Twenty-nine key decision-makers including Ministers/heads of development agencies, Education Ministers and civil society organizations will gather next week for the first meeting of the High-Level Group on EFA (29-30 October, UNESCO's headquarters in Paris).

Convened and chaired by UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, the meeting will debate how to sustain political commitment for EFA, accelerate resource mobilization and forge partnerships with civil society.

The 2001 Monitoring Report on Education for All (see below) will serve as a basis for the discussions of the Group.

UNESCO is also presenting a revised paper "Global Initiative towards Education for All:A Framework for Mutual Understanding", the final report of the second meeting of the EFA Working Group on EFA (10-12 September), a synthesis report of the Special Session on the Involvement of Civil Society in Education for All (8 September), as well as a new EFA information kit and an EFA brochure.

Keynote speakers will include the Ministers of Education of Pakistan and Senegal, the Ministers/heads of development agencies from Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the G-8 Task Force on Education, the Executive Director of UNICEF, the Vice-President for Human Development of the World Bank, the Director of Oxfam and the Chairperson of the South Asian Coalition Against Child Servitude/Global March Against Child Labour.

The provisional agenda and the provisional list of participants are attached.

You will be able to follow the meeting through daily updates of the EFA E-Bulletin. All documents related to the High-Level Group meetings are or will shortly be available on UNESCO's EFA website