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UN SYSTEM-WIDE SPECIAL INITIATIVE ON AFRICA
STATUS REPORT OF UNESCO ACTIVITIES
SEPTEMBER 1997
Since the April 1997 Status Report of activities undertaken by UNESCO in the context of the UNSIA, considerable momentum is to be noted in the implementation of the activities at country level, inter agency synergy and country ownership of the UNSIA. UNESCO has carried out the following, within this framework:
I. Basic Education for All African Children
Governments are not only initiating requests for participation under the UNSIA but are also exercising their leadership in identifying the type of assistance they require and the co-operation modalities with their external partners. There is a growing trend for them to seek assistance within a macro-framework rather than sub-sectoral. This is thus helping to better situate the development of basic education within the overall education sector framework. The methodology and the type of response for each country has evolved following the experiences gained and is being constantly adapted to the uniqueness of each situation. If the UNSIA is to have increased impact on a regional basis, there is a need for drawing up a middle-term plan of action for the region or sub-region, rather than responding on an ad hoc basis, to the demands for assistance made by each country.
1. UNESCO has continued to elaborate with the World Bank a joint response to the UNSIA implementation. At a meeting held at UNESCO Headquarters on 10 July 1997, the two agencies agreed to prepare a common strategy and work closely in countries where they share complementary advantages. The Bank and UNESCO have agreed that all countries should be able to benefit from the UNSIA. The two agencies will make a joint statement at the next ACC Steering Committee meeting.
2. UNESCO responded to Senegal's request for participation under the UNSIA by organizing and identification mission together with the World Bank, in close collaboration with the UNDP. The objective of the mission was to assist the government in identifying its needs, elaborate a framework for co-operation under the UNSIA and the respective roles of national actors, co-operating agencies and other international partners. A programme proposal for providing support to the Government under the UNSIA has been prepared, which highlights the need to draw up a feasible ten-year basic education development programme. The UNDP has agreed to finance part of the activities for the preparation of this plan which will be executed by UNESCO; the rest will be funded by the World Bank or other donors. A national seminar is being held at the UNESCO office in Dakar in September to organize the tasks of the different working groups and consultants. A plan of action for the education sector is expected to be ready by the end of 1997.
3. UNESCO organized at its Headquarters (7-8 July 1997) a "High-level meeting on the Special Initiative on Africa and the Education Sector Strategy for Mozambique", at the request of the Mozambican Government, in close collaboration with UNDP Resident in Maputo. The Ministers of Education and Finance, as well as other senior staff from the Ministries concerned, UN agencies (UNICEF, WHO, UNDP and UNFPA) and the country's major external partners in education (Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Italy) attended.
4. Rwanda: UNESCO prepared, through UNDP funding, an Education Sector Analysis (field missions in April and June 1997) and has submitted the draft report to the Government. The objective of the analysis was to identify the priority axes for the reconstruction and development of the country's education system. The Government has now requested further assistance, under the UNSIA, to organize a national seminar, in October 1997, in order to examine this analysis, identify the major priorities and prepare a follow up action plan. The results of the seminar should be useful for preparing the mid-term review of education and the first stage of the Donor's Round Table anticipated for January 1998.
5. The Government of Zimbabwe, supported by the UNDP Resident Coordinator, has solicited UNESCO's assistance to organize, before the end of 1997, a high-level technical meeting on their education sector strategy with a view to preparing the education plan and the development of basic education.
6. The preparation of the Ethiopian Education Sector Development Programme is progressing steadily. Under the coordination of the World Bank,the technical assistance of the eleven agencies is contributing to the finalization of the five-year plans at the national and regional levels. Following the national seminar, inter agency missions were undertaken in May, September and October. UNESCO's contribution has been in the area of capacity building and curriculum development. The Ethiopian experience constitutes, from its inception, a true model of national leadership and inter agency cooperation.
7. In order to enhance school participation and improve the quality of education, UNESCO has undertaken, amongst others, the following activities:
i) Burkina Faso: participation in the finalization of the United Nations programme to support the development of basic education 1998-2000;
ii) Uganda: relevant assistance is being provided in the areas of basic education geared particularly to promoting rural development;
iii) A pilot project, "The New Cotton Road", aimed at mobilizing support for the production and distribution of pedagogical material for schools has been launched in Mali. This project is trying to foster better understanding of schools in Africa among school children in France with the aim of contributing to the improvement of the quality of education in African schools. The French pilot schools will finance the production and distribution of pedagogical materials in the pilot schools in Mali.
iv) UNESCO is preparing a plan of action to follow up, in co-operation with the other agencies, the recommendations of major conferences and initiatives relevant to increasing women's participation in basic education through education of women teachers, early childhood education (childcare provisions for mothers and young girls so as to give them free time to attend school), studies on the effectiveness of incentive schemes, on factors impeding the implementation of action plans, links between formal and informal education, special needs education, etc.
v) Proposals are also being developed to integrate koranic schools in the mainstream of basic education.
8. The OAU, IFESH )The Foundation for Education and Self-Help) and UNESCO signed an agreement at the 4th African African-American Summit in Harare (22-24 July 1997) to build primary schools and establish vocational training programmes in African countries over the next ten years. (PROSERA project) IFESH will lead the resource mobilizing campaign for this.
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