Promoting technical autonomy through skills transfer
IIEP’s approach to cooperation with ministries of education of Member States is based on skills transfer and consists in helping national education personnel develop the necessary technical autonomy and the confidence to operate without external assistance. Learning by doing, on-the-job mentoring and coaching are utilized in all IIEP capacity development activities. In this perspective, IIEP favors building long-term cooperation relationships with ministries of education. Skills transfer and confidence building are slow processes but remain the best guarantee that the proper skills will be developed for the formulation and implementation of credible education development plans.
Alliances in support of educational development
It is a principle for IIEP to avoid competition and duplication. Educational reform and development involves teaming up with sister UN agencies and other development partners as they are very demanding processes. Part of IIEP’s role is to encourage ministries of education to involve technical and financial partners within a Sector-Wide Approach process (SWAp) and to develop their capacities to do so successfully and efficiently. Furthermore, educational reform and development require predictability of funding over several years and flexibility in the use of these resources to keep adjusting to actual needs and to changing situations, especially in post-conflict and post-disaster (PCPD) settings and fragile situations. Consequently, IIEP also seeks long-term alliances with flexible funders in support of ministries of education and their priorities as expressed in medium-term (normally five-year) sector strategic plans.
Promoting gender equality
Capacity development - and development work at large - is hampered if women and men are not given equitable opportunities to benefit from skills development and opportunities for recruitment and promotion to decision-making positions. In situations where females are not participating on an equal footing, IIEP uses affirmative action to involve them in training workshops and other capacity development activities.
