Major development partners active in education and broad areas of interventions:


Asian Development Bank (ADB):

A total of 293 loans were provided from the concessional Asian Development Fund (soft loans) and from ordinary capital resources, with $192 million provided in grants for more than 300 technical assistance (TA) projects (ADB n.d.).

The Asian Development Bank projects focus on:

• Promoting good governance, inclusive social development and private sector development and enhancing improvements in primary and secondary education planning and management at central, provincial and district levels;
• Contributing towards reversing the devastating impact of the earthquake and thus revive economic activity; 
• Supporting improvement of the quality and relevance of skills training programmes to build a high quality workforce and thus reducing unemployment among rural and urban youths;
• Improving access and equity to primary school girls in rural areas and the efficiency of classroom learning through integration of teachers training (UNESCO 2007).

ILO: 

• Provides support towards Non-formal Education (NFE), Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Capacity building, awareness raising and Legislation.

UNDP: 

• Supports Universal Primary Education (UPE), adult literacy and non-formal basic education.

UNFPA: 

• Supports initiatives designed for population education, teacher education, girls' education.

UNICEF: 

Along with its partners UNICEF endeavours to develop and implement policies, procedures and mechanisms to:

• Reduce the number of girls out-of-school by at least 30 %; 
• Promote effective, high quality learning in schools that are child-friendly and attentive to the needs of girls and boys alike (UNICEF n.d.)

Additionally, UNICEF’s work in Pakistan includes:

• Supporting the Child-Friendly School (CFS) Project, thus enhancing equitable access to education and improving retention in and completion of primary schooling;
• Working with Basic Education and Employable Skill Training (BEST) for capacity development, especially in the area of social mobilization and improved governance;
• Encouraging and supporting advocacy, coordinated partnership in the provision of quality primary education;
• Helping develop and strengthen District Management Information System (DMIS) as well as supporting teacher training, water supply and sanitation at the school level (UNESCO 2007).

The World Bank (WB): 

In order to improve access to education, the Bank supports government programmes that focus explicitly on the achievement of results. Between 2004 and 2011, the World Bank’s IDA extended over US$1.1 billion to support increased investment and reform in the education sector in the 2 largest provinces in Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh. These efforts, including reforms in teacher recruitment and payment of stipends for girls’ attendance, have started to translate into increased enrolment rates.

Additionally, the work of the World Bank focus on: 

• Supporting the strengthening of training programmes to improve the skills set and employability of trainees;
• Supporting the provision of equitable access to quality and relevant education;
• Improving school facilities design and administer assessment mechanisms;
• Enhancing participation in education through innovative schemes for the excluded and vulnerable groups, thus reducing gender & regional disparities;
• Supporting improved teaching and learning conditions, as well as research for enhanced access, quality and relevance of tertiary education;
• Promoting Public-Private and Community Partnerships to improve access to quality primary education, in particular for girls (World Bank n.d.).

World Food Programme (WFP): 

• Supplies food aid to school girls (UNESCO 2007). 

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA): 

• Provides support to home-based schools, adult literacy, policy development, institutional development, teacher and head-teacher training, community mobilization under the primary education level  (UNESCO 2007).

Department for International Development (DFID) UK: 

• Promotes education quality through student learning assessment, efficient and effective local government, and knowledge based facilitation of higher education.

European Commission (EC): 

• Supports the improvement of elementary teachers’ skills/training in Northern area of the country.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ):

• Aids the development of national education planning and policy formulation, including organization development and infrastructure development;
• Promotes participatory education quality development, institution and capacity building, teacher professional development, teaching/learning materials development;
• Supports the country’s national basic education policy programme, designed to meet the needs of basic education for children in Pakistan (GTZ n.d.).

Japan: 

• Supports Literacy Management Information System (LMIS), infrastructure development of basic education and provision of equitable access to quality education.

Norway: 

• Encourages and supports Public-Private Partnership (PPP), capacity building and teacher training under primary sub-sector.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Departments: 

• Promotes the development of quality education in the target areas
• Supports scholarship programme, research activities and extension projects (UNESCO 2007)
• Trains education administrators and teachers in management 
• Helps develop national standards as well as a licensing and accreditation system for teachers
• Provides technical assistance in Pakistani universities
• Provides continued support for Pakistan-US collabourations between universities and higher education institutions, including The Fulbright Programme (World Bank n.d.)