Series contains records related to the partnerships between education sector units and external organizations and global program collaboration that cover the period from 1987 to 2000. The largest portion of records in the series relate to the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA), an inter-agency initiative that began with a conference to universalize basic education and that launched the Education for All (EFA) program.

World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA)

The WCEFA records document the establishment, governance, and proceedings of the conference convened by World Bank, United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations and Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The impetus for the conference was the United Nations General Assembly declaration of 1990 as International Literacy Year. Invitations to the inaugural WCEFA were jointly sent from Bank President Conable and the heads of fellow sponsoring agencies. The conference was held March 2-5, 1990, in Jomtien, Thailand and brought together 155 governments, 33 intergovernmental bodies, and 125 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The participants adopted the World Declaration on Education for All charter consisting of six goals to meet the learning needs of children, youth, and adults, and a Framework for Action: Meeting Basic Learning Needs that outlined general priority actions for countries.

WCEFA records were mostly maintained by Wadi Haddad, executive secretary of the WCEFA Inter-agency Commission originally based in New York City, and WCEFA Deputy Executive Secretary Nat J. Colletta. For more information about the custody of these records, see the above archival history section. Haddad and Colletta were both senior Bank staff prior to their appointment to the Inter-agency Commission secretariat. Haddad served as the Population and Human Resources, Education and Employment Division chief (PHREE) and Colletta was previously a senior educator in the Bank's India Country Department. WCEFA records were also maintained by Maris O'Rourke who represented the Bank on conference committees during her tenure as senior adviser, Human Development Department (HDD, 1995 - 1996) and director, Human Development Network, Education Team (HDNED, 1998 - 2000). Prior to O'Rourke, other Education Sector senior management or advisers represented the Bank on the various committees and working groups. Adriaan Verspoor, implementation adviser (PHREE, predecessor of HDD), served to represent the Bank on the WCEFA Executive Committee along with Vice President Visvanathan Rajagopalan, Sector Policy and Research (PRE).

The earliest WCEFA records in this series dated 1978 to 1987 are reference items including external reports and a journal article. Most of the early correspondence includes letters and facsimiles between UNICEF and other UN agency representatives and Executive Secretary Haddad. Haddad coordinated the consultations and comments on the draft charter and framework for action from sponsors, co-sponsors, and associates prior to the conference. The correspondence is often filed with background reports from UNICEF and UNESCO and other organizations and consultants, outlines of the basic working documents, some annotated outlines, first drafts of the charter and framework for action, and the final revised papers presented at the 1990 Jomtien conference. There is also correspondence and back-to-office reports of Deputy Secretary Colletta following his participation in partnership or task force meetings and a file that pre-dates his position with WCEFA. This includes an India education sector work file that contains country information, statistics on projects, and initiating memoranda for proposed studies and projects (1987 - 1989).

The earliest WCEFA records in this series dated 1978 to 1987 are reference items including external reports and a journal article. Most of the early correspondence includes letters and facsimiles between UNICEF and other UN agency representatives and Executive Secretary Haddad. Haddad coordinated the consultations and comments on the draft charter and framework for action from sponsors, co-sponsors, and associates prior to the conference. The correspondence is often filed with background reports from UNICEF and UNESCO and other organizations and consultants, outlines of the basic working documents, some annotated outlines, first drafts of the charter and framework for action, and the final revised papers presented at the 1990 Jomtien conference. There is also correspondence and back-to-office reports of Deputy Secretary Colletta following his participation in partnership or task force meetings and a file that pre-dates his position with WCEFA. This includes an India education sector work file that contains country information, statistics on projects, and initiating memoranda for proposed studies and projects (1987 - 1989).

The series also contains a substantial portion of meeting records related to the organization and governance of the WCEFA. These are: Steering Group Meeting (1988 - 1990, first meeting October 1989) including proposals for membership and chronological file, (1987 - 1990); regional consultations (1989 - 1990); Working Group on the Basic Education for All Conference (1988 - 1989); Executive Committee meetings (first meeting in Paris, March 1989 - 1990); heads of agencies meeting (1988 - 1990); sponsors meetings (1989); Regional Conference and International Task Force on Literacy and regional consultations minutesand reports (1989 - 1990). Most files contain agenda, minutes, and correspondence, however others may only contain list of participants and annexed reports or briefing notes.

There are also agreements between the WCEFA sponsors and host government of Thailand, preliminary conference objectives notes, conference programme and roundtable programmes in English and French, and numerous conference workshop files (1989). Workshop files on basic training for out-of-school youth contain the agenda, list of participants, terms of reference, externally authored background reports, case studies, journal articles, and pamphlets. Other workshops on the topics of adult literary and data analysis and presentation include terms of reference, summary record, and correspondence from Deputy Executive Secretary Colletta regarding workshop preparation.

Other WCEFA files are titled "Illustrative" and "Thematic" (1978 - 1990). Illustrative files contain conference pamphlets, abstracts, background papers, case studies, and othersession materials distributed to participants. Thematic files contain guidelines, publications, and special studies booklets for roundtables organized by the secretariat, lists of proposed thematic or global roundtables, draft outlines, notes for the record, and correspondence with roundtable coordinators and attached proposals from sponsoring agency representatives regarding contributions. Some thematic files contain abstracts and background reports as in the illustrative files. Abstracts, or synthes, arecommonly in both English and French. Several reports and publications presented or studied at the roundtable sessions were prepared by Bank education staff. The earliest report is the 1978 World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 298 by Stephen P. Heyneman, Education Department Research Program (EDCRS) and co-authors.

WCEFA subject files (1984 - 1992) relate to topics including: WCEFA partners and participants such as UN agencies, government aid agencies, NGOs, private foundations, and various countries; conference declaration and press coverage; and cultural factors and learning needs.

The 1990 Jomtien conference launched the international Education for All (EFA) program with the financial support of the Bank and the other conference conveners as well as various foundations and international and nongovernmental organizations. As of 2021, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), formerly EFA, continues to fund projects, activities, and services in the public and private sectors for children, youth, and adults within and outside school. This series contains records concerning the Bank's participation in post-conference EFA initiatives and meetings. These records pertain to the International Consultative Forum on Education for All Steering Committee established to monitor goals and progress towards the Education for All program (1997 - 2000), the G8 Task Force on Education organized with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in (2001), Accelerating Action for Education for All, Amsterdam (2002), and Education for All Fast Track Initiative (EFA - FTI) donor meeting and technical meeting (2002 - 2003). FTI was established in 2002 before evolving into the GPE. There is also a general Education for All initiative partnerships file (1997 - 2000).

Other liaison and partnership files

Other partnership records comprising the series (1994 - 2001, 2007) mostly consist of correspondence to and from HDNED Director O'Rourke and other senior staff concerning the sector's collaboration and liaison activitieswith numerous international and national organizations, academic institutions, and private sector education and employment institutions.

A small portion of records were created by Director Ruth Kagia who succeeded O'Rourke as director in 2001. The partnership files document the sector's involvement in high-level meetings including the arrangement and proceedings of meetings, and discussion of shared activities and collaboration. Correspondence consists of all-in-one notes and email hard copies, memoranda, incoming and outgoing letters, and facsimiles. Back-to-office reports are in the form of memoranda. Other record types found among the correspondence include external annual reports, agenda and invitations to meetings or conferences, proposal papers, brochures, and copies of external articles.

Records regarding partnership activities with UNESCO and other United Nations agencies comprise most of the files. There is a single file concerning UNESCO partnership dated 2007 and two files related to the UN Special Rapporteur Katarina Tomasevski which contains correspondence with Director Kagia, Human Development Network Vice Presidency, and others. The topics covered are Bank financing and support to education programs, draft annual report for comment and final annual report to United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and feedback on an HDNED Education Sector Strategy Paper.

Other partner institutions include, but are not limited to: European Union; Soros Foundation; Japan International Cooperation Agency; International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA); and World Links. There are also individual files concerning the Human Development Professional Mentoring Program (1997), Development Grant Facility (DGF, 1997 - 1999), and various conferences (1996 - 1997).

Series consists of records related to the development of policy and best practice for projects and sector work in education and employment that were created and maintained by the Education Department (EDT, 1972 - 1977 later EDC 1977 - 1984) and its successor units. The series represents the policy working papers, guidelines, standards, and other instruments prepared by the sector as well as the collection and analysis of guidelines, manuals, and other tools developed by other Bank departments and external organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The series also reflects the activities of external advisory panels formed to make recommendations regarding the Bank's education policy. Records were predominantly created between 1972 to 2003, apart from a small number of externally authored reports from the 1960s.

The largest volume of records relate to educational guidelines mostly maintained by the Education Department (EDC) Implementation Advisor David H. Lewis who reported to the EDC director. Files contain guidelines, reports, and internal memoranda between Lewis and Director Duncan S. Ballantine and his successor Aklilu Habte, Senior Advisor Mats Hultin, or regional Education Projects Division architects. Certain records were also created by EDC Educator Clifford W. Gilpin. Guidelines records are organized by subject and cover the topics of operational guidelines, school construction, architectural standards by country, basic learning equipment in education projects, and analytical data. Guidelines were developed for sector staff, consultants, and region staff to maintain and improve the quality of Bank lending and related operations.

Operational guidelines

Records categorized as operational guidelines mostly relate to the discussion and dissemination of guidelines regarding Bank education projects. Guidelines pertain to organizing project appraisal, implementation, procurement practices, preparation of project reports, architectural space and unitappraisal costs, technical assistance, maintenance of education facilities, implementation of construction components and basic equipment in education projects, sector report guidelines, and more. The guidelines are typically in the form of report or sector memoranda prepared by the Education Department but also include jointly prepared user guides, Operations Evaluation Department (OED) guidelines, and "Introduction to the World Bank's Manpower and Education Model" manual prepared by Technical Department,Europe, Middle East, and North Africa Region (1987). Internal memoranda within the files are mainly addressed to EDC Director Habte and contains Lewis' reports on seminars and conferences attended, discussion of changes and approach to the project cycle, and Bank activities in financing educational facilities. Other record types found within the operational guidelines files are charts illustrating project development, job descriptions, and conference papers.

Analytical data

Analytical data records are mostly in the form of internal memoranda, such as from EDC director to EDC staff or to all Regional Education Division staff regarding global data on education enrollment, education and training lending, comparative education indicators, and more. Data tables outlining figures or standard measurements of these data sets are sometimes filed with memoranda.

Architectural standards and school construction guidelines

Records related to architectural standards and school construction contain research reports and guidelines specifying the dimensions and materials for construction of schools as well as for school furniture and equipment. Reports are mostly UNESCO Regional Office design protocol reports shared by Lewis with the other regional architects for projects. However, there are also United States Agency for Aid Development (USAID) and international institutes external reports and guidelines used as reference.

Architectural standards records are organized by country or region. Several files relate to primary school building programs, urban primary schools, low-cost school and housing design, and community development and education centers. Internal memoranda from Lewis to regional staff to share information and details on prototype designs and features, costs, partners, village involvement, progress reported, and occasionally, brief mention of IDA education projects. There are also outgoing letters to UNESCO regional office education officials. Other records within the files include: costing or budget sheets; external reports or manuals, many of which were prepared by the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Asia and UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa, and in Latin America and Caribbean; external reports of country ministries or research institutes; and an architects' brief. The external reports are mostly in English, French, and Farsi.

UNESCO project preparation guidelines

Also included in the series are records related to UNESCO guidelines for project preparation including a 1965 UNESCO low-cost school building report and recommendations, and a 1969 UNESCO report. There is also a substantive briefing note on UNESCO and World Bank relations in the education sector that was prepared by the Education and Employment Division, Population and Human Resources Department (PHREE) in 1988.

Other guidelines subject files

There are numerous other educational guidelines subject files maintained between 1973 and 1983 regarding data collection, project management, educational use of mass media, labor requirements model, education and manpower model, review of education lending (FY1979 - 1983), summary list of projects, and other topics.

The more recent policy development subject files (1990 to 2001) relate to: Education for All Fast Track initiative (EFA-FTI); girls' education; Development Assistance Committee (DAC) goals; Africa Region education action plan and sector overview; and Task Force on Bridging the Digital Divide through Education.

External Advisory Panels

The series also contains records related to the establishment and dissemination of reports from advisory groups between 1978 and 2003. The External Advisory Group on Training for the Education Sector was appointed by Bank President McNamara in late 1977 to review the status of education in the developing world including the Bank's education and training lending and projects and to recommend areas for future action. The panel was chaired by David E. Bell of the Ford Foundation. Records related to the final report of this panel were maintained in the Non-Regional Information Center (NRIC) and consist of a single file (1978 - 1980). The NRIC file contains mostly internal memoranda to and from Director Habte regarding comments on the panel report issued in 1978 and input from the Regions including from R.K. Johnson, chief Education Division, East Asia and Pacific Region (AEPED). There are also letters between Chair David E. Bell and President McNamara regarding completion of the final report and from Habte to panel members announcing the 1979 Education Sector Strategy paper and follow up on the panel recommendations. Also included is a letter from Vice President Willi A. Wapenhans, East Africa Regional Office to the Tanzanian minister of education regarding a requested visit of the recently formed advisory panel to Tanzania.

