IFUW Blog

UNESCO, ILO and the World Bank co-sponsored a breakfast meeting during the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review on Addressing the needs of young people: education and training for the world of work.

Mr Juan Somavia, Director-General of ILO drew attention to the numbers of young people who are neither working nor studying and emphasized the problems of the exclusion of youth. Those that are studying are not necessarily receiving a useful education that would prepare them to move into the labour market. Given the rapidly increasing numbers of young people chasing fewer and fewer jobs, he pointed out that those who are educated and trained but unable to get jobs have ‘educated frustration’ and he asked ‘how can we get the economy to create jobs that the world can use?’ While the macro-economy may be a great success, unfortunately it isn’t creating enough jobs. We need to look at and adapt growth patterns to produce jobs for young people and to ensure types of education that prepare young people for employment.

H. E. Dr Ahmed Gamal Eldin Mousa, Minister of Education, Egypt said that new policy measures were focusing on freedom and dignity; democracy; and social justice. He pointed out the problems caused by the high birth rate, which means that there are 2 million newborns each year.

While there are some positive experiences of ‘dual education’ involving school and the factory, these needed to be expanded as did the availability of places in technical universities.

Issues were raised by some of the speakers on the importance of involving the private sector in ensuring that education was appropriate for starting work. A ‘time bomb’ is ticking in all countries as far as youth employment is concerned as those who are in neither education nor work pose a major challenge to society. Issues were raised particularly around ‘vocational training’.

The Deputy Minister of Education for Namibia drew attention to the ‘elephant in the room’ in his country – unemployment. He said that students should be trained to go out and create jobs, not just to take existing jobs. Unemployment in Namibia is 51% and most of the unemployed are young people.

Sha Zukang, Secretary-General for Rio +20 expressed his concern that the social dimensions are being neglected in the preparatory meetings for the conference. While economic and environmental issues are being addressed, this third ‘pillar’ is receiving inadequate attention. He also said that green technologies provided better opportunities for employment.

Marianne Haslegrave
IFUW President

Special policy dialogue on Accelerating education for all: Mobilizing resources and partnerships

Mr Soldheim, Minister of Environment and Development Cooperation of Norway gave the example of one village in Southern Sudan where there was absolutely nothing, pointing out that salaries were not paid. However the teachers continued teaching.

He found that at most international meetings, everyone discusses the need for education for children, then everyone says that more resources are needed and then they all stop. No one says what has to be done in other areas, ie no one says what are the means to reach the goals. He stressed importance of learning from other countries, giving the examples of Indonesia and Ethiopia. Developing nations must be responsible for educating their children and must make resources available. Developed nations should then assist. Contrary to what is thought, development aid is actually increasing, but it is new types of development aid, eg China, South Korea.  The donors now are no longer just the USA and Western Europe.

Policies that should be adopted include focus on teachers. Two million more teachers are required. Other ideas should be tried, for example Ghana has brought back retired teachers. Abolition of school fees, eg in Burundi, has meant that nearly all children are enrolled in schools. This has also been the case in Mozambique and Tanzania in Africa.

There should be a greater focus on the particularly vulnerable groups, including girls. Recognizing that it is controversial he also raised the issue of languages – many countries have many languages – but many children only understand their own indigenous language and it is important that they are taught in their own language.

Keynote address – Micheline Calmy-Rey, President of the Swiss Confederation

In her Keynote address, Micheline Calmy-Rey, President of the Swiss Confederation, discussed rights and responsibilities in the context of the global public good. She asked how we should look at the nature of risks as global challenges are likely to affect us all, both rich and poor, male and female. We have made some progress in reconciling some of the problems, such as those related to the environment and finance, however, problems remain with governance. We need an institution that will introduce new dynamism, though such change could come within existing institutions. She therefore suggested that, as ECOSOC is meant to provide institutional linkages, it should grow to become a Council for Sustainable Development.

Special Face-to-Face debate

Moderated by Imogen Foukes, BBC Correspondent in Geneva, the Special Face-toFace Debate focused on Education, Human Rights and Conflict.

Professor Mamadou Diouf, the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and Director of the Institute for African Studies, Columbia University drew attention to issues of the societies such as those in Africa. Questions were also raised about the responsibility of everyone on issues such as education, especially with respect to the needs of vulnerable groups.

Talking about funding for education in conflict, Tove Wang of Save the Children Norway pointed out that it was more costly to educate children in conflict zones but it was most important as they have a greater need. As far as persuading member states that it is a good investment, Asma Jahangir, Laureate of 2010/UNESCO Bilbao Prize, President of the  Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan pointed out the importance on investing in the right sort of education and not in education where children are taught to hate. She drew attention to the women in Afghanistan, which had taught women during the time of the Taliban. The problem of community initiatives is that the people who run them cannot write proposals that will attract funding.

