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EFA
Africa Bulletin Board
- November 2002
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Welcome to the EFA Africa electronic Bulletin Board
SPECIAL MINEDAF VIII
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Dear
Readers,
It is my pleasure presenting to you the 7th issue of the EFA Bulletin.
This is a special thematic edition focusing on the forthcoming Eighth
Conference of Ministers of Education of African Member States (MINEDAF
VIII) to be held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, from 2 to 6 December
2002.
As it was highlighted in the last edition of the EFA bulletin: "The
Conference takes place after important recent developments such
as the creation of the African Union and the adoption of NEPAD,
which sets a new framework for education in Africa. Furthermore
it is being held two years after the World Education Forum in Dakar,
and it coincides with the 2002 deadline of the Dakar Framework for
Action for the development of national action plans for Education
for All. MINEDAF VIII should thus constitute a symbolic moment for
all partners to demonstrate that the collective commitment to Education
for All will be sustained".
In
this edition you will find an introduction to some of the major
themes and questions to be raised and for which solutions will be
sought at MINEDAF VIII. We hope you will find this edition useful
as an introductory briefing, and we invite you to visit the MINEDAF
VIII web-site for further information, background documents and
debate: www.minedaf.org.
A. Parsuramen
Director, UNESCO-BREDA
a.parsuramen@unesco.org
PDF format
On
this page
MINEDAF
: Lessons drawn from previous meetings, innovations and prospects
The
progressive elaboration of a reference framework for African educational
policies represents the major achievement of MINEDAF Conferences.
MINEDAF is certainly the most ancient of the conferences of African
Education Ministers. An Inter-governmental conference on education
policy and co-operation in Africa, was for the first time held on
the morrow of African countries' independence, on 25 May 1961 in
Addis Ababa. That conference adopted a "draft scheme for the
development of education in Africa", later used as a reference
for about two decades. In eight editions, from 1961 to 2002, the
MINEDAF Conferences enabled the assessment of the evolution of education
in Africa and the orientation of education policies towards new
objectives aimed at strengthening various aspects of education issues:
permanent challenges such as reforms and innovations, the eradication
of illiteracy, and education for all…
The extension of dialogue to all education partners could also be
considered as an innovative gain secured by the MINEDAF Conferences.
It
is surely not an exclusive attribute, but it is the culmination
of a change in the context of society. Education is a fundamental
issue in the political, economic and social sphere. It is quite
natural that political democratisation and the liberalisation movement
also influence the field of education. The numerous actors involved
in that sector have their say, and this also corresponds to the
extension of the education concepts: education for all, education
throughout life. Gradually, this has led to the involvement of NGOs
in MINEDAF meetings just like the institutional partners and inter-governmental
organisations. This extension of dialogue to all stakeholders is,
indeed, a consequence of the reality on the ground.
Evolution
towards collective commitments and responsibilities appears to be
the prospect of the MINEDAF conferences. Just like MINEDAF I paved
the way for development, MINEDAF VIII could, through education,
mark Africa's entry into the 21st century by implementing concrete
education plans, developed by African countries to reach the international
development objectives of the Millennium. Education for all is one
of these goals and certainly the one through which all others could
be achieved.
Aimé
Damiba
UNESCO-BREDA
a.damiba@unesco.org
Key questions raised in the MINEDAF VIII
working document
According
to the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for all: Meeting
our collective commitments: "the heart of EFA activity lies
at the country level… Countries will prepare comprehensive
National EFA Plans by 2002 at the latest"
MINEDAF
VIII coincides with this deadline. Thus the working document contains
series of questions raised by the countries or to be raised by the
countries in relation to the implementation of this recommendation
with a view to taking up the challenges of education for all in
Africa.
The
fundamental and global question is: How can African countries with
different standards, individually and collectively reach the objectives
of education for all by 2015? If the countries have developed EFA
global plans, they certainly have asked themselves such questions.
The exchange of viewpoints during MINEDAF VIII should be an interesting
aspect of the conference in terms of experience sharing and strengthening
the axis of co-operation.
Aimé
Damiba
UNESCO-BREDA
a.damiba@unesco.org
The position and contribution of Non Governmental
Organization and Civil Society to MINEDAF VIII - a prelude
Since
The World Education Forum in Dakar, 2000, Civil Society has vigorously
pursued its mandatory role to support Governments to achieve EFA.
Where this role is recognized and the necessary space given, Civil
Society's contribution to the achievement of the EFA goals has been
consistent. Some countries are yet to make full use of the opportunity
that partnership with Civil Society can offer, as they are regarded
as a threat rather than partners in development.
