Private Authority or Ambiguity? The Evolving Role of Corporations and Foundations in the Global Partnership for Education

• In Event: The Global Education Industry: The Role of Corporations and Philanthropies in Setting Education Agendas

Abstract

Through both philanthropic endeavors and corporate social responsibility programs, private actors—including foundations and corporations—have been increasingly financing, designing, and implementing education programs on a global scale. Concurrently, the private sector is now collaborating in education policy-making alongside both state and non-state actors within new governance arrangements characterized as transnational public private partnerships (PPPs). In order to build understanding of the participation of private actors within these new international spaces, this paper provides a case study of private participation at the governance level of the largest and most prominent transnational PPP in education, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Through a study of the GPE’s Private Sector/Foundations constituency, this study aims to answer the following question: What has spurred private sector participation in the GPE, and to what degree do these private partners hold authority within the partnership?

This paper offers a case study analysis of the GPE through an examination of two data sources. First, an analysis has been conducted of key documents from 14 GPE Board of Directors meetings from 2009 to 2014, including minutes of meetings, final meeting reports, board presentations, and final decisions. The study furthermore draws from 19 in-depth interviews conducted with past and current members of GPE Board constituencies, including Private Sector/Foundations amongst others, and past and current GPE Secretariat staff. Via purposive sampling, interviewees were explicitly selected based on their current or past role within the Board of Directors or interactions with Board members in GPE-related contexts.
After first contextualizing the rise in transnational public private partnerships, this paper introduces the notion of private authority as a conceptual framework for understanding the GPE and its inclusion of the private sector. It then traces historically the onset of private participation in the GPE governance, the rationales for including private actors, and the degree and type of engagement the constituency has had within the partnership. It is argued that the Private Sector/Foundations constituency is relatively disengaged and holds an ambiguous position within the GPE, rooted in a misalignment of motivations between the GPE, the private foundations, and the private companies. More specifically, this ambiguity results from inaccurate assumptions on the part of the GPE that private actors would contribute funds to the partnership, based on the mapping of health sector experiences onto GPE governance reforms. As well, by combining companies and foundations into a single seat, internal conflict has characterized the constituency, contributing to the lack of engagement. This study highlights a case in which private participation cannot be necessarily equated with private authority. It draws attention to significant practical challenges in the design of transnational PPPs. It moreover speaks to how the private sector as a new and growing element to international education policy-making must be conceptualized as a very complex and dynamic group of very different actors.

Author

• Francine Menashy, University of Massachusetts - Boston