Positioning China’s Aid to Educational Developm

ent in Africa:
Past, Present, and Post-2015
Presented by: Chunhong Li
Date: June 17th, 2020
Contents
1. China’s aid to Africa: continuity and change
2. Philosophies of China’s foreign aid policy
3. The decision-making and implementation mechanism of China-Africa c
ooperation
4. The practice of Sino-Africa educational cooperation
5. Positioning China’s aid in the post-2015 agenda
6. Discussion
1. China’s aid to Africa: continuity and change
• The first phase (1950-1978)
Political and ideological tool
“China-friendly” countries; newly independent countries
Grants; international students; railway construction; teaching capacity building
• The second phase (1979-1999)
Domestic economic development → Economic benefits and long-term results
Joint Ventures; cooperative projects; “Higher education and Science Research Project”
1. China’s aid to Africa: continuity and change
• The third phase (2000 to the present)
Support African economic and social development (covers agriculture, education,
human resources training, health, security, and energy)
Educational cooperation (covers human resources training, higher education partnership,
rural school construction, Chinese language teaching, scholarship, scholar and student exchange)
Collaboration with NGOs; livelihood problems (anti-poverty, agriculture and cleaning water
project, and disaster relief)

Three transformations:
Pro-ideology to de-ideology
Single area to multiple areas
Pragmatic economy driven to sustainable and human economy focused
2. Philosophies of China’s foreign aid policy
• Chinese Culture of Solidarity as a Core Value
- Harmony
A harmonious world relies on divers things existing in the same world;
Diverse paths of development lead to a harmonious development of the world;
Recipient countries’ right to select; no interference in recipient countries’ internal affairs
- Friendship
China’s aid is an act of friendship;
Friendship between poor friends in the third world
- Mutual Benefit
In order to get benefit, people should show kindness first;
Example: the cooperation in higher education
- Attitudes toward Charity and Education
Chinese prefer to work much harder rather than receiving aid or donations
Build up self-development capacity
Education is indispensable for social stability and development
2. Philosophies of China’s foreign aid policy
• China’s experiences in social development
“China’s Development Model” takes economic change as social change
Focus more on productive sectors
Human capital and technological skills (scholarships; training courses)
More attention to higher education

• China’s experiences as recipient country

Repeat patterns established by the West and Japan in China
Self-reliance in development (influence by cooperation with Soviet Union and Japan
and the other western donors)
China learned the importance of human resource development through Japan’s ODA
2. Philosophies of China’s foreign aid policy
• South-South Cooperation
Principles: respect for national sovereignty, national ownership and independence, equality,
non-conditionality, non-interference in domestic affairs, and mutual benefit.
“China is a developing country”
Cooperation between developing countries

• Toward the Post-2015

China’s willingness to act as a developing country
(achieve its own development; avoid taking too much international responsibility)
A continuity of China’s philosophy
(respect for diversity and the independence; emphasize the friendship)
Add up discourse on the MDGs with China’s commitments
 3. The decision-making and implementation mechanism of China
-Africa cooperation
requests
The African side opinions African
The Chinese side draft suggestions countries
feedback

Ambassadors The Trade Local Civil Diplomats

economic counselors communities societies

The Choice of Projects and Decision-Making

Procedure
3. The decision-making and implementation mechanism of China
-Africa cooperation

The role of CFAC

In the education sector:

MOE provides human resource development support
(training programs, university cooperation, management of African students)

Weaknesses of the decision-making and implementation mechanism:

Fragmented systems; not conducive to the effective implementation;
Lack the evidence-based feedback and evaluation mechanism
4. The practice of Sino-Africa educational cooperation
• School construction
Primary and secondary schools, vocational training schools, higher education institutions
Completed projects based on request from recipients
Mutual benefit
• Technical vocational education and training
Teaching and curriculum development
(dispatch teachers to Ethiopia: jointly teach course, develop curricula and teaching materials,
build linkages with Chinese companies)
Technology transfer and training
(ZTE: training services; Huawei: training center)
4. The practice of Sino-Africa educational cooperation
• Higher education cooperation
Scholarship
Institutional cooperation (collaborative research, faculty and/or student exchange, training,
course teaching, co-writing of teaching materials development, building and equipping laboratory,
co-sponsoring symposiums)
Chinese language education (Confucius Institutes, Confucius Classroom, dispatch teachers and
volunteers, language training)
High-level communication (forum and seminar for exchange experiences)
• Human resource development cooperation
Training projects (short-term training course; short-term course)
Not limited to education sector, but more related to overall aid for social and economic
development of recipients
5. Positioning China’s aid in the post-2015 agenda
• Key terms of China’s aid policy:
solidarity and moralism; developing country; South-South Cooperation.

• Act as provider for South-South Cooperation; speak in “global languag

e”

• Under the South-South Cooperation framework; construct China’s own a

id agenda
6. Discussion
① China’s aid to education development gives more emphasis on higher e
ducation. While traditional donors promote basic education. What do y
ou think about this different priority ?

② What do you think can affect the formulation of donor’s aid policy? (c
ulture, development experience, etc.)