The Ninth Working Group meeting on Education for All met at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, from 12 to 14 November, 2008, focusing on four key topics: the role of education in meeting global challenges and the Millennium Development Goals; teachers; equity and governance; and education financing. These issues were chosen for their predominant influence on whether or not children, youth and adults can benefit from quality learning opportunities.

The meeting’s discussions was informed by evidence from the forthcoming 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report “Overcoming Inequality: Why governance matters?” which was officially launched on 25 November 2008 at the International Conference on Education (Geneva, Switzerland).

The annual Working Group meeting is attended by more than eighty participants representing governments, regional bodies, bilateral and multilateral organizations, civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The meeting’s deliberations drew upon the contributions of representatives of the major EFA constituencies as well as recommendations from programmes and initiatives of various EFA partners in order to reach agreement on key policy priorities aimed at accelerating progress towards EFA.

Discussions from the Ninth Working Group meeting culminated in a set of recommendations that was brought forward to the Eighth High-Level Group meeting on EFA (Oslo, Norway, 16 to 18 December, 2008).