Expansion of ASPBAE presence in Australia and the South Pacific
ASPBAE Australia was formally incorporated as a not for profit public company limited by guarantee, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on 10 June, 2008. While ASPBAE registration in the country was planned for some time as part of the over-all effort to shore up ASPBAE’s ability to secure longer-term financial sustainability, the successful bid for a grant from the Myer Foundation in Australia jump-started formal registration in the year.
The Myer Foundation grant enabled expansion of ASPBAE Education Watch work in PNG. It also enabled staff expansion in the ASPBAE Australia office thus promoting a stronger presence of ASPBAE in the country: ASPBAE Australia worked with Adult Learning Australia (ALA) in providing a civil society critique to the national report of Australia for CONFINTEA VI.
An initial meeting was held in Sydney on July 29-30, 2008 to explore the possibility of bringing a number of Australian NGOs, CSOs, and individuals together to form the Australian Education Advocacy Coalition to link into the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). The broad objective of the proposed coalition is the promotion of the 6 Education for All (EFA) Goals, in relation both to Australia’s overseas education aid and education for disadvantaged groups within Australia.
27 representatives from 15 organisations participated in the two meetings. The meetings were spearheaded and sponsored by ASPBAE Australia and the Australian Education Union (AEU) and were facilitated by ASPBAE Programme Manager Bernie Lovegrove and ASPBAE Research and Advocacy Officer Joanna Lindner.
The meeting discussed the Education For All (EFA) agenda in its totality and the role that an Australian Advocacy Coalition on Education could play both in advancing an advocacy agenda on education aid focused overseas and educational disadvantage experienced within Australia.
An Interim Steering Committee Meeting of Australia’s Education Advocacy Coalition, was held on October 17, 2008 in Victoria, Australia. The objectives were to solidify the commitments discussed in the exploratory meetings; to update one another on actions since the last meeting; to discuss and enumerate coalition structures, processes, and organization; to bring members together to facilitate relationship-building and familiarity.
The Meeting was attended by the Director of the Education Thematic Group in the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and another AusAID staff member. Ms. Joanna Lindner ASPBAE’s Research and Advocacy Officer from the South Pacific also participated in the meeting.
The meeting concluded with strong interest in moving forward on Global Action Week activities and with an agreement reached on an 8-point advocacy agenda focused on education aid and education policy reforms in Australia.
ASPBAE Australia also participated in the “Civic Education Strategic Meeting: Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) Project”, October 14-16, 2008, Brisbane, Australia. Participants were experts in the fields of civics and citizens education and were drawn from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. ASPBAE Australia Director, Bernie Lovegrove attended the meeting.
The BRIDGE project is an AusAID funded project coordinated by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) whereby Australian electoral education expertise is made available free of charge to train election administrators in other countries. The meeting was to develop ideas for a sustainable training module for adult educators that explore the concepts of democracy and good governance and can be used with a variety of adult stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region. The project will involve the development of a democracy and governance curriculum framework. The meeting provided a good opportunity to describe ASPBAE’s work and resources in the area of education for active citizenship and good governance.
A two day Gender Analysis Workshop, joint UNIFEM-Australia and Australian Government Programme was held on November 24-25, 2008 in Canberra, Australia. ASPBAE Australia programme staff Jo Linder attended this meeting.
This workshop was facilitated by the directors of the Gender Consortium located at Flinders University, Adelaide Australia and attended by approximately 21 individuals representing a variety of organizations including UNIFEM Australia, AusAID, and the Office of Women housed in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The objectives of the Workshop were: 1) to provide concrete training to a small, interested cohort of women on the implementation of gender analysis tools and frameworks at various stages of a policy/development project cycle; 2) to encourage women’s familiarity and comfort with gender analysis tools; 3) to further awareness and competency in gender analysis.
In addition to gender analysis tools that are useful for project design and project planning, the workshop covered elements of gender budgeting both within organizations and at national level as well as a brief introduction to gender audits of organizations. A sample gender audit was carried out during the workshop.
Sustained partnerships regionally and globally to strengthen CSO advocacy and capacity development to advance the right to learn throughout life
ASPBAE maintained its strong partnership with DVV international in capacity-development work for adult education in the region, and for a strong CSO presence in the CONFINTEA VI processes at national, regional and global levels. Both organizations are also represented in the UN Literacy Decade Global Advisory Group, where they coordinate efforts to help strengthen the international mechanism to draw greater policy attention to adult literacy, world-wide. ASPBAE collaborated with DVV International and ICAE to organize an International Conference Financing Adult Education for Development as part of the immediate follow-up activities to the CONFINTEA VI commitments, set in June 2009.
