Technical Cooperation of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in Human Resources Development and Training

Technical Cooperation of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in Human Resources Development and Training - Australia

Goal: Recognising that education and training are fundamental to the development process, Australiaís aid program aims to assist developing countries to meet the educational needs of their people.

Education and training is the largest sector allocation of Australia’s aid program (Chart1). Total sector expenditure share of has remained relatively constant since 1995/96. Expenditure was $233 m in 1996/97, $226 m in 1997/98. Expenditure rose slightly to around $246m in 1998/99.1 The increase of education and training expenditure in 1998/99 financial year brings the sector share to 17% of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA).

In terms the geographic spread of Education and Training expenditure, data for the financial year 1998/99 shows that some 60 different countries or regions received assistance. The primary recipients this aid in the current financial year were Australia’s closest neighbours Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. 1998/99 marks the third year of increase in the aid program’s focus on the priority areas of basic and technical/vocational education.

These two priority areas of education investment have both seen significant expenditure increases since last year. Basic education has increased from 6% percent of all education spending in 1996/97, to 14% in 1997/98, and most recently to an estimated 22% in 1998/99. While technical and vocational education expenditure has increased from 4% of all education expenditure in 1996/97, to 6% in 1997/98, growing to an estimated 9% in 1998/99.

Major education programs form part of Australia's aid assistance in many partner countries. Australia helps countries develop better quality, cost effective and community focused education services which will lead to better education outcomes in the long term.

Investing in education systems helps build human capital in developing countries, improves the productivity of their populations and ensures that citizens can participate more fully in society.

The provision of basic services like education and health is a responsibility of government and if governments fail to fulfil this responsibility, their legitimacy will be questioned. Supporting aid activities in the area of education therefore contributes to national stability, strengthens economic growth and enables the poor to participate in and reap the benefits of growth.

In 2002-03 Australia will spend an estimated $280 million through the overseas aid program in the education sector. This represents about 16 per cent of overall aid expenditure.

Our education efforts concentrate on providing a broad range of education assistance, with a particular focus on basic education and vocational and technical education. Special attention is also given to improving access, equity and quality. Selective assistance for institutional strengthening, distance education and higher education are also priorities for Australian aid.

Access to basic education is a priority for the aid program. Australia has significantly increased the proportion of aid to basic education to 31 per cent or $85 million in 2002-03. Special attention will be paid to children who face greater hurdles in accessing education, such as girls and minority populations.

Even when children are in school, the quality of education is often poor. Under-qualified teachers have too few resources and inappropriate teaching materials. Australia helps address these issues through the provision of basic education materials and textbooks, enhancing teacher skills and curricula, and strengthening management skills in schools to ensure better use of existing resources.

Australia is a major donor to the basic education sector in PNG, in two Pacific island countries and nine countries across Asia.

Increasing access to basic education is a priority in PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Kiribati with equity of access is particularly important in India, Bangladesh, Laos and Pakistan where education indicators for girls’ participation are some of the lowest in the world.

In PNG, educational indicators are low even by developing country standards. Currently the literacy rate is about 56%. The education system is characterised by low enrolment rates, high dropout rates, unsuitable curriculum and poor female participation. Some 30% of children never enrol in school. For every 100 students enrolling in primary school, only two can be expected to be selected for Year 11.

Briefly, the PNG Government has initiated a major program of reform to the education system in an effort to improve educational outcomes. The main features are:

AusAID is providing a large package of well-targeted projects to support the implementation of these reforms.

Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands also have low literacy rates, and low student participation and retention rates, limited by the availability of schools. In these countries AusAID projects focus primarily on expanding access to basic education. Strategies have included building classrooms, supply of books and equipment and pre-service teacher training. In Kiribati AusAID is also building schools on the outer islands as well as assisting the government develop a long term strategy to expand access to basic education to nine years of schooling.

