One of UNESCO’s global priorities is supporting countries to achieve the six Education for All (EFA) goals that were agreed on at the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000.[1] Since the beginning of 2010, UNESCO Doha has actively worked with the Yemeni government and civil society by implementing the Capacity Building for EFA (CapEFA) country programme. Together with various Yemeni stakeholders, UNESCO Doha has successfully laid the groundwork for a comprehensive and effective literacy and adult education strategy and action plan.

UNESCO is working on developing CapEFA as a forum for dialogue with other partners, such as the World Bank. Following the drafting of the action plan, national experts and other national literacy and adult education stakeholders exhibited a sense of optimism and encouragement, having worked hard – and together – on the action plan and its related activities.

Moreover, in light of the recent unrest in Yemen, UNESCO Doha joined the Education Cluster in Yemen, which meets regularly to address gaps in the humanitarian response to emergency situations affecting education. Chaired by UNICEF and Save the Children, the education cluster brings together a number of local and international NGOs and UN agencies, all of whom work to ensure a coordinated, timely and effective education response, with inter-sectoral links to other relevant clusters and sectors. 

Throughout the upcoming biennium, UNESCO Doha plans to become increasingly involved in the education cluster in Yemen, which will in turn strengthen UNESCO’s visibility in the country. Given that UNESCO is a non-resident agency in Yemen, its intellectual contribution to the cluster is an excellent way to ensure enhanced coordination with other UN agencies and with local and international NGOs currently resident in Yemen.

Given the need for greater female participation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), UNESCO Doha has put significant emphasis on the establishment of TVET programmes for girls. Having already performed a needs assessment in Saudi Arabia and Oman, the Doha office will support a needs assessment of the labour market requirements in Yemen and Kuwait, with a focus on the role of women. It will also review the current TVET policy in these countries with the objective of providing concrete recommendations for policy reform.

UNESCO Doha plans to revive the UNESCO Chairs programme, which seeks to advance research, training and programme development in all of UNESCO’s fields of competence by building university networks and encouraging inter-university cooperation through the transfer of knowledge across borders. In addition to Qatar’s national university, Qatar University, the country is host to a number of American, British, Canadian, and Dutch world-class universities.[2] Qatar has been ideally placed to foster this kind of successful cross-border education.  Similar cross-border education has been taking place in the United Arab Emirates.  

Other education-related objectives at the Doha office for 2012 and 2013 include:

• Improving the quality of teachers through national capacity building for skills and criteria;
• Ensuring that national education planning meets international standards, such as through the intensive review of national EFA plans;
• Enhancing policy-making for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in key cluster countries;
• To continue to conduct policy reviews of capacity building activities for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) stakeholders

[1] The goals include universal access to primary education, expanding early childhood care and education, improving adult literacy, and improving the quality of education. For more details on the six goals, please visit: http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/dakfram_eng.shtml

[2] These include: Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, HEC Paris, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Weill Cornell Medical College, University College London, College of the North Atlantic, University of Calgary, and Stenden University.