Policy dialogue and reform in the education sector : necessary steps and conditions

Yet, in spite of many successes, there is an increasing feeling that host countries undervalue education. They do not replicate innovations supported by donors, do not sustain capital investments made by donors, and in general, do not give education and education policy reform the serious attention required for sustainable development to take place. Typically, the national policy environment is not supportive of true education reform, and local demand for educational innovations is low. This paper traces some of the reasons for lack of satisfactory results from donor projects in education and evaluates alternatives to project assistance such as program and nonproject assistance. It concludes that as long as decisionmakers in host countries place a low priority on education, donor projects will be disappointing and their sustainability low. The paper proposes an approach that makes use of local research-based, policy advocacy groups to leverage change in Latin American countries. The approach applies lessons drawn from the success donor agencies have achieved in policy reform in both the macroeconomic and family planning sectors through the use of local think tanks and advocacy groups. The approach also is informed by an understanding of weaknesses in previous policy analysis projects, particularly in economics and agriculture. Under this approach, local NGOs (think tanks and social science research foundations) carry out the policy marketing process with support and TA from donors. In this way it is possible for donors to provide support for institutional development and communication activities that will facilitate successful policy dialogue on the key issues of: (1) structure and governance (the appropriate division of labor between public and private sectors, and between center and local communities); (2) finance and budgeting (revenue generation, innovative taxation, and spending priorities); and (3) management and implementation (the capability of the government and other institutions to implement policy reform). Under such conditions, a donor-funded activity can profoundly alter the policy landscape in a country, creating a climate where policy change is the desired option, rather than something that needs to be negotiated via conditionality, or simply assumed. In some cases, this kind of intense dialogue activity may be sufficient to support national reform movements. In others, policy dialogue helps create an optimum environment for more traditional project and nonproject modes of assistance, whose effectiveness and sustainability are thereby enhanced. (Author abstract, modified)