Aid, education policy, and development

This paper discusses the recent history of education aid policy, and introduces the studies that constitute this UNU-WIDER Special Issue. It highlights an important shift in policy-thinking in the international aid architecture that has dominated the global education aid agenda since the early 1990s. It argues that Rawlsian principles of social justice, human rights perspectives, and advancements in economic theory that emphasize the role of human capital in development have been central in that process. The studies of this Special Issue aim to address the general question of how aid can better support the collective actions that seek to improve education systems in developing countries. Overall, they provide an analysis of key policy strategies that can improve the functioning of education systems and the quality of services, and discuss major challenges for the future global education agenda.