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Education in South Sudan:

investing in a better future

A review by Gordon Brown

Cover image: A boy listens to his teacher during a lesson at the improvised Hai Kugi School on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan. UNESCO /M. Hofer (2011)

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Education in South Sudan:


investing in a better future
A review by Gordon Brown

Contents
Glossary Acknowledgements Foreword: South Sudan time to act Executive Summary 1. An education system under pressure 2. Current levels of development assistance 3. Accelerating the catch up 4. Closing the gap delivering on the promise Conclusion Endnotes List of Figures
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

5 6 7 11 18 26 31 38 44 45

South Sudan anchored to the bottom of the world education league School participation in South Sudan - below the average for Africa Primary school attrition The secondary deficit South Sudans gender gaps among the worlds widest Few of South Sudan's children are in permanent classrooms South Sudans Teacher Workforce limited training, few women

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List of Tables
Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Financing Basic Education in South Sudan: Targets, Plans and Gaps (2012-2015) The scope for early delivery in education: financial estimates for achieving specified targets (selected non-governmental organisations) Closing the financing gap (an illustrative proposal) 33 36 39

List of Boxes
Box 1 Box 2 Box 3 4 Scaling up and capacity building Building capacity and working through government systems Delivering the peace dividend a role for Community Support Bases (CSBs) 35 37 43

Glossary
ADF AfDB BRAC BSF CECs CSBs DAC DfID EPP GER GPE GPI GRSS IDA LSDAI MDGs MDTF MoGEI NER ODA TTI UNDAF African Development Fund African Development Bank Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee Basic Service Fund County Education Centres County Support Bases The OECDs Development Assistance Committee Department for International Development South Sudan Education Peace Premium Gross Enrolment Ratio The Global Partnership for Education Gender Parity Index Government of the Republic of South Sudan International Development Association Local Service Delivery Aid Instrument Millennium Development Goals Multi-Donor Trust Fund Ministry of General Education and Instruction Net Enrolment Ratio Oversees Development Assistance Teacher Training Institute United Nations Development Assistance Framework

Acknowledgments
This report was written with Kevin Watkins of the Centre for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. Our research was greatly assisted by many individuals and organisations. Several ministers from the Government of the Republic of South Sudan were extremely generous with their time, providing advice and comments on early drafts. Special thanks are due to Joseph Ukel Abongo (Minister for General Education and Instruction), Peter Adwok Nywabi (Minister for Higher Education) and Kosti Manibe Ngai (Minister for Finance and Economic Planning). Senior officials and consultants from a number of ministries provided comments and insights including Esther Akumu (Director for Development Partner Coordination, Ministry of General Education and Instruction), Stephanie Allan (Donor Coordinator, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning), Deng Deng Yai (Undersecretary for General Education and Instruction), Catherine Dom (Technical Adviser, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning), and Moses Mabior, (Director for Aid Coordination, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning).
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

David Masua (Education Programme Manager, Windle Trust), Sue Nicholson (Education Technical Adviser, Save the Children in South Sudan), and Habibur Rahman (Education Programme Manager, BRAC South Sudan). We also benefited from discussions with Jubabased staff from a number of donor agencies, including Hilde Johnson (Special Representative to the Secretary General on South Sudan), Yasmin Haque (South Sudan Country Representative, UNICEF), William Osafo (Education Team Leader, USAID South Sudan Mission), and Fazle Rabbani (Education Adviser), DFID. Initial findings from the report were presented to a group of non-governmental organisations at a meeting held in London, on 20 March 2012. The subsequent discussions and comments informed the redrafting process. We wish to thank the following organisations for their participation: Action Aid, the Anglican Church, BRAC, the British Council, Camfed, Care International, The Childrens Investment Fund Foundation, Christian Aid, Comic Relief, the Global Campaign for Education, the Open University, Oxfam, Save the Children and VSO. Michael Holman, author and former Africa Editor of the Financial Times, kindly commented on an early draft. While all of the individuals and organisations mentioned above have informed this report, the views expressed are those of the authors alone.

Staff working with non-governmental organisations in South Sudan provided invaluable advice based on their programme experience. We are indebted to Caroline De Anna (Education Programme Coordinator, Episcopal Church of Sudan), Reverend Emmanuel (Education Manager, Episcopal Church of Sudan), Emily Lugano (Education Adviser, Save the Children in South Sudan),

Foreword: South Sudan time to act


parents everywhere around the world, I know that it is through education that children broaden their horizons and develop the skills they need to realise their potential. Education and learning are the real foundations for opportunity. Today, millions of children around the world are denied a chance to put those foundations in place. Progress towards the 2015 goal of universal primary education is slowing, leaving 67 million primary school age children locked out of classrooms and many more receiving a sub-standard education. Poverty, child labour, early marriage, and armed conflict are among the scourges holding back progress in education, along with failures of political leadership. The High Level Panel on global education was created to address what I see as a global crisis in education. As co-chair, along with Graa Machel Madibas wife I have spent time researching that crisis. I have spoken to political leaders, the heads of international agencies, and non-governmental organisations. And I have spent time talking to people at the sharp end of the crisis in education. I have heard agonised stories from parents who want their children to be able to live the life they are capable of living, but are forced by circumstances to settle for something less; and I have spoken to children who are desperate for the education that they know could transform their lives. Africas newest nation My work as Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on global education has involved visits to many countries. But there is one country that illustrates more than any other what is not working in the current international aid 7

The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on global education

One of the great privileges that I have enjoyed in my political life is the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela. Like many people around the world, I have been inspired by his life, his courage, and his wisdom. Through his personal example, he has demonstrated that iron resolve backed by practical endeavour and clear strategies can move mountains. Of the many words that I have read by Madiba, there is one sentence that I am always drawn to. It is this: There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Since becoming a parent I have often thought about these words. Like parents everywhere across the world, I want my children to have the lives they are capable of living. And like

architecture on education. That country is South Sudan, Africas newest nation. Much has been achieved over the six years that have passed since South Sudan emerged from a brutal and protracted conflict. Yet parents and children are still waiting for an education peace premium and South Sudan is embarking on independence anchored to the bottom of the world league table on education. Over one million children of primary school age are out of school. Enrolment rates in secondary education are below 10 per cent. In what is a desperate situation for all children, South Sudans girls face additional disadvantages. Just 6 per cent of 13 year old girls have completed primary school. So extreme are the gender inequalities that young girls in South Sudan are more than twice as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as they are to make it through primary school and into secondary education. Behind these numbers is a vast waste of potential. Getting children into school and providing them with decent quality opportunities for education would help them to build a better future, for themselves and their country. In an increasingly knowledgebased and interconnected world, sustained and shared prosperity depends not on what countries have in terms of natural resources, but on what their citizens are able to learn. For South Sudans young people, education is a passport to employment. Education also has a wider role to play. Armed conflict and the threat of violence remains a source of insecurity for many of South Sudans people. Many factors are involved, including prejudice, long-standing hostilities, and attitudes that see recourse to violence as legitimate. With the right curriculum in place, the education system could act as a powerful force for peace8

building, the development of shared identity, and the creation of a society that is more resilient and less vulnerable to violence. To its credit, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) is putting in place an education strategy that holds out the promise of a better future. However, it lacks the financial resources, technical capacity and institutional systems to overcome the vast backlog in education provision. That is why the international community has such an important role to play. Several donors, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations have put in place education programmes that are making a difference but not on the required scale. This paper sets out an agenda for change. It identifies a framework for policies that would: Bring opportunities for improved education to 2.5 million children, half of them currently out of school Provide financial support for the education of half-a-million girls Make provision for the education of 300,000 children displaced as a result of armed violence, or living in conflict zones Train 30,000 teachers and build 3,000 schools

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Achieving these goals will require additional resources. We set out a financing strategy that includes an increased resource mobilisation effort on the part of the GRSS. Development assistance will have to cover a financing gap of US$1.6bn over the next four years, or US$400m annually. Our proposals include recommendations for individual donors. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the major multilateral mechanism charged with financing efforts to achieve the international development goals, has yet to establish a programme in South Sudan. This is a wasted opportunity and not just for South Sudan. The GPE needs to

establish its credentials as an innovative and dynamic force for change in countries affected by conflict. The World Banks International Development Association (IDA) could also play a vital role. We propose a GPE-IDA cofinancing arrangement to mobilise US$180m annually. Other actors also have to step up to the plate. Bilateral donors and the European Commission could mobilise an additional US$100m annually. Non-traditional donors including China could be approached. And the Africa Development Bank/Africa Development Fund has developed co-financing mechanisms that are well suited to support the development of education infrastructure. I am, of course, aware that some people will argue that the goals that have been set are too ambitious, that the costs are not affordable, and that South Sudan should concentrate on taking small steps in the right direction, rather than attempting a great leap forward. I do not accept these arguments. In the course of research for this paper I have looked at the programmes of several nongovernmental organisations doing extraordinary work in education. The Ecumenical Church of South Sudan runs the largest teacher-training programme in the country, whilst the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) operates over 500 schools in some of the most difficult parts of the country, providing thousands of children with the hope of a better future. And Save the Children is bringing health and education support to many communities. These and other non-governmental organisations have found ways of delivering results, working with and through government. They are clear that, with additional support, they could scale-up their programmes. The same is true of UN agencies

and many bilateral donors. Expanded delivery is held back not by a lack of capacity, but by a lack of predictable finance on a scale commensurate with the problem. Having reviewed the situation in South Sudan I am struck by similarities with other conflictaffected countries. Children in these countries should have first call on international support. Instead, they are pushed to the back of the queue for development assistance. Education is not a priority in the humanitarian aid system in fact, it accounts for less than 2 per cent of emergency aid. And because the governments of conflict-affected states are often unable or unwilling either to deliver services or to meet the reporting standards required by major donors, children and parents are left to fend for themselves. From Somalia and the refugee camps of northern Kenya, to the war zones of north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, conflict is destroying opportunities for education on an epic scale, and the aid system is providing limited protection. As an international community motivated by shared values and a common commitment to education, we must acknowledge this gap in the aid architecture and then we must fill it. That is why I believe we need a new type of organisation to deliver not just money, but also teachers, books, temporary classrooms, and counsellors trained in trauma management to conflict areas. It is against this background that we are planning to form a new type of organisation called Education without Borders. The aim: to provide a mechanism that galvanises support, coordinates action, and delivers aid and education services to those most in need. This is not an exercise in creating parallel structures. It is an attempt to create a mechanism through which a wide range of actors the public, teachers and other education professionals, the business 9

community and others can join a shared effort to keep the flame of education alive for children trapped in conflict. It can achieve for education in broken down areas a little of what Mdecins Sans Frontires and the Red Cross achieve for health. Let me conclude by returning to the country that is the focus for this report. When I think of South Sudan, I think of a people who have shown extraordinary courage in the face of unimaginable adversity. I think of parents who, like you and me, want the best for their children. And I think of children who are filled with talent, potential and hope. It is to the children of South Sudan that I dedicate this report. And it is on their behalf that I ask your support for the proposals it sets out.

South Sudans children have waited long enough for the education peace premium. And they have a right to expect bold action and our best effort not half-measures, hesitation and indifference. To paraphrase Madiba we are playing small with education in South Sudan. And by playing small we are consigning a generation of children to lives that are immeasurably less than the lives they are capable of living. The children of South Sudan deserve better and we must do better by them.

The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Co-Chair of the High Level Panel on global education

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Children at the BRAC supported Hai Kugi School on the outskirts of Juba in South Sudan. UNESCO /M. Hofer (2011)

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Executive Summary
"I never had the chance to finish school - but all my children must have an education. Then they can have the chance of a better life. No one will get anywhere in this country without an education." Beida Ropani, aged 28, farmer, Lora village, Central Equatoria, South Sudan.

Education in South Sudan investing in a better future The newly-independent country of South Sudan is anchored to the bottom of the world league table for education. More than half of its primary school age children over 1 million in total are out of school. Young girls are more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than to graduate from primary school. South Sudans young people face restricted opportunities for the education they need to build a better future for themselves and their country. It is time for the world to come together and change this picture. The children of South Sudan have suffered enough. It is time to deliver the education peace premium that their parents hoped for and that they deserve. The Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) has set ambitious goals in education but there are daunting obstacles to be overcome. The recent disruption of revenue from oil exports threatens to starve basic service budgets of the financing needed to build schools, health clinics, and vital social and economic infrastructure. Ongoing violence in parts of the country is causing large-scale displacement and dislocation of services. There are problems in governance and in government capacity. The education system is under-financed. Most of the countrys teachers are untrained. There are

chronic shortages of classrooms and textbooks. Learning outcomes are abysmal. Set against these challenges there is a vast untapped potential for change. At the heart of that potential are the people of South Sudan. They have shown extraordinary courage, resilience and commitment to education. In the face of overwhelming odds, they have been trying to get their children the schooling they deserve. Enrolment numbers have more than doubled in the five years since the peace agreement. The GRSS has pledged to make education a priority and that pledge is backed by a strategic plan for the construction of an education system. Donors have a more mixed record. Development assistance for education falls far below the level required to support a breakthrough. The education sector receives a low-level of support and aid efficiency has been hampered by weak coordination. Most bilateral donors are operating programmes on a modest scale. While UNICEF has played an important role in coordination and reconstruction for education, the wider multilateral aid effort has been limited. Other actors are conspicuous by their absence. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a multilateral partnership that operates under the financial auspices of the World Bank, rightly describes itself as the only multilateral partnership devoted to getting all /out-of-school/ children into school for a quality education.i Promoting gender 11

equity is one of the GPEs priorities. South Sudan has a larger proportion of its children out of school than almost any other country in the world, along with the deepest gender inequalities. Yet six years after the peace agreement, the GPE has not yet delivered a programme in South Sudan. Hopes that this would change in early 2012 have not yet been realised. Following a review of the Government of South Sudan draft education strategy, the GPE secretariat determined that full endorsement of the plan would require its further development over several years and recommended that the government re-submit a less ambitious transitional plan. An indicative allocation of just US$38 million over four years has been set aside an amount that falls far short of what is needed. What should have been a test case for the GPEs effectiveness has become a showcase for what is going wrong in an aid system that is too inflexible, slow-moving and unresponsive to the needs of conflict-affected countries. There is still time to change this picture. The Board of the GPE could demand an urgent review of the response to South Sudans education strategy. It is also important that the World Bank steps up to the plate by putting into place a financing programme to support early delivery of results and longterm capacity building. What is clear is that the children of South Sudan have a right to expect something more. In the absence of a strengthened aid effort, South Sudan will fail to achieve the ambitious goals set by its government and demanded by its people. This paper sets out the case for a South Sudan Education Peace Premium (EPP) backed by a US$1.6 billion aid investment over the period 2012-2016 - US$400 annually. The GRSS would need to supplement this aid effort by 12

mobilizing an additional US$100m annually for education spending. Supplemented by an increased resource mobilisation effort on the part of the GRSS, the education peace premium would extend opportunities for some 2.5 million children and adolescents. Beyond the wider benefits for poverty reduction, peace-building and state-building, returns from the peace premium would include: another 1 million primary school age children in school wider benefits for an additional 1.5 million learners by improving the quality of education emergency provision for 300,000 children displaced by on-going conflicts early childhood provision for 300,000 children under the age of 5 support for half-a-million girls extended opportunities for adolescents and young adults who missed out on opportunities for basic education training for 30,000 teachers another 3000 schools for current and future generations of learners

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Financing for the proposed EPP would be drawn from a range of sources. Success will hinge on a compact between the GRSS and the international community, represented by a range of donors. Our proposal envisages a broader and deeper donor support base for education. We suggest that the GPE provide annual financing of US$90m, with the World Bank co-financing an equivalent amount through the International Development Association (IDA). Drawing on its extensive experience and project portfolio in post-conflict states, the African Development Bank/African Development Fund is well placed to support

the development of school infrastructure and support. We propose a financing contribution of around US$40m annually. Less concessional elements in the financing could be secured against future oil revenues. Bilateral donors and the European Union would have to mobilise another US$100 million annually, with non-traditional donors including China providing US$30m annually. We also argue that private foundations and charities should play a greater role in supporting education in South Sudan. Delivering an early and substantial education peace premium in South Sudan will be difficult but the degree of difficulty should not be exaggerated. Sustained progress will require the development of technical and administrative capacity, along with the development of more robust systems for transparency and accountability in public finance. Increased and more equitable public spending is critical. But governance constraints can be overcome by drawing on arrangements that have emerged since the comprehensive peace agreement, as well as the experiences of other countries. To that end, we propose the creation of a pooled fund for education. Jointly managed by donors and the GRSS, this would build on the practices established under the Basic Service Fund (BSF). This has been the most successful of the pooled funding mechanisms in South Sudan, with spending of US$65m to date on primary education, health, water and sanitation. The BSF has been a major source of financing for school construction and teacher training. The great advantage of the facility is that it enables donors to pool risk and resources behind the governments strategy, working through non-government organisations with a proven track record on delivery. With current pooled funding arrangements in South Sudan about to expire, there is an

opportunity to put in place a flexible new structure for education. Over time, the pooled funding mechanism could evolve into a sector-wide support programme. More immediately, it could mobilise support for non-governmental organisations working with government to build capacity and deliver results on the ground. The achievements of non-governmental organisations refute the claim that South Sudan lacks the conditions for an education take-off. Working with a broader alliance of churches, the Episcopal Church of South Sudan has developed the largest teacher inservice training programme in the country, meeting high standards of performance. One of the largest non-governmental organisations providing education is the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee in Education (BRAC) an agency with a proven track record in reaching highly marginalised communities and training female teachers. Save the Children is leading the implementation of a major alternative education programme financed by the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DfID) and piloting innovative early childhood interventions. We have based our cost-estimates for the education peace premium on the programmes of these and other NGOs with a proven capacity for scaling-up, as well as UN agencies and bilateral donors. In drawing up the proposed plan of action we do not discount the very real difficulties that will have to be addressed. Outcomes will depend on the development of a partnership between the GRSS, donors and nongovernmental organisations, and on political leadership on all sides. Listing problems and enumerating the many technical reasons that can be found either for delaying action, or for testing the water with small-scale pilot programmes, is easy. But South Sudans children cannot afford delay and prevarication 13

and the country cannot afford to waste the potential of a generation of youth. Our proposal combines the four critical requirements for delivering results: achievable targets, an efficient delivery mechanism, predictable aid, and a compact between the GRSS, donors and non-governmental organisations. Headline figures for the cost of the proposed programme have to be considered against the potential flow of benefits, as measured by the number of children in school, the expanded opportunities for learning, and the renewed hope that will come with progress in education. The US$400m a year for four years that is required may seem unaffordable. The question that has to be asked is whether the world is willing to stand-by while 2.5 million children lose their chance for an education that could lift them out of poverty, create jobs, build a more peaceful and resilient society, and support economic growth. Failure to expand opportunities for education will increase the risk of more conflict, which will in turn leave donors facing the prospect of increased humanitarian aid costs. Viewed against this alternative, the cost of implementing the actions proposed in this report - around US$5 per child - is a small price to pay for a very high return.
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

An agenda for action


This report sets out an agenda for achieving an educational breakthrough in South Sudan. Proposals include: Additional aid of US$400m annually for four years, with domestic budget resources increased by US$100m annually. The GPE and IDA to mobilise US$180m through a co-financing arrangement. An independent assessment of the GPEs review of the South Sudan draft education strategy. The creation of a pooled fund for education in South Sudan to provide a focal point for government support. Measures to support disadvantaged children, including financial incentives for parents to keep children in school, especially young girls; expanded education provision in conflict-affected areas; and programmes for adolescents. Expanded programmes for training teachers and recruitment of female teachers.

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Introduction
The Republic of South Sudan is sub-Saharan Africas newest nation. Established in July 2011, the country achieved statehood facing enormous challenges. The Government of South Sudan (GRSS), created with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, inherited none of the institutions associated with an independent state. South Sudans human development indicators are among the worst in the world. The human capital and physical infrastructure are limited. Insecurity remains a major concern across many parts of the country. Yet independence has unleashed a wave of hope, optimism and expectation. Having endured a brutal and long-running civil war that claimed over 2 million lives, South Sudans people have a right to expect a peace dividend, including improved access to basic services, more secure livelihoods, and greater safety. Failure to deliver in these areas would be a lost opportunity with tragic human consequences for the people of South Sudan, and with damaging implication for peace and security not just across the new nation, but across the region. Delivering the education peace dividend Perhaps more than any other sector, education has the potential to deliver an early, large and highly visible peace dividend. The education system in any country is a point of contact between governments and their citizens. And in a country like South Sudan, where the civil war destroyed educational opportunities for generations, the presence of functioning schools, teachers and books has the potential to demonstrate that the peace is delivering. Moreover, South Sudans people attach a very high value to education, with survey evidence showing that parents identify schooling alongside food and water as being a major priority. Across South Sudan, parents and young people are striving to overturn a legacy of illiteracy, restricted opportunity, and poor quality schooling. In towns and villages across the country, desperately poor people are working to get their children into an embryonic and over-stretched education system. The GRSS is working with partners to strengthen that system and build capacity. While the term post-conflict reconstruction is widely used to describe the process now underway in South Sudan, in the case of education and other basic services it is misleading. Six years ago this was a country without an education system. Even today, only the initial foundations are in place. So this is a case of post-conflict construction in a country that inherited no infrastructure and has very limited human resources. Against this backdrop, the achievements registered in education since the 2005 peace accords have been extraordinary. The number of children in primary school has doubled in five years. Over 500 classrooms have been constructed. Led by a clear statement of intent on the part of President Salva Kiir, the GRSS has put in place ambitious plans to accelerate progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). South Sudans constitution includes a provision establishing the entitlement to free and compulsory education at the primary level. The South Sudan Development Plan includes a wide range of 2015/16 targets for education aimed at putting the country on track for the MDGs.ii The Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) is finalising a strategy 15

aimed at translating these targets and highlevel political commitments into policies and spending commitments aimed at achieving the MDGs and wider Education for All goals by 2022.iii Currently available in draft form, that strategy - Promoting learning for all - aims to get the country on course for universal primary education by 2016, with expanded provision of second chance education, measures to improve learning achievement levels and a range of strategies aimed at closing the gender gap. The document, which has been drawn up in close consultation with the Local Donor Group, bears testimony to the professionalism of staff in the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI). Several bilateral donors, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations are supporting the reconstruction effort, often working under difficult conditions. UNICEFs Go to School Programme helped to double school enrolment in three years. Both the government and its partners have demonstrated a capacity for flexibility and innovation, building classrooms, delivering textbooks and training teachers. iv Nongovernmental organisations are active across the country, often operating in areas affected by conflict. While experience under the World Bank-managed Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) was disappointing, another pooled funding arrangement the Basic Services Fund (BSF) delivered cost-effective results, notably in school construction and teacher training. One of the strengths of the BSF has been its ability to lower transaction costs and achieve economies of scale in delivery. For those who question the capacity of international aid and partnerships in education to deliver results on the ground, the evidence from South Sudan tells a different story. Donors and non-governmental organisations have found ways of delivering results, working in the process to build government capacity. 16

The challenge now is to build on best practice and scale-up the level of ambition in an environment that may deteriorate as a result of budget austerity. The oil crisis Like all other sectors, education stands to be severely affected by the ongoing crisis over oil exports. Failure to resolve that crisis will have grave consequences for South Sudan (as it will for Khartoum), raising the spectre of a reversal of the fragile gains in education, health, water and other areas that have been achieved over the six years since the comprehensive peace agreement. With oil accounting for 98 per cent of government revenues, even a modest loss of export earnings would lead to significant cuts in expenditure. The background to the crisis can be briefly summarised. Since the comprehensive peace agreement, oil from South Sudan has been exported through pipelines from Sudan. As of March 2012, pipelines from two of the three oilfields were close to shut-down. The GRSS decision was prompted by a heavy transit tax levied by the Government of Sudan and a subsequent seizure of oil shipments by the government in Khartoum. Negotiations through the Africa Union have failed to resolve the crisis.v The GRSS has responded by announcing plans to build new oil pipelines through Kenya and Ethiopia. However, this will entail significant capital costs and it would be several years before the revenues from those pipelines came on stream. At the time of writing this report, the GRSS was preparing an austerity budget to adjust to the loss of oil revenues. While education is treated as a protected area, the draft budget still envisages reductions in spending of around 20 per cent. Real cuts in expenditure are likely to be far deeper than this since a number of programmes that involve co-

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

financing with donors could also be reduced. Classrooms that are under construction could be left unfinished, teachers could be left unpaid, and children could be left without textbooks. Aid programmes that blend development assistance and government finance will be disrupted. Such outcomes would inevitably worsen the dire situation in education that we document in the next section. They would also have consequences in other areas, including health, nutrition and water. In order to limit damage, donors should prepare a contingency plan in the form of an emergency poverty reduction fund through which they can channel resources. There are no winners from the oil crisis. Failure to find a settlement will bring the budgets of the GRSS and the Government of Sudan under acute pressure. In South Sudan, there is a danger that currency depreciation would raise the price of vital imports and spark food price inflation. Moreover, tensions over oil could tip over into a wider conflict

making other border issues more difficult to resolve. The people of both countries stand to suffer. On all of these counts, no effort should be spared in attempting to arrive at a negotiated settlement. This report is organised in three parts. Part 1 provides an overview of where South Sudan stands in education, which is at the bottom of the global league for opportunity, gender equity and learning. Part 2 looks at current levels of aid to education. In part 3 we highlight the core threat to the education prospects of South Sudans children. That threat is the very large gap between the targets that have been set on the one side, and the financing provisions made by government and donors to achieve those targets on the other. Part 4 sets out a financing and delivery strategy for accelerating South Sudans educational catch-up.

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1. An education system under pressure


The challenges facing the GRSS in education are mirrored in wider human development challenges. While the period since the 2005 peace settlement has witnessed progress in many areas, South Sudan retains some of the worst social indicators in the world. Recent assessments highlight vast areas of unmet need. Poverty levels are exceptionally high. Oil revenues create the misleading impression that South Sudan is a country with relatively high levels of per capita income. In fact, over 80 per cent of the population is estimated to live below the international poverty threshold of US$1.25 a day. The poor state of basic service provision is reflected in health indicators. Maternal mortality rates are the highest in the world over one-in-fifty women die during pregnancy or child-birth. Female literacy rates may be the lowest in the world. Immunisation coverage is limited less than 5 per cent of children are fully vaccinated - and Sudan ranks fourth globally for deaths from malaria. Well under half of the population has access to even the most basic health care facilities, with just 14 per cent of births attended by skilled staff. Malnutrition rates are very high, with UN agencies reporting one-third of children under the age of five are stunted and onequarter underweight. Almost 3 million people live in a state of chronic food insecurity. Each of these indicators has a bearing on education. Although South Sudan has been getting more children into school, the high incidence of poverty, illness and malnutrition inevitably takes on toll on the prospects for reducing drop-out rates and raising learning standards. 18 Ongoing armed conflict is a pervasive source of insecurity. The military takeover of Abyei and other areas by the Sudanese Armed Forces and attacks on civilians in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile State result in large scale displacements. Alongside these crossborder conflicts, intra-communal, inter-tribal, and militia-based violence, notably in the states of Warrap, Unity, Upper Nile, Jonglei and Lakes, continue to cause displacement. During 2011, it is estimated that over 300,000 people were displaced in South Sudan as a result of armed conflict. For all of these immense difficulties pessimism is unwarranted. As UNICEF has pointed out, the period since 2005 has witnessed progress on several fronts.vi The under-five mortality rate has dropped by 20 per cent; in large measures as a result of improved immunisation and a strengthened health and nutrition framework. From a very low base, access to roads and water has improved. And there has been a surge in access to education. Progress and shortfalls in education Progress in education mirrors wider developments since the peace accords. There have been important advances, albeit with marked disparities across states. However, the country is a long way from achieving the international development goals such as universal primary education and gender equity. For children who are in school, the quality of education is often so poor that they are unlikely to master basic literacy and numeracy skills. Evidence of the value that South Sudans people attach to education is provided by a post-peace settlement surge in school enrolments. Between 2005 and 2009, the

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

number of children enrolled in primary school doubled, from 0.7 million to 1.4 million. Data for secondary education is unreliable, though evidence suggests that enrolment levels have increased significantly. These achievements reflect the strong drive of parents to get their children into school. Household surveys consistently document the importance that parents attach to education. As the governments Social Sector Development Plan puts it: Stakeholders consistently placed basic health and education among their top development priorities on the grounds that these services provide not only an immediate benefit, but are linked to the nations economic future by building the foundation for a stronger, more highly skilled labour force. More than half of children and youth participating in one UNICEF survey identified education as their principal interest.vii Having endorsed the Education For All goals, policy makers in South Sudan face daunting challenges with limited resources. They have to improve access to school for a whole generation of primary school children, half of whom are currently out-of-school. They need to extend opportunities to the many adolescents and adults who missed out on earlier opportunities for education and there are more than 2 million illiterate people in the age range 15-40, almost two-thirds of them female.viii At the same time as expanding access, the GRSS has to improve the quality of education provision and raise learning outcomes. Education outcomes reflect the combined effects of household poverty, untrained and unsupported teaching staff and limited access to learning materials. Less than 8 per cent of grade 6 students scored more than 50 per cent in a sample mathematics test. The average score in a sample mathematics test was 38 for grade 6 South Sudanese students. In comparison, grade 5 Sudanese students

scored 47 and grade 4 Yemeni students scored 34 in the same sample test.ix The twin goals of improving access and school retention while raising quality goals will have to be pursued in the face of acute demographic pressures. South Sudan is a young country not just by virtue of its recent independence but also in terms of its age profile. One third of the population is aged between 5 and 16 years old. But this figure understates the effects of population growth. In 2008, the there were around 1.2 million children in South Sudan aged between 0 and 5 years, more than double the population aged 20-25.x Ensuring that there are places available in school for these children and that they receive a good quality education is critical not just for the children in question, but for South Sudans human development prospects as well. A country apart South Sudans education deficit The advances registered over the past six years should not deflect attention from the scale of the challenge ahead. Education is one of the most effective mechanisms for delivering a peace premium. It is a core part of the social contract between citizens and states. For the majority of people in South Sudan, the education peace premium has yet to arrive. The countrys education system is not, as presently constituted, fit for the purpose of supporting the countrys social and economic development, peace-building, and state-building. On almost any measure of performance, South Sudan is anchored to the bottom of the international league table.xi Of the 121 countries in the world for which comparable data is available, South Sudan ranks second lowest; for secondary education is ranked the lowest out of 134 countries (Figure 1). 19

Figure 1: South Sudan - anchored to the bottom of the world education league Enrolment rates, most recent year
NER in primary education (South Sudan amongst 160% GER in secondary education (South Sudan amongst

140%

Fewer than half of primary school age children are in school. The net enrolment rate is just 44 per cent, implying that around 1.1 million children in the relevant age range are out of school. Secondary school enrolment is reported at less than 10 per cent. cent Drop-out rates are very high. Using 2009 data, the World Bank put the gross enrolment rate at 145 per cent for grade one, falling to just 8 per cent at grade eight. As illustrated in Figure 2, enrolment rates in South Sudan are far below the average levels leve for sub-Saharan Africa and these figures mask the marked disparities across states. Figure 3 illustrates the high rate of attrition and gender disparity in South Sudans primary schools. In 2010 there were just under half-ahalf million children in the first st grade of primary school. By the eighth grade that figure had fallen to just over 20,000 (with fewer than 7,000 girls). As these figures suggest, many children enter school only to drop out before gaining basic literacy skills. Over one-quarter quarter drop out between grades 1 and 2 and just 16 per cent of students enrolled at grade 1 complete primary education. The rate for girls is 9 per cent, underlining the cumulative effect of gender inequalities.

120%

100%

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Source: UNESCO, 2011, Building a better future: Education for an independent South Sudan

Figure 2: School participation in South Sudan - below the average for Africa Primary School Net Enrolment Ratio (NER), 2010
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 20 0% 76% 78% 74%

44%

50% 37% South Sudan Sub-Saharan Saharan Africa

NER Total

NER Male

NER Female

Source: Education Management Information System 2010, 20 GRSS

Figure 3: Primary school attrition Enrolment by grade and gender, 2010


300,000
262,309 164,040

182,311

250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0

113,243

153,349

118,737

90,866

Male
75,914 41,504 67,148

Female
43,872 24,049 28,022 14,135 15,694 6,681

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P7

P8

Source: Education Management Information System 2010, GRSS

Figure 4: The secondary deficit Pupil enrolment by grade and gender, 2010
12,000 10,522 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,299 4,000 2,000 0 S1 S2 S3 S4 Source: Education Management Information System 2010, GRSS 2,995 2,300 1,260 395 7,216 5,500 Male Female

Many of those who do complete school are over age. If children entered South Sudans primary schools at the official entry age and progressed smoothly through the system, they would complete primary school by the age of 13. However, only one in ten thirteen year olds have completed primary school. In five of the ten counties Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, Jonglei, Upper Nile and Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal the completion

rate for thirteen year old girls is less than 5 per cent. Attrition rates in secondary education are equally marked, as are gender disparities (Figure 3). Only around 400 girls are reported to be enrolled in the last grade of secondary school. As this data illustrates, South Sudans girls face a triple disadvantage. In an education system that offers limited opportunities for all 21

children, they are the last ast in, the first out and the least likely to make it to secondary school. Taking into account both primary and secondary school, no country in the world ranks lower than South Sudan on the measure of gender inequality (Figure 5). Figure 5: South Sudans gender ender gaps among the worlds widest Countries ranking on the Gender Parity Index (GPI), most recent years* years
1.6 Primary GPI Gender Parity Index of Gross Enrolment Ratios (149 countries) Secondary GPI (130 countries)

Emergency provision Armed conflict and displacement continue to threaten the education of many of South Sudans children. Here, too, there has been some progress. Since 2010, the Education Cluster of donors has worked with the GRSS to strengthen emergency coordination. The cluster has increased access to protected learning spaces and trained almost 2,000 teachers in emergency-affected affected areas. However, large gaps in provision continue to hamper progress towards education for all. Education systems are directly affected by the consequences of armed conflict. During 2011, an estimated 152,000 primary and secondary school-aged aged children returned to South Sudan from the north, putting pressure on already over-stretched education n systems. Episodes of widespread violence and displacement within South Sudan have created further pressures. The international response has been found wanting. Humanitarian aid has not responded effectively to the education challenge posed by displacement. nt. The revised 2011-2012 2011 financing requirement for delivering education in emergencies was estimated at around US$40m, 40m, with some 229,000 children needing support. By mid-year, year, pledges received amounted to less than half of the request, with the slow disbursement of funds further delaying implementation of projects. The conclusion to be drawn is that many displaced children probably numbering in hundreds of thousands are receiving at best limited provision, and at worst no education support at all. Barriers to primary school access and completion Factors behind low enrolment and early drop out vary across states. The two factors most widely reported by parents for their children being out of school are cost and distance.

1.4

Gender parity

1.2

7 girls for every 10 boys in school South Sudan


Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

5 girls for every 10 boys in school

1.0

*Female as a proportion of male enrolment Source: UNESCO, 2011, Building a better future: Education for an independent South Sudan

22

While the GRSS has a nominal policy of free basic education, many schools appear to levy charges. Moreover, parents face indirect costs associated with the purchase of uniforms and books. Distance is especially problematic in states such as Western Bar Ghazal, Western equatorial and Jonglei with low population densities. Both cost and distance barriers have marked gender effects. In situations where the education of a girl is less prized than that of a boy, girls stand to lose out when hard choices have to be made as is regularly the case during periods of drought. Similarly, security concerns mean that parents are less likely to allow their daughters to walk long distances to school when they are very young and again after puberty. Thus distance often results in girls starting school late and dropping out early. Gender disparities are reinforced by interlocking social, economic and cultural factors. While detailed evidence is unavailable, the practice of early marriage is widespread and has been identified in youth consultation exercises as a cause of girls dropping out, especially when associated with pregnancy. Other factors such as the absence of separate toilets and the unavailability of sanitary towels also create barriers for young girls.xii National average figures obscure pervasive disparities. For every ten boys enrolled in primary and secondary school there are respectively just seven and five girls. The vast majority of girls drop out before grade 5. There are also marked inequalities between states. Whereas Western Equatorial, Upper Nile and Central Equatorial have gross enrolment rates in excess of 90 per cent, the figure falls to 67 per cent for Unity and around 50 per cent or less for Jonglei, Warrap and Eastern Equatorial. Wealth gaps are further marked. Children from the wealthiest quintile of households are 32 per

cent more likely to enrol in grade 1 than children from the poorest quintile. They are also far less likely to drop out.xiii Some of the greatest barriers to accelerated progress in education are located beyond the school environment. Poverty and hunger take a shocking toll on young children in South Sudan. Evidence from many countries has shown that maternal malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, coupled with malnutrition in early childhood, has devastating, and largely irreversible, consequences for cognitive development and learning achievement. Similarly, the high incidence of malaria, acute respiratory tract infection, and intestinal parasites reported for children inevitably contributes to high rates of absenteeism and diminished learning outcomes. This is why South Sudan urgently needs an integrated strategy that links maternal and child health provision with education. School based factors are also critical. No education system anywhere in the world is better than its teachers and the teacher workforce in South Sudan reflects the countrys weak human capital base. There are around 28,000 teachers across the country. Almost half have just a primary school education, while just 16 per cent of those teaching in primary schools have professional qualifications. Around two-thirds of teachers report having no pre-service training, while inservice training is limited in terms of coverage, and largely unknown in terms of qualitative outcomes.xiv The subject and content knowledge of primary school teachers is so weak that many would struggle to master the curriculum they are supposed to teach. The limited number of female teachers almost certainly plays a part in reinforcing gender disparities. Just 13 per cent of primary school teachers are female, with five states Jonglei, Unity, Warrap, Lakes and Northern Bahr 23

Ghazal having a female presence of 8 per cent or less.xv The learning infrastructure critical shortages The experience of South Sudan cautions against understating the importance of physical infrastructure and teaching materials. International dialogue on policy approaches for achieving education for all have seen a growing emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning outcomes, as distinct from inputs such as classrooms, books, blackboards and desks. In some countries, the shift in emphasis is both welcome and long overdue. In the case of South Sudan, infrastructure deficits and shortages of learning materials reinforce deficits in the quality of education, as illustrated by the following data:xvi Pupil-teacher ratios are very high, especially for trained teachers. The national average ratio for pupils-trained teachers is 1:117, rising to 1:141 in Unity and Upper Nile states and 1:201 in Jonglei Classroom shortages are pervasive. One third of the children in school are being taught in the open air and another quarter in semi-permanent or basic classrooms (Figure 6). The average pupil classroom ratio is 134:1 Provision of latrines and safe drinking water is limited, with the 2009 EMIS reporting just half of schools having access to both facilities Textbooks are in short supply, with an average pupil textbook ratio of 1:4 rising to the worst case scenario of 1:9 in Unity state

language education system. However, many of the countrys trained teachers and bettereducated adults learnt in Arabic, rather than English. Different curricula are used in different parts of the country, reflecting past adaptations by local communities to the longrunning civil war. While national data is limited, partial evidence points to high levels of teacher absenteeism and low levels of instructional time. Evidence from four states suggests that a majority of teacher are actively teaching for less than 10 hours a week, compared to best practice norms of more than 30 hours. Unsurprisingly, the majority of schools and teachers do not currently cover the syllabus they are expected to teach. Figure 6: Few of South Sudan's children are in permanent classrooms Primary School Classroom by Type, 2010

Other 0.5% Tent 2.1% Roof only 11.6%

Permanent 28.4%

Open-air 33.2% Semipermanent 24.1%

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Source: Education Management Information System 2010, GRSS

Stark as it is, this evidence on learning infrastructure understates the difficulty of the circumstances facing young learners. As part of the wider nation-building process, South Sudan is making the transition to an English 24

Another debilitating factor in the education system is a shortage of professional staff to train teachers, develop a cadre of education professionals, and build national centres of excellence (Figure 7). This is a critical bottleneck. Effective trainers have a strong multiplier effect across the education system. If one trainer enhances the classroom skills of twenty teachers, over 800 children stand to benefit in a single year.xvii Similarly bottlenecks appear in other areas school inspection,

learning assessment and teacher support to name three with a potential to deliver benefits across the entire education system.

Failure to remove these skills and infrastructure bottlenecks will leave South Sudan trapped in a vicious cycle of underprovision and poor quality education.

Figure 7: South Sudans Teacher Workforce limited training, few women Primary Education, 2010
Gender Balance 3,286 9% Female Male Unknown 16% 28% Untrained In-service 20% 27% Pre-service Professional qualifications by type

Source: Education Management Information System 2010, GRSS

Part of the solution is to build upon what is already happening at a regional level. While South Sudan is developing its own teacher training infrastructure, there is a strong case for making grants available for secondary school and college graduates to attend teacher training institutes in Uganda and Kenya. But there is also scope for drawing on a wider pool of talent. The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown is developing an initiative Education without Borders that aims to

facilitate the employment in conflict-affected countries of international professional staff equipped to train local counterparts through temporary placements. In the case of South Sudan, the placements could take place in a national centre such as Juba University, teacher-training institutes, or county-level education centres. The South Sudanese diaspora, much of which is highly educated, also has the potential to play a major role both in financing and the transfer of skills.

25

2. Current levels of development assistance


No education strategy for South Sudan will succeed without government leadership. By the same token, even the best laid government plans for achieving the goals set out in the education sector strategy will fall short of their targets in the absence of increased aid. In this section we look at the aid financing requirements for an accelerated catch-up plan in education. South Sudan is a major recipient of international development assistance. Total committed overseas development assistance (ODA) to South Sudan amounted to US$1.1bn in 2010. Around half of this amount is geared not towards long-term development but humanitarian aid, most of which is mobilised on an annual basis.xviii Development assistance plays a critical role in the delivery of basic services. Since 2005, between 30-40 per cent of the governments budget has been financed by aid. That share has probably increased as a result of a budget crisis in 2009 associated with a decline in oil prices. The UN is by far the largest multilateral donor. Under the current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a coordinated work plan has been drawn up with estimated resource requirements of US$1.1bn over two years. Only around one-third of this amount is currently available. South Sudan is not currently a member of the World Bank. Once the country has applied for membership it will be eligible for IDA funding, though only a small amount currently around US$75m has been set aside. Six years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement bilateral donors are still relatively thin on the ground in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. In descending order, the five 26 major donors are the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the European Union and Norway. This group accounts for around two-thirds of commitments. Donors themselves recognise that fragmentation and weak coordination are serious problems, as is the limited provision of technical assistance. Most support is provided through non-governmental organisations, reflecting donor reluctance to work through a public financial management system that requires strengthening. Aid for education The development partnership in education reflects many of the strengths and weaknesses of the wider aid environment. Several multilateral and bilateral donors have identified education as a priority, with the bulk of funding being routed through nongovernmental organisations. Significant results have been achieved. However, current levels of aid fall short of the levels required to achieve the targets set out in the GRSSs education plans, potentially putting the international development goals out of reach for several generations. Given the limited capacity of government systems, the education sector would also benefit from strengthened coordination between donors, UN agencies and non-governmental providers. The Basic Services Fund There is now a major window of opportunity to strengthen the aid architecture for education. Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, donors have delivered a large share of their development assistance through two pooled funds the Multi-Donor Trust Fund and the Basic Services Fund.

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

The delivery record has been mixed. Expectations for the MDTF were very high. Created as part of the 2005 peace agreement with support from fifteen donors, it was the largest of the pooled funds in South Sudan. Donor pledges amounted to US$593m by the end of 2009 but less than 10 per cent of this amount had been disbursed. Although the pace of disbursement subsequently picked up, the limited support provided through the MDTF in its first four years was a wasted opportunity. The BSF built-up a far stronger track record than the MDTF. Established in 2005, initially with support from the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DfID), the BSFs objective was to increase access to basic services in education, health and water and sanitation both by financing service delivery and by building the GRSSs capacity to plan, monitor and coordinate. The donor support base has expanded over time through financing from the European Union, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Disbursement rates have been high, with US$60m allocated by 2012. Of the five pooled funds operating in South Sudan, the BSF has been described in an independent evaluation as the most efficient, accessible and userfriendly, delivering tangible results.xix BSF activities in education have focussed on classroom construction, school rehabilitation and support for teacher training. By 2011, the fund has supported the construction of 104 schools, 570 classrooms and just over 2000 teachers. In each delivery phase, the targets set have been achieved or exceeded. Why has the BSF been able to deliver been able to deliver? Three principal reasons stand out. First, key donors have provided sustained leadership and support, with the GRSS actively involved in management and oversight. The BSFs Steering Committee, which allocates funds, is chaired by the GRSSs

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, with further representation from the three relevant sector ministries, and the Ministry of Gender. Second, in contrast to the MDTF, which was managed by the World Bank, the BSF Secretariat is contracted to a commercial consultancy company, BMB Mott MacDonald. Under this arrangement, all aspects of the BSFs operations, including grant allocation, contracting, financial management and capacity building are integrated in the secretariat. This is in marked contrast to the MDTF, where procurement, audit and monitoring were contracted separately, with World Bank reporting requirements followed in each area an arrangement that led to protracted delays. Overhead costs have also been lower in the BSF than in comparable UN funds. The third area of difference has been in delivery. Under the BSF, grants are channelled through non-governmental organisations delivering services linked to the targets agreed with the GRSS. In 2010-2011 there were thirty-eight non-government agencies receiving grants. While other pooled funds use the same arrangement, they have been unable to provide the rapid and predictable support that organisations with a capacity to scale-up their programmes need to maximise results. Experience under the BSF illustrates many of the wider advantages of pooled funds in postconflict settings. Pooling enables donors to share risks, coordinate their efforts, and build government capacity while meeting strong standards for fiduciary oversight. Support to post-genocide Rwanda was provided through a UNICEF-managed pooled fund. The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which is administered by the World Bank with support from thirty-two donors, has mobilised pledges of almost US$1bn. Results 27

include putting another 8 million children in school. The impending closure of the pooled funds creates several risks and a major opportunity. The risks include a decline in funding for education, allied to weaker coordination behind government efforts and further fragmentation. These risks merit urgent attention, not least because pooled funding for education is already falling. The opportunity created by the expiry of existing arrangements is the flip side of the risk. The GRSS and donors have a chance to put something better in place. Over the past few years, support for education has been provided through multiple pooled funding channels, each with their own management systems. Leaving aside the problems that have dogged the MDTF, this is an arrangement that raises transaction costs, duplicates demands on the GRSSs already over-stretched resources, and undermines effective delivery. The education sector urgently needs a single pooled fund which, building on the practices of the BSF, facilitates donor coordination and support for the education sector strategy. Such a fund could potentially attract funds from bilateral donors, philanthropic foundations, and other funders not presently active in South Sudan.
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

range of pre-service and in-service training programmes. Development assistance from the United Kingdom includes the South Sudan Education Programmes, which will construct 32 primary schools and 4 secondary schools across four states, and a textbook programme that will deliver 12 million textbooks in 2012. UKaid is also designing a new support to girls education to lower the demand side barriers to girls education in South Sudan. The European Union is currently designing a pilot schools grant programme for 100 schools across four states. The Japanese government through JICA and UNHCR have already supported construction of one teacher training institute (TTI) near Juba and trained 70 master trainers. The level of bilateral aid for education is highly variable across years. This is partly because of the narrow donor base and partly because of the timing of aid programmes supporting large-scale capital spending on schools and classrooms. In total, bilateral donors committed US$29m to education in 2009 and US$56m in 2010, with much of the increase associated with the UKaid schoolbuilding programme. The Global Partnership for Education a missed opportunity One potential source of multilateral funding for education has yet to materialise. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE, formerly known as the Fast Track Initiative) is a financing mechanism operating with an independent board under the auspices of the World Bank. In many ways, South Sudan is a test case for the GPE which describes itself as the only multilateral partnership devoted to getting all out-of-school children into school for a quality education.xx It is difficult to square that description with the experience of South Sudan. In January, 2012, the GPE reviewed the South

Bilateral donors Most of the major bilateral donors in South Sudan are involved in supporting education. Their programmes vary in scale, scope and focus. However, donors have broadly aligned their efforts behind the strategic goals set by the GRSS. The broad range of donor activity can be illustrated by reference to some of the larger programmes. The United States is implementing a three-year US$30m programme to build or rehabilitate three teacher-training institutes, while supporting a 28

Sudans draft education strategy at the request of the local donor group, which has supported government efforts to develop a national plan. The review marked an important milestone. Endorsement could have helped not just to unlock GPE resources, but to leverage wider assistance. In the event, the GPE review questioned what it described as the internal prioritization, relevance and realism of the strategy, determining that it was insufficiently developed to merit full endorsement. The review called for further work to reach a stage whereby this plan could be updated over the next few years to become a full comprehensive plan for the sector. In the interim, the GRSS was invited to consider the possibility of submitting an interim plan at a later date. The GPE has set aside an indicative allocation of US$38 million for South Sudan for the period 2011-2014. This is not a credible response. South Sudan cannot afford to wait a few years for a coordinated donor response. There are unquestionably areas in which the draft plan could be strengthened. In some areas, including the role of devolved states, a more detailed implementation matrix is required. The GPE review also notes a number of data gaps, neglecting the real constraints that the government and donors operate under: South Sudan did not inherit an education planning system with a strong data base. Another concern is the GPEs indicative allocation. This appears to be implausibly low given the scale of the education deficit in South. Moreover, the US$38m figure appears to be based on a financing formula which artificially deflates the countrys potential entitlement.xxi This is more than a technical issue. By using education data relating to prepartition Sudan, the GPE may have underestimated by a wide margin the scale of

the education deficit in South Sudan and the associated financing entitlement. The GPEs response raises wider concerns over its current operations. South Sudan is a test case for the responsiveness, flexibility and relevance of the facility itself. The GPE should have seized the opportunity provided by the peace settlement to work with donors and the GRSS in framing the education strategy, delivering financial support, and leveraging wider aid. The review itself could have been used to actively support the further development and resubmission of the draft strategy with a view to securing early endorsement. Instead, it identifies, often at a very high level of generality, reasons for delaying support. The end result is that, six years after the peace settlement, there is still no GPE programme in South Sudan and the prospects for early and substantial support are not promising. Given this background, the Board of the GPE should urgently request an independent assessment of the Secretariats review of the GRSSs education strategy. That assessment should be undertaken by a team of internationally recognised experts on education planning in post-conflict environments. Apart from evaluating the Secretariats review, the expert team should be requested to identify specific areas in which the education strategy for South Sudan can be strengthened, while at the same time identifying mechanisms through which the GPE can deliver early support on a meaningful scale. In the light of the assessment, the Board should request the GPE Secretariat to provide technical support to the GRSS and the local donor group in order to strengthen the planning process. South Sudans experience with the GPE raises a wider concern. Notwithstanding the high professional standards of the Secretariat, the processes through which national plans are 29

assessed and decisions taken on whether or not to recommend endorsement remain arbitrary and opaque. The Secretariat should not be placed in the position of acting as judge and jury. It is in this context that I have argued in an earlier paper that the GPE should

move towards a system of independent review and assessment. In the event that plans are not endorsed, the presumption should be in favour of providing the technical support required to address the problems identified.

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

30

3. Accelerating the catch-up


What would it take in financial terms for South Sudan to register a breakthrough in education? The answer to that question will depend on the level of ambition that is set. Taking the GRSSs own goals as a starting point, we have carried out cost-estimations for a range of 2015 targets and associated programmes aimed at: Putting the country in touching distance of universal enrolment by 2015, with learning benefits for 2.5 million children in primary education Providing 100,000 adolescents and young adults with access to accelerated learning programmes to facilitate their entry into formal education Breaking down gender disparities by providing financial support to half-amillion girls Reaching marginalised groups, including children displaced by armed conflict Supporting secondary education including technical vocation training for 100,000 children. The GRSSs education strategy provides a set of credible targets. It also identifies the key requirements for achieving these targets in terms of teacher-training and support, classroom construction, textbook supply, and stipends for particularly disadvantaged social groups. Current levels of provision planned by government and donors fall far short of these requirements. Table 1 documents the size of the gap. It compares the targets with the levels of provision that will be achieved by 2015 under current financing arrangements. The first column identifies a range of critical targets for achieving the accelerated catch-up goals. These range from classroom construction to teacher training and textbook provision, the strengthening of government capacity in education planning and school management. The targets also include provisions for preschool, hard-to-reach children, girls and children affected by ongoing conflict. As illustrated in Column 2, current aid commitments fall far short of the levels required to achieve these targets. To cite some of gaps between target and projected provision: South Sudan will require 3,000 additional classrooms to 2015, while current donor financing will support around one-tenth of that number In-service training is needed for around 30,000 teachers and teacher-volunteers, while current financing will cover just 2,000 County Education Centres are critical delivery and outreach facilities for inservice training and at least one facility is required for each county planned provision will support the construction of just 14 such centres

Achieving these goals will require a dramatic scale-up of existing programmes and strengthened aid partnerships. Currently, South Sudan lacks many of the most basic institutional programmes required for accelerating progress in education. There is just one functioning TTI and a small number of County Education Centres (CECs). The national curriculum is still under development. As highlighted earlier, classrooms and books are in chronically short supply. Perhaps most serious of all, the country does not have a teacher workforce equipped to raise learning achievement levels. Identifying the human and physical infrastructure and inputs required to achieve our targets is clearly not an exact science.

Even on the most conservative estimate 150,000 accelerated learning/adult literacy places are required, while planned aid will deliver just 30,000 Denting the gender gap in basic and lower secondary education will require bursaries for at least half-a-million girls, while planned financing will cover less than half of this number Funding for education in humanitarian crises amounts to less than half of UN OCHAs estimated requirements (which are themselves an under-estimate)

US$10m a year would facilitate effective inservice teacher training. And US$5m a year would provide half-a-million girls with a bursary that might facilitate their entry to school and reduce the likelihood of drop-out. Turning to the benefit side of the equation there would be significant gains from the increased spending. The investments outline above would create a physical and human resource infrastructure equipped to: Bring another 1.1 million primary school age children into the education system Improve the learning environment of children currently in primary school Provide second-chance opportunities to 0.2 million over-age children and young adults Reach 0.3 million children with improved early childhood provision Allocate bursaries to 0.3 million girls, creating incentives to keep them in education Support 300,000 children affected by armed conflict

The final column in Table 1 provides a ballpark figure of the financing requirements for closing the 2012-2015 financing gap. That gap is around US$1.9bn, or US$500m on an annualised basis. Factoring in an increased resource mobilisation effort of US$100m from the GRSS (see below), the aid financing gap is around US$400m annually over and above current commitments. That gap would have to be covered through increased development assistance. For comparative purposes, we estimate the combined multilateral and bilateral aid commitment to education between 2012 and 2015 will amount to around US$80m per annum. Classroom construction represents the overwhelming bulk of this amount of the financing gap, reflecting the significant up-front capital costs of closing the deficit in physical infrastructure. These costs would gradually decline after 2015, though maintenance would impose additional requirements on the recurrent budget. What is striking about the wider estimates is the relatively low cost of investments that, under the right institutional conditions, could generate very high returns in terms of learning outcomes. For example US$3m a year would be sufficient to provide all of South Sudans children with a full set of textbooks for basic education. Around 32

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Table 1 Financing Basic Education in South Sudan: Targets, Plans and Gaps (2012-2015) Item Target Currently Planned Provision 300 3 14 Gap Unit Cost (US$) Financing Gap (millions US$) 1,600 25 15

Physical Infrastructure School construction Teacher Training Institutes County Education Centres Textbooks Student Kits Pre-service Teacher Training In-service Teacher Training Accelerated Learning/ Adult Education Pre-school Education for children in cattle camps Bursary for girls Officers trained in public financial management and educational planning Officers trained in school supervision Head teachers with school management training Functional School Management Committees and Parent Teacher Associations Education in Emergency Grand Total 3,000 8 79 2,700 5 65 600,000 5,000,000 2,500,000

Learning Infrastructure 20 million 6 million 10,000 30,000 150,000 12.5 million 4,000 2,000 30,000 7.5 million 6 million 6,000 28,000 120,000 1.5 10 5,000 1000 200 11.5 60 30 28 24

Innovation for inclusive education 300,000 100,000 500,000 150 5,000 200,000 NA 300,000 95,000 300,000 NA 200 50 50 60 5 15 2

Building Government Capacity and Accountability

500 1000

NA NA

NA NA

3 3

1000

NA

NA

Education in Emergencies 300,000 50 US$1938.5m

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These are ambitious goals. Some people will claim that they are not just ambitious, but implausible. South Sudan, so the argument will run, lacks the peace, stability and good governance needed to register progress on the proposed scale. We reject that view. Over the past six years the people of South Sudan have voted for decisive action on education through their own actions. Despite all of the very real problems that characterise the policy environment, there are 700,000 more children in school today than there were in 2005. Working through the BSF, aid donors have financed service delivery, built capacity and made a difference to the lives of millions of people. Non-governmental organisations have developed practical solutions to apparently intractable problems. They are held back from delivering more by financial constraints that could be alleviated through increased aid (Box 1). None of this is to understate the critical importance of strengthened governance. The development of an effective public finance management system would help to create the conditions under which donors could work through government budgets and national systems, rather than through projects and parallel, off-budget arrangements. Several donors and UN agencies are working with the GRSS to strengthen public finance management systems. Meanwhile, the GRSS itself has developed a credible proposal for a new financing mechanism the local Service

Delivery Aid Instrument through which aid can be integrated into the system of budget transfers from central to local governments (Box 2). Within the Education Ministry, the GRSS has already taken measures to build an Education Management Information System and a payroll system for teachers. Looking ahead, the Ministry needs to develop the capacity to set standards and norms for curriculum development, school inspection, learning achievement assessments, teacher training and other core functions, working through a strengthened system of teacher-training institutes and building a national centre of excellence through the college of education in Juba University. It is difficult to overstate the capacity constraints facing the GRSS, or the wider institutional constraints facing donors. The Ministry of Education has a pool of highly professional and committed staff, but that pool is limited is size. Education ministries in state governments have an even weaker administrative capacity. Any large scale increase in aid will have to address donor concerns over corruption and misappropriation and President Salva Kiir has made strengthened governance in this area a national priority. Weak coordination between donors and between NGOs creates another layer of potential impediments to increased and more effective aid. Yet none of this precludes a significant strengthening of the aid partnership in education.

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

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Box 1 Scaling up and capacity building Linked to the targets set in the GRSSs draft education strategy, the goals set out in this report imply a high level of ambition. That ambition is achievable. The challenge is to identify approaches that deliver early results while building long-term capacity. Meeting that challenge will require partnerships between governmental and non-governmental organisations. There is much to build on. The education system suffered very badly during South Sudans civil war but it did not disappear. It was kept alive by national and international church-based agencies and non-governmental organisations. The comprehensive peace agreement provided an opportunity to build on these foundations. Dialogue has not always been easy. However, the GRSS and non-governmental actors have worked together to address the daunting task of constructing a national education system. In researching this report we examined the work of four of the most prominent agencies involved in education. The Episcopal Church of South Sudan is one of the largest trainers of teachers in the country. Another specialised institution Windle Trust has built an impressive track-record in cost effective teacher training. Save the Children supports schools that are providing education to around 140,000 children and is piloting programmes in Early Childhood Care and Development a critical but still neglected area. The fourth organisation is a relative newcomer. The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) has an outstanding track record in its own country in bring education to marginalised communities and in raising learning standards. It has been operating in South Sudan since 2007. BRAC now operates 500 schools in South Sudan, many of them in conflict-affected areas. The organisation has a policy of hiring only women teachers, who are provided with short but intensive training and ongoing support. Schooling and all learning materials are provided free of charge. Each of the four agencies works closely with the Ministry of Education and county level education authorities. Their activities are closely aligned with the national planning system. For example, the Episcopal Church and Windle Trust train teachers who will work in government schools and teacher-trainers employed by government agencies. Children in BRAC schools work to a curriculum aimed at enabling them to make the transition to grade 5 of the public education system. Save the Children works with and through government systems, with capacity-building a core priority. We discussed with each of the four agencies a range of options for scaling-up programmes in priority areas identified in the GRSS draft education strategy. We then set a range of targets. The agencies were asked to assess feasibility, identify institutional requirements, and estimate costs over and above existing programmes. Our aim was to assess whether the agencies saw the governance environment as a binding constraint. While that constraint was recognised, each agency was able to identify innovative approaches that would enable them to extend their reach, if the finance were available. The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Windle Trust could potentially train 25,000 teachers over the next four years over and above their current plans at a cost of US$15m and US$10m respectively. Financial constraints in this case related mainly to the cost of recruiting trainers, hiring facilities, and providing learning materials. Similarly, BRAC identified the potential to create an additional 100,000 school places at an additional cost of US$40m for basic school construction, training and support for female teachers and the provision of textbooks and learning materials (Table 2).

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Box 1 Continued. Table 2 The scope for early delivery in education: financial estimates for achieving specified targets (selected non-governmental organisations) Agency Episcopal Church of Sudan BRAC South Sudan Specified target 15,000 teachers trained 100,000 out of school children receive basic education 100,000 children in pre-schools 5,000 children in Cattle Camps Windle Trust International 10,000 teachers trained 10 million 3 years Required Resources 15 Million 40 million Time Frame 4 years 4 years

Save the Children in South Sudan

25 million

3 years

Debates over the respective roles of government and non-governmental organisations in education provision sometimes generate more heat than light. In the case of South Sudan, the right direction of travel is clear. The country needs a public education system that provides all children with an entitlement to receive a good quality education. That means building national planning systems with the technical, administrative and financial capacity to deliver results. Non-governmental organisations need to avoid creating parallel structures. But as the four agencies reviewed in this box demonstrate it is possible simultaneously to build government capacity and deliver results that can transform the lives of vulnerable children.
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

36

A student writes on a blackboard at BRAC supported High Kugi School on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan. UNESCO /M. Hofer (2011)

Box 2 Building capacity and working through government systems Aid effectiveness is greatly enhanced when donors can work through national budgets overseen by strong public finance management systems. The GRSS acknowledges that current fiduciary management systems need strengthening and that donors will continue to work through multilateral agencies with more robust arrangements. But it has also developed an innovative proposal for overseeing the financing of devolved services, including education. At the heart of the proposal is the Local Service Delivery Aid Instrument (LSDAI). The intention is to ensure that aid for local services support is aligned to sector policies, channelled through the public financial management system, managed by government institutions, and oriented to the achievement of outcomes. The proposed LSDAI would channel aid to finance salaries, inputs and services provided through facilities and county-level governments. At the same time, the instrument would support a range of capacity building activities. Aid funds would be earmarked against specified activities, with budget markers traceable all the way down to facilities/counties and up to the national budget. Funds would be linked to identifiable results, with reporting on outputs linked to financing.

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4. Closing the gap delivering on the promise


Identifying financing gaps in education is one thing, closing them is another. The circumstances are hardly propitious. Government spending on education has stagnated since 2008, thereby declining in per pupil terms. Aggression on the part of the government in Khartoum over the oil dispute poses further threats. If the GRSS is forced to cut oil exports there is a real danger that the education budget will be hard-hit by the inevitable austerity measures that would follow. Prospects for aid are also uncertain. Development assistance for education has been increasing from a low base. However, fiscal pressures in donor countries are placing pressure on bilateral aid budgets and South Sudan is seen by many donors as a high risk environment. Set against these constraints there are compelling reasons for the GRSS and its development partners to act decisively on education. There are obvious risks attached to aid for education in South Sudan. At the same time, development assistance investments have the potential to generate very high returns in terms of dynamic and inclusive economic growth, human development and political stability. And there are also risks to inaction. Failure to respond to the hopes and aspirations of South Sudans children and youth will inevitably reinforce social tensions, with damaging consequences for peace-building. For the wider international community practical considerations and ethical imperatives provide a mutually reinforcing case for action. Independence has created a window of opportunity to make the transition from an aid-relationship dominated by humanitarian response towards a compact for 38 long-term development and self-reliance a compact that holds out the promise of strengthened and more cost-effective results. The ethical case for action is overwhelming. Having signed-up for the Education for All goals and the MDGs, donors countries have an obligation to act on the pledges they have made and few countries have a stronger claim to international support than South Sudan. Mobilising support Without understating the level of political leadership required, the bottom line is that an accelerated 2012-2015 catch-up plan in education for South Sudan is feasible and affordable and the alternative is unthinkable. Table 3 sets out a credible financing option, which aims at illustrating how the US$1.6bn financing gap over four years could be closed through a compact between the GRSS and its development partners. Initial leadership has to come from the GRSS itself. President Salva Kiir has signalled a clear intention to prioritise education. That intention is reflected in national planning documents and reinforced by the draft education sector strategy. The challenge now is to strengthen the national budget commitment to education. In 2011, education spending amounted to just 7 per cent of the national budget compared to 40 per cent for defence. The current imbalance between spending on defence on the one side and priorities such as health and education on the other is unsustainable. Unresolved disputes over border issues and the oil crisis create inevitable pressures to increase the military spending. However, real security, resilience

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

against conflict and peace-building requires spending on schools, health clinics, clean water and roads not state-of-the art armaments. It is in this spirit that our proposal envisages a doubling of national resource mobilisation for

education, bringing an additional US$100m to the sector annually. In the event of the oil crisis being unresolved, this increase would have to be financed through loans backed by future oil revenues.

Table 3 Closing the financing gap (an illustrative proposal) Source of Finance Government of South Sudan Education Social welfare Multilateral/Regional Organisations Global Partnership for Education International Development Association African Development Bank/Fund Bilateral donors OECD Non-traditional donors Partnership for South Sudan Philanthropic foundations Global Business Coalition* Education without borders* South Sudan diaspora Total
* Mainly goods and services

Additional financing (US$m/per annum)

100 11

90 90 40

100 30

10 5 2 2 US$500m

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As our indicative estimates illustrate, this enhanced domestic resource mobilisation effort will not close the financing gap. Both multilateral and bilateral donors will need to do more. South Sudan presents the reformed Global Partnership on Education and the World Banks International Development Association (IDA). The credibility and future financing of the GPE depends critically upon its effectiveness in responding to the needs of countries such as South Sudan. The current indicative allocation is an under-estimate of several orders of magnitude. In its education strategy, the World Bank recognises the urgency of supporting the right to education in conflict-affected states and this was a theme in the Banks flagship 2011 World Development Report. With current commitments to basic education through IDA running at very low levels for sub-Saharan Africa and the World Banks President having pledged a substantial increase in IDA support for education, South Sudan is a litmus test. In this context, there is scope for a GPEIDA co-financing arrangement to mobilise another US$180 million. The Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and its concessional arm, the African Development Fund (ADF), have the potential to play a leadership role in South Sudan.xxii Both the AfDB and the ADF have extensive experience of working in fragile states (in 2008 the AfDB created a Fragile States Facility), with a core area of expertise in areas such as infrastructure development, capacity-building and governance.xxiii Several countries have used AfDB support to leverage finance from other sources, including the Arab Development Bank in Africa. In one recent operation, the AfDB provided US$30m in co-financing for a major schools construction and education quality programme in Tanzania, supplementing financing from government and donors. 40

Another project provides support for education infrastructure in Niger.xxiv Our proposal envisages the AfDB/ADF contributing US$30m in the form of concessional loans and grants, leveraging another US$10m from other donors. This financing could play a critical role in providing up-front financing for the construction of classrooms and teachertraining facilities under an accelerated catchup programme, adding to government and donor resources. Loan elements in the financial package could be secured against future streams of revenue from oil exports. Bilateral donors and the European Union should also step up to the plate. Our proposal envisages traditional OECD donors mobilising another US$100m annually, with another US$30m coming from non-traditional donors such as the Gulf States and China. Around half of this amount could come from the major donors currently operating in the country and the European Union, with the balance provided by donors including France, Germany and Japan - currently operating on a modest scale in education. South Sudan also provides an opportunity for the OECDs Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors to join with non-traditional donors in a joined up strategy to support progress in education. With a significant presence in the country and a strong record in infrastructure provision, China would appear to be well placed to support classroom construction. There are obvious dangers in involving multiple donors in an ambitious programme for scaling up aid. If individual donors operated through their own reporting systems and independent projects, using their own preferred models of delivery, an already over-stretched education ministry would be swamped by new demands. Education delivery would become increasingly fragmented.

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Financial management and the development of effective budget reporting systems would suffer. For all of these reasons South Sudan needs a pooled fund in education. Just as the BSF enabled donors to align and coordinate their activities behind government plans, the pooled fund in education would harness donor activity to the national strategy. The planning and reporting system would operate through the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education. Like the BSF, financial management would be provided by a company jointly selected by donors and the GRSS. In Afghanistan, the pooled funding system has helped to transform the education system in a challenging fragile state environment. There is no reason that a pooled fund in education operating on a stand-alone basis or as part of a wider mechanism could not produce similar results. Studies from around the world demonstrate that aid is at its most effective when operating through national budgets overseen by effective public finance management systems. Concerns over fiduciary risk have prevented any donors from operating through the GRSSs budget. However, several donors and UN agencies are supporting the development of more robust budget and financial management systems. As these systems develop, it is important that donors identify opportunities for working through line ministries. One example of an innovative programme in this area is the Local Service Delivery Aid Instrument, which currently operates on a pilot basis but could be scaledup. Building new partnerships linking pooled funds Looking beyond traditional bilateral and multilateral sources, there are opportunities for mobilising wider support. In the health

sector, philanthropic foundations, private companies and charities have come together to provide finance, goods (such as low cost medicines) and services (including training of health workers and financial management) in support of the international development goals. Much of that support has been channelled through the global public health funds. There is currently no counterpart to these funds in education. If there were, it could be linked to the national pooled fund. The gap could be filled by building on foundations that are already in place. In the same way that the global health funds have enabled a wide range of actors to come together in support of shared development goals, the GPE could provide a multilateral channel for support to South Sudan. This would open the door to new partnerships. Rather than avoid South Sudan because of the high start-up costs of establishing a programme, or because of the transaction costs associated with creating new projects, managing fiduciary risk, and engaging with over-stretched governments agencies, philanthropic foundations, private companies, and public institutions could operate through a single coordinating mechanism. New avenues for support could be opened. Respected international institutions such as the Open University, MIT, and New York University operating open educational resource systems could be linked to teacher training centres operated by government or non-governmental organisations, to colleges and to secondary schools, providing them with access to training modules, assessment exercises, and course materials. With Sudan making the difficult transition from an Arabbased to an English language curriculum, tailored English language courses could be developed.

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Opportunities that are currently closed off could be exploited. Take the case of ICT. Like other countries across Africa, South Sudan has an opportunity to leapfrog technologies. Instead of focusing their efforts on traditional e-learning, providing students and teachers with access to the web via personal computers, the government and its partners could tap into m-learning. Today, the handheld mobile is becoming a supercomputer. With 3G technologies and a satellite phone link, teachers can download material from the web and use a multi-media projector to display it on a classroom wall. It is estimated that South Sudan will need 12 million textbooks to cover all of the children in primary school. Should it import all of these books? Or should it use tablets and e-readers that can download books from a USB device? The problem in all of these areas is that philanthropic foundations, companies and academic institutions wishing to support the education sector in South Sudan face high transaction costs and significant barriers to entry because of the risks associated with any intervention. These barriers could be lowered, as they have been through the global health funds, by operating through a multilateral framework linked in turn to a pooled fund in the education sector.
Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

County Support Bases an emerging infrastructure Effective implementation of an accelerated catch-up plan in education will require cooperation with actors beyond the sector. It is vital that the GRSS and its development partners seize every opportunity for delivering education to children, youth, and adults. Progress does not have to wait upon the completion of programmes for school construction or teacher training. Education can be provided on a temporary basis in a range of civic facilities, community centres and non-governmental facilities. Similarly, schools can double-up as sites for the provision of vital child and maternal health services. An effective pooled fund in education would have to avoid operating in a narrowly defined schools-silo and exploit to the full the opportunities created by wider initiatives. One initiative merits special consideration. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is developing a decentralised presence at state and county levels under its wide-ranging remit to provide protection and support for recovery, capacity-building and peace-building efforts. To this end, it is constructing a network of County Support Bases (CSBs) equipped to facilitate the work of agencies working in some of the least accessible and conflict-affected parts of the country. These CSBs could provide a platform for a cost-effective peace dividend in education and other sector (Box 3).

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Box 3 Delivering the peace dividend a role for County Support Bases (CSBs) Many non-governmental organisations and other agencies have a capacity to scale-up their work in delivering basic services and building capacity. They are often constrained by interlocking problems of access and finance. Large areas of South Sudan are inaccessible for parts of the year, especially in the rainy season. Conflict creates further hazards. Lacking the financial resources to develop a service-delivery infrastructure in remote and conflict-affected areas, development agencies have a limited reach. Proposals from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) could help to change this picture. The aim is to create a network of County Support Bases (CSBs) across the country. Staffed and equipped to facilitate the activities of agencies seeking to intensify their work with counterparts in government and local communities, the CSBs have the potential to spread costs, extend support to highly marginalised areas that are hard-to-reach, and deliver results. The current ambition is to secure approval for the construction of nineteen CSBs over the next year rising to thirty-five after three years. This is in addition to UNMISSs existing presence in ten state capitals. With 60 percent of the country inaccessible for six months of the year, CSBs can help to ensure that the UN mission is present and active in the most remote and conflict-prone areas. They will have the additional benefit of providing a logistics presence at the county level for state institutions, UN agencies and development partners which can be used to support implementation of the South Sudan Development Plan (SSDP). The proposed design of the CSBs includes provision for two classroom sized buildings equipped with internet access, community radio and resources to support a range of learning activities. This represents an immense opportunity for education. The CSBs could become a focal point not just for adult learning, but for the provision of teacher-training and support activities, early childhood support, and training for county-level education officials. They have the potential to facilitate highly cost-effective interventions that deliver significant and early results. By meeting the capital costs of construction and the recurrent costs of infrastructure provision, the CSBs would generate significant economies of scale. Agencies working in education and other sectors would be able to expand and intensify their work with local counterparts at a lower cost by tapping into a shared development resource. Critically, the CSBs could provide a networked platform for delivering an education peace dividend in some of the countrys most high risk and unstable areas. Given the potentially very high returns and cost-effectiveness the CSBs, consideration should be given to a scaled-up initiative. Funding for twenty-five centres has been obtained from Norway and the Netherlands, with project execution taking place through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Current donors should urgently allocate resources for the additional ten CSBs envisaged in the current plan. At the same time, there are strong grounds for developing a scaledup initiative that would provide all seventy-nine counties with a CSB by 2015. Funding could be drawn from a range of non-traditional sources identified in Table 2, including China. There is also scope for requesting support from the AfDB/ADF to leverage additional finance from a range of agencies, including philanthropic foundations.

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Conclusion
South Sudans children have suffered for long enough. They have the right to an education and a right to expect the international community to act decisively on their behalf. With the 2015 deadline for the MDGs and the Education for All commitments looming, South Sudan is a test case for measuring the strength of these commitments. In the absence of a concerted aid effort, the country will fail in its ambitious effort to catch-up the ground it has lost in education as a result of civil war, human rights abuse and endemic poverty. This paper sets out a strategy for an accelerated catch-up programme in education. The strategy would require US$400m in additional aid annually for the period 20122015, along with increased resource mobilisation on the part of government. These are significant investments. But the potential returns are very high. The proposed programme would deliver an education peace dividend that puts another 1 million children in school, improves the quality of education for 2.5 million learners, and provides a second-chance to many children who lost out on an education in their earlier years. Benefits beyond the education sector would be reflected in enhanced prospects for economic growth, jobs creation, and improved health.

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

Hai Tokyo School classroom, supported by BRAC, in Juba, South Sudan. UNESCO /M. Hofer (2011)

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Endnotes
i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) ix) x) xi) xii) xiii) xiv) xv) xvi) globalpartnership.org/about-us/about-the-partnership Government of South Sudan (2011) South Sudan Development Plan. Juba GRSS Ministry of General Education and Instruction (2011) Education Sector Strategic Plan 2012/13 - 2016/17: Ensuring Non-One is Left Behind. Juba GRSS Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (2010) Donor Book 2010. Juba Details taken from reports in the Financial Times, including: http://on.ft.com/wP3w14 UNICEF (2011) Health and Nutrition Programme in South Sudan. Juba UNICEF (2011) Children and Youth Consultation Report. Juba GRSS MoGEI (2011) World Bank (2011) South Sudan Education Status Report. Juba Estimates based on 2008 Population Census UNESCO (2011) Building for a Better Future: Education for an Independent South Sudan. Paris GRSS MoGEI (2011) World Bank-Global Partnership for Education (2011) Education in South Sudan: Status and Challenges for a New System. Washington Ibid. GRSS Ministry of Education (2011) Education Statistics for Southern Sudan. National Statistics Booklet 2010. Juba Ibid.

xvii) This assumes a pupil-teacher ratio of 40:1 xviii) List of all humanitarian pledges, commitments & contributions in 2011 at http://fts.unocha.org xix) xx) xxi) Fenton, Wendy (2008) NGO perspectives and recommendations on pooled funding mechanisms in Southern Sudan globalpartnership.org/about-us/about-the-partnership The Global Partnership for Education uses an indicative allocation formula that gives scores for a range of factors including education needs, public institutions and expenditure. The data used for South Sudan is merged with Sudan, which makes the exercise of questionable relevance.

xxii) The AfDB uses its triple AAA rating to raise money on international markets which is lent to governments at below commercial market interest rates. The ADF mobilised a record US$9.1bn from donors during its replenishment for the period 2011-2013. The facility provides grants and interest free loans with a repayment period of fifty years and a grace period of 10 years. xxiii) afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/fragile-states-facility xxiv) afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/afdb-and-niger-sign-fcfa-41-billion-budget-support-andeducation-support-agreement-7632 45

South Sudan Development Plan. GRSS, Juba, 2011 Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2012/13-2016/17: Ensuring Non-One is Left Behind, MoGEI, Juba, 2011 iv 2010 Donor Book. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. Government of South Sudan. v Details taken from reports in the Financial Times, including: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0ece7e2c-4c1c11e1-98dd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1pDyyVUqu; http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/dd8bfa52-4a8f-11e1-a11e00144feabdc0.html#axzz1pDyyVUqu
iii

ii

Education in South Sudan: investing in a better future

UNICEF in South Sudan, Health and Nutrition Programme, Juba, 2011 Children and Youth Consultation Report, UNICEF, Juba 2011 viii Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2012/13-2016/17: ix South Sudan Education Status Report. World Bank. Juba, 2011. x Estimates based on 2008 Population Census xi Building for a Better Future: Education for an Independent South Sudan, UNESCO, 2011 xii Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2012/13-2016/17 xiii xiii Education in South Sudan: Status and Challenges for a New System, World Bank-Global Partnership for Education, Washington, 2011 xiv Education in South Sudan: Status and Challenges for a New System, World Bank-Global Partnership for Education, Washington, 2011 xv Education Statistics for Southern Sudan, GRSS, Juba, 2011 xvi Stattistical Booklet: Education. Ministry of Education. 2011. xvii This assumes a pupil-teacher ratio of 40:1 This report is one of a series released to support Gordon and Sarah xviii List of all humanitarian pledges, commitments & contributions in 2011 Education For All campaign. We are working to find ReportBrowns as of 20-February-2012 http://fts.unocha.org. xix DFID basic services solutions to the global education crisis - boosting the number of xx http://www.globalpartnership.org/about-us/about-the-partnership/ xxi The Global Partnership for Education uses an indicative allocation formula that gives scores for a range of children in primary schools worldwide, and partnering with factors including education needs, public institutions and expenditure. The data used for South Sudan is government, business and non-profit leaders and organisations across merged with Sudan, which makes the exercise of questionable relevance. xxii The the AfDB globe uses its triple AAA rating to raise money on international marketsGoal which is lent to governments at to achieve the Millennium Development of universal below commercial market interest rates. The ADF mobilised a record US$9.1bn from donors during its primary education by 2015. replenishment for the period 2011-2013. The facility provides grants and interest free loans with a repayment period of fifty years and a grace period of 10 years. xxiii http://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/initiatives-partnerships/fragile-states-facility/ Learn about the campaign at gordonandsarahbrown.com xxiv http://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/afdb-and-niger-sign-fcfa-41-billion-budget-support-andeducation-support-agreement-7632/
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