JICA Senior Research Fellow Takako Yuki Presents an Interim Report on SABER Program at the World Bank

On January 27 and 28, the World Bank (WB) in Washington, DC held a training program on School Autonomy and Accountability (SAA) for staff members to promote policy dialogue in the assistance for the education sector. The main purpose of the training was to promote the utilization of the program called SABER for the WB’s programs. SABER is a knowledge program that develops tools and a database for the analysis of educational systems. Since JICA-RI and the JICA Human Development Department have jointly cooperated with WB, Mr. Kazuro Shibuya, a staff member of JICA’s Human Development Department and Senior Research Fellow Takako Yuki participated in the training program on behalf of JICA.

On the first day, Dr. Harry Patrinos, the Education Sector Manager and Ms. Angela Demas, the Senior Education Specialist, both of WB, introduced the international cases of school management systems along with the applied cases in policy dialogues as SABER tools that analyze the “quality of policy.”

The session “From Policies to Implementation” was held on the second day of the training. In this session, Yuki gave a presentation based on the interim report of the joint research for the SABER-SAA program. Yuki introduced a case in Burkina Faso, where the SABER team tested a new tool for analyzing the “quality of policy implementation,” which the team has developed. This case study aimed to contribute to monitoring the Burkina Faso government’s education sector strategies and to improving the detailed action plans. She also reported that the team interviewed school principals, school management committees, parents’ associations, village offices, as well as prefectural and provincial education offices in four provinces with the cooperation of the Ministry of Basic Education and Literacy.

At the group discussion following the presentation, the participants exchanged a variety of opinions based on their experiences and situations in their respective countries. The questions included: the analysis tools; the relationships between parents’ associations and school management committees; the significance of sharing results from learning assessment among each school; the difficulties in school inspectors’ visits; and the feasibility of policy recommendations. The WB staff members in charge of Africa particularly showed their great interest in SABER-SAA, suggesting surveys and technical assistance on the theme.

Bearing the needs of the other countries in mind, JICA-RI will enhance the detailed examination on the quality of policy implication. They will also continue the consultation with WB’s SABER team over the options and methods of the quality of policy implications.