BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Session Submission Summary

From policy to practice: leveraging incentive-based financing to ensure sustainable education financing

Sun, March 29, 9:45 to 11:00am, Hilton, Floor: Lobby Level - Tower 2, Plaza Room A

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

Session Description
Education is one of the most powerful tools for breaking cycles of poverty, reducing inequality, and fostering social cohesion. Yet without adequate and equitable financing, education systems risk deepening divisions, leaving marginalized groups behind, and fueling instability. In fragile and resource-constrained contexts fiscal pressures, competing national priorities, and systemic inefficiencies limit the ability to provide quality education for all. Strengthening and improving domestic financing systems is therefore critical- to expand access, improve quality, and enable education to fulfill its transformative role in fostering inclusion and resilience.
Volume, equity, and efficiency are interconnected concepts that describe different aspects of financial resource allocation and spending. Volume relies broadly on two components: (i) the overall fiscal space, which refers to the availability of financial resources in the economy and (ii) the share of the budget allocated to education. Macroeconomic dynamics like GDP, fiscal capacity, and debt levels shape the first, while political prioritization influences budget allocations and trade-offs between sectors. Equity focuses on a needs-based distribution of resources to address disparities and promote inclusion, while efficiency emphasizes making the best possible use of resources to deliver results with minimal waste. Improving efficiency is especially important for securing larger sector budgets. While increased spending may not guarantee equity or efficiency, a balanced approach that considers all three components is necessary for effective education policy-making and outcomes. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) recognizes that the most significant and sustainable source of funding for education comes from partner governments themselves. But increasing the volume of this funding must be paired with efforts to use resources more efficiently and reach the most marginalized.
This roundtable will explore how domestic financing triggers -a GPE incentive-based mechanism that links funding to agreed results - are being used in grants to prioritize education within national fiscal agendas and drive actions that make systems more equitable, efficient, and sustainable.
Through country examples, panelists will share early lessons on how incentive-based financing is shaping reforms and delivering results in three diverse contexts:
• Volume - Ethiopia: The incentive is linked to the launch of a General Education Trust Fund Strategy and the mobilization of resources to support general education, with at least 20% dedicated to equity issues, particularly for gender and inclusion in disadvantaged areas.
• Equity- Sierra Leone: Incentives have led to the establishment of a fairer distribution mechanisms of education resources, resulting in allocation of qualified teachers to districts with greater needs.
• Efficiency – Balochistan (Pakistan): By revising an outdated school funding formula and strengthening coordination across departments, the Ministry of Education is working to optimize school clustering mechanisms - this also opened new spaces for policy dialogue with the Ministry of Finance.
The session will then host an interactive exchange between panelists and open to all participants, focusing on the following key questions:
1. What concrete improvements in education financing and service delivery are these incentives enabling, and what good practices are emerging that other countries can learn from?
2. What constraints arise when applying incentive-based approaches, and what lessons emerge for overcoming these obstacles?
3. How do incentives help convening diverse actors (eg: Ministry of Finance, Parliament, etc) and what strategies are most effective in fostering collaboration that leads to sustained, system-level results and institutionalized reforms?
A discussant will reflect on the key takeaways from the three presentations and highlight emerging lessons relevant for other contexts.
Session Format
Opening remarks: The chair will open the session, introduce the theme, and frame the discussion (5 minutes).
Country presentations: Three high-level officials from the Ministries of Education of Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Balochistan will share their experiences with GPE’s domestic financing triggers. (10 minutes each – 30 minutes total)
Open discussion and Q&A: Moderated by the chair, this segment will allow the three presenters to engage with one another while participants contribute their perspectives and questions. (20 minutes)
Discussant’s reflections: The discussant will provide insights, draw cross-country lessons, and connect emerging findings to broader education financing debates. (10 minutes)
Closing remarks: The chair will summarize key insights and wrap up the session. (5 minutes)

Sub Unit

Organizer

Chairs

Individual Presentations