World Bank: Sustaining Educational and Economic Momentum in Africa. World Bank, Washington DC, 2010. ISBN: 0-8213-8377-9. Pages: 80.

Most African countries can take pride in the unmistakable progress towards achieving the Education for All (EFA) goals, thanks to the combined impact of laudable education reforms, substantially increased public financing of education and greater flows of external aid for education. Yet the good news has been dampened by the global financial crisis of 2008, a crisis that could well reverse the hard won educational gains of the last decade. Of particular concern is the potential setback to the nascent efforts in many African countries to align the expansion of secondary and tertiary education more closely with the needs of the economy and to equip the workforce with the skills for economic competitiveness.

These issues were discussed at the 2009 Conference on Sustaining the Education and Economic Momentum in Africa amidst the Current Global Financial Crisis. This gathering, of which this publication is an outcome,  was jointly hosted by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.

This publication can be purchased online.

World Bank