UNESCO IN THE WORLD — UNESCO IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
 1981Regional Convention on the Recognition of Academic Qualifications in Higher Education in the African States, Arusha
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ADJUSTMENT AND RECONSTRUCTION
The crisis affecting the continent since the 1980s and the introduction of structural
adjustment plans have both had dire consequences for the social sectors. (15) After a
period of expansion lasting some twenty years, and despite the tremendous sacrifices
made - often representing over twenty-five per cent of national budgets - enrolment
levels have fallen and the disparities between rich and poor, town and country, and
girls and boys have grown. The overall deterioration of the ‘quality’ of education
and the virtual impossibility of increasing the resources allocated to education in
the near future have become major concerns for governments and international institutions.
In order to give concrete expression to its action as part of the United Nations special
programmes for Africa, (16) UNESCO launched its ‘Priority: Africa’ programme in 1990,
with the aim of mobilizing resources in support of regional and
subregional co-operation activities of an interdisciplinary and intersectoral nature.
Under ‘Priority: Africa’ multidisciplinary missions have been dispatched to identify
projects for co-operation, and for that purpose national specialists have been trained
and programmes prepared on the management of higher education, distance education, the
use of computer technology, and girls’ education. (17) With a view to giving practical effect
to the World Declaration on Education for All, donors established a co-ordination mechanism
known as the Donors for African Education Task Force (DAE, now the ADEA), whose secretariat
is provided by the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). At the country
level, UNESCO has supported various meetings reviewing the situation of education and national
conferences on the development of basic education.
‘Audience Africa’, held at UNESCO Headquarters in 1995, provided an opportunity for Africans
to reflect in-depth on the whole issue of development in their continent and the priorities
to be adopted in order to face the new global challenges. ‘Audience Africa’ recommended to
African governments that ‘the systems inherited from the colonial era must therefore be
rebuilt, which will mean redefining goals, content, structure, methods, approaches and values
as part of a mould-breaking strategy which must not, however, be mistaken for systematic
rejection or blind nihilism’. (18)
Experience gained through the ‘Priority: Africa’ programme, regarding country-level
implementation and the management of inter-
disciplinary programmes, has enabled the Organization to play a catalytic role in the
United Nations System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa and become the lead agency for
activities relating to basic education for all African children (with the World Bank),
communications for peace-building and harnessing information technology for development. In
order to co-ordinate co-operation with African Member States, a Priority Africa Department
has been established in the Secretariat under the authority of a Deputy Director-General.
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by level of education |
LITERACY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | |
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Increase at regional level of public expenditure for education as percentage of GNP:
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1946-1996
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In response to a request from the Government, a UNESCO expert visited
Liberia last summer at the same time as representatives of the World
Health Organization, in order to carry out consultations and to draw
up plans for technical assistance. On 14 August 1950, the Liberian
Govern-ment signed an agreement with UNESCO providing
for sending eight experts
on education (anthropology and educational psychology, and fundamental
education and science - mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology)
during the first year of
the plan’s application. Dr J. Jablow (United States of America), who is
the head of the mission, will arrive in Liberia in April. This project
is being carried out in collaboration with WHO. All the experts will
be in Liberia by the spring of 1951.
6th Report of the
Director-General
And, five years later
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In January 1995, on the initiative of the Congolese Parent-Teacher Association,
the parent-teacher associations of fourteen French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan
Africa, with the support of UNESCO and the French Ministry of Co-
operation, established the African Parent-Teacher Federation (FAPE), which
intends to make its voice heard with regard to the difficulties
confronting African schools.
‘FAPE calls upon national associations to undertake what it considers to be
priority action for the enhancement of the quality of education: strict
observance of the dates set for the beginning of the school year, reduction
of absenteeism and school closures, etc. FAPE also urges national associations
to take long-term action to improve the school en-
vironment by arranging, in collaboration with local and community leaders, for
school libraries and study premises, and by taking initiatives to help children
with their school work through support and mutual assistance activities. FAPE’s
ultimate aim is to provide all children with the physical conditions that will
enable them, outside of regular school hours, to read, write, study and do their
homework for an average of four to six hours per week, or 200 to 300 hours
per year.’
Martin Itoua, President of FAPE, 1996. |
Léopold Sédar SenghorAuthor and poet, President of the Republic of Senegal from 1960 to 1980 Solidarity should arise spontaneously, and take its strength from literacy. Teaching is usually organized in groups, and this establishes lasting ties, both sentimental and social. Letters of Life, Nathan/UNESCO, 1991
1996
Henri Lopes 1996
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| TO KNOW MORE (see also CD-rom, Vol.I) | ||
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FOOTNOTES:
(15) See ‘To know more’
(16) The United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (1986-1990) and the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF).
(17) The Pan-African Conference on the Education of Girls was held in Ouagadougou in 1993.
(18) Audience Africa, Final Report, UNESCO, 1995.
* Cumulative, in millions of current dollars (not re-evaluated) utilized for the implementation of projects involving UNESCO.
Nelson Mandela