September 2004 ADEA Briefs
WGCOMED Steering Committee discusses 2005 work plans
and priorities
During a four-day period at the end of September, the
ADEA Working Group on Communication for Education and Development (
WG COMED) conducted business in Norway.
On September 26 and 27 its Steering Committee met at
NORAD headquarters in Oslo, Norway, with Sissel Volan, the head of NORAD,
as chair. Delegates reviewed the year’s activities and the press
coverage from some of its events.
Discussion focused on ways to draw attention in the
2005 work plan to the importance of communication strategies and internal
communication within Ministries of Education. It was also agreed that
parents should be targeted.
On September 28, the COMED delegation visited the Norwegian
Ministry of Education to meet with colleagues in the Communication Department.
On September 29, moving to Bergen, Norway, the working
group attended and organized media coverage of a workshop on “Quality
in Education,” a joint activity of the World Bank and the Norwegian
Education Trust Fund.
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ADEA
Participation in External Meetings |
Workshop in Norway highlights role of quality
and the Norwegian Education Trust Fund (NETF)
On September 29, 2004, ADEA attended a Workshop
on the Quality of Education organized by the World Bank and the Norwegian
Education Trust Fund (NETF) in Bergen, Norway. Adriaan Verspoor, lead
consultant for ADEA’s Ad hoc Working Group on the Quality of Education,
and Mamadou Ndoye, Executive Secretary of ADEA were among the speakers
at the workshop. Mr. Verspoor presented results for 2003, and Mr. Ndoye
outlined the ad hoc working group’s strategy and follow-up activities.
Opening the seminar was Birger Fredriksen,
senior education advisor of the World Bank, who spoke about the role
of the Norwegian Education Trust Fund in supporting efforts to improve
education in Africa. The many challenges facing education on the continent
were covered by Olav Seim, of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Minister of Education of Burkina Faso, Hon. Mathieu Ouedraogo and
Dr Valerian Kilemi Mwiria, Assistant Minister for Education, Science
and Technology, Kenya.
The role of NGOs both for research and in
the field was covered by Penina Mlama, Executive Director of FAWE and
Tove Nagel, an advisor to Save the Children.
Besides these distinguished guests, the
workshop brought together an enthusiastic group of people from the Norwegian
ministries of foreign affairs and education, university faculty and
students, and numerous members of non-governmental organizations. Discussions
concluded on lessons learned and challenges ahead.
On September 30, ADEA’s Executive
Secretary was able to participate in another workshop organized by the
Norwegian Ministry of Education on the Fast Track Initiative (FTI).
He spoke about the impact of FTI on Africa. Other presentations were
made by Birger Fredriksen of the World Bank and the delegates from Burkina
Faso and Kenya.
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Round Table on Education
in the Democratic Republic of Congo draws 150 participants
Representatives of UNESCO, UNICEF, the World
Bank and bilateral development agencies in Belgium and Great Britain,
met in Kinshasa from September 20 to 22, 2004 for a roundtable covering
all the major challenges to education in Africa. These were identified
as:
- The need to renew educational infrastructure;
- Efforts to reduce the great disparities within countries
concerning resources and access to education and gender equality;
- How to motivate the teachers and staff; and
- The need to establish proper institutional management
and administrative capacity.
There were four separate work groups, organized
around themes, and lively discussions allowed exchange of ideas among
the various national actors from government, civil society, universities,
religious institutions, teacher unions and parent-teacher organizations.
The plenary sessions focused on Education
for All, UNICEF’s experiences with primary school education, and
the pact to modernize higher education.
The event was organized by the Democratic
Republic of Congo, with support from the Belgian government. It was
opened by His Excellency, Arthur Zahidi N’goma, Vice-President
of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in charge of the socio-cultural
commission.
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