Education as a Lynchpin of Development: Legal and Policy Considerations in the Formation of the Education for All- Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Trust Fund

The provision of education requires resources, and finding those resources is an ongoing challenge. In the case of the developing world, where some 115 million children remain out of school – two-thirds of them girls, and most of them poor or otherwise disadvantaged, this challenge is particularly acute. This need, however, is not being ignored and efforts are being taken at several levels to address it. The formation of the World Bank’s Education For All – Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Trust Fund is one such effort. This article describes the background to the fund and analyzes the legal and policy issues that arose in its formation. The article concludes with some thoughts on lessons learned from the formation of the fund that are pertinent to the formation of future trust funds for the provision of international development aid