CONFINTEA VI, final report - Unesco

system, when you think you have acquired what is
essential, you find yourself facing the risk of losing it.
That is why, among the hundreds of millions of
unemployed people, there is a growing and impressive
number of former workers and educated, degreeholding
jobseekers. In reality, we are witnessing the
crisis of a way of thinking and a mode of political and
economic governance. We are witnessing a crisis of
the development models that developing countries and
societies have been tied to, precisely because they
did not contribute to their establishment. It would
be futile to try to adapt to a system that has shown
its limitations by failing to be fair and inclusive. It
is a system that is choking because it has failed to
draw widely on the experience and knowledge of all
people, especially adults, whatever their culture, their
environment or living conditions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
III – How can we break the deadlock?
We may agree that our policies and educational
programmes, whether formal or non-formal, have
contributed to raising the standards of living of
educated populations, as well as their levels of
understanding and personal skills, but these policies
and programmes have not helped the majority to
escape poverty. Our past efforts and successes have
been limited and sometimes even overwhelmed by the
excesses and pernicious effects of the development
models within and for which we work.
As we have seen, the social and political consequences
of these models are giving rise to increasingly
acute tensions because of the huge gap between
the interests of the decision-makers and actors of
the global system and the interests of populations.
One has only to mention the increasingly violent
demonstrations that greet every meeting of the G8 or
G20. One can also listen to the analyses and demands
of mass organisations at each session of the World
Social Forum. The most recent of these was held here
in Belém at the beginning of this year.
We are gradually approaching the point where the
balance of power will not always be in favour of
those who hold full political power and control over
the resources of our countries and the world. While
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there is still time, we can bring about change by
allowing people from any segment of the population
to participate in the debate and therefore in the
decisions made on issues that directly affect their lives
and future.
Wherever populations are mobilised through social
movements to express their views, opinions and
demands to the authorities and private potentates,
this has resulted in progress for the respect of rights
and the democratic management of resources.
The social, political and economic history of South
America offers us examples of alternative strategies
championed by populations for whom absolute poverty
is not material poverty per se, but the poverty that
results from the denial of the aspirations, potential,
knowledge and rights of nations. In Nairobi, we
said that the current climate of economic crisis and
increasing poverty invited us to revisit the basics of
development so that we can find new foundations for
education and schooling.
Our responsibility for adult education gives us a great
advantage: we can make every place of learning an
opportunity for adults and young people to express
their knowledge, choices and aspirations.
The current crises, and especially those being endured
by the global financial system, with its likely impact
on the reduction of international aid, have created an
unprecedented opportunity for developing countries,
particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to jump-start
a systematic search for alternative strategies.
This is the only way that education will fully regain
its qualitative meaning, because it will support the
building of societies that function under the rule of
law and in which economic and social progress is the
result of shared responsibility.
IV – What educational policy strategies could foster
inclusive and sustainable development?
The concepts, goals and all of the means (technical,
administrative, financial and budgetary) of national
development should no longer be the preserve of the
political class, bureaucracy, experts and specialists.