Education.

22. These aims are aligned to the strategic goals and objectives of the GPE 2020 strategic plan. Some planned activities include expanded support to gender-responsive sector planning, and sharing evidence and lessons learned on how to address factors contributing to different types of disadvantage related to gender.

23. Children with disabilities

GPE’s vision of inclusive and equitable quality education for all aims to reach the poorest and most marginalized, including children with disabilities.  GPE provides developing country partners with funding and guidance to undertake education sector analysis and develop and implement education sector plans that include strategies to respond and close the gap between access, participation and learning.

24. Some examples of results of this collaboration include:

• In Eritrea, the government is piloting a program to enrol disabled children in school and learn from it before scaling up;
• In Zanzibar, introducing inclusive education and awareness-raising activities is resulting in a positive shift in attitudes towards disabilities; and
• In Cambodia, the government is screening children to detect those with vision problems and give them eyeglasses, ensuring they can continue to stay in school and learn.

25. In partnership with UNICEF and the World Bank, GPE is developing guidelines on inclusive education. Guidelines to support education sector analysis, for planning, preparation and development of national education sector plans will include strategies to ensure that marginalized children, including children with disabilities, can exercise their right to education.

Ensuring quality basic education

26. The Global Partnership for Education recognizes the importance of closing the learning gap and supporting governments to invest in teachers. GPE provides financial and technical support to developing country partners to improve learning outcomes. As of 2013, nearly US$425 million was allocated for teacher salaries and incentives, training and learning materials, construction of teacher training centres, and management in GPE-supported projects. 

27. More specifically, GPE: 

• supports components of education sector plans linked to promoting teacher quality and learning;
• provides incentives to developing country partners through its results-based funding model to review their policies and strategies and agree on a results framework for learning outcomes;
• helps promote national education strategies that respond to community needs and that empower local actors – including civil society and teachers – to demand and monitor the implementation of quality education services;
• provides technical support in cross-national initiatives that seek to better understand and promote good practice in learning outcomes and quality education;
• leads, together with the Learning Metrics Task Force housed at Brookings, the development of a proposal for an international platform to build capacity to conduct and utilize learning assessments at the national and regional levels to expand the availability of data on learning and thus strive to improve the quality of learning outcomes for all students.

28. As a result, the literacy rate for youth in GPE partner countries increased from 71 percent in 2000-2005 to 75 percent in 2008-2013.

Conclusion

29. The reformed and fit-for-purpose Global Partnership for Education is the result in large part to DFID’s vigorous advocacy of a reform agenda to transform the partnership from a single goal-minded “MDG” organization into an organization uniquely positioned to deliver on the more holistic set of SDGs. With a tighter operational model, a results framework, and a strong monitoring and evaluation capacity, GPE is now poised to lead in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal for education. The achievement of this goal, SDG4, will be the critical step in meeting the other 16 SDGs because of the enormous impact education has on reducing poverty, improving equity for girls, women and marginalized groups, improving health, and giving people skills to get decent work and contribute to the economy.

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