BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Session Submission Summary

Strengthening systems for sustainable change: lessons learned from four large-scale education programs

Wed, April 17, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Atrium (Level 2), Waterfront C

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all. More specifically, target 4.1 states that by 2030, all children should complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to effective learning outcomes. Although considerable enrolment gains have contributed to this target, there are still over 263 million children and youth out of school worldwide, including 61 million children of primary school age (UIS, 2018). For those children who are attending school, many are not acquiring basic skills in reading and mathematics. In 6 of 24 sub-Saharan African countries with data, fewer than half of the students who finished their primary schooling had attained minimum proficiency levels in reading (UNESCO, 2017). These attainments are also significantly affected by levels of exclusion based on gender, disability and displacement.

In order to meet the targets set for SDG 4, improvements in the accessibility, quality and inclusiveness of education need to be had at a national scale through the strengthening of education systems. Strengthening education systems are also one of the few ways that large-scale improvements can be sustained up to and beyond 2030, as these are the structures that will remain long after donor programmes and funding cease. That said, strengthening education systems to sustain the provision of free, equitable and quality education is no easy task.

This panel will provide a critical comparison of four large-scale, education system strengthening programs that have been implemented over the past 20 years across China, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ghana. The panel will present lessons learned from the oldest of the programs to the newest, illustrating similarities and differences in the four programs’ approaches to systems strengthening, highlighting:

•The importance of political engagement with decision-makers within education systems who hold the power to initiate reform, maintain momentum or stop it in its tracks.

•The need to design multifaceted programmes that influence different parts of the system to ensure that change is supported in the short-term and sustained in the long-term.

•Finding the right balance between progress at the grassroots school and community level, and progress at the policy and institutional level.

•Approaches and strategies deployed to ensure ownership and capacity development, particularly when government staff consistently turn over.

Each of our contributors will share their perspectives and experiences on how best manage these facets. The panellists consist of practitioner implementers from four programmes and will reflect on lessons learned, how similar challenges can be addressed in other contexts, and the extent to which lessons have been embedded in subsequent programs. Panellists will also discuss the impact their programs have had on their respective education systems and what might be done differently in future interventions. Through a close examination of system strengthening strategies across a variety of contexts, we hope to invite discussion on what we can learn from these case studies to address broader questions about how to achieve SDG 4 and sustain meaningful educational outcomes for all.

Sub Unit

Chair

Individual Presentations