The 2001 ADEA Biennale on Education in Africa
Program of the 2001 Biennale
This year's theme "Reaching Out, Reaching All-Sustaining Effective Policy and Practice for Education in Africa," takes the 1999 Biennial theme "What Works and What's New in Education-Africa Speaks!" one step further. How can promising policies and experiences be extended beyond local sites? How can they be sustained? How can education systems be more supportive of such initiatives and reforms? These issues will be explored in plenary sessions followed by breakaway sessions designed to provide opportunities for smaller, more informal discussions.
The provisional agenda of the Arusha Biennial Meeting is available in PDF format.
After the official opening of the meeting on October 8, 2001, there will be six plenary sessions. Each session will focus on a particular topic and will be animated by a panel of experts. The main topics explored will be:
The Plenary Sessions
- From pilot to scale: issues and experience
This session will develop conceptual and operational understandings of the issues at hand when taking pilot experiences and innovations to scale. The session will explore the history of taking pilot initiatives and innovations to scale, giving special attention to the factors that contribute to the success and/or failure of "going to scale". In addition to a conceptual background paper, the session will have a close look at specific innovations that have been generalized in two countries: (i) teacher staff development through a small-grants competition in Guinea; and, (ii) initial literacy in local languages, which has been extended to all primary schools in Zambia.
- System-wide mobilization of latent resources
The main issue in this session is that education systems may have resources that are underused. If mobilized to the full extent, they could have significant, system-wide impact. Such latent resources could include teachers who are not teaching and buildings that are underused. This session will focus on two country experiences that have demonstrated how large-scale, system-wide benefits for quality and access can be achieved at little-to-no additional direct cost. In South Africa, significant improvements in high school exams are partially attributed to the minister's attempt to reward good teachers and discipline poor ones and absentees. In Senegal, a program set up to monitor school norms and standards has contributed to improve success rates at the end of primary school exam that increased from 28% to 50%.
- HIV/AIDS: Promising approaches to the challenges faced by education systems
HIV/AIDS is taking a heavy toll on education systems in Africa This session will report on the ADEA "Identifying Effective Responses to HIV/AIDS" initiative. At the Johannesburg Biennale, ADEA was challenged to apply the "praxis approach" to the problem posed to education systems by HIV/AIDS. Subsequently, case studies on promising approaches to tackling HIV/AIDS issues were undertaken and are underway in 14 countries. These studies will be presented, with a special focus on how and why the programs show promise within the context of the education system. In addition to this, the outcomes and findings of conferences on HIV/AIDS and education that have taken place in the past two to three years will be discussed.
- Communication strategies for combating HIV/AIDS and promoting education
A novel experience of educational entertainment or "edutainment"--Soul City--will be presented. The panel will draw lessons from this popular South African television program designed to transmit HIV/AIDS-relevant knowledge, attitudes, and life skills to the population.Public awareness and support for education policies can only be generated through an adequate flow of information and feedback between policy makers and the population. This session will explore concrete examples of the use of communication strategies to promote education. It will be based on a paper entitled "Communication for Education and Development: Enhancing Stakeholder Participation and Commitment," which includes information on recent attempts by countries to employ communication strategies, techniques, and processes in support of educational policies. The session will also update participants on the Communication for Education and Development (COMED) program, which is providing on-going training to journalists and communication officers of ministries of education. ADEA will also launch an education journalism award. The award seeks to encourage the production of quality articles on education written by African journalists and published in African newspapers.
- Networks: A potent vehicle for going to scale
How are networks and networking contributing to the development of education in Africa? This session will: (i) demonstrate examples of the power and the effectiveness of collaborative networking to mobilize the resources (knowledge, expertise, financing, etc.) needed for education systems to develop effectively; (ii) explore the processes by which effective networks have developed and "gone to scale." ADEA Working Groups and other networks (SAQMEQ, APNET, FAWE, etc.) will convey how effective networking arrangements are as a means of moving innovative ideas to scale.
- From innovation to scale: Lessons from elsewhere
This session will focus on experiences in Central America (Escuela nueva), Bangladesh (BRAC) and India (decentralization) that have successfully brought to scale innovations and reforms in basic education. The "presentations" will consist of two video documentaries of study tours of senior officials from African countries (including ministers) to become critically acquainted with these experiences. The study tours yielded productive reflections on alternatives strategies for providing cost-effective quality education for all, as well as the limits of government action.
- Mainstreaming nonformal education: Moving from the margins to the center
The ADEA Working Group on Nonformal Education will present a "grounded theory" that will identify critical factors that promote or hinder the mainstreaming of nonformal education. It will draw on case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia to formulate general principles and guidelines for "doing mainstreaming".In addition to the plenary sessions, small group discussions will be organized to help participants deepen their understanding of the topics explored during the plenary sessions. Six groups will cover three to four topics; each group will have a chair, a resource person, and a rapporteur. Each group will focus on a specific topic and aim at producing a set of relevant thoughts, lessons, and recommendations. A synthesis of the groups' discussions will be provided to the plenary during the Biennale's closing session on October 11.
Breakaway Sessions As at previous Biennales, the Caucus of African Ministers of Education will meet in Arusha (October 10, 2001). Meetings of the Caucus-facilitated by ADEA-are central to the Association's efforts to strengthen policy dialogue, promote African leadership, and create a climate of professional exchange among ministers. The meetings are also a channel through which the ministers make their concerns known throughout the development agency community and influence ADEA's agenda so that it reflects their needs. The Caucus of Ministers will report on its meeting to the plenary during the closing session.
The Caucus of Ministers