2. Designing Bank Operations to Support Program-Based and Sectorwide Approaches

3. Supporting Nepal’s Education For All Program through a Sectorwide Approach

4. 3 Country context  Population 23 million people  Poverty 40% (< $1/day)  2.5% GDP growth in 2002/03  3 million primary school-age children  26,000 schools, 110,000 primary teachers  Net Enrolment Rate 82%  Completion rate 60%  Gender Parity Index 0.9

5. 4 Challenges EFA is top government priority but faces key challenges:  Impact of conflict on children, teachers, schools and education system  Inclusion of girls, low caste, and disadvantaged ethnic groups  Poor quality and relevance of education

6. 5 WHY A SWAp? Country-owned EFA strategy and medium term implementation plan Country-owned EFA strategy and medium term implementation plan Opportunity to promote critical reforms Opportunity to promote critical reforms Donors have experience working together Donors have experience working together Time is right Time is right

7. 6 Key Features of the SWAp  Donors subscribe to a government-led strategy and program supported through: Time-slice financing by five donors based on government’s annual planning/budgeting and monitoring cycle; Time-slice financing by five donors based on government’s annual planning/budgeting and monitoring cycle; Parallel project financing by other donors – ADB, UN agencies, JICA/Japan Parallel project financing by other donors – ADB, UN agencies, JICA/Japan Regardless of financing modality, common M&E framework for EFA goals adopted by government and its Development Partners

8. 7  Fund pooling mechanism using report-based, faster disbursement against % of total expenditures for basic and primary education  Increased reliance on government rules and procedures for procurement, financial management, reporting and auditing  Significant policy reforms agreed upfront; support for phased implementation of action plans  Sustained engagement through joint government- donor progress assessments allows for course corrections as and when needed

9. 8 SWAp supports key reforms Transfer of public schools to community management Transfer of public schools to community management Accreditation Accreditation School grants School grants Opening textbooks to private sector Opening textbooks to private sector Partnership with NGOs Partnership with NGOs

10. Thank you