I. Introduction

Following the first meeting of the Working Group in November 2000, the second meeting convened to continue to build momentum towards the Dakar EFA goals. Chief among its purposes, as an informal and advisory arrangement, is the cultivation and further development of partnership between all the actors committed to the Dakar Framework for Action.

The UNESCO Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, stated in his opening speech that 'our attention needs to be centred on more task-oriented topics' and elaborated this by pointing to the need to put in place the necessary strategic frameworks; at national level this means urgent attention to meeting the 2002 deadline for the preparation of EFA plans, while at international level work must move swiftly forward on a comprehensive strategic framework and on the global
initiative for generating the necessary resources. The Director-General further outlined the changes within UNESCO over the past year, noting that structures and people are now in place to ensure that EFA priorities are addressed throughout the organization. He also dwelt at some length on developments in partnership mechanisms, internationally and regionally, and among the wide range of EFA partners; he thus underlined partnership as the cornerstone of 'deeper, more sustained commitment between specific partners with the global EFA movement.'

The UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Mr John Daniel, as Chair of the meeting, welcomed participants and called for fully integrated plans at the
national level, government-led, coherent and sustainable. He called for reflection on possible cooperation with the private sector and on the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and distance education in EFA.

A total of 56 participants attended, with 6 observers. The constituencies and institutions represented were as follows:
Countries .............................................. 13
Regional organizations ........................... 5
Bilateral agencies ................................... 6
Multilateral agencies ............................... 7
NGOs ...................................................... 6
Others ..................................................... 4
UNESCO Secretariat .............................. 9
UNESCO Regional Offices ...................... 4
UNESCO Institutes (UIE, UIS) ................. 2
Observers ............................................... 6

On the morning of 12 September the ADG/ED commented on the tragic events of the previous day in the United States, offered his condolences to those of the participants suffering personal loss and commented that such acts threaten international solidarity and all that bodies such as the Working Group hope to
achieve. He led the group in a minute's silence.

The 21/2-day programme began with presentations in plenary, moved into 4 thematic groups for half a day and concluded in plenary discussion of the findings. The participants took part in the International Literacy Day celebration at UNESCO in the evening of 10 September and were offered a reception by the Director-General on the same occasion.

Structure and purpose of current report

This report follows the structure of the agenda; four items were under discussion:

EFA plans and planning

A comprehensive strategy for EFA

Structure of the EFA monitoring report

The communiqué of the high-level group meeting

Presentations, group outcomes and plenary discussion are all organized and reported on under these headings; the first two topics included most of the presentations, while the latter two topics consisted mostly of group work and discussion. The opening speech of UNESCO's Director-General, the list of
participants, the programme and a complete list of documents are appended to this report.