Part I: What an international strategy is
- and what it is not

The principal actors in EFA are governments and civil society at the national level - the Dakar Framework for Action stated clearly that 'the heart of EFA lies at the country level'. The Dakar Framework is a collective commitment. This international strategy focuses on the ways in which actors within countries can be supported by co-operation with regional and international agencies and institutions (see Figure 2). In addition to governments, a host of stakeholders were part of Dakar - United Nations agencies, regional bodies, civil society organizations and networks. These have been represented in both the Working Group on EFA and the High Level Group.
In October 2001, the High Level Group expressed concern at its first meeting that the roles and relationships between all partners, particularly with regard to the support they are to give at national level, had not been clearly specified. This strategy paper will address the issues that were spelled out at that meeting:

The strategy is a living document which will be modified as circumstances and priorities evolve. It serves as a tool for setting EFA priorities and as a guide in assigning responsibilities, as part of other EFA processes, such as national forums and, at international level, the Working Group and the High Level Group. The following chart proposes a process for ongoing strategy development.

Part II: Partnerships and actions

The key principle in the international co-ordination of EFA is partnership. It is thus imperative to view all of the provisions, recommendations and approaches of an international strategy through this lens. Partnerships will be linked together by means of a number of crucial processes or elements. Outlined in skeletal form in the Framework for Action, they are here the subject of specific initiatives. The following are the major actions around which the International Strategy is articulated:

1. Planning for EFA

National EFA Forums: Full participation in EFA and the harnessing of all possible energies depend in part on full ownership of the EFA process. It is therefore crucial at national level that EFA Forums be established which include government, civil society and NGOs, parents' groups and teachers' syndicates, and so on. A national EFA Forum is a consultative and co-ordinating body that brings together around one table the representatives of all those with a vital stake in basic education. It is both a vehicle of partnership and dialogue and a co-ordinating mechanism focused on the planning, analysis and monitoring of progress towards the goals. They must be seen, not as occasions for the sharing of information or government plans, but as forums for policy input and formulation. The tendency of governments to use them merely for the sharing of their own administrative policy decisions must come to a stop. These forums also provide an opportunity to keep policy-makers accountable for achieving EFA goals.

Support for EFA forums should include advocacy on the benefits of full participation, with specific encouragement to include civil society where that is not currently the case. Regional workshops will enable joint government and civil society delegations to develop optimal structures and processes for the workings of the forums.

Planning for national EFA goals: As of March 2002, around 70 countries had developed plans for Education for All. These plans have taken a variety of forms. Some form part of an existing education sector plan, others are part of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, while some have been developed separately. What is important is that EFA plans, wherever they are presented, address the six goals of Dakar, with timelines, current and projected educational needs, budgets and sources of financing. The chart below (Figure 3) shows the relationships between the various planning processes used in development co-operation and which must complement each other rather than confuse at the national level. They are of different kinds - strategy development, coordination, macro-economic planning - but are linked to each other, and the EFA goals should be part both of the negotiation procedures and of the resulting plans.

EFA sets the priority on basic education, and this priority will make demands on other parts of the educational system. Thus plans must be set in the context of planning for the whole educational sector, because of the multiple and supportive linkages between basic, secondary and tertiary education. Plans for reinforcing teacher education and educational research in tertiary institutions will be particularly important in the effort to ensure the high quality of basic education.

Support for EFA planning at national level will take the form of direct national capacity-building and policy development (e.g. using mobile technical teams). In addition, regional EFA forums are a place where national plans can be shared, shaped and refined. The SWAp process is a further arena where donors and national EFA partners (for example the EFA Forum) can push the planning process forward.

Figure 3: EFA National Plan: coherence and links with other development frameworks and approaches

2. Advocacy and communication

Communication, formal and informal, is the lifeblood of partnership and co-operation in EFA, between all partners - national, regional and international. In a highly media-driven world it is essential that the challenges, progress, needs and gaps in implementing EFA be kept before political leaders, opinion-makers, professionals and the general public. A favourable climate of international public opinion will make the task of decision-makers that much easier. Messages about social justice and equitable opportunity must be combined with stories of the impact of education in the lives of individuals and communities.

Measures to strengthen communication and advocacy should be varied, and be adapted to their audience. All EFA stakeholders should examine their role in promoting it to as varied an audience as possible including high-level politicians, members of parliament and governments, and seek innovative ways to do so. All EFA partners must look for every opportunity to connect EFA with life and news throughout the world so that the role of education will be increasingly understood as part of equitable and sustainable development, respectful of human rights and of collective and individual identities.

To public media coverage will be added direct, focused advocacy with governments, donors, civil society and regional bodies to bring EFA into focus in their planning of policies and programmes, and to mobilize support and resources for EFA. Where countries are emerging from crisis or conflict, advocacy efforts must be targeted to the vigorous promotion of education in the reconstruction process. A climate of dynamic two-way communication will serve as a basis for the ongoing development of cooperation, where international partners are attentive to national voices.

In addition to the actions proposed in Part III (Strategy 1, below), an international communication and advocacy strategy should include at least the following initiatives:

awareness-raising at international events: EFA partners will develop specific plans and targeted messages for a range of international conferences and other events, both educational and in other domains. The aim will be to present EFA as an essential component of human development in order to mobilize policy-makers to put education high on their agenda. See the chart in Appendix 5 for forthcoming events at which EFA awareness-raising should take place.

3. Financing

Establishing mechanisms to channel new money to EFA is the first step towards meeting the Dakar pledge that 'no country seriously committed to EFA … will be thwarted by lack of resources'. Two years after Dakar, the need to make good on this pledge is all the more urgent. As countries reach the end of the planning phase and find themselves allocating increased budgetary resources to basic education, the ready availability of additional external financing is becoming crucial. In the Dakar Framework for Action, the 'Global Initiative' was the label given to the mechanism by which new resources would be channelled to EFA, Three specific funding proposals have been made (see Appendix 3). One principle that is fundamental to all three proposals is that global funds will not be set up; rather, agreements will be reached between governments and donors on the direction and nature of the aid to be provided.

At a meeting of EFA partners in Amsterdam in April 2002 the World Bank presented an action plan which included a proposal for a financing framework; the plan was endorsed by the WB Development Committee. It is the most significant initiative to date and promises to result in major new funds for the Dakar goal of primary education, including the gender and quality issues within that, in line with the Millennium Development Goals in education. Other Dakar goals will also be costed and funded - adolescent adult literacy and life-skills, early childhood care and development, further aspects of quality. The WB has started with the goal of universal primary school completion by 2015, recognising that it is only part of the EFA agenda. Other funders endorsed the plan, whose main lines of action are presented here.

The Action Plan is based on a new development compact, following the Monterrey Consensus, in which governments demonstrate their commitment to education through efforts to significantly reform their education systems, in line with the proposed technical indicative benchmarks. On their part, external partners will provide financial and technical support in a transparent, predictable and flexible manner. This financing will in future include support for recurrent expenditures, such as teacher salaries, where appropriate policy frameworks are in place; this will require longer-term commitments from funders. Ensuring the abolition of user fees or charges will be priority as part of funding negotiations.

Based on an analysis of four gaps in the provision of primary education - gaps in data, policies, capacity and financing

- the Action Plan proposes measures to close each of them, as shown in the following table:

data gap
- make primary completion rate the indicator for monitoring of EFA· improve the quality, timeliness and management of education statistics· develop national capacity in measuring learning outcomes· track five key indicators annually: primary completion rate disaggregated by gender, first year intake, gross enrollment ratio, gender disparities throughout the education system, adult literacy· monitor the gender gap, in the light of the 2005 target· adopt a stronger outcome orientation under the international EFA monitoring framework

policy gap
- establish technical indicative benchmarks against which to evaluate national EFA plans
- define the process of reform required to bring the system into line with these benchmarks

capacity gap
- attain an adequate level of salary/non-salary mix of resources
- focus on three strategic elements of policy for primary schooling: focus on disadvantaged children, balance in addressing quality and access, adequate financing

financing gap
- increase lending and grant funding to primary schooling from multilateral and bilateral funders
- better targeting of EFA priority countries· improve national resource mobilization
- provide some resources to recurrent educational expenditure
- improve the efficiency of aid - SWAps, PRSPs, pooled funding, …

In order to operationalise the financing mechanism of the Action Plan, partners propose to:

- hold a multi-donor consortium meeting, preferably after the High Level Group to co-ordinate funding commitments in the light of the gaps that have been identified.
- develop a code of conduct for lenders and donors to EFA which will shape relationships with recipient countries, focusing on transparency, mutual respect and accountability, integrity, full participation and open negotiation.
- initiate a "fast-tracking" process for a number of countries to accelerate progress towards the primary completion goal, where there is evidence of a favourable and committed policy environment.



4. Monitoring and evaluation

The monitoring and evaluation of progress in EFA are central to the maintenance and reinforcement of political will, identification of needs, setting of priorities, mobilization of resources and effectiveness of actions. Monitoring of the EFA process needs to be undertaken in a number of different dimensions and administered by different groups of partners:

facilitate the exchange of information and data collection methods between countries.

