Difference between revisions of "Educational NGOs"
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Similarly, in 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated US $5 million to The Gandhi Institute in India. This NGO runs a program called the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Free Job-Oriented Computer Training Programme, which targets educated, unemployed youth (Gandhi Institute of Computer Education and Information 2000). Other companies have worked closely with NGOs to support on-going programs in education through technical assistance in the forms of financial or managerial and information systems support. There are many areas for growth in terms of private sector participation. They include supporting | Similarly, in 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated US $5 million to The Gandhi Institute in India. This NGO runs a program called the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Free Job-Oriented Computer Training Programme, which targets educated, unemployed youth (Gandhi Institute of Computer Education and Information 2000). Other companies have worked closely with NGOs to support on-going programs in education through technical assistance in the forms of financial or managerial and information systems support. There are many areas for growth in terms of private sector participation. They include supporting | ||
| − | *policy implementation at the management level | + | *policy implementation at the management level |
| − | *the training of teachers and curriculum development | + | *the training of teachers and curriculum development |
| − | *initiatives that directly reach children (e.g. equipment and materials) | + | *initiatives that directly reach children (e.g. equipment and materials) |
*the general educational infrastructure (Wazir 2000). | *the general educational infrastructure (Wazir 2000). | ||
| − | Multiple Stakeholders: Powerful Players to Move Global Education Forward | + | ====Multiple Stakeholders: Powerful Players to Move Global Education Forward==== |
| + | This type of collaboration has been identified as the most difficult to implement, since it requires the consideration of all parties involved, their motivations, needs, and goals. However, if successful, it is an effective way to infiltrate the education system to improve the existing structures. Collaboration between media, people’s movements, government officials, the corporate sector, foundations and philanthropic institutions, and trade unions are all possible avenues (Wazir 2000), and can have an immense impact on education, as each stakeholder covers various needs and can approach problems through their own specific expertise. | ||
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). | ||
Revision as of 11:45, 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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