Education and Finance Program: annual report 2003

The year 2003 has experienced an unprecedented increase in the number of activities implemented by the WG in which the capacity building component enjoys a specific position. At a time when an increasingly significant number of African countries have designed education sector development plans whose implementation requires better trained and skillful human resources, the issue of capacity building is crucial.

Capacity building

All official authorities of the countries in which the training has been held stated that they are enthusiastic for having been chosen as the venue of the capacity building seminar and by the content thereof. They all have pointed out the pertinence of the theme and specials requests from the Ministers of Education were made for the WG to hold other seminars in their countries as soon as possible. The end-of-workshop evaluation responses received from the participants were extremely positive as well

National Training Seminar of Djibouti (March 1-5, 2003)                                                                                     

The very first activity of the WG for 2003 was the Djibouti national training seminar on Costing, Management, and Budgetary Processes in Education. Twenty eight (28) high ranking officials from the Ministries of Education and Finance (including four women) attended the workshop. Most importantly, both Ministers were present at some point in the workshop to lend their weight and support to the training exercises. The Minister of Education got personally very much involved for the success of the training. He stated that he was quite impressed by the capacity building work the WG is doing. He revealed that this was the first time he has ever heard of the WG.

National Training Seminar of Sierra Leone: Freetown (May 19-23, 2003)                                                 

The national training seminar of Freetown was attended by 30 high ranking officials from the Ministries of Education and Finance (including ten women). The opening ceremony of the workshop was presided over by the Hon. Minister of Education, Science and Technology of Sierra Leone, Dr. Alpha T. Wurie. He said he was particularly happy because the WGFE has selected Sierra Leone as the venue of a national training seminar. “The timing of this training is appropriate because it reinforces all the efforts undertaken by the Government of Sierra Leone to put their educational system back on track after years of civil strife the country has known”, he concluded.                              

National Training Seminar of the Republic of Congo: Brazzaville (July 21-25, 2003)  

The national training seminar of the Republic of Congo was held in Brazzaville, July 21-25, 2003. About thirty participants (including three women) from the Ministries of Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy (MEPSA), Technical and Vocational Education, Higher Education and Finance attended the seminar. The seminar was officially opened by the Hon. Minister of MEPSA, Her Excellency, Rosalie Kama-Niamayoua flanked by the two Ministers of Technical and Vocational Education and Higher Education. The training seminar was very productive in that, at its conclusion, the representatives of the Ministries of Education and Finance readily set up a follow–up committee that will examine all the conditions of the replication of the seminar at regional and local levels. This is a concrete example of the type of synergy the WG can create between the Ministries of Education and Finance.

National Training Seminar of Angola: Luanda (October 27-31, 2003)

The national training seminar of Angola was held in Luanda, October 27-31, 2003. Thirty participants (including ten women) from the Ministries of Education and Finance were in attendance. They were all high ranking officials. The topic of the seminar was the same as the previous ones. The participants were very eager to learn new concepts and skills about budgetary processes, planning and management. They were so impressed by the results of the training that the Minister of Education His Excellency, Antonio Burito Neto Da Silva, and His Excellency, Simao, Vice-Minister for Educational Reforms requested the WGFE to consider holding another training seminar in the Provinces to provide the appropriate trained staff for the implementation of the ten-year educational development plan the country is about to launch. In a very emotional plea for another training workshop the last day of the seminar, the Minister of Education said the Minister declared that this is the first time ever, Angola has benefited from any capacity building workshop for the Ministry of Education officials. He committed to set up a follow-up committee to replicate the training in the 18 Provinces of the country.  

Synergies between ADEA Working Groups: Regional Training Seminar for Francophone.

In an effort to develop synergies between various ADEA Working Groups, the WGFE had originally planned to jointly hold with the WGESA a regional training seminar to upgrade the skills of high ranking francophone officials of MOE and Finance of several Central African countries (Burundi, Cameroon, DRC, Gabon, Congo Brazza, Rwanda, CAR, and Chad). It was planned for two weeks and scheduled to take place in Libreville, Gabon, but had to be postponed on the demand of the Gabon Minister of Education.  

