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intersectoral (Inter-Ministry) Policy-Program Coordination Frameworks (IPPFCs)
Good Practices in Whole of Government (WoG) Approaches to Align & Support IPPCFs

  • WoG Good Practices
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This page describes several good practices to align and support the Intersectoral Policy-Program Coordination Frameworks (IPPCFs) that should be purposefully selected by each country to promote different aspects of the education and development of young people. The drop-down menu on the right hand side of this page lists several good practices in WoG approaches. Use that menu to find examples, evidence and guidance about such WoG practices. The good practices are numbered below so that the descriptions of the frameworks (IPPCFs) posted elsewhere in this section of our web site can better illustrate how these practices are being or can be used.

A Whole of Government approach (across and within ministries)  and several systems changes are required to align, coordinate and sustain several IPPCF frameworks. (Note that the WoG approaches are aimed at the education and development of the whole child and not at at any specific program or IPPCF framework.) These include an over-arching policy on child & adolescent development, laws and regulations on the mandates of several ministries on working with and within schools, the active support of first ministers, establishing inter-ministry coordination mechanisms, comprehensive agreements between ministries, jointly named inter-ministry coordinators, joint budgeting, joint sector reviews, shared accountability systems and other actions.  Driving and sustaining collaborative action requires new incentive structures and  government partnership with international and local actors to embed education in all relevant sections of national development plans and other sector strategies, integrated strategic planning and mutual accountability frameworks that can align incentives and actions of leaders at all level, embracing multisectoral financing approaches and tailor financing strategies to differentiated needs and contexts, and delivery-focused implementation approaches, underpinned by strong data systems, to help connect actions within and across line ministries for achieving the goals of education and child/youth development.

It may appear that the list of WoG good practices to align & support IPPCFs is over-whelming. Often guidance documents try to disguise this challenge by summarizing such practices into general statements which offer little practical or strategic advice on how or where to start. We suggest that by breaking the items down into more manageable size, policymakers and practitioners can take them one at a time when circumstances and resources permit to make incremental progress without losing sight of the general goal. Further, governments will already be using some of these practices informally or on specific issues or programs.

Applying Whole of Government/Inter-ministry Strategies: A Checklist

         Over-Arching Policy on Child & Adolescent Development
  1. Governments, led by their first minister or dedicated inter-ministry coordination agency/mechanism, should adopt an over-arching or WoG policy/action plan/strategy on the education and overall development of children (which includes educational inclusion & equity, health, safety, personal, social & sustainable development) of young children, children, adolescents and young adults. (ie a whole child approach) that serves every child or all children). The policy should serve the needs of the whole child, ensuring that every child is safe, healthy, secure, ethical, honest, socially responsible, acts as an environmental steward, is engaged in learning and is challenged to achieve their optimal results in school, family, work and community life. The policy and plan should ensure the inclusion and equitable results for all children. The school is to be the hub for the delivery and coordination of the many aspects of this policy.
  2. The  first minister or dedicated inter-ministry coordination mechanisms, should develop an inter-ministry, negotiated plan of action to implement, maintain and regularly assess the progress of this macro policy on the education and overall development of young children, children, adolescents and young adults. Sector plans from each ministry, especially the Education Sector Plan,  will need to be aligned within thbis overall plan and policy on children and youth. This plan should include milestones, regular reviews and negotiations among ministries and annual targets reflecting the annual strategic objectives of ministries
  3. The government or individual ministries should explicitly decide and adopt policy, procedures and practices so that defined frameworks (IPPCFs) (multi-component approaches or multi-intervention programs) are to be used in the jurisdiction to coordinate policies, programs and action plans/strategies for preventing or reducing different forms of exclusion and inequity or to promote health, safety, personal, social & sustainable development. Relying on an urgent issue or single intervention as an "entry point" to build an undefined or aspirational multi-component approach (MCA) or multi-intervention program (MIP) is not adequate. Governments should identify or adopt an IPPCF as the objective from the outset. 
  4. Whole of Government macro-policy or law/regulations should require that components or interventions in the IPPCFs be coordinated. (Note Such policies describe the activities, staffing, funding and/or reporting procedures in each MCA or MIP. Such policies are different than simply delivering multiple interventions or ministries publishing  statements, declarations or guidance documents supporting the IPPCF framework without requiring inter-ministry actions, reporting, staffing, funding or procedures.
  5. The data sets  used to determine priorities should be broad and varied and should be used periodically to publish composite portraits of the overall development and education of children and adolescents. (Often, the data available for considering high level priorities is sparse and sporadic. Often studies and surveys are done on specific topics or barriers, thereby pre-judging choices about potential priorities. The most glaring example of this is the OECD PISA survey, which is narrowly focused on student learning in three subjects of the core curricula in most jurisdictions. Similarly, various youth risk behaviour surveys done by the health and social protection ministries are already focused on selected problems while ignoring other aspects. The influence of these narrow data sets can be mitigated by periodically compiling and considering composite portraits of the status and developmental trajectories of children and youth.)
  6. The First Minister or Inter-Ministry Agency for IPPCFs should jointly define and publicize a limited number (4-5) of government wide priorities using an evidence-based, published situation assessment tool.These priorities should be used to select the IPPCFs most relevant to the jurisdiction. IPPCFs should be developed, adapted and adopted to address these defined government priorities on the education and development of young people.
  7. The resources available to governments should be focused on these jointly defined and publicized priorities. (The title of the FRESH Framework begins with the words “Focusing Resources on…” and has been used to suggest that education ministries, working with other ministries and sectors should maintain a joint written list of long term and annual priorities, the revised set of cross-cutting themes in the FRESH Framework. The first over-arching indicator in the cross-cutting themes states that: “The resources (staffing, funding, structures, internal visibility, external dissemination) to develop and maintain critical policies and programs are based on a strategic and practical assessment of the situation, problem/potential solutions, trends and national context and explicit selection of national priorities.” )
  8. Questions about inter-ministry priority setting should be asked in national or global policy/program surveys that are conducted regularly by the jurisdiction.