Records also reflect the establishment and activities of subsequent advisory panels formed annually to advise the Bank on the future direction in education covering the period 1994 to 2003. The 1994 to 1995 correspondence andbackground notes relates to the formation of the first annual panel formed in 1996. Records were primarily maintained by the Human Development Department Education Team (HDDED) Manager, later Director Maris O'Rourke. Correspondence is in the form of all-in-1 notes and email hard copies and facsimiles between O'Rourke, HDD Director David de Ferranti, HDD senior staff, and letters to and from panel members including invitations to annual panel meetings. There are also copies of correspondence between the 1997 External Advisory Panel on Education Chairman Jozef (Jo) M.M. Ritzen and de Ferranti and Bank President James Wolfensohn, including a facsimile on advice to the World Bank addressed to Wolfensohn and follow up thank you letters from Wolfensohn to Ritzen and other panel members.

A variety of records are filed with the advisory panel correspondence including: Terms of Reference for the panels; panel meeting agenda; meeting draft conclusions; preliminary and final panel reports; Ritzen?s speech on reforming education to the World Bank Forum; transcript of the newly formed Human Development Network (HDN) kick-off meeting between de Ferranti and Wolfensohn; agenda and summaries of meetings including sector board meetings and correspondence related to the board's functions regarding the panels; hard copy presentation slides; addresses by Wolfensohn and senior management; issues papers; education sector booklet and other promotional material; external articles and newsletters; two copies of the 1978 panel report, one bound copy, kept by O'Rourke; and agenda with outgoing letters of invitation sent by O'Rourke for the high-level UNESCO meeting on the future of educational statistics and indicators hosted by the Bank. Following O'Rourke?s departure as director in 2000, Acting Director Marlaine Lockheed and HDNED Operations Officer Sobhana Sosale were involved in panel selection and meeting preparations, later under the direction of Ruth Kagia who began her tenure as director in early 2001. There is a small volume of mostly administrative correspondence from this period to 2003, including internal email hard copies and letters to panel members.

Education Sector Strategy Paper

There are also records in the series (1997 - 1999) regarding the preparation of the Education Sector Strategy issued in 1999 to shape policy and practice in member countries. Records were primarily maintained by Director O'Rourke, Adviser Jeffrey Waite, and Projects Assistant Anja Robakowski-Van Stralen. Record types include handwritten notes, concept papers, preliminary outlines and drafts beginning from late 1997, several with annotations, and the draft final report submitted to the Board of Executive Directors' meeting (1999). Correspondence is in the form of hard copy emails and occasionally internal memoranda primarily to and from O'Rourke and Waite containing comments from the sector board, external individuals, executive directors, and other Bank department staff including from the regions and the Operations Evaluation Department (OED). There is also an OED evaluative report and Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE) informal subcommittee review meeting summaries, as well as correspondence and outlines of plans for strategy development, such as the timeline for implementation of the sector strategy work in the regions. Also included are O'Rourke's memoranda to the Operations Policy Committee presenting the paper and data collected, summaries of meetings with HDNED staff and regional staff to discuss the strategy paper, and summaries of other meetings such as with Wolfensohn regarding the status of education in the regions.

Annual reviews

A small portion of records in the series contains correspondence related to the internal review of Bank policy in the education and employment sectors (1983 - 1986), including copies of the operations annual review, Sector and Operations Vice Presidency (OSP) annual sector review, and Operations Evaluation Department (OED) annual reviews. Among the correspondence are draft reports and papers used for background and reference material.

NRIC policy reports and documents

Finally, there are four general policy files originally maintained in the NRIC that contain various reports and other records produced by Education Department (EDC) senior staff, consultants, and others (1978 - 1980). Included in the files are: OED Review of Bank Operations in the Education Sector (1978); Education Sector Policy Report No. 2680 (1979); Policy Review Committee Staff level review meeting on the Education Department, Central Projects Staff Education Sector Policy Paper (1979) and policy paper discussion drafts (1978 - 1979); Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Bank Cooperative Program "Training Equipment Lists in Food and Agriculture" publication with a forward by Habte (1978); and the publication entitled "Occupational structures of industries" by Manuel Zymelman (1980) containing country tables and industry tables.