Academic studies on the financing of education are relatively rare, particularly in the context of developing countries. The available literature is mainly grey, narrow in focus, hard to come by, and motivated by operational rather than analytical concerns. It tends to concentrate on the allocation of resources and the cost-effectiveness of education, rather than on wider questions of financing throughout the education system: from formulating education policies, through curriculum planning and budgeting, to the implementation of expenditure. This publication is an attempt to address these deficits in the literature. It looks at the bigger picture of financing the totality of the formal educational system in the wider context of public finance, and as integral to the effectiveness of education policies. The analysis is orientated towards action and further research. The study is organised into five chapters. The first provides an analytical overview of the financing of education in sub-Saharan Africa; the second identifies the roots of the problems: the traditional prescriptions for education policy; and the third chapter suggests ways of resolving these. The final chapters concentrate on the global management of education policy, questioning the orthodox structural remedies to the problems of financing and managing education, in particular, privatisation and decentralisation. This is a co-publication with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). In French.
Le financement dans lessystemes educatifs d'Afrique subsaharienne
Academic studies on the financing of education are relatively rare, particularly in the context of developing countries. The available literature is mainly grey, narrow in focus, hard to come by, and motivated by operational rather than analytical concerns. It tends to concentrate on the allocation of resources and the cost-effectiveness of education, rather than on wider questions of financing throughout the education system: from formulating education policies, through curriculum planning and budgeting, to the implementation of expenditure. This publication is an attempt to address these deficits in the literature. It looks at the bigger picture of financing the totality of the formal educational system in the wider context of public finance, and as integral to the effectiveness of education policies. The analysis is orientated towards action and further research. The study is organised into five chapters. The first provides an analytical overview of the financing of education in sub-Saharan Africa; the second identifies the roots of the problems: the traditional prescriptions for education policy; and the third chapter suggests ways of resolving these. The final chapters concentrate on the global management of education policy, questioning the orthodox structural remedies to the problems of financing and managing education, in particular, privatisation and decentralisation. This is a co-publication with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). In French.
