Capacity Development for Education Systems in Fragile Contexts
Lynn Davies
Centre for International Education and Research, University of Birmingham in collaboration with the European Training Foundation (ETF) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
Outline
The fragility debate Education issues in fragile contexts Dimensions of CD improvement Choices in state-building Roles and positioning of donors Ways forward at country, regional
and global level
Category Scenario
Declining
Arrested developmentProlonged crisis or impasse; stagnation with low levels of effectiveness and legitimacy
DeteriorationDeclining levels of governance effectiveness leading to lower legitimacy, rising risk of violence or collapse
Stabilising
Post-conflict transitionLow levels of effectiveness, transitory legitimacy, recent violence, humanitarian crisis
Early recovery
Gradual improvement; rising levels of effectiveness and legitimacy, declining aid needs, emergence from conflict or other crises
Features of fragility
Deficits in governance Inability to maintain security Inability to meet essential needs Polarisation of identities Opaque decision making Erosion of people’s trust in
government and its institutions
Two key gaps in fragile contexts
Lack of capacity (territorial control and presence; competence in economic and administrative management)
Lack of political will to perform key functions for human welfare
NB: Capacity development is about both of these
Education issues in fragile contexts
Legitimacy of the state and state institutions – competing goals for education
Extremes of inequality and inequity Education governance, corruption Conflict and security: the
contribution of education to both
Dimensions of CD ‘improvement’
Social, economic and political context
Workplace culture
Organisational Performance
Individual officers
Which dimension to tackle?
Organisational change (regulation, efficiency, budgeting, hiring of staff, job descriptions, decentralisation)
Institutional change (hidden cultures of work and relationships, deference/authority patterns, nepotism, ‘allowance cultures’)
Dis/enabling environment (political will, ethnic/religious tensions, community contestation, corruption)
State-building
Increasing difficulty as move from individual CD to political CD, but crucial that ‘outer layer’ is not ignored
State building has to be the major task CD is thus about delicate choices and
combinations of dimension CD choices are also about which sector
to focus on Building of social capital equally
important to human/economic capital
STATE
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Aim: Ministry of Education efficiency and transparency
Aim: Locality efficiency and transparency
Aim: Trust and participation in government; social capital
Aim: Building human capital
Regulation AccountabilityPlanning and policy makingFinancial managementInformation flowsMarket analysisMonitoring and evaluation
Local planningRegulationCitizen or community participation and ownership of educationAccountabilityInnovation
Political literacyCitizenship educationLegal educationMedia educationHuman rights educationCorruption educationNon-violence Empowerment of females
LiteracyGeneric technical skillsProfessionalismProblem-solvingEntrepreneurshipHealth educationSpecific vocational training
Administrative sites for CD
Planning realistic national policies Drawing up workable regulatory
and legal frameworks for schools Mechanisms for accountability,
information flows Independent Service Authorities? Building local capacity and
leadership, child-friendly schools/community initiatives
Educational sites for CD
Teacher professional development (pedagogy, professionalism, non-violence, incentives)
Curriculum development (Disaster Risk Reduction, history, citizenship, rights, entrepreneurship)
Skills and capital (youth, vocational education, women, adult literacy)
Roles and positioning of donors
1. Methodological responses:
Principles; processes; levels; entry points; assessment tools
Building back better, spaces for intervention
2. Choices around donor alignment
Systems and policy alignment Systems alignment (where
governments lack legitimacy) Policy alignment (where institutions
have disintegrated, but government have embarked on reforms)
Shadow alignment (institutional and political breakdown advanced)
3. Working with non-state actors
‘Representatives’ of civil society, change agents, unions, scholars, journalists, NGOs
But may be conflict between stakeholders; religion versus secular forces; capital versus rural areas; legitimacy of NGOs
CD for opposition groups?
Ways forward 1: Country level
Analysis, identifying fragile characteristics and how education intervention and education CD might tackle them
Standards, indicators and monitoring, for example of safe schools, non-violence, peace-building, vocational education
Issue based CD across levels
Fragilefeature
Central level CD
Local level CD Teacher CD
e.g.Inter-group conflict
• Creating education policy for ethnic and religious harmony• Conflict analysis• Monitoring and evaluation of peace education
• Civic education in schools and HE• Child-friendly schools•Training of disadvantaged or minority groups in school governance
•Civic education•Teaching controversial issues•Conflict resolution•Inclusive education
Issue based CD across levels
Fragile feature
Central level CD
Local level CD Teacher CD
Lack of govern-ment legitimacy and public disengage-ment
Understanding of democratic governance
Realistic target setting
Equitable financing formulae
Demands for, and use of information flows
Citizen feedback
Voter education
Education for democracy
Media education
Ways forward 2: Regional level
CD in dealing with refugees, cross-border movements, ex-combatants, labour migration, accreditation
Establishing and supporting regional networks
Regional initiatives can address national issues in a less politically sensitive way
Ways forward 3: Global level
Global networks Minimum Standards Cluster approaches CD in working with international
organisations Networks of ‘experts’ in CD? FTI, global conditionalities?
ConclusionsPrinciples: More sustainable CD needs:
1. Honest analyses of fragility across all dimensions – and existing capacity
2. Initiatives linked to target of breaking cycles and amplifications of fragility and restoring core state functions; coherence
3. Recognition that CD is social-psychological, not just systems, about behaviour, status and survival, agendas
4. Targeting people who can effect change5. Having indicators of success, m&e, linked
to wider state-building indicators; research.
Areas for action
Tackling regulation, but also workplace culture
CD for those in youth employment, women’s groups etc, but also labour market analysis
CD for teachers must include how to promote political literacy, media analysis and dealing with controversial issues
Areas for reflection: 1
1. Which dimensions, focus points, stakeholders, methodological responses?
2. How to put into place a research programme?
3. How can regulation of educational institutions be improved? Should there be new regulatory bodies?
Areas for reflection: 2
4. What are long and short term indicators of success in CD for state-building?
5. Could cross-sectoral CD be more effective than just education?
6. How can incentives be assured for recipients of CD – people and governments?
7. Should FTI be extended to fragile states? Who owns CD?