Deciding whether a policy reform should be implemented requires an assessment of both benefits and costs. While researchers and practitioners regularly use rigorous evidence on program impacts to estimate the benefits of educational reforms, costs tend to be an afterthought and are rarely estimated in a rigorous and systematic way. To fill the gap in rigorous evidence on the cost of interventions in international development, SIEF mandates that all funded teams collect cost data during implementation and estimate the cost of interventions using the ingredients-based method. In addition, SIEF has been developing guidance documents, tools, and webinars to assist with cost data collection.
Guidance
Holla, A & Pan, Y. (2020). How much do our recommendations cost? Incorporating more careful costing into our analytics and operations in Education.
Fishman, S. (2018). Looks great, but how much does it cost? How to capture and analyze costs.
Holla, A & Pan, Y. (2020).
Holla, A. (2019). .
Fishman, S. (2018).
Holla, A. (2012).
Costing Tools
The template is designed for six research teams funded through the to get started on conducting a rigorous cost analysis on interventions that encourage remote learning, such as text reminders to tune in to radio or TV programs, phone-based tutoring, and remote instruction. The template can be adapted by other teams who want to cost out remote learning services. To learn more about using the template, please refer to this .
This interactive Excel-based tool is designed to help users estimate the costs of implementing measures to ensure the safety of the education community, recover learning loss caused by the COVID-19 school closures, support the emotional well-being of children, and reach the most marginalized populations. Additionally, the tool helps quantify funding sources and estimate potential funding gaps, if relevant. Though the tool was initially designed when schools were reopening following the COVID-19 global pandemic, many of the interventions costed apply more generally.
Help on using the tool
Additional resources
Applications
Costs, Cost-Sharing, and Cost Drivers of a Home Visiting Program : The Case of PADIN in Brazil
The SIEF team implemented a detailed study of the costs of a state-run home visiting program implemented in municipalities in Cear¨¢, Brazil¨C the Programa de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Infantil (PADIN, or Child Development Support Program in English). Results have been recently published in a . The study uses an ingredients-based approach for measuring all components of a program¡¯s costs with administrative data, survey data, GIS data, and interviews.
PERU: Reopening rural secondary schools
In collaboration with UNESCO Horizontes project, the SIEF team and the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Education Finance team guided the Ministry of Education in Peru on planning the reopening of rural secondary schools. To get to know more about the application, please refer to .
SUDAN: Assessing adequacy and equity of school resources
The SIEF team, the Education Finance team and the Sudan country team customized the tool to assess the adequacy and equity of school resources in the State of Khartoum, Sudan. Please refer to and of the customized tool.