School-Based Management in Post-Conflict Central America : Undermining Civil Society and Making the Poorest Parents Pay

Abstract

School-based management (SBM) has been on the educational reform agenda of International Organisations (IOs) since the 1990s and is regarded as the most radical form of educational decentralisation.Although the models might differ, the main rationale given for the implementation of SBM is that by enhancing the participation of local stakeholders, decentralisation will lead to more efficient services and boost educational achievement.Most analysis of SBM programmes (SBMPs) evaluate the functioning of the programmes and their main outcomes.In this chapter, the focus shall be placed on the specific political and economic context that gave rise to the two first SBMPs in the Global South, namely, the Autonomous Schools Programme (ASP) in Nicaragua and the EDUCO Community-Managed Schools Programme in El Salvador.They were implemented at a time when major (post) conflict transformation processes in Central America (CA) were driven through the direct intervention by the Unites States (US) and their Agency for International Development (USAID).Since then, these SBMPs have been implemented in countries where IOs have great leverage, as in (post-) conflict countries (Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, etc.) or in countries that are undergoing significant political, social and economic change.Next to USAID, the World Bank is the major promoter of SBM and has continuously expanded its support for this kind of decentralized reform.A review of World Bank's lending portfolio over the years [2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006] shows that SBM projects amount to US$1.7 billion, representing approximately 18 per cent of total education financing (Barrera-Osorio et al. 2009).The EDUCO programme in particular has been cited as the best practice, arguing that the project was built on the experience of at least 500 community-run schools operating in conflict-affected areas in the 1980s.'When the country emerged from war, the new Ministry of Education launched Education with Community Participation (EDUCO), a programme that gave these schools official recognition and financial support.' (UNESCO 2011, p. 224).This appreciation has been highlighted in all the World Bank documents on the topic (see Jimenez et al.