ASPBAE continues to represent the Asia Pacific in the Executive Committee of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) as Vice President. As a member of the ICAE Advocacy Group, ASPBAE is expected to steer ICAE’s advocacy efforts during the Sixth International Adult Education Conference (CONFINTEA VI) in Belem, Brazil on 19-22 May, 2009. It also participates in the International Committee of ICAE organizing the International Civil Society Forum for CONFINTEA VI which will be convened immediately before the international UNESCO Conference.
ASPBAE also worked closely with the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) during the year in the CONFINTEA VI advocacy processes. To begin a broad-based, global CSO response to CONFINTEA VI, ICAE launched a Virtual Seminar from 21 April - 9 May, 2008. ASPBAE organized development of the Adult Literacy policy brief and led the discussion around this. The outcomes of the virtual discussion on literacy during the ICAE Seminar was presented during the ICAE Executive Council Meeting held in Leicester, UK in May 2008.These documents were eventually published as part of the Special Issue of ICAE’s journal CONVERGENCE, for CONFINTEA VI.
Through ICAE, ASPBAE collaborated with other CSOs in Latin America, Africa and Europe to facilitate a coordinated CSO advocacy and lobbying effort and response during the Regional CONFINTEA VI Conferences organized in 2008. Yanti Muchtar participated in the ICAE Gender and Education Officer’s (GEO) Workshop on 26-28 June, 2008 organised to plan strategies for GEO’s participation in CONFINTEA VI. Through DVV International and ICAE support, ASPBAE attended the European and North America Preparatory Conference for CONFINTEA VI on 3-5 December, 2008 in Budapest, Hungary.
On December 4, 2008, Ms. Maria Lourdes Almazan Khan Secretary General of ASPBAE was inducted to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame along with ten others.
“The Hall of Fame has been created not only to honour leaders in the fields of continuing education and adult learning but to serve as a record and inspiration for the next generation of leaders. Election to the Hall of Fame acknowledge that these men and women have made distinguished contributions to the field of adult and continuing education. Each has provided a crucial nexus between resources and learners. These innovative leaders have believed passionately in the evolutionary power of education. All are themselves exemplary lifelong learners and have left lasting impressions on the students, institutions and organizations they have served.”
It was a proud moment for ASPBAE and a fitting testimony to Maria for her inspiration, dedication, commitment, and dynamic leadership.
ASPBAE continued to be active in the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) as a regional member, as member of the GCE Board representing the Asia Pacific in the Board meeting on 20-21 January 2008 and as Coordinator of the GCE Real World Strategies Programme in the Asia Pacific.
More than 20 Asia Pacific participants attended the GCE World Assembly on 22- 24 January 2008 sending a strong and visible Asia Pacific voice to the deliberations on GCE’s future. The theme of the conference was “Education at the Crossroads, Time for Action Now”. 9 Asia Pacific coalitions participated in the debates on GCE’s discussions and resolutions and the plenary and workshop sessions. The coalitions also elected new representatives of the Asia Pacific to the GCE Board. Edicio de la Torre of ENet Philippines was elected to the GCE Board while ASPBAE Secretary General, Maria Khan, was selected as Vice Chair of the GCE Board for a three-year term (2008-2010).
GCE remained a platform for sustained interaction with other regional education campaign organizations, notably ANCEFA in Africa and CLADE in Latin America. ASPBAE RWS Staff joined colleagues from Africa and Latin America in an Inter-regional RWS Meeting in London on 10-11 July, 2008 to update on each other’s initiatives, discuss 2008-2009 plans and jointly plan for two international exercises supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Development Cooperation (DGIS): 1) joint missions of DGIS and GCE involving Netherlands embassy officials to RWS countries to observe the work of the coalitions; and 2) structured information and experience exchange between the RWS and the academic world, specifically the University of Amsterdam’s International Development Studies Masters’ Programme.
Key GCE staff participated in ASPBAE events in the region during the year: Patrick Watkins of GCE was invited to the RWS South East Policy meeting in Yogjakarta, Indonesia to give a briefing on the GCE CSOs & National Education Plans campaign initiative. Geoffrey Odaga, RWS Global Coordinator at GCE, was invited to speak at the ODA for Education conference in Manila to talk about the GCE advocacies on this area and the Fast-Track Initiative.
