Over three decades ago, international donors declared that there was a learning crisis in developing countries. In the years since, large investments have been made towards education, yet there has been an apparent relative lack of progress in student learning. This book unpicks this disparity, and explores the implications of evidence-based donor programming for quality education. It undertakes an in-depth analysis of the interventions financed by the main donors in primary education, such as infrastructure development, provision of instructional material, teacher training and community mobilization, and argues that the research undertaken during this period was unable to provide answers. The author outlines an alternative model for evidence generation that can assist in the design of relevant and targeted interventions for learning, to ultimately inform and improve future education programmes. Timely and radical, this book is essential reading for researchers and students in the fields of education research and education reform.

‘… reading this book was impossible to stop, and I highly recommend reading it from beginning to end … This is a worthwhile and timely book, which may be adopted by scholars at the beginning of their career in the field, students studying international and comparative education and perhaps most important by the policymakers in international organizations and in the countries that benefit from the support of the donors and those who contribute to the effort.’

Miri Yemini Source: International Journal of Educational Development