What is it about?

This chapter explores how international development aid influences education policy in Guinea-Bissau, focusing on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). It examines how global actors—such as international organisations and donors—work with national institutions to shape education systems in fragile and aid-dependent contexts. Using a qualitative case study based on fieldwork, interviews, and document analysis, the research looks closely at how decisions are made, how partnerships operate, and whose voices are prioritised. While GPE funding has helped improve coordination in the education sector and strengthened the formal leadership of the Ministry of Education, the study shows that external actors continue to play a dominant role in shaping priorities and actions. The chapter highlights how “technical” and evidence-based approaches to development can overlook political realities and local knowledge. It also shows how these practices may unintentionally reproduce unequal power relations, echoing patterns linked to the legacy of colonialism.

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Why is it important?

This research contributes to ongoing debates about decolonising development and education. It provides an in-depth, country-level analysis of how global education partnerships function in practice—something that is often missing in existing literature. The findings are particularly relevant for policymakers, donors, and practitioners working in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. They highlight the need to move beyond purely technical solutions and to take power dynamics, local context, and historical legacies seriously when designing and implementing education reforms. By showing how well-intentioned development initiatives can reinforce existing inequalities, the chapter offers important insights for improving the effectiveness, fairness, and sustainability of international education aid.

Perspectives

This chapter reflects both an academic and practice-based engagement with education policy and development cooperation in Guinea-Bissau. Having worked closely with the education sector over time, I have seen how global policies and funding mechanisms are translated into practice, often in ways that differ from their original intentions. This work is an attempt to critically reflect on those processes—not to dismiss international cooperation, but to better understand its limitations and contradictions. It also aims to open space for more context-sensitive, locally grounded approaches to education reform, particularly in settings where external actors play a significant role.

Rui da Silva
Center for African Studies of the University of Porto

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This page is a summary of: Development Aid, Coloniality and Technocracy, October 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004689121_011.
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