Phoenix rising : success stories about basic education reform in sub-Saharan Africa = Phenix renaissant : l"education en Afrique

The case studies provide detailed treatment of: school reform in the transition from chaos to democracy in Uganda; education reform in the context of economic and political reform in Guinea and Benin, respectively; building consensus around school reform in Mali; the growth of education system self-sufficiency in Swaziland; and the transformation of the entire education system in post-apartheid South Africa. A final section discusses three key lessons learned by USAID from its work in the six study countries. (1) USAID seeks to assist only countries willing to undertake genuine reform by redefining beneficiaries (targeting primary students, especially girls), allocating resources to those beneficiaries, giving the community a voice in education, and providing support services such as inservice teacher training and textbooks. (2) USAID"s focus is not on constructing classrooms, but on building effective schools by emphasizing teacher capabilities, the leadership of the principal, the content of the curriculum, the expectation of parents, and the backing of the community. (3) Instead of proceeding piecemeal, USAID seeks out and plans for critical linkages in the system, e.g., linking teacher training with terms of service, or with improving school management, or with creating new instructional materials. USAID also realizes that the various components of the education system must function within management and governance systems. Consequently, development efforts need to focus on improving these two areas, i.e., through management system automation, and by demanding that governments improve their handling of educational funding so that it truly reaches the classrooms, and ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in educational decisionmaking.