Paper short abstract:

UK aid programmes like the multimillion Girls Education Challenge rely on private contractors to provide monitoring and evaluation. A critical political economy analysis shows how such approaches reinforce north-south power imbalances whilst also illuminating opportunities to enhance localisation.

Paper long abstract:

The Girls Education Challenge (GEC) was a long-running, multimillion pound UK aid fund dedicated to the provision of quality education and learning for over 1 million marginalised girls. A consortium of largely UK private sector actors were responsible for the financial management, and the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of GEC programmes implemented in 17 countries. The paper draws on interviews with implementing organisations in several African countries, conducted as part of a 3.5 year research programme on the role of for-profit consultants and contractors in UK aid.

A critical political economy perspective allows for the analysis of north-south and public-private dynamics in the GEC M&E consortia model. The analysis shows how the design and delivery of M&E processes in the GEC were dominated by top-down approaches. The findings raised concerns about the extent to which M&E processes were excessive, undermined programme delivery, and reinforced knowledge and expertise about ‘what works’ in aid for education among contractors in the global north, risking further disempowerment of development actors in the global south.

However, there was also evidence that local actors were emboldened by their experience of M&E processes in the GEC. Some argued that rigid financial monitoring should be a vehicle for increasing trust – and financial flows - between donors and local implementers. Here, the critical political economy perspective serves as a point of departure for discussing whether and how M&E might be a vehicle for enhancing the autonomy and resourcing of local actors through aid for education and skills.