Planning education for a world on the move

27 June 2019

Thirty educational planners and managers from three continents collected their certificates for completing an intensive training in educational planning and management at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) in Paris, France, on 27 June 2019.

“We are now planners in the field of education and must transfer the fruits of these skills acquired here in Paris to our respective countries and put them into practice,” - Nicolas Kotobia N’guessan, President of the Trainee’s Executive Committee and trainee from Côte d'Ivoire.

From Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, to Yemen, and Zimbabwe, and 14 other countries in-between, the trainees successfully completed either the one-year Advanced Training Programme or the six-month Education Sector Planning Course

“We are now planners in the field of education and must transfer the fruits of these skills acquired here in Paris to our respective countries and put them into practice,” said Nicolas Kotobia N’guessan, President of the Trainee’s Executive Committee and trainee from Côte d'Ivoire.

The course work, which blends both theoretical and practical skills, focused on all aspects of educational planning from sector diagnosis, plan formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Trainees honed their strategic management and leadership skills while also boosting their familiarity with different techniques and tools, including information systems. The trainees also learned about the French education system through the annual Study Visit, as well as the education systems of all of those who participated in the course.

Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director General for Education, opened the ceremony with a series of figures on how the fast-growing world is putting new demands on planners today. In 1965, the first cohort of trainees at IIEP were braced for planning in a world of some 3.4 billion people, of which some 72 million were on the move, according to Giannini. Today, the population has grown to 7.7 billion with some 272 million people living abroad.

“This has a strong impact on what we are doing every single day, in every single class in the world in our education systems. We have to think about how we can guarantee education for vulnerable populations –including refugees and migrants – in the best way possible,” Giannini said, adding that the training programme helped share best practices, knowledge, and policy and planning tools to help governments and ministries reform and adapt their education systems in the face of modern-day challenges.

Suzanne Grant Lewis, Director of IIEP-UNESCO, further reflected on the needs of educational planning in a world increasingly on the move.

“I see a huge challenge for all of us in educational planning and management and that is how to plan and manage an education system for a world increasingly on the move,” she said, stressing that planners today must look beyond the five or ten year lifespan of an educational plan. “By the time education systems respond to today’s vision of the 2030 world, let alone 2050, the world will have changed,” Grant Lewis said. “Today I am urging all of us to take a longer view, to reflect on what we need to do to ensure we have an education system in 2050 that serves a world on the move.”

Read the full speech by Suzanne Grant Lewis.


Trainees this year came from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Bostwana, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Vanuatu, Yemen and Zimbabwe.