Regional / Subregional Forums > Asia / Pacific > East and South-East Asia Sub-regional EFA Forum (SRF) Thematic Working Group on EFA SRF for East and South East Asia Tuesday, 25 July 2000, UNESCO PROAP MINUTES Present: 1. Mr. Victor Ordonez, UNESCO PROAP 2. Ms. Sandra Pellegrom, Dutch Embassy 3. Ms. Nanda Krairiksh, ESCAP 4. Ms. Asa Jonsson, ESCAP 5. Ms. Ema Naito, ESCAP 6. Ms. Rika Fujioka, FAO 7. Mr. Abdul Wahid bin Sulaiman, SEAMEO 8. Mr. Rene Andersen, UNDP 9. Mr. Pornchai Suchitta, UNFPA 10. Mr. Jim Irvine, UNICEF 11. Ms. Dominique Altner, UNESCO PROAP Secretariat: 12. Ms. Lapapan Choovong, UNESCO PROAP 13. Mr. Nyi Nyi Thaung, UNESCO PROAP 14. Mr. Toshiyuki Matsumoto, UNESCO PROAP Apologies: 1. Mr. Yasushi Hirosato, ADB 2. Ms. Hiroko Tanaka, ESCAP 3. Mr. Abdul Hakeem, UNESCO PROAP 4. Ms. Tanaporn Poshyananda, World Bank Mr. Victor Ordonez, Director PROAP and Co-ordinator of the Sub-regional EFA Forum (SRF) for East and South East Asia, welcomed new members to the Forum. He then briefed the meeting on the previous developments as well as the tasks awaiting the Forum at national, sub-regional and regional levels. The minutes of the previous meeting was presented; there was no comment. Mr. Jim Irvine, UNICEF, commended the Secretariat for their efficiency as RTAG leading to unprecedented country data. In this connection, it could be helpful to other SRFs in the region to receive continued secretarial and technical support from the East and South East Asia SRF Secretariat. He also noted active participation of NGOs in the Bangkok Conference which should be maintained. 1. TOR of the Sub-regional EFA Forum The meeting discussed the draft TOR vis-à-vis paragraph 14 of the Dakar Framework for Action. Ms. Nanda Krairiksh, ESCAP, recalled that at the Regional Coordination Meeting convened by ESCAP on 13 July 2000 there was a proposal that EFA should be one of the ten thematic working groups for UN inter-agency cooperation and coordination. After some discussion, the meeting decided that this SRF should also serve as the thematic working group. Mr. Jim Irvine suggested that the SRF function as a resource base serving the other three SRFs in the region and representing them in the thematic working group. Ms. Nanda Krairiksh also suggested that the TOR go beyond information sharing to include joint programming by agencies. This could entail joint planning and implementation of activities for EFA, utilizing each participating agency's financial resources, as a complement to the commonly sponsored projects which will be financed by external funds. On the basis of these suggestions, the TOR was revised to read as follows: assistance to countries for formation of national forum and formulation of national plan by 2002; monitoring of and technical assistance to the countries' data collection as well as the agencies; sharing of information among members of the forum and, to the extent possible, joint programming; formulation of commonly sponsored projects and mobilization of external resources for them; and providing technical and secretarial support to the other three SRFs, as needed. In an attempt to further refine and validate the TOR, the Secretariat will write to the countries in the sub-region to follow-up on their post-Dakar plan, specifically in relation to follow-up mechanisms, latest developments, and the assistance needed from the SRF. The responses from the countries will also enable the Secretariat to formulate more specific action work plans for subsequent consultation with the SRF at its next meeting. 2. Organization of the Sub-regional EFA Forum Since the Dakar Conference, it has been decided to expand membership of the SRF for wider constituency. New members include other multilateral organizations apart from the main EFA convenors, bilateral donors, NGOs and the countries. The SRF for East and South East Asia will be one of the four SRFs in the region. The other three SRFs are for (i) Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus, (ii) the Pacific, and (iii) South and West Asia. The East and South East Asia SRF covers 14 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Rep. of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. With the TOR in mind, the SRF may be expected to function on three levels: (i) day-to-day operation; (ii) a working group that may meet every quarter; and (iii) a plenary forum that meets once or twice a year. The meeting endorsed this organization proceeded to suggest the composition of each group. First of all, it was recommended that the Secretariat and its technical capacity be strengthened so that it may ably assist other SRFs. Membership of the working committee will be drawn from that of the sub-regional plenary committee. It will comprise ADB, ESCAP, SEAMEO, UNESCO and UNICEF. The other five members will be from bilateral donors, NGOs, and the countries. Membership of the Sub-regional plenary group will not exceed 23. Among them are ADB, ESCAP, FAO, SEAMEO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and World Bank. ILO has expressed an interest in participating. APEC, ASEAN (the Education Sub-committee based in Jakarta) and UNAIDS will be approached. The Co-ordinator will also approach bilateral donors so that as many as five of them could become members. NGOs active in the Bangkok Conference will also be consulted regarding their representation (3). Although all countries will be invited to attend the annual meeting, it is proposed that five countries be included as full members of the plenary committee, representing a good mix of those needing extra assistance and those having done very good work for the EFA 2000 Assessment. All fourteen countries will be invited to the first sub-regional meeting later this year when they will have an opportunity to discuss, and opt for, country membership. It was noted that the nature of composition and functions of the Forum (SRF) distinguish it from other regional fora such as EDCOM or MINEDAP. 3. Use of balance of funds The Co-ordinator reported that the balance of funds from the EFA Forum will be used to (i) start SRFs in Central Asia & Trans-Caucasus and the Pacific; and (ii) to improve EFA data collection and analysis from countries such as Lao PDR. Ms. Dominique Altner, UNESCO PROAP, reported that there was unspent balance from the ADB project for which a proposal had been prepared and submitted to ADB. Specifically, the balance of funds will be used to provide further technical assistance towards capacity building to countries that need to improve the data collected for EFA 2000 Assessment. In addition, UNESCO also explores the possibility of a new T. A. for follow-up activities including (i) creation of a data base on learning achievement, and (ii) a study on applications of IT at school and local management levels. UNICEF has also submitted a proposal to the World Bank for use of the balance of funds for EFA 2000 Assessment for follow-up activities. The Bank's approval is still awaited. In the meantime, the project has been extended until the end of December this year. This implies that once the approval comes, the money will have to be spent quickly. 4. Other matters Mr. Victor Ordonez informed the meeting that this was his last participation in the SRF. The next meeting may anticipate attendance of a new Director of UNESCO PROAP whose chairmanship of the SRF will have to be endorsed by the meeting. On behalf of the SRF, Mr. Jim Irvine requested to put on record the group's gratitude and appreciation of Mr. Ordonez's contribution and leadership. 5. Next SRF meeting The first plenary session of the SRF to articulate the goals for the next two years will be held in conjunction with the SEAMEO High Officials Meeting to be held in Bangkok on 20-22 November this year. The SRF working committee will meet one month before, i.e. in October in order to undertake preparatory work based on the information to be obtained from the countries by the secretariat. The date of the meeting will be fixed later. 6. Appendix - Acronyms ADB - Asian Development Bank APEC - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations EDCOM - Intergovernmental Regional Committee on Education in Asia and the Pacific EFA - Education for All ESCAP - United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ILO - International Labour Organization IT - Information Technology MINEDAP - Ministers of Education and those Responsible for Economic Planning in Asia and the Pacific NGO - Non-governmental Organization RTAG - Regional Technical Advisory Group SEAMEO - Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization SRF - Sub-regional EFA Forum TOR - Terms of Reference UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNDP - United Nations Development Programme UNESCO PROAP - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund