Dakar Follow-up Bulletin No 28
Contents (6 August 2001)

Summer break - Summer break - Summer break - Summer break

This is the last bulletin before the holiday season starts in Paris.
We will get back to you in September.

Teachers urge governments to preserve public education in a globalized economy

The 24.5 million teachers and education personnel represented by 1,285 participants at Education International's third World Congress (25-29 July, Jomtien, Thailand) unanimously called on governments to invest more in public education and to support teachers rights.

Participants adopted resolutions on teachers and workers' rights in a globalized economy, on how teachers unions should enter into partnerships and on the digital divide resulted from the information and communication technologies.

In a separate resolution "Educating in a Global Economy", Education International member organizations resolved to lobby their governments and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to make sure that education is excluded from the range of services covered by the General Agreement on Trade and Services. Education personnel feel that education cannot be merchandized.

"We don't want our schools to be open to the market; we want them to be open to all children, " said General Secretary of Education International Fred van Leeuwen.

UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, John Daniel, spoke at the conference on how technology can help in delivering education for all. He also explained the new role of UNESCO in implementing the education for all and spelled out the six EFA targets with the acronym, GET EQUAL. The speech is available on www.unesco.org/education/news_en/010801_adg_speech.shtml

For more information on the Congress, visit www.ei-ie.org

Nine high-population countries (E9) to meet in China (21-23 August)

Ministers of Education and experts of Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan will attend the conference of the Nine-High Population Countries (E-9), 21-23 August, in Beijing, China.

In addition, three countries (the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan and the Russian Federation) are sending observers to attend the conference. Wolfgang Vollmann, co-ordinator of the E9-initiative at UNESCO, Paris, is pleased with this development. "It is a first," he says, "and it indicates a growing interest in the E-9 experience."

The first one-and-a-half days of the conference are devoted to a preparatory expert meeting on "Distance Education and Information Technologies for Basic Education to Reach the Unreached". UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, John Daniel will introduce the issue. The Vice-Premier Minister of China, Li Lanqin, will inaugurate the Ministerial Review Meeting starting at noon on the second day. UNESCO's Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura will give the keynote address. This meeting will review progress in the setting up of national EFA forums and the drafting of national plans of action in the nine countries.

Contact: Wolgang Vollmann, E-9 co-ordinator, UNESCO-Paris
E-mail: w.vollmann@unesco.org

Special session on the involvement of civil society in education for all (8 September)

Concrete examples of successful involvement of civil society in national EFA processes will be demonstrated at the special session on 8 September in Geneva.

A panel of speakers (a blend of Ministers of Education and civil society representatives from three countries in different contexts and regions) will highlight examples of successful co-operation in policy formulation, planning and action in EFA. UNESCO's Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, will chair the session.

The consultation will be followed by the closing ceremony of the 46th International Conference on Education (5-8 September). The theme of the Conference is Education for All for Learning to Live Together: Contents and Learning Strategies - Problems and Solutions. Some forty Ministers of Education have already confirmed their attendance.

For more information, visit www.ibe.unesco.org

Experts agree on recommendations on secondary education

Countries should continue to be committed to the goal of mass secondary education, serious attention should be given to those not selected to join this level of education, greater flexibility, choice and diversity are needed in the organization of learning and so is greater responsiveness to the needs and circumstances of learners.

These are just a few of the recommendations of the UNESCO International Expert Meeting on General Secondary Education in the Twenty-first Century: Trends, Challenges and Priorities (Beijing, China, 21-25 May). The final report, of which an executive summary is attached to this Bulletin, is now available in English.

It can be obtained from Sonia Bahri, UNESCO Paris
E-mail: s.bahri@unesco.org

Express interview with Gorgui Sow, co-ordinator of the African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA)

Gogui Sow of Senegal was recently designated as one of the six members on the transitory co-ordination group of the new Collective Consultation of NGOs on EFA (CCNGO/EFA).

1. How is ANCEFA organized in Africa and how do you ensure linking up with the grassroots level?

GS: ANCEFA is a network of national coalitions of non-governmental organizations and civil society groups working in EFA at grassroots level. In each national coalition, member organizations are working through EFA thematic working groups that are implementing education projects at national and local levels. Each subregion is co-ordinated by an elected moderator. So the international ANCEFA representatives have a natural and permanent linkage with the grassroots level.

2. How will the CCNGO/EFA affect the work of ANCEFA?

GS: The nomination of ANCEFA shows that our action since the Dakar Forum in April 2000 is being recognized, in particular our efforts in mobilizing the twenty-three national coalitions that now exist in the four African subregions. ANCEFA member organizations and partners see the nomination as a challenge to be met in the name of the local communities.

3. What will be the main contributions of ANCEFA to CCNGO?

GS: To use ANCEFA's already existing subregional networks to facilitate information sharing on EFA, to stimulate and assist the establishment of national NGO coalitions, and to mobilize international partners including UNESCO to reinforce the capacities of civil society in EFA.

4. What do you consider to be the main achievement in EFA since the Dakar Conference last year?

GS: I think the emerging subregional and regional networks such as ANCEFA and the new-born CCNGO are great steps forward as they facilitate policy dialogue between civil society organizations, governments and donors, and they can lobby for more resources for EFA.

Contact: ANCEFA, BP 412, Dakar, Fann, Senegal
Tel: 221 860 71 30/884 20 42
Fax: 221 860 81 12
E-mail: gorguisow@hotmail.com
or congad@telecomplus.sn

Countries in action for EFA

Chile: First social dialogue on EFA

The first social dialogue on education for all in Chile will be held in Santiago, 20-21 August. Co-organized by the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United Nations, the conference will bring together all EFA stakeholders including congress and ministries, non-governmental organizations, training and research centres, universities, foundations, teachers' union, parents and students.

The conference is the preliminary culmination of a process that started on18 April, when a Theme Group on Education for All, composed of UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, United Nations Economic Comission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), was established. The group elaborated a proposal outlining the eight principal challenges of education in Chile; six themes deriving from the Dakar Framework for Action and two additional themes (education for life and professional enhancement of teachers).

The Chilean Minister of Education, Mariana Aylwin, supported the inter-agency proposal and agreed to bring together all EFA stakeholders to decide on strategies and actions to consolidate the education reform in Chile, by fully incorporating the commitments made at the World Education Forum and the Regional Meeting on Education for All in the Americas, Santo Domingo, 2000.

Contact: Mami Umayahara, UNESCO Santiago
E-mail: m.umayahara@unesco.cl

New publications

Thematic studies on education

Final versions of the fourteen thematic studies presented in draft form at the World Education Forum in Dakar are now being published. The studies were part of the global EFA 2000 Assessment and describe educational issues of global concern, covering such themes as girls' education, education in crises, school health, new technologies, adult education, the role of civil society and funding. A complete list of the fourteen titles can be found at www.unesco.org/education/efa/efa_2000_assess/thematic_studies.shtml
The new editions are published in English and French.
Copies can be obtained from sdi@unesco.org
or by fax: +33 (0) 1 45 68 56 24.

The dream of inventive hands

Since 1996, the Empresa Jovem or Youth Enterprise project has been establishing the combination of arts and crafts with non-formal basic education as a viable option for marginalized youth in Mozambique. The fourth issue in UNESCO' "Innovations for Youth" series describes how Empresa Jovem has given demobilized soldiers, former street children and single mothers new hope and demonstrated how non-formal education and the use of the creativity of the informal economy can be harness to help put the wounds of war and deprivation behind the young people of Mozambique. Copies of "Empresa Jovem - The dream of inventive hands" in English and French can be obtained from
Martine Bousquet, UNESCO
E-mail: m.bousquet@unesco.org

Upcoming EFA conferences (August-September 2001)
(This list is not exhaustive -- contributions are welcome!)

AUGUST 2001

  • 18-22 August
    Second International Conference on Children's Right to Education (University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)

  • 23-24 August
    First Collective Consultation of NGOs in Latin America (Santiago, Chile)

  • 28 August - 1 September
    World Conference against Racism NGO Forum hosted by the South African NGO Coalition (Durban, South Africa)

  • 31 August - 7 September
    World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Durban, South Africa)

SEPTEMBER 2001

  • 5 - 8 September
    46th Session of the International Conference on Education (Geneva, Switzerland)

  • 8 September
    Meeting of Ministers of Education and NGOs on the role of civil society on the Dakar follow-up process (Geneva)

  • 10 September
    International Literacy Day

  • 10-12 September
    2nd Meeting of the Working Group on Education for All (UNESCO Paris)

  • 17-19 September
    Meeting of National EFA Co-ordinators in sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO Paris)

  • 19-20 September
    International Conference on Education and Development 2001 - Knowledge, Values and Policy (Oxford, United Kingdom)

  • 19-21 September
    Special Session of the General Assembly on Children (New York)

Contact: Anne Muller (a.muller@unesco.org)