UNESCO has announced the new dates of the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA 6): the Conference will b convened on December 1-4 in Belem, Para, Brazil. CONFINTEA 6 was postponed from its original dates in May on account of the Influenza A (H1N1) or the swine flu pandemic. The circular released by UNESCO in announcing the new dates indicated that invitations sent earlier will remain valid. This means that slots to civil society organizations for the event will remain secure inspite the change in dates.

The International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) has also announced the new dates of the International Civil Society Forum (FISC) on November 28-30. As planned, this will provide the space for civil society organizations attending CONFINTEA 6 to coordinate plans in pursuit of their advocacy and lobbying strategies and targets.
ICAE and ASPBAE will soon be announcing its upcoming activities building up to the Belem Conference, aimed to better ensure stronger policy commitments and credible outcomes from this important policy process for adult education.

We have successfully completed Global Action Week on Education convened by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). This year‟s Global Action Week holds special significance for us, as it focused on the crucial but neglected issue of youth and adult education and learning. Over the last few years, the mobilization during this week has increased exponentially, so this has been a very important occasion to demonstrate support for this huge concern in a united manner all over the world.
As a part of this unifying and unified event, education coalitions around the world organized „Big Read„ and other innovative events to celebrate the power of lifelong learning. In the Asia Pacific, ASPBAE members and education campaign coalition partners participated through several events:
Cambodia
More than 700 people joined the Big Read Launching Event on 25 April at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh organized by GCE Cambodia, with support from NEP (National Education Partnership). Local Big Reads also took place in eight selected provinces in Cambodia. The key message for the event was on lobbying for more resources to education.
Philippines (E-Net)
Simultaneous Big Reads were held in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao where more than 1000 people were mobilized on 22 April to call for the youth‟s right to quality and free education. In Quezon City, members of the coalition shared an eight-point agenda for policy advocacy on education before an audience of children, out of school youth and students. Local celebrities and members of local government officials and the Department of Education joined in the Big Read. A candle-lighting ceremony wrapped up the day, expressing solidarity to all the Big Readers in the Philippines.
Indonesia (E-Net for Justice)
Reading sessions and campaigns were run in different areas in Indonesia starting from 20 April to 2 May. A big mobilization was organised during the week-long campaign in Surabaya or Jakarta.
Thailand (Thai Education Watch Network)
An Education Mobile van travelled to different parts of Thailand from 23-30 April to dramatize the need to reach out to different sectors of society, especially the unreached and marginalized. Activities engaging the indigenous communities in Chang Rai and Chiang Mai and labour migrant groups in Bangkok and suburbs highlighted the week-long campaign.
Pakistan (Pakistan Coalition for Education)
Local Big Reads in 30 districts in Pakistan were organised from 20 to 29 of April. Seminars and shopping bag campaigns benefit walks, and media campaigns for education characterised the Global Action Week activities in Pakistan. ASPBAE members Education Watch Pakistan and Bunyad participated in this campaign.
Nepal (GCE Nepal)
The Big Read on 25 April brought together different politically affiliated youth groups, the Youth Minister, the Department of Education to tackle issues on youth and adult literacy.
India (National Education Coalition)
Local Big Read Books were produced and distributed to 14 states in India. A reading event led by more than 300 children, youth and adults and a big concert was held on 28 April in New Delhi. Local artists and celebrities took part in the Big Read through their music and messages of solidarity.
Bangladesh (Campaign for Popular Education)
A week-long campaign from 20 to 26 April was implemented in several areas in Bangladesh. A huge mobilization which culminated in a reading event served as a highlight of the campaign. Likewise, an education Fair scheduled on 24-25 April provided platforms to various stakeholders on education such as civil society organizations, international NGOs, and the Ministry of Education. TV Talk shows were organized on major channels. National consultations were organized with policy makers and Teachers‟ Unions.

Every year, the World Day Against Child Labour is celebrated on June 12. The World Day this year marked the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the landmark International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 182, calling for action to tackle the worst forms of child labour.
This year, the theme was: „Give girls a chance: End child labour‟. This recognizes the fact that although there have been strides in eliminating child labour, there remain continuing challenges and a need to address the exploitation of girls in particular. Approximately 218 million children are still languishing in child labour; 12 million sold in bonded labour.
ASPBAE adds its voice to all those campaigning on the World Day Against Child Labour in asking for: Greater attention to the education and skills training needs of adolescent girls - a key action point in tackling child labour and providing a pathway for girls to gain decent work as adults Policy responses to address the causes of child labour, paying particular attention to the situation of girls Urgent action to tackle the worst forms of child labour
Globally, there are still some 75 million children not enrolled in primary school. The majority of out-of-school children in the world are girls and two-thirds of the 860 illiterate adults around the world are women.
One of the foremost advocates on this front, the Global March against Child Labour, points out that the situation of the girl child labourer only „mirrors the low social and economic status of women. In many cultures, girls are viewed as members of their birth family for only a few short years and as economic liabilities. This is nowhere more evident than in the case of education. Parents are reluctant to invest in the future training or education of their girls.‟ Girls may often be the last to be enrolled and the first to be withdrawn from schools if a family has to make a choice between sending a boy or girl to school.
In the face of the current global financial and economic crisis, there will be a marked increase in the number of families facing such choices. ASPBAE believes an aggressive stance should be taken to defend the rights of girls to education and to give them the right chances. Girls who drop out of school have a high chance of dropping into the jaws of child labour. Girls who are already into child labour will find it extremely difficult, if not totally impossible, to have a chance at formal education and learning.
Prescriptions are being made for governments to tackle the crisis head on by taking counter-cyclical measures of spending instead of scrimping, so that demand may bring the economies back to life. It would do well to apply the same measures to girls‟ education at this point when it is threatened most.
The ILO contends that child labour is a precursor to the youth employment problem – preventing children from obtaining necessary education and skills to obtain decent employment opportunities later in life as well as potentially exposing children to various hazards. But apart from this, increases in child labour potentially exacerbate both the supply and demand side of the youth employment problem. Child labour is cheap labour and this often hampers youth employment prospects.
In a study of the ILO that tries to analyse the global crisis and the impact on certain segments of the population, it noted that the incidence of Youth unemployment is already high in some countries in Asia - 25.1 percent in Indonesia, an estimated 25 percent in Sri Lanka, and 14.9 percent in the Philippines in 2007 - and the numbers are expected to rise.
But the more compelling reason why we should take girls away from child labour and bring them back to school is that girls‟ work are usually linked to human trafficking, prostitution, and bonded labour -- illicit and immoral in nature -- according to the Global March. They are invisible because most of their work is in the informal economy. Girls are sold or contracted as bonded labour and trafficked as prostitutes or domestic servants where they may repay their families‟ debt with the performance of abusive and intolerable work, which they are not free to leave. Because it is illegal, unpaid or, in the case of domestic work, it is often not even considered work, the burdensome labour of girls is rarely counted in official figures. Around 90% of all child domestic workers are girls.
As for the sex trade, the United Nations estimates that one million children are brought into it every year worldwide. The ILO puts the figure as closer to 1.8 million.
Of 61 countries that supplied information disaggregated by gender and age, it was found that 66 percent of victims were female. Twenty percent of all trafficking victims across the world are children, and in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority. Of total human-trafficking victims in 61 countries, 13 percent were girls and 9 percent were boys.

East Asian victims were detected in more than 20 countries, including Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Central Asian victims end up in other part of Europe and the Middle East. Southeast Asian victims also end up in the Middle East.
It does not take much imagination to see that in a world reeling from interlocking crises, the gains of past efforts to eliminate this ignominy can be easily swept away and the ranks of trafficked children, particularly girls, doing child labour again swell up the ranks -- unless vigorous interventions are put in place – unless we take a chance on girls and girls‟ education.
There are many initiatives like stipends for schoolgirls, direct cash transfers to poor families, mid-day meals, separate toilets for girls, safer schools, etc., that may snatch girls away from child labour and bring them back to schools . But only education and learning of quality and relevance which is sensitive to their particular needs, learning outcomes that prepare them for life‟s other choices, and more than middling probability of decent work later, will keep them in there. And only lifelong learning will give them a sense of power to change themselves and their communities as they transition from childhood to adulthood.
Reported by Raquel Castillo, ASPBAE‟s Asia Advocacy & Campaigns Coordinator, with inputs from Cecilia Soriano of E-net Philippines

In Asia, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with poverty reduction as its avowed core mandate, has put education as one of its five key operational areas in its Strategy 2020 framework document. However, given the poor performance of countries in Asia in meeting EFA and MDG goals, civil society is questioning whether the education programmes the ADB supports effectively target the disadvantaged and shows strong links to its anti-poverty aims. Moreover, ADB has been playing co-financing roles in support of deregulation and privatization of education as promoted by the World Bank. This needs to be challenged for their negative implications to families and communities.
The ADB‟s 42nd Annual Governors Meeting in Bali, Indonesia in 1st week of May ‟09 was held with its main agenda being to chart out the ADB‟s direction in an economically integrated Asia by the year 2020, through a market-led and private sector-driven process supported by the governments. This Asian regionalism will impact 3.7 million lives in Asia and the world as a whole. Hence, it is imperative that discussions among civil society take place on what all these mean to the fulfillment of EFA goals and strong lobbying needs to be taken to bring a policy agenda to the ADB.
A collaborative effort between E-Net for Justice Indonesia, E-Net Philippines, ASPBAE and INFID paved the way to a fruitful discussion on education financing in a workshop held during the Regional Forum on Global Economic and Financial Crisis on 4 May 2009, Bali, Indonesia.

The objectives of the workshop were as follows:
1. To share the EFA Deficit across Asia-Pacific Region and the need to address these in the midst of the global financial and economic crisis
2. To share the Education for All financing needs in Asia, and agree what constitutes effective aid for EFA
3. To bring the Dakar Framework for Action more strongly within the ADB and to develop 3 key demands on the occasion of the ADB Annual Governors‟ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia on May 2-5, 2009
4. To sharpen education advocacy directed at the ASEAN+3
The following organizations and coalitions were present in the workshop:
1. Front Mahasiswa National (FMN) – a national youth organization in Indonesia
2. Bali Bhineka Santi – Parents-Community Association
3. Bali Sruti – Women‟s Organization
4. Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia (PGRI) – Teachers‟ Association of the Republic of Indonesia
5. Aliansi Rakyat Miskin (Poor People Alliance)
6. Udayana University (UNUD)
7. Universitas Maha Saraswati Denpasar (UNMAS)
8. E-Net for Justice Indonesia
9. E-Net Philippines
10. Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE)

The Highlights of the Workshop A placards parade participated by students, teachers, parents, members of peoples organizations formally opened the workshop on education. Six participants held up the EFA goals and deficits while joining with the rest of the participants in the march [from the workshop venue (4th floor of hotel) down to the plenary hall (2nd floor) then back to the venue again]. Sign up sheets and flyers were distributed prior to the workshop in order to ensure a broader participation. EFA placards which highlighted the goals and deficits drew the attention of the participants to explore and understand more the issues on education crisis. Presentations made by E-Net for Justice and E-Net Philippines explained comprehensively the impact of education aid to poor countries, and how it declined dramatically through years.
It was clearly underscored that the state of education in Asia is in crisis, further exacerbated by the looming economic and financial crisis. To respond to the education crisis, international financial institutions such as ADB, WB, and IMF should provide quality ODA to poor countries, dropping out conditionalities to aid. Japan and US as the biggest power and share holders of ADB and apparently the least spenders on ODA, should be urged to honor the internationally agreed benchmark of 0.7% of GNI to ODA.

The workshop made the following recommendations:
• Refuse Debts: Push for more grants not loans
• Accurate data produced by civil society  alternative to government‟s data
• Expanding network:
1. Build the network with school committees for education monitoring purposes
2. Set up education centers in local area and recruit volunteers for each center to advocate education in the respective communities
3. PGRI and students involved in the network to monitor free education
• Demand government to facilitate (give more resources to) alternative education
• Demand government to fulfill its promises on providing public services (education, health)
• Conduct public awareness raising and critical education on Education and Debt
• Community organizing and public rally/campaign

Ms. Claudine Claridad, ASPBAE, Mr. M. Firdaus, E-Net for Justice Indonesia, Ms. Luz Anigan, E-Net Philippines, TBA, NEP Cambodia, Ms. Siti Nikmah, for E-Net for Justice Indonesia and INFID, Ms. S. E. Iswarini, E-Net for Justice Indonesia , Ms. Iva Hasanah, E-Net for Justice Indonesia, Eny Setyaningsih, E-Net for Justice Indonesia among others made a strong presence at the event.
A final draft on CSO position on ADB‟s aid to education will be prepared.
Reported by Claudine Claridad, ASPBAE‟s Capacity Building & Advocacy Support Officer