Mechanisms and targets of effective education coordination go beyond policy dialogue between governments, development partners and education stakeholders.

Whether setting goals at the national, sector or subsector level, coordination ensures that a country’s education vision is supported by aligned investments and partner assets, joined-up programming across management levels and a robust implementation strategy.

It also ensures that governments can lead and collaborate with partners without unnecessary administrative burdens or transaction costs.

Coordination of collective effort acts as a catalyst for improvements in learning and education system performance. By identifying where investments are needed and fostering productive collaborations, coordination can drive the successful implementation—ultimately improving learning outcomes.

In over 60 GPE partner countries, governments have articulated in their partnership compacts how they will collaborate with diverse education partners to drive transformation in their education systems, identifying key areas and actions where coordination can strengthen the implementation, management and monitoring of their reform priorities.

Leveraging coordination also helps build long-term, sustainable improvements in critical areas such as education financing, data collection and planning.

The role of coordination in shaping education system transformation

Regular convening and dialogue through policy, financial, thematic and technical coordination bodies play a key role in mobilizing dynamic, connected communities of education supporters that are aligned behind specific education objectives.

Establishing a strong evidence base for policy priorities

At the core of successful education reform is a robust evidence base that identifies the most vulnerable and successful schools, regions and populations. It provides a clear understanding of where education systems stand, a baseline for progress and what changes are needed to achieve significant improvements in learning outcomes.

In GPE partner countries, sector coordination mechanisms that support data collection efforts for education decision making, such as local education groups, ensure that diverse stakeholder data and perspectives—especially those of civil society and other advocates for inclusion and gender equality—are included in national data collection and policy formulation processes, and that priority actions reflect the needs of all learners.

Coordinating partners around national priorities through roadmaps

The co-creation process for designing partnership compacts integrates’ critical stakeholder assets into clear roadmaps for education reform, guiding partners toward a shared goal: aligning both current and future programming with a country’s vision to improve education quality and equitable student learning outcomes.

Effective coordination also connects government and partner efforts across key education areas such as curriculum design, teacher training and learning assessments, fostering the collective capacities and synergies needed both for governments to act and for partners to work together to realize a priority reform’s theory of change, thus improving both instructional practices and overall education management.

Aligning assets to national processes

Assets and resources mobilized through external partners are aligned with national processes, strengthening the country’s systems to coordinate domestic and external financing, and to monitor progress.

Where possible, this includes the use of public finance management and accountability systems to ensure more equitable resource allocations in education, whether across schools or groups of students.

In Senegal, several partners including GPE use aligned funding modalities to strengthen national systems, including the education sector’s decentralized annual planning mechanisms. This approach directs resources to vulnerable regions and areas most in need of support. Designated personnel facilitate close coordination between ministries of education and finance to ensure smooth collaboration.

Coordinated monitoring and fostering mutual accountability during the process of implementing an education reform is also essential for tracking whether policy adjustments and partner actions are delivering towards the intended results.

Sustainable educational reforms require strengthened and dedicated coordination capacities

Coordination capacities are neither automatic nor a given within education systems. They require dedicated attention and support as well as sustained investments, often underpinned by policy frameworks.

GPE partner countries, together with their partners, are strengthening their coordination mechanisms to enhance the delivery and impact of education reforms.

Policy frameworks supporting coordination: In Kenya, where coordination was assessed as a high priority enabler of its reform to improve learning outcomes, the national education strategy 2023-2027 includes plans to institutionalize coordination frameworks and strengthen leadership and management between ministry and agencies and between levels of government, also drawing from a broad consultation process.

In Indonesia, the implementation of its major reform Merdeka Belajar (“Emancipating Education”) since 2019 builds on well-communicated launches of major policies (27 in total as of March 2024).

This strengthened the coherence and alignment of reform elements (including the model of school transformation and all related changes from school management, funding, curricula, teacher empowerment, instruction, assessment and transitions from/to other levels) and of all education stakeholders toward the reform goal of improving student learning outcomes.

Strengthening policy dialogue capacities: Ministries of education are leveraging partnership compacts to build capacity for sector dialogue and to minimize the duplication of efforts across partner programs to achieve partner country education goals.

In Zanzibar, the local education group conducted a self-assessment to evaluate its dialogue and coordination effectiveness. This effort identified strengths and challenges in partnership dynamics and working arrangements, paving the way for more effective collaboration.

In Mozambique, developing the partnership compact allowed the government and its education partners to map out options to further improve coordinated education financing. Efforts include exploring existing results-based financing to enhance resource efficiency and consolidate partner contributions towards its reform of professionalizing education service delivery.

Strengthening coordination across different levels of governance: In other countries such as Nepal, Senegal and Uganda, partnership compacts support governments in improving vertical coordination mechanisms across governance levels.

Within the context of education planning, these efforts aim to: align partner programming with processes at the sub-national level; and strengthen the capacity of planners and managers to integrate gender, inclusion and equity considerations to ensure that school-level realities inform broader planning frameworks.

Fostering thematic coordination: In Sierra Leone, in the context of the priority reform of foundational learning, thematic coordination has been enhanced through the institutionalization of the Education Data Working Group.

Jointly led by the directorates of planning and policy, technology and innovation, and the Teacher Service Commission, the group harmonizes fragmented data sources on learners and learning. This integration supports more equitable planning, teacher deployment and budget allocation.

Similarly in Kenya, an inter-ministerial group—including the ministries of health, gender and education—has improved coordination and coherence in addressing issues related to girls’ education.

Responding to crises through collaboration: In crisis settings, local education groups are collaborating with emergency coordination mechanisms to ensure education continuity and recovery efforts.

In Chad, a new rotating leadership model between ministries aims to strengthen collaboration between the local education group, the Education Cluster and the Refugee Education Working Group so that they operate within a unified consultation framework at both national and decentralized levels, enhancing coordination in crisis response and long-term recovery of the education system to keep children learning.

Strengthening coordination capacities is critical to advancing education reforms, improving resource efficiency and ensuring equitable learning outcomes.

By institutionalizing frameworks for coordination, fostering dialogue and addressing vertical and thematic coordination gaps, partner countries are demonstrating the power of collaboration to transform education systems.

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This blog is part of a series on system transformation, sharing voices and insights from partners and practitioners on what we are learning about education system transformation in different contexts and what it takes.

Read also: Coordinated action to transform education: What is in it for me?

• Ministries of education
• Teacher Representatives
• Civil society organizations
• Development partners
• Humanitarian actors
• Private foundations
• Private sector