Post by Justice on Apr 20, 2012 12:43:34 GMT
While I obviously prioritize local initiatives (Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, governments, etc), as everybody should, I'm not opposed to NGOs at all as long as it's done in concert (aka control/supervision) with Zimbabwean own initiatives (government or private). The ultimate goal must always be to increase self-dependency by taking an active part in any local projects.
The text from Unesco below point out most appropriately:
That's 100% my philosophy about that subject matter.
Lately in Zimbabwe some NGO's are here to help while others are not here to help us, but are US/UK government sponsored NGOs with the goal of fomenting division and regime change in Zimbabwe. Hence the recent request for all NGO's to register with the government (and I suppose, provide detailed descriptions of their activities).
The text note justly again:
This is how things should be done. Kudos to Zimbabwe on that one.
I agree 100% with the conclusion of the text (about this particular subject matter):
-------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7. The influence of political orientation and financial provision on education sector activities and studies
Educational sector activities and studies in any country are a reflection of that country’s ideological stance. When Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, it [edit Read: The Zanu-PF government of Mugabe] adopted socialism as its overall policy. With regard to the education sector, this policy focused on the need to seriously change the social injustices and imbalances of the past in which a minority group (the Whites) were adequately catered for in terms of educational provision and the other major section (the Blacks) was seriously discriminated against. In short, educational activities and developments were being clearly influenced by the new political order.
However, in order to achieve these objectives huge sums of money had to be found either through the government’s own budgetary allocations and/or through financial assistance by way of support from international funding and technical assistance agencies. Serious involvement of international agencies, NGOs and foreign governments in education and other sectors in Zimbabwe started in earnest when Zimbabwe attained its independence in 1980. Prior to independence no agency or foreign government, except apartheid South Africa, could be seen as openly associating itself with a rebel state (Rhodesia) which had unilaterally declared independence from Britain.
Soon after the attainment of independence, the Government of Zimbabwe organized a major Conference on Reconstruction and Development (ZIMCORD). The purpose of ZIMCORD was to enable Zimbabwe to woo international agency and government aid to assist [note: assist vs taking over] in the reconstruction of its infrastructure which had been destroyed during the protracted war of liberation. This concerned infrastructure, such as schools, clinics and dip-tanks in the rural areas. A serious reconstruction programme had to be undertaken which Zimbabwe could not afford to do single-handedly. Apart from physical infrastructure, there were many other areas needing financial assistance. At ZIMCORD, Zimbabwe produced a shopping list of all areas for which international aid was seriously needed.
Agencies and governments were requested to identify which areas they were willing to assist. Among the participants in ZIMCORD were friendly governments and agencies which had built close solidarity with the main liberation forces (ZANU-PF and ZAPU) during the struggle. They had previously assisted in the education of children in the liberation camps in Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. When Zimbabwe became independent they were obviously highly politically acceptable to the new government in the re-building of the country.
Apart from the massive reconstruction programme that was required in education, especially after primary education was declared to be free in 1980, there was the additional problem of children returning home from camps in neighbouring countries adding to the pressure for school accommodation. There was also an immediate need to reform the curriculum to replace the old colonial curriculum which was unacceptable to the new political orientation with a socialist thrust. The required curricular reforms needed a high amount of funding, in particular to produce school textbooks which were ideologically more suitable to the new government. Related to these curricular changes was the area of teacher training which had to be accelerated to meet with the challenges of the massive school expansion. Although education topped the list at ZIMCORD in line with government philosophy, there was a host of other items for which financial aid was required.
ZIMCORD was successful as many agencies and foreign governments committed themselves to assist with the rebuilding of the new country. The new government’s policies on education were well received by the international community, particularly its emphasis on basic education as a fundamental human right and the area of human development generally. International agencies viewed education, training and improvement of managerial skills as major concerns for the newly independent Zimbabwe.
Government agencies and NGOs
Because of its friendly ties with Zimbabwe, the Australian government was one of the first governments to respond to the call for assistance by way of expatriate teachers for the expanded secondary-school system.
