CONFINTEA DECLARATION AND AGENDA TAKES SHAPE

Hamburg, 17 July - The Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) has moved into a critical phase of its task. Yesterday afternoon at five o’clock the working groups on the ten themes completed their analysis of the issues facing adult learning over a wide range of sectors. In the evening delegates and members of the public attended two televised round tables, chaired by New York journalist Lu Hanessian. The first, on the theme of "Cities of Learning: Adult Learning and the Rebirth of Industrial Cities" involved a podium discussion with an invited audience from the neighbouring cities of Detroit, USA, and Windsor, Canada. One of the highlights of this event was a letter from US President Bill Clinton which was projected on to a large screen and read aloud by one of the Detroit visitors. In the letter President Clinton sent his "warm greetings" to everyone involved in the Conference and expressed his best wishes for its success in furthering the cause of adult education as a means of enabling people to fulfil their dreams. The second round table, on "The Consequences of Literacy: Adult Literacy and Human-Centred Development was linked up live by satellite with a studio audience and panel in New Delhi, India, chaired by Avik Ghosh. A presentation was given of the massive Indian literacy programme, using 10 million volunteer teachers to reach out to 130 million adults. A number of neo-literates in the Delhi audience spoke of the difference that literacy has made to their lives.

Today, the delegates to the Conference divided into two Commissions, whose task was to examine some 400 proposals for changes to the two essential conference documents, the Declaration on Adult Learning and the Agenda for the Future. One of the key proposals in the Agenda is that every individual should be given the right to one hour of learning every day. In this afternoon’s debate, while some countries felt that the amount of time involved should be left to the individual country concerned, many countries, including Germany, Namibia and Tanzania, enthusiastically supported the idea. Another idea that met with widespread approval was for countries to adopt a National Learners’ Week, such as has been adopted in the UK and elsewhere.

After the Commissions finish their work, their proposed changes to the documents will be given to the Drafting Committee who will work against the clock to have the final draft finished by midnight. This will be presented to the concluding plenary tomorrow afternoon for final debate and approval.

This evening delegates attended a ceremony to commemorate two great adult educationists, Dame Ruth Nita Barrow, who died at the end of 1995, and Paulo Freire, whose recent death prevented his attending the conference. Among those who paid tribute were former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; Anna-Maria Freire, widow of Paulo Freire; and Jaime Nino Diez, Columbia’s Minister of Education.

CONFINTEA GAINS MOMENTUM

Hamburg, 16 July 1997 - As the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) moved through the third day of its programme, the message was coming across increasingly strongly that adult learning is important in virtually every area of human life.

The Conference, chaired by the Speaker of the German Parliament, Rita Süssmuth, started with a day and a half of plenary sessions at which delegates from around the world reported on the state of adult education in all regions.

On Tuesday afternoon the delegates divided into working groups to debate the ten basic themes covered by the Conference. These continued throughout most of today and took the form of a series of presentations by podium speakers followed by lively question-and-answer sessions involving audiences of up to 200 participants.

One of the sessions concerned literacy, a major concern of CONFINTEA, with a speech by the Senegalese Minister of Education, Mamadou Ndoye. Adult Education and Population was also an important session, where the keynote speaker was Maris Josefina Bilbao, Chilean Minister of Education. Another group, chaired by H. Müller-Solger from the German Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, brainstormed on the need for the workforce to be constantly re-educated in the face of exploding technological change. Participating in a discussion on Adult Learning for Prisoners was Robert Badinter, former French Minister of Justice, who sat on the podium alongside an ex-prisoner from Belgium, Jean-Claude Delcorps.

This afternoon’s events also included launchings of four books on adult education and a press conference hosted by the International Council of Adult Education and the UNESCO Institute for Education.

Yesterday:

Yesterday... and even day before yesterday. In these two pages, throughout the week, we will read report on the principal events of the preceding day's activities.

Today, we would like to take a look back at the past. We can start by saying that this conference is being held today because others have worked before us. Our geographical representation and interests are diverse and yet we are united in our desire to seek out the words of those who want instruct and learn. For them, education is an essential key in the becoming they wish to construct on their own. Those who came before us believed in their cause and they have left us with this fabulous legacy: a movement of conscientious adult educators in the midst of an ever evolving society.

This week we would like to pay homage to Dame Nita Barrow and Paulo Freire who, since our last conference, are no longer with us. Many other educators, teaches and leaders have left us, in anonymity - sometimes through illness, sometimes because there were assassinated. They all held ideals of justice, peace and fraternity.

As we are completing the laqst stages of preparation for this fifth Conference, we have been informed of the sudden death of Victor G. Onushkin, Director of the Institute for Adult Education at the Russian Academy of Education and member of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Education.

This 14th July is the opening day of the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education and it also represents a distinct moment in its history.

