The EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) Team commissioned to the UNESCO Section of
Education Policy Analysis and Strategies (ED/ESB/EPS) a case study for estimating the costs
of achieving EFA in three African countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and
Sudan). A few criteria are taken into consideration in selecting these three countries,
including: the size of population, the challenges faced by the case study countries in achieving
EFA, focus on Africa and the complexity of conducting costing exercises due to lack of
comprehensive policies and data.
Several objectives have been attached to this study, which are not limited to the following:
1. Provide a detailed analysis of the resource requirements, including financial, for
achieving the EFA goals in three case study countries, from a sector-wide education
development perspective.
2. Analyse and evaluate different policy and financing strategies and options associated
with reaching marginalised groups within case study countries.
3. Estimate external financing gaps according to distinctive policy assumptions and
evaluate the feasibility of the scenarios used to generate the estimated costs.
Four scenarios, customized to fit case study countries’ educational structures and contexts,
had to be prepared, with necessary cross-country comparative analysis according to the
assumptions and findings of these scenarios:
1. Status-quo scenario, to assess the resource implications of achieving EFA goals based
on past trends of education development and existing cost structures.
2. National plan scenario, to examine the resource implications and feasibility of
available policies and strategies contained in national education plans and
programmes.
3. FTI benchmarks, to appraise the implications of achieving EFA goals based on FTIproposed
benchmarks.
4. “Inclusion” scenario, addressing marginalisation in education and including more
detailed strategies for reaching and teaching the marginalised, in a sector-wide
development framework.
To this end, a costing template was developed based on UNESCO-designed generic model,
called Education Policy and Strategy Simulation (EPSSim), which was further customized to
reflect the specifics of selected country structures.
Three staff members of the UNESCO Sector of Education Policy Analysis and Strategies
(ED/ESB/EPS) have been mobilized to conduct the costing exercise in each of the selected
countries, with help from local experts (Ibrahim El-Dasis for Sudan, François Kubindikila for
Democratic Republic of Congo and Rosemary Nwangwu for Nigeria).
Part 2 of the document comprises the three country case studies which formed the synthesis
(Part 1). Assumptions and data sources used to conduct simulations are presented and
explained in each of the following case studies.