Improving literacy, basic education and adult education in Arab countries

During a regional consultation meeting in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates, 10–12 July 2011) organised by UNESCO Beirut, around 60 decision-makers and practitioners in basic education, literacy and adult education from 15 countries in the Arab region agreed to reinforce efforts in meeting the Education for All targets. There was agreement on the need for a closer coordination of activities undertaken within a number of inter-related frameworks and UNESCO initiatives such as Education for All (EFA), the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD), the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) and the Follow-up to the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI). 

One of the overall goals of the meeting was to discuss how CONFINTEA VI can be more systematically followed up in the Arab Region. The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) provided an overview on the activities set up to monitor the implementation of the Belém Framework for Action and shared the experience of the recent meeting in Mexico for the Latin America and Caribbean Region which resulted in the proposal of a matrix with concrete action points. Participants were in favour of organising a similar meeting for the Arab Region.

Another specific focus was a review of progress in implementing LIFE in Egypt, Iraq, Mauretania, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen within the framework of the LIFE mid-term evaluation coordinated by UIL. On the basis of the information received from the Arab LIFE countries before the meeting, UIL presented a regional synthesis of progress, challenges and future plans for implementing LIFE in the region. The Egyptian and Moroccan delegates shared their experience in conducting major literacy projects, and participants discussed how to scale-up and use this experience in other countries in the region.

UNESCO Beirut invited the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO), the Arab Bureau for Education in the Gulf States (ABEGS) and other organisations active in the region to join a proposed Literacy Enhancement Arab Programme (LEAP) for effective coordination of the implementation of EFA, UNLD, LIFE and the Belém Framework for Action resulting from CONFINTEA VI.