AID INSTRUMENTS IN FRAGILE STATES

International Development,

Building a theoretical framework to understand the role of aid in achieving the education Millennium Development Goals in fragile states

This thesis aims to build a theory for understanding the role of aid in achieving the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in fragile states. In so doing, it responds to claims that both educational research (see e.g. Cohen et al., 2000), and the economic literature on aid and international development (see e.g. Deaton, 2008), are insufficiently grounded in theory. In finding a methodological voice for this thesis, I distinguish between three research paradigms: positivist, interpretive and critical theory. I ask whether theory is essentially a positivist project, better suited to quantitative methods and to the natural sciences. I argue for a 'mixed-method' approach, proposing that when qualitative methods generate data that are subjected to a stronger process of generalisation – including comparison between data derived from qualitative and quantitative methods, and from macro and micro level analysis – then that evidence may be sufficiently strong to underpin theory. I use a four step process to build theory: (i) categorising data into domains for analysis, (ii) hypothesising linkages between these domains, (iii) investigating these hypotheses through assessing the evidence supporting them, (iv) organising hypotheses into a theoretical framework. To assess the strength of evidence in support of each hypothesis, I use an instrument to ‘grade the evidence’, based on a threefold assessment of method, observer bias and corroboration. I include evidence from new research conducted for this thesis, including: a portfolio analysis of 145 DFID education projects in fragile states (1991-2007), and an analysis of primary data collected for the 2008 DFID ‘Education Portfolio Review’. The findings of this research confirm a potential relationship between aid inputs and education outcomes in fragile states. Positing that this relationship might work through intermediate financing and institutional effects, it finds weak evidence for the former, but stronger evidence for the latter. With both aid and non-aid inputs (e.g. diplomacy, military engagement), external inputs appear better at supporting existing incipient reform than generating that reform, suggesting that donors should adopt a more modest and opportunistic approach to aid, as opposed to deploying a ‘transformational’ blueprint (Easterly, 2009). The inter-dependence between aid inputs and non-aid inputs points to the importance of deploying instruments within a single approach to strategy and possibly delivery. There is relatively strong evidence for ‘pre-conditions’ for successful interventions – proposed here as political will, community ownership and security / stability – whereas evidence for conventional proxies of ‘aid effectiveness’ is weak relative to the importance generally ascribed to it. The evidence linking education and social stability is mixed, and weakly researched in developing country contexts – potentially significant for critical theorists who question the wisdom and motives of donor governments investing in education to counter radicalisation. I conclude by assessing whether the theory generated has validity or utility. I assess the theory against five key characteristics of theory: empirical grounding; explanatory power; predictive power; utility; verification / falsification. I conclude that my theory has explanatory power and utility, but that claims to generalisability are weak, given the importance of context. The thesis and its product (the ‘theory’) provide a framework that advances our understanding of the relationships between aid and education outcomes in fragile states. It tests the evidence base for these proposed relationships and, notwithstanding limits of generalisability, offers a narrative and framework with practical utility for future research, policy development and programming

Re-Imagining School Feeding : A High-Return Investment in Human Capital and Local Economies

Analysis shows that a quality education, combined with a guaranteed package of health and nutrition interventions at school, such as school feeding, can contribute to child and adolescent development and build human capital. School feeding programs can help get children into school and help them stay there, increasing enrollment and reducing absenteeism. Once children are in the classroom, these programs can contribute to their learning by avoiding hunger and enhancing cognitive abilities. The benefits are especially great for the poorest and most disadvantaged children. As highlighted in the World Bank’s 2018 World Development Report (World Bank 2018), countries need to prioritize learning, not just schooling. Children must be healthy, not hungry, if they are to match learning opportunities with the ability to learn. In the most vulnerable communities, nutrition-sensitive school meals can offer children a regular source of nutrients that are essential for their mental and physical development. And for the growing number of countries with a “double burden” of undernutrition and emerging obesity problems, well-designed school meals can help set children on the path toward more healthy diets. In Latin America, for example, where there is a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), school feeding programs are a key intervention in reducing undernutrition and promoting healthy diet choices. Mexico’s experience reducing sugary beverages in school cafeterias, for example, was found to be beneficial in advancing a healthy lifestyle. A large trial of school-based interventions in China also found that nutritional or physical activity interventions alone are not as effective as a joint program that combines nutritional and educational interventions. In poor communities, economic benefits from school feeding programs are also evident—reducing poverty by boosting income for households and communities as a whole. For families, the value of meals in school is equivalent to about 10 percent of a household’s income. For families with several children, that can mean substantial savings. As a result, school feeding programs are often part of social safety nets in poor countries, and they can be a stable way to reliably target pro-poor investments into communities, as well as a system that can be scaled up rapidly to respond to crises. There are also direct economic benefits for smallholder farmers in the community. Buying local food creates stable markets, boosting local agriculture, impacting rural transformation, and strengthening local food systems. In Brazil, for example, 30 percent of all purchases for school feeding come from smallholder agriculture (Drake and others 2016). These farmers are oftentimes parents with schoolchildren, helping them break intergenerational cycles of hunger and poverty. Notably, benefits to households and communities offer important synergies. The economic growth in poor communities helps provide stability and better-quality education and health systems that promote human capital. At the same time, children and adolescents grow up to enjoy better employment and social opportunities as their communities grow