UNESCO Side Event
THEME: Regional partnership in support of ED2030 and CESA 2016-2025
DATE: 14th March 2017 - 14:00 - 15:30
VENUE: Abdou Diouf International Conference Center (CICAD), Dakar, Senegal
Context and Justification
In support to national governments who have the primary responsibility for implementation, follow-up and review of the renewed education agenda – SDG4-Education 2030, adopted in 2015 with the vision of transforming lives through education – regional and sub-regional collective efforts are critical in coherently tackling common challenges, and promoting sharing of knowledge, effective policies and practices across regions for its successful implementation. The Education 2030 Framework for Action emphasizes the need to build on existing partnerships, frameworks - the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa we want and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016-2025 - and effective and efficient mechanisms, as well as new ones forged to ensure strong regional collaboration, cooperation, coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the education agenda. The African Union further called upon for the international community to respect Africa’s vision and aspirations and to align their partnerships appropriately. Inclusive and efficient coordination should focus on such aspects as mutual learning and exchange of good practices, strategic information sharing, policy dialogue and partnerships, regional communication and advocacy strategies, resource mobilization, capacity building, and implementation of joint projects.
The West and Central Africa (WCA) Regional Coordination Group on SDG-4 Education 2030 (RCG4-WCA) was established in May 2016, bringing together the regional representations of the World Education Forum 2015 co-convening agencies and a wide range of other multilateral and civil society organizations active in educational development in West and Central Africa. The group is organized around the following working modalities, in support to national education development around the new vision of Education 2030: development of tools and methodological guidelines, knowledge management, and technical support, centered on the strengthening of national capacities.
As Chair of the RCG4-WCA, UNESCO is facilitating a side event at the ADEA 2017 Triennale on Education and Training in Africa on ‘Regional partnership in support of ED2030 and CESA 2016-2025’. Organized in the form of a panel with interactive discussions, the side event will bring together a wide range of partner institutions at the regional/continental level.
Objectives
The purpose of the side event is to provide a platform to exchange on building/creating effective partnership for collective and coherent support to countries in the contextualization and implementation of SDG4-Education 2030 and the CESA. More specifically:
- To discuss synergies between the African Union’s CESA and SDG4-Education 2030 and their implementation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
- To showcase the existing SDG4-Education 2030 coordination mechanisms in West and Central Africa and in East and Southern Africa and strengthen linkages between them and other SSA education coordination mechanisms
Expected results
- Better understanding of the linkages between the CESA and SDG4-ED2030 and proposals regarding the way forward in support to their implementation in SSA
- Common knowledge of existing education coordination mechanisms in SSA and proposals on strengthening synergies and collaboration between them
