Newsletter Vol.16 No.3 - ADEA

ADEA BriefsAd hoc WG on HIV/AIDSADEA organized a workshop in Libreville, June 2-4, 2004, tohelp Gabon’s Ministry of Education finalize its education sectorstrategy and an HIV/AIDS action plan. The workshop receivedtechnical assistance from the UNDP project on HIV/AIDS andregional development (South Africa). It was attended by some25 people: offi cials from education and health ministries(national anti-AIDS programs) and representatives of teachers’unions, not-for-profit associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, NGOs and news media organizations.WG on Early Childhood DevelopmentThe first meeting of the Steering Committee of the ADEA WGon Early Childhood Development (WGECD) was held fromJune 14-16, 2004 in Accra (Ghana). It was attended byministers or ministers’ delegates from Ghana, Malawi andSenegal and by representatives of the World Bank, the EarlyChildhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU), the SouthAfrican NGO Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU), UNESCOand UNICEF.The discussions focused on three broad topics: political leaders’commitment to ECD; partnerships for ECD (at the international,national and local levels); and the resources allocated to ECD.Two specific actions were also discussed: preparation for thethird international African conference on ECD, to be heldin Accra from 31 May to 2 June 2005, and the process ofdrawing up a policy paper for NEPAD.WG on the Teaching ProfessionThe Steering Committee of the Working Group on the TeachingProfession (WGTP) met in London May 6-7 2004. The mergerbetween the anglophone and francophone sections of the WGhas been completed and the meeting provided the opportunityto bring together all the regional coordinators for the first time.Five new WGTP regional coordinators have been appointed:Mrs. Margaret Nsereko (Uganda), for East Africa; Mr. YoussoufAdam (Central African Republic), for Central Africa; Mr. Jean-Bah Adotevi (Togo), for West Africa; Mr. Geoffrey Tambulukani(Zambia), for Southern Africa; Mrs. Jean Simeon (Seychelles),for the Indian Ocean. In addition, the CommonwealthSecretariat appointed the new WGTP coordinator, Mr. VirgilioZacarias Juvane (Mozambique).The meeting dealt with some key issues for the WG: prioritiesfor 2004 and 2005, cooperation with the initiative in support oflinkages among teachers’ colleges in West Africa, and follow-upactivities to the consultative meeting on education in Angolaand their implications for the WGTP.Africa Education Journalism AwardAs part of their prize for winning the Akintola Fatoyinbo AfricaEducation Journalism Award, the prize winners for 2004 andtheir editors-in-chief took part in a study trip and training seminarin Paris and London.During their European stay, the journalists took training moduleson education and visited major news media organizations(Libération and RFI in Paris, the Times Education Supplementand the BBC in London). The trip concluded with an awardceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The 2004 winnersfor the French-language press were from Mali and Côte d’Ivoire,and those for the English-language press from South Africa andNamibia.WG on Communication for Educationand DevelopmentThe Working Group on Communication for Education andDevelopment (WGCOMED) met for four days in Norway inlate September. On September 26-27, the Steering Committeereviewed the activities of the past year and discussedfuture activities, particularly those aimed at stimulating thedevelopment of education ministries’ internal and externalcommunication strategies.On September 28, a COMED delegation paid a visit to theNorwegian Ministry of Education for a meeting with colleaguesin the communication department.On September 29, the working group traveled to Bergen toparticipate in and organize media coverage of a workshopon educational quality organized by the World Bank and theNorwegian Education Trust Fund.WG on Higher EducationThe ADEA Working Group on Higher Education (WGHE)organized a forum on private higher education in Africa. Themeeting was held November 3-4, 2004, in Accra (Ghana).The rapid rise of private higher education and the proliferationof private providers have aroused considerable interest amongADEA Newsletter July - September 200419