Training Manual Revision Technical Committee Meeting, Cotonou, Benin (August 11-14, 03)

The Technical Committee of the WGFE met in Cotonou, Benin, August 11-12, 03. The objective of the meeting was to assign the tasks for the new training manual writing among the consultants committed by the WG and CODERIA. A final meeting planned for the beginning of 04 to harmonize the contents of the 4 modules that will make up the new manual. Moreover, a guide and an assignment textbook with corrected exercises will be produced.

Orientation and Contact Visits of the Coordinator, Paris, France, July 3-9; Ottawa, Canada Sept. 7-12; Washington, DC, USA (Sept. 15-17, 03)

The Coordinator of the WGFE undertook orientation visits at the ADEA Secretariat and IIEP, Paris, France; at CIDA head office in Ottawa, Canada and at the World Bank and USAID headquarters in Washington, DC., USA. The purpose of these visits was to get to know better ADEA, IIEP, and CIDA operational procedures. In Washington, DC, fundraising potentials for the WGFE were explored with the officials in charge of education at the World Bank, USAID and National Science Foundation (NSF). 

 ADEA statutory meetings

The Tenth Steering Committee Meeting of the WGFE, Paris, France (October 1^st, 03)

The WGFE Steering Committee held its Tenth Session on October 1^st, 03, in Paris, France. The majority of the SC members attended. The following agenda was adopted: Introduction and welcoming of new members; adoption of the proceedings of the ninth session of the SC meeting held in Chantilly on October 1^st, 02; progress report of the 2003 action plan; discussion and adoption of the 2004 work plan and budget; strategies for diversification of funding sources; and any other business: date and venue of the next SC meeting; status of the scientific committee and consideration of the Republic of Congo admission request as member of the WGFE. 

Leaders’ and Coordinators meeting, Maseru, Lesotho (April 1-4, 2003) and ADEA Steering Committee, Paris, France (Oct. 2^nd, 2003)

The WG has participated to the Leaders’ and Coordinators’ Meeting which took place in Maseru, Lesotho. The meeting was bout the contribution of the WGs to the development of Education in Africa. To this effect, the WGFE has presented a report tacking stock of its activities after having explained the context and major issues tackled by the WG. The way forward has also been outlined, namely in the long run the graduation and its repercussions for the WG. The short and medium term options and orientations and the implications thereof have been mapped out as well.

ADEA Biennale, Grand Baie, Mauritius (Dec. 3-6, 2003)

The WGFE attended the ADEA biennale held in Grand Baie, Mauritius, Dec. 3-6, 2003. The Theme of the 2003 Biennale was “Quality of Education”. It offered an opportunity to look into the operationalization of the concept of quality in the EFA in order to obtain a Quality Education for All. Indeed, the biennale reflected on the concept of quality, the Education policies and their adequate financing in a context marked with resource shortage, the adaptation of the curricula, etc.

Research

Restitution workshop for the studies on the quality of education committed by ADEA for the Mauritius Biennale, Paris, France, June 30 – July 3, 03  

ADEA held from June 29 through July 03, at Bussy St. Georges just outside Paris, a restitution workshop on the results of the studies it committed on the quality of education in Africa. Over sixty participants who were representatives of funding agencies, African Ministries of Education, the ADEA Executive Secretariat and Working Groups, consultants and the Minister of Education of Columbia Maria Rose Torres attended this important gathering. Several recommendations pertaining to the improvement of the quality of education were made during this meeting. They were presented and discussed at the ADEA Biennale that was held in Grand-Baie, Mauritius, December 03-06, 03.

Scientific Committee meeting, Casablanca, Morocco, October, 11-12, 03

The WGFE held a scientific committee meeting in Casablanca, Morocco, October 11-12, 03, whose purpose was to do a scientific review of the corrected versions of the national country case-studies of Burkina Faso and Egypt with the representatives of the research teams of these two countries and give them feedback that may help them finalize their reports. The workshop was supervised by the WG Coordinator with the technical assistance of Dr. Jarousse as an evaluator of these studies commissioned by the WG. Burkina and Egypt have been invited to incorporate all the suggestions made by the evaluating team and submit the final version of their case-studies by mid December 2003.