Date of Award

1-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational Policy and Leadership

Content Description

1 online resource (xiii, 182 pages) : illustrations (some color) ; color map.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Gilbert A Valverde

Committee Members

Daniel C Levy, Alan P Wagner

Keywords

Aid to Education, International Educational Development, Economic assistance, Economic assistance, American, Education

Subject Categories

Education Policy

Abstract

This dissertation explores the allocation patterns of the official development assistance (ODA) by the World Bank (WB) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in eighteen developing countries of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and South Asia (SA) for the time-period, 1990-2015. Differing perspectives have been offered by researchers on donor motivations for ODA allocation such as ethical drivers, influence of endogenous country characteristics (educational, socio-political factors of recipient nations) and exogenous considerations (interest of the donor agency) as well as the role of international commitments. This study uses exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques to evaluate relevant hypotheses about ODA allocation for education projects. Educational, economic, socio-political, and international strategic factors are identified, a database with 2519 projects is created, and statistical procedures are employed to test the relationship of ODA allocations with predictor variables. Results indicate that both donor agencies have prioritized allocating ODA to primary education in those countries pursuing EFA goals. Additionally, a comparison of ODA allocations decisions made by the principal multilateral donor (WB) and the principal bilateral donor (USAID) has also been made. I find that there exists a diversity in the ODA allocations by each agency with regards to the factors that were studied through three different scenarios (i.e., for each agency separately, and for both agencies together). Through this study, I find mixed evidence which does not fully align with the hypotheses developed during the literature review, that greater ODA is allocated to countries whose educational and economic need is greatest, whose human rights ratings are fair, are democratic and of greater strategic interest to the United States.

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