DONOR AIDED DEVELOPMENT IN EDU-CATION IN BANGLADESH: ANALYZING CURRENT DONOR POLICIES AND PRIORITIESRidwanul Mosrur, Global Education Cooperation, College of Education, Seoul National University

International Education Development Forum (IEDF)Seoul National University (SNU) | October 12 to 14, 2016 | Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Why and What

Since 1971, its is 45 years of development investment; the country is enriched with natural resources as well as 160 million people, but still why Bangladesh is not developed as expected?

There could be many reasons – but I will focus to and from Education for answer. It will be my long quest and this paper is the beginning.

In this paper, the purpose is to understand the donor priorities for the Education Sector in Bangladesh, based on Policy Papers and evidence from budget allocations in relation with Government Long-term Educational Planning.

Methodology: Policy Document and Secondary Data analysis

People's Republic of BangladeshOfficial languages BengaliEthnic groups (2011) 98% Bengalis

2% Others

Religion89.1% Islam10% Hinduism0.9% Others

Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional re-public

Area 147,570km2 (92nd)

Population2015 estimate 168,957,745 (8th)2011 census 149,772,364 (8th)Density 1,319/km2 (10th)

GDP (PPP) (2015 estimate)

Total $572.440 billion (34th)Per capita $3,581 (144th)

Gini (2010) 32.1 | mediumHDI (2015)  0.570 | medium | 142nd

18000 BC

Stone Age

4000 BC

Copper Age

1000 BC

Iron Age (urban settlement)

Mauryan Empire

322 – 185 BC

Gupta Empire

700 – 1100 AD

320 - 550 AD

Pala Empire

1100 – 1500 AD

Islamic Empire

Mughol Empire

1500 – 1857 AD

1857 - 1946 AD

1946 - 1971 AD

British Colony

East Pakistan

1971 AD

Bangladesh

Please note that, Ancient Bengal (now known as Bangladesh) was invaded by the ancient Romans, Greeks, Persian, Turks, Huns and also Alexander the Great. It has strong business relations with China, Arab, Europe (Grand Silk Road). Also invaded by middle aged Dutch, Portuguese, French and British.

OVERVIEW OF ODA IN BANGLADESH

ODA Overview to Asia/Bangladesh

Trends in aid to Bangladesh since 1970 (in billion)

Source: OECD (2016) Development Aid at a Glance 2016

ODA Overview to Bangladesh

ODA trends 2004-2014 to Bangladesh

Source: Data extracted on 01 Jun 2016 01:51 UTC (GMT) from OECD Stat

In m

illio

n (U

SD)

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140.000

500.000

1,000.000

1,500.000

2,000.000

2,500.000

3,000.000

3,500.000

4,000.000

4,500.000

Bilateral vs Multilateral ODA trends 2004-2014 to Bangladesh

DAC Countries, Total Multilateral, Total

Bilateral ODA to Bangladesh

Australia Austria

Belgium Canada

Czech Republic Denmark

Finland France

Germany Greece Iceland Ireland

Italy Japan Korea

Luxembourg Netherlands

New Zealand Norway Poland

Portugal Slovak Republic

Slovenia Spain

Sweden Switzerland

United Kingdom United States

0.00 200.00 400.00 600.00 800.00 1000.00 1200.00 1400.00

2014 2005In million (USD)

Source: Data extracted on 01 Jun 2016 01:51 UTC (GMT) from OECD Stat

ODA by Sector and Donor (to Bangladesh)

Source: OECD stats - http://www2.compareyourcountry.org/aid-statistics?cr=666&lg=en&page=31#

FUNDING TRENDS IN EDUCATIONLast 10 years

Education Sector Super-Structure and ODA trends

Source: OECD Stats

Education sub-sector ODA 2005 – 2014commitment, USD million

Source: OECD Data, http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/education-related-aid-data.htm

Why funding moved to Primary from Secondary?Year Primary Education Secondary Education

GER (%) NER (%) GER (%) NER (%)

