IICBA, represented by Mr. Diop Mame Omar, Senior Program Specialist and Mr. Solomon Andargie, Project officer presented at the UNESCO-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) Project Phase I Conclusion and Phase II Launch meeting in Paris, 29 – 31 March 2017.

With the support of the Chinese Government, the first phase of the project, “Quality Teachers for EFA: Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Quality Gap in Sub-Saharan Africa”, was launched in 2012. The project had a budget of $8 million donated by the Chinese Government, for a duration of 4 years (the 4th quarter of 2012 to the 4th quarter of 2016). The 8 project countries are: Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Namibia (2012 – 2015), Congo, DR Congo, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda (2013 –2016). The CFIT project is one of the initiatives of UNESCO to accelerate progress towards the attainment of EFA goals (in particular Goal 6 aiming at improving the quality of education), and the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (in particular Goal 2 to achieve universal primary education).




Phase II of CFIT project is to be carried out from 2017 to 2018. In this phase, two more countries (Togo and Zambia) join the project. The aim of the project is to enhance the capacity of the target teacher training institutions in selected African countries to provide quality teacher education and training, in order to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly Goal 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education (Target 4c on increasing the supply of qualified teachers through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries), and Goal 9 on innovation.  IICBA continues to provide technical support to CFIT countries.

Chinese national broadcast CCTV interviewed IICBA staff Mr. Solomon Andargie and reported in the national news program. Please see the link of the video: http://tv.cctv.com/2017/03/30/VIDExMfZ3VvQOpA0piOavkSU170330.shtml.