Addis Ababa, April 22, 2019: The Coordinating Agencies for the Thematic Clusters of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) convened in an ordinary technical session from 22nd to 23rd April 2019 at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. The purpose of the meeting was to build capacity of the agencies for effective coordination, to share experiences and strengthen the coordination of the 12 already operational CESA Thematic Clusters.

AU Member States and Organisations represented at the event included: Republic of Mauritius, Republic of South Africa, Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), Education International Africa, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA), Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), World Food Program (WFP), Assocaition of African Universities (AAU), Save the Children, Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN), Africa Curriculum Association (ACA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UNESCO Institiute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO-IICBA), Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), Forum African Women Educationalists (FAWE), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and the AU institutions Pan African Institute of Education for Development (IPED), African Union International Centre for Girls and Women Education in Africa (AU/CIEFFA) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA).

The CESA Monitoring, Evaluation an Implementation Platform (CESA-MERP) was presented as a tool for facilitating the coordination of CESA Clusters and streamline the approach for Coordinating agencies and Cluster members to report on activities carried out towards the implementation of CESA’s Strategic Objectives.

Participants made the following key recommendations towards strengthening the coordination of CESA Clusters:
i. Enhance documentation of best practices in Cluster Coordination, and create the avenue for Clusters to share their lessons in their coordination work.
ii. Utilise CESA-MERP to enhance information flow within and across clusters
iii. Coordinatig agencies should ensure inclusion of cluster members in relevant activities.
iv. Regional Economic Communities should be on board to ensure coherence and added value of work with Member States.
v. Publicise the work of clusters to expand membership to include other relevant organisations and agencies for promoting maximum use of available expertise on the continent.
vi. The AUC must play the critical role of ensuring that the work of the Clusters is publicised among Member States for greater visibility. To this end, the reports of Clusters will be submitted to the Specialised Technical Committee for Education Science and Technology (STC-EST) and the Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government Championing Education, Science, and Technology (C10)
The H.E. Prof Sarah Anyang Agbor Human Resource Science and Technology (HRST) Commissioner, in her closing remarks, commended the commitment that the Coordinators of CESA Clusters have shown in aligning efforts towards realizing our common vision of the Africa We Want(Agenda 2063) through the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25). She called for strengthening of strategic partnerships for achieving impacts at national and contientallevels, and ensuring that work done is documented.
Participants agreed that subsequent Cluster Coordination meetings will be held in other regions of the African Union to enhance ownership and publicity of the cluster mechanism of CESA.

Note to Editor

What is (CESA 16-25)?
This strategy is driven by the desire to set up a “qualitative system of education and training to provide the African continent with efficient human resources adapted to African core values and therefore capable of achieving the vision and ambitions of the African Union. https://edu-au.org/cesa/about

AGENDA 2063 is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future. It is the continent’s strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development and is a concrete manifestation of the pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity pursued under Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. Learn more https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview

For media inquiries contact:

Ms. Janet Faith Ochieng| Communications Officer, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | Tel: +251(0) 911361185 | E-mail: OchiengJ@africa-union.org
Mr.Stephen Kwaku Darko| Information and Communications Officer, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | Tel: +251(0) 953406832 | E-mail: DarkoS@africa-union.org