The work of the EFA Observatory located within the UNESCO Institute for Statistics will be to enlarge the networks and scope of data collection, and to work for balanced data gathering across the six Dakar goals. The international community will support the Observatory by providing it with copies of any statistics relating to EFA progress.

Periodic evaluations of EFA will enable partners at every level to assess progress in the longer term, with the support of EFA international and bilateral partners. The 2005 and 2015 targets will provide the occasions for in-depth country-by-country and worldwide assessment, with the need for another milestone in 2010. Thus evaluations may take the following pattern (see also Part IV):

à 2005 - elimination of gender disparities
à 2010 - an interim assessment leading to the necessary steps and adjustments for the last five years
à 2015 - an overall assessment of EFA targets

A timetable for national, (sub-)regional, and international evaluations with respect to each of the Dakar goals must be drawn up and plans laid well in advance, in consultation with partners at every level.

5. International and regional mechanisms

The purpose of international and regional mechanisms is to give support and build capacity at the national level. In addition, such mechanisms provide a forum for the expression of national and regional concerns - where national voices are heard and dynamic interaction provides a basis for partnership.

In terms of collective international mechanisms, two structures have been created: the Working Group on Education for All (WGEFA) and the High Level Group (HLG). The High Level Group was established on the basis of the Dakar recommendation for a group that was 'high-level, small and flexible' to 'serve as a lever for political commitment and technical and financial resource mobilization'. Informed by the annual EFA Monitoring Report and the International Strategy, it is intended to be the body with primary responsibility for driving EFA forward - it must accelerate momentum, strengthen partnerships, clearly identify priorities, gaps and needs, and highlight the resources to be mobilized. The Working Group (WGEFA) serves as an informal and advisory mechanism which brings together partners to discuss task-oriented EFA issues and strengthen collaboration at the international level, providing a forum for exchange of experiences among the different players in EFA. The WGEFA supports the work of the High Level Group, and will delineate clearly the roles and responsibilities of partners in implementing the International EFA Strategy. It will also consider and comment on the outline of the annual EFA Monitoring Report. It will continue to give advice and input to the UNESCO Director-General.

These formal mechanisms must be complemented by regular contact and face-to-face interaction between international EFA partners, so that day-to-day co-operation is facilitated through communication.

The full participation of civil society, NGOs and their networks in all aspects of EFA was a key commitment at Dakar. Three networks active in the Dakar process have become an integral part of Dakar follow-up and have been strengthened in their roles. This range of civil society partners represents and facilitates communication with large numbers of national and sub-national civil society groupings and NGOs. The existing networks must bring in increasing numbers of civil society groups into EFA fora, in order to enhance both the diversity of perspective and give voice to marginalised communities. It is crucial that these grassroots perspectives continue to inform the interaction between civil society and the multilateral and bilateral partners so that EFA initiatives are planned with an eye to their impact on thousands of small communities. These initiatives complement civil society's role in lobbying and advocacy at the international level.

Part III: Implementing the twelve Dakar strategies

This section presents the twelve Dakar strategies with the action needed or envisaged at international level, in support of the national level and to facilitate the global development of EFA. These proposals reflect input from EFA partners and represent an ongoing process of implementation. Regular review of these strategies and of the distribution of responsibilities relating to them forms part of the work of the EFA mechanisms (the Working Group and the High Level Group).

Special considerations pertain for the implementation of EFA in particular groups of countries, according to physical, social, demographic and economic circumstances. Groupings change as circumstances evolve and conditions change. The following groups of countries, some of which overlap, present special circumstances which will require careful consideration in the implementation of these strategies; areas of special consideration are given in an indicative manner only:

E-9 countries
The nine high-population countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan. Special considerations: huge numbers of children to enrol, some high adult illiteracy, gender issues, going to scale, maintaining quality, managing large systems, …

Countries in crisis or emergency situations
Several countries in all regions of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Special considerations: emergency schooling, gender issues, refugee education, reconstruction of educational systems, governance, demobilizing soldiers, …

Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
49 countries in Africa, Asia, Arab States, the Pacific and the Caribbean. Special considerations: low resource base, low literacy rates and literate environment, gender issues, rural marginalization, low institutional capacity, …

Sub-Saharan Africa
Special considerations: large classes and inadequate capacity, ravages of HIV/AIDS, low literacy rates, curriculum relevance and language of instruction issues, gender issues, low economic resource base, governance, conflict, …

South Asia
Special considerations: high population, large systems, linguistic and ethnic diversity, areas of difficult access, gender issues, low literacy rates, maintaining quality, …

