Difference between revisions of "Educational NGOs"
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A good example of a multiple stakeholders approach is found through the work of the international organization of the educational labor NGOs, the International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (IFWEA), which was founded in 1947 and has 75 organizations in 51 countries and six affiliated international organizations. Its national affiliates include specialized education NGOs linked to the labor movement, trade unions (often through their education departments), educational institutions of social-democratic parties, think tanks and research institutes. The IFWEA developed the International Study Circle (ISC) project, which aims to facilitate an international education program on globalization issues. The ISC involves using the Internet to bring together groups of participants based in several countries. They then work simultaneously according to a common curriculum, set of materials and educational method. Each local study circle has a facilitator. Between meetings, each group has access to materials on the Internet, including the results of discussions and work completed by other countries in previous sessions (Gallin 2000). | A good example of a multiple stakeholders approach is found through the work of the international organization of the educational labor NGOs, the International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (IFWEA), which was founded in 1947 and has 75 organizations in 51 countries and six affiliated international organizations. Its national affiliates include specialized education NGOs linked to the labor movement, trade unions (often through their education departments), educational institutions of social-democratic parties, think tanks and research institutes. The IFWEA developed the International Study Circle (ISC) project, which aims to facilitate an international education program on globalization issues. The ISC involves using the Internet to bring together groups of participants based in several countries. They then work simultaneously according to a common curriculum, set of materials and educational method. Each local study circle has a facilitator. Between meetings, each group has access to materials on the Internet, including the results of discussions and work completed by other countries in previous sessions (Gallin 2000). | ||
| − | + | ==Conclusion== | |
| − | + | Education is not simply the acquisition of reading skills and simple mathematics. Instead, education encompasses learning about the environment, health and population issues, moral and affective domains, and spiritual and cultural values (CONGAD 2000). Furthermore, high quality education is vital for sustained social and economic development of nations. For many people living in developing nations, international NGOs provide hope for educational opportunities for their children. International NGOs have access to global networks of transportation, communication, and information technology. These associations promote universally recognized norms, including increases in educational enrollments, increased access to quality, standards of teacher training, and equal enrollments of boys and girls (Schafer 1999). Therefore, it becomes clear that educational NGOs are a veritable force that impacts and improves lives in ways that the governmental sector cannot. | |
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===References=== | ===References=== | ||
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Announcements. 2000. Gandhi Institute Receives US$5 Million Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalDevelopment/SpecialInitiatives/Announcements/Announce-287.htm | Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Announcements. 2000. Gandhi Institute Receives US$5 Million Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalDevelopment/SpecialInitiatives/Announcements/Announce-287.htm | ||
Revision as of 10:50, 4 August 2008
Contents
Overview of Educational NGOs
NGOs are civil society actors. They have a specific agenda for the improvement of society, and act on the desire to advance and improve the human condition (Gallin 2000). In 1990, the decade of “Education for All” (EFA) was launched in Jomtien, Thailand. There were six goals set in Jomtien and in 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, these goals were reaffirmed for another 15 years until 2015 (Torres). They are:
- Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
- Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
- Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs.
- Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
- Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
- Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills (UNESCO 2000).
Since the Dakar conference, the coordination group has been set up to ensure, in collaboration with UNESCO, that there are follow-up of activities as well as programs and mechanisms for NGOs under the area of “Education For All”. The Coordination Group is composed of eight representatives of civil society organizations, comprised of five regional organizations, two international organizations, and one representative of the UNESCO/NGO Liaison Committee (CCNGO 2001).
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