International Funding of Educational Development: External Agendas and Internal Adaptations: The Case of Liberia

Abstract

The past quarter century has been a period of tremendous educational growth in developing countries. During the period from 1960 to 1985, primary school enrollments in developing states rose 50 percent, from 60.7 percent of the primary-school-aged population in 1960 to 91.5 percent in 1985.1 Secondary enrollments tripled from 12.6 percent of the secondary school- aged population in 1960 to 38.4 percent in 19S5.2 And enrollments in tertiary education quadrupled from 2.1 percent of 20-24-year-olds in 1960 to 8.8 percent in 1985.5 National expenditures for education in developing states showed paralleled increases during the period from 1970 to 1983, growing from 2.9 percent of the developing world's gross national product (GNP) in 1970 to 4.0 percent of its GNP in 1983.4 Despite the expansion of education in the developing world, development planners, educators, and education development researchers cite numerous problems with educational systems (including problems of access, quality, cost, and design)1 and express disappointment at the apparent failure of educational expansion to decrease dependency, reduce inequities, or to promote economic growth.6 The litany of problems characterizingeducation systems in developing states and plaguing educational planners and project implementers reveals the weakness of educational development as an engine of social, economic, and political change. When seen in this light, the question is not why educational expansion has failed to promote economic growth, to reduce social inequalities, or to establish participatory political systems. The question is, Why, in the face of large investments of human and capital resources, are education systems in such disarray— what is going wrong with the educational development process? The following pages concentrate on the question of what goes wrong in educational development. The findings reported here are based on a detailed analysis of one case, the West African country of Liberia during the period from 1972 to 1985.7 This effort to identify the impediments to educational development, focuses on a major set of actors in the development process—-international funding agencies. We outline the ways in which development projects sponsored by international funding agencies shaped and often distorted organizational aspects of the Liberian education system during the 14-year period under investigation. We believe that the Liberian case is not unique, that similar problems inevitably result from internationally funded development efforts wherever they occur.