There was Elsinore, 48 years ago; without Elsinore, without Montreal, without Tokyo, without Paris, there would have been no Hamburg. And to prepare for Hamburg, there was Jomtien, Dakar, Barcelona, Brasilia and Cairo.

From September 1996 to March 1997, five regional preparatory conferences permitted dozens of governmental representatives, universities and NGO's to elaborate regional declarations and to determine our mutual purposes.

Region by region, they have established a "state of the situation" and defined the main lines of a renewed partnership.

It is impossible here to resume the wealth of exchanges that took place. See the brochure entitled "Months of Debate".

What we will do here is present a selection of excerpts from declaration, reports and studies.

"Although there may be conflicts at the government to government level; with economic alliances often leading to military alliances, there has been an impressive growth of social alliances, which we as adult educators resolve to promote through developing greater contact at the people to people level."

(Region of Asia and the Pacific)

"When the rhythm of the tam-tam changes, the dance step changes with it. More than ever before, knowledge is becoming an essential commodity for mankind, a basic material which is indispensable for development and even for mere survival."

(Region of Africa)

"Dejar de ser un sistema excluyente y fragmentado, estructurado secuencialmente y centrado fundamentalmente en la adquisición de conocimientos para ser un sistema incluyente, centrado en los sujetos que reconoce las experiencias, los aprendizajes y los saberes de las diferentes culturas y grupos sociales, sistematizándolos, ampliándolos y certificándolos independientemente de la forma en que se hayan realizado y adquirido"

(América latina y Caribe)

The Arab States reaffirm "the importance of adult education and permanent education being one of the ways of ensuring social justice, democracy and continuous and complete development.

The International non-governmental organisations, for their part, have insisted on the indispensable partnership that must be unceasingly developed and encouraged. The NGO's, gathered under the auspices of the UNESCO Collective Consultation of NGO's on Literacy and Education for All recognise that the main responsibility for the provision on education rests with governments."

Le rapport européen mentionne que " le futur démocratique des Etats exige le renforcement de la société civile et de la vie associative. Une société civile ne peut pas espérer être une société active sans être dans le même temps une société éducative. "

Tribute to Victor Onushkin

Mr. Victor Onushkin has been a pioneer of international cooperation and dialogue since 30 years. UNESCO is losing today a great person.

In his domain, Victor Onushkin was a leader and an expert known in all the regions of the world. Both in his professional and private life, he was an example of honesty and dedication, of tolerance and sensitivity to the others, of open-mindedness and humility.

To his family, to his wife and his daughters, our very sincere condoleance and friendship. To his institute that he lead and saved, an institute of great importance for UNESCO, our support and hope for its future.

Paul Belanger,
11 July 1997.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Investing in education for development

Basic human needs -including primary education- accounts for 38 percent of Canada's development cooperation program, managed by the Canadian International Development Agency. It's one of the six priorities of Canada's assistance, which aims to reduce poverty and contribute a more secure, equitable world. The others are support for women in development, the environment, private sector development, human rights, democracy and good governance and support for infrastructure services.

CIDA, together with government and civil society partners around the world, is working to enhance access to, and improve the quality of education. Girls and boys, women and men, all of ages, cultures, and socio-economic backgrounds, need access to basic education, literacy programs, life and employment skills training to help contribute to their development as individuals, and for the development of communities.

Human resource development is a focal point for CIDA's programming, with a wide range of literacy and other education initiatives receiving CIDA support. These include adult education programs which go beyond literacy training to include small-scale business training, learning new administrative and technical skills, and obtaining the know-how to carry out community development projects. Education for adult women and girls must also be emphasized as they contribute to development, especially in rural areas, in promoting cultural values and in improving health care.

CIDA's challenge is to expand the reach of adult learning programs. Innovative new technologies such as the Internet, computer modems and satellite communications, now help educators to connect with people in isolated communities.

Canada, as a member of the global community, can only benefit by helping to extend education to all generations, in all areas of the world.

Mrs Johanna Zumstein
Senior Analyst

United Nations Population Fund Activities (UNFPA)
Encouraging Participation Through Health and Education Systems

There are a number of population issues that make appropriate subject matter for adult education. Precisely which issues make the most appropriate content depends upon the interests and objectives of the adult learners, the objectives of the educational activity and the needs of the learners in terms of how the new knowledge will be applied in their daily lives.

Adult education curricula should respond to these needs and interests. We must start where the learners are. In the reproductive health field, we call it the "user's perspective".

UNFPA has supported various types of adult education activities in countries around the world, including population and family welfare education in the work setting through the International Labor Organization (ILO), population and family life education for rural adults and young people through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), family planning education through literacy classes with UNSCO, and various approaches to adolescent reproductive health education through the Word Health Organization (WHO) and non-governmental organization such as the Boy Scouts and others. Each of these avenues requires learner participation and active involvement in order for it to be effective, i.e. to really respond to the needs of individuals, families and communities.

