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News
bulletin board of UNESCO's Education Sector
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No.
13
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Welcome
to the electronic news bulletin board of UNESCO's Education
Sector, informing you about UNESCO's activities in the field
of education and in particular the follow-up to the World
Education Forum in Dakar (April 2000). Please forward it
to other interested colleagues.
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Contents
(11 December 2000)
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In Bamako, six African countries commit themselves to
reinforcing Education for All
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Next steps following the first meeting of the Working
Group on EFA
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Commonwealth Ministers of Education endorse EFA goals
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UNESCO prepares new strategic framework for gender equality
in basic education
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Donation of Norway to UNESCO's Education for All process
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Regional update on EFA activities
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Countries in action for EFA (in this issue: Kuwait)
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Hot off the press
Attachments
in this issue:
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UNESCO's draft
paper on mobilizing international financial support for
basic education
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Speech
by UNESCO's Director-General at the Heads of State conference
in Bamako, Mali (in French only)
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In
Bamako, six African countries commit themselves to reinforcing
Education for All
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The Heads of State of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger,
as well as the Prime Minister of Guinea and the deputy minister
in charge of early childhood issues for Senegal, resolved
to make education for all a national priority, at a conference
organized by UNESCO and the World Bank in Bamako, Mali, on
27 November 2000 within the framework of the follow-up to
last April’s World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal. |
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The six countries, which have some of the lowest school enrolment
rates in the world, announced they will reinforce Education
for All notably through a significant increase in funding
allocated to education: at least 4 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) will go toward education from now through the
year 2015, as opposed to between 1 to 3 per cent of GDP at
present. They also decided to grant 50 per cent of their education
budgets to the development of basic education and "to undertake
reforms for the redefinition of priorities, the reallocation
of budgets and the sharing of responsibilities in education
between the State, communities and organizations |
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UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura gave the keynote
address at the conference. It was preceded by a ministerial
meeting from 25-26 November, which brought together education
ministers of the six countries, finance ministers, as well
as representatives of unions and parent associations, Members
of Parliament, NGOs, USAID and the governments of France and
the Netherlands. |
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Please find the speech by UNESCO's Director-General attached
(in French only) . |
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Reinforcing
participation of NGOs and other civil society groups in
EFA in Africa
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Following the Heads of State conference, some seventy participants
from non-governmental and civil society organizations, ministries
of education, as well as other EFA partners discussed strategies
to reinforce and expand the contributions of NGOs to EFA efforts
in sub-Saharan Africa. Three key themes were discussed during
the seminar: identification of the contribution by NGOs and
local associations in national EFA processes, development
of mechanisms to enhance information sharing and political
dialogue, and finally, the development of capacity-building
programmes for NGOs and civil society organizations. Participants
agreed on time-bound recommendations to reinforce the contributions
of these groups and ensure their active participation in the
development and implementation of national action plans on
EFA. |
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The seminar was organized jointly by UNESCO and the World
Bank in collaboration with the Collective Consultation on
Literacy and Education for All under the United Nations Special
Initiative for Africa. |
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Next
steps following the first meeting of the Working Group on
EFA
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On the recommendation of the Working Group on EFA, which
met for the first time from 22-24 November 2000 in Paris,
UNESCO has decided to create a number of task-oriented sub-committees,
which will be up and running early next year. These are:
A
sub-committee on financing, working on the basis of UNESCO's
new draft paper on mobilizing international financial
support for basic education (attached).
A
virtual e-mail group to develop better 'codes of behaviour'
and create a platform for discussions between bilateral
donor agencies to ensure better coherence in international
partnerships at the country level.
Another
virtual group to reflect on a new, more operational version
of the Country Guidelines for the preparation of national
EFA plans of action.
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Moreover, UNESCO will continue its efforts to play a supportive,
organizing role by mapping progress on a country-by-country
basis. This information will be made available in a transparent
fashion to all bilateral and multilateral agencies to facilitate
the identification of countries where help is most urgently
needed and to stimulate increased donor commitment. A time-bound
action plan for 2001 outlining the roles of UNESCO and its
partners is also in the making. Finally, efforts will be made
to increasingly involve the private sector in the EFA movement |
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The three-day Working Group meeting brought together 53 key
actors in the Education for All movement. The report of the
meeting will be published in the first quarter of 2001. Presentations
made during the meeting are available on UNESCO's Dakar follow-up
website: |
| http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-news/Presentations%20for%20Meeting%20EFA.shtm |
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Commonwealth
Ministers of Education endorse EFA goals
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Ministers of Education of the Commonwealth agreed last week
on a framework that will guide Commonwealth co-operation in
education in the coming years. During the 14th Conference
of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Halifax, Canada (26-30
November 2000), they affirmed their commitment to achieving
education for all. |
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"We reaffirm our commitment to the spirit of the 1990 Jomtien
Declaration on education for all, and the goal of achieving
universal access to sustainable quality basic education by
2015, as outlined in the Dakar Framework for Action of April
2000 and reiterated at the UN's 2000 Millennium Summit and
the G8 Summit," states the Declaration of Ministers. It continues:
"We welcome the high degree of international co-operation
and support for education, and the pledge made by the international
community at Dakar that no country which shows serious commitment
and has sensible plans for education will fail for lack of
resources. We will strive to ensure that this pledge is honoured."
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Jacques Hallak, Assistant Director-General for Education a.i
participated in the opening ceremony on behalf of UNESCO's
Director-General. |
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For more information on the conference:
http://www.14ccem.com/ |
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UNESCO
prepares new strategic framework for gender equality in
basic education
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Some twenty international experts met last week in Paris to
discuss UNESCO's draft strategic framework for gender equality
in basic education. The framework will constitute policy guidelines
for UNESCO's future activities in the area of girls' and women's
education, with special reference to non-formal education.
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"We believe that girls' and women's education are closely
linked. It cannot be handled separately only on the basic
of age," said Aïcha Bah Diallo, UNESCO's Deputy Assistant
Director-General for Education in her welcome address. She
specifically stressed the importance of reaching adolescent
girls and boys as it is during this crucial transitory period
that important biological, physical and mental changes occur.
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The strategic framework will be used to assist countries in
attaining the Dakar EFA goals on gender equality in education
by 2015. It will also represent UNESCO's contribution to the
ten-year United Nations Girls' Education Initiative, launched
by the UN Secretary-General at the World Education Forum last
April. |
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Donation
of Norway to UNESCO's Education for All process
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UNESCO has received NOK1,6 million (US$175.000) from Norway
to UNESCO's working in the follow-up to the World Education
Forum. |
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UNESCO is currently negotiating with several other bilateral
donor agencies to mobilize funding for the Education for All
process. |
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Regional
update on EFA activities
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| Latin
America |
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The Seventh Meeting of the Regional Intergovernmental Committee
of the Major Project in Education in Latin America and the
Caribbean (PROMEDLAC VII) will take place from 5-7 March 2001
in Cochabamba, Bolivia. |
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UNESCO's Director-General will attend the conference which
is expected to discuss the implementation of the Dakar Framework
for Action in Latin American and the Caribbean. PROMEDLAC
VII will also analyse the results of the Major Project in
Education, which has inspired the majority of education reforms
undertaken by governments in the region during the past twenty
years |
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The conference was planned to take place last October but
was postponed in agreement with the government of Bolivia.
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| South
Asia |
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| The Sub-Regional
Meeting of EFA for South Asia will take place from 7-9 April
2001. The venue of the meeting is still to be decided. Ministers
of Education of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Nepal, the
Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to attend to
discuss national follow-up to the Dakar Framework for Action
and the Recife Declaration for the E-9 countries (of which
three - Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - are in South Asia),
identify problems and constrains and share experience and
alternative solutions. UNESCO's Director-General is expected
to participate in the meeting. |
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| Countries
in action for education for all (in this issue: Kuwait) |
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Kuwait has requested UNESCO to mobilize high-level experts
to participate in a national conference on education reform
in Kuwait to be held in November 2001. UNESCO, through its
Beirut Office, has been working closely with UNDP in preparing
the education reform in Kuwait, underway since April 1999.
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| Hot
off the press |
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Country
Guidelines for the Preparation of National Plans of Action
(in English, French, Spanish - shortly available in Arabic,
Chinese and Russian). Available in hard copy or on the Internet
http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-news/countryguidelines.shtm
UNESCO
has published a discussion paper entitled Development
Partner Co-operation in the Support of Education for All:
Rationale and Strategies, of which a summary is attached
to this Bulletin Board.
An
executive summary of the statistical document on the EFA
2000 Asssessment is now available in Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish. Hard copies can
be obtained from UNESCO's Institute for Statistics (UIS),
please contact uis.resource-centre@unesco.org.
The summary can also be found in PDF format on the Internet
http://unescostat.unesco.org/en/pub/pub0.htm
The
December issue of Countdown, the newsletter of UNESCO's
Education Sector, is now available. It informs about EFA
efforts in Nigeria, multipurpose community telecentres
in Africa, micro-credit programmes in Jordan and much
more. It is available on the Internet in English at http://www.unesco.org/education/educnews/20-dec/cd23.pdf
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| Information
Contact: Anne Muller (a.muller@unesco.org) |
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