Norwegian Minister of International Development, Ms Hilde F. Johnson

International Commitments and Initiatives

High Level Group Meeting on Education for All, Abuja, 20 November 2002

Opening Statement, Working Session IV:

President Obasanjo, Distinguished Delegates, Friends and colleagues,

Welcome to this important session on International Commitments and Initiatives. Creating the structures and securing the resources needed to provide education for all is a task of historic proportions. This task, however, should have been ticked off as completed and delivered a long time ago. It is not as if the current international commitment and initiatives in the area of education are fundamentally new. Fifty-four years ago the nations and leaders of the world agreed by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not only that " Everyone has the right to education", but also that " Elementary education shall be compulsory". Taking stock 54 years later we must unfortunately conclude that we have failed to deliver.

Let us not waste any more time. Let us use this conference to generate the momentum needed to deliver what we are committed to. The next generation of children must receive what is theirs by birthright. Education is every child’s primary resource and most important capital. We must make sure that no child leaves home without it. Two years have already passed since Dakar. Signs of impatience and uncertainty can be seen. The objectives of ensuring girls` right to education and gender parity have yet to be fulfilled. We must not fall further behind. We need action - and we need it now.

There are great expectations as to what this meeting in Abuja will achieve. And rightfully so. It’s up to us to get things moving.

The first round, following Jomtien, was in many ways a failure. The main targets were not met. We cannot tolerate another failure. This round must yield concrete results.

Nonetheless, despite the setbacks we have seen some progress and learnt some important lessons. Today we have a better understanding of the implications of education as a human right. Every individual has the right to education. No one must be denied access to education because they are poor. But this right does not only entail access. Unless a person has the right to complete his or her education, the right to education is meaningless.

We also have a better understanding today of the need to focus on quality, not just quantity. We must focus on curricula. And the quality of teaching and teachers’ training, and of school material, must be ensured. I think the ultimate test of any system of education is whether it contributes to the empowerment of people. Pale imitations of old colonial school systems do not necessarily provide that. A poor family must be able to see the reasons for sending their children to school. They must see education as a way out of poverty and insecurity.

We understand better today that education is a prerequisite for all other development objectives. Education is the most basic infrastructure in any country. It is the basis on which individuals build their lives, and their families. It is the main tool for building a country. Education is also the only kind of infrastructure that cannot be destroyed by war, conflict or natural disasters. It remains in people’s minds. Education therefore must not be abandoned in difficult situations. It can and should be carried out under all circumstances, during crises, in refugee camps, in emergencies, and also, of course, in stable situations. In order to build up a country, you need educated people, human capital, and human resources.

As early as a decade ago the World Bank presented evidence for the claim that education is a precondition for development. Education for girls is the most effective investment, the one that yields the highest return in strictly economic terms in a poor country. Nothing beats it. This is not only because "when you educate a girl you educate the whole family". It is also because educating women yields results in areas such as family planning, health, HIV/AIDS, income generation, and many more. We achieve several development goals simultaneously. In sum, education is the most fundamental and effective vehicle for combating poverty.

We also have a better understanding today of how education policies should be developed, and how we should collaborate. We know that though a great many projects may be valuable as individual projects, fragmented efforts will never meet our objectives. We know that we need to scale up and to deliver a better system that provides education for all. We need to strengthen local educational systems. We need institutional capacity building. We need sector-wide approaches. We need local ownership.

Education alone will not solve the development equation. Education must be an integral part of a comprehensive development strategy. The most important tools to that end are national development plans. What is needed are coherent and comprehensive national poverty reduction strategies. The countries themselves must be in the driver’s seat, and the approach must involve pro-poor polices and increased investment in education, health and the social sectors.

Education has been lifted higher up on the international political development agenda. I need only mention Monterrey, Doha, Kananaskis and Johannesburg. We also have a new consensus on the Millennium Development Goals and on the means and measures for achieving them. We have the necessary declarations of intent. Now we must deliver.

There are many ways of lifting education higher up on the development agenda, keeping it there and achieving results. Setting a target for the percentage allocated to education in the overall budget for development cooperation is one way of highlighting the fundamental role of education. Some countries, including the Netherlands and Norway, have done exactly this. For our part, Norway is in the process of increasing the share of the development budget reserved for education from 9 per cent to 15 per cent by 2005. This might be an idea for other donor countries too. Concrete goals can also useful for developing countries when they are setting their priorities.

We now have the Monitoring Report on the table before us. The discussion yesterday showed that the report is of high quality. It is a good reference document for all the relevant partners, locally and internationally. The report also points out shortcomings and serious setbacks, and reveals trends that contradict the general picture when it comes to financing for education. Funds for development are in fact dropping. And the