February 2003

Education pour tous

Launching a new flagship on education for rural people

Also available in French and Spanish

Background

The Sustainable Development Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are inviting member countries, United Nations agencies and civil society to join in the establishment of a new partnership on Education for Rural People.

The initiative seeks to address rural-urban disparities, which are a serious concern to governments and the international community as a whole. About 70 per cent of the poor live in rural areas. Despite the fact that education is a basic right in itself and an essential prerequisite for reducing poverty, improving the living conditions of rural people and building a food-secure world, children's access to education in rural areas is still much lower than in urban areas, adult illiteracy is much higher and the quality of education is poorer.

In this regard, FAO and UNESCO are joining efforts in the establishment of a new flagship within the Education for All (EFA) initiative with a focus on Education for rural people. The flagship is a call for collaborative action to increase the coordination of efforts targeting the educational needs of rural people. The partnership is open to members committed to working separately and together to promote and facilitate quality basic Education for rural people.

Objectives

The flagship's objectives are to:

• Build awareness on the importance of Education for rural people as a crucial step to achieve the Millennium goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and achieving universal primary education (www.un.org/millenniumgoals/)
• Overcome the urban/rural education gap
• Increase access to basic Education for rural people
• Improve the quality of basic education in rural areas
• Foster the national capacity to plan and implement basic education plans to address the learning needs of rural people

For more information, the concept paper Targeting the rural poor: the role of education and training (March 2002, http://www.fao.org/sd/2002/kn0301a_en.htm) can be consulted.

Activities

• Technical support to countries willing to address the basic educational needs of the rural people by formulating specific plans of action as part of the national plans on Education for all.

• Advocate and mobilize partnerships for Education for rural people by concentrating on strategic global, regional and international events, and encouraging the same within countries.
• Identify the capacity for different substantive components on Education for rural people within partner institutions
• Support the exchange of good practices and knowledge on Education for rural people.

Meetings

The new FAO/UNESCO flagship was officially launched at a side event during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, 3 September 2002.

The following are some examples of other international events presenting the flagship:

• Regional workshop on Education for Rural Development organized in partnership with FAO, UNESCO and UNESCO- International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Bangkok,Thailand, 5 -7 November 2002)
• Aid Agencies workshop on Education for Rural people, organized by FAO with the technical collaboration of UNESCO and UNESCO-IIEP, Rome,Italy, 12-13 December 2002)
• Youth employment summit 2002, Alexandria, Egypt, 7 - 11 September 2002)
• International symposium on rural education organized by UNESCO Office in Beijing, China, together with the International Research and Training Center for Rural Education (INRULED, China) the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, 20 - 23 January 2003).

Members of the flagship programme

International Organizations and Governments

1. FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
   ester.zulberti@fao.org, lavinia.gasperini@fao.org
2. UNESCO - United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization
   mj.pigozzi@unesco.org
3. ICRAF - World Agroforestry Centre
   g.denning@cgiar.org
4. IPGRI, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute
   e.goldberg@cgiar.org
5. WFP - World Food Programme
   Allan.Jury@wfp.org
6. CIAT - International Center for Tropical Agriculture
   E.HESSE@CGIAR.ORG, ciat@cgiar.org
7. Commonwealth Secretariat, United Kingdom 
   v.goel@commonwealth.int
8. USAID, United States Agency for International Development, USA
   (contact: Mr. J. D. Hatch) Email:JHatch@usaid.gov
9. ADEA, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, France
   (contact: Mr. Mamandou Ndoye) Email: adea@iiep.unesco.org
10. DGCS - Italian Directorate General for Cooperation
    (contact: Mr Raffaele de Benedictis) Email: raffaele.debenedictis@esteri.it
11. ETF – European Training Foundation, Italy
    (contact: Claire Morel for central Asia and Barbara Paya for Eastern Europe) Claire.Morel@etf.eu.int
12. The Government of Egypt
    Email: May.hani@fao.org
13. The Government of San Marino
    ambasciatasanmarino@tin.it




Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations and others

14. Terre des hommes, Italia
    d.vergari@tdhitaly.org   
15. CELIM - Centro Laici Italiani per le missioni,Italy
    info@celimbergamo
16. ACRA - Associazione di Cooperazione Rurale in Africa e America Latina, Italy
    acra@acra.it
17. UCSEI - Ufficio centrale Studenti Esteri in Italia, Italy
    ucsei.roma@flashnet.it
18. CISP - Comitato Internazionale per lo sviluppo dei popoli, Italy
    cisp.pro@cisp-ngo.org
19. OPAM - Opera di Promozione dell Alfabetizzazione nel Mondo, Italy
    opam@opamprog@tiscalinet.it
20. ISCOS - Istituto Sindacale per la Cooperazione con i Paesi in via di sviluppo, Italy
    simonecirulli@iscos-cisl.org
21. AIFO - Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau, Italy
    simonecirulli@iscos-cisl.org
22. FOCSIV - Federazione Organismi Cristiani Servizio Internazionale Volontario, Italy
    focsiv@focsiv.it
23. CTM - Controinformazione Terzo Mondo, Italy
    info@ctm-lecce.it
    progetti_italia@ctm-lecce.it
24. C.V.C.S - Centro Volontari Cooperazione allo Sviluppo, Italy
    cvcsgo@tin.it
25. CIDE - Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Ecucación, Chile
    s.martini@cide.cl
26. EDC - Education Development Center Inc, USA
    jwong@edc.org
27. Universidad Nacional de Salta, Argentina
    ferretti@ciunsa.edu.ar
28. Social Development Forum 2000, Pakistan
    sdforum2000@yahoo.co.uk
29. FOCA - Fundação Oásis Cidade Aberta, Brazil
    president@foca.org.br
30. Association SAHEL DEFIS, Bamako, Mali
    saheldefis@yahoo.fr (contact Seydou Sanou)
31. APEAN - Asia and Pacific Association of Educators in Agriculture Education and Environment, Thailand
    apean@lb.msc.net.ph
32. ONGDERPREA, Cameroun
    ongderprea@yahoo.fr
33. BUNYAD, Lahore, Pakistan
    bunyad@brain.net.pk
34. APPEAL - Pacific Programme for Education for All
    a.hakeem@unescobkk.org
35. RSPN - Rural Support Programmes Network, Pakistan
    faisal@rspn.org.pk
36. PASSAGE, The Philippine Association of Agriculture Educators, Philippines
    passage80@yahoo.com
37. Anamorphose, France
    anamorph@imaginet.fr
38. ZOE - Center for Rural Heritage Preservation from Zagreb, Croatia
    ivana.laginja@zg.tel.hr
39. Iowa State University, USA
    dacker@iastate.edu
40. LABE, Literacy and Adult Basic Education, Uganda
    LABE@africaonline.co.ug
41. FEC - Fundação Evangelização e Culturas (contact person Catarina Lopes)
    lopes_catarina@yahoo.com.br
42. ESE - Escola Superior de Educação, Portugal (contact Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos)
    jgsantos@ese.ipvc.pt
43. PRWSWO - Secretary General. Pakistan Rural Workers Social Welfare Organization (contact SABIR FARHAT)
    farhat2@mul.paknet.com.pk
44. Learning Channel, India (contact: Geeta Sharma)
    Geeta.Sharma@oneworld.net
45. Aasthan Latif Welfare Society, Pakistan (contact: Riaz A.Memon)
    alast@mail.com
46. Fantsuam Foundation, Nigeria (contact: Mr R. Tariya Yusuf)
    fantsuamfoundation@fantsuam.com
47. CCID - Community Colleges for International Development, Inc, USA (contact: Mr. John Halder)
    jhalder@kirkwood.cc.ia.us
48. INRULED - International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education, China (contact: Dr. Zhai Haihun and Mr. Fuzeng Yu)
    Yufuzeng@china.com; haihunzhai@yahoo.com
49. Caldas Coffee Growers Association (contact: Pablo Jaramillo), Colombia
    Email: Pablo.Jaramillo@cafedecolombia.com
50. FNCC, Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (contact: Alfonso A. Uribe).
51. ARED, Associates in Research & Education for Development, Senegal (contact: De Sonja Fagerberg-Diallo)
    Email:Ared@enda.sn
52. ENESAD, France (contact: Mr. Alain Jaze) Email:a.jaze@enesad.fr
53. Nelson Mandela Foundation (contact: Ms Merlyn Van Voore) Email: Merlyn@nelsonmandela.org
54. SMART - Association for Civil Society Development, (contact: Sladana Novota) Email:sladana@smart.hr
55. Fundación Manuel Mejia, Colombia (contact: R. Gómez) Email: richygomez@hotmail.com
56. Global Connection, UK (contact C. Alkanaan) Email: cathryn@globalconnections.org.uk CAlkanaan@aol.com
57. Global Connection, Zanzibar (contact C. Alkanaan) Email: cathryn@globalconnections.org.uk CAlkanaan@aol.com

Focal Points