Private Philanthropy, Partnerships and the Public Good: Exploring the Role of Standardization and Instrumentation in the Global Education Industry

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Emerging Landscape of Philanthropy and Education

Proposal

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed the shift in educational policymaking away from the purview of the centralized and bureaucratic state to broader systems of governance characterized by networks and coalitions whose relationships encompass business, philanthropy, quasi-NGOs (quangos) and non-governmental agencies (Ball, 2008). This can be seen especially in the rise of private philanthropy’s involvement in and contributions to global education development. Key to this involvement has been the emergence of what some scholars have called the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), the Global Education Industry (GEI) and the global policy ensemble (Verger et al. 2017; Ball 2008) in education. These are characterized by the increasing standardization and instrumentation of education policies, practices, and language (Sahlberg 2011). Through utilizing the policies of GERM/GEI, as well as what Stephen Ball calls a “discursive ensemble” of interrelated concepts related to education and educational reform (Ball, 2017), corporate philanthropies working in education are able to partner with a range of well-reputed international development organizations. This enables the former to present themselves not only as knowledgeable and legitimate actors in the global education development sector, but also as socially responsible and ethical—and by extension, their corporate arms as well—despite considerable evidence to the contrary.

This paper examines this phenomenon using the case of the cocoa industry in Cote d’Ivoire, which is known for the widespread use of child labor in its supply chains. Through a combination of document analysis, interviews, and network ethnography, our paper examines the language, policies, and partnerships of the philanthropic arms of the cocoa industry and their connection to international development organizations such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Save the Children, and CARE. Our findings reveal firstly that cocoa foundations and their philanthropic and corporate social responsibility (CSR) affiliates are sophisticated organizations that employ global education reform discourse, GERM/GEI policies, and the legitimacy conferred by partnerships with and recognition by research organizations including think tanks and major universities. Secondly, they have cultivated an extensive network of partnerships, a “network of networks” including coalitions of international development organizations, academia, NGOs, and ed-tech companies that allows for these various actors to influence education policy reform in Cote d’Ivoire. Finally, despite the continued use of child labor, including child slaves, in their supply chains, these private philanthropies’ partnerships with organizations like the GPE, Save the Children and numerous universities and thinktanks not only enable them to continue not to address the underlying causes of child labor in the cocoa sector, but also to gain international acclaim and legitimacy for their philanthropic ‘generosity’.



Ball, S. J. (2008). New philanthropy, new networks and new governance in education. Political Studies, 56(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00722.x

Ball, S. J. (2017). Laboring to Relate: Neoliberalism, Embodied Policy, and Network Dynamics. Peabody Journal of Education, 92(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2016.1264802

Verger, A., Steiner-Khamsi, G., & Lubienski, C. (2017). The emerging global education industry: analyzing market-making in education through market sociology. Globalisation Societies and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2017.1330141

Authors

• Vehbi Emre Tandogan, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research

• Natasha Ridge, Al Qasimi Foundation