EI
ACTIVITIES
EI to Attend
the World Economic Forum
For the first time in its 31-year history, the World Economic Forum (WEF)
will conduct its Annual Meeting outside of Davos. It has been moved to New York
and will be held from 31 January - 4 February. EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen
will be attending, for the first time, to ensure that education is given its proper
place on the agenda. This year's theme, Leadership in Fragile Times: A Vision
for a Shared Future, will be the focus of over 50 workshops within one of the
six global agenda areas: Restoring Sustained Growth; Advancing Security and Addressing
Vulnerability; Redefining Business Challenges; Reducing Poverty and Improving
Equality; Sharing Values and Respecting Differences; Re-evaluating Leadership
and Governance.
http://www.weforum.org/
or http://www.davos.org
EI
to Attend the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre
EI will be represented
in Porto Alegre, Brazil by Executive Board members Carlos Augusto Abicalil and
Marta Maffei, EI Regional Co-ordinator Combertty Rodriguez and Deputy General
Secretary Elie Jouen. The second World Social Forum, which will be held from January
31 to February 5, 2002, will be attended by more than 60,000 people. Education
will be at the top of the Forum's agenda, as well as the foreign debt crises,
tax on international financial transactions, the question of genetic modification,
and the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. Carlos Augusto Abicalil will deliver
the opening address at the education forum and Elie Jouen is scheduled to take
part in a seminar organised by UNESCO on the role of civil society in education
"Creating Learning Societies: Participation, Citizenship and Governance".
The first Forum
in 2001 was labelled the 'Anti-Davos' (see previous news item). This year, NGOs,
trade unions and associations represented in Porto Alegre will continue as a force
to promote viable human and economic models that guarantee social justice.
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br
/
UN International
Forum for Social Development
EI Deputy General Secretary Sheena Hanley has been invited by the United Nations
in New York to take part in the first meeting of the International Forum for Social
Development on 6-8 February. This forum convened by the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs of the UN is to follow up the outcome of the 1995 World Summit
for Social Development as well as other international gatherings, including the
Millennium Summit. The discussion at the Forum will provide a social perspective
on the issues to be discussed at the forthcoming International Conference on Financing
for Development and the World Summit for Sustainable Development. The forum will
focus on social development and globalisation and will examine how developing
countries and social groups not benefiting from, or being marginalised by, globalisation
can contribute to reorienting and democratising the process.
EI/E Committee Meeting
On January 21, The EI-European
Committee meeting will be held in Brussels. As the first meeting of year, discussions
will include the implementation of EI's new working programme with highlights
on human rights and equality, education and employment, and issues and projects
in Central and Eastern Europe. Also scheduled is a detailed report on relations
between EI and the World Confederation of Teachers. The General Secretary will
address action taken in the wake of September 11. Standing committees are expected
to present updates. Other items on the agenda will be the financial and activity
reports.
Leadership Training for Teacher Union Leaders in East Africa
From 14 to 18 January
2002, EI organised a seminar in Kampala (Uganda) for affiliate organisations in
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The 5-day workshop reinforced the capacity and the
skills of union leaders to implement, at the national level, the Dakar Framework
for Action on Education for All. The 30 participants reviewed the progress toward
the elaboration of the National Action Plans for EFA in their respective countries.
They discussed the main challenges confronting East Africa and proposed some strategies
to overcome the main obstacles. In depth discussions focused on how to improve
the status, morale and professionalism of teachers, and how to ensure union involvement
in the preparation and presentation of credible National Actions Plans. The very
sensitive issue of HIV/AIDS was debated and some role-playing organised. The participants
adopted recommendations regarding the "great need to sensitise affiliates
on the Dakar Framework for Action", the improvement of terms and conditions
of employment, and "that teacher education curriculum be revised to include
sex education, HIV/AIDS and cultural values". Participants also advocated
a follow-up seminar at the national level.
