When it comes to the delivery of services to the poor, politics matter. This paper
applies a political settlements framework to approach the study of primary education
quality in Rwanda. In recent years, the government of Rwanda has received
recognition for its commitment to expand education for all young people. But the
drivers for improving quality have been less straightforward. Through process tracing
from national to local levels, this study investigates the interests, institutions and
incentives for improving the education quality. Findings suggest there was a stated
commitment to educational quality on the part of the government across all levels. At
the same time, the country’s decentralised system of governance has
deconcentrated implementation responsibilities to local government and schools.
Performance-based incentives at the local level focus on aspects of quality that are
measurable -- i.e., through the construction of classrooms and provision of materials
-- rather than on improving the capacity of the teaching workforce or tracking learning
outcomes. The incentives and ideas that drive the behaviour of key actors in the
education sector allow us to consider the degree to which state capacity and elite
commitment can be sustained.