Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) Journal Volume 4, February 2019

The African Union Heads of State and Government, during their Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Session on 31st January 2016 in Addis Ababa, adopted the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) as the framework for transforming education and training systems in Africa, as called for in Agenda 2063. Since then, much has been done by stakeholders to popularize CESA and develop implementable plans, through the CESA Thematic Clusters. 

This bi-annual CESA Journal provides the platform to engage all stakeholders and highlight reflections, debates, activities and innovative interventions for strengthening education and training towards the “Africa We Want”. 

The second half of 2018 was particularly fruitful with many exciting events and developments. The Innovating Education in Africa Expo made its debut with important outcomes. Young Innovators have been recognised and Education Innovation is gaining ascendancy in the discourse on education development in Africa. The Committee of Ten Heads of States Championing Education, Science and Technology (C10) held its first Extraordinary Summit in Lilongwe, and many other events chronicled in this fourth edition of the CESA Journal. It is therefore my expectation that the groundwork has been laid for taking education to the next level in 2019. This year’s theme of the African union is “The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa”. In late 2018, Save the Children International as the coordinating agency for the CESA peace and education cluster, worked in partnership with my department and ADEA to commission a study on the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and Peace Education in Member States. I expect very useful information that will enable us to strengthen commitment to protecting education and ensuring that all children, including refugees have access to uninterrupted quality education. 

It gives me much pleasure to express appreciation to the Member States, RECs and Education Development Agencies who have taken up ownership of this collective agenda - CESA 16-25. Finally, I extend a bouquet of gratitude to the Chairperson of the Commission H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat for his indefatigable commitment to the realization of Agenda 2063. 

H.E. Prof. Sarah Anyang Agbor 
Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology