LILONGWE, April 26, 2016 – After a four-year textbook drought, a truck laden with textbooks arrived at Malimbwe Primary School in Mitundu, central Malawi in February. This was a result of joint efforts by civil society and the community supported by the World Bank’s social accountability program to address a major problem derailing primary education outcomes in Malawi.
The World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) is financing complementary projects by the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) and Care Malawi, aimed at strengthening accountability and the effectiveness of textbook distribution. Each project costs up to $1 million, and both will close in 2017.
The two leading organizations, along with partners such as the Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC), have developed a tool for parents and teachers to keep track of textbook delivery in their schools, and have trained them in the use of the tool. Other existing structures such as the school management committees, parent-teachers associations, and mother groups have been empowered to monitor deliveries.