In the 1980s and 1990s, political and economic instability (perhaps a result of South Africa’s Apartheid movement) as well …show more content…
There are three main criticisms: failure to coordinate aid, Africa’s increased dependence on aid, and the conditions set by funding agents on how African governments may allocate those funds (Knack, 2007). Independent aid agencies may cause problems for the receiving countries. For one, aid can lead to not only monetary dependence, but dependence on political assistance. African countries with poor governance may grow to depend on advice from foreign agencies (Knack, 2007; Oxfam, 1998). For instance, if certain agencies have agendas or biases toward certain policies, they may direct the country to allocate the funding toward vocational education, rather than the actual needs of the country, which might be textbooks or teacher education. This problem with dependence may at times hinder countries from developing their own decision-making processes. In fact, if an education initiative will require external funding, African politicians may only pursue initiatives that are certain to receive funding, rather than the initiatives that are best aligned with national policies (Knack, 2007; Oxfam, …show more content…
Delegating power to the local level has made funding education more efficient, because the administrators are in charge of where money is spent rather than go through the bureaucratic process of requesting money from government agencies. With local administrators in charge of funding, communities can focus on improving the quality of education. There are a few reasons why delegating power to the communities will increase the quality of schools. First, when communities have authority, schooling begins to address the needs of the community. Second, local governance has direct oversight over what happens at the schools, which makes schools more efficient. Third, citizen participation in democratic processes will strengthen the transformation of society (Moulton,