EFA Flagships: multi-partner EFA Flagships: multi-partner support mechanisms to implement support mechanisms to implement

Dakar Framework for ActionDakar Framework for Action

Fourth Meeting of the Working Group Fourth Meeting of the Working Group on Education for Allon Education for All

22-23 July 2003 22-23 July 2003 UNESCO, ParisUNESCO, Paris

What is an EFA Flagship?

• EFA Flagship is about partnership

• A structured set of activities carried out by voluntary partners, under the leadership of one or more United Nations specialized agencies, in order to address specific challenges in achieving the Dakar goals

Background and Rationale

• Dakar highlighted the importance of inter-agency partnerships to enhance progress towards EFA

• Most EFA flagships have emerged as by-products of the collective commitments made in Dakar

• They reflect flexible approaches for support and co-operation as regards particular aspects of the EFA agenda

• Flagships adopt an interdisciplinary perspective: linking education and other factors (health, nutrition, rural development and conflict)

The EFA flagships: The rationale for multi-partner initiatives

• The Initiative on the Impact of HIV/AIDS on 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 Crisis

• Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH)

• Teachers and the Quality of Education

• The 10-year United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)

• Literacy in the Framework of United Nations Literacy

Decade (UNLD)

Impact of HIV/AIDS on Education

The HIV/AIDS pandemic impacts on learning opportunities and education systems in myriad ways

• 508,000 children under 15 years died from AIDS in 2001

• 14 million children under 15 years are orphans from AIDS

• 860,000 children lost their teachers to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa in 1999

• 1,000 teachers are dying of AIDS each year in Zambia

• Globally, HIV/AIDS is estimated to add US$975 million per year to the cost of achieving EFA

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

A large body of research has shown the importance of Early childhood care and education

• Early childhood education programmes prepare children for school, improving their performance and retention, and reducing the need for repetition

• Girls enrolled in early childhood programmes are better prepared for school and frequently stay in school longer

• It is inadmissible that fewer than 50% of children aged 3-5 years had access to pre-primary education in 2000.

•In sub-Saharan Africa only 18% of eligible children have access to pre-primary education. In half of the countries, less than 4% children are enrolled in pre-primary education

The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion This flagship strives to address the challenge of ensuring the right to education to children and

youth with disabilities

• 98% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend schools

• 500,000 children every year lose some part of their vision due to vitamin A deficiency

• 41 million babies are born each year at risk of mental impairment due to insufficient iodine in their mothers’ diets

• Out of 26,000 persons killed and injured by landmines every year, 40% are children

Education for Rural People (ERP)Three billion people or 60 per cent of the population in

developing countries, amounting to half of the world population, live in rural areas

• Children's access to education in rural areas is still much lower than in urban areas

• Adult illiteracy is much higher in rural areas than in urban areas

• Quality of education is poorer in rural areas

• Most of the world’s poor and hungry live in rural areas

• Education to serve rural development is one of the main challenges facing the drive to achieve EFA

Education in Situations of Emergency and

Crisis Crisis, conflicts and emergencies affect education systems in different ways:

• 50 million displaced throughout the world • 45-95% of classrooms neglected or damaged

• Teachers dispersed, killed or not working • Reduction in enrolment • Diversion of educational resources to military or security purposes

• Values and social cohesion eroded, HIV/AIDS proliferation

• Poverty and conflict are linked: 60% of low HDI and 24% of medium HDI are conflict countries

Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH)

Evidence has shown that investing in school-based health and nutrition programmes results in real educational advantages:

• Better learning in school and better educational outcomes can be obtained by boosting attendance and educational achievement

• Enhanced Equity: particular benefits for the poor and disadvantaged children

• Contribution to youth development: tackling violence, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases

• A cost-effective investment in education (not just health): by promoting learning and reducing repetition, absenteeism and dropout

Teachers and the Quality of Education

This flagship aims at implementing this EFA strategy No. 9: “Enhance the status, morale and

professionalism of teachers”

• 15 to 35 million additional primary school teachers will be needed to meet the 2015 MDGs and the Dakar Goals

• No country can implement EFA without good quality teaching

• It is crucial that teachers and their organizations be involved in decision-making in the formulation and implementation of EFA national plans

The 10-year United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)

This Initiative aims to mount a sustained campaign to improve the quality and availability of girls’ education so that to ensure gender parity in education.

• Out of 104 million school-age children not enrolled in school in 2000, 57% were girls

• About 49 countries are seriously at risk of missing the Dakar gender goal in2005, nearly 50% are in sub-Saharan Africa

• Gender issue in education is at the heart of poverty eradication and achievement of MDGs in developing countries

Literacy in the Framework of United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD)

UNLD offers an opportunity to put special emphasis on literacy for all ages. This flagship promotes literacy as a lifelong learning process that takes place both within and outside the school system.

•In 2000, 862 million adults were illiterate, 2/3 of them are women

• 79 countries are likely to miss the Dakar literacy goal of halving their rate of adult illiteracy by 2015

Potential and impact of the EFA flagship initiatives

• Synergy from a collective endeavour tailored Synergy from a collective endeavour tailored to overcome serious bottlenecks to achieving to overcome serious bottlenecks to achieving EFAEFA

• Partnership, engaging a wide range of Partnership, engaging a wide range of entities globally and locallyentities globally and locally

• Increased mutual understanding of inter-Increased mutual understanding of inter-

related challenges of EFArelated challenges of EFA • A growing co-operative spirit among EFA A growing co-operative spirit among EFA

partners at international levelpartners at international level

• International partners working to a commonly International partners working to a commonly interpreted agendainterpreted agenda

Some concerns at country level

• Confusion and overlap in existing EFA mechanisms/flagships (e.g.: FRESH and HIV/AIDS)

• Information, communication and coordination gap

• Inadequate links with other international support mechanisms and development frameworks (UNDAF, PRSP, SWAP)

• Insufficient funding of flagship initiatives

Emerging issues

• Sequencing: countries struggling to cope with successive international requirements: UNDAF, PRSP, FTI

• Coordination and ownership: UNDAF are United Nations driven, SWAP, PRSPs and FTI are led by the World Bank, in collaboration with donors

• Opportunities: great potential to introduce flagships systematically into the UNDAF and PRSP processes since they are cross-cutting

• EFA flagships should be promoted as multi-partner support strategies rather than United Nations initiatives

Perspectives for enhancement of impact of EFA flagships

At the country level, action needs to be taken in order to:

• Close the information gap

• Integrate flagships into EFA planning process

• Support inter-ministerial collaboration

• Support pilot projects at decentralized levels

• Reinforce integration of flagships in regional and sub-regional mechanisms

• Integrate flagships into other development frameworks

• Involve national government and local EFA

stakeholders in all flagship activities

Perspectives for enhancement of impact of EFA flagships

At regional/international level, there is need to:

• Integrate flagships into regional development frameworks (NEPAD)

• Discuss EFA flagships within United Nations and bilateral agencies, from central to decentralized levels

• Strengthen monitoring and evaluation of EFA flagships

• Support inter-flagship collaboration through dialogue between focal points

• Strengthen the cooperation and communication between EFA partners sponsoring flagships

• Avoid competition and duplication; promote complementarity

• Include ‘EFA flagships updates’ on agenda of WGEFA

… In conclusion

• EFA flagship initiatives demonstrate commitment and cooperative spirit of EFA partners

• EFA flagships inform policy on the multi-dimensional aspects of education

• Achieving EFA goals implies a multi-pronged approach, taking into consideration the impact on education as well as interaction between education and other development sectors

Open questions for Discussion

• How far do the different assistance frameworks, (UNDAF, SWAP or PRSPs) present opportunities to reinforce the impact of EFA flagship programmes?

• What should be the articulation between assistance frameworks and the EFA flagships?

• What are the next steps to be undertaken in order to promote this articulation?

Presented by:

John DanielAssistant Director General for Education

Education Sector

UNESCO

7, Place de Fontenoy

75700 Paris, France