10 Things to Know About International Aid to Education
1. International solidarity is needed to ensure that the world’s poorest countries can fulfil their children’s right to tuition.
2. Aid to education is particularly important in low-income countries, accounting for 16% of total education spending, or 24% if household education spending is excluded.
3. The OECD DAC figures show that aid levels to the sector have decreased in 2021 and the share of education in total aid is declining.
4. The UN set the target for Official Development Assistance (ODA) at 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) in 1970, but it has remained at 0.3% for the past 15 years.
5. The share of education in total aid fell sharply from 14.7% in 2003 to 9.7% in 2013, and has stayed there since.
6. The aid to education levels peaked in 2020 at US$18 billion, but fell to US$16.8 billion in 2021.
7. The top five donors account for more than 40% of total aid to education, but their priorities vary considerably.
8. The World Bank is the largest donor when scholarships are excluded, with an average of US$1.7 billion per year in 2019–2021.
9. The Global Partnership for Education has approved implementation grants worth a total of US$6.5 billion between 2003 and 2022.
10. UNICEF spent US$1.2 billion on tuition in 2020, or 16% of its total spending. It is important to ensure that aid is allocated equitably to achieve the global education goal.
Summary from world-education-blog.org
