How different financing and technical assistance approaches affect power relations and ownership in the drive to improve education systems in Tanzania

• In Event: The impact of funding and technical assistance modalities on power relations, localization, system strengthening and sustainable improvement in education outcomes.

Proposal

Shule Bora is a FCDO-funded primary improvement program supporting the Government of Tanzania to strengthen systems to deliver better quality and more equitable primary learning outcomes. It is working across nine regions and with over 5,000 schools as well as with national ministries and parastatal institutions to bring about changes to policies and systems as well as teaching, inclusion, safety and ultimately learning. It does this through different types of technical assistance connected to different financing mechanisms.

The bulk of the program is centered on bilateral funds managed by an implementation team, who provide significant technical assistance working alongside Government institutions and officials at all levels of the system. The second approach sees a small technical assistance team working to support the Government to achieve results that facilitate disbursement from a World Bank led multi-donor trust fund. These two financial and technical assistance approaches lead to very different power dynamics and ways to bring about localization. They also have very different strengths and weakness in relation to strengthening systems and improving learning outcomes.

This paper will explore how these different financing options within the same program have supported systems strengthening and affected power relations and localization in different ways. It will reflect on what has been learned from each approach and reflect on how combining different types of donor funding and technical assistance can be used in combination to enhance localization at different levels and strengthen different levels of the system in coordination.

Authors

• Kayode Obasanjo Sanni, Cambridge Education

• Daniel Mark Waistell, Cambridge Education