Equity issues underlie a number of AusAID projects to expand access. These are addressing the needs of particular groups of children - for example girls, ethnic minorities, children from poor families, rural children, working children and children with special needs – who are especially vulnerable. In India and Bangladesh projects focus on providing education for working and street children. In Indonesia AusAID is contributing to a major scholarship program which aims to keep children from poor families in primary and junior secondary schools during the current economic crisis.

Projects being developed in Laos, Pakistan and PNG are aimed at increasing girls’ participation rates.

Education for women and girls and other vulnerable groups is also supported through AusAID's support of NGO activities. These activities are generally community based and often incorporate adult education.

Improving quality and relevance of education is critical for increasing educational outcomes in all developing countries. A large number of AusAID’s basic education projects are directed at improving quality, especially in those countries where universal access to basic education has been achieved (eg Samoa, Tonga). Table 2, derived from World Bank research, outlines strategies and inputs which are known to improve education quality.

AusAID projects designed to improve education quality usually incorporate one or more of the strategies outlined in Table 2. The majority of projects either improve teaching inputs, improve subject matter input and/or improve the tools of learning. The large basic education project in the Philippines is successfully combining all three of these strategies to raise the quality of maths, science and English education. It incorporates improvements to pre-service and in-service teacher training with improving in-country capacity to develop curriculum and teaching materials as well as supplying additional resource materials.

Teacher training is an area where Australia has considerable expertise and one where AusAID has made substantial contributions, particularly in the Pacific. In Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands AusAID is currently raising junior secondary teaching standards to cater for expansion of services at this level. In Fiji, improving junior secondary education is considered a key to improved economic outcomes. Developing in-country capacity for teacher training is also critical in the Maldives, as a means for replacing costly expatriate teachers.

Curriculum content and approach are very politically and culturally sensitive. Competition amongst donors to influence a country’s curriculum along their own lines can find one curricula being replaced by another approach before one is finished and distributed. AusAID has successfully improved the capacity of local teachers and institutions to develop and implement quality curricula in their schools in Samoa, Tonga and the Philippines. The lesson from these projects and from other donors is that strengthening in-country capacity to undertake curriculum and materials development is a more successful and sustainable strategy for improving quality, than direct design and delivery by Australian experts.

Australia provides technical and vocational education assistance to partner countries to help build an educated, skilled labour force. Australia helps improve the relevance of technical and vocational education through the introduction of demand driven approaches that encourage active partnerships with public and private sector employers.

In 2002-03 direct expenditure on technical and vocational education is estimated to be 17 per cent of education sector expenditure or $45 million.

Current assistance for VTE is thinly spread across Asia and the Pacific, with the larger projects located in Asia (Chart 6). The percentage share increased in 1998/99 (to 10%), largely due to one new project in Indonesia. In 1998/99 financial year, the aid program undertook projects in 14 countries in TVE for a total estimated cost of $23 million.

The rationale for supporting VTE is strong, especially in Asia. The push for economic growth, combined with the diversification of international trade, deregulation of economies and labour markets and the advent of technological change all contribute to the need for highly skilled and adaptable workforces in developing countries. The current economic crisis in Asia has fragmented the fragile VTE systems which were beginning to integrate and respond to market needs. Critical skill shortages and low investor confidence are now complicated by massive structural unemployment. The labour market is dysfunctional.

Australian aid support in Technical and Vocational education (TVE) is instituted on a country by country basis with a view to addressing each country’s workforce needs. The support undertaken in a partner country varies according to geographic size, level of economic development and the scale and dynamism of the industrial sector. TVE strategies focus on improving the quality of the education provided with an emphasis on TVE curriculum development, teaching standard and competency, and improved infrastructure and facilities.

The quality of VTE programs is usually measured against a labour market or economic outcome. Policy frameworks seek to reform VTE systems away from a supply-based approach (strengthening individual institutions without regard to employment scenarios) to a demand approach that enjoin industry employers to define and contribute to their workforce needs.

