1. Financing & Governance Workshop
Highlights of Working Group Discussion

2. Group members: Mr. Napoleon Imperial – Philippines, NEDA
Mr. Phuong – Vietnam, EFA Coordinator
Mr. Quoc Chi Nguyen – Vietnam, MOET
Mr. Richard Noonan – UNESCO Consultant
Ms. Raquel Castillo – ASPBAE
Ms. Ibtisam Abu-Duhou – UNESCO Bangkok
Mr. Derek Elias – UNESCO Bangkok, ESD
Ms. Huong – UNESCO Bangkok

3. Introduction
The information needed for making revenue and expenditure projections for EFA is incomplete and sometimes confusing. This poses a challenge to meet the Dakar goals.
It is important to understand that the EFA budget needs to be embedded in the overall education sector budget and to reflect resources other than the government.
Accounting for the cross-cutting goals, like life-skills, gender, and quality, is problematic because these goals permeate the other EFA goals.

4. 1. Critical Issues
Difficulties in estimating the costs of the full EFA agenda but especially to distinguish costs for reaching the ‘unreached’;
Weak linkages between policy, planning & budgeting;
Absence of a common financial planning and reporting framework for regional comparison (multi-sectoral/multi-stakeholder, with common concepts and approaches).

5. Issues and Challenges
Lack of technical capacity in estimating resource requirements for EFA and in estimating resource contributions from other sources than education ministries, such as other ministries, communities, NGOs, partners etc;
Decentralization requires capacity building in financial management and monitoring of budget implementation;

6. Issues and Challenges
Difficulty in estimating resource needs to reach the unreached.
Insufficient predictability in budgeting

7. Targeting
1. To estimate costs of service delivery, with special attention to the costs of service delivery to various disadvantaged groups.

8. Targeted Policies, Strategies, and Programmes
Develop a framework of operation that would assure linkage of policies, planning, and budgeting (programme-based budgeting).
Develop multi-year planning and budgeting process that would assure budget predictability (e.g.MTEF).

9. Targeted Policies, Strategies, and Programmes
Undertake regional research and capacity building in the methodology that assure the linkage between policy, planning, and budgeting for EFA.
Involvement of civil society and community in the budget processes in the framework of decentralization of the governance of basic education.

10. Good Practices: Philippines
EFA is a joint responsibility of government (Ministry of Education and other line agencies) and non-governmental stakeholders expressed in an institutionalised structure;
A multi-stakeholders perspective and participation in education governance.

11. Good Practices: Vietnam
1. Although there is no separate budget for EFA and funds come from already existing & targeted programmes which are not just for formal but also for non-formal education, at least 4 agencies are involved:
- Ministry of Education & Training
- Ministry of Finance
- Ministry of Planning & Investments
- Local Government

12. Good Practices: Vietnam
2. Highly decentralised budgeting and implementation system, hence it is easier to match resources with needs.

13. Recommendations
Undertake a Medium-term Expenditure Framework (MTEF1) process, together with internal and external stakeholders, aiming at:
a. Linking policy, planning & budgeting; and
b. Mobilizing resources to fill the financing gaps.
__________
1 MTEF includes EFA

14. Recommendations (cont.)
2. Undertake an education financial tracking survey in cooperation with development partners, with special attention on unreached and under-served groups.
3.Emphasize self-reliant innovative education projects and resource optimization in develoment planning and budgeting