Ownership and capacity: Do current donor approaches help or hinder the achievement of international and national targets for education?

Donor-initiated changes in aid delivery, to sector-wide approaches and direct budget support, have coincided with the focus on global development goals. Although intended to make funding more efficient and strengthen local ownership, they can stretch limited capacity. Literature on implementation of large-scale education reforms identifies three key sustainability factors related to policy, capacity and infrastructure. Current donor approaches targeting policy and budget may not adequately build the capacity required to improve quality and create sustainable reform of education systems. Building capacity is likely to be more critical than ownership; ignoring school-level capacity reduces the likelihood that targets will be achieved.