ASPBAE, represented by Kazi Rafiqul Alam, attended the last meeting in its term in the Coordination Group of the UNESCO Collective Consultation of NGOs on EFA on 12-14 November, 2008 in Paris. During the Coordination Group meeting, Asia was proposed as the host of the next NGO CC/EFA Assembly in 2010. ASPBAE will be succeeded by CAMPE Bangladesh in the Coordination Group of the NGO CC/EFA as the Asia Pacific focal point for the year 2009-2010. CAMPE was nominated by education campaign coalitions in a consultation convened by ASPBAE.
ASPBAE’s partnership with the Asia Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) on the Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) initiatives continued in the year. ASPBAE was involved in supporting ACCU’s over-all efforts to peer-learning and exchange on the innovative practices on education for sustainable development in the region.
ASPBAE participated in the ACCU Project Evaluation and Monitoring Meeting held in Tokyo, Japan from June 23–28, 2008 as part of its involvement in ACCU’s programme on Education for Sustainable Development as a DESD Centre of Excellence (COE).
The Workshop was aimed at developing methodologies and indicators for evaluation of the ACCU-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Innovation Programme for ESD and providing a common ground for the upcoming on-site evaluation missions. It also attempted to further dialogue between the 5 Centre of Excellence (COE) as well as trying to build a closer linkage between COEs and future IPs
ASPBAE, was also invited to be part of the Evaluation Mission of ACCU’s Innovation Programs (IP) for ESD in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on September 22-26, 2008. Currently there are 10 IPs being implemented in the Region. This Evaluation Mission was one of the seven to be conducted by ACCU as part of the broader ESD Program, and consisted of one ESD M & E Expert, one ACCU represented and two representatives from the COEs (1 representing ASPBAE).
The Mission objective was to evaluate the Innovative Program for ESD titled “Moyog Family Literacy Project” being implemented by the Kadazandusan Language Foundation (KLF) in Sabah, Malaysia. The project’s main objective was of getting families involved in the preservation of their language and culture, where the aim was to put oral tradition (and new stories linked to community and environment) into words via producing story books. By the end of the project 11 story books were written by the women of Togudon Village and published.
ASPBAE also sustained its partnership with Action Aid especially through its thematic group on Education. A Capacity-Building Workshop on Education Financing was organized jointly organized by ActionAid International (AAI) and Education International (EI) involving teachers unions, national education coalitions and ActionAid representatives from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan and Afghanistan from October 22-24, 2008 at Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
The basic objectives behind this workshop were: to explore and strengthen strategic partnership between teachers unions and NGOs, based on the Parktonian Recommendations, measure the progress and discuss how to carry forward the recommendations, to build collective capacity of teachers unions, national education coalitions and AAI’s education staff on the issues of education financing and discuss the disastrous impact of policies adopted by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) on teachers and counter strategies to work collectively, to strengthen the collaborations within national education coalitions and on campaigns at national, regional and international levels.
ASPBAE’s South Asia Regional Advocacy Coordinator Tanvir Muntasim attended the workshop.
New partnerships forged to expand support for national civil society education campaign efforts
ASPBAE started a new partnership with the Open Society Institute Education Support Program, UK in 2008. The programme, 'Achieving Change: Deepening Civil Society Capacity for Education Advocacy in South Asia' aims to enhance civil society participation in education policy across South Asia with a particular focus on Pakistan. The partnership enabled ASPBAE to sustain its efforts in playing a direct role in shoring up the national and regional competencies for education campaign in South Asia with the conclusion of the Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF) in 2008.
Another partnership that signals the most potential of sustaining CSO advocacy work at the national level in the years to come is an initiative creating a Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) mooted by GCE and Action Aid arising from the Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF) experience of support to education advocacy work in Commonwealth countries. As part of its sustainability strategy with the CEF having come to a close by 2008, it advanced the strategy of advocating for a restructuring of aid to education so that a percentage of aid is additionally earmarked to support civil society advocacy work for education.
The regional organisations are envisaged to provide technical support to the coalitions, hence will employ a team of people to work with the coalitions initially for one (1) year and with the approval of the subsequent 2 years, for the full duration of the grant period. These project staff will constitute the Secretariat of this initiative and will be hosted by the regional association. For the Asia Pacific, ASPBAE will host the regional CSEF Secretariat.
Discussions of ASPBAE Australia with the Education Thematic Group of AusAid indicate keen support of AusAid to the CSEF initiative and an interest to additionally provide resources bilaterally to strengthen the ability of the CSEF to deliver on its promise in the Asia Pacific region. They are keen to see a proposal that identifies areas where there is clear potential for civil society to powerfully demonstrate positive impact on education policy. Likewise, they are keen to see a careful documentation and assessment of these CSO processes at the national level to further strengthen the case for sustained support to CSO education advocacy through aid.
Strategic Partnerships