AusAID’s TVE projects are increasingly shifting to a demand approach. This change is particularly evident in Indonesia where Australia has been supporting TVE since the early 1980s. The new Partnership in Skills Development Project, which commenced in 1998, incorporates strategies to engage industry in defining and delivering relevant training programs with special regard to labour market outcomes.

In a number of AusAID projects, improving TVE institutions is a critical strategy for achieving specific industry or sector goals. For example, the Agritech Project in the Philippines is upgrading provincial agriculture institutes in the provision of formal and non-formal courses, as a means to increasing performance of small holder farmers. Similarly, the Police Training Project in Fiji is developing the capacity of the Police Academy, with the aim of upgrading the professional skills of the police force. These projects respond to demand for education that is linked to specific outcomes.

Australia’s own TVE system, employing a competency-based approach to training and well-articulated in a national training framework interests many developing countries. Australia’s "Qualifications framework" is a complex system based on sophisticated institutional structures and efficient work practices which have been built up over time.

AusAID is taking a cautious approach to the relevance and transferability of the Australian system to developing countries. In general, it may be more appropriate for Australia to assist with improving basic and transferable skills in VTE than in complex module building, or nationwide reform involving industry and training providers in frameworks for articulation and coordination of vocational training.

In 2002-03 spending on higher education will account for approximately 48 per cent of Australian education sector expenditure. The majority of higher education expenditure is on Australian Development Scholarships, which are designed to meet developing country human resource needs. The scholarships are available for post-secondary study at contracted Australian education institutions.

In the Pacific region, Australian Regional Development Scholarships are available for post-secondary level study at regional education institutions such as the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Fiji Institute of Technology and the Fiji School of Medicine.

As at March 2002 there were an estimated 3,130 students funded through the two scholarship schemes. It is expected that around 1,460 new scholarship holders will commence under these schemes in 2003.

Australia is also helping to strengthen higher education systems in partner countries through collaborative research and training activities with Australian institutions.

Distance education returns considerable cost efficiencies and increases access for students, especially women and people living in remote areas. Australia has internationally recognised strengths in distance education, and will continue to work with partner countries and other donors to build distance education technology and capacity. This will include provision of hardware and software for cost-effective distance education activities. Distance education is a key feature of Australia's Virtual Colombo Plan.

In developing countries the demand for knowledge often exceeds the supply. This means that many people are denied access to sources of information taken for granted in developed countries - for example, well-equipped libraries, government shopfronts, and the Internet. ICTs such as computers, radio and video-conferencing can be a powerful tool to help overcome constraints to development. For example, training delivered through ICTs is often cheaper and can reach a wider audience than may be possible using traditional mediums.

To address this issue, the Australian Government and the World Bank launched the Virtual Colombo Plan in August 2001, with an Australian contribution of $200 million over five years. This joint initiative addresses the causes of poverty through the use of ICTs. Its major focus is to improve education and access to knowledge in developing countries, through distance education and support for policy development using ICTs. It also provides a new platform for Australia's world-class education providers, research institutions and technology companies to share their knowledge and skills with our developing country partners.

Scholarships are one of the most valued forms of development cooperation. Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) provide opportunities for people from selected developing countries to undertake post-secondary level study in Australia.

Australian aid since 1999 has trained almost 45 000 primary and high school teachers and built or refurbished at least 1 200 schools and education centres.

Australian assistance has helped provide over 50 000 people with vocational training, and is helping over two million children enrol in, or gain access to, education facilities and services. Australian assistance helps children, especially girls, attend school - improved literacy will increase their chances of winning skilled jobs. Educating girls is the single best investment that can be made in reducing child mortality and ensuring mothers will in turn educate their children and achieve better family health.

Key outputs in the technical, vocational and secondary education sector included:

In the higher education sector in the Pacific, AusAID supported the efficient use of ICT in education by improving the capacity of the University of the South Pacific's satellite network in delivering its distance education activities. In Indonesia we used competency based training to improve the vocational and technical skills of nearly 4000 Indonesians as well as providing 360 higher education Australian Development Scholarships (ADS).

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department