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.