U.S. State and USAID Strategic Plan Includes Broad Education Goals

State and USAID have strategic goals specific to promoting improved  education. 3). The agency supports basic education by providing  school meals or take-home rations to students overseas and by facilitating  the sale of food commodities to support basic education programs in  communities. From fiscal  years 2001 to 2006, there was no government-wide mechanism to facilitate  interagency collaboration and, as a result, at the headquarters level we  identified instances where agencies missed opportunities to collaborate  and maximize U.S. resources. In  addition, we found that the level of U.S. coordination with host  governments and other donors in the eight countries we visited also varied. Without effective coordination, donors cannot easily monitor or assess the  host government’s progress toward achieving international goals, such as  Education for All by 2015, one of State-USAID’s strategic goals. The Level of U.S. Assessing Basic Education Programs’ Quality Results Is Difficult

While U.S. agencies we reviewed conduct basic education-related activities  to achieve different goals, most assess and report on the results of their  activities by collecting and using output measures–-or the direct products  and services delivered by a program, such as numbers of schools built or  children enrolled. Without this information,  agency officials cannot determine if programs are achieving their strategic  goals. For example, DOL primarily uses education activities  as a mechanism for alleviating child labor and reports on children  removed or prevented from exploitive work. Recommendations for Executive Action

To enhance efforts to coordinate and better assess the results of U.S.  international basic education-related activities, we are making three  recommendations:  to improve interagency coordination of basic education efforts at  headquarters in Washington, we recommend that the Secretary of State  work with the heads of executive branch agencies responsible for  international basic education-related assistance to convene formal,  periodic meetings at the headquarters level amongst cognizant officials;  to improve interagency coordination in recipient countries, we  recommend that the Secretary of State direct the relevant countries’  Ambassadors to establish a mechanism to formally coordinate U.S.  agencies’ implementation of international basic education-related  activities in the relevant country; and  to better assess the results of U.S. basic education assistance, we  recommend that the Secretary of State, through the DFA, work with  USAID and to the extent practicable, with other U.S. agencies providing  basic education related-assistance to develop a plan to identify  indicators that would help agencies track improvements in access to  quality education. Scope and Methodology

To describe U.S. agencies’ basic education activities and how the activities  are planned, we obtained and analyzed strategic, budget, and  programmatic documents for fiscal years 2001 through 2006 from the  Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), and  State (State), as well as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the  United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the  Peace Corps. GAO Comments

1. 2.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pub. L. No. 109-102, section 567, mandated that GAO analyze U.S. international basic education efforts overseas. In this report, GAO (1) describes U.S. agencies' basic education activities and how the agencies plan them; (2) examines U.S. coordination of basic education efforts among U.S. agencies, and with host governments and international donors; and (3) examines how U.S. agencies assess the results of their basic education programs. In conducting this work, GAO obtained and analyzed relevant agencies' documents and met with U.S. and foreign government officials and nongovernmental organizations, traveling to selected recipient countries.

What GAO Found

Several U.S. agencies--the Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), and State, as well as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Peace Corps--support basic education activities overseas. State and USAID have strategic goals specific to promoting improved education. Several other U.S. agencies support basic education-related activities as part of programs that address their broader mission goals. For example, DOL supports alternative school programs as a way to remove children from exploitative work, USDA provides school meals or take-home rations to students, and DOD constructs dormitories and schools to provide better access for children who have to travel long distances to attend classes. GAO found that agencies did not always coordinate in the planning or delivery of basic education-related activities. From 2001 to 2006, there was no government-wide mechanism to facilitate interagency collaboration and, as a result, GAO identified instances where agencies missed opportunities to collaborate and maximize U.S. resources. In addition, GAO found that the level of U.S. coordination with host governments and other donors in the eight visited countries varied. Without effective coordination, donors cannot easily monitor or assess the host government's progress toward achieving international goals, such as Education for All by 2015, one of State-USAID's strategic goals. While U.S. agencies GAO reviewed conduct basic education-related programs to achieve different goals, most collect and use output measures, such as the numbers of schools built or children enrolled, to assess and report on results. USAID is the only agency with an education-specific goal of increasing access to quality basic education. However, in many instances, USAID faces challenges in collecting valid and reliable data needed to measure improvements in education quality. Without this information, agency officials cannot fully determine if the programs are achieving their strategic goals.