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

2005 91.2 96.2 93.7 84.6 90.1 87.2

2008 92.8 102.9 97.6 87.9 90.4 90.8 44.32 55.88 49.81 39.88 50.83 45.09

2010 103.2 112.4 107.7 92.2 97.6 94.8 49.59 62.62 55.81 44.45 55.09 49.53

2015 105 113.4 109.2 97.1 98.8 97.7 67.75 77.84 72.78 62.16 71.85 67.00

Possible Interpretation:• Gap in Primary Education Quality – Success in Number, Failure in terms of

Competency Achievement• MDG goal achievement at Primary level and Commitment of Universal Primary

Education in National Education Policy 2010• Gender equity achievement at Secondary level as a temporary situation based

target of few donors

Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), 2015 Report

ODA Loan vs Grants: Education in Bangladesh

Trends in National Budget for Education

Education budget as % of GDP and total budget

Development vs. Non-Development allocation

Source: Center for Policy Dialogue (2016), Budget for Education in Bangladesh

National Budget for Education Share of domestic finance and foreign aid The share of domestic finance in total education budget has been around 90% on an average over the last 14 years.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Government of Bangladesh

Major Donors in Financing Educational Development in Bangladesh during 2005 - 2014

Source: OECD Data, http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/education-related-aid-data.htm

CURRENT ODA PRIORITIES AND POLI-CIES IN EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH

Donor Priorities: EducationDonor Category Name of the Donors Education

Education Basic/ ECD

TVET/Skills Development

Secondary & Higher Education

Education for Children with Spe-cial Needs

Bilateral Donors

DFID        CIDA        AusAID        DANIDA        USAID        Netherland        SIDA        KOICA        JICA        Norwegian        SDC        

Donor Priorities: EducationDonor Category Name of the Donors Education

Education Basic/ ECD

TVET/Skills Development

Secondary & Higher Education

Education for Children with Spe-cial Needs

Multilateral Donors EC        ECHO        UNICEF        World Bank        ADB        UNDP        UNAIDS        UN Women        

Private Donors

Dubai Cares        IKEA (F)        Uniliver (F)        Gate (F)        Rockefeller (F)        Chevron        

Analyzing (bilateral) Donors’ Budget allocation: Educa-tion in Bangladesh• USAID’s ODA Budget 2014-15 for Bangladesh analysis depicted that it allocated

4.4 million USD for the ‘education’ sector (4.2 million for basic education and 145K for higher edn)

• DFID had approved £162,805,744 project (37 active projects) budget for 2016/2017 for Bangladesh which is 1.78% of DFID’s total budget; Education is the top prioritized subsector with 23.92% allocation.

• For 2014-15, the budget of AusAid/DFAT is 29.3 million Australian dollar while SIDA allocated SEK 79,298,564 for the year 2013.

• From the OECD data, it was seen that the JICA has massive ODA for Bangladesh though the number of JICA’s education project is only 2. However, it need to be mentioned that, large amount of JICA’s fund is channelize through Asian Development Bank.

https://explorer.usaid.gov/country-detail.html#Bangladeshhttp://www.unaidsbd.org/index.php/topcontent/view/3 http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/countries/BD/ http://aid.dfat.gov.au/countries/southasia/bangladesh/Pages/home.aspx

Analyzing (bilateral) Donors’ Budget allocation: Educa-tion in Bangladesh• KOICA’s fund to Bangladesh is though not large but seems very crucial as KOICA is

financing the education for the children which remained uncharted by many other bilateral and multilateral donors. KOICA’s notable contribution is going to -

ICT integration in education Technical and Vocational Education (Business Partnership Program of KOICA in

partnership with Korean companies) multilingual basic education for the ethnic children in Chittagong Hill Tracts Basic education for children living in the brothels Girls Education

• It need to be mentioned that, apart from KOICA, the support from Korean people has been extended to the children in Bangladesh through large scale sponsorship programs operated by different iNGOs.

• Though the budget allocation data of Norway for Bangladesh wasn’t publicly available, but it was made clear that Norway’s contribution for the Education in Bangladesh is going for the primary education sector development projects in Bangladesh.

Analyzing (multilateral) Donors’ Budget allocation: Education in Bangladesh

• Among the multilateral donors, EC has scored the highest and mostly contribute to TVET and skill development education. The budget allocation of EC for Bangladesh during the period of 2015 – 2020 is € 276-310 million.