The friendly Government of Mauritius was equally responsive although this arrangement was short-lived because teachers from that country are French-speaking and Zimbabwean school-children found it difficult to understand their version of spoken English.
Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) swiftly moved in to reconstruct the schools that had been destroyed or damaged. It also embarked on building teachers’ houses in the rural and disadvantaged areas. Curriculum development was one of the areas which SIDA supported heavily. Apart from putting up an impressive education service complex (curriculum centre), SIDA helped by training curriculum staff both locally and abroad.
Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) also became involved with school construction, especially schools serving former refugee children.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) played a significant role in supporting the training of teachers and setting up of a teachers’ training college. Assistance in education was, however, stopped because of some political misunderstanding with the Government of Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, limited support still comes in the form of the Volunteer Service Organization (VSO) which provides volunteers to teach English, science and technical subjects in rural secondary schools.
Similarly, the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) has played a major role in providing instructors for vocational colleges and science and technical teachers for secondary schools.
UNICEF, whose policy has always been to ensure the welfare of women and children, came at the start of independence and continues to operate fully in the country. UNICEF’s major activities are support for primary-school teacher training, strengthening of early childhood education and care and support for adult education, particularly for women. A more recent development since 1993 has been UNICEF’s advocacy for gender sensitization that has now become a huge programme in the country. Other agencies have also taken this up as a worthwhile programme to support.
Agreement for co-operation
Generally, all NGOs, international agencies and foreign governments give assistance to the Government of Zimbabwe after an official request has been made. There should always be a government-to-government agreement or an agency-ministry agreement before foreign governments or agencies can operate in the country. However, there are instances when agencies have approached a ministry with a view to providing aid towards a project which the agency has identified. In terms of government regulations, this kind of approach is not looked upon favourably as there is an Approvals Committee in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before which the agency and the recipient ministry or government department should sign the protocol of co-operation.
The independence of Namibia led to a gradual reduction of the activities of the international agencies in Zimbabwe as most agencies felt that their services were more required in the newly independent state of Namibia than in Zimbabwe. Developments in Eastern Europe also led to the diversion of aid funds from Southern Africa to that part of the world. The activities of the international agencies have therefore declined in Zimbabwe.
Project evaluation reports
The major activity of some of the few agencies which still operate in the country concerns the evaluation of their completed projects in order to assess whether they have been successful or not. Another activity is the commissioning of studies in the areas of gender education and the performance of disadvantaged groups, more specifically children in commercial farming areas and their level of support. Equity in education seems to have taken an upper hand in the recent past.
In the past two years the following evaluation reports have been produced:
Evaluation of the Effects of the SIDA Scholarships Fund.
A Study of the Factors Affecting the Education of Women and Girls in the Commercial Farming Areas of Zimbabwe.
It seems that the international agencies are now reconsidering the provision of aid. They wish to ensure that the aid provided produces the desired outcomes unlike during the period immediately after independence when they were more directed to project implementation than to accountability. A further thrust is the concentration on severely disadvantaged groups, such as women and girls, and the commercial farming areas which appear to have been ignored during the early years of independence.
Observation
Researchers’ reports generally do not disclose who was responsible for initiating the research study. It is not clear whether the research was agency-driven or was started based on a request from the government or ministry.
Most research documents do not address the question of the funding involved.
After the completion of the research report, it becomes difficult to assess whether the ministry, for which the report was produced, accepted or approved its contents. As a result, it is difficult to know if the recommendations have been implemented.
Recommendations
There is need for the sponsor of the research project to make a follow-up of the report to establish whether the recommendations of the report have or are being implemented. It is a waste of resources if a report is produced but is not acted upon.
Conclusions
Acceptance of international aid must be in line with education as a social service. International aid cannot be viewed in isolation from the political environment in which it is provided. It would be absurd for any government to accept financial assistance that does not conform to its ideology.
The text from Unesco below point out most appropriately:
There should always be a government-to-government agreement or an agency-ministry agreement before foreign governments or agencies can operate in the country.
That's 100% my philosophy about that subject matter.
