Main description:

Health for All and Education for All have been rallying cries for a host of international development activities for more than a quarter century. Where did these global goals come from? Why have the health goals seemingly advanced so much faster than those in education? In this book, author Colette Chabbott explores the foundational role that international development organizations and the innovations they champion have played in shaping and advancing such goals. Chabbott demonstrates the importance of science and measurement in rendering some innovations more universal and compelling than others. Her analysis includes in-depth case studies of innovations developed at the grassroots and scaled up at the national and international levels by the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research and by BRAC, once a Bangladeshi now a major international NGO. These studies all suggest that greater investment in new types of education research, based in the Third World, but with strong ties to research centers of international scope in the First World, are likely the prerequisites for achieving better, cheaper, faster universal education. This important book will provoke scholars, students, and international development practitioners to think more deeply about the cultural and scientific underpinnings of education and international development. The author's careful analyses are particularly needed as the international community defines new global goals for the post-2015 era.