Category Archives: Public-private partnership

Support for Education in Kyrgyzstan

We are honoured that Martin Finnigan is a member of the team appointed to carry out a quasi-experimental Sustainability Assessment of the Education and Child Nutrition Programme in Kyrgyzstan. The project is being carried out on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture McGovern-Dole International Food Programme and Mercy Corps.  Our particular area of interest is the potential to strengthen local value chains and private sector engagement to improve the sustainability of school feeding initiatives.

Effective Partnerships Helping Schools Cope with COVID-19 Disruption

In this article for Development Asia, Asian Development Bank’s knowledge sharing portal, we draw on experience in Scotland, Latin America and Asia to demonstrate ways in which partnerships between the public, private and third sectors are helping minimise the disruption to education caused by Covid-19. We go on to identify four key lessons.

https://development.asia/insight/lessons-scoping-education-ppps

First Education PPP signed in Uruguay

On 6 September, the Government of Uruguay signed the country’s first Education PPP contract which will create 59 new kindergartens and support centres for infants and families throughout the country.

Our team at Caledonian Economics helped develop the business case and technical specifications for this wonderful project.

 

Education Reforms in Punjab – Event Report

In anticipation of a forthcoming assignment, I recently attended “What’s Next for Education Reforms in Punjab”.  This event was hosted by the Centre for Global Development in London.  

Speakers from the #Punjab #School #Education #Department, #DFID, and The Citizens Foundation (#TCF) shared experiences and views on Punjab’s fast-paced and ambitious education reforms.

I have published a full report on my Linkedin page, and present a summary of the key points below:

  • Pace of Change: Last year the Economist described Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous state, as “home to the most frenetic education reforms in the world, trying to make up for generations of neglect”.  
  • The infrastructure gap: it is estimated that 80,000 new schools are needed in Pakistan.  Many existing buildings are crumbling and overflowing.
  • Data is king: Pakistan has diligently gathered data on education for many years.  There is scope to use data more effectively as the evidence base for policy-making. 
  • Quantity and Quality: there was much discussion about initiatives to improve teaching, the curriculum and assessment. Whilst Pakistan is making good progress at reducing poverty, improvements in human capital are falling behind some of its neighbours.
  • Public and private alignment: the concept of the mission-aligned cooperation between the public and private sectors was discussed extensively. 

I would like to thank event organisers at Centre for Global Development, and the speakers for such an interesting discussion.

Full report at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/education-reforms-punjab-center-global-development-event-finnigan/