1. Global Governance of Education by Inga C Storen
Much literature has focused on the influence of the World Bank with regard to policy reform in lo... more Much literature has focused on the influence of the World Bank with regard to policy reform in low-income countries. While this literature has been produced over the course of many decades, the underlying studies have not tended to take a multi-decade approach to examining the way that World Bank influence changes in a given country. Put differently, studies tend to examine specific periods of time rather than looking at influence over time. This article seeks to contribute to scholarship on World Bank influence by looking at a twenty-year period of World Bank engagement in Indonesia. The purpose is (a) to map the nature and influence of the World Bank as it engaged with the government of Indonesia (GOI) around education and development policy, (b) to reflect on how and why that engagement changed over time, and (c) to consider the implications of the study in relation to the broader literature on the evolution and current status of World Bank influence. The focus of this article is in the area of governance, where the World Bank has pushed and experimented with decentralization, community-driven development, and school-based management. While the article focuses on education policy, reforms in this area have been impacted by governance reforms more broadly.
The National Program for Community Empowerment (known as PNPM Mandiri in Indonesia) is the princi... more The National Program for Community Empowerment (known as PNPM Mandiri in Indonesia) is the principal, over-arching initiative through which the Indonesian government has pursued community-led development since 2005, though it has roots in much earlier programs. It is repeatedly referred to as the largest community development program in the world in World Bank documents (World Bank, 2012). It is a nation-wide program that reaches 60,000 villages and disburses about USD$2 billion yearly to more than 50,000 sub-projects. There are two strands of this initiative, with one serving urban areas (PNPM Urban) and the other serving rural ones (PNPM Rural). In both cases, the program “works by giving communities block grants that they can spend to carry out plans that they have developed through a participatory, bottom-up planning process that is facilitated by social and technical specialists who provide advice to communities but do not control the funds” (World Bank, 2012a, p. 18).
This program has a long history that goes back to the 1970s (and beyond) and is linked with a series of World Bank-funded projects. Just as importantly, the trajectory of this program has significantly impacted the emergence, evolution, and prominence (or lack thereof) of other governance reforms in the education sector, such as school-based management and low-fee private schools. The present report seeks to examine these issues, with the purpose being to understand the trajectory, politics, and implications of the PNPM program generally and the ways that it has enabled (or not) reforms in the education sector related to school-based management and low-fee private schools. Throughout, this report also focuses on the influence of the World Bank, the way that this organization’s influence has changed over time, and the mechanisms through which the World Bank has exercised that influence. Put differently, this study uses the PNPM program as an entry point into governance reform dynamics within and beyond the education sector in Indonesia between the government and the World Bank.
The findings presented here document how the World Bank creates and uses parallel programs outside of the core government bureaucracy. Not only do World Bank projects build on these programs over time but this institution is able to take advantage of moments of crisis to expand and adapt them. In Indonesia, the financial crisis of the late 1990s provided an opportunity for the World Bank further scale up the general community block grant program it had been supporting (the predecessor to PNPM) while also transferring the block grant model to realm of education (where it would serve as the predecessor to the government’s school-based management program).
Separately, while the relationship between the World Bank and the Indonesian government has been rocky at times, World Bank technical assistance has been consistent over a long period of time reaching back into the 1960s. This technical assistance has taken the form of policy advice, program management and implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation, pilot testing new programs, training, coordination of donor initiatives, management of trust funds of donor resources, and chairing consultative forums, among other examples. However, while the World Bank has certainly been influential thanks to this assistance and through the immense financial resources it has leant to Indonesia over the years (estimated at USD$30 billion during 1968-2004 alone), this report also discusses reasons to nuance our understanding of World Bank influence, particularly at the sub-national level where this institution has continually wrestled with political and organizational factors that are beyond its control and which have hampered the realization in practice of neoliberal governance reforms that circumvent the central state apparatus and that attempt to institute relations of accountability at the community level.