• ECHO is contributing based on need in post-disaster situation through different international grants-maker (e.g.- Save the Children) to reconstruct school building and financing temporary education programs.

• UNHCR made annual contribution for the basic and skill development education for the Rohynga community in Cox’s Bazar who are forcefully migrated from Myanmar to Bangladesh and living in isolated camps. UNHCR also operated primary schools for the Bihary community in Bangladesh who are isolated Pakistani stayed in Bangladesh since the Independence war in 1971 in isolated camps.

• UNICEF is financing different initiatives and campaigns to promote girls education, quality basic education as well as providing technical support to government and non-government entities.

Analyzing (multilateral) Donors’ Budget allocation: Education in Bangladesh

• ADB and World Bank’s contribution is far largescale than others and often implemented by large scale umbrella programs; e.g.- SEIP, ROSC, PEDP, SEQAEP, HEQEP etc.

• ADB has provided Bangladesh with $17.2 billion in loans and $244.6 million for technical assistance projects since 1973.

Priorities:• energy security, • transport services and

connectivity, • education and skills development, • water resources management, • urban infrastructure,• finance.

financing for education$120 millionfor the Third Primary EducationDevelopment Program, the secondtranche of $185 million for the SecondaryEducation Sector Investment Program,

ADB’s Investment in Bangladesh

Analyzing (multilateral) Donors’ Budget allocation: Education in Bangladesh – World Bank

World Bank’s Investment in Education, Bangladesh

Name of ProjectCost

(USD in million)

Status Ending date

Bangladesh - Skills and Training Enhancement Project 79Active 10-Jun-10

Bangladesh - Secondary Education Quality and Access Improvement 130.7Active 31-Jul-08

Bangladesh - Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project 81Active 17-Mar-09

Bangladesh - Primary Education Development Program III 300Active 25-Aug-11

BD: Leveraging ICT Growth, Employment and Governance Project 70Active 20-Sep-12

BD: Reaching Out of School Children II 130Active 2-Oct-12

Additional Financing: Skills and Training Enhancement Project 16.71Active 26-Sep-13

BD Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project - AF 125Active 3-Dec-13

Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project - AF 265Active 3-Dec-13

AF Bangladesh - Primary Education Development Program III 400Active 16-Dec-14

College Education Development Project 100Active 3-Jun-16

Additional Financing Skills and Training Enhancement Project 100Active 30-Oct-15

• In 2015, WB supported 29% of the total development budget of Bangladesh and the Lending amount was 1939 million USD. However, among the currently active 18 projects (3051 million USD) of WB in Bangladesh 10 projects are on education with net worth of 1797 million USD.

Analyzing (private) Donors’ Budget allocation: Educa-tion in Bangladesh

Among the Private or Corporate donors, in Education, the contribution of IKEA Foundations and Dubai Care are mostly mentionable. • IKEA is contributing significantly for the education for children with special needs

and inclusive education through its 3rd phase of Soft Toys Campaign. • Dubai Cares is focusing on delivering quality primary education for all through

Education for Vulnerable Children, School Feeding Program and Establishment of Libraries.

• Chevron is contributing to skill development program along with Basic Education program in its business areas and in coordination with SEIP program and other donor financed basic education program to generate maximum impact.

Challenges and Issues

• Before 2015, the ‘lack of coordination’ in development initiatives were prominent which is responsible for reduced impact.

• Mismanagement and corruption.• Donors, in some extent, don’t have clear understanding on the national nature

and therefore the predictive national behavior won’t stands – which failed to ensure proper investment at proper place at proper time.

• Political and Business goal focused development investment.• ODA and Country Partnership Documents are not always unambiguous and,

therefore, government failed to initiate development plan with reliable funding availability prediction.

• Lack of Coordination among the different sectors and policies in Bangladesh

Limitation of the Study

Limitations:• This study is overview (because of shortage of time and capacity) – failed to

move in depth; therefore the conclusion might be deceptive. • The study is based on mainly secondary data and policy documents – chances of

misinterpretations.