CONFINTEA VI, final report - Unesco

PART III CONFERENCE OUTCOMES
Oral report of the Conference
by the Rapporteur-General
Mr President, President of the General Conference, it
is my great pleasure to present the Oral Report of the
Sixth International Conference on Adult Education –
CONFINTEA VI – held in Belem, state of Pará, Brazil
from 1 to 4 December 2009.
160 representatives from Member States including 50
Ministers or Vice Ministers of Education and over 1,000
participants are in attendance at this Conference and
have deliberated extensively on the theme: “Living
and Learning for a Viable Future: The Power of Adult
Learning” a theme that strongly echoes the deep
faith that participants at the Hamburg International
Conference on Adult Education CONFINTEA V had
placed in adult education as the key to overcoming
the serious challenges that lay ahead in the Twenty
First Century. As the Hamburg Declaration (1997, para)
stated, aptly, “Sans une participation véritable et
éclairée des hommes et des femmes de tous horizons,
l’humanité ne sourait survivre ni relever les defs de
l’avenir”.
The opening of the Conference was ushered in by
a melodious prelude to the opening ceremony was
provided by a Belem musical ensemble, taking the
audience down memory lane with a rich medley of
cabaret style sentimental classics, the bolero and the
thumping racy Amazon beat of the Samba.
The representative of the President of CONFINTEA V,
Mr Walter Hirche, informed delegates of the former
President Ms. Rita Süssmuth´s regret for her
unavoidable absence and her best wishes for the
work of CONFINTEA VI. He recalled the spirit of
CONFINTEA V embodied in the Hamburg Declaration
and Agenda for the Future as timeless, relevant and
indispensable. He acknowledged that the social,
political, economic and environmental contexts of
the 1997 Conference had changed: there were new
challenges, increasing demand for education, daunting
economic, political and ethical crises which together
make education provision through access, equity,
quality and inclusion more critical today than ever
before. Investment in adult education and learning was
the only way out of the crisis.
After declaring the Conference open, Mr Hirche handed
over the baton to the CONFINTEA VI President,
Mr Fernando Haddad, Minister of Education of Brazil.
This Conference had three objectives:
• To push forward the recognition of adult learning
and education as an important element of and
factor conducive to lifelong learning, of which
literacy is the foundation;
• To highlight the crucial role of learning and
education for the realisation of current international
education and development agendas (EFA, MDGS,
UNLD, LIFE and DESD);
• To renew political momentum and commitment and
develop the tools for information in order to move
from rhetoric to action
Addresses were also made by Mr Fernando Haddad,
Minister of Education Brazil; Ms Irina Bokova, Director-
General of UNESCO; Mr Mattar Baldeh; Ms Maria Khan
from the Global Campaign for Education; Mr Alpha
Oumar Konaré, Former President of the Republic of
Mali, Ms Ana Júlia Carepa, Governor of Pará; Princess
Laurentien des Pays Bas, Special Envoy of UNESCO for
literacy for development and video-taped goodwill
messages from Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of
the United Nations, and Mr Jacques Delors, former
Chairman of the European Commission.
Speakers extended warm felicitations to the Brazilian
government, for this CONFINTEA VI and the great
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