The cycle of reproductive life represents some of the most important events and stages in one's life: puberty, marriage, pregnancy, birth and the education of one's children as they move from birth through adolescence. Each lends itself to a participatory education intervention.

The challenge is to educate effectively. Coordinating education interventions is important to meeting the challenge. It requires coordination and commitment from ministries of education, health, labor and agriculture as well as non-governmental organizations, such as of these contributes at different phases in the cycle. UNFPA will continue to encourage greater collaboration as, together, we try to meet adults' needs for education.

Mr. O.J. Sikes, Chief
Education, Communication & Youth Branch

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

Adult education is one of the important factors that could enhance the overall Swedish development cooperation goals, i.e. poverty reduction, democracy, gender equality, and sustainable development.

In January 1996 SIDA adopted a Policy for SIDA Cooperation . It sets out three main objectives:

- to support broad reform processes

- to raise the quality of education at the basic level

- to support the provision of basic education services for previously neglected groups.

In practice the emphasis on each of these objectives differs with the type of country where SIDA is involved.

Priority is given to basic education since that is the level where learners start to build the skills which are expected to help them to improve their livelihood, their self-esteem and their participation in the local and national community and in the democratic process. Literacy and adult education is included as one of the priority areas in the new policy. It is stated that the main objective is to promote literacy, numeracy, general knowledge and life skills among less privileged youth and adults, women in particular.

A secondary objective is to increase the awareness of the need for adult education and to encourage the sharing of Swedish and international experience in the field.

SIDA's strategy is based on considerable experience of supporting adult literacy programs. This experience shows that intensive and flexible support can be crucial during the initial period of a new program coinciding with a favorable momentum conditioned by a particular political and historical context. The lack of supportive literacy environments and insufficient supply of follow-up or "post-literacy" programs and appropriate reading materials have limited the effects of otherwise relatively successful literacy programs.

In countries where governments do not pay enough attention to adult education, support through government run departments has been found hardly worthwhile. The alternative is to provide support through the agency of community or non-governmental organizations, and to play an advocacy role for the promotion of adult education.

Interview

GERMANY HAS A OLD TRADITION IN ADULT EDUCATION, AND THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES ARE MOBILISED TO HOST CONFINTEA. COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT WAS DONE DURING THE MOBILISATION?

During the early nineties, after its 40th anniversary, the UNESCO Institute for Education completed its traditional literacy priority by a stronger commitment to adult education. As chairperson of the governing board I shared the idea with the Director to give the Institute a clear visibility as the UNESCO centre of adult education and to improve the network of so far well working contacts and beneficial co-operation. Shaping this perspective for strategy we recommended the Lord Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to invite the Director General of UNESCO to come to Hamburg and celebrate the re-opening of the premises, the Albert Ballin Villa, after the City had completed an investment for re-furbishment of four million Deutsch Mark. At this occasion, the Lord Mayor, a Prime Minister of a German state with responsibilities for education and culture, had talks with the Director General and, in agreement with the Federal Foreign Office, invited him to propose to the General Conference of UNESCO at its twenty-eighth session in November 1995 to hold the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education in Hamburg, at the place of UIE. The decision was indeed supported by the argument that Germany has a long-standing and flourishing tradition in adult education. More important, however, was the expectation that Germany would prove once more, as announced by the invitation of the conference to Hamburg, its sincere commitment to UNESCO by sharing a substantial part of the budget of CONFINTEA. Under the present constraints this expectation could not easily be achieved. However, the German political and professional institutions, numerous and diverse as they are, have joined forces under the leadership of the Federal Foreign Office. It called a National Organising Committee to assist , for the part of the host country, in the preparation and organisation of the Conference. The President of the Federal Republic who has agreed to open the Conference; the German Bundestag whose President is proposed to chair CONFINTEA; the Government which is assisted by the expertise of the German UNESCO Commission; the sixteen states which attribute great importance to the discussions and results of the international meeting; the network of thousands of NGO's which work at local, national, and world-wide level - they all have been indeed very helpful to support UNESCO and the UIE to make the event possible and hopefully a success. If the City of Hamburg has developed a "genius loci" then probably not only by trade and commerce or its modern achievements in the industrial, media and service sector but by its strong commitment to science and education. Adult education was already in the nineteenth century the second chance for the workers in the shipbuilding industry, and even the origins of the University of Hamburg emerged, after 1900, from an adult learning institution providing public academic lectures for the citizens of Hamburg. Serving the world - may it be the motto of the Conference.