    Mandates of other ministries about working with and within schools
  9. The First Minister or IPPCF Inter-Ministry Agency should promote partnerships among ministries for each IPPCF that are
    (a) reciprocal with each ministry contributing funding or staffing, assuming specified risks and enjoying defined benefits such as public profile or internal/external funding
    (b) negotiated openly among the partners and renewed periodically
    (c) strategically and explicitly linked with the core mandates, and annual priorities of each partner ministry
  10. The education ministry should be designated as the host and co-lead for each IPPCF, with other ministries designated as co-leads of relevant IPPCFs. This implies that the web site/web pages and key policy & guidance documents for the IPPCF will be on the education ministry web site or that the MOE leads or co-leads the editing of these documents/web pages.
  11. School-based and school-linked services, programs and policies in other Ministries should be anchored in their respective core missions and mandates. (To achieve a paradigm shift to value the care/custody and social/socialization roles of schools, school systems must be able to count of sustained contributions of time, staffing and funding from other publicly funded ministries and agencies. Extensive checklists of tasks that educators and schools should accomplish alone are not sufficient, even if they are evidence-based. The other child/youth-serving ministries and agencies need to bring their chequebooks, in the form of staffing of front-line workers in schools (nurses, social workers, relief workers etc.), ministry and agency staff to coordinate the implementation of intersectoral action plans using different frameworks and funding for essentials such as purchasing food, clean water, security staff and other aspects related to their respective core mandates for children and youth. In other words, the re-balancing of primary goals of school systems to strengthen their socialization and custodial functions needs to accompanied by an equally significant paradigm shift within other ministries such that the development of the whole child through school-based and school-linked programs becomes a primary function of the health, social protection, justice, law enforcement, environment, aid & development and other ministries.
    For example, in health ministries and local agencies, school-based/linked health services, clinics and school nurses are anchored in their primary care mandates. As well, school vaccination campaigns/delivery and monitoring child/adolescent vaccine coverage and healthy development are a mandatory part of public health surveillance. Prevention and health promotion programs include schools as a key part of population-focused and health promoting settings core programs in health ministries and agencies. Further, in other ministries school-based/school-linked social workers are a mandatory part of child protection policies and services. School resource officers and youth development programs are part of community policing programs. Coordinated school services and support are required for all humanitarian and development aid programs within countries and for other countries. Environment ministries include “green schools” policies, programs and services within their core environmental policy monitoring programs rather than only sporadic projects to “seeded” in individual schools.)
  12. The other ministries should define the role of their respective front-line staff and local agencies in school-based and school-linked services and programs. The education ministry should define the role of teachers, schools, other educators and local school districts in addressing relevant health, social and other issues affecting children and youth.

    Active Support from First Ministers, Cabinet & IPPCF Inter-Ministry Agency
  13. The First Minister or IPPCF Inter-Ministry Agency should measure, monitor and report on the capacities of IPPCFs.
  14. The First Minister or IPPCF Inter-Ministry Agency should convene and facilitate strategic discussions among senior and middle management officials about sector coordination. (Sector coordination is one of the high-level enabling factors suggested in the GPE Draft Guide for enabling factors analysis for GPE system transformation grants. A screening of key features is undertaken up front with the dual objective to: Identify the status in the four enabling factors for system transformation; and compile supporting evidence. The screening consists of reviewing a series of standardized items common to all partner countries. The response options are binary (Yes/No) and designed to be easily verifiable based on the supporting documentation provided. This screening exercise is a rapid assessment; it is not comprehensive and does not require qualitative analysis. In parallel to the above and according to the agreed timeline, the government convenes the local education group for an inaugural discussion to support the contextualization of the enabling factors analysis. Framed around the G E 2025 policy priority areas (if useful),3 the objective of the discussion is to establish consensus among stakeholders on no more than three policy outcomes that, if achieved, could result in transformation at a system level. The discussion of “sector coordination” in the GPE guide (pp 16-17) appears to cover “intra-sector” and inter-sector” coordination, with an emphasis on the former. The components include: (a) supporting policy formulation/sector planning, (b) addressing financing and resource mobilization, (c) promoting harmonization and alignment and (d) monitoring and fostering mutual accountability.)
  15. Senior leaders and middle managers in all ministries should regularly discuss and negotiate the formal and informal boundaries between their mandates and assigned priorities to ensure that IPPCFs can be implemented and sustained.

    Inter-ministry Coordination Mechanisms
  16. Governments should ensure that several types of Inter-ministry mechanisms are being used  to support cooperation, voluntary alignment, and coordination.  The variety of inter-ministry mechanisms can include assigned staff in First Ministers' offices, inter-ministry agencies, multi-stakeholder councils, technical working groups, task forces, advisory bodies and coordinating committees. These mechanisms can be mandated by government or agreed to be bi-lateral agreements or even develop informally by ministry officials. It is important to make a distinction between "coordination" required by policy or written agreements and "cooperation" which is voluntary and can vary with different topics, different officials, or different times.
    (An example of this better practice is found in Manitoba, Canada which has a long-standing agency, Healthy Child Manitoba, to coordinate ministry policies and programs from a whole child perspective. HCM is led by the Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet, authorized by a specific law,  supports a healthy child advisory committee, and facilitates holistic surveys on early child development and youth health. A recent Manitoba education review commission has confirmed that HCM should focus on working across ministries to “facilitate the development of coordinated policies, programs, and services” rather than implement any programs of its own (thereby creating confusion or potential competition with programs of various ministries.
  17. Comprehensive inter-ministry agreements among the education ministries and other ministries should define and fund their roles in school-based and school-linked policies, programs, and services (For example, such agreements could include joint arrangements with health ministries providing school health nurses and school-based or school-linked clinics. Or education ministries could ensure that their personnel are obligated and trained to refer students to school-linked primary health care centres and local physicians. Similarly, the social protection ministries could agree to provide school social workers and child protection services that are linked with schools. Protocols could cover coordinated case management and confidential information sharing about cases. These comprehensive agreements can also ensure joint long-term and annual planning, joint service agreements/mandates, joint budgeting, jointly named or twinned coordinators, coordinated monitoring and reporting activities and more.)
  18. Individual IPPCFs should also build the core components common to several IPPCFs – such as a core health &m life skills curriculum or defined package of student services.
    (The Barbados Education Ministry Strategic Plan identifies integrated student services as a high priority. The National Strategy and Plan of Action on Inclusive Educationof the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has detailed descriptions of the roles of several ministries of government as well as civil society and private sector organizations. The Quebec Framework for Developing and Strengthening a Continuum of Integrated Services for Young People includes a guide  for developing inter-agency agreements at the local level and a third document  on providing consent to the communication of personal information on students)
  19. Joint Sector Reviews should be used to assess the implementation, effectiveness and sustainability of IPPCFs.
    (A GPE investigation found that JSRs "are commonly used in the development or humanitarian aid sectors, particularly within health and education, to bring a variety of stakeholders to the table to monitor and evaluate sector progress. GPE’s study contends that JSRs, when effective, can serve as a valuable tool for responsive sector planning, and may also act as platforms for building and supporting mutual accountability. JSRs are typically organized once or twice a year by the government and offer an inclusive forum to assess progress toward agreed-upon objectives. A variety of sources of evidence are used to frame the discussions—primarily presented via an annual implementation report. The JSR process culminates in the organization of an inclusive forum for dialogue and the production of a review report (the JSR report/aide memoire) that is shared with all stakeholders and the wider public, and which contains actionable recommendations for correcting the course of action across programs within the sector". The GPE full report provides background, research and examples. GPE has also published a Practical guide for organizing effective joint sector reviews.)
  20. Designated full or part time Inter-Ministry Coordinators (not “focal points) are required at the ministry level for each IPPCF being used by the jurisdiction. The reporting structures and procedures for these coordinators should be carefully designed.These Coordinators should be jointly named by the ministries who are partners in the IPPCF. Funding for the Coordinator position can be shared among the ministries. (Further, the Coordinators should be accountable to all of the partner ministries, but the person should be housed in the education ministry, with office space, technical resources and support staff assigned from the other ministries.Non-education ministries should ensure that their respective Coordinators are responsible for coordinating their ministry’s school-based and school-linked policies, programs, and action plans internally and with the education ministry. For example, in Health ministries this could include several health topics reporting to or aligning their work with School Health teams who do the inter-face with schools, in Social Protection, it could include several child protection, family and welfare programs. The education ministry should assign the various Coordinators in structures that report to linked middle managers and to one senior manager, who should report directly to the Deputy Minister as well as any consultative, inter-ministry committees and intersectorial coalitions.) 
  21. Inter-ministry coordinators should have defined job descriptions that require intersectoral coordination, collaboration, consensus building and negotiating skills. These skills should be developed or required through pre-employment university education or certification in inter-professional education programs and ongoing development and training.
  22. External and internal donors/funders should enable "blended funding" so that their issue/program-specific funding can be used to build overall capacity for inter-ministry and Whole of Government coordination that meets the needs of the whole child.










See more in our larger section/discussion of Government & Inter-Sectoral Actions & Levers
Use the drop down menu below to access descriptions , examples and links on several good practices in Whole of Government (WoG) approaches.
Whole of Government (WoG):
List of Good practices
  - Macro-Policy on Children & Youth
  - WoG Policy/Plan on Whole Child
 - Required Use of IPPCF Frameworks
  - Required Coordination of Programs
   - Several Data Sources/ Regularly Compiled
  - Defined National Priorities/IPPCFs for Child/Youth
  - Focus Resources on 4-5 National Priorities
  - Regular Surveys of Policies & Programs
  - Reciprocal, Negotiated, Strategic Inter-Ministry Partnerships
  - Education Ministry as Host & Co-Lead
  - Anchor Other Ministry Roles in their Core Mandates & Programs
  - Defined Composite Roles for Front-Line Staff and Local Agencies
  - Regular reports on IPPCF Capacities
  - Senior & Middle Manager Involvement
  - Negotiate Formal & Informal Boundaries
  - Use of Inter-Ministry Mechanisms/Agencies
  - Comprehensive Inter-Ministry Agreements
  - Support for Core Components (Core H&LS curriculum , integrated student services etc from each IPPCF and ministry
  - Use of Joint/Multi Sector Reviews & Planning
  - Jointly named Inter-Ministry Coordinators
  - Defined job descriptions, competencies and training for Inter-Ministry Coordinators
  - Donors & Internal Funding Enable "blended funding" at local or regional levels
This summary was first posted in December 2023 as a "first draft". We encourage readers to submit comments or suggested edits by posting a comment below or on the Mini-blog & Discussion Page for this section.

​For updates and reader comments on this section of this web site, go to our
Mini-Blog on Common Topics &Terms

Here is our list of topics for this section:
- Introduction & Overview
- Education Equity, Inclusion & Success - Intersectoral Policy-Program Coordination Frameworks (IPPCFs) (published at global level)
- Multi-component Approaches (MCAs)
- Core Components         - School Culture & Climate
          - Staff Wellness
          - Student Conduct & Discipline
          - Engaging/Empowering Youth
          - Parent Participation
          - Community Involvement
  • Physical Environment & Resources
- Multi-Intervention Programs (MIPs)
  • How to Build a Multi-Intervention Program
- Single Interventions (Issue-Specific Programs, Policies, Services, Practices)

- Learning/Behaviour Models (LBMs)

- Behaviour & Learning Theories

- Government/Inter-sector Actions & Levers - Workforce Development
  • Workforce Planning in HPSD
  • Teacher Education & Development
    - Early Childhood Educators
    - Primary School Teachers
    - Secondary PSHE Specialists
    - Home Economics Specialists
    - Physical Education Specialists
    - School Counsellors
    - School Psychologists
    - School Principals
  • Preparing Other Professionals to Work with or within Schools
    - School Nurses
    - School Social Workers
    - School Resource (Police) Officers
    - Security/Civil Protection Guards
    - Teaching/Learning Assistants
    - School Administrative/Clerical Staff
    - School Maintenance Staff
    - Pastoral Counsellors
    - Community Volunteers & Elders
    - Emergency Relief Aid Workers
    - Development Aid Workers
- Systems Approaches
  • A Systems Focused Paradigm
  • Contextualizing Approaches & Programs
  • Implement, Maintain, Scale Up & Sustain Programs & Approaches
  • System & Organizational Capacities
  • Integrate Within Education System Mandates, Concerns & Constraints
  • Better Use of Systems Science & Organizational Development Tools