The effectiveness of foreign aid to education: What can be learned?

Main author: Riddell, Abby
Other authors: Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-37605
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
English
language_search English
English
description This article reviews what has been learned over many decades of foreign aid to education and discusses what works and what does not work. It shows the positive contribution that aid has made to education in aid-recipient countries, the most tangible outcome of which is the contribution that aid makes to expanding enrolments especially of basic education. But the article also indicates that there is a considerable gap between what aid does and what it could potentially achieve, especially in relation to its contribution to improvements in educational quality. It shows the distortions caused by focusing on enrolments and insufficiently on quality. Sustainable education outcomes will not be achieved merely by reproducing yet more successful, but individual projects. Perversely, development agencies which focus only on demonstrable short-term impact may well be contributing, unwittingly, to an undermining of long-term impact on the education systems and their deepening development, to whose progress they are trying to contribute.
format Journal Article
author Riddell, Abby
author_facet Riddell, Abby
Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel
authorStr Riddell, Abby
author_letter Riddell, Abby
author2 Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel
author2Str Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel
title The effectiveness of foreign aid to education: What can be learned?
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2016
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/37605/