Mission
to Sierra Leone
Victorine Djitrinou, Education International's African Regional Co-ordinator,
attended a series of training workshops in Sierra Leona on 17-20 December hosted
by the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) with the co-operation of Canadian Teachers
Federation (CTF-FCE). The in-service workshops are helping to train unqualified
teachers, as well as school administrators. She reports that the rebuilding the
country after 10 years of devastating war is only just beginning. The EI and SLTU
supported repatriation programs are slowly showing signs of success: recently
40 teachers returned to the Kono region, one of the most dangerous due to continuing
conflicts over diamonds, to re-open a school there. According to the SLTU, the
abundant international aid agencies and NGOs in the area are refusing to work
with or assist them, because these organisations do not recognise the trade union
as part of civil society. The Government has created an Education For All Steering
Committees, but it includes only one representative from SLTU.
Latin American Workshop on Gender
As part of
on-going co-operation, the EI Latin America regional office and Public Services
International (PSI) hosted a Gender Training Workshop for international trade
secretariat staff, which was held in mid-November in San Jose, Costa Rica. The
International Labour Organisation's Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) sponsored
the activity. Delegations from the nine international trade secretariats (ITS)
participated. In co-ordination with the attending male and female experts, working
groups were organised on the following subjects: "Women in the World of Work:
Social Costs and Development in Latin America"; "Gender and Action in
Labour Unions at the Dawn of 21st Century"; "International Instruments
Promoting Equal Rights for Women Workers in Latin America"; "The Impact
of Socialisation and Information on ITS Gender Policies, Programs and Plans of
Action"; and "Strategic Planning with a Gender Perspective for Trade
Unions". Finally, the plenary defined a common agenda that will serve as
base for co-ordinated action on gender issues by ITSs in the region.
Workshop on the Eradication of Child Labour
On 3 December 2001, the EI regional office in Latin America, together with ACTRAV
and the International Labour Organisation's Program for the Eradication of Child
Labour (IPEC), organised a workshop in San Jose, Costa Rica to define a course
of action for ending child labour in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
The workshop diagnosed the state of child labour country by country and set priorities
and outlined possible steps for action in each case. In effort to find solutions
to the affliction of child labour, participants with tremendous amounts national
and international experience offered suggestions and ideas and elaborated plans
of action for national unions. The Colegio de Profesores de Chile presented its
experiences implementing projects on eliminating child labour.
Co-operation
Set to Continue in Eritrea
From December 13-18, Education International
(EI) Co-operation Development Co-ordinator Wouter van der Schaaf accompanied Margareta
Axell, International Secretary for Lararforbundet-Sweden, on a visit to the Teachers'
Association of Eritrea (TAE). Current projects with TAE were evaluated and further
co-operation planned. TAE, with a total membership of around 7,000, operates in
difficult circumstances: illiteracy in the country is over 50%, thousands of teachers
are tied up in military service even though the military conflict with Ethiopia
has ended, overall poverty hampers the quality of education. Yet, TAE does its
best to defend the interests of the teachers and the education sector in general.
With limited funds the organisation maintains contact with the membership and
organises discussions on key educational issues. TAE is actively involved in the
national debate on Education For All. A highlight on the organisation's agenda
in 2002 is its annual conference that has been postponed several times due to
outbreaks of armed conflict. Co-operation with Lararforbundet focuses on membership
training, publications and institutional support.
Educating
for Peace
Education
International, represented by Deputy General Secretary Sheena Hanley, in partnership
with Amnesty International, Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) and the
Ulster Teachers Union (UTU) have produced Lift Off, a pilot programme for introducing
human rights education within the primary curriculum. The program centres around
the story of Croc (Convention on the Rights of the Child), an alien who comes
to earth for the explicit purpose of finding out about our lives. Children engage
with Croc through responding to its questions and examining some of the problems
Croc discovers here on earth. The program will be launched in both Northern Ireland
and the Republic of Ireland early this year. It includes, among other things,
10 lesson plans and worksheets, poster, easy to understand summary of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, information letter to parents, and games. For more
information please contact INTO or UTU.
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