“Crowdsourcing – linking up to reach Education for All”

UNESCO is teaming up with Nokia and the Pearson Foundation on 10 October to launch the Education for All (EFA) Crowdsourcing Challenge, an eight-month initiative - with prizes - to elicit suggestions on how mobile communication can help achieve EFA goals.

Crowdsourcing uses group collaboration to achieve a specific goal. Participants post ideas and other participants can vote for or against them, along with feedback and solutions. A unique element of crowdsourcing is the ability to connect people with needs or ideas with software developers who can address those needs or realize those visions. 

The EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge is designed to enable people with similar interests to connect and collaborate on ideas to achieve EFA. It plans to develop suggestions emerging from the dynamic interaction between education experts, teachers, parents, students and software developers.

Each month will feature a separate EFA goal. The first month is devoted to finding solutions on how mobile communication can help achieve literacy.   

Prizes will be awarded monthly to the best ideas, chosen by a panel of judges. Promising projects will be developed and implemented by Nokia or other participants after the challenge ends, on 31 May 2012.

Related Links

EFA Crowdsourcing Challenge

ICT in Education

The six EFA Goals

Reaching the Marginalized: Is a Quality Education Possible for All?

I attended a meeting at the Brookings Institution that marked the release of the 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The interest in the report was so great that the large auditorium was full and registration for the meeting had to be closed. The meeting benefited not only from a presentation by one of the authors of the report, but by comments from experts from the World Bank, the Government of Kenya, UNICEF and Brookings itself.

The presentation of data through 2007 made it clear that the goals set for 2015 will not be met unless there is a major improvement in the commitment of countries and donors to the effort, and perhaps some new mechanisms found such as effective public-private partnerships. It seems clear that the current economic crisis will reverse some of the successes to date. I personally emerged from the meeting convinced that the goals of universal primary education, significantly improved adult literacy rates and gender equality in educational opportunities will NOT be met, even though they seem modest enough.

Reaching the Marginalized: Is a Quality Education Possible for All?

On January 20, the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution will host the launch of UNESCO’s 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) with Kevin Watkins, director of the GMR. The report introduces a new, innovative tool to identify the "education-poor" who are excluded from accessing a quality education. A panel discussion will follow featuring Elizabeth King of the World Bank; Barbara Reynolds of UNICEF; and Brookings Fellow Rebecca Winthrop. Brookings Senior Fellow Jacques van der Gaag will moderate the discussion.

WhenWednesday, January 20, 2010
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Where
Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Click here to go to the Brookings site for the event!

Shakira Supports Education for All

Singer Shakira has set up the Barefoot Foundation to insure that every child has the right to a quality education. The program already has schools running in Shakira's native Columbia.

I quote from a recent interview:

Education is a right, not a privilege, and we need to treat it that way. Far too often, children who are born poor die poor, trapping too many children in a cycle of despair. Education is the most powerful way to break the cycle. Education affects every aspect of development. Research has shown that access to education increases wages, lowers the risk of disease and decreases the likelihood a child will turn to a destructive violent life. A single year of primary education can increase a girl’s wages by 10 to 20 percent later in life. We cannot possibly hope to thrive as a global community if we continue to turn our backs on the potential and talents of millions of children.

It’s difficult to believe that, in today’s world, 72 million kids don’t have access to any kind of education, and 226 million adolescents don’t attend secondary school. Hundreds of millions who do attend school can’t learn because of inadequate teachers, lack of supplies or empty stomachs.

Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and honorary chair of the Global Campaign for Education.

Last year she came to Washington to lobby for the Education for All Act!

EFA - Global Monitoring Report 2009

Overcoming inequality: why governance matters

Despite much progress since 2000, millions of children, youth and adults still lack access to good quality education and the benefits it brings. This inequality of opportunity is undermining progress towards achieving Education for All by 2015.

Who are these individuals and groups? What are the obstacles they face? How can governance policies help break the cycle of disadvantage and poverty? What policies work? Is education reform integrated into the bigger picture? Is the international community making good on its commitments?

Full list of GMR 2009 resources

New UIS projections on teacher shortages

The UIS has released a new series of projections to help governments better gauge future needs for primary education teachers.

Across the world, countries are committed to reaching the goal of Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015. The UIS has identified the countries that need to expand their teaching forces in order to be able to enrol all primary school-age children by this target date. According to UIS estimates, 96 out of 195 countries will need at least 1.9 million more teachers in classrooms by 2015 than in 2007.

The projections by the UIS indicate that 27 out of 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa face a critical teacher gap. In these countries, 2.6 million teachers were in the classrooms in 2007. This number must grow to 3.7 million in just eight years to meet the UPE goal. This means that for every two teachers teaching in 2007 in the region, there must be three in 2015.

