sdg_4.jpg
38th General Conference
Presentation of Chairpersons of category 1 institutes on biennium 2014-2015 activities
Address by Mr. Birger Fredriksen
Chairman of the Governing Board of the
International Institute for Educational Planning
at the Education Commission, 7th November 2015
Distinguished Delegates,
My name is Birger Fredriksen. I have the honor of chairing IIEP’s Governing Board. In the short time available for this report, I will focus on three points. Please refer to document REP-2 and IIEP in action for more detailed information.
In the context of the new Sustainable Development Goals, IIEP’s mandate of capacity development in education policy and planning is both more challenging and more important than ever.
It is more challenging because education systems are becoming more complex and interconnected across national borders because of factors such as growing migration, internationalization of higher education and the impact of global student achievement tests such as PISA.
Governing Board Chair Birger Fredriksen delivers address #38GC on #IIEP biennium #Education #SDGs pic.twitter.com/hwRhuOOp5h
— IIEP UNESCO (@IIEP_UNESCO) 7 Novembre 2015IIEP’s mandate is growing more important because of this complexity and because of the rapidly increasing role knowledge and innovation will play in achieving not only the SDG on education, but all the other SDGs.
Despite facing major challenges, IIEP has had a very productive biennium.
Over 40 countries – almost half in Africa – benefitted directly from IIEP’s technical support in developing more evidence-based policies in areas such as:
- education sector analysis,
- plan preparation,
- education financing,
- and support to national and regional training centers.
I am also happy to report that the integration of the Pôle de Dakar into IIEP in late 2013 is a success. IIEP now offers capacity development through the entire planning cycle, from needs analysis through implementation and evaluation.
Through its research and thematic online portals, IIEP is promoting improvements in areas at the core of the SDGs, including:
- gender equality,
- improved learning outcomes,
- the training and education needs of youth,
- the essential role of teachers,
- accountable governance,
- and building system resilience to conflict and disasters.
In Latin America, IIEP’s office in Argentina offered policy analysis on the connection between education and employment. In Africa, IIEP initiated a major effort to improve implementation of Vocational Training policies in 8 Francophone countries.
Training remains a core IIEP activity: 1,500 ministry staff were trained and another 1,000 were mentored through IIEP’s collaborations with countries. A feedback survey conducted this year shows that the training is effective in improving planning performance – including the translation of policies into strategic and operational plans. Such capacities are at the core of the 2030 agenda.
At the global level, IIEP collaborated with other institutions to enhance the impact of its work. A case in point is the co-publishing with the Global Partnership for Education of the Guidelines countries use to design their education plans as well as the Guidelines used by the GPE to finance these plans.
While IIEP is stronger now than at the start of the biennium, very limited core funding makes the Institute fragile.
In response to reduced core funding, IIEP undertook a rigorous restructuring combined with reinforced fund mobilization efforts. This has helped enhance IIEP’s ability to respond to new demands that are crucial to the new global agenda while maintaining the high quality of its work.
However, while IIEP has been successful in mobilizing extra-budgetary support, I am deeply concerned about our heavy reliance on only three core donors: Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. They should be thanked for significantly increasing their support.
In addition, France funds IIEP-Pôle de Dakar and the IIEP Paris Office while our office in Buenos Aires is funded by Argentina.
More broadly, IIEP’s limited core funding illustrates the urgent need for the international community to address the severe underfunding of the type of global public goods provided by UNESCO and its institutes.
In an increasingly interdependent world, technical cooperation and knowledge-sharing among countries will be critical to stimulate the innovations needed to achieve the SDGs. Currently, as shown in a report prepared for the July Oslo Education Summit, only about 3% of education aid is used to support such global public good functions.
This is substantially lower than in the health sector.
By financing IIEP with untied funding, your governments can ensure that all Member States can retain access to the technical support, knowledge and training they need to achieve the SDGs.
Thank you for your kind attention.
