The Knowledge Factor: Education, Development, and Foreign Aid to Africa

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2000
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Education is key to the sustainable development of African human capacity and economic and social growth. Education has both long-term economic benefits such as improved technological skills and increased wages, as well as many social returns, including poverty relief, the formation of a democratic society, and conflict reduction. Factors such as equality, equity, democracy, other societal goals such as national unity and the development of a civic society, and economic improvements make education a priority for developing countries. However, of even more significance, is that the farreaching benefits of improved access, quality, equity, and capacity in education are becoming a priority for external lenders as well. Both the World Bank and USAID have, in the past ten-years, begun to reform their strategies for education assistance in SubSaharan Africa. The World Bank's recent publication, Education Sector Strategy, and US AID's Strategic Frameworkfor Basic Education ill Africa, offer a review of both donor and recipient geared shifts in the priorities and strategies for education reform in Africa. This study offers an analysis of these recent reforms in World Bank and USAID education policy in Sub-Saharan Africa and their effectiveness thus far in shifting policy and improving economic and social development. A brief history of aid to Africa leads to a greater understanding of past development failures and the catalysts for the current reform agendas. Recent reforms in education place a high priority on the need for universal primary education, focus on greater equity and access in schooling, look at ways to build stakeholder involvement and development of local research capacity, and stress the need for a comprehensive sector approach rather than project based funding. Though it is still early to gauge the long-term sustainability of such reform efforts, case study analysis of several Sub-Saharan countries does provide evidence of both successful advancements and some disappointing failures made in education sector development over the last few years. It is clear that both more research, and greater attention to statelevel dynamics is necessary to further test the effectiveness of recent reforms and their economic and social impacts.
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