As countries develop, so their economic activities become increasingly concentrated. But economic concentration always excludes certain population groups. Poverty rates in lagging states in Brazil, China and India are more than twice those in dynamic states. Reducing these differences will be a crucial task in the years to come; yet although economic growth is certainly essential, it is not sufficient. The impact of different growth patterns on poverty reduction varies considerably.

It is thus essential to identify policies stimulating economic growth while at the same time reducing poverty and inequality - a type of policy now referred to as pro-poor growth. Many studies have shown that primary education is one of them, which is intuitively straightforward because the accumulation of human capital benefits particularly the more disadvantaged parts of the population.

In reality, however, the results of education policies vary considerably between and within countries. Some countries have only limited growth or success in poverty reduction although they spend significantly on basic education. It is therefore essential to know which kind of primary education policies are needed to generate growth and combat poverty.

The workshop organised by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and InWEnt in December 2009 in Berlin has therefore discussed the following questions:

• Which education policies seem to be especially promising in promoting pro-poor growth?
• How do basic education policies contribute to pro-poor development and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
• What are the main institutional challenges for policy implementation?

The workshop was part of DIE’s research project on Pro-poor growth in India and Brazil.

PROGRAMME

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Introduction

Welcome address
Günther Taube, Head of Department International Regulatory Framework, Good Governance, Economic Policy, InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany

Pro-poor growth and education: What the workshop is about Markus Loewe, Senior Economist, Department Competitiveness and Social Development, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Germany 

The pro-poor growth debate

Chair
Xing Guojun, Senior Economist and Researcher, International Cooperation Center of National Development and Reform Commission, China 

Pro-poor growth: what is it, what do we know about it, how can we achieve it?
Stephan Klasen, Chair of Development Economics, University of Göttingen, Germany

Country experience with pro-poor growth

Chair:
Nicole Rippin, Researcher, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) / University of Göttingen, Germany

Pro-poor growth in Brazil: Where does the country stand?
Prof. Edinaldo Tebaldi, Assistant Professor of Economics at Department of Economics, Bryant University, USA

Pro-poor growth in China: Where does the country stand?
Ding Ningning, Director Senior Research Fellow, Research Department for Social Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, China

Pro-poor growth in India: Where does the country stand?
Prof. Arindam Banik, Professor at International Management Institute, India

Panel Discussion: Education and pro-poor growth

Chair:
Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida, Researcher, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) / Free University of Berlin, Germany

Zhou Mansheng, Deputy Director General, National Center for Education Development Research, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

Ravishankar Arunachalam, Joint Secretary, Association for India's Development (AID), India

Paulo Corbucci,Researcher and education coordinator, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA,) Brazil 

Thabo Mabogoane, Senior Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa 

How to make education pro-poor? Key policy reforms and challenges ahead
Prof. Silke Weber, Professor of Sociology Post Graduate Programme in Sociology, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil

Friday, 11 December 2009

Reflection on conference day 1
Markus Loewe, Senior Economist, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Germany

Country experiences with education policies

Chair:
Ina Dettmann-Busch, Senior Project Manager, InWEnt

Lessons and insights from Brazil
Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida, Researcher, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) / Free University of Berlin, Germany

Lessons and insights from India
Nicole Rippin, Researcher, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) / University of Göttingen, Germany

Lessons and insights from China
Xing Guojun, Senior Economist and Researcher, International Cooperation Center of National Development and Reform Commission, China

Lessons and insights from Germany
Rita Nikolai, Head of the BMBF Junior Research Group „Education and Transitions into the Labour Market“, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Germany

Keynote: PISA in developing and developed countries – Comparative lessons to be learned for making education more pro-poor growth directed
Bernard Hugonnier, Deputy-Director for Education, Directorate for Education/Unit for Cooperation with Non-Member Economies (NME), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris 

Results

Chair
Claudia Lange, Senior Project Manager, InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany

Résumé of main results and theses for further discussion
Markus Loewe, Senior Economist, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Germany

Provocative Input
Sandra Dworack, Policy Advisor Aid and Education, Oxfam, Germany

Group work: Where do we move from here? 

Chair:
Markus Loewe, Senior Economist, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Germany

Group Discussion: Three groups moderated by DIE education policy experts

Presentation of main results from group discussions by members of the three groups

Overall conclusion and farewell note 

Tilman Altenburg, Head of Department Competitiveness and Social Development, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Germany 

Günther Taube, Head of Department International Regulatory Framework, Good Governance, Economic Policy, InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany