EPT/ Strategies

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The Dakar Framework for Action adopted by the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 26-28 April 2000), sets forth twelve strategies for achieving the six EFA goals by 2015:

.: Mobilise strong national and international political commitment for Education for All, develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education.

.: Promote Education for All policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies.

.: Ensure the engagement and participation of civil society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for educational development.

.: Develop responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational governance and management.

.: Meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, natural calamities and instability, and conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and respect, and that help to prevent violence, conflict and intolerance.

.: Implement integrated strategies for gender equality in education that recognize the need for change in attitudes, values and practices.

.: Implement education programmes and actions to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a matter of urgency.

.: Create safe, healthy, inclusive and equitably resourced educational environments conducive to excellence in learning, with clearly defined levels of achievement for all.

.: Enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers.

.: Harness new information and communication technologies to help achieve EFA goals.

.: Systematically monitor progress towards Education for All goals and strategies at the national, regional and international levels.

.: Build on existing mechanisms to accelerate progress towards Education for All.

Implementation of the Dakar Framework for Action required the adoption of an international strategy. It was designed around five major areas - planning, promotion, communication, financing, monitoring and evaluation, international and regional mechanisms – and provided a clear framework for present and future activities.

In order to strengthen cooperation initiatives between UNESCO and other partners, particularly EFA-sponsoring agencies (World Bank, FNUAP, UNDP, UNICEF), the Global Action Plan (GAP) was created to serve as a space for international cooperation. The Plan provides a clear definition of responsibilities and fields of action, calls on the five EFA coordinators to support initiatives according to the comparative advantages of each organisation, and builds on existing means and mechanisms such as the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) or the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) that integrate the various System agencies from an intersectoral perspective.