Comments

Thank you for your positive feedback, Bill. In the case of donor-supported educational development projects, I fully agree with you about how little attention has been given to learning among the major donors from cases of long-term sustainable scaling and would go further and argue that there has been limited learning about long-term outcomes of success and failure, especially over the past two decades. Previous learning, in the case of Australian international development, encapsulated in the very clear and practical AusGuides, has been largely lost. Further, the point you make about action which is culturally congruent, inclusive, and locally owned is critical and one that I have drawn attention to in an April 2021 DevPolicyBlog reviewing the very important work of Gerard Guthrie on this theme.

Thank you for adding to this discussion, Ryan. The early INPRES experience is illuminating as it has parallels with the more recent large-scale government intervention during decentralisation of implementing school based management. The evidence there shows general success although it varies considerably across schools and is often fragile. In a similar way, INPRES schools, notwithstanding their benefits, were also ‘fragile’ in the sense that field observation demonstrated the deleterious impact of a lack of maintenance so common in infrastructure development. Thank you also for drawing attention the List’s work.

I have long been a great admirer of Sir Mek. He was truly a great Prime Minister and an exemplary Leader. His birthday and accomplishments should be celebrated in the same light as those of the founding fathers. I wonder if there will be another Sir Mek? He was and will always remain a great man.

I appreciate your post, Robert. It reminded me of this recent SSIR article, 'Scale Really Matters' - https://ssir.org/articles/entry/scale-really-matters. I liked this quote: "In this vision of scale, the role of the NGO—and, hence, of philanthropy—is to develop solutions that can be scaled via governments, prove and refine those solutions, and then work with government to achieve ownership and adoption." It is a slightly different lens on the same topic, but I think scale and sustainability are critical to ponder. Thanks for prompting us to do so!

This is a valuable piece. Thanks Robert! It's striking how little attention is given to learning from cases of long-term sustainable scaling. I think there is another connection worth mentioning - sustainable scaling involves low-cost, large-scale systems change which scales because collective action which is culturally congruent and inclusive (and therefore locally owned) produces sustained flows of benefits by enlarging the common good.

Thanks for the interesting post. One thing I found striking was the timeline: going to 1971, this covers the INPRES school building era, which was entirely funded with domestic funds from oil revenues, as far as I recall. And there is a lot of serious evidence on the impacts of that program at serious scale with respect to time, location, and spillovers. What changed since then? Was it just the nature of how the money was spent, and that the supply side was the lowest-hanging fruit? I was also surprised to not see any reference to John List's writing on this topic or the work that has been going on for many years at Yale (through their Y-RISE initiative). Prof Imran Rasul's recent piece in Science provides a good synthesis, in my view: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef8482 Best, Ryan

This is a powerful and important connection that often gets overlooked. Framing violence against women as part of the climate crisis helps show how environmental stressors don’t just damage ecosystems—they also deepen existing social inequalities and risks. It’s a reminder that climate policy has to be human-centered, addressing safety and protection alongside environmental action.

Thank you Prof. Mola for continuing to raise these issues. It's easy to get demotivated and give up in the face of government inaction and cultural challenges. Many countries continue to show similar, sad situations with little hope in the medium term.

Thank you, Anura, for your thoughtful and compassionate reflection. I completely agree that the suffering of displaced children is a global tragedy that extends far beyond one community or one border. While this blog focuses on Afghan refugee children, it also speaks for millions of vulnerable children around the world whose education, dignity, and futures are threatened by conflict, poverty, and displacement. I truly hope these stories continue to raise awareness and inspire meaningful action for those too often forgotten.

So sad is this story, not only Afghan children but many others around this confused world. Regretful and painful stories are many among Rohingya. Turning to Pakistan, the country is going through a challenging task of schooling its own children. The school drop-outs count over several millions. Many girls in rural areas cannot go to school, not because there are no schools but women teachers are lacking. It’s a cultural issue where a girl is not allowed to walk to school is yet another challenge. Women literacy rate in former Tribal districts is near zero. With many girls unable to school at present, they would add to the illiterate population of women in the near future. We need a transformation to break this vicious cycle.

Greatest Leadership under PNGs darkest economic times. He proved that it can definitely be done!!!

Thanks Robin Is it time to resurrect an enhanced source of foreign aid coming from a Tobin Tax - originally intended to penalize short-term financial round-trip excursions into another currency. I am well aware it did not get much traction while wealthy countries did give increasing shares of their income as foreign aid. But now ?