Peter Fischer-Appelt,
Ambassador of CONFINTEA
Former President of the University of Hamburg

Dans cet article, le Professeur Fischer-Appelt rappelle l'engagement de l'ensemble des Autorités allemandes dans la préparation de cette conférence. Si la Ville qui nous accueille a pu devenir prospère, ce n'est pas seulement dû à son engagement économique mais aussi parce que l'éducation figure en bonne place dans ses priorités.

In the middle ages, the Hansa developed out of various merchant groups into a powerful european league of cities. Important commercial sites arose through trade between the Baltic and the North Sea, connecting sites as distant as Novgorod, Hamburg and London. The league was kept together by regular meetings, the "Hanseeatic Days". 17th century Europe witnessed the decline of the Hansa, but Hamburg continued its tradition by celebrating the "Hanseatic Days of Modern Age".

Allegedly granted the privilege of a harbour by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Hamburg could eventually wrestle its independence from feudal overlords. Backed by Hanseatic support, it was declared a "Free Imperial City" in 1680. Since 1819 Hamburg terms itself "Free and Hanseatic City", thus stressing its liberty and commercial tradition.

BAI SRI & LUM PLOEN

Adult education in Thailand is a blend between cultural and educational experiences. The Thai presentation today portrays Bai Sri Ceremony, a custom in the North East to mark an auspicious occasion.

The ceremony begins with song and dance performed today by popular artists who have travelled to promote the Thai literacy campaign. It ends with a ceremony to bind the hands of our honourable guests with intertwining tread of friendships.

KOINZI-DANCE

Koinzi-Dance, a Hamburg group led by Nele Lipp, who has evolved a multidisciplinary art form incorporating, dance, music, visual arts etc. She is currently founding a school in Hamburg to teach this art form. Her group will consist of 9 adult dancers and an 8-year-old boy. They will give a performance lasting 7-8 minutes relating to the theme of lifelong learning. A central feature of the performance will be a cartoon picture by New York artist Tomas Maria Bunk on the theme of lifelong learning, which will be projected on to a large screen on the stage during the performance, providing motifs which will be echoed by the dancers. This group will perform again during the Conference in the foyer at the following times : Monday from 14.30 to 15.00, Tuesday from 12.00 to 12.30 and from 14.00 to 15.00 on Friday for half an hour before the final afternoon session, and again briefly on the main stage during the concluding plenary.

CAPOEIRA

CAPOEIRA originated in the 17th century in the slave society of North Eastern Brazil. Forbidden to carry arms and permanently shackled, the African slaves who came to work on the plantations developed a defence and art form that draws from its African roots but that is essentially Brazilian in form and in the music that accompanies it. The hands are moved as they were originally bound together . Today Capoeira is practised on the streets of Brazil and has become an internationally practised art form with many groups of adult learners. It represents the triumph of the human spirit to be creative and innovative even under the acute situation of slavery.

EXHIBITION

INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS EXHIBITION:

MORE THAN JUST INFORMATION

UIE Director Paul Bélanger will officially open the International Information and Publication Exhibition today at 14 :00 in Hall 3

The International Information and Publications Exhibition will be open throughout CONFINTEA V in Hall 3 according to the opening hours given in the Conference Guide. Multi-media exhibits have been designed and are staffed by representatives from international organisations, UNESCO Commissions, Ministerial Delegations, NGO's, publishing houses, bookstores and CONFINTEA V Thematic Working Groups. This exhibition provides the unique possibility to gather documentation and information about the diversity of adult education projects and services being offered all over the world. Microsoft will be demonstrating software and the radio station Deutsche Welle will have an information stand about their broadcasting activities both within and outside the Conference. Also located in the Exhibition Hall is a video viewing room, and a schedule of viewing times can be found in your CONFINTEA V documents. The activities of the Exhibition Hall are complemented by a multi-media art exhibition being shown in the gallery surrounding the Hall. All of this makes the International Information and Publications Exhibition the ideal meeting place for exchanging information in both a formal and an informal manner - at an information stand or over a cup of coffee with new colleagues or old friends. UNESCO and Local Staff will be on hand as «guides,» to answer questions, and of course, to welcome you.

Welcoming Remarks

Dr Henning Voscherau
Erster Bürgermeister der
Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg

Hamburg is highly honoured to host the 5th UNESCO World Congress on Adult Education. We also view this as a mandate to continue our efforts to build bridges between the nations.

Dr Henning Voscherau
First Mayor of the
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

Hambourg est très honorée d'accueillir la Cinquième conférence internationale de l'UNESCO sur l'éducation des adultes.

Nous considérons aussi cela comme un mandat à poursuivre nos efforts pour construire des ponts entre les nations.

Dr Henning Voscherau,
Premier Maire de la
Ville Libre et Hanséatique de Hambourg