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Declaration
of the international consultation
of non-governmental organizations
(24-25 April 2000) |
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NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS
at the WORLD EDUCATION FORUM 2000 IN DAKAR: |
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| NGOs
and the unfinished agenda of EFA |
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 Education
as a commodity in the marketplace is deepening poverty and exclusion,
particularly in the worst affected countries of Sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia. Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations
therefore insist on the recognition and reaffirmation of education
as consultations of NGOs in 25 countries of the South identified
three main deficit areas requiring urgent attention: the resources
deficit; the quality deficit; and the democratic deficit, with
underlying implications as to gender, for persons with disabilities,
minorities and the marginalized. NGOs reaffirm their crucial
role in building a popular constituency to demand change and
ensuring that the needs and interests of the poor are persuasively
articulated and considered by policy-makers and politicians.
A new EFA-2015 compact should release new vigor, structures
and mechanisms as well as resources to secure learning environments
that develop self- and collective confidence and creative participation
in socio-cultural, political, economic and technological innovation
and growth. |
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| Non-governmental
and civil society organisations contributed considerably to
the EFA 2000 assessment (Jomtien+10). They have developed large
networks at local, national, regional and international levels
to more efficiently and successfully achieve their objectives.
Partnership building has become one of their major strategies.
Thus, they have developed advocacy impact, sustained commitments
in reaching the excluded, mobilized for the paradigm shift from
schooling to learning and advanced the conceptual development
of education for the 21st Century. |
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In
order to prepare their final collective input to the World
Education Forum 2000, NGOs are now getting ready for an International
Consultation, which will be held at the Centre d'Etude Supérieure
Africain de Gestion (CESAG) in Dakar from 24 to 25 April 2000.
It will bring together about 300 participants representing
international and regional NGOs as well as some national NGO
networks and federations. The meeting will ensure that the
approximately 60 NGOs who will participate in the World Education
Forum will be better able to raise the voice for the visions
and concerns of civil society organisations at large. The
International Consultation of NGOs has two main objectives:
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1. Develop
a joint statement and amendments on the EFA Framework for
Action based in particular on the results of a prior electronic
consultation.
2. Think about new partnerships and mechanisms to ensure
the implication of NGOs in the World Education Forum in
Dakar and beyond.
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| The
International Consultation of NGOs is organized under the auspices
of the NGO-UNESCO Collective Consultation on Literacy and Education
For All (CC) and the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, in partnership
with representatives of the Senegalese NGO Organizing Committee.
The Consultation is the culmination of an assessment process
initiated by the CC, in which non-governmental and civil society
organisations undertook in-depth case studies of their own EFA
programs in over 50 countries world-wide and organized national
consultations in 25 countries of the South. National and global
education campaigns spearheaded by NGOs are galvanizing civil
society into an effective force for advocacy for quality EFA
and strengthening networking around the world. Regional NGO
consultations in Johannesburg and Bangkok, as well as side meetings
at the Regional EFA Assessment meetings in Cairo and Santo Domingo,
brought together some 200 NGOs including international, regional
and national organizations and networks. These meetings enabled
NGOs to elaborate collective statements to inform the respective
Regional EFA Assessment meetings. |
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following six priority areas of NGO work were identified by
NGOs at their 1998 CC General Assembly. Six NGOs coordinated
and synthesized case studies covering a tremendous variety of
situations across the world. A seventh synthesis condensed the
outcomes of national NGO consultations held in 25 countries
of the South. These thematic synthesis reflect important aspects
of NGOs' comparative advantage in the field of education and
show once again that NGOs reached out to those, who are excluded
from formal education systems: |
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a) Community
Participation: Experiences of NGO and Civil Society (Aide
et Action);
b) Gender Dimensions in Education for All: NGO and CSO Experiences
(African Community Education Network);
c) Linking Nonformal Education to Development: NGO Experiences
during the EFA Decade (World Education);
d) Emerging Trends in Adult Literacy Policies and Practice
in Africa and Asia (Asia Pacific Bureau for Adult Education);
e) Assessing civil society partnerships in EFA (SIL International);
f) Education for All: Teachers' Perspectives (Education
International)
g) Civil Society Perspectives on Education for All: Broken
Promises, New Hopes (Action Aid)
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For
further information, please contact: The International Consultation
of NGOs
c/o STA.ONG/EPT, Dakar, Senegal
Tel: 00.221.824.59.03
Fax: 00.221.824.44.13
e-mail: ong.ept@sentoo.sn
or
c/o UNESCO-NGO Liaison Committee, Paris, France
Tel: 0033 1 45 68 17 31
Fax: 0033 1 45 66 03 37
e-mail: c.mollard@unesco.org
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