Smart aid invests in children’, stated Queen Rania of Jordan in her speech during the opening ceremony of the 4th High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4). H.E. Lee Myung-bak, President of the Republic of Korea, powerfully illustrated that: ‘People often ask me what the key to Korea’s success was. Without any hesitation, I say that it was the power of education. Even when they did not have enough food to put on their tables, Korean parents sacrificed everything to educate their children. These children grew up to lead the economic development of Korea. I believe that education is the key to the advancement of individuals, countries, and the world.’

Last week, more than 2,500 people from all over the world came to Busan, the Republic of Korea, for the HLF-4 to discuss how to make development cooperation (not only aid) more effective to achieve sustainable development impact. A Declaration for a new Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation was negotiated and adopted.

The Global Partnership for Education is the right model for effective development cooperation

In Busan, we learned that we have been doing the right thing: the Global Partnership for Education has always been about more than just the money; it has always prioritized country-driven processes, strong education plans and donor support to and coordination around that one plan. A monitoring exercise in more than 35 developing countries shows that the centrality of national education plans and Local Education Groups has helped leverage better ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability. (Preliminary results are included in the 2011 OECD Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration). The Global Partnership for Education has played a critical role to raise and inject more money for basic education since 2002. In Busan, Irina Bokova, UNECSO Director General, acknowledged that the Global Partnership for Education embraces the aid effectiveness principles. More broadly it was agreed, that results-oriented education partnerships with a robust knowledge base (measurement, monitoring, research, transparency) play a central role to help developing countries strengthen their education systems and institutions.1

Australia champions Principles for Effective Education Aid

A ‘Statement of Principles for Effective Aid for Education‘ (English |French) was introduced by Kevin Rudd, Minister of Foreign Affairs Australia, during a side event in Busan organized by AusAid together with UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education.2 It was developed in consultation with UNICEF, the Global Partnership for Education Secretariat and numerous other partners.

What are the main points of the Statement of Principles for Effective Aid for Education?

The Statement lists basic principles for effective development cooperation to achieve universal participation in quality education and :

• highlights the importance of equity, efficiency, education quality and increased funding, specifically in conflict-affected.
• recognizes that significant development synergies can be made between education and health, women’s empowerment, civic engagement, productive employment, and good governance; and
• acknowledges that the Global Partnership for Education is an important enabler of collective action at a global level and provides a partnership model for the country level.

Support the Statement of Principles for Effective Aid for Education

Queen Rania of Jordan opened one of her speeches in Busan by saying ‘I am an education optimist’ because ‘education is more than learning, and schools are more than buildings: education safes lives, and no other place has more social value.’

Are you too an education optimist?

If yes? Then, please express your support for the Statement of Principles in a response to this blog, share it with partners and colleagues, and use it for your education advocacy.

1 In Busan, two events on International ODA for Education were organized by KEDI, UNESCO, OEC, and the World Bank. One education events was jointly organized by AusAid, UNICEF and the Global Partnership for Education Secretariat.

2 In that same event Rudd highlighted the importance of the Global Partnership for Education to provide all children with quality education but more and stronger support for education was needed. Anthony Lake, UNICEF’s Executive Director, suggested that effective education aid needs to target and engage communities to leverage local efforts for better schools and education. Lucia Fry, ActionAid UK, highlighted the importance of predictable aid for government planning. She pointed out that the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) was a good practice in support of elevating the position of civil society education coalitions in developing countries. Carol Bellamy underlined the importance of joint efforts through effective partnerships that strengthen aligned and harmonized funding approaches in the education sector.