At
Dakar, commitments were made to the effect that no country seriously
committed to the implementation of EFA would be thwarted in its
plans for lack of resources. This has yet to materialize, for not
much financial support has come forward to assist countries in the
development of their plans. The goal post keeps on shifting from
the development of credible national education plans to linking
them with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process (PRSP) or Sector
Wide Approaches (SWAPs) or other such conditionalities.
A preliminary
assessment made by civil society organisations of where we are today
in respect of EFA indicates that, quantitatively, some progress
has been made and that it might be possible to achieve Universal
Primary Education by 2015. for the large numbers of excluded children
such as girls, the poor, persons with special needs, and those in
difficult circumstances notwithstanding, quality continues to be
a major challenge. However there is evidence, that learners are
not mastering the skills that are required to prepare them for life.
Quality education is not only about inputs but also about the total
development of the child and includes gender equity and equality,
nutrition, security and environmental considerations and strong
school community linkages. Integrated approaches to education both
at the internal and external levels that is, linking health and
nutrition to education, would greatly contribute to the achievement
of quality.
In claiming its role in the realization of the EFA goals, Civil
Society calls for strengthened participation between itself and
government in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes.
MINEDAF VIII offers new opportunities for building on this partnership
and we look forward to formalization of the processes at this forum.
Civil society organizations will take part in the MINEDAF VIII Conference,
will be represented on the panels, engage in a special session between
Ministers and NGOs, and have developed a document for the conference
entitled: "The challenge of achieving EFA in Africa. Civil
Society Perspectives and Positions to MINEDAF VIII" (accessible
on the MINEDAF web-site).
Adelaide Sosseh-Gaye
Chairperson EFA Campaign Network, The Gambia
worldview@gamtel.gm
FAPED: Parliamentarians get committed to
education
African
parliamentarians intend to be more involved in the mobilization
for education. They will set up a network, the Forum of African
Parliamentarians for Education, FAPED, for which the constituent
conference will be held from 27 November to 2 December 2002 in Dar-Es-Salaam,
Tanzania, just before the MINEDAF VIII.
FAPED
will bring together the 53 African Parliaments and should enable
parliamentarians to improve their understanding of education related
issues. This development should lead to increased budgetary allocations
for education, improved legal environments, increased capacities
of the legislative to supervise the executive, strengthened dialogue
and cooperation among African Parliamentarians, and a closer dialogue
between the elected representatives and the electorate.
The
Senegalese and Mauritian Parliaments initiated FAPED. Thus they
responded favourably to Ministers who made the commitment at MINEDAF
VII in Durban to involve other stakeholders, in particular parliamentarians,
in their action for education.
A contact
group was established with the support of organizations such as
UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, ADB and The World Bank in order to
implement the project. The group met twice, in January and in June
2002, to prepare the regulatory documents required for the creation
of the Forum.
In
addition to adopting the documents, which will result in the institutional
emergence of the forum, parliamentarians will take the opportunity
to become better informed on educational issues.
They
will work on issues such as parliamentary commitment towards educational
challenges, the present state of educational policies in Africa,
financing of education, education and NEPAD, and parliamentary advocacy.
This meeting of parliamentarians will also provide an opportunity
for exchanges with the Ministers of Education. A round table of
ministers/parliamentarians will be organized on December 2, the
last day of the Conference.
Mrs
Mame Bousso Diack/SAMB
Member of the Contact Group for creation of FAPED
and member of National Assembly of Senegal
A synthesis of 'Education for All' action
plans
During
the period following the World Education Forum, held in Dakar in
April 2000, African countries started developing National Action
Plans for Education for all (NAP/EFA,) with the support of the UNESCO
Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA), and EFA partners.
The goal was to come up with credible and feasible plans, taking
into account the six objectives contained in the Dakar Framework
for Action.
African countries will have to make the EFA movement consistent
with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), on the
one hand, and with the Millennium Declaration on the other hand.
In fact, education is one of the main priorities in both of these
initiatives, and a principal goal is to mobilise the funds necessary
for the economic and social development of the African continent.
Since
the beginning of the process, EFA co-ordination and consultation
mechanisms have been launched, namely the regional and sub-regional
forums. They have helped not only to review periodically the status
of the progress made, but also to share experiences, and draw lessons,
helpful in continuing planning activities.
As
the deadline fixed for the adoption of the NAP/EFA expires, some
African countries will still have to finalise their plans. Many
countries are in the last stages of the process. This does not mean
that efforts have not been made, but countries have been facing
difficulties they were ill-prepared for. In fact, appropriate measures
have not always been taken in order to get sufficient human and
financial resources in time, and to cope with the complexity of
the process.
