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Enacting global policy at a national level: Save the Children’s positioning on user fees and private schools

Wed, April 17, 3:15 to 4:45pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Bay (Level 1), Bayview B

Proposal

In 2016, Save the Children developed a Global Policy Position on User Fees and Private Schools in response to the emergence of a political debate around this issue. The policy aims to (i) clearly articulate the position of Save the Children for its work at a global level with donors, CSOs and other partners and (ii) to provide country offices with some clarity on the issues and definitions and a position to refer to when they encounter forms of user fee or non-public provision. It was informed by evidence (including the DFID-commissioned rigorous review of ‘The role and impact of private schools in developing countries (2014)’, led by Dr Laura Day Ashley from the University of Birmingham in collaboration with a number of other organisations. The policy position aimed to strike a balance between providing a position that was broad and globally relevant as well as flexible to be relevant to the specific country contexts in which Save the Children operates (120 countries currently). However, since the policy position has been developed, there has been limited capacity to rollout the position at the national level. We recognised that further work was required in order to enable the enactment of this policy position in a specific country.

Save the Children has collaborated with the University of Birmingham to conduct a pilot study in India implementing the global policy position, in order to inform its enactment in other countries where Save the Children works and identify what is required for its effective implementation. This pilot study aims to help equip Save the Children staff to put the policy into practice and enable them to participate more effectively in national education sector dialogue on the debate on user fees in education and private schools in a nuanced and practical way, and potentially influence the policy and practice of governments and other stakeholders.

In this presentation, Save the Children will present the findings of this pilot study (which will be conducted from October 2018-March 2019), including the lessons learnt in terms of what needs to happen to implement this policy in practice, both in India and other countries where Save the Children works. We will present the tools and guidance for Save the Children Country Offices developed out of the findings and lessons learnt from the pilot study, which will support them to effectively implement the policy position.

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