Countries in economic transition
About 28 countries, mostly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Special considerations: transformation of social and economic systems, restructuring of educational purposes and delivery, changing external linkages, …


Strategy 1 - Mobilize strong national and international political commitment for Education for All, develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education


In mobilizing political commitment at national level, EFA international and bilateral partners will:

The Global Initiative (Global Campaign for Education)

The Global Campaign for Education, the civil society coalition initiated by Oxfam, Education International, ActionAid Alliance and Save the Children, issued a call for implementing a global initiative in a paper entitled 'The Global Initiative on Education: meeting the promises'. This was later complemented by a further document entitled 'An Action Plan to achieve the MDGs in education'. Focusing on universal completion of primary education, the latter document welcomed the climate of new opportunity which arose around the April 2002 Amsterdam meeting in financing EFA. Based on the central importance of national plans for the EFA goals, it called for flexible and transparent norms in assessing plans which should be developed using a participatory process. It emphasised the monitoring process as a means of identifying gaps and appealed for the establishment of a financing framework to fill them. The framework would include an EFA donor consortium to meet twice a year in a pledging conference, with donors channelling funds in their preferred way. The EFA High Level Group would serve as a monitoring body of these efforts. Appealing to the World Bank to take on a larger number of 'immediate action' countries than the ten proposed for 'fast-tracking', it also called for attention to countries with weaker policy environments who might not qualify for aid on the basis of a polished EFA national plan.

World Bank EFA Action Plan: Executive Summary

Education for Dynamic Economies: Action Plan to accelerate progress towards Education for All (EFA): Executive Summary

a. At its last meeting, the Development Committee reviewed the paper Education for Dynamic Economies: Accelerating Progress Towards Education for All (EFA). The paper assessed progress and identified key issues and challenges in meeting the goals of universal primary education. It concluded that these goals were unlikely to be attained without accelerated action at the country level and a scaling up of international support. The paper further indicated that the World Bank would work closely with other partners to intensify its efforts to help countries address the data, policy, capacity, and resource gaps that currently constrain progress, and proposed country-by-country analysis to establish EFA policy and financing needs. The Development Committee requested staff to prepare an action plan for accelerating EFA, to be discussed during its next meeting (April 2002).

b. The world community has established and strongly backed
EFA targets several times during the past decade: the 1990 Jomtien targets were reaffirmed and extended in Dakar in April 2000 and again reiterated and refined as part of the Millennium Development Goals in September 2000. The strong international political commitment to education has, however, not translated into sustained EFA gains at the country level. This is, in part, because the commitments were not supported by either a "roadmap" for success or an objective framework-for countries and their external partners-to measure progress and aid-worthiness. The Dakar Framework for Action was an important step in the right direction and needs benchmarks for gauging progress across countries to take sufficient account of the financial and policy implications of the proposed actions, and to define the rules of engagement between countries and their external partners. The action plan proposed in this paper builds on the Dakar Framework for Action and is intended to constitute a solid foundation for an EFA roadmap.

c. To first establish a sounder basis for assessing the scale of the problem and to set a baseline for monitoring country progress, an internationally comparable data base of primary completion rates was constructed, from 1990 to the most recent year possible, for 155 countries-the first time EFA progress has been measured in terms of primary completion rather than enrollment. This new indicator recognizes that true and sustainable learning begins to occur only after the completion of at least 5 to 6 years of primary education of reasonable quality. Based on a review of successful countries as well as those where completion rates have stagnated or declined, a set of key policy and financing norms were identified, which are associated with countries' differential progress. The parameters observed in successful countries constitute technical benchmarks or "norms" against which countries' EFA plans may be evaluated and costed.

d. The following findings emerge from the analysis:

- The risk of not achieving EFA goals is much more serious and widespread than earlier believed. Whereas only 32 countries were formerly believed to be at risk of not achieving the EFA goal of universal primary education on the basis of enrollment rates, use of completion rates raises the number to 88 countries, out of the total 155 for which data were established. Some 35 countries are unlikely to meet the goal of eliminating gender disparities at the primary level by 2005, even when the goal is simply universal primary enrollment and not universal primary completion.

- or the majority of "at risk" countries, EFA is achievable-with the right policies. Fifty-nine out of the 88 countries at risk can reasonably be expected to achieve universal primary completion by 2015 if they bring the efficiency and quality of their education systems into line with benchmarks observed in higher-performing systems and receive significant increases in external financing and technical support. The 29 countries lagging farthest behind will not reach the goal without historically unprecedented rates of progress, but these rates are attainable with creative delivery solutions, including the use of information technologies flexible and targeted international support, and overall reduction in poverty.

