This regional consultation and dialogue on the Education 2030 Framework for Action is organized by the UNESCO Regional Offices in Dakar, Abuja, Yaoundé, and UNESCO Headquarters in partnership with UNICEF and other EFA partners. The consultation also invites the participation of the African Union, Regional Economic Communities including SADC and EAC, along with education specialists from UNESCO Offices in West and Central Africa.

“We want to kick start the implementation of the renewed education agenda as an inclusive process, with full transparency and accountability, engaging all the stakeholders and ensuring national ownership and a country-led implementation process,” says Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, Director of UNESCO’s Regional Office in Dakar. “This technical consultation will build a common understanding of the new Education 2030 agenda, the global education goal and targets to prepare for and support its implementation at regional and national levels,” she adds.

The consultation will bring together some 150 officials of ministries of education from the 26 Member States in the West and Central Africa region, as well as the EFA co-conveners (UNICEF, UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and the World Bank) and other actors and stakeholders in education including CONFEMEN.

The new Education 2030 agenda

The regional consultation follows the adoption of the Incheon Declaration at the World Education Forum 2015 held in May 2015. The Declaration is a collective commitment of the education community with a sense of urgency to a single, renewed education agenda that is holistic, ambitious and aspirational, leaving no-one behind. This new education agenda ‘Education 2030’ is fully captured in the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all” and its corresponding targets.

Following the adoption of the SDGs in September 2015, the Education 2030 Framework for Action “Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all” was adopted at a high-level meeting in November 2015 organized during the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO.

The Education 2030 Framework for Action proposes ways of implementing, coordinating, financing and monitoring Education 2030 to ensure equal education opportunities for all. It aims at supporting all countries to realize their own vision and ambitions for education within the framework of the global SDG 4.