The contribution of National Parent Organizations to the achievement of EFA

n the last decade, local, state and national parent associations (PAs) have become more involved in activities to promote education in Africa, with the growing recognition that PAs are important institutional partners in efforts to support EFA and improve educational quality. Within the context of decentralization, local parent and related school based management structures have been subjected to fairly intense study, while the role of national parent associations have received less attention. The main finding is that parent participation in education policy making at national levels is limited in these countries. Yet, there is some recognition of the need for formal mechanisms to ensure the organized participation of parents at national levels. In setting up public advisory forums and other opportunities for parent associations to participate in the policy making process, parent voice has to be strengthened as they are likely to be constrained by more powerful actors and interest groups including teacher organizations.