UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

PARIS, France, 11 July 2006 - This year’s Education for All (EFA) Working Group is set for 19-21 July at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.  The Working Group is a post-Dakar coordination mechanism that brings together a wide range of participants including countries, development banks, NGOs and the private sector, as well as multilateral and bilateral organizations. Its function is professional and consultative, providing a forum for exchange and discussion of EFA experiences in-country, regionally, from the perspective of international organizations, and for recommending concrete actions. It creates and reinforces partnerships, and ensures linkages between the programmes and initiatives of different partners in the follow-up to the six Dakar goals. The Working Group prepares the annual High-Level Group on Education for All.

Taking place as it does in the context of the implementation of the Global Action Plan (GAP), developed by UNESCO with the convening agencies of Jomtien and Dakar to achieve the EFA goals, this 7th meeting will endeavour to promote policy and research agendas with a view to addressing major obstacles to EFA and ensuring that each EFA partner delivers effectively on its mandate and commitments. In the light of the Beijing High-Level Group Communiqué, the programme will focus on in-country situations in order to address key challenges to progress and explore ways and means of accelerating the EFA process.

The following are expected outcomes of the working group:

• Strategies for coordinated application of the Global Action Plan to achieve the EFA goals;
• The agenda of the Cairo High-Level Group meeting (6th HLG, 14-16 Nov. 2006);
• The initial plans of the Global Task Force (GTF) on Child Labour and EFA;
• Strengthening alliances for the abolition of school fees and providing long-term support to countries;
• Comprehensive national educational responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic;
• Effective approaches to improving education service delivery in fragile states.