"Adaptation of the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks model for planning, costing and budgeting in the educational sector".
Date
2015-05-14
Authors
Duehring, Momo E.
Journal Title
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Abstract
Already in its Education Strategy, adopted by the Executive Board in 2007, UNICEF fully obligates
to the international commitment to universal education and defines its contribution to national efforts
to fulfil children’s right to education. In September 2010, UNICEF further published a special report
on a study showing that an equity-focused approach to child survival and development is the most
practical and cost-effective way of meeting the health MDGs for children. For the modelling process
of the research a simulation was run employing the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks (MBB)
model, jointly developed by the World Bank and UNICEF. This model has been widely used in
international public health research to design and test development strategies.
In its consistency with the human-right based approach, the MBB model addresses bottlenecks in the
capacity of duty-bearers to fulfil human-rights as well as barriers of the capacity of right-holders to
claim their rights. Using the MBB model, policymakers and researchers can simulate varying
configurations of service delivery modes to expand access of coverage and measures to encourage
usage. For each strategy, the model generates the predicted impact on intervention coverage and
outcomes, overall cost and cost-effectiveness.
UNICEF’s global refocus on equity and the most disadvantaged children makes it necessary to
introduce improved planning and monitoring instruments. In this context, the MBB model is used as a
budgeting and simulation tool for UNICEF interventions in health and nutrition. UNICEF aims to use
harmonized tools across different sectors to reduce transaction costs and to improve comparison and
sharing of lessons learned between the different sectors. However, it is also important to adapt and
develop instruments based on the diverse needs of different sectors to ensure best results.
Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to find an answer to following question:
Can, and if so, how can the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks model, developed for the health
sector, be adapted for planning, costing and budgeting allocations in the education sector?
An adapted Marginal Budgeting for Bottleneck model for education could be applied for a
comprehensive sector analysis, comparing intervention alternatives and setting policy goals and
strategies. It could further be used to monitor the implementation of major sector reforms with regard
to the comparison of potential versus actual impact of interventions on learning achievements.
Applying two production functions, the MBB model applies the basic principle of Cost-Effectiveness
Analysis, comparing the costs of education interventions with the corresponding expected impact on
increased service coverage. However, detailed inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts and the
corresponding correlations would need to be defined for an Service Production Function (inputoutput)
and an Education Production Function (output-outcome/impact).
Further, a selection of globally proved remedial actions to overcome sector bottlenecks need to be
specified. Education interventions largely depend on the country context and different countries and
regions apply different remedial actions. Since the relationship of input and impact is not as linear as
the illness-treatment relationship in health, international research and comparison of effective
interventions would need to be conducted.
The MBB model is applying service coverage determinants of both, supply and demand side.
Therefore the approach could be a helpful instrument in the context of the Human Rights-based
Approach as used within programming of the United Nations and UNICEF. However, applying
further analysis on humanitarian aspects of programming always depends on the availability of
disaggregated information.
Based on the outline of the Service Coverage Concept and the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks
model and the conceptual adaptation of the MBB model for its use in education, following
suggestions can be made for the Service Delivery Modes and Service Coverage Determinants:
Overall, an MBB model in education could have added value for education planning, budgeting and
impact simulation. However, it has to be considered that applying the model requires extensive data
input for all six Service Coverage Determinants for each of the five Service Deliver Modes. Although,
the MBB model could be adjusted to only cover a certain sub-sector within Quality Education for All.
Five Service Delivery Modes Ten Sub-Packages
1. Pre-School Education
1.1 Public Early Childhood Education
1.2 Private Early Childhood Education
2. Formal Basic Education
2.1 Public Formal Basic Education
2.2 Private Basic Education
3. Non-Formal Basic Education 3.1 Public Non-Formal Basic Education
3.2 Private Non-Formal Basic Education
4. (Lower) Secondary Education
4.1 Public Secondary Education
4.2 Private Secondary Education
5. Adult Literacy, Continuing Education
5.1 Youth and Adult Literacy Interventions
5.2 Continuing Education
Six Service Coverage Determinants Indicator
Supply side
1. Availability of essential commodities Pupil-Classroom Ratio by grade
Pupil-Textbook Ratio
2. Availability of human resources Pupil-Teacher Ratio (or Pupilqualified
Teacher Ratio) by grade
3. Geographic and financial accessibility School-Distance
School-Costs by grade
Demand side 4. Initial Utilization Net-Enrolment Ratio (or Gross-
Enrolment Ratio) by grade
5. Continuous Utilization Survival Rate by grade
6. Effective Utilization Graduation Ratio
Graduation Test Scores
Overall, an MBB model in education could have added value for education planning, budgeting and
impact simulation. However, it has to be considered that applying the model requires extensive data
input for all six Service Coverage Determinants for each of the five Service Deliver Modes. Although,
the MBB model could be adjusted to only cover a certain sub-sector within Quality Education for All.
Description
Keywords
Educational planning, Educational planning models and tools, Bottleneck analysis in education, Costing and budgeting in education, Impact analysis in education, Equity in education, Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks (MBB), Analysis and projection model (AnPro)