This paper examines the Civil Society Education Fund's (CSEF) impact on the NGO Education Partner... more This paper examines the Civil Society Education Fund's (CSEF) impact on the NGO Education Partnership (NEP) in Cambodia. With financial backing from the World Bank and the Fast Track Initiative, the CSEF is an initiative that is managed internationally by the Global Campaign for Education. Its goal is to help national networks of non-governmental organizations participate in education decision-making and to serve as a watchdog for progress related to internationally agreed upon goals. Through the CSEF, the deployment of various strategies, and other external factors, NEP was able to able to achieve recognition, legitimacy, and influence at the national level. However, NEP has had to balance working with the state and working for the state. This case study highlights strategies used by civil society actors to engage state actors, the efficacy of international support, and the conflicts inherent in both. The national politics of educational advocacy in the context of global governance: International funding and support for civil society engagement in Cambodia
Since the 1950s, the World Bank’s involvement and influence in educational assistance has increas... more Since the 1950s, the World Bank’s involvement and influence in educational assistance has increased greatly. The World Bank has not only been a key player, but, at times, has been the dominant international organization working with low-income countries to reform their education systems. Given the contributions that education makes to country development, the World Bank works in the realm of education as part of its broad mission to reduce poverty and to increase prosperity. This work takes the form of financing, technical assistance and knowledge production (among others) and occurs at multiple levels, as the World Bank seeks to contribute to country development and to shape the global conversation around the purposes and preferred models of education reform, in addition to engaging in international processes and politics with other multi- and bi-lateral organizations.
The present article examines the work of the World Bank in historical perspective in addition to discussing how the role of this institution has been theorized and research by scholars. Specifically, the first section provides an overview of this institution’s history with a focus on how the leadership, preferred policies, organizational structure, lending, and larger politics to which it responds have changed over time, since the 1940s. Second, the article addresses the ways that the World Bank is conceptualized and approached by scholars of World Culture Theory, international political economy, and international relations. The third section contains a review of research on (a) how the World Bank is involved in educational policymaking at the country level, (b) the ways the World Bank engages with civil society and encourages its general participation in educational assistance, (c) what is known about the World Bank in relation to policy implementation, and (d) the production of research in and on the Bank.
Book Reviews by Inga C Storen
2. Refugee Education by Inga C Storen
Papers by Inga C Storen
The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 2017
Much literature has focused on the influence of the World Bank (or simply ‘the Bank’) with regard... more Much literature has focused on the influence of the World Bank (or simply ‘the Bank’) with regard to policy reform in low-income countries. While this literature has been produced over the course of many decades, the underlying studies have not tended themselves to take a multi-decade approach to examining the way that World Bank influence changes in a given country. Put differently, studies tend to examine specific periods of time rather than looking at influence over time. In response, the present paper seeks to contribute to scholarship on World Bank influence by doing just that—that is, by looking at a twenty-year period of World Bank engagement in Indonesia. In reference to this time horizon, the purpose is (a) to map the nature and influence of the World Bank as it engaged with the government of Indonesia (GOI) around education and development policy, (b) to reflect on how and why that engagement changed over time, and (c) to consider the implications of the study in relation ...
