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Leaving no one behind: ensuring equitable finance for all children to learn

Wed, February 22, 9:45 to 11:15am EST (9:45 to 11:15am EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Independence Level (5B), Independence G

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The international development community – including the Global Partnership in Education (GPE) – is committing itself to transforming education systems in ways that leave no one behind, but there remain major challenges to aligning international and domestic financing with this commitment. Domestic and aid resources are skewed towards higher levels of education and better-off populations, with more than 260 million children remaining out of school, and COVID-19 has left many more children at risk of dropping out. Therefore, financing to prioritize children who are left behind is more critical than ever.

This panel will include three papers on equity in domestic and international financing; each of them will unfold the topic through a particular angle: a synthesis of available evidence with a cross-country comparative lens, a deeper dive into country experiences in education finance reforms, and an observation of financing education in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the panel intends to emphasize the global commitment to leaving no one behind, contribute to the evidence base in support of this mission and more profound understanding of the obstacles, and facilitate open and successful discussions about what that means for education financing.

The first presentation is "Educational exclusion and equitable finance in lower-income countries: an evidence synthesis" by GPE. It will discuss the scale and nature of educational exclusion in GPE partner countries, drawing on public data and (where publishable) information from GPE's Country Analytics. Building on the reviews of literature and existing tools, it will analyze available data on government budget and aid and examine the equity of domestic and aid financing across countries. Finally, it will touch on the political and technical obstacles to making financing more equitable, inviting discussions on feasible technical solutions and strategies to build political coalitions for equitable education financing.

The second presentation is "What can we learn from Uganda's reforms in making education finances more equitable?" by the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports. It will speak on the technical and political challenges around ensuring equity in allocating domestic and aid resources and how these have been tackled in recent years. The presentation will address the extent of educational exclusion and inequalities in access and learning and how domestic and aid finances have targeted the poorest and most marginalized groups in the past. Drawing on Uganda's experiences in recent attempts to reform finances to be more equitable, the presentation will discuss the challenges of the reforms and the role of international development partners.

The third presentation is "Responding to COVID-19: financing education in Africa during the pandemic" by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). It will synthesize available evidence on financing education during the COVID-19 pandemic in GPE partner countries in Africa and discuss what the education systems in these countries experienced due to the COVID-19-related learning disruptions and persistent funding constraints. Presenting results from rapid scoping reviews on the countries' education financing policies and practices in response to COVID-19, it will discuss the financing challenges and the implications on inequalities in access and learning and propose strategies that could enhance equity and inclusion in education financing, especially during emergencies.

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