48538 EDUCATION FOR ALL-FAST TRACK INITIATIVE NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2004 Note: Documents and presentations from the Brasilia conference are available at the following address: www.worldbank.org/education/efafti Education for All-Fast Track Initiative Fourth Partnership Meeting Brasilia, Brazil On November 10-11, 2004 the EFA-FTI held its fourth partnership meeting in Brasilia, Brazil bringing together Education and Development Ministers or their representatives, officials of international organizations and agencies, and representatives of civil society. The meeting followed the UNESCO High-Level Group meeting on Education for All, held from 8-10 November, during which UNESCO launched its annual Global Monitoring Report, entitled "Education for All: The Quality Imperative." The report underscores that despite some gains in the overall number of children enrolled in school, many still do not complete a full course of primary education and quality remains a challengen obstacle. The communiqué of the meeting notes that donors renewed their support for both expanding and strengthening FTI as an "effective mechanism to ensure donor coordination and target substantially increased resources to those low-income countries with sound economic, governance and human capacity policies." Key Highlights of Partnership Conclusions: Full Text of the Co-Chairs Summary can be found at the end of the newsletter ?? Recognition was made that FTI has evolved from a vertical program -- with decisions made at the global level, with access by invitation to countries meeting the FTI criteria, and with a focus on increased parallel financing giving the impression of a large global fund -- to becoming a country- based and country-led process of program development and resource mobilization, with all donors supporting the same country program. ?? There was widespread acknowledgement of the need to increase understanding of the FTI and awareness of its benefits and services among and across all stakeholders (international development agencies, national governments, civil society, and media). ?? Over the next year, the EFA-FTI could potentially expand from the current 12 to include up to 26 additional countries that may meet the EFA-FTI requirements. As such, all low-income countries will be informed of EFA-FTI and asked to contactdirected to their local donors group for further information about joining the initiative. ?? Based on the commitments made at Dakar and Monterrey, it was agreed, that FTI endorsement of a strong education sector plan, at country level, also reflects agreement between the government and donor partners to fully implement and resource the plan. ?? The Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) was officially endorsed by the EFA-FTI donor partnership to enable more low-income countries to develop sound sector programs, and to strengthen knowledge sharing and partnerships. 1 ?? Regarding proposed new FTI financial allocations for 2005, The FTI Catalytic Fund Strategy Committee approved US$8 million for Ghana. Additional allocations will be made in March 2005 once other countries with sector programs, endorsed by the local donors, and with insufficient financing due to the presence of too few donors to fully finance the programs are forthcoming. An emphasis will be placed on girl's education and the gender parity goal in countries without pre- existing programs for the 2005 allocations. ?? There was strong endorsement for ensuring that the FTI be linked to Education for All and that increased attention should be given to the impact of HIV/AIDS in country programs. In Brief: FTI & Resource Mobilization The overall EFA FTI donor partnership was formed in 2002 to support countries to achieve the MDG for primary education. Accordingly, a main goal of the FTI is to mobilize resources for low-income countries with sound education sector plans and domestic commitment to achieve this goal. For this, the FTI is a mechanism to increase financing for countries with credible plans through a global consultative platform. Catalytic Fund EFA-FTI also has put in place the Catalytic Fund, established in 2003, to provide transitional financing for countries with too few donors present to enable these countries to scale up their existing education programs while leveraging more sustainable financing from bilateral and multilateral donors. To date pledged contributions for 2004-2007 are US$265 million from the following donors: Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and UK. Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) Officially Established The multi-donor Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) has now been established. The EPDF is a Trust Fund, managed by the World Bank, to enable more low-income countries to access the FTI. Accordingly, one aim of the fund is to increase the number of countries with sound and sustainable national education policies. It will focus on countries without the capacity needed to develop a national education plan nor sufficient donor support. The EPDF also aims to enhance donor collaboration and harmonization at the country level, and support capacity building and knowledge generation and sharing in collaboration with country-level and regional institutions. To date, two donors, UK & Norway, have pledged a total of about US$5.5 million for 2005. The Africa region's education development programs will continue to be financed through the Norwegian Education Trust Fund (NETF) for the time being. Therefore, the EPDF will focus on other regions. CO-CHAIR (USA & SWEDEN) SUMMARY OF EFA-FTI PARTNERSHIP MEETING 1. The EFA-FTI Partnership welcomed the findings of UNESCO's Global Monitoring Report with its emphasis on quality and the timely reminder of how critically important the quality of education is to the achievement of the goals of Education for All. By building trust and showing results, EFA-FTI will send a clear message to developing nations that robust national education plans will receive support and will signal to development partners that increased resources, effectively used, will produce results on a global scale. The EFA-FTI both challenges and inspires teamwork in its efforts to create universal primary education ­ the key to unlocking poverty and achieving the EFA and Millennium Development Goals. 2. It is within this spirit that the EFA- FTI held its fourth partnership meeting in Brasilia, Brazil from November 10-11, 2004. The meeting brought together Education and Development Ministers or their representatives, officials of international organizations and agencies, and representatives of the private sector and civil society. 