The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this study and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. This Monitoring Report was prepared by UNESCO, with inputs from EFA partners, under the guidance of the Working Group on EFA for use by the High-Level Group at its October 2001 meeting. The purpose of the report is to provide an account of the progress that countries and support agencies have achieved towards the goal of EFA, as well as to highlight important trends and findings and to point to future actions. For further information, please contact: Abhimanyu Singh Lead Manager, Dakar follow-up unit Education Sector UNESCO 7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France Telephone: +33 (0) 1 45 68 08 80 Fax: +33 (0) 1 45 68 56 29 E-mail: efa@unesco.org Web site: www.unesco.org Director of publication: Abhimanyu Singh Editor: Ulrika Peppler Barry Principal author: Edward B. Fiske Statistics Hilaire Mputu, Alison Kennedy Copy editing: Judith Crews-Waton Graphic design: Sylvaine Baeyens Printed by Imprimerie Nouvelle October 2001 All rights reserved Printed in France ED-2001/WS/33

Foreword

The international goal of Education for All was given new vitality at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000. Building on the 1990 World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand, and the mid-decade review meeting in Amman, Jordan, the Dakar Framework for Action provides a blueprint and set of strategies for achieving the goals of EFA by 2015.

Eighteen months after Dakar, it is clear that the challenge before us remains enormous but we have reason not to be daunted. Over the years, the frontiers of 'the possible' have been pushed back. Further advance, however, will require sustained and intensified effort on the part of all EFA stakeholders, first and foremost of which are Member States led by governmental authorities (at all levels) acting in concert with civil society and the private sector. The international community, in the shape of UN agencies, multilateral and bilateral development partners, and international NGOs, has pledged its enhanced, long-term support. This support is vitally important given the burden of indebtedness already weighing heavily on the least developed countries, whose margin of manoeuvre in their national budgets will be severely constrained unless well-targeted external assistance becomes available.

As countries gain experience in grappling with EFA, they are becoming increasingly conscious of the vital role of partnership. As governments focus on EFA within the framework of national development plans, they are increasingly aware of the need to build internal partnerships not only among various government ministries and agencies but also with civil society organizations and the private sector. National partnerships are particularly important for the development of national EFA plans of action as well as for their implementation. In addition, Member States must endeavour to work closely with neighbouring countries, with regional and sub-regional bodies, and with a wide range of international partners. It is particularly important for external agencies and bodies to devise forms of liaison, collaboration and partnership among themselves in order to generate increased resources for EFA, make more efficient use of available funds, and share lessons and experiences in implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The Dakar Framework called upon the Director-General of UNESCO to designate a small and flexible 'High-Level Group' as a means of sustaining the 'collaborative momentum' of the EFA movement. A Working Group of about 40 persons, including representatives of governments, regional bodies, bilateral and multilateral agencies and NGOs, has provided technical advice and professional support to the High-level Group.

This report is a collective endeavour of many agencies and individuals and has been prepared under UNESCO's overall guidance. It has been enriched by the deliberations of the Working Group last month. The purpose of the report is to monitor the progress that countries and EFA partners have made towards achieving the Dakar goals, as well as to highlight important trends and findings and to point to future actions. However, it must be said that the circumstances shaping the preparation of this inaugural report have not been ideal. The period of time since April 2000 has not made available a large body of data supplementary to that reported upon at Dakar. Moreover, the deadline for completing national EFA plans of action is still over a year away. As a result, this cannot claim to be the kind of systematic, authoritative document, based on the thorough collection and analysis of relevant educational data, that UNESCO intends to produce in a regular series of annual EFA reports.

Nevertheless, this document does draw upon the main advances in experience gained during the past two years. And it certainly does address some of the urgent priorities that must be fulfilled in order to achieve the important goals agreed at Dakar, including better monitoring of progress and the possibility of closing the financial gap in order to meet the targets set for 2015.

In light of the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States in September 2001, EFA has taken on even more importance. The expansion and improvement of basic education are vital for addressing two key areas of need. First, we must ensure that nations and peoples acquire better knowledge of one another as a basis for a more accurate understanding of their societies, their cultures, their religions, their ways of life, and their belief-systems. But knowledge by itself, however, is not enough - many terrorists, after all, are educated. The second need, therefore, is the renewed fostering of attitudes and values conducive to openness, tolerance and respect for others. The EFA agenda must embrace these needs and concerns if it is to remain relevant to the world in which we live.

It is now more urgent than ever for the community of nations to redouble their efforts to work as partners towards the day when Education for All is translated from a seemingly distant dream to a reality for every child, young person and adult. Basic education is not only a 'fundamental human right' for every individual, but it is, in the words of the Dakar Framework, 'the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among nations'.

Koïchiro Matsuura