Education is one of the surest means we have to end poverty and boost shared prosperity, but much of this potential is lost if students do not acquire the literacy and numeracy in school that they need to succeed in life.
Achieving learning for all children and youth will require moving beyond simply financing the inputs that education systems need, to strengthening these systems to deliver results. This, in turn, implies aligning governance, financing rules, incentives, and management practices with the ultimate goal of better learning outcomes, especially for children from the world’s poorest families—for whom access to quality education remains deeply inequitable. There is growing demand from countries for Results-Based Financing (RBF), which is a promising set of tools to help achieve this critical alignment within education systems.
RBF is an umbrella term that refers to any program that rewards the delivery of one or more outputs or outcomes by one or more incentives, financial or otherwise, upon verification that the agreed-upon result has actually been delivered. Incentives may be directed to ministries, provinces, districts, or service providers such as schools (supply side), program beneficiaries such as students or parents (demand side), or both. It can refer to donor financing, government financing, or both.
The World Bank Group’s level of support for RBF in education has been increasing, following the successful adoption of a related approach in the health sector. This trend has strategic implications in the post-2015 period. RBF could have a substantial impact in terms of achieving results that matter in education, and in helping countries leverage the financial resources needed to achieve the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals agenda.