The Beijing EFA Summit analyzes the 2006 Global Monitoring Report

(Part 2 of a series on EFA High Level Group Meeting)

Last October 2005, during the 33rd UNESCO General Conference in Paris, the major theme was "Literacy for LIFE (Literacy Initiative for Empowerment)" emphasizing on "education for sustainable development" to combat the problem of mankind particularly terrorism. Simultaneously, the Executive Board also elected as Chairman — Dr. Zhang Xinsheng, Vice Chairman of Education of the People’s Republic of China. At that time, China had already been chosen as the site for the 5th EFA High Level Group (HLG) Meeting.

Our own UNESCO Asian expert, Mrs. Lucille Gregorio, the lead Senior Education Consultant, gave logistic support at this Beijing conference from September to December 2005. For 15 years, Lucille served as Program Specialist for Science and Technology Education at the Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, UNESCO Bangkok and is currently a Consultant at the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines. She provided the highlights of the 5th High Level Group Meeting convened by UNESCO in Beijing on 28-30 November 2005.

China’s substantial contribution

The meeting brought together Ministers of Education, Cooperation and Development, the donor community and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The discussion was focused on the EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2006 — "Literacy for LIFE" and also worked on a Joint Action Plan to stimulate action on the EFA goals as well as to offer better and more concrete support at the national level to achieve them.

The basis for holding such meetings is the Dakar Framework for Action (Para 19) which states that "UNESCO Director-General will convene annually a high-level, small and flexible group. It will serve as a lever for political commitment and technical and financial mobilization. Informed by a monitoring report… it will also provide an opportunity to hold the global community to account for commitments made in Dakar. It will be composed of highest level leaders from governments and civil society of developing and developed countries, and from development agencies".

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, on that opening session, pledged to substantially increase China’s contribution to education development throughout the world so as to accelerate progress toward the EFA goals. The Premier pledged to train 1,500 teachers from developing countries annually over the next three years, donate 100 experimental rural schools to developing countries over the same time, and increase the number and value of scholarships and university places for students from developing countries to 10,000 annually. He also promised to increase financial support for developing countries hit by natural disasters and to grant US$1 million in aid to pertinent research and training projects undertaken by UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa and the UNESCO International Centre for Girls and Women’s Education in Africa.

UNESCO Director General’s speech at the Great Hall of the People

UNESCO Director General Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, in his remarks at the Opening Ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, described 2005 as "a watershed year" for EFA in terms of improved prospects for higher levels of international development assistance, especially arising from the G8 meeting in Gleneagles in July 2005. He pointed out that there have been positive developments since the World Education Forum (Dakar 2000) when 164 governments adopted the six Education for All (EFA) goals.

He emphasized, "It is also clear that the quality of basic education remains low and will not lead to meaningful learning outcomes unless tackled with renewed vigor." If not given attention, the ten years towards the 2015 target in attaining the EFA goals would be jeopardized in as many as 86 countries, including the Philippines. Emphasis has to be on "Education of Rural People (ERP)" since 70 percent of the population of developing countries are in rural areas.

The High-Level Group Joint Action Plan

The Plan clarified roles and responsibilities in EFA and encouraged UNESCO to continue its efforts in this regard. Resource mobilization questions were also examined, including the potential of new and innovative mechanisms such as the International Finance Facility, airline solidarity tax and debt swaps. The role of the EFA-Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was also discussed. A communiqué was prepared discussing the need to address the continuing finance gap, the importance of giving higher priority to literacy, and the removal of fee barriers for both formal and informal schooling. Looking ahead to global progress, a review is scheduled for 2008, and it was recommended that particular attention be paid to countries not on track to achieve the Dakar goals by 2015. The invitation of the Government of Egypt to host the next meeting of the High-Level Group in November 2006 was welcomed by all participants.

Launched in 2002, FTI is a response to the challenge that over 100 million children do not attend primary schools in developing countries, girls making up 58 percent. A global partnership providing Education for All for children from low-income countries, this is a mutual commitment between donors and developing countries to ensure accelerated progress towards the core EFA goal of universal primary completion (UPC) for boys and girls alike by 2015. The goals are to promote more efficient aid for primary education, sustained increases in aid for primary education, sound sector policies in education, adequate and sustainable domestic financing for education, and increased accountability for sector results.

Combating child labor through education

The 2005 GMR on EFA focused on the quality dimension of education and highlighted the need to elaborate special programs to reach out-of-school and socially marginalized children including child laborers. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015, governments have committed to accelerate efforts to reach EFA, through its efforts to eliminate child labor. Formulation of education policies will prevent and eliminate child labor.

The critical link between child labor and education has been highlighted in 1992, when the International Labor Organization (ILO) underlined its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Actions are based on the political will and commitments of individual governments to address the problem, and operate a phased and multi-sectoral strategy, which motivates broad alliance of partners to acknowledge and act against child labor. Sustainability is built in from the start through an emphasis on in-country ownership.

GMA signs the executive order for the Philippines as the A-P Center for Sustainable Development

Addressing the multidimensional nature of EFA, the flagships serve as vehicle of SYNERGY, PARTNERSHIP AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING, reflecting the enhanced spirit of cooperation among international partners in support of EFA goals. At country level, the flagships have the potential to mobilize EFA partners and stakeholders around specific themes and contribute to their integration in the EFA planning processes.

Last December 27, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 483 "Establishing the UNESCO Lifelong Learning Center for Sustainable Development of the Philippines and designating Operation Brotherhood Montessori Center, Inc. as the national laboratory of the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in addressing the life skills educational requirements toward building a knowledge society."

This will attain the requirement of UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura to mobilize the lengthy process of the UNESCO Executive Board and the Paris Secretariat to help the Philippines put together the elements of the Center to be a major agency to combat illiteracy for poverty reduction.

The EFA flagships

The EFA flagships address a specific challenge and continue to expand in terms of number of initiatives launched as well as their scope and memberships. United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies and NGOs have established nine initiatives in support of EFA. These are: HIV/AIDS and Education; Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE); The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities Towards Inclusion; Education for Rural People (ERP); Education in Situations of Emergency and Crises; Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH); Teachers and the Quality of Education based on the joint ILO/UNESCO publication "A Statistical Profile of the Teaching Profession"; United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI); and Literacy in the Framework of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012).

In next week’s column, I will discuss the details of the EFA Flagships and UNESCO’s "LIFE — Literacy Initiative for Empowerment", as well as how these initiatives would impact on attaining EFA by 2015 in our country.

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