Millennium Development Goal 2: Education for All Presentation in the context of the minor “International Development”, Hogeschool Rotterdam, 29 March 2009
Millennium Development Goals MDG 1: End poverty and hunger MDG2: Universal education MDG3: Gender equality MDG4: Child Health MDG5: Maternal Health MDG6: Combat HIV/AIDS MDG7: Environmental sustainability MDG8: Global partnership
Education MDG MDG 2: Every child should be able to complete a full cycle of primary education by 2015 MDG 3: Gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2015 (gender parity: number of girls divided by the number of boys)
What have we achieved? Since 2000, 40 million more children in school. Still, there are 75 million children out of school MDG3 was missed: only one third of all countries have gender parity, though more girls are going to school than in 2000
Netherlands and MDG2 +3 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 13% of development budget: € 690 million in 2009 Different ways of funding Bilateral: directly to country (55%) Multilateral: World Bank and UN Non Governmental Organisations: in Netherlands and abroad
Case study: Zambia
Education in Zambia Zambia has made good progress in primary education Enrolment grades : 1.6 million pupils 2008: 2.9 million pupils On track for MDG2: universal primary education
Challenging the average Although Zambia does well on average, there are disparities Regional: rural - urban Gender: boys - girls Post-primary education: as from grade 9
Quality: a concern Children are at school, but there is insufficient learning. National Assessment Test: only one third of the children in grade 5 meets minimum requirements for maths and English Causes: shortage of teachers, classrooms and textbooks, shift system, poor inspection
What does Zambia do? In their national education plan focus on: Recruitment of teachers in districts with a high pupil/teacher ratio (sometimes over 100:1!) Distribution of textbooks Construction of classrooms Reviewing the curriculum
Change is difficult It is not easy to get results: Lack of capacity and motivation: low salaries, limited career options and nepotism (“knowing people”) Finance: Zambia is a poor country: unit cost per pupil is € 60 – in Holland over € 5000
What does the Embassy do? Financial support to the Ministry of Education: € 20 million in 2009 Lead donor: consultation with MoE and donors; field visits; research; managing funds for other agencies Policy advice No Dutch experts: there are qualified Zambians