2 3. The EFA-FTI partnership meeting followed the fourth High Level Group meeting on Education for All. The EFA-FTI partnership acknowledged the communiqué of the High Level Group meeting and carried discussions forward. 4. The EFA-FTI partnership meeting discussed the evolution of the FTI since its inception thirty-one months ago, the lessons learned, strategies to strengthen the FTI as an effective mechanism for donor collaboration and harmonization, domestic and external resource mobilization for efficient implementation in countries with sound policies and good performance, and support to countries to develop sound and sustainable sector programs. 5. Although the EFA-FTI is still young, noteworthy progress has been made. In particular, the FTI is more clearly defined. We can say confidently that the EFA-FTI is a global partnership of countries, donors and development partners (including private sector and civil society organizations) committed to support low-income countries to achieve the EFA/MDG goals of completion of a quality primary education among all children, boys and girls alike, by 2015. The urgency of closing the gender gap was stressed in particular in light of the 2005 gender target. The FTI aims to support this goal by promoting increased and more efficient financing for primary education by putting into practice the principles of the Monterrey Consensus and the Rome Declaration on Harmonization. 6. Consistent with this approach, since its inception, the FTI has evolved from a vertical program -- with decisions made at the global level, with access by invitation to countries meeting the FTI criteria, and with a focus on increased parallel financing giving the impression of a large global fund -- to becoming a country-based and country-led process of program development and resource mobilization, with all donors supporting the same country program. The global partnership serves as a platform to support country level processes, innovation and resource mobilization, and steps in where regular bilateral and multilateral funding channels do not meet the needs. 7. The FTI is responding to the global challenge of supporting the goal of Universal Primary Completion by 2015 by opening up the FTI to all low-income countries endeavoring to achieve this goal. Over the past year, most FTI endorsed countries have shown a significant increase in enrolment rates. External aid increased from about $300 to $350 million in 2004, closing the financing gap in five of the twelve endorsed countries. Two other countries will close their gap through additional financing from bilateral donors in 2005-2006. Donor coordination and harmonization has also improved. 8. Accordingly, the EFA-FTI partnership re-confirmed its commitment to: ?? Support sound country education policies and programs, which include effective strategies to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDs, and to reach the most vulnerable, the majority of whom are girls; ?? Ensure integration of education policies and programs within country- wide macro-economic and development strategies such as Poverty Reduction Strategies; ?? Continue and accelerate country led harmonization and improve coordination at the global level, ensuring better linkage between the global and national levels; ?? Mobilize additional resources for countries that show results while improving the effectiveness of aid; and ?? Provide predictable, flexible and sustainable financing by diversifying financing mechanisms 9. The meeting acknowledged that the FTI is just at the beginning of its potential. It demonstrated a clear coalescence and strengthening of shared purpose among FTI partners as well as the opportunities and benefits that can accrue from including other partners, particularly civil society organizations. The meeting recognized the need for establishing a clearer link between resources and performance, the need to place primary education in a broader sector development program without losing momentum towards universal primary completion (UPC), and the special needs of countries with few donors. It recognized that the bedrock of success rests in country led education plans. Finally, the meeting recognized that there are additional possibilities for innovative approaches to accelerate UPC that should be incorporated, including through sector wide approaches, budget support, public-private alliances and other complementary means to enhance capacity development. 3 10. The FTI will take advantage of numerous opportunities in 2005 to raise the level of commitment of developing and developed countries by securing a central place for UPC in the MDG review, the Commission for Africa Report and the G8, the high level forum on harmonization, the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF Development Committee, and the UNESCO Higher Level Group meeting in China. 11. Over the next two years, the FTI could expand to include more than 50 countries. Key challenges on which the partnership will focus in 2005: ?? Mobilize significantly higher levels of aid for education that will be required for countries with sound education policies and sector programs; ?? Ensure effective use of the resources; ?? Enable more girls to complete quality education; ?? Ensure that schools provide a quality education so that parents will want to keep their children there; ?? To do more and do it faster by everyone working together, increasing their capacity, and keeping themselves accountable for their commitments; ?? Strengthen communications about the FTI on both the global and national level; and ?? Maintaining the FTI high on the international and domestic priorities. Updates UN Agencies Pledge to Fight Poverty Through Education Agencies and partners of the United Nations have pledged greater cooperation to improve access to education for what they called the world's biggest neglected majority. They say basic education is key to the fight against rural poverty and hunger. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12555&Cr=literacy&Cr1= US Congress Increases Funding for Basic Education The fiscal year 2005 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill passed by Congress in late November, contains $400 million for basic education, of which $300 million is through Development Assistance. IRIN has established a French News Service ­ an HIV/AIDS service for sub-Saharan Africa. PlusNews coverage is now available in French in addition to English. PlusNews is an e-mail and web-based HIV/AIDS information service for sub-Saharan Africa, run by the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). French: http://www.plusnews.org/fr We want to hear from you! We will gladly include your FTI stories in the FTI Newsletter. Please send us interesting articles, reports, websites, etc., by email to: fti@worldbank.org 4