Education Coalitions Reaffirm Their Commitment to Education at Regional Consultation

Asia Pacific Regional Consultation for Education Advocates 2-5 September 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Asia Pacific Regional Consultation for Education Advocates created an opportunity for ANEC to engage in informative discussions on pertinent education issues, build their capacities, share their experiences, and highlight their advocacy efforts in Afghanistan. presence of key advocate networks such as regional and global partners, including Africa Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA), Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE), Arab Campaign for Education (ACEA), International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), were beneficial to participants who shared their strategies and plans, providing relevant information to the coalitions to enhance their efforts in favor of right to education and lifelong learning.

The regional consultation, convened by ASPBAE in collaboration with the Coalition for Educational Development (CED) in Sri Lanka, aimed to offer an arena to strengthen capacities and share experiences on the work of Asia Pacific civil society advocates advancing the right to quality basic, youth, and adult education, especially within the spaces provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and SDG 4 (education goal in the SDGs) policy processes, with particular attention to:

• Strengthening the student and youth constituency within the movement, advancing the right to education and the SDG 4 agenda with a special focus on involving marginalized youth.
• Promoting marginalized women’s education and empowerment agenda.
• Concretizing SDG 4.7 in policy and programs.
• Developing civil society organization (CSO) analysis and positions to respond to emerging innovative financing instruments for education.
• Emergent issues and initiatives identified by the participants.

ASPBAE, along with regional partners such as ANCEFA, CLADE, and ACEA, gave valuable insights on their preparation for the HLFP 2019 and how CSO participation can be enhanced in these formal spaces, giving them an opportunity to expand discussions with relevant policy makers and donors at the global level. ICAE introduced the Education and Academia Stakeholder Group (EASG), the NGO mechanism within the HLPF focused on education. ICAE shared the plans of the EASG for the High-level Political Forum 2019 and oriented the participants to the HLPF processes to inform their planning.

Participants were briefed on the plans for the upcoming World Assembly of GCE which will give national civil society coalitions, regional networks, and international networks an opportunity to discuss key achievements and challenges of the campaign since 2015. The global forum will also serve as a platform to discuss emerging global issues, to agree and clarify collective positions, and set priorities and direction for the coming period of 2019-2022. The GCE World Assembly will host the first Youth Caucus event since the establishment of the GCE movement where young education activists from all over the world will discuss and debate on issues around the education sector. The participation process for the GCE World Assembly was highlighted for the benefit of the coalitions so advocacy agendas can be incorporated into the GCE plans. The regional consultation ended on a high note with coalitions reaffirming their commitment to education, working on the ground, and engaging key stakeholders for effective change.