Marianne Haslegrave
IFUW President

Several preparatory activities were held leading up to the 2011 Annual Ministerial Review (AMR). These events were organized at the global, regional and national levels.  The events focused on topics related to the AMR theme that were of particular relevance to the region hosting the consultations. The events also served to track countries’ progress in implementing internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Policy messages from the preparatory meetings for the Annual Ministerial Review included from:

Asia and Pacific – Deputy Permanent Secretary of Thailand

• There are direct links with education and health – girls who are educated are more likely to see pre- and post-natal care.
• More seriously affected countries lag seriously behind.
• Infection rates of HIV among young are now rising; we need to address young people’s rights and needs.
• Education for sustainable development would help development.
• Lifelong learning is important in preparing citizens for participation.
• There is a need to attract qualified and motivated teachers.

Africa  –  Minister of Literacy of Primary Education of Togo

Progress towards education for all shows mixed results.

• 31 million children are still not in school.
• Primary level drop out rates and repeating years impede progress.
• Progress in the context of the MDGs led to three recommendations:
  • Partnership need to be drawn up in the context of quality education, addressing problems including cultural factors.
  • Poverty has a negative impact on education; partners, for example, could help with school canteens.
  • Training and career development programmes are important in improving teaching standards.

• The right to education should be reaffirmed and included in the constitutions of the states in the African Union.
• Strengthening teacher training is an important component in Africa.
• Promoting a political commitment is important
• Schools should address gender issues and protect vulnerable children, i.e. the excluded should also be included.
• School fees for primary education should be abolished to ensure free primary education for all.
• Efforts should be made to ensure that girls should satay on at school, including free transport, make them safe for girls and provide free school meals.

Latin America – Minister of Argentina

• Inequality is the major obstacle in the region.
• Cooperating bodies should converge on Education for All.
• Situation analyses should be carried out, including information technology.
• Accreditation of programmes is important. Quality of education is an important issue.

Marianne Haslegrave
IFUW President

The opening session of the 2011 ECOSOC  Annual Minsterial Review began with a series of short keynote presentations:

Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that we are at a turning point at which we can either move forward to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly on education, or end up with broken promises, broken dreams and broken trust.

We are now at a fork in the road as we have a crisis in education. There could be 75 million children out of school by 2015. The illiteracy of young people will lead to many of them having periods of unemployment, or never finding a job. In UK £100,000 on average is spent over time on a child’s education; in Africa, the amount is about a 25^th of this. The crisis in education leads to lack of opportunity for young people. It is a crisis of equity and a crisis of empathy.

What is necessary between now and 2015 is to show that we can keep promises, renew the dream of education for all and renew trust.

There is nothing that prevents achieving education for all but political will and the necessary resources.  We need a plan in the 4 ½ years based on making the teachers available and building the classrooms. He suggested the establishment of a Global Fund for Education, financed by the public, private sector and NGOs.

There is no point in talking about further MDGs if we can’t deliver on the promises that we have made for the present. There is a need to work for the delivery of opportunities for all.

Irina Bukova, Director-General, UNESCO reminded everyone that 20 years ago Education for All was launched in Jomtien, Thailand. The countries that have seen the most significant development are those that have invested in education and health. Despite the gains since the Dakar Education World Forum, 800 million adults, two-thirds of whom are women, are illiterate and children drop out of school regularly. We now know what works and why. We have to understand the inequalities that still exist.

We must break out from a narrow vision of education and we must bridge several gaps

• Equity gap – inequalities are holding up progress from early childhood. UNESCO is working to implement the Moscow framework. The needs of girls and women should be addressed.
• Quality gap – far too many learners leave school with education that is of poor quality. This means that greater emphasis should be placed on teacher training and recruitment.
• Financing gap – current aid levels are insufficient and the international community should do more to meet its commitments. Innovative financing is also important.

We need to start setting the agenda to 2015. We need to act now to bridge these gaps

Simon Willis, Global Vice-President of CISCO referred to the United Nations Girls Education Initiative and to the lessons learned from the private sector. To meet with the lack of engineers, CISCO started a programme in partnership with UN, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and others. CISCO also made efforts to increase the numbers of girls and women participating in programmes, despite the obstacles of traditionally regarded as male dominated areas.

Marianne Haslegrave
IFUW President

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 2011 High Level Segment is taking place in Geneva from 4 to 8 July.  Its theme is “Education for All – Accelerating Progress”.  More than 500 participants representing governments, multilateral organizations, aid agencies, civil society, private sector and academia have gathered to assess and recommend how the world, in the face of the global financial and economic crisis, can maintain and accelerate its commitments to the Education for All agenda and ensure that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are achieved.

Included in the High Level Segment is the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review (AMR).   Initiated in 2005, the AMR is charged with assessing the progress made in the implementation of the MDGs and the other goals and targets agreed at the major UN conferences and summits over the past 15 years.  Each year it focuses on a specific aspect of the United Nations Development Agenda.  This year it is looking at “Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to education”.

Over the next few days, IFUW’s delegation, headed by IFUW President Marianne Haslegrave, will be blogging from the sessions.