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News
bulletin board of UNESCO's Education Sector
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No.
8
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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
(13 November 2000)
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News on the Working Group on Education
for All
- Internal UNESCO mobilization for
Dakar follow-up
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Memorandums of Understanding between
UNESCO and UNICEF
- Donation of Finland to UNESCO's
Education for All process
- Technical seminar on NGO contributions
to the Education for All efforts in
sub-Saharan Africa
- Global strategy on AIDS, schools
and education under preparation
- Regional up-date on EFA activities
-
Dakar follow-up on the agenda
Attachment
in this issue:
- Report on
the recent meeting of the Inter-Agency
Working Group on AIDS, schools, and
education (prepared by UNICEF)
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| News
on the Working Group on Education for All |
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Preparations for the first meeting of the Working
Group on Education for All to take place at
UNESCO headquarters in Paris from 22 to 24 November
2000 are well underway. Some forty individuals
representing countries, regional organizations,
and national and international non-governmental
organizations, as well as bilateral and multilateral
donor agencies, will be present. UNESCO's Director-General,
Koïchiro Matsuura, will give the keynote address
at the meeting. A number of observers including
permanent delegations to UNESCO will also be
present. |
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A series of presentations are foreseen in the
agenda. They fall into three different groups:
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Presentations by regions, countries and national
non-governmental organizations on what has happened
in the area of Education for All since the World
Education Forum in Dakar |
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Presentation of flagship programmes focusing
on six core areas of Education for All: the
United Nations Girls' Education Initiative,
Early Childhood Education and Development, HIV/AIDS
prevention, Focusing Resources on Effective
School Health (FRESH), Education in Emergency
and Crisis, and Teachers and the Quality of
Education. |
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Presentation of papers discussing three key
issues related to the Dakar follow-up:
Integration
of Education for All plans in wider national
and international plans and policy frameworks
Mobilizing of international financial support
for Education for All
Monitoring of Education for All goals and
targets
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The Working Group will also give recommendations
on how to sustain the EFA momentum and advice
on the organization of the informal high-level
group to meet in April 2001. |
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All presentations will be made available on
UNESCO's website. The next issue of the Bulletin
Board will report on the Working Group meeting.
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| Internal
UNESCO mobilization for Dakar follow-up |
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UNESCO's Director-General last week requested
all substantive sectors of the Organization
to present an integrated proposal for follow-up
activities to the Dakar Forum before the end
of the year. He also said that at least 5 per
cent of these sectors' budgets must go to Dakar
follow-up action. |
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The request came during a meeting of UNESCO's
Strategic Group on Dakar follow-up on 9 November
2000. The group comprising Assistant Directors-General,
Directors of UNESCO Institutes, division directors
in the Education Sector and directors of regional
offices, was established last April to ensure
that the Dakar Framework for Action is reflected
in all relevant UNESCO activities. . |
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Presentations during the meeting indicated that
sectors have already started to reflect on how
to integrate the Dakar Framework into their
work plans. The Natural Sciences Sector, for
example, is linking EFA to the follow-up action
to the 1999 World Conference on Science, while
the Social and Human Sciences Sector is looking
into how knowledge is being created and its
relation to identity, ideology, etc. |
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Three papers were presented during the meeting:
a draft strategy paper on education and HIV/AIDS,
outlining UNESCO's position in this area (prepared
by the International Institute for Educational
Planning), a regional action programme for mitigating
HIV/AIDS in the education and training sector
in the Southern African region and a draft strategy
on how to link education for all to the follow-up
to the 1998 World Conference on Higher Education.
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| Memorandums
of understanding between UNESCO and UNICEF |
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UNESCO and UNICEF have in the past two weeks
signed two memorandums of understanding, one
concerning Dakar follow-up activities in Central
and West Africa and another on EFA in Latin
America and the Caribbean. |
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In Central and West Africa, the respective UNESCO
and UNICEF regional offices will facilitate
the formation of national EFA forums, support
the generation of national EFA plans of actions,
strengthen donor co-ordination to avoid duplication
and fragmentation, encourage effective participation
of non-governmental organizations, promote country
participation in the EFA flagship programmes,
and finally, explore new opportunities for co-operation.
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In Latin America and the Caribbean, the memorandum
of understanding sets out the practical modalities
of a joint effort to promote the fifth Ministerial
meeting and the follow-up to the Dakar conference.
Activities include the production, translation
and distribution of the technical document for
the Ministerial Meeting and communication materials
for EFA mobilization, as well as the organization
of a meeting of non-governmental organizations
in 2001. |
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| Donation
of Finland to UNESCO's Education for All process
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Following the recent 160th session of UNESCO's
Executive Board, Finland has decided to give
2 million Finnish marks (some US$270,000) to
UNESCO's Dakar follow-up activities. Another
3 million Finnish marks have been given to UNESCO's
International Institute for Educational Planning
(IIEP) and the International Programme for the
Development of Communication (IPDC). |
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"This is great news," says Jacques Hallak, Assistant
Director-General for Education a.i. "We hope
that this gesture will inspire other donor agencies
to support our efforts in reaching the Education
for All goals." |
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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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| Technical
seminar on NGO contributions to the Education
for All efforts in sub-Saharan Africa |
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Some seventy participants from non-governmental
and civil society organizations, Ministries
of Education, bilateral donors and United Nations
organizations will meet in Bamako, Mali, from
29 November to 2 December 2000 to discuss strategies
to reinforce and expand the contributions of
non-governmental organizations to the Education
for All efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. . |
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The seminar is jointly organized by UNESCO,
the World Bank and members of the Collective
Consultation of NGOs on Literacy and Education
for All with the support of the ADEA Working
Group on Non-formal Education and other partners.
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The seminar takes place within the framework
of the United Nations Special Initiative and
will follow the conference of the Heads of State
of Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Niger and
Senegal (27 November 2000, also in Bamako).
The Heads of State conference will explore how
to accelerate the education for all agenda in
these six French-speaking countries. These countries
have some of the lowest school enrolment and
retention rates in the world. |
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| Contact:
Susanne Schnüttgen, UNESCO |
| e-mail:
s.schnuttgen@unesco.org |
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| Global
strategy on AIDS, schools and education under
preparation |
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The flagship programme on HIV/AIDS and education
is now taking form. The UNAIDS Inter-agency
Working Group (IAWG) on AIDS, schools and education
met in Geneva 1-3 November 2000 to discuss a
global strategy framework on this issue. The
working group focused on developing guidelines
along two main tracks of action: a) responding
to the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector,
and b) implementing HIV/AIDS prevention for
school-aged children and young people, especially
in schools, but also considering non-formal
approaches. Initial indicators for each guideline/activity
were also drafted. These will need to be discussed
and revised accordingly. |
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For the first time, IAWG expanded participation
to comprise other than United Nations agencies,
including key bilateral donor agencies, international
non-governmental organizations, teachers' unions
and education associations. Twenty-six participants
attended the meeting. IAWG is expected to report
on progress regarding the development of the
global strategy to the next meeting of UNAIDS's
Programme Coordinating Board in early December.
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UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS launched in 1996, is sponsored by UNDP,
UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.
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UNICEF contributed the attached report on the
IAWG meeting in early November 2000. The report
exists in English only. |
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| Regional
up-date on EFA activities |
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| Africa
(1) |
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Senior government representatives responsible
for EFA from Cape Verde, Gambia, Liberia, Senegal
and Sierra Leone met in Dakar 30 - 31 October
2000 to discuss the practical aspects of preparing
their national action plans to meet the 2002
deadline foreseen in the Dakar Framework for
Action. |
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Participants confirmed their governments’ commitment
to increasing funding to education, expanding
the provision of educational services, recruiting
more teachers and working closely with non-governmental
organizations to realize the goals of Education
for All. |
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The cost to each participant country of drawing
up national action plans varies from some US$36,000
to US$100,000 depending on the stage of preparation.
For example, the war-torn countries Liberia
and Sierra Leone require more financial support
than the others. The Director of UNESCO Dakar
confirmed that his office, in co-operation with
other EFA partners, will support this exercise
both technically and financially. The process
has already started. |
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Participants agreed that, if the commitment
of stakeholders, decision-makers, parents and
teachers’ unions were essential for success,
decentralization was equally vital because of
its potential to mobilize the population and
to overcome socio-cultural resistance. |
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| Africa
(2) |
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UNESCO Dakar is organizing a meeting with all
UNESCO offices in Africa, with relevant UNESCO
Institutes and the follow-up mechanism to VII
MINEDAF to discuss the kind of support UNESCO
can best offer in the region for the Dakar follow-up.
The meeting will take place in Dakar from 4
to 5 December 2000. |
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"It is an opportunity for all of us to consolidate
our work plans and assure that they reflect
the priorities set by the Organization for integrating
the Dakar Follow-up into our programme activities,"
says Armoogum Parsuramen, Director of UNESCO
Dakar. |
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| Contact:
Armoogum Parsuramen, Director of UNESCO Dakar
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e-mail: a.parsuramen@unesco.org |
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| Central
Asia |
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Central Asia is now moving ahead with follow-up
activities to the World Education Forum. The
first of five national roundtables was organized
by UNESCO in collaboration with UNICEF in Turkmenistan
in late September. The remaining four will be
organized in the near future in Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. |
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All countries are eager to move forward the
EFA agenda," says Jorge Sequeira, Director of
UNESCO Almaty. "We are there to trigger the
process and make sure that the Dakar Framework
for Action is known and implemented by all".
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The objectives of the roundtables are to consolidate
and expand the existing national working groups
on EFA, to present the Dakar Framework for Action
to relevant senior personnel, to provide technical
guidance to countries so that they can adapt
and harmonize national education plans to the
Dakar Framework and to formulate national EFA
plans of action. |
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Following the national roundtables, a subregional
consultation will be organized during the first
quarter of 2001. The purpose of this consultation
will be to identify and validate the topics
for a subregional strategy for EFA, including
common issues and constraints such as early
childhood care and development, textbook management
and production, quality of education and curriculum
review. |
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The Dakar Framework for Action and the country
guidelines on the preparation of EFA national
plans of action have been translated into the
national languages as well as into Russian.
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| Contact:
Jorge Sequeira, Director of UNESCO Almaty |
| e-mail:
j.sequeira@unesco.org |
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| South
Asia |
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The UNESCO offices in India, Bangladesh and
Pakistan (three of the world's nine high-population
countries (E-9) have agreed to intensify their
co-operation on Dakar follow-up activities.
Each office has taken the lead to organize
training seminars and workshops on one or
several of the following subjects:
The quality of learning and measuring learning
achievement (UNESCO Islamabad).
Curriculum
development and change (UNESCO New Delhi).
Planning
and management of basic education (UNESCO
New-Delhi in close co-operation with UNESCO's
International Institute for Educational
Planning (IIEP).
Literacy and non-formal education (UNESCO
Dhaka).
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The first preparatory meeting to map out modalities
and scope of training seminars for India-based
activities will take place in New Delhi on 30
November 2000. |
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The first South Asia Meeting of Ministers of
Education to review decisions taken in the context
of Dakar follow-up is scheduled to take place
in February 2001. |
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| Contacts:
Prof. Moegiadi, Director of UNESCO New Delhi
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| e-mail:
uhndl@unesco.org; |
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Kasaju, Director of UNESCO Islamabad |
| e-mail:
unesco@isb.compol.com |
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A. Khan, Director of UNESCO Dhaka |
| e-mail:
dhaka@unesco.org. |
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| East
Asia |
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A preliminary proposal for Dakar follow-up activities
in East Asia, submitted by UNESCO's regional
office in Bangkok, outlines how the Internet
can serve as the main vehicle for disseminating
information on EFA. |
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UNESCO Bangkok proposes to elaborate on the
already existing EFA website http://www.unescobkk.org/infores/efa2000/index.htm
by including information on monitoring activities,
a section on 'best practices and success stories',
a platform for exchanging of information between
bilateral and multilateral partners in the region,
links to websites of EFA partners and other
sources of information, as well as a discussion
forum. |
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Moreover, the proposal suggests that UNESCO
Bangkok will serve as a clearing house for EFA
materials, especially by creating a data-base
on national and subregional EFA programmes.
Finally, the Office proposes to provide training
in "information repackaging", which will enable
countries to translate EFA data into forms that
can be easily digested and used by policy-makers,
researchers and practitioners. |
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| Contact:
Zhou Nan Zhao, Director of UNESCO Bangkok |
| e-mail:
n.zhou@unesco-proap.org |
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| The
nine high-population countries (E-9) |
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The E-9 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and
Pakistan) are currently reviewing their national
situation concerning girls' education. The aim
is to find out if ambitious plans and programmes
match real action, proper mobilization and appropriate
funding. |
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The E-9 countries are also looking at the potential
of distance education for basic education. National
reviews are being analysed and workshops conducted
for this purpose. A forthcoming document by
UNESCO will focus on what exists and how it
works and will include concerns related to cost/benefit
analysis of distance education and the question
of learning achievement. |
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| Contact:
Wolfgang Vollmann, E-9 Co-ordinator, UNESCO
Paris |
| e-mail:
w.vollmann@unesco.org |
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| Dakar
follow-up on the agenda |
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The European Commission is organizing an expert
group meeting on the follow-up to the Dakar
Forum. The meeting will take place on 13-14
November 2000 in Brussels. |
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The next meeting of the taskforce of the United
Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI)
took place on 13 November 2000 at the UNHCR
Office in New York. |
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| (Contact:
Maida Pasic, Programme Assistant, UNICEF |
| e-mail:
mpasic@unicef.org) |
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Within the framework of UNGEI, UNESCO is organizing
an international Expert Group meeting on gender
equality in basic education from 5 to 7 December
2000. The meeting will take place at UNESCO
headquarters in Paris. (Contact: Koto Kanno,
Programme Specialist, UNESCO |
| e-mail:
k.kanno@unesco.org) |
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| Information
Contact: Anne Muller (a.muller@unesco.org) |
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| Contact:
Anne Muller (a.muller@unesco.org)
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