Case Study

Achieving Equity in Education Financing

Save the Children

Achieving Equity in Education Financing

Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan

5 months

The Brief

The project was commissioned by Save the Children Norway to evaluate equity in domestic education financing at primary level. The study focused on eight countries - Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, Nepal and Pakistan - in order to identify best practice for governments, donors and NGOs. Key research areas included:

     •     Socioeconomic barriers that have an impact on equitable education financing, including levels of poverty, geographical location, gender, religion and disability.

     •     Effective methods to target public education funding to improve equity and reach the most marginalised children.

     •     External factors that support equity in education financing, such as data collection and monitoring.

Project Approach

A literature review was conducted for each of the eight countries of study to provide an overview of equity in education financing. Key areas covered include the national policy framework, education financing system, analysis of spending effectiveness, and barriers to more equitable education financial. Sources used include academic literature, ‘grey’ literature such as impact assessments, and quantitative data repositories. Research from other countries in Africa and Asia was also used to contextualise individual country studies.

In addition, a ‘scorecard’ was produced for each country using indicators on financing, pupil-teacher ratios and net enrolment ratios; these scorecards were developed using data available from the World Inequality Database. Detailed case studies were also conducted in Uganda and Cambodia, based on a series of qualitative interviews with government officials and NGO representatives to identify best practice models.  

Impact

The final report provided our client with evidence-based analysis and recommendation to contribute to their wider goal of identifying effective practices to improve education equity and reach the most marginalised children for both government institutions and external stakeholders, such as NGOs and CSOs. The final report, More is Not Enough, was also published online by Save the Children in order to reach the widest possible audience. We also presented the findings at a Brookings Institution conference in Washington, DC.