Introducing social accountability to a hierarchical school governance system

"Parents now worry about the quality of education. Before parents just gave money to the schools." Mayor of Bugat County

"There are now thousands of herder families involved in school activities, improving dormitories, and collaborating with district chiefs. County leaders have accepted working with PTAs and there is trust." Member of a Parent-Teacher Association in Orhon County

In Mongolia, when children in rural regions and among herding communities reach school age, their parents hand over guardianship to the school authorities, and there is usually little further interaction between the two parties. Parents entrust the schools with their children’s learning and well-being, and children are housed in dormitories.

Traditionally, schools in these communities are often hierarchical and teacher-centric and do not necessarily prioritize the welfare and emotional needs of their students. For example, dormitories are often in a state of disrepair.

The educational system also lacks mechanisms for accountability to stakeholders. Parents are not encouraged to channel their views to school authorities or teachers and refrain from voicing concerns for fear that their children will be singled out. Teachers, too, have limited options to provide feedback on school leadership, because principals can influence teachers’ salaries.

The success of social accountability mechanisms in this type of context requires a change in culture.

Changing the culture of education one parent-teacher association at a time

Through the GPSA-funded project “Transparency and Accountability in Mongolian Education” (TAME), the partner civil society organizations, Globe International Center and All for Education, took on this challenge. The project ran from 2014-2018 in eight provinces in central and western Mongolia known for their remoteness and for being home to many minority groups, which traditionally have done worst economically and academically than their Mongolian peers.

The project aimed to strengthen civic engagement in the education sector to improve educational services at the school and district levels. The establishment of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) was a major part of the project’s strategy and over the course of the project, 31 PTAs and a National School Parent Teacher Association were established.

The project’s evaluation found that these PTAs had played a critical role in improving school governance by creating space for dialogue and feedback within the school system. The PTAs also offered a way for parents to get involved in school improvement efforts, including by volunteering their time and donating money and in-kind contributions to the schools. This resulted in better delivery of school services, including improvements to dormitories and other school infrastructure. The PTAs also boosted student well-being. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, PTAs actively worked with the schools and teachers to help students with their distance learning efforts.

The evaluation concluded that the PTAs were positive catalysts of school governance reforms.

Being a catalyst for change

The GPSA also aims to be a catalyst for change. The support the GPSA provides to its civil society partners is not only to undertake effective social accountability but to help catalyze changes in behavior that can be taken up beyond the life of the grant. Success is achieved when components of a grant, like the PTAs, are taken up by the government, civil society, and other donors in other locations, sector policies, or projects. Several other external funders have since the TAME project financially supported PTAs in Mongolia, including Mercy Corps, World Vision, the Embassy of Japan, UNICEF, and GIZ.

In the case of Mongolia, the impact of the TAME project goes beyond the PTAs and the positive effects they have produced at the school level. It has contributed to internalizing social accountability within the wider government as shown by the establishment of initiatives such as E-Mongolia and Smart Government that solicit citizen feedback. A World Bank project has also been initiated that seeks to deepen social accountability processes in the health sector.

In Mongolia, the seed money from the GPSA, while in the scheme of the World Bank development financing is small, has been a catalyst for community participation and social accountability processes that will have a lasting effect on school governance in the country.