Implementing Sustainable Development Goal on Education (SDG4) amid Donor Fatigue: Challenges for the Global South
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.811.11132Keywords:
COVID-19; Donor fatigue; Education aid; Foreign aid; Least developed countries; Sustainable Development Goals; SDG4.Abstract
This paper critically reflects on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal on education (SDG4) in the Global South amid apparent donor fatigue. It also highlights international observers’ concerns about a huge funding gap in the implementation of SDG4 in the Global South. With the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the world, this funding gap will only widen. In the face of these challenges, low-income countries with a high dependency on aid remain at risk of defaulting on most SDG4 targets. While reflecting on what the decline in education aid might mean for low-income countries, the paper argues that a truly transformative approach can help these countries achieve SDG4 and its sustainability agenda despite funding challenges.
References
Alba, P. & Mathiasen, K. (2020). The International Finance Facility for Education: A vital instrument to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Future Development. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/futuredevelopment/2020/07/09/the-international-finance-facility-for-education-a-vital-instrument-to-mitigate-theimpact-of-the-pandemic/.
Ball, S. J. (2016). Subjectivity as a site of struggle: refusing neoliberalism? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(8), 1129-1146. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1044072.
Benavot, A., Archer, D., Moseley, S., Mundy, K., Phiri, F., Steer, L. & Wiking, D. (2010). International Aid to Education. Comparative Education Review, 54(1), 105-124. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/649052.
Brissett, N., & Mitter, R. (2017). For Function or Transformation? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Education under the Sustainable Development Goals. The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 15, 181-204. http://www.jceps.com/archives/3326.
Easterly, W. (2015). The SDGs Should Stand for Senseless, Dreamy, Garbled. https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/28/the-sdgs-are-utopian-and-worthless-mdgs-develop ment-rise-of-therest/.
Ferguson, T., Illisko, D., Roofe, C., & Hill, S. (2018). SDG4 - Quality Education: Inclusivity, Equity and Lifelong Learning For All. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781787694231.
HLP (2013). A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development (HLP Report). http://www.un.org/sg/management/beyond2015.shtml.
Hulme, D. (2009). The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): A Short History of the World’s Biggest Promise. Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 10009, GDI, The University of Manchester. https://ideas.repec.org/p/bwp/bwppap/10009.html.
Kaffenberger, M., & Pritchett, L. (2017). More School or More Learning? Evidence from Learning Profiles from the Financial Inclusion Insights Data. Background Paper, World Bank. https://riseprogramme.org/sites/default/files/publications/RISE_WP-012_Pritchett%20Ka ffenberger.pdf
Kakupa, P. (2017). The vocationalization policy in Zambia’s secondary education sector: A critical analysis. International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, 9(4), 31-39. https://doi.org/10.5897/IJVTE2017.0229.
King, K. (2015). The History and Future of International Cooperation. NORRAG. https://www.norrag.org/fileadmin/Working_Papers/Working_Paper__9_King.pdf
Maclure, R., Sabbah, R. & Lavan, D. (2009). Education and Development: The Perennial Contradictions of Policy Discourse. In P. Haslam, J. Schafer, & P. Beaudet, (Eds.), Introduction to International Development: Approaches, Actors, and Issues (1st ed., pp.367-383). Oxford University Press.
Masaiti, G., Njobvu, T., & Kakupa, P. (2018). Education and Learning in the Post Third Republic: Opportunities and Challenges. In Masaiti, G., Education in Zambia at Fifty Years of Independence and Beyond: History, Current Status and Contemporary Issues (pp. 66 – 90). UNZA Press: Lusaka.
Mulenga-Hagane, M., Daka, H., & Kanchebele-Sinyangwe, M. (2020). Learning from Change: Benefits and Implications of Distinct Primary and Secondary Schools for Education in Zambia. Malcolm Moffat Multidisciplinary Journal of Research and Education, 1 (1), 121 – 136.
Muralidharan, K., & Zieleniak, Y. (2013). Measuring Learning Trajectories in Developing Countries with Longitudinal Data and Item Response Theory. Paper presented at the Young Lives Conference, Oxford University, Oxford, U.K., July 8–9.
Owuor, J. (2008). Integrating African Indigenous Knowledge in Kenya’s Formal Education System: The Potential for Sustainable Development. JCIE, 2(2), 21-37. https://doi.org/10.20355/C5Z594.
Pritchett, L. (2013). The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning. Center for Global Development. Brookings Institution Press.
Regmi, K. D. (2015). Lifelong learning and post-2015 educational goals: challenges for the least developed countries. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, (45)2, 317-322, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2014.993223.
RTI International (2015). Survey of Children’s Reading Materials in African Languages in Eleven Countries – Final Report. U.S. Agency for International Development.
Sayed, Y., & Moriarty, K. (2020). Chapter 9 SDG 4 and the ‘Education Quality Turn. In Grading Goal Four (pp. 194-213). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004430365_009.
The Global Goals for Sustainable Development. (2015). Quality Education. http://www.globalgoals.org/globalgoals/quality-education/.
UNESCO (2000). Dakar Framework for Action. UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121147e.pdf.
UNESCO (2014). Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Policy Paper 13.UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/GMR/images/2014/transforms/UNESCO_Policy Paper_13-EN_v5.pdf.
UNESCO (2015a). Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Policy Paper 18. UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/node/819.
UNESCO (2015b). Incheon Declaration: Education 2030. UNESCO.https://iite.unesco.org/publications/education-2030-incheon-declaration-framework-action-towards-inclusive-equitable-quality-education-lifelong-learning/.
UNESCO (2017a). More Than One-Half of Children and Adolescents Are Not Learning Worldwide. UNESCO.http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs46-more-than-half-children-not-learning-en-2017.pdf.
UNESCO (2017b). Aid to education falls for the sixth consecutive year. UNESCO.https://en.unesco.org/news/aideducation-falls-sixth-consecutive-year.
UNESCO (2017c). Global Education Monitoring Report: Aid to education is stagnating and not going to countries most in need. UNESCO.https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000249568.
UNESCO (2019a). Out-of-school children, adolescents, and youth: Global status and trends. UNESCO. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/new- methodology-shows-258-million-childrenadolescents-and-youth-are-out-school.pdf
UNESCO (2019b). Global Education Monitoring Report: Migration, displacement and education. UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2019/migration. 27
UNESCO (2020). Policy Paper: Act now: Reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the cost of achieving SDG4. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374163.
United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: 2030 agenda for sustainable development. United Nations. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20 Development%20web.pdf.
United Nations (2020). Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. UNESCO. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/08/sg_policy_brief_covid19_and_education_august_2020.pdf
Wils, A. (2015). Reaching education targets in low and lower-middle-income countries – costs and finance gaps to 2030 for pre-primary, primary, lower- and upper secondary schooling. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232560.
World Bank (2020a). The COVID-19 pandemic: Shocks to Education and Policy Responses. World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/publication/the-covid19-pandemic-shocks-to-education-andpolicy-responses.
World Bank (2020b). The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Education Financing. World Bank. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/734541589314089887/Covid-and-Ed-Finance-final.pdf.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Paul Kakupa, Happy Joseph Shayo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
