Results in Education for All Children (REACH) : annual report 2016

This Annual Report tracks progress made by the Results in Education for All Children (REACH) initiative during 2016. The report outlines contributions to building the knowledge base around results-based financing (RBF) and developing operational expertise and capacity among World Bank Group (WBG) Education staff and country clients in applying RBF approaches. REACH’s mission is to support efforts toward more and better education services, especially to those most excluded, by helping country systems focus more sharply on results. In line with the WBG’s Education Strategy 2020, REACH supports the institution’s efforts to build evidence on what works for a systems approach to education reforms and investments. It complements the WBG’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) diagnostic and benchmarking platform and its growing portfolio of RBF operations in the education sector. To achieve these goals, REACH has established three primary pillars of activities: i) Country Program Grants (CPG) – REACH provides larger financing to RBF schemes that strengthen country systems in specific IDA1 countries; ii) Knowledge, Learning and Innovation (KLI) Grants – REACH provides smaller financing to RBF schemes in IDA and IBRD2 countries that will contribute to the global evidence base; and iii) Capacity-Building and Learning around RBF – REACH also organizes capacity building and learning events, maintains a website on global knowledge in RBF and provides just-in-time support to WBG teams and clients on projects with RBF components. Demand from WBG teams and country clients alike to better understand RBF and its applications in various contexts is high and growing. Both staff and country clients are keen to use RBF to center policy dialogue on results. REACH has been able to offer concrete support to WBG teams and country clients by providing funding and technical assistance to help countries raise the bar toward better education quality, and reaching highly vulnerable children still excluded from education systems.