Consult the UIS projections:

• Projecting the Global Demand for Teachers
• French version

Education For All: Class of 2015

75 million children are out of schoool, and millions more struggle to stay in school. This is a battle we can win - with the right political will and resources Education for All is possible.

This short film was produced for the Education for All: Class of 2015 that was launched at the UN in September 2008. The class brings together celebrities, world leaders and activists to ensure that Education for All becomes a reality. www.classof2015.org



Comment: This video was used in our seminar on UNESCO, and was well regarded. JAD

Public Consultation on the 2010 EFA Global Monitoring Report

The theme of the 2010 Report is - “Reaching and teaching the most marginalized“ . The Report will explore the factors that perpetuate marginalization, along with the success – or failure – of public policy responses, focusing on two core areas:

• Access to schooling and learning opportunities
• Teaching, learning processes and achievements

The comments should be submitted by email before March 16rh.

Read more

Education for All

This weeks session of our seminar on UNESCO at George Washington University focused on the Education for All program, and UNESCO's role in its monitoring and coordination.

While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights identified basic education as such a right, when the first EFA meeting was held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 few development professionals regarded the concept as more than a pipe dream, something beyond the realm of possibility. Today, 19 years later, even though the 2008 EFA status report said that the goals will not be reached by 2015, most development professionals not only feel that universal primary education is possible, but that it is within reach.

Unfortunately:

• the donor community has narrowed the scope of the efforts to focus on primary schooling rather than the more expansive concerns of lifelong learning promoted in the 1990's
• the quality of schools is dismal in far too many countries
• the financial crisis that is before us for the next few years makes it unlikely that the financial commitments of national governments or of donors will be met.

Still, the progress made in expanding basic education to reach hundreds of millions more kids is a great triumph for the world.

A New Year Brings New Vitality to Push for Education and Training

Those paying even scant attention to the news in the past few months may be a tad pessimistic about the current economic landscape. Yes, the present situation clearly does not warrant much to cheer about as no field is unaffected. Certainly included in this group is education; growth in educational fields has most certainly seemed quite grim as of late.

But wait.

Now may be the time to reintensify efforts for education and training on all levels as UNESCO and Education for All have recently done. This intensification call is supported by research conducted by UNESCO and others under the Education for All movement that has drawn constant links between education and economic development. Because of this and other findings, the High Level Group on EFA has called for national governments to allocate 15 to 20 percent of public expenditure to education. Addressing the shortage of teachers and teacher training are particular areas for investment.

Although these calls to support education are at national and international levels, much can be done locally and individually as well. Now, in the first days and hopes of the new year, is the time to offer simple acts of devotion of time and resources toward enhancing education. These small steps will add up to ensure all generations have the opportunities they deserve.

Global education digest 2008:

comparing education statistics around the world
UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2008
(PDF, 294 pages)

This edition of the Global Education Digest presents a new set of historical time series data, which has never before been published. The data set includes 15 indicators essential to tracking longterm
progress from 1970 to 2006. The Digest has been expanded featuring more indicators and more statistical tables.

Finally, the Digest presents an overview of the inner workings of the UIS with the aim of providing greater transparency on how international education statistics are collected, processed and reported.

2009 Education for All Monitoring Report

If current conditions do not change, things look bleak for achieving Education for All by 2015 per a report issued by UNESCO yesterday.

Governments' failures to address rampant inequalities is cited as the main culprit. These inequalities stem from many sources such as weak domestic policies, the stagnation of financial assistance from donors, and a culture of political indifference. Continuing to neglect these culprits will undoubtedly lead to missing UNESCO's goals for 2015 that were set in Darfur in 2000. Yet much more critically, these inequalities will continue to perpetuate what UNESCO reports as a "vast gulf" between rich and poor and will sorely misserve much of the world's population. Avoiding these issues will certainly have lasting global consequences.

The report is quick to note, however, the substantial progress that has been made in implementing practical policies especially in early childhood development and in implementing good quality education in some of the poorest countries. Parts of Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as South and West Asia were particularly cited as having made great gains in increasing net enrollment rates and in implementing programs to promote educational equality. Yet more governmental attention needs to be directed toward educational initiatives to enact consistent, effective change.

This attention, though, could be difficult to attract given the current financial situation. Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura noted this in indicating that failure of educational initiatives often receive much less attention in comparison to other crises. “When financial systems fail, the consequences are highly visible and governments act,” he stated. “When education systems fail the consequences are less visible, but no less real... That is why governments must act with a greater sense of urgency.” Voicing concerns to all levels of government over promoting quality education for all, then, must certainly be a growing priority.

EFA - Global Monitoring Report 2008

EDUCATION FOR ALL BY 2015: WILL WE MAKE IT?

A mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015.

What education policies and programmes have been successful? What are the main challenges? How much aid is needed? Is aid being properly targeted?

Click here to read the report (PDF)!

CONFINTEA VI

The Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) is to take place hosted by Brazil in 2009. It is to provide an important platform for policy dialog and advocacy on adult learning and non-formal education at global level. It will involve UNESCO Member States, United Nations agencies, multi-and bi-lateral cooperation agencies, organizations from civil society, the private sector and learners from all world regions. Member States are slowly submitting their national reports to the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, and are being made available on the conference website.

UNESCO: 2008: The Year Ahead in Education

Quality, inclusion, financing and governance in education are some of the major themes UNESCO will address in 2008.

Among key UNESCO events to advance Education for All (EFA) are two regional literacy conferences, the International Conference on Education, the EFA Working Group and High Level Group meetings and the launch of the 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report. More

Education Report -- Progress has been made, but much more needs to be done!

The Education for All Global Monitoring Report for 2008 has just been released by UNESCO. Progress in this decade has been better than in the last, but many countries are still lagging in achieving the EFA goals; more needs to be done.

The number of children starting primary school has increased sharply since 2000, there are more girls in school than ever before and spending on education and aid has risen. That’s the good news. But on the down side, poor quality, the high cost of schooling and persisting high levels of adult illiteracy are undermining the chances of achieving education for all* by 2015.

Especially hopeful are the findings that primary school enrollment increased by 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and 22% in South and West Asia between 1999 and 2005. Governments in 14 countries abolished primary school tuition fees, a measure that has favoured access for the most disadvantaged. Worldwide, the number of out-of-school children dropped sharply from 96 million in 1999 to 72 million in 2005.

Read more!

High Level Meeting on Education for All

Seventh Meeting of the High-Level Group on Education for All
Dakar, Senegal
11-13 December 2007

In the year 2000, the International Community gave itself 15 years to achieve the EFA and UN development goals. This year, the High-Level Group on EFA (HLG) will meet at the midpoint along that time-line.

Three Heads of State, Ministers of Education from 15 countries, representatives of the main donor countries, multilateral organizations, representatives of civil society and the private sector are to meet from 11 to 13 December in Dakar (Senegal) to examine the different means of accelerating progress towards the Education for All (EFA) goals, which were set by 164 countries in Dakar in 2000.

The opening ceremony will be chaired by the Senegalese head of state Abdoulaye Wade, and Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Touré will address the conference at the opening.

The HLG is to place special focus on three areas – equity, quality and financing of education – as top policy priorities for the coming year. In addition, it will address the special concerns of countries facing conditions of fragility as well as relatively neglected EFA goals with a view to ensuring a holistic and balanced approach to the full EFA agenda.

Read more!

"Midway to the 2015 target date: meeting of the High Level Group on Education for All in Dakar"

Read the full article on the African Press Organization website.

'Three Heads of State, Ministers of Education from 15 countries, representatives of the main donor countries, multilateral organizations, representatives of civil society and the private sector will meet from 11 to 13 December in Dakar (Senegal) to examine the different means of accelerating progress towards the six goals of Education for All (EFA) set by 164 countries in Dakar in 2000.

"The president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, and the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, will open the meeting chaired by Senegal’s Minister of Education, Moustafa Sourang. During the opening ceremony, the president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, will also give a keynote speech.

"The seventh annual meeting of the High Level Group on Education for All is taking place at the halfway point to 2015, which is the target date 164 countries have set to achieve the six EFA goals. According to the 2008 edition of the Global Monitoring Report on Education for All, which has just been released, the number of children, especially girls, starting primary school has increased sharply, but the poor quality of education, the high cost of schooling and the high level of adult illiteracy are
undermining chances of achieving education for all by 2015."

EFA Report has now been issued

EDUCATION FOR ALL BY 2015:
WILL WE MAKE IT?

Just released!

The Report in 10 questions

There is a very helpful three minute video with the key results from the report. It features Nicholas Burnett, director of the staff that prepared the 2008 report and now the new assistant director-general for education of UNESCO.

Click here to see the video,

Launch of the 2008 edition

Education for All by 2015:
Will we make it?

This report assesses progress towards the six education for all goals midway to the target date for achieving them -- 2015;

There have been some real gains since 2000:

• the number of children starting primary school has increased sharply,
  
• there are more girls in school than ever before and
• spending on education and aid has risen.

But poor quality, the cost of schooling for poor families and high levels of adult illiteracy are militating against the chances of achieving education for all.

Read the Summary Report.

The full report is to be released on Thursday. The full report, regional overviews, statistical search tool, background papers, video interviews and UNESCO Courier feature stories are to be on line on 29 November.