Overview
The African Union, together with its member States and regional economic communities, agreed to adopt a plan of action on achieving a number of objectives aimed at transforming education and training on the continent over the decade ending in 2015. Ministers of education meet biannually to take stock of the status of implementation of this Plan of Action and make decisions on how to address shortfalls and agree on strategic responses. This year’s review falls mid-decade and hence it is important in determining the appropriate responses in achieving the Plan’s goals for the second half of the decade.
The AU Outlook on Education Report, a continental report on the status of implementation, aims to provide a picture of the actions taken at the continental, regional, and national levels to execute the Plan of Action of the Second Decade. Although it is premature to determine the impact of the decade on educational development on the continent, the present report, however, undertakes to identify some initial lessons that may inform the review exercise later in the year.
The report is based on desk-top research, the regional reports compiled by the respective regional economic communities, some country reports and other reports from development partners involved in education on the continent. The African Union Human Resources Science and Technology Division (HRST), with the assistance of the ADEA1 Working Group on Education Management and Policy Support and other partners, has made considerable progress in building the capacity of member States and their regional economic communities to report on progress in implementing the Plan of Action of the Second Decade of Education. Since 2008, the ADEA Working Group, jointly with the two AU observatories - IPED and CIEFFA2 - and the secretariats of the regional economic communities, made significant strides in establishing and training countries on a monitoring framework of some 55 indicators linked to the priority areas of the Plan of Action. An AU Outlook database, customized on the basics of DevInfo software, covering over 200 data variables for all countries from 2006 onwards, was created and is used for monitoring purposes. This is a dynamic framework, with new demands for data for emerging areas of interest, in particular the intersection between education and training and employment.