Education rights as part of rights-based development

Education advocates spend more time referring to the political commitments agreed in Jomtien in 1990, Dakar in 2000 or Incheon in 2015 than they do to the various treaties and conventions that recognize different dimensions of the right to education. However, non-governmental organizations are increasingly moving from a needs-based to a rights-based approach and efforts are now being made to popularize the right to education at a local level and mobilize people to hold their governments to account. One crucial element relates to tracking financing of education to ensure that governments are working towards the progressive realization of rights, to the maximum of available resources and without any retrogression. Whilst coordinated international efforts can play a role, a focus on sustainable domestic financing is urgently needed, addressing the share of budgets to education, the size of government budgets overall, the sensitivity of allocations and the scrutiny of spending in practice.