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News
bulletin board of UNESCO's Education
Sector
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No.
15
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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
(15 January 2001)
---> Nomination
of new Assistant Director-General
for Education of UNESCO
---> New structure
in UNESCO to facilitate Dakar follow-up
---> Experts to
discuss resource mobilization for
EFA
--->
Regional up-date
on EFA activities
---> Countries
in action for EFA (in this issue:
Brazil, Nepal and Pakistan)
Attachments
in this issue
--->
Minutes
of meeting in the subregional EFA
Forum (SRF) for East and South East
Asia on 7 December 2000
---> Final
report and platform of the seminar
on the contribution of NGOs to the
EFA goals in sub-Saharan Africa (Bamako,
Mali, from 29 November to 2 December
2000)
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| Nomination
of new Assistant Director-General for
Education of UNESCO
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Sir John Daniel, a British national,
has been appointed UNESCO's new Assistant
Director-General for Education. He is
currently the Vice-Chancellor of the
Open University in the United Kingdom
and President of the United States Open
University. |
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"I am very pleased that Sir John Daniel
has accepted to bring to UNESCO an experience
gained through a prestigious career,
which has not only made him one of the
pioneers but also one of the leading
personalities in open learning and distance
education," UNESCO's Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura said last week in
a meeting with the Permanent Delegations
to UNESCO. |
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Until the end of March 2001, Aïcha Bah
Diallo, Deputy ADG for Education, is
assuming the responsibility of ADG.
Jacques Hallak, acting ADG for Education
in the past eight months, retired at
the end of last year. |
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| New
structure in UNESCO to facilitate Dakar
follow-up |
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UNESCO's Director-General, Koïchiro
Matsuura, has announced new arrangements
within the Education Sector to ensure
effective co-ordination of Dakar follow-up
activities. Mr Matsuura also underlined
that the entire Organization needs to
be mobilized for maximum effectiveness
and success in the follow-up. Special
emphasis will be given to enhanced co-operation
between sectors. |
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The structure will encompass the following
elements |
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Intersectoral Strategic Group, which
has already been functioning successfully
for several months.
- Education Sector Senior Staff
Group, which will monitor the activities
undertaken by the sector within
the framework of Dakar follow-up
and report to the Intersectoral
Strategic Group.
- Network of the UNESCO Institutes
and Regional Offices, which will
become increasingly important because
of their activities on the regional
and subregional levels and as vehicles
for encouraging co-operation with
partners.
- Dakar Follow-up Unit, its steering
committee and its correspondents
in all divisions of the Education
Sector. The Unit will be headed
by a 'lead manager' and will comprise
five professional staff members.
It will aim at building strong inter-sectoral
links and at orchestrating follow-up
activities on the regional, subregional
and international levels. The Division
of Educational Policies and Strategies
will be responsible for assisting
Dakar follow-up plans and activities
at the national level. The Dakar
Follow-up Unit will report to a
Steering Committee composed of four
UNESCO top officials and two external
personalities, and will be supported
by a number of correspondents based
in all divisions of the Education
Sector and in selected UNESCO Institutes.
Acting lead manager of the Dakar
Unit is Mr Luis Tiburcio (l.tiburcio@unesco.org).
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| The
new arrangements have already taken
effect. |
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| Experts
to discuss resource mobilization for
EFA |
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UNESCO has invited bilateral and multilateral
organizations to designate experts to
undertake a critical review of the funding
needs and strategies proposed to reach
the EFA goals and targets in specific
national contexts. The meeting will
take place at UNESCO headquarters in
Paris in February 2001 (dates to be
confirmed). |
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Based on UNESCO's recent draft discussion
paper entitled 'Development Partner
Cooperation in Support of Education
for All: Rationale and Strategies',
the experts will specifically discuss
the actions needed to put paragraph
11 of the Dakar Framework for Action
into effect. |
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Two working groups will be designing
actions for the six elements in the
Dakar Framework on (1) increasing external
finance for education; (2) ensuring
greater predictability in the flow of
external assistance; (3) facilitating
more effective donor co-ordination;
(4) strengthening sector-wide approaches;
(5) providing earlier, more extensive
and broader debt relief and/or debt
cancellation for poverty reduction;
and (6) undertaking monitoring of the
implementation of the purposed actions.
The outcomes of the meeting will serve
as input towards finalization of the
draft discussion paper. A similar meeting
will be organized with the NGO community |
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This initiative follows the recommendations
of the recent Working Group meeting
on EFA which met at UNESCO Headquarters
during 22-24 November 2000. |
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| Regional
up-date on EFA activities |
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| South
Asia |
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| The
South Asia Ministerial meeting on EFA
will take place in Kathmandu, Nepal,
from 10-12 April 2001 to review action
taken since Dakar, including the preparation
of national action plans, data collection,
etc. Attending will be participants
at ministerial level, as well as from
non-governmental organizations from
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. |
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| Also…
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| This
week, from 16-18 January, the first
preparatory meeting will take place
in New Delhi, India, to plan two subegional
training courses on planing and management
of basic education and curriculum development
to be held in India later this year.
Other training courses under the auspices
of the nine high-population countries
initiative (E9) are being organized
in Pakistan (monitoring of learning
achievement) and in Bangladesh (literacy
and non-formal education). All training
is organized by the UNESCO International
Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)
and relevant local bodies. |
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| East
and South East Asia |
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| The
subregional EFA Forum (SRF) for East
and South East Asia met on 7 December
2000 to discuss the Terms of Reference
and organization of the SRF. It is expected
to function at three levels: (i) day-to-day
operation; (ii) a working group that
may meet every quarter or more frequently
and consists of United Nations agencies,
international and regional organizations
and bilateral and multilateral donors;
and (iii) a plenary forum that may meet
once or twice a year and consists of
all SRF members. |
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| Based
at UNESCO Bangkok, the SRF Secretariat
will serve as the clearing-house to
provide regularly correspondence and
information concerning EFA activities
in the subregion. It will work in close
collaboration with the regional mechanisms
in Central Asia, the Pacific and South
Asia. |
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| Please
find the
minutes of the meeting attached to this
Bulletin (in English only). |
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| Latin
America and the Caribbean |
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| At
the initiative of UNESCO and UNICEF
regional offices for Latin America and
the Caribbean, an inter-agency preparatory
meeting for the co-ordination of Dakar
follow-up in the region will be held
in the World Bank headquarters in Washington
D.C. from 1 to 2 February 2001. The
meeting is organized by the partner
agencies of EFA (UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA,
UNICEF and the World Bank). It will
also be attended by other agencies of
the United Nations system, the Inter
American Development Bank, as well as
bilateral donor agencies and foundations.
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purpose of the meeting is to prepare
a co-ordination strategy on EFA for
the period 2001-2015. This strategy
will be submitted for consideration
by the Ministers of Education at the
Seventh Meeting of the Regional Intergovernmental
Committee of the Major Project in Education
in Latin America and the Caribbean (PROMEDLAC
VII) to be held from 5-7 March 2001
in Cochabamba, Bolivia. |
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| Countries
in action for EFA
(in this issue: Brazil, Nepal and
Pakistan) |
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| Brazil
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| In
Brazil, UNESCO has been invited to monitor
and evaluate the expansion of the ongoing
national literacy project called Alfabetzaçao
Solodaria. The objective of the project,
which started in 1999, is to fight social
exclusion by educating youth and adults
in less developed regions of Brazil
and the new phase of the programme aims
at expanding and promoting its model
and mobilizing new partners within communities
still not reached by it. The Government
of Brazil and private companies share
costs, and the programme is co-ordinated
nationally but executed in a decentralized
manner. A team of consultants produces
the educational materials and orientation
handbooks. |
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| Contact:
Mr Jorge Werthein, Director, UNESCO
Brazilia |
| E-mail:
UHBRZ@unesco.org |
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| Nepal
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Government of Nepal has formed a ten-member
Task Force for the preparation of the
national EFA plan of action. Chaired
by the Secretary of the Ministry of
Education and Sports in Nepal, the Task
Force will facilitate and co-ordinate
Dakar follow-up activities, including
serving as a core group of the EFA national
forum, co-ordinating issues such as
advocacy, resource mobilization, monitoring,
generation and sharing of EFA information,
and the formation of sub-national groups,
as well as establishing networks with
regional and subregional organizations.
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detailed proposal for the preparation
of the EFA national plan of action is
expected by 15 April 2001. A draft national
plan of action will be ready by December
2001 and the final plan of action by
December 2002. |
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| UNESCO
Kathmandu is actively involved in the
process. On 1 December 2000 it organized
a first meeting on the follow-up to
the Dakar Framework for Action with
the participation of UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO,
UNICEF and the World Bank. Efforts will
now be made to mobilize civil society
groups and non-governmental organization
in line with the Dakar Framework. The
Donors Group for Education in Nepal
will discuss EFA matters during its
next meeting on 15 February 2001. Finally,
the UNESCO Office has translated and
published the Dakar Framework in Nepalese
for a wide distribution and a local
publicity campaign on the Framework
has started through the local media.
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| Contact:
Mr Yoshiaki Kitamura, Director, UNESCO
Nepal |
| E-mail:
y.kitamura@unesco.org
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| Pakistan
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| The
official launching of the Dakar EFA
follow-up in Pakistan took place during
a national conference on 15 January
2001 in Islamabad. The conference was
organized by the Ministry of Education.
UNESCO Islamabad provided the necessary
technical and logistic support for this
event. More information will be given
in the next issue of the Bulletin Board.
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| Contact:
Mr P. K. Kasaju, Director, UNESCO Islamabad
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| E-mail:
unesco@isb.compol.com |
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| Hot
off the press |
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland
has published a booklet on special needs
education entitled 'Meeting Special/Diverse
Educational Needs - Making Inclusive
Education a Reality'. Based on papers
delivered at the Strategy Session organized
during the World Education Forum (Dakar,
Senegal, April 2000), the booklet can
be consulted at the following Internet
address:http://global.finland.fi/english/publications/index.html |
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The final report of the seminar on the
contribution of non-governmental organizations
and civil society groups to the Education
for All goals in sub-Saharan Africa
held in Bamako, Mali, from 29 November
to 2 December 2000 is now available
and attached to this Bulletin Board.
Also attached is the Platform on “Promoting
Achievements Made in Reaching the Education
for All Goals in Africa” adopted by
the seminar participants. The seminar
was organized jointly by UNESCO and
the World Bank within the framework
of the United Nations' Special Initiative
for Africa. |
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| Information
Contact: Anne Muller (a.muller@unesco.org) |
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