New Report: Fast-Tracking Girls' Education

The Education for All Fast-Track Initiative (EFA FTI), the first ever global compact on education, has just released a report highlighting the critical importance of girls' education. The report details some of the positive impacts of the EFA FTI program, as well as challenges to come. FTI countries have seen rapid increases in the number of girls attending school, and the FTI model has reduced the number of girls that need to repeat a grade. However, there are still 67 million children not in school - and over half of them are girls. Sustained donor and domestic support for girls' education is critical to ensuring development goals are achieved.

Learning about Schools in Development by Charles Kenny

Learning about Schools in Development

(CGDEV Working Paper 236)
December 2010

There has been considerable progress in school construction and enrollment worldwide. Paying kids to go to  school can help overcome remaining demand-side barriers to enrollment. Nonetheless, the quality of education appears very poor across the developing world, limiting development impact. Thus we should measure and promote learning not schooling. Conditional cash transfers to students on the basis of attendance and scores, school choice, decentralization combined with published test results, and teacher pay based on attendance and performance may help. But learning outcomes are primarily affected by the broader environment in which students live, suggesting a learning agenda that stretches far beyond education ministries.

Brookings Institution, Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Education is the Key Missing Link

In this article, David Gartner contends that the Obama Administration’s plan which will be presented at the upcoming MDG Summit is a missed opportunity for advancing education around the world.

Achieving Universal Basic Education. Constraints and Opportunities in Donor Financing

New event: 29 October 2009, a workshop on “Financing Universal Basic Education: Where Are We, What Next?” will be held at the Overseas Development Institute

Much progress has been made since global leaders agreed in the year 2000 to provide basic education for every child in the world. Globally, primary enrolment has risen by over 40 million children. However, despite these impressive results, external financing for basic education has not grown fast enough to put most countries on track for reaching the Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At this event, ODI will present three pieces of work that provide reflections on these opportunities and suggest ways to make the most of them, in spite of the difficult financial circumstances that are likely to affect donor countries over the next few years.

Documents :

• Achieving Universal Basic Education Constraints and Opportunities in Donor Financing 
• Strengthening the Global Education Compact

Audio & Video coverage : Here