DUSHANBE, May 23, 2013, Asia-Plus – The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Fund is expected to provide 16.2 million U.S. dollars to Tajikistan for enhancement of its education system, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE) of Tajikistan.
An official source at a MoE says GPE Fund approved the project on May 22.
“The project is designed for the period from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2016 and the grant will promote achievement of the goals of Tajikistan’s National Education Development Strategy designed for the period until 2020,” the source said.
The National Education Development Strategy of Tajikistan for period until 2020 takes into account the main priorities of MDGs, goals and objectives of “Education for All” and other significant strategic documents in Tajikistan. This document should contribute to solving existing problems to ensure that, properly coordinated activities of the Government of Tajikistan, interested ministries, agencies and the society are focused on education development priorities and implementation of long-term goals of reforming of the education system. This document is also the foundation for more rational allocation of public resources and involvement of donor funds to deal with current challenges, faced by the system of education. The National Strategy is aimed at renewal of the education system, so that education could implicitly perform the mission of the key resource for improving the wellbeing of the society and citizens, as well as effectively respond to economic challenges of the developing country and globalization process.
The World Bank together with development partners launched the Global Partnership for Education (GPR) in 2002 in order to help low-income countries meet the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) goals. The Global Partnership for Education is a platform for collaboration at the global and country levels. Through the GPE compact, developing countries commit to design and implement sound education plans while donor partners commit to align and harmonize additional support around these plans. Funding is channeled through existing bilateral and multilateral channels and through the GPE Fund, which supports countries with insufficient resources to prepare and implement their education sector plans. GPE ranks among the largest global partnerships in which the Bank is a player.
In its Strategic Plan 2012-2015, GPE has identified 5 strategic objectives to guide the concerted efforts of all GPE partners: 1) support to fragile and conflict affected states; 2) girls” education; 3) quality of learning; 4) teacher effectiveness; and 5) expanding support to the education sector.