- Education policies that improve learning outcomes are as important as additional resources. While there is no single recipe, common features of low-income countries that have either achieved or are on track to achieving universal primary completion are political commitment and national leadership for education demonstrated by: (i) adequate domestic resource mobilization for primary education; (ii) efficient and effective use of resources; (iii) focus on educational quality and learning outcomes; and (iv) specific actions to make schooling accessible and effective for poor and disadvantaged children and especially for girls.

- At-risk countries have a significant financing gap. Even after maximum mobilization of resources domestically and under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, funding required from external partners would be substantially above present levels.

e. Accelerating progress towards EFA requires integrated action to close four gaps. Countries need data of good quality to accurately measure and monitor progress and inform policy; sound policies to help translate the vision and strategy of a robust education system into development outcomes; strong institutional capacity to ensure effective and sustainable delivery of quality education services; and adequate domestic and external financing to fund needed investment and recurrent expenditures. Success in closing these gaps will rest foremost on strong country ownership of the EFA agenda.

f. Achieving EFA goals by 2015 presents daunting challenges but the prospects of achieving the goal are much better today than they have ever been since the formal launching of the EFA movement in 1990. Renewed global interest in the role of education in development has increased national and international political commitment to act: several countries have demonstrated that dramatic progress is possible if appropriate actions are taken. EFA planning and implementation can be greatly enhanced through effective integration into the PRSP and the CDF framework both of which provide an important framework for countries to take ownership and leadership of the development process and to more effectively coordinate external support. As part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the EFA agenda can more effectively be addressed within the overarching poverty reduction framework.

g. Financing of EFA for the 47 IDA countries analyzed indicates that in order to achieve universal primary completion by 2015, average annual expenditure on primary education for these countries would need to increase from $7.4 billion to $16.4 billion between 2002 and 2015. The bulk of these additional resources could be generated domestically with increased national commitment to education but many of them would require significant external support during the transition period while the countries reform their systems and put the education systems on a sustainable path of quality and equity. These 47 countries would require between $2.5 billion to $5 billion per year in additional external resources as an absolute minimum. This estimate is three to five times the amount that they currently obtain in external aid for primary education. A regional breakdown of the estimate shows the importance of intensifying support to sub-Saharan Africa: the region would require a seven-fold increase from its present level of aid inflows for primary education in real terms.

h. The $2.5-$5 billion estimate appears different from the Financing for Development (FfD) Report's estimate of $10-13 billion a year, included in the overall estimate of $40-60 billion a year needed to reach all of the MDGs. It is important to note, however, that the two estimates are very similar in terms of additional resources required: the difference lies in whether the resources would be generated domestically or externally. The difference between the two estimates underscores the key point made in both reports, that policy reform and country commitment, reflected in additional domestic resources, are the critical ingredients in determining the external financing gap.

i. The proposed action plan is rooted in a development compact between countries and their external partners. In the compact, governments would demonstrate their commitment to education through efforts to transform their education systems, in response to which external partners would provide financial and technical support in a transparent, predictable, and flexible manner. This action plan should be viewed as a first step in a results-oriented implementation framework for EFA. A great deal more work needs to be done to develop a detailed, costed and time-bound action plan. Over the next few months, the costing exercise will be extended to all the countries that have not yet achieved EFA and the analysis will be broadened to address other EFA goals such as gender equality in primary and secondary education and adult literacy. Further consultations will take place between countries and partners to seek consensus on the elements of the action plan and to review roles and responsibilities for partners in harmonizing, and making more effective, assistance to countries.

j. We propose to the Development Committee an EFA "fast track" in which about 10 countries are selected, by June 2002, for increased and immediate support, to help generate an early demonstration effect. The fast tracking would be done within the PRSP/CDF framework and implemented through a multi-donor education consortium that would align the external financing needs of these countries with available financial support from donor agencies.

4. Criteria for the assessment of national EFA plans

If EFA plans must qualify as credible, this implies an assessment of the plan in some way, including an agreed approach to measuring the degree of political commitment on the part of government. There are two phases in this process: first, an overall assessment agreed by all stakeholders in that particular country that the plan is in line with the Dakar Framework for Action, and second, a particular assessment by donors, together or separately as the case may be, for funding purposes in which further criteria defined by the donor may come into play. These further criteria may, for example relate to a particular EFA goal, or define technical performance indicators. Here a minimum set of criteria is presented for the overall assessment of plans; consideration of specific criteria will take place in each country as part of the negotiations between country and donor(s). Does the plan show clear evidence of