1. Copyright © 2011 American Institutes for Research All rights reserved. Big data on education and the hegemony of counting : Understanding EFA within a political economy perspective Grace A. Akukwe, PhD March 2014 – CIES

2. 2 Introduction The MDGs and EFA have shaped most of the education target setting by developing countries. Little attention to varying capacities of institutional structures that support EFA implementation and how this is affecting progress. Government institutions that may see the EFA as a Western effort.

3. 3 Purpose of the presentation Finance gap of $ 7 billion for achieving EFA is not the only threat to the vision of universal access to education. Understand the broader political and economic circumstances of developing countries and how government institutional arrangements affect the attainment of the EFA. Donor Agenda Institutional arrangements

4. 4 Donor Agenda King (1992;2004) acknowledges the finger print of external donor agendas on national education planning. He highlights conditions that do not foster education reform buy-in: Project-based approaches – which he describes as “enclave projects managed and protected by special donor-controlled units. Donor priorities that are misaligned with the national education delivery and management architecture. Competing agendas around monitoring, data collection and reporting.

5. 5 Institutional Arrangements Resources – Finances, and educational personnel. Governance – decentralization, devolution, subsidiarity. Capacity – process, skills.

6. 6 Resources (Finances and Personnel) One of the biggest challenges in tracking implementation progress can be the lack of resources to conduct monitoring visits – a situation that is pervasive in most government ministries. A conundrum of education systems can be a bloated personnel registry but few functioning/effective positions.

7. 7 Governance (decentralization, devolution, subsidiarity) Unwieldy bureaucracy Administrative model- that is more driven by data collection rather than responding to quality. Inefficient communication and coordination Uneven implementation

8. 8 Capacity (process and skills) Capacity is often the proxy for sustainability. It is embedded in the administrative and operational processes as well as training and qualifications of institutional staff.... the weakness of State capacities not only imperils the sustainability of technical cooperation efforts, but threatens any progress in achieving national and international development targets (UNESCO 2012).

9. 9 2015 and Beyond There is a need for increased attention on and investments in governance infrastructure. The UNESCO National Education Sector Support Strategy (UNESS) Appraisal provides a critical appraisal of needs in a given Member State, a snapshot of where it stands with regard to EFA goals. There is a need to support member states to simplify or streamline their information collection systems so that they are performance-driven.

10. 10 Grace Akukwe E-Mail: gakukwe@air.org General Information: 202-403-5000 Website: www.air.org