Lately in Zimbabwe some NGO's are here to help while others are not here to help us, but are US/UK government sponsored NGOs with the goal of fomenting division and regime change in Zimbabwe. Hence the recent request for all NGO's to register with the government (and I suppose, provide detailed descriptions of their activities).
The text note justly again:
However, there are [edit: some other] instances when agencies have approached a ministry with a view to providing aid towards a project which the agency has identified. In terms of government regulations, this kind of approach is not looked upon favorably as there is an Approvals Committee in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before which the agency and the recipient ministry or government department should sign the protocol of co-operation.
This is how things should be done. Kudos to Zimbabwe on that one.
I agree 100% with the conclusion of the text (about this particular subject matter):
Conclusions
Acceptance of international aid must be in line with education as a social service. International aid cannot be viewed in isolation from the political environment in which it is provided. It would be absurd for any government to accept financial assistance that does not conform to its ideology.
Acceptance of international aid must be in line with education as a social service. International aid cannot be viewed in isolation from the political environment in which it is provided. It would be absurd for any government to accept financial assistance that does not conform to its ideology.
-------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7. The influence of political orientation and financial provision on education sector activities and studies
Educational sector activities and studies in any country are a reflection of that country’s ideological stance. When Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, it [edit Read: The Zanu-PF government of Mugabe] adopted socialism as its overall policy. With regard to the education sector, this policy focused on the need to seriously change the social injustices and imbalances of the past in which a minority group (the Whites) were adequately catered for in terms of educational provision and the other major section (the Blacks) was seriously discriminated against. In short, educational activities and developments were being clearly influenced by the new political order.
However, in order to achieve these objectives huge sums of money had to be found either through the government’s own budgetary allocations and/or through financial assistance by way of support from international funding and technical assistance agencies. Serious involvement of international agencies, NGOs and foreign governments in education and other sectors in Zimbabwe started in earnest when Zimbabwe attained its independence in 1980. Prior to independence no agency or foreign government, except apartheid South Africa, could be seen as openly associating itself with a rebel state (Rhodesia) which had unilaterally declared independence from Britain.
Soon after the attainment of independence, the Government of Zimbabwe organized a major Conference on Reconstruction and Development (ZIMCORD). The purpose of ZIMCORD was to enable Zimbabwe to woo international agency and government aid to assist [note: assist vs taking over] in the reconstruction of its infrastructure which had been destroyed during the protracted war of liberation. This concerned infrastructure, such as schools, clinics and dip-tanks in the rural areas. A serious reconstruction programme had to be undertaken which Zimbabwe could not afford to do single-handedly. Apart from physical infrastructure, there were many other areas needing financial assistance. At ZIMCORD, Zimbabwe produced a shopping list of all areas for which international aid was seriously needed.
Agencies and governments were requested to identify which areas they were willing to assist. Among the participants in ZIMCORD were friendly governments and agencies which had built close solidarity with the main liberation forces (ZANU-PF and ZAPU) during the struggle. They had previously assisted in the education of children in the liberation camps in Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. When Zimbabwe became independent they were obviously highly politically acceptable to the new government in the re-building of the country.
Apart from the massive reconstruction programme that was required in education, especially after primary education was declared to be free in 1980, there was the additional problem of children returning home from camps in neighbouring countries adding to the pressure for school accommodation. There was also an immediate need to reform the curriculum to replace the old colonial curriculum which was unacceptable to the new political orientation with a socialist thrust. The required curricular reforms needed a high amount of funding, in particular to produce school textbooks which were ideologically more suitable to the new government. Related to these curricular changes was the area of teacher training which had to be accelerated to meet with the challenges of the massive school expansion. Although education topped the list at ZIMCORD in line with government philosophy, there was a host of other items for which financial aid was required.
ZIMCORD was successful as many agencies and foreign governments committed themselves to assist with the rebuilding of the new country. The new government’s policies on education were well received by the international community, particularly its emphasis on basic education as a fundamental human right and the area of human development generally. International agencies viewed education, training and improvement of managerial skills as major concerns for the newly independent Zimbabwe.
Government agencies and NGOs
Because of its friendly ties with Zimbabwe, the Australian government was one of the first governments to respond to the call for assistance by way of expatriate teachers for the expanded secondary-school system.
The friendly Government of Mauritius was equally responsive although this arrangement was short-lived because teachers from that country are French-speaking and Zimbabwean school-children found it difficult to understand their version of spoken English.
Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) swiftly moved in to reconstruct the schools that had been destroyed or damaged. It also embarked on building teachers’ houses in the rural and disadvantaged areas. Curriculum development was one of the areas which SIDA supported heavily. Apart from putting up an impressive education service complex (curriculum centre), SIDA helped by training curriculum staff both locally and abroad.
Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) also became involved with school construction, especially schools serving former refugee children.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) played a significant role in supporting the training of teachers and setting up of a teachers’ training college. Assistance in education was, however, stopped because of some political misunderstanding with the Government of Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, limited support still comes in the form of the Volunteer Service Organization (VSO) which provides volunteers to teach English, science and technical subjects in rural secondary schools.
Similarly, the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) has played a major role in providing instructors for vocational colleges and science and technical teachers for secondary schools.
UNICEF, whose policy has always been to ensure the welfare of women and children, came at the start of independence and continues to operate fully in the country. UNICEF’s major activities are support for primary-school teacher training, strengthening of early childhood education and care and support for adult education, particularly for women. A more recent development since 1993 has been UNICEF’s advocacy for gender sensitization that has now become a huge programme in the country. Other agencies have also taken this up as a worthwhile programme to support.
Agreement for co-operation
Generally, all NGOs, international agencies and foreign governments give assistance to the Government of Zimbabwe after an official request has been made. There should always be a government-to-government agreement or an agency-ministry agreement before foreign governments or agencies can operate in the country. However, there are instances when agencies have approached a ministry with a view to providing aid towards a project which the agency has identified. In terms of government regulations, this kind of approach is not looked upon favourably as there is an Approvals Committee in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before which the agency and the recipient ministry or government department should sign the protocol of co-operation.
The independence of Namibia led to a gradual reduction of the activities of the international agencies in Zimbabwe as most agencies felt that their services were more required in the newly independent state of Namibia than in Zimbabwe. Developments in Eastern Europe also led to the diversion of aid funds from Southern Africa to that part of the world. The activities of the international agencies have therefore declined in Zimbabwe.
Project evaluation reports
The major activity of some of the few agencies which still operate in the country concerns the evaluation of their completed projects in order to assess whether they have been successful or not. Another activity is the commissioning of studies in the areas of gender education and the performance of disadvantaged groups, more specifically children in commercial farming areas and their level of support. Equity in education seems to have taken an upper hand in the recent past.
In the past two years the following evaluation reports have been produced:
Evaluation of the Effects of the SIDA Scholarships Fund.
A Study of the Factors Affecting the Education of Women and Girls in the Commercial Farming Areas of Zimbabwe.
It seems that the international agencies are now reconsidering the provision of aid. They wish to ensure that the aid provided produces the desired outcomes unlike during the period immediately after independence when they were more directed to project implementation than to accountability. A further thrust is the concentration on severely disadvantaged groups, such as women and girls, and the commercial farming areas which appear to have been ignored during the early years of independence.
Observation
Researchers’ reports generally do not disclose who was responsible for initiating the research study. It is not clear whether the research was agency-driven or was started based on a request from the government or ministry.
Most research documents do not address the question of the funding involved.
After the completion of the research report, it becomes difficult to assess whether the ministry, for which the report was produced, accepted or approved its contents. As a result, it is difficult to know if the recommendations have been implemented.
Recommendations
There is need for the sponsor of the research project to make a follow-up of the report to establish whether the recommendations of the report have or are being implemented. It is a waste of resources if a report is produced but is not acted upon.
Conclusions
Acceptance of international aid must be in line with education as a social service. International aid cannot be viewed in isolation from the political environment in which it is provided. It would be absurd for any government to accept financial assistance that does not conform to its ideology.