The National Program for Community Empowerment (known as PNPM Mandiri in Indonesia) is the princi... more The National Program for Community Empowerment (known as PNPM Mandiri in Indonesia) is the principal, over-arching initiative through which the Indonesian government has pursued community-led development since 2005, though it has roots in much earlier programs. It is repeatedly referred to as the largest community development program in the world in World Bank documents (World Bank, 2012). It is a nation-wide program that reaches 60,000 villages and disburses about USD$2 billion yearly to more than 50,000 sub-projects. There are two strands of this initiative, with one serving urban areas (PNPM Urban) and the other serving rural ones (PNPM Rural). In both cases, the program “works by giving communities block grants that they can spend to carry out plans that they have developed through a participatory, bottom-up planning process that is facilitated by social and technical specialists who provide advice to communities but do not control the funds” (World Bank, 2012a, p. 18). This program has a long history that goes back to the 1970s (and beyond) and is linked with a series of World Bank-funded projects. Just as importantly, the trajectory of this program has significantly impacted the emergence, evolution, and prominence (or lack thereof) of other governance reforms in the education sector, such as school-based management and low-fee private schools. The present report seeks to examine these issues, with the purpose being to understand the trajectory, politics, and implications of the PNPM program generally and the ways that it has enabled (or not) reforms in the education sector related to school-based management and low-fee private schools. Throughout, this report also focuses on the influence of the World Bank, the way that this organization’s influence has changed over time, and the mechanisms through which the World Bank has exercised that influence. Put differently, this study uses the PNPM program as an entry point into governance reform dynamics within and beyond the education sector in Indonesia between the government and the World Bank. The findings presented here document how the World Bank creates and uses parallel programs outside of the core government bureaucracy. Not only do World Bank projects build on these programs over time but this institution is able to take advantage of moments of crisis to expand and adapt them. In Indonesia, the financial crisis of the late 1990s provided an opportunity for the World Bank further scale up the general community block grant program it had been supporting (the predecessor to PNPM) while also transferring the block grant model to realm of education (where it would serve as the predecessor to the government’s school-based management program). Separately, while the relationship between the World Bank and the Indonesian government has been rocky at times, World Bank technical assistance has been consistent over a long period of time reaching back into the 1960s. This technical assistance has taken the form of policy advice, program management and implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation, pilot testing new programs, training, coordination of donor initiatives, management of trust funds of donor resources, and chairing consultative forums, among other examples. However, while the World Bank has certainly been influential thanks to this assistance and through the immense financial resources it has leant to Indonesia over the years (estimated at USD$30 billion during 1968-2004 alone), this report also discusses reasons to nuance our understanding of World Bank influence, particularly at the sub-national level where this institution has continually wrestled with political and organizational factors that are beyond its control and which have hampered the realization in practice of neoliberal governance reforms that circumvent the central state apparatus and that attempt to institute relations of accountability at the community level.
Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 2017
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1. Global Governance of Education by Inga C Storen
This program has a long history that goes back to the 1970s (and beyond) and is linked with a series of World Bank-funded projects. Just as importantly, the trajectory of this program has significantly impacted the emergence, evolution, and prominence (or lack thereof) of other governance reforms in the education sector, such as school-based management and low-fee private schools. The present report seeks to examine these issues, with the purpose being to understand the trajectory, politics, and implications of the PNPM program generally and the ways that it has enabled (or not) reforms in the education sector related to school-based management and low-fee private schools. Throughout, this report also focuses on the influence of the World Bank, the way that this organization’s influence has changed over time, and the mechanisms through which the World Bank has exercised that influence. Put differently, this study uses the PNPM program as an entry point into governance reform dynamics within and beyond the education sector in Indonesia between the government and the World Bank.
The findings presented here document how the World Bank creates and uses parallel programs outside of the core government bureaucracy. Not only do World Bank projects build on these programs over time but this institution is able to take advantage of moments of crisis to expand and adapt them. In Indonesia, the financial crisis of the late 1990s provided an opportunity for the World Bank further scale up the general community block grant program it had been supporting (the predecessor to PNPM) while also transferring the block grant model to realm of education (where it would serve as the predecessor to the government’s school-based management program).
Separately, while the relationship between the World Bank and the Indonesian government has been rocky at times, World Bank technical assistance has been consistent over a long period of time reaching back into the 1960s. This technical assistance has taken the form of policy advice, program management and implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation, pilot testing new programs, training, coordination of donor initiatives, management of trust funds of donor resources, and chairing consultative forums, among other examples. However, while the World Bank has certainly been influential thanks to this assistance and through the immense financial resources it has leant to Indonesia over the years (estimated at USD$30 billion during 1968-2004 alone), this report also discusses reasons to nuance our understanding of World Bank influence, particularly at the sub-national level where this institution has continually wrestled with political and organizational factors that are beyond its control and which have hampered the realization in practice of neoliberal governance reforms that circumvent the central state apparatus and that attempt to institute relations of accountability at the community level.
The present article examines the work of the World Bank in historical perspective in addition to discussing how the role of this institution has been theorized and research by scholars. Specifically, the first section provides an overview of this institution’s history with a focus on how the leadership, preferred policies, organizational structure, lending, and larger politics to which it responds have changed over time, since the 1940s. Second, the article addresses the ways that the World Bank is conceptualized and approached by scholars of World Culture Theory, international political economy, and international relations. The third section contains a review of research on (a) how the World Bank is involved in educational policymaking at the country level, (b) the ways the World Bank engages with civil society and encourages its general participation in educational assistance, (c) what is known about the World Bank in relation to policy implementation, and (d) the production of research in and on the Bank.
Book Reviews by Inga C Storen
2. Refugee Education by Inga C Storen
Papers by Inga C Storen
This program has a long history that goes back to the 1970s (and beyond) and is linked with a series of World Bank-funded projects. Just as importantly, the trajectory of this program has significantly impacted the emergence, evolution, and prominence (or lack thereof) of other governance reforms in the education sector, such as school-based management and low-fee private schools. The present report seeks to examine these issues, with the purpose being to understand the trajectory, politics, and implications of the PNPM program generally and the ways that it has enabled (or not) reforms in the education sector related to school-based management and low-fee private schools. Throughout, this report also focuses on the influence of the World Bank, the way that this organization’s influence has changed over time, and the mechanisms through which the World Bank has exercised that influence. Put differently, this study uses the PNPM program as an entry point into governance reform dynamics within and beyond the education sector in Indonesia between the government and the World Bank.
The findings presented here document how the World Bank creates and uses parallel programs outside of the core government bureaucracy. Not only do World Bank projects build on these programs over time but this institution is able to take advantage of moments of crisis to expand and adapt them. In Indonesia, the financial crisis of the late 1990s provided an opportunity for the World Bank further scale up the general community block grant program it had been supporting (the predecessor to PNPM) while also transferring the block grant model to realm of education (where it would serve as the predecessor to the government’s school-based management program).
Separately, while the relationship between the World Bank and the Indonesian government has been rocky at times, World Bank technical assistance has been consistent over a long period of time reaching back into the 1960s. This technical assistance has taken the form of policy advice, program management and implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation, pilot testing new programs, training, coordination of donor initiatives, management of trust funds of donor resources, and chairing consultative forums, among other examples. However, while the World Bank has certainly been influential thanks to this assistance and through the immense financial resources it has leant to Indonesia over the years (estimated at USD$30 billion during 1968-2004 alone), this report also discusses reasons to nuance our understanding of World Bank influence, particularly at the sub-national level where this institution has continually wrestled with political and organizational factors that are beyond its control and which have hampered the realization in practice of neoliberal governance reforms that circumvent the central state apparatus and that attempt to institute relations of accountability at the community level.
The present article examines the work of the World Bank in historical perspective in addition to discussing how the role of this institution has been theorized and research by scholars. Specifically, the first section provides an overview of this institution’s history with a focus on how the leadership, preferred policies, organizational structure, lending, and larger politics to which it responds have changed over time, since the 1940s. Second, the article addresses the ways that the World Bank is conceptualized and approached by scholars of World Culture Theory, international political economy, and international relations. The third section contains a review of research on (a) how the World Bank is involved in educational policymaking at the country level, (b) the ways the World Bank engages with civil society and encourages its general participation in educational assistance, (c) what is known about the World Bank in relation to policy implementation, and (d) the production of research in and on the Bank.