Somalia’s education system has transitioned through three major phases since the country gained independence in 1960. The first, in the 1970s and 1980s, saw two decades of centralization and improvements to education.
... See More + Following this, the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991 resulted in a civil war and two decades of fragmentation and system breakdown. The third and current phase has seen nearly a decade of efforts by central, sub-national, local, and non-government actors to deliver schooling to the next generations of children who will need an education to grow to be effective parents, workers, and leaders in a strategically important country that is moving towards stability and prosperity. In this context, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has expressed its interest in learning from the experience of other federal countries that have also faced socio-political challenges related to how the functions of education are governed and managed across their jurisdictions at the national, sub national, or local levels. As well, there is a need for Federal Member States to implement their functions as assigned to Federal and FMS education ministries as per the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This paper examines and compares the education systems of three countries that have very different federal systems to Somalia’s own in order to draw comparisons and identify possible lessons for Somalia. These lessons are meant to help Somalia address challenges in education access, equity, and quality within the framework of a federal system.
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Education is one of the top priorities of the recently published Somalia National development plan (2017-2019). The National development plan (NDP) envisions some ambitious targets, including expansion of access to education, improving quality of education by increasing the number of teachers at primary and secondary levels, and development of the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks to support the education sector.
... See More + Data and information play a key role in supporting education development. As Cassidy notes, a well-functioning and comprehensive Education Management Information System (EMIS) encompasses a system of people, technology, models, methods, processes, procedures, rules, and regulations that function together to provide education leaders, decision makers, and managers at all levels with a comprehensive, integrated set of relevant, reliable, unambiguous, and timely data and information to support them in completion of their responsibilities. Given this, strengthening of the Somalia EMIS is a critical prerequisite for achieving the educational goals of the NDP. In developing strategies to strengthen EMIS in any country it is essential to start by analysing and building on what already exists, both to harness existing systems and capacity and to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and initiatives. Consequently, this report provides an overview of the status of EMIS in Somalia as a contribution to the recent initiatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) to strengthen EMIS in the country.
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This document presents the findings of a Study on Understanding the Role of Non-State Education Providers in Somalia commissioned by the World Bank.
... See More + The goal of the study was to develop an evidence base for understanding non-state education providers in the broader Somali education ecosystem, and to identify opportunities for cooperation between state and non-state actors. The study focuses on formal primary and secondary schools in urban and peri-urban areas across four locations in Somalia: Mogadishu (Benadir Regional Administration), Kismayo (Jubbaland), and Garowe and Bosasso (Puntland). The overall objective of this study is to help relevant Somali government institutions and the international community in developing an evidence base for understanding non-state education providers in the broader Somali education ecosystem, and in identifying opportunities for streamlining private initiatives into federal and state-level education sector development policy. The report is divided into three main chapters: an overview of Somalia’s education sector and its implications on study methodology, presentation of the study’s findings, and key research implications.
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The IDA-financed Recurrent Cost and Reform Financing (RCRF) project seeks to enable the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to provide predictable budget allocations for critical education services.
... See More + One strategic RCRF component is the financing of recurrent costs for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) in Puntland federal state. these include (i) salary recurrent costs of eligible teachers, head teachers (HTs), deputy head teachers (D/HTs), Regional education officers (REOs) and District education officers (DEOs) with concomitant payroll system strengthening; and (ii) non-salary recurrent costs together with the establishment of robust Public finance management (PFM) practices at decentralized levels. A precondition for an efficient flow and use of public resources is the existence of strong country systems. Analysis and appraisal of existing systems (or practices) is a crucial step to ensure preconditions are in place for an efficient flow of resources and their subsequent transparent and responsible use. This note exclusively focuses on current payroll systems, practices, and school-based management in Puntland State.
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