Working Group on Finance and Education

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As the worldwide economic crisis continues to squeeze the national budgets of struggling sub-Saharan African nations, education has become one of the most visible areas to suffer cutbacks.

Faced with dwindling financial resources and an ever-growing demand for education, hard-pressed education planners and economists are urged to develop new skills and techniques that will ensure that existing funds are managed as best one can and to explore previously untapped resources.

Helping Ministries of Education and Finance to formulate and implement sound policies and budgets, opening up channels of communication between both institutions and disseminating best practices are some of the goals the Working Group on Finance and Education has set itself.

What is the Working Group on Finance and Education?

The Working Group on Finance and Education (WGFE) was founded in 1994 to promote discussion on policy issues related to financing, management and planning of education in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a forum where African educational planners and economists and funding agencies can exchange information, develop tools and elaborate sound policies so as to better manage funds put towards education.

The working group’s members include Ministries of Education and Finance, development agencies, research institutions and NGOs sharing education finance concerns. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) acts as lead agency for the working group. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), a pan-African institution based in Dakar (Senegal), is responsible for the coordination of the working group’s activities.

What are the objectives of the Working Group?

The overall goal is to improve educational planning, financing and management by strengthening education and finance ministries’ capacities to plan for, allocate and administer existing resources.

Specific objectives include:

• strengthening linkages between the two ministries.
• developing the technical expertise of education sector personnel to formulate and implement education policy and budgets.
• enhancing resource allocation by providing planners with tools to analyze options and determine priorities in planning and budgeting.

The working group also aims to provide a forum for the gathering, exchange and ongoing analysis of information on financing and management. Its strategy is to conduct country case studies, establish resource centers, hold regional workshops and develop practical reports and training materials to build national capacities in -finance and management. Because the working group cuts across governments and individual country contexts, it will enable education and finance ministry personnel to identify their options and make the decisions which will impact on the quality and access of education in their countries.

What does the Working Group do?

The working group’s program is an ambitious one.

Main activities planned for the next couple of years include:

• Country Case studies on education financing policies, practices and mechanisms. These will describe, in particular, the institutional arrangements between ministries of finance and education for budget planning and redeployment;
• A pan-African inventory of practices and results including practical experiences with financing policies and strategies for the financing, planning and management of education budgets. The inventory will highlight successes, failures and innovative approaches;
• A pan-African network of experienced researchers in the field of education financing;
• Technical tools and training programs on budget planning and financial management for educational planners;
• Training seminars focused on policy formulation and budget planning and implementation.

Achievements

WGFE is one of ADEA’s most recently formed working groups. In spite of this, it has succeeded in:

• heightening the awareness of Ministers of Education and Finance and funding agencies of the essential role played by education finance within a global strategy to achieve quality education for all;
• improving dialogue between Ministries of Finance and Ministries of Education;
• publishing a literature review on education finance policies and practices in Africa;
• conducting case studies on financing and budgeting of education in six countries (Benin, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Swaziland and Tanzania);
• organizing regional seminars gathering Ministers of Education, Ministers of Finance, funding agencies and NGOs.

WGFE will continue to work towards providing a common base of information on policy and operations in education and will thus be of major assistance to all ADEA working groups dealing with education planning and the ongoing national budget squeeze in sub-Saharan Africa.

WGFE Publications

Click here for a list of publications.

How to contact the Working Group

Working Group Coordinator:
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
Mr. Cherif MOHAMED DIARRA
B.P. 3304
Dakar, SENEGAL
Tel: +221/825 9822
Fax: +221/ 824 1289/ 824 5795
Email : Mohamed.diarra@codesria.sn ; mohamed.diarra@hotmail.com