Assessing Directions for Educational Development Assistance

As the 21st century begins, three factors are intersecting in ways that are changing the face of international development assistance and, in turn, the agenda of international development agencies working in the area of education. These changes include: (1) shifts in the age distribution of the population, (2) devolution of more authority and responsibility to lower levels of the education system, and (3) intensified competition for resources. This paper examines how the convergence of these trends is reshaping the way development assistance organizations will operate in the next decade, identifies development priorities of the next decade, and proposes a model of the factors that international agencies need to consider in assessing their own work priorities over that time.