Rwf12bn support for education sector

The Ministry of Education is set to receive a grant of $17.64 million (about Rwf12 billion), part of a $235 million package to support education in developing countries. The funding was announced by the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) during the World Education Forum on Saturday in Incheon, Korea. The new funding brings the total funding approved by the board since 2002 to $4.35 billion as support for education in developing countries. Other recipients of the grant include Bangladesh, Mozambique and Nepal. The fund for Rwanda, Mozambique and Nepal will be channelled under a new funding model, which incentivises developing countries to improve equity, efficiency and quality in education by linking a proportion of the funding to results. “This new round of funding is a practical demonstration of the Global Partnership’s commitment to national efforts to educate and empower our children to build a better life for them,” said Julia Gillard, the board chair of GPE. She added that children, particularly the most marginalised in the four countries, will benefit from stronger education systems, enhanced learning environments, improved teaching skills and expanded access to schooling. “In 2015, as the world considers the sustainable development goals, it is vital more funding is mobilised for education so more investments like these can be made in our children’s future,” Gillard added. Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, the minister for education, expressed optimism about the grant, saying it would further facilitate improvement of the education sector. “Definitely this will make a lot of difference in our education sector in terms of access, quality and relevance which is part of our strategic plan,” Lwakabamba said. More $7.56 million (about Rwf5 billion) will be approved for Rwanda once an agreed indicator on equity is adopted for the results-based part of the grant. According to this new model, 70 per cent of available country funding is based on credible, evidence-based and financially sustainable education sector plans. It supports basic education components of the sector as laid out in these plans while 30 per cent of the grant amount is based on the achievement of specific results chosen by the government and national partners in the areas of learning quality, education system efficiency and equity for all children. Alice Albright, the chief executive of the Global Partnership for Education, said the organisation uses finance to leverage increased resources for more targeted results. “The GPE incentivises partner countries to spend more domestic funding on education and the GPE funding model focuses on concrete achievements in quality of learning, equity and efficiency,” Albright added. The Global Partnership for Education mobilises global and national efforts to achieve quality education for all children, prioritising the poorest and most vulnerable, through inclusive partnership, financing and a focus on effective education systems. GPE is an independently governed multi-stakeholder partnership with 60 developing country governments, as well as donors, civil society/non-local and international NGOs, governmental, teacher organisations and the private sector.

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Rwf12bn support for education sector