Essential feature of ESPs

• An ESP is guided by an overall vision: The plan, for instance through a mission statement, indicates overall direction, including (i) the government’s development policy, (ii) the approach the government will follow to reach its goal, and (iii) the principles and values that will guide this approach.
• An ESP is strategic. It identifies the strategies for achieving the vision, including the human, technical, and fi nancial capacities required, and it sets priorities.
• An ESP is holistic. An ESP covers all subsectors (early childhood education, primary, secondary, and higher education), and should also include non-formal education, as well as adult literacy. It recognizes the need for coherence among subsectors, with a specifi c attention to the levels attached to recognized education rights and compulsory schooling, and refl ects awareness that education takes place throughout life. The learner is defined as the central beneficiary of the education system, with recognized rights and needs.
• An ESP is evidence-based. It starts from an education sector analysis providing data and assessments that form the information base on which strategies and programmes are developed.
• An ESP is achievable. An ESP is based on an analysis of the current trends and thoughtful hypotheses for overcoming fi nancial, technical, and political constraints to effective implementation. It should provide a framework for budget and management decisions. It is also recognized that strong ownership by key stakeholders largely determines ESP feasibility.
• An ESP is sensitive to the context. It includes an analysis of the vulnerabilities specific to a country. Vulnerabilities might for example include confl icts, disasters, and economic crises. An ESP must address preparedness, prevention, and risk mitigation in order to strengthen the resilience of the education system at all levels.
• An ESP pays attention to disparities. A sector plan should recognize that, within a country, there may be significant gender differences between girls and boys and inequalities between groups of students in their participation in education and the quality of education they receive. These groups may be defi ned for instance by their location, their socio-economic or ethnic characteristics, or their abilities. A credible sector plan must identify and attend to gender considerations across the plan, including where gender disparities intersect with other sources of disparity, and address the specifi c needs and opportunities of different groups.

Program Design

Causal Chain

Example of a program design

Plan costing and Financing

A credible ESP should be developed on the basis of a quantitative reference scenario projecting the development of the education system needs and resources requirements according to policy assumptions and targets:

• Enrolments are projected at every level, gender-disaggregated when relevant, using access and student flow indicators.