Overall
objectives
Formulate
a plan of action for implementation of paragraph 11 of the
Dakar Framework for Action based on the draft strategy paper
on the 'global initiative' developed by UNESCO.
Expected
outcomes
1. Agreement
on specific actions for the six elements of the 'global
initiative'. 2. Agreement on subsequent phases for the global
initiative (content, mechanisms and milestones).
Background
The
meeting forms part of a process which seeks to: (1) reach
consensus on the conceptual part of the strategy paper;
(2) design actions for implementation of the six options;
and (3) agree on a proposed scenario for the global initiative
in the context of the wider Dakar Follow-up process. This
process takes into consideration the recommendations at
the meeting of the Working Group on Education for All held
at UNESCO Headquarters in November 2000 to both extend consultations
to the wider agency environment and to involve NGOs as important
stakeholders. Therefore, the meeting of bilateral and multinational
agencies will be followed by an NGO consultation, taking
place on 2 March, to which participants in the agency meeting
are invited as well. It also includes the setting up of
a sub-committee whose Terms of Reference and composition
will be discussed in the meeting based on the attached draft
Terms of Reference.
Meeting
format
Working
groups organized around the six elements in paragraph 11
as follows:
Working
Group 1: (i) increasing external finance for education,
in particular basic education; (ii) ensuring greater predictability
in the flow of external assistance; (v) providing earlier,
more extensive and broader debt relief and/or debt cancellation
for poverty reduction, with a strong commitment to basic
education.
Working
Group 2: (iii) facilitating more effective donor coordination;
(iv) strengthening sector-wide approaches; (vi) undertaking
more effective and regular monitoring of progress in implementing
actions in support of the 'global initiative'.
For
objective 2: discussion in plenary session.
Provisional
guidelines for group work:
Participants
in the meeting are requested to select one of the two Working
Groups. Each group will be led by a facilitator and will
select its own rapporteur. The facilitator and rapporteur
will be assisted by UNESCO. Due to interpretation needs,
it may be difficult to form more than two Working Groups.
It may be possible, however, to form sub-groups within the
two Working Groups in case each Group can establish mono-lingual
sub-groups. Each group is expected to reach consensus on
recommendations for proposed actions to be considered in
the UNESCO strategy paper which forms the background to
the meeting. The UNESCO paper is expected to be endorsed,
in its final form, by all partners and, thus, become a generally
accepted strategy paper for the global initiative.
The
UNESCO draft strategy paper has been enclosed with the letter
of invitation for the meeting and is expected to be known
to the participants before the meeting. Note that a number
of development partners have already submitted comments
to the contents of the paper which do not yet appear from
the text. In order to assist the preparatory work for the
meeting, a number of questions and issues are raised below
for each Working Group which derive from the work already
done on the paper and which necessitate consensus on actions.
This list is not complete and other, perhaps even more pertinent
issues should be considered as a basis for proposed actions.
Working
Group 1:
What
concrete actions should be taken in order to increase external
finance for education and ensure greater predictability
in the flow of external assistance?
To
what extent do current HIPC schemes promote Education for
All? If yes, why? If no, what actions need to be taken?
What are the best country scenarios from which positive
lessons could be drawn.
What
concrete actions should be taken in order to ensure national
resource mobilization?
What
concrete actions should be taken in order to ensure that
international funding best support national resource mobilization?
Working
Group 2:
What
are the major blockages to donor coordination at the country
level and what actions need to be taken in order to overcome
them?
What
represents positive experiences in donor coordination at
the country level from which positive lessons can be learned?.
What
are the major blockages in sector-wide approaches and what
actions can be taken to overcome them?
What
are positive experiences in sector-wide approaches and what
lessons can be learned?
What
concrete actions need to be taken in order to ensure proper
monitoring and surveying of the implementation of financial
actions in support of the 'global initiative'?
PROPOSED
PROGRAMME
Chair:
Mr Jean-Michel Severino, Adviser to the UNESCO Assistant
Director-General for Education on Dakar Follow-up
28
FEBRUARY
09.00-09.45
Registration
10.00-10.30
Welcome by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO
10.30-10.50
Introduction to content of and process for UNESCO strategy
paper, Lene Buchert
10.50-11.00
Introduction to Programme and Group Work, Lene Buchert
11.00-11.30
Coffee break 11.30-13.00 Group Work
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-15.30
Group Work
15.30-16.00
Coffee break
16.00-17.00
Group Work
17.00-18.00
Discussion of subsequent phases of UNESCO strategy paper
and Dakar Follow-up.
1
MARCH
09.00-10.00
Report of Working Group1
10.00-11.00
Discussion of Working Group 1 report
11.00-11.30
Coffee break
11.30-12.00
Consensus on inputs to UNESCO strategy paper
12.00-13.00
Report of Working Group 2
13.00-14.00
Lunch
14.00-15.00
Discussion of Working Group 2 report
15.00-15.30
Consensus on inputs to UNESCO strategy paper
15.30-16.00
Coffee break
16.00-18.00
Discussion of subsequent phases of UNESCO strategy paper
and Dakar Follow-up.
