Signings of the Endorsement Letter of Education Sector Strategy (ESS) of Congo 2021-2030
Approximately US$11.7 million (i.e. CFAF 5 billion) of financing to be obtained from the SME
17 déc, 2020
The Letter of endorsement of the Education Sector Strategy (ESS) of Congo 2021-2030 was signed, Thursday, December 17, 2020 in Brazzaville, by the Congolese government and agencies of the United Nations System.
This signing, which took place before the deadline of 23 December 2020 with the successful development of an Education Sector Plan, is the first step that will enable Congo to access the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) grant of about US$11.7 million, or 5 billion 900 million CFA francs.
"Learning from the rejection by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) of the first request for funding of the 2015-2025 Sector Strategy by the SME in 2015, UNESCO has mobilised the international technical expertise needed to support the technical work, putting at the heart of the process the requirement of quality and compliance with the conditionalities for granting the SME grant, particularly for aspects related to the share of the Education Sector budget allocated to primary education which must reach 45%," its Representative, Marega Fatoumata, said.
"The newly developed Sector Plan sets out the new trajectory to be followed to achieve the objectives, including: improved learning outcomes; greater equity, gender equality and inclusion; and effective and efficient education systems," she added.
2021-2023 Action Plan
The 2021-2030 Strategy is organised according to the 3 strategic axes divided into 13 Programmes corresponding to the different sub-sectors, 103 sub-programmes and 217 activities. The Action Plan that accompanies this strategy for the first three years of its implementation (2021-2023) represents an effort of 280 billion CFA francs in 2021; 307 billion in 2022 and 340 billion in 2023.
These financial perspectives are currently only recorded for the operating expenses of the year 2021. The Action Plan therefore represents a financing need that will have to be provided by the State budget and its technical and financial partners. For the State budget, the implementation of the 2021-2023 Action Plan implies a revision of the budgetary perspectives of the Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) for the years 2022 and 2023.
By 2030, the Strategy could be financed by an increase in the share of the State budget devoted to education, ranging from 19% in the 2020 budget to 20.8% in the 2030 budget.
The signing ceremony was attended by three members of the Congolese Government, namely: Calixte Nganongo (Finance and Budget); Anatole Collinet Makosso (Primary and Secondary Education and Literacy) and Martin Aimé Parfait Coussoud-Mavoungou (Scientific Research and Technical Innovation). And, on the other hand, representatives of UNICEF, UNFPA, UN-AIDS, UNDP, WFP...
