For the next three months or so, RESULTS groups in the U.S. will be focusing their efforts on building Congressional support for H.R. 2705: The Education For All Act of 2011. (To see the actual language in the bill, click on Thomas and search for the bill number “H.R. 2705”.) Consequently, I expect several blog entries over the next few months will be related to my trying to build support for the bill. Why is RESULTS, and by extension me, devoting so much time to this bill? Two reasons:
- In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Whether the development issue is health, hunger, economic security, or peace, increasing education substantially improves individual well-being. When at least 40% of a country’s residents can read and write, the country has achieved one prerequisite for continuous and rapid economic growth. Without meeting that prerequisite, no country has managed that kind of growth.
- As of this entry’s date, the bill is one of 299 bills and resolutions under consideration by the House Committee of Foreign Affairs. Without RESULTS volunteers lobbying their members of Congress, this bill will die in committee.
Per the bill’s own introduction, the purpose of the bill is “To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for developing countries to promote quality basic education and to establish the achievement of quality universal basic education in all developing countries as an objective of United States foreign assistance policy, and for other purposes.”
The bill authorizes USAID to continue funding bilateral (a program where the U.S. grants or loans money directly to a country) education programs and encourages USAID to begin funding multilateral (an international organization to which two or more countries contribute which then redistributes the money to individual countries) education programs.
Because the U.S. government loses some amount of control on how multilateral organizations are run, the Education For All Act of 2011 stipulates the following:
Multilateral mechanisms should be aligned with globally established aid effectiveness principles, including—
‘‘(A) alignment with recipient country priorities, education plans, and planning processes;
‘‘(B) governance shared by donors, developing country governments, and civil society;
‘‘(C) coordination among governments, multilateral organizations, private sector, and civil society;
‘‘(D) mutual accountability between donors and recipients for achieving measurable results in access and quality;
‘‘(E) transparency with respect to financing, policy decisions, and impact; and
‘‘(F) predictable, long-term funding disbursed in a timely manner.
The bill does not call for specific levels of funding for education programs. Instead, the bill reads, “(i) Authorization of Appropriations- To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the President such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012 and each subsequent fiscal year.”
So, given that the bill does not call for specific funding levels, its sponsor, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) is hoping that with help of RESULTS that bill can be passed in Congress. (Interestingly, I learned in a recent RESULTS Education For All training call that it was through the efforts of RESULTS Rep. Lowey became a believer in the efficacy of funding multilateral foreign aid programs. )
Will the U.S.’s very ideologically divided Congress see fit to approve this bill? Stay tuned.
The RESULTS training call helped me better understand EFA too. With your explanation about how EFA stipulates for the multilateral piece, I’m getting the whole picture. Thanks!
I’m a UK based education activist – trying to make sense of this bill can you indicate when it will be passed?
When and whether Congress will pass the bill is unknown. Right now it has only a few Congressional co-sponsors, so unless RESULTS and other organizations can show Congress there is public support for it the bill will probably not be approved.