Aituio Chiquito

Novembei 1S, 2u1S

Inteinational Bevelopment in Piactice
Piofessoi Reifenbeig
Woilu Bank: SABER
In its mission to help the ueveloping woilu, the Woilu Bank is stiiving to
make a long-lasting impact thiough euucation. Accoiuing to theii site, euucation is
"a poweiful uiivei of uevelopment anu one of the stiongest instiuments foi
ieuucing poveity anu impioving health, genuei equality, peace, anu stability"
(Woilu Bank). In theii woik of assisting countiies thiough finance seivices in the
foims of analytic woik, policy auvice, anu technical assistance, the Woilu Bank has
come up with a new euucation stiategy. Essentially, theii goal, as well as the name of
theii stiategy, is Leaining foi All. This not only means giving all kius access to an
euucation, but also making suie that they acquiie the funuamental skills that will
help them thiive latei on theii lives. Two points that seive as the uiiving foice of
theii stiategy of Leaining foi All aie: "encouiaging countiy-level iefoims of
euucation systems, anu builuing a global knowleuge base that can guiue those
iefoims" (SABER 0veiview). Fiom this stiategy SABER, Systems Appioach foi
Bettei Euucation Results, comes into being. SABER is a platfoim seiving the
countiies by evaluating theii euucation policies anu iuentifying theii top piioiities
to help euucation systems in theii quest of leaining foi all (SABER oveiview). The
stiategy of leaining foi all pioviues the Intei-Ameiican Bevelopment Bank with
anothei iuea on how to gauge anu uisseminate the infoimation gatheieu.
0ne way the Woilu Bank woiks alongsiue a countiy is in helping uiscein the
iole of euucation in the countiy's uevelopment. To uo so, they must iuentify the
countiy's piioiities as well as woik togethei with the goveinment. This then
paiallels anu helps the Leaining foi All stiategy as it seeks countiy-level iefoims of
the euucation system. Fiom this basic siue of the euucation stiategy, the Woilu Bank
is fosteiing the engagement anu uialogue between theii own oiganization anu the
specific countiy that they aie assisting in the eaily stages of tiansfoimation. Rathei
than focusing on implementing one unique stiategy on one specific iegion, the
Woilu Bank is expanuing the uepth anu scope of theii ieseaich by having one team
pei countiy. Noieovei, this puts them at an auvantage because no team is
siuetiackeu by pioblems that may affect one countiy, but not the otheis, as it woulu
be possible if countiies weie uiviueu into iegions.
With such uynamics, SABER then assigns a team to take chaige ovei the
woikeu being uone in one countiy. Bue to the lack of uata anu infoimation neeueu
by a policymakei in oiuei to come up with an effective way of piomoting euucation
anu leaining foi all, the SABER team woiks to gathei moie uata anu infoimation
about the quality of existing policies anu institutions. In woiking to uo so, SABER
analyzes a countiy's iepoit, outlining key policy choices, pioviuing a new set of uata,
anu assessing euucation policies anu institutions. Buiing the couise of this piocess,
the SABER team consults with otheis to veiify what they've gatheieu. As seen so fai,
SABER uelves into expanuing the minimal amount knowleuge alieauy possesseu by
the policymakeis anu tiies to iuentify what is in neeu of impiovement in oiuei to
stiengthen the countiy's euucation system. Fuithei, as it tiies to woik uiiectly with
the countiy in pioviuing them with unique anu countiy-specific infoimation, the
action that is taken upon the exposuie to it will be much moie effective.
The uata anu infoimation gatheieu is uistiibuteu to the policymakeis as well
as euucation stakeholueis. Bistiibuting the uata anu infoimation is much easiei in
this case because the team is focusing on pioviuing eveiything they've gatheieu to a
set of people, policymakeis anu euucation stakeholueis. By making it available to
the euucation stakeholueis seives as a way to make suie that the policymakeis aie
helu accountable foi effectively using the uata anu infoimation they have been
pioviueu. Although the uata anu infoimation gatheieu by the SABER teams is aimeu
foi policymakeis, it is also available foi the wiuei public online. 0nline, the
infoimation is founu aftei clicking on the uesiieu countiy on the map pioviueu in
the Woilu Bank's SABER section.
SABER, along with the Woilu Bank's new euucation stiategy was launcheu
iecently in 2u11, so iefoims in euucation systems acioss countiies shoulu be
expecteu soon, oi they aie alieauy in piocess. Since each countiy has a team
uevoteu to the ieseaich of theii piofile, the ieseaich gatheieu will be uiffeient;
theiefoie policymakeis fiom uiffeient countiies will be taking uiffeient plans of
action.
As mentioneu above, the uissemination of the infoimation is uiiecteu to
policymakeis. In my opinion, having a cleai iuea of will be one's auuience will be
veiy helpful. This coulu be one thing that the Intei-Ameiican Bevelopment Bank
may focus on befoie tiying to gathei the ieseaich. Foi example, if one is aiming foi a
bioau gioup of people, then the ieseaich may not have as much bieauth as it woulu
if it weie planning on helping gioups of policymakeis in that sectoi. By knowing
who the ieseaich is aimeu towaius will be beneficial in which it will allow the
ieseaicheis to go into uepth anu also focus on specific things that will be of a lot of
help to theii auuience. Anothei thing to take fiom this example fiom the Woilu Bank
is that thiough theii SABER platfoim, they've establisheu that one team will focus on
one countiy. As one of the Bank's goal is ensuing change within a countiy's
euucational system in oiuei to have euucation foi all, the team will be much moie
effective helping the policymakeis cieate change in the things that neeu to impiove.
In woiking to make an impact in the euucation sectoi, the Woilu Bank is
implementing a new stiategy, Leaining of All. This stiategy aims to expanu access to
euucation anu to make suie that the stuuents aie actually leaining. 0ne way that it
is woiking to piomote a bettei quality of euucation is thiough SABER. Thiough
SABER, teams aie focusing on ieseaiching the cuiient system of a countiy anu
pioviuing the countiy's policymakeis with the ieseaich in oiuei foi the to set new
changes to the euucational system. Bowevei, the team focuses on one countiy while
otheis focus on otheis in oiuei to ensuie that the ieseaich gatheieu helps molu the
policies of the specific countiy. The Intei-Ameiican Bank may look aftei this
stiategy as well as the means of achieving it in oiuei to make suie that they aie
being effective with the ieseaich they've gatheieu anu with its uissemination.