Abstract of "An Assessment of Educational Renewal and Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina" by Seth Spaulding

Author Abstract

Reform that is happening in BiH is the result of projects undertaken by organizations within the international community. Such projects are layered onto the present system (or lack of it) and few leave any local infrastructure behind once the training, seminars, research or other activities have been completed and the international project personnel leave the country. International programs that deal with education issues have their own suites of offices separate from government offices; personnel are not housed with local counterparts in local institutions and, although there are exceptions, there is little thought to the development of institutional frameworks to continue the work when international project personnel leave. The international community must move from the crisis mode of reacting to day-to-day political issues and to the immediate needs of school reconstruction to the longer-term mode of advising local authorities on the institutional development and processes necessary for medium and long-term reform and renovation of the education system. The first step in this direction might be the appointment of a full-time professional educational policy and planning expert in one of the international agencies to advise both international authorities and local authorities on alternate strategies for medium and step, to undertake a detailed sector analysis of the status of education (policy, planning, finance, teacher education, pre-school, higher, technical training, manpower development projects, etc.) with recommendations as to alternative scenarios for reform and development. Government authorities, in turn, should be encouraged to set up educational policy, planning, and management information systems at all levels. These units might be advised in early stages by international experts, but in the long run they should develop the capacity to coordinate reform activities and to be pro-active in seeking support for such reform. So far, government and institutional authorities at all levels have been mainly reactive, accepting whatever aid is offered by the international community, without concern for possible duplication or other dysfunctions. Of course, in a situation that is early in recovery from a crisis, this may be necessary, but the transition to medium and long-term planning and coordination by government authorities must begin now that physical reconstruction is well advanced.