Two milestone events marking UNESCO's support of education in Uganda were held in Kampala from 1 to 3 March 2017. UNESCO, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) in Uganda, the teachers’ unions and relevant educational partners had a meeting and mapped the way forward for the second phase of the Capacity Development for Education (CapED) programme in Uganda. MoES of Uganda also held the Official handover ceremony of the equipment and project achievements of the UNESCO-China Funds-in-Trust (CFIT) project on "Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education Quality Gap in Africa". The ceremony was officiated by the First Lady of Uganda and Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni, with the presence of UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa, Ms. Ann Therese Ndong Jatta. The UNESCO delegation was composed of HQs, UNESCO Nairobi, Kampala project office and IICBA, represented by Mr. Mame Omar Diop, Programme Specialist in Teacher Development.

In line with Sustainable Development Goal 4, UNESCO's work is to ensure equitable and inclusive quality of education and lifelong learning for all by 2030. In Uganda, particular emphasis under CapED was made corresponding with their teachers' issues analyzed by the diagnostic study using the Teachers Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA) methodology. IICBA has been supporting CapED in Uganda through 2016 with achievements including:

· the pilot of Teacher Management Information System (TMIS);

· the launch of a comprehensive national teacher policy and teacher competency profiles for early childhood development (ECD) and secondary tutors and instructors;

· the launch of a harmonized pre-service teacher training curriculum and a continuous professional development (CPD) framework; and

· the setup of a national social dialogue platform for teachers’ issues.

The meeting between UNESCO and MoES emphasized the following activities within the new CapED work plan of 2017:

· the development of a TMIS integrated to an Education Management Information System (EMIS);

· a new project on strengthening girls' participation and learning achievement in STEM subjects taught in lower secondary schools;

· the promotion of gender equity and equality in education in Uganda through gender-sensitive primary teacher education, and the capacity building of teacher education to integrate gender sensitive pedagogy in primary education; and

·  the design of a quality assurance mechanism for the management of higher education institutions like Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) and Faculties of Education in Uganda.

This new chapter of capacity development in Uganda was brightened by the handover ceremony of the CFIT project. Launched in 2014, the project aims to equip teacher educators and teachers with the relevant competencies of using ICT as a pedagogical tool and creating more opportunities for professional development both in pre-service and in-service training. So far the project has installed several ICT and Studio Equipment and developed an online Learning Management System (LMS) as well as developed teacher training modules and manuals.

UNESCO IICBA is mandated to support capacity development in Africa. It is believed that the process and achievements in Uganda will provide experience and encouragement for other Sub-Saharan African countries when facing similar challenges. Mr. Mame Omar Diop suggested to Uganda to consider hosting an experience sharing with other countries implementing the CapED programme in Africa around the policy formulation process as well as other issues related to social dialogue.

For more information:

Video clip for NTV – Uganda for the CFIT handover ceremony: http://www.ntv.co.ug/news/local/04/mar/2017/government-partners-unesco-l...

Teachers Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA) Report Uganda: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002297/229777e.pdf

IICBA Supported the National Dialogue for Teachers and Teacher Policy Framework in Uganda: http://www.iicba.unesco.org/node/218

The CapED Uganda Programme on Teachers: Workshop and Core Policy Committee for Teacher Policy Framework: http://www.iicba.unesco.org/node/183