Fast Track Initiative Case Studies

12 September 2005

• In Mozambique, Niger and Yemen, over the last 4-5 years, the share of education expenditure spent on primary education has grown by 4-5% points due to the incentive to prioritise primary education.
• In Mauritania, Niger and Vietnam, over the last few years, school repetition rates decreased by 2-3% points.
• And in Niger, FTI has helped increase teacher recruitment and build new classrooms.

People are beginning to see the benefits of FTI funding in schools too, for example:

• In Nicaragua, an initial £1.9 million of FTI funding has enabled the country to make substantial improvements including sending an additional 70,000 6-year-olds to school; expanding and updating teacher training facilities and increasing the number of children receiving a daily meal in school from 200,000 in 2004 to 800,000 in 2005.
• In Gambia, an initial £2.2 million enabled the country to purchase thousands of textbooks for grades 1 to 4, resulting in a significant impact on the quality of education for poor schools in rural areas.
• In Yemen, the initial £4.5 million from the FTI Catalytic Fund will be used to increase the quality of education and the enrolment of girls (age 6-14), especially in rural areas, where only 30% currently attend school. This includes hiring female teachers, building a rural training institute, and providing teacher housing. Contracts are underway for building 86 new schools; student kits to encourage enrolment are being distributed; and 14,000 teachers have been newly trained.
• In Guyana, one of the first countries to receive endorsement by the Fast Track Initiative, the Government has said it will need approximately £2 million per year, over thirteen years, to achieve the education MDG. To date, the Catalytic Fund has distributed an initial £2.2 million and committed to another £2.2 million. £2.2 million per year will make a huge difference in the lives of school children in Guyana.

Case Studies of what DFID is doing bilaterally on education

• Bangladesh - More girls than ever before have access to education in Bangladesh. DFID is contributing £100 million to a national primary education programme which will improve the quality of education for over 17 million children and tackle the widespread problem of children dropping out of school early. The government’s plan for economic growth gives priority to promoting gender equality in education.
• India - The UK government supports the government of India’s Sarva Shiksha
• Abhiyan (SSA) education programme and has committed £210 million to the plan. The programme aims to ensure that all of India’s estimated 190 million school aged children complete a quality eight year cycle of basic education by 2010.
• Nigeria – There are 7.3 million children of primary age out of school. Of whom, 64% are girls. The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria is implementing an education programme with support from DFID and UNICEF to achieve the education MDGs (universal primary education and getting equal numbers of boys and girls into school). DFID is providing a £26 million grant to education in six northern states to help the government achieve this.
• Zambia- DFID was one of the first donor parties to contribute to the new Zambia Education Swap pooled fund to support the 5 year Strategic Plan, which targets basic education and targets high school through to higher educationThe DFID funded Primary Reading programme has improved reading levels at Grade 1 from 34% in 1999 to 64% in 2003.