Six African Countries Reap the Harvest from the Seeds of Education

- KNCU Co-publishes the Bridge Africa Programme Monitoring Report 2018

with Six National Commissions in Africa -

On Dec. 27, 2017, the KNCU (Secretary-General Kwangho Kim) co-published the English-language version of the Bridge Africa Programme Monitoring Report 2018, together with the Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia National Commissions for UNESCO.

The report includes the opinions of participants and stakeholders in the Bridge Africa Programme and information about the qualitative and quantitative achievements of the Programme, which was initiated by the KNCU in 2010. Secretary General Kwangho Kim said he hoped that the report would serve as a stepping stone for institutions and experts implementing Official Development Assistance projects in the education sector, helping them to establish better, more systematic indicators to evaluate the achievements of their projects.

The Bridge Africa Programme is designed to contribute to achievement of UN SDG 4, to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This goal is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which global society aims to attain by the year 2030. The Programme focuses on providing non-formal early childhood education (SDG Target 4.2), vocational skills training (SDG Target 4.4), and literacy and numeracy education (SDG Target 4.6), and aims to ensure that all its education is relevant to the individual circumstances of the local communities it serves.

The programme’s non-formal education is provided through locally-managed community learning centers (CLCs). According to the report, there are five conditions to making the strategic activities of the CLCs successful:

-  Strong commitment and engagement of communities is a success factor in enhancing the sustainability of educational activities at the CLCs.

-  The impact of the CLCs on learners’ lives is greater when their education programmes are aligned to national educational policies.

-  It is important to have diversity in CLC education programmes to effectively engage the entire community.

-  Promotion by NatComs of intersectoral cooperation in project design and implementation is important for enhancing the effectiveness of the project.

-  The exchange of knowledge and experience among CLCs, as well as among partner countries, helps to make the project more efficient and effective.

The report will be distributed to international organizations such as UNICEF and the World Bank, to domestic ODA organizations such as the Korea International Cooperation Agency, to researchers and to the general public. The Korean version of the report will be published in March.