Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 21 August 2020: The African Union Commission’s Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology, organized a workshop with partners and stakeholders involved in the coordination of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (2016-2025) Thematic Clusters. The 3-day workshop was held virtually from 19th to 21st August 2020.

The workshop had in attendance, participants from the African Union Commission (AUC – HRST, Department of Social Affairs and Department of Rural Energy and Agriculture; Pan African Institute for Education for Development (IPED) , International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa (CIEFFA), African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), UNICEF, UNESCO, UNESCO-IICBA, WFP, FAO, FAWE, AIM, CEMASTEA, GeSCI, AFTRA, Education International Africa – EIA, AfECN, INHEA, AAU, ADEA, ACA, RECs – IGAD, the AU Member States and a host of AUC Education Partners.

The principal objective of the workshop:

v To set the contexts for the transformation of Africa’s education systems based on DOTSS and reinforce the role of Clusters in CESA Implementation;

v To take stock of the division of labor, the scope of work, composition, functioning, coordination, and performance of clusters against Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and promote inter-cluster synergies;

v To agree on the 2020-2021 cluster and inter-cluster priorities, work plan, ways of working and reporting mechanisms, and frequency.

H.E. Sarah Anyang Agbor, the Commissioner for HRST highlighted the key role of education to contribute towards revitalized, quality, relevant, and harmonized education systems responsive to the needs of Africa. She also highlighted a shifted paradigm on the Education Transformation Agenda and its importance through the DOTSS approach. DOTSS which is Digital Connectivity, Online and Offline Learning, Teachers as facilitators for learning, Safety in Schools and Online, Skills Focused Learning is the centerpiece and bed-rock for our engagement with our Member States and partners.

She also described the challenges of the African education system which include; crisis with equity, learning, relevance, and affordability. H.E. stressed that under the context where the 23% girls are out of primary school much has to be done to narrow the gender disparity, and hence she stressed the need to continue learning based base on the DOTSS approach. In line with this, the AUC has put a knowledge portal for the Member States and partners for further communication with the department.

Therefore, H.E. suggested strengthening the CESA cluster implementation approach and means of operationalization of CESA objectives by allocating budget from more share from internal domestic sources, as currently, we are undertaking 70% from partners and 30 % from Member states. This has to be reversed.

Ms. Prudence Ngwenya, the Ag. Head of Education Division explained the mandate of the Education Division and how CESA responds to Agenda 2063. In line with this, she clarified the role of clusters and partnership as very central in the transformation and integration of Africa’s education system. In addition, she explained the DOTSS approach as AU’s game-changing intervention for transforming Africa’s education system. She concluded by reinforcing that the cluster needs to support the operationalization of the CESA in providing guidance and supports to the AU Member States. Commissioner H.E Sarah Anyang Agbor communicated excitement with the way the workshop was organized, especially the engagement by participants. She appreciated the participants for engaging and the substantive conversations made during the meeting, appreciated the facilitator, and the Education Team. She stated her belief in partnership, the role of the CESA clusters, and stressed that clusters should work to accelerate the implementation of DOTSS underpinned by Quality and innovation.

In conclusion, she noted that too many children are out of school and not learning. Too many people are coming out of school without the relevant skills, and without accelerating action in transforming our education systems, there is no way we can achieve the Africa we want.

For further information please contact:

Nyandoh Tadfor | Human Resources, Science and Technology Department | African Union Commission | Tel: +251 (0) 11 551 77 00 | E-mail: TadforN@africa-union.org | www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia