ADEA is undertaking a major exercise aimed at furthering the goals, practice and processes of the ADEA partnership put into motion at the Dakar Biennial (October 1997). The objective is to identify solutions and viable policy responses to the well-known, well-documented problems and constraints related to the three major issues facing education in Africa: access, quality and capacity building. The long-term aim of this exercise is to develop a "culture" amongst the ADEA partners - African Education Ministers, external financing and technical partners, and education professionals and researchers - of finding solutions and policy responses for these issues from within the African context. The assumptions underpinning this exercise are: (i) within this context there is a wealth of knowledge and experience to guide the innovative solutions and cost-effective policies required for the development of education in Africa; and (ii) our effectiveness and partnerships will be deepened by developing and applying such knowledge. It is expected that the results of this exercise will provide the theme and content for the 1999 Biennial meeting of the ADEA (to be held in South Africa in December 1999).
In order to carry out the "Prospective Stock-Taking Review of Education in Africa", all African Ministries of Education and the ADEA Working Groups are requested to provide information aimed at: (i) identifying policies, innovations and/or experiences that have yielded dividends for one or more of the three issues at-hand (access, quality and capacity building); then (ii) providing clear evidence of the success of these policies, innovations and experiences; along with (iii) an analysis of how and why they have been effective.
ADEA's Steering Committee was deeply involved in defining both the content and process of this exercise. Successive iterations of the Terms of Reference for this exercise were elaborated in close consultation with the Steering Committee which provided inputs at its April meeting (held in Entebbe, Uganda) and, subsequently, by e-mail and fax. Also, the Steering Committee has established a sub-committee (composed of three Ministers and three agency representatives) mandated to monitor the process and provide advice to the ADEA Secretariat as the process advances. This sub-committee has met twice since the April Steering Committee meeting; each meeting provided crucial inputs into all aspects of this exercise.
In order to facilitate the task of pulling together the country case studies and Working Group inputs into one coherent synthesis - to be submitted to the 1999 Biennial meeting - a small technical team high-level professionals with extensive knowledge and experience in areas of educational policy research and practice in Africa will be established. Members of this team are already at work in consulting with countries on their national case studies.
The work will proceed in phases. The first phase (almost completed) consists of receiving proposals for country case studies from the Ministries of Education. The second phase (currently underway in about 20 countries and several Working Groups) is the carrying-out of country case studies. This phase should be completed by January-February 1999. Between January and March 1999 participating countries should hold national workshops for in-country educationists (including the resident staff of external partners and ADEA Working Group members in those countries). The next phase (April-June 1999) will focus on regional and/or thematic workshops at which country case studies will be presented and discussed. It is expected that Steering Committee and Working Group members will participate. After that, the technical committee will synthesize the inputs for presentation, consideration and critical feedback at the Biennial. Comments made at that meeting would be incorporated into the final draft of the report of this exercise. This way, we expect to go beyond diagnoses of the problems and focus on what works in what circumstances.
For more information on ADEA's "Prospective Stock-Taking Review of Education in Africa", please contact the ADEA Secretariat in Paris.
Richard SACK
ADEA Executive Secretary
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