The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity estimates that to achieve a #LearningGeneration and meet the educational needs of children and youth, low and middle-income countries will need to nearly triple their investment in education by 2030 from US$1.2 trillion currently to US$3 trillion.

Today, GPE releases its new policy brief on domestic financing, highlighting the positive efforts many countries in the partnership have made to mobilize domestic resources to meet this financing challenge.

Since 2003, GPE has allocated more than $4.6 billion to developing countries, with a focus on sound planning and financial management. But as the commission shows, investment in education is inadequate at both domestic and international levels.

While external aid plays an important role in filling funding gaps, domestic resource mobilization is by far the most important source of financing for basic education.

GPE partner countries increase education financing

Tapping into domestic revenue to finance education makes financing planned reforms more predictable and sustainable.

And GPE partner countries are showing results. The GPE results framework and ongoing data collection indicate that in the fiscal year 2015, an estimated 47% of GPE partner countries had spent 20% or more of their total public expenditure on education. An additional 26% had increased spending since 2014.

On average, GPE partner developing countries increased domestic expenditure on education as a percentage of total government expenditure from 15.2% to 16.6%   between 2003 and 2013, 1.04% more than low and middle-income countries globally.   

Public expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased from 3% to 3.9% (0.47% more than low and middle-income countries globally).  

The message of our new policy brief is clear:  many GPE partner countries are leaning in to the challenge of domestic resource mobilizing, and GPE is poised to support even stronger performance.

Progress through partnership

As the first global compact for education, catalyzing domestic spending on education has always been central to GPE’s strategy and guiding frameworks.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as a GPE country partner, provides a notable example of progress incentivized by GPE. Despite the burdens of protracted conflict, the country committed to free, quality, education for all children in 2010. The government then dramatically increased domestic financing for education, nearly doubling the budget allocation to education from 9% in 2010 to 17.8% in 2014.

GPE supported DRC in developing a quality education plan, based on credible financial analysis and planning, which helped attract domestic and external financing to improve the education system. The primary completion rate climbed from 61% in 2010 to 67% in 2014, one manifestation of the redoubled effort for Congolese children.

GPE’s support to domestic financing for education

As illustrated in the DRC example, GPE creates incentives for partner developing countries to increase investments in education in order to strengthen entire education systems through education sector planning informed by reliable data, effective and inclusive policy dialogue and monitoring for mutual accountability, and better use of finances.

• GPE partner countries prepare quality education sector plans that include an analysis of the current financial trends, a sound budget framework, and hypotheses for overcoming financial constraints that may hinder effective implementation.
• GPE’s results-based funding model leverages our grant funding to increase domestic financing: to receive the first 70% of GPE program implementation grants, developing country partners commit to financing their education sector plan and to progressively increase the domestic budget allocation for education to 20% of the national budget.

Ensuring mutual accountability

Through periodic joint sector reviews, local education groups led by the government conduct a comprehensive, evidence-based inquiry into the use of financial resources for education sector plan implementation.

Civil society organizations, with grants from GPE's Civil Society Education Fund, play a key role in keeping governments accountable for education funding and sound financial management. Civil society organizations monitor budgets and use their findings in media and awareness campaigns and to lobby parliamentarians and ministries of finance.

GPE is also strengthening financial data collection and management capacity in partner countries. Since 2013, GPE’s Global and Regional Activities program has provided US$2.1 million in funding to UIS, IIEP and the IIEP Pôle de Dakar to improve national reporting systems on education finance flows from all sources in Uganda, Senegal, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Nepal, Lao PDR, and Vietnam.

GPE remains focused on more and better financing for education

Positive trends in the revenue of developing countries—from US$1.5 trillion in 2000 to US$7 trillion in 2011— are encouraging as GPE works to mobilize more domestic resource for education.

Yet with 121 million children and youth of primary and lower-secondary school age not in school, and rapidly growing populations, the need for developing country partners to increase funding to education is tremendous.

Through the implementation of GPE 2020, GPE’s strategic plan, GPE continues to reinforce the global focus on domestic financing and to promote more and better financing for education.

Read more: Policy brief on GPE’s engagement in domestic financing for education