The Conference of the Ministers of Education of African Member States
convened in Dar-Es-Salaam from 2 - 6 December 2002 will be an opportunity
for top decision-makers to assess the situation. They will also
work out solutions enabling all countries to complete their planning
process and implement the EFA objectives within the deadlines fixed
by the Dakar Framework of action. For that purpose, UNESCO-BREDA
has prepared a document entitled "Synthesis of the progress
made in Africa in the planning and achievement of Education for
All". The document can be accessed on the MINEDAF VIII web
site.
Benoît
Sossou
UNESCO-BREDA
b.sossou@unesco.org
Universal primary enrolment - a goal
for all
In april 2000, the World Education Forum and the United Nations
Millennium Declaration reaffirmed the Universal Primary Enrolment
(UPE) as a goal for 2015, as it had previously been proposed at
the Jomtien Conference in 1990. The international community committed
itself to supporting all countries presenting a credible plan for
basic education. The UPE challenge is huge, given the fact that
hardly one African child out of two completes six years of schooling.
And that is the essential minimum of schooling necessary to ensure
sustainable literacy at the adult age. Quantitatively, Africa will
have to enrol 180 million children in 2015 while only 100 million
are currently enrolled. Many countries will have to ensure over
the next 13 years as much progress as has been achieved for the
past four decades. This challenge deals mainly with the enrolment
of the most disadvantaged groups of the population (girls, rural
and/or poor children, orphans). The quality of the delivered education
service will require a particular attention as well, in order for
pupils to attain a satisfactory level of achievement.
The link between the input in terms of education resources and the
outcomes produced is quite weak. Thus, only a lesson-learning, empirical
analysis enables us to identify the key factors of success, from
the best achieving countries. Besides, this approach has been used
for developing the indicative framework of the EFA 2015 Fast Track
initiative, a process recently initiated by the World Bank, adopted
by most financial partners and validated at the last G8 meeting.
Provided the framework is followed (regarding quantitative targets
for domestic resource mobilisation, efficiency gains and education
quality improvement), the external financing gap in Sub-Saharan
Africa is estimated to be at US$ 2.1 billion year on average until
2015, adding up 3.9 billion available by countries on their own.
Achieving the UPE goal will also depend on the progress made in
system management (stimulation of the demand for schooling, resource
distribution and pedagogical management) in order to improve the
transformation of means into learning outcomes and to absorb the
expected impressive flow of new pupils and teachers. A monitoring
process, focused on both global and local progress achieved, should
ensure that the system is managed according to outcomes criteria
and no longer only by means.
The theme here described is dealt with in the statistical document
elaborated for the 8th Conference of Ministers of Education of African
Member States (MINEDAF VIII), to be held in Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania)
from 2nd to 6th December 2002.
The document has been developed by Mathieu Brossard, Marie Dorleans
and Nicolas Reuge, education sector policy analysts at UNESCO-BREDA,
in partnership with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the
World Bank. For any further information please contact them at poledakar@yahoo.fr
Education for All seen as crucial in the fight
against AIDS
"Education
can be a powerful force - perhaps the most powerful force of all
- in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS" (Dakar World Education
Forum Report)
Since
there is still no cure for HIV, a vaccine is only dimly coming into
sight and treatment is still too costly, education is the world's
single most powerful weapon against HIV transmission. Research has
shown that in general the more education people have received, the
more they have access to resources that can help them to support
healthier lives. The combination of 'Education for All' along with
gender equity goals and HIV preventive education, including reproductive
and sexual health information, promises to be the most effective
means of stemming the epidemic's spread.
This
perspective adds a new dimension to the drive to provide Education
for All. "Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people
and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning
and life skills programs" (article 7 (iii), Dakar Framework
for Action) is in effect, an undertaking to establish a scenario
that will render the transmission of HIV/AIDS less likely. Therefore,
countries are urged to take seriously the international commitment
to achieve universal education in 2015.
Unfortunately,
HIV/AIDS is very effective in attacking the education system. Research
has shown that absenteeism is increasing among school staff as infected
teachers fall ill or take time off to care for sick family members,
attend funerals, or mourn the loss of relatives and friends. Death
of teachers and education administrators also appear to be rising,
particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The response of the education
sector to HIV/AIDS should thus not be limited to the prevention
of HIV transmission, but also take into account the care and support
for those who are infected or affected and the protection of the
education sector. Because "Without education AIDS will continue
its rampant spread. With AIDS out of control, education will be
out of reach", as said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of
the Joint United nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) at a meeting
in Washington with the members of the UNAIDS Interagency Task Team
on Education. Peter Piot will be one of the keynote speakers at
the opening session of the MINEDAF VIII (3 December 2002).
On
the day before MINEDAF VIII, a high level meeting on HIV/AIDS will
be organised by the International Institute for Educational Planning
(IIEP), who is coordinating UNESCO's response to HIV/AIDS since
2001
Lieke
Berghauser Pont
UNESCO-BREDA
l.berghauser@unesco.org
Educating Girls and Women in Education for
All
Girls
and adult women represent the largest group of people excluded from
basic education. Sub-Saharan Africa ranked second behind South Asia
in terms of gender disparities in education throughout the world,
according to a 1990 assessment made in Jomtien, (Thailand.) Since
then, initiatives and efforts have been increased. One of the objectives
fixed by the Dakar Framework of Action was to eliminate gender disparities
in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality
in the area by 2015. Girls' education is considered as a priority
on the agenda of the international community, as part of the fight
against poverty. It is also included in the Millennium development
goals to be achieved by 2015.
Satisfying the basic educational needs of girls and women is a priority
for reasons we all know today. On the ethical level (women's rights,
sense of responsibility and autonomy) on the social level (family
welfare in terms of nutrition, health and education of children)
on the cultural level, (respect and handing down of authentic values
in countries undergoing transition) on the economic level, (improvement
of production, access to new activities, revenue generation) and
on the political level (participation in civic life, and access
to positions of responsibility).
In
the past ten years, several initiatives have been taken as regards
the education of girls and woman in Sub-Saharan Africa. However,
despite the efforts made, and the increase in the number of programmes
and projects destined to improve girls' education, discriminations
still exist. The main barriers such as poverty and prejudices about
the capacities of women, often internalised, are still present.
A
global review of women's literacy programmes and projects in the
Region has led to the following observations: Offer of literacy
programmes is low; there is little connection between what is offered
and the needs of targeted people; the programmes and projects are
often experimental or pilot; it is difficult to reconcile the advantages
of using national languages and the wish to have access to international
languages. Women are under-represented in positions like co-ordinators
and trainers; there is a shortage of trained and experienced operator
animators; and a lack of a literate environment and weak support
to the maintenance of skills acquired.
These
shortcomings can be summarised as follows: A weak quantitative and
qualitative impact compared to the importance of women who are the
targeted public, and their educational needs. This assessment calls
into question the developmental strategies in the field of education
and highlights the need for a specific approach to girls' literacy
to be created. Sub-Saharan Africa is moving slower than expected.
Graphic data published by the World Bank with regards to gender
equality in primary and secondary education, show a scenario in
2015, whereby many countries on the African continent will not achieve
the objective. The data is available at the following address http://www.developmentgoals.org/Gender_Equality.htm.
Martina
Simeti
UNESCO-BREDA
m.simeti@unesco.org
Literacy
in Africa during the past decade: Analysis
Africa
is among the regions where the best results were obtained in terms
of literacy, or at least, the total percentage of illiterates has
decreased, going from 51.2 percent in 1990 to 40.2 percent in 2000.
The last years, the progress of literacy among women has been encouraging
and gives a lot of hope. On the whole, even though women still represent
a good part of illiterate adults in Africa, their rate of access
to education and literacy is steadier than that of men. Within the
last ten years, the female illiteracy rate dropped from 61.8 percent
to 49.2, while men's decreased from 40.2 percent to 30.9 percent,
i.e. respective gaps of 12.6 and 9.3 percent.
Literacy
improvement, especially among women, represents an achievement worth
mentioning and encouraging. However, it is too early to claim victory,
given the slowness of the progress registered, and the number of
impediments that remain to be ironed out to achieve the goal fixed
by the World Forum on Education (Dakar 2000): to reduce illiteracy
by half in the adult world population by 2015. The latest ISU statistics
show the inequalities between countries, as well as the gender inequality.
The statistics show, on the one hand, that there is an important
gap of 20 points between the sexes, and on the other hand, that
most countries are still behind, while others have made a lot of
progress, and are not far from reaching the goal. For example Mali
(74.4 percent) and Niger (84 percent) where more than 90 percent
of women aged 15 and above are illiterate, as opposed to Mauritius
and Zimbabwe, respectively at 15 and 11.3 percent of the illiteracy
rate. One other important thing worth mentioning is that English
-speaking countries have higher literacy rates than French-speaking
countries. This is also apparent through formal education indicators.
The difference in social, cultural, and economic contexts in these
countries explains the major disparities observed. Other factors,
such as poverty, the idea that education is not rewarding in the
short-term, that girls education is not important, the situation
of persisting crisis, lack of resources, the shortage of personnel,
lack of reading materials, often inadequate programmes, to name
a few, make it difficult for informal education to establish itself.
Literacy-related
issues will be the focus of the debates during the December 2002
MINEDAF VIII summit. Despite the difficulties, "we should do
even better", UNESCO Director General said during the last
Literacy Day in 2002, adding that all actors and partners of education
should think about the assessments, make firmer commitments and
prepare better plans and strategies for literacy development.
Abdon
Sofonnou
UNESCO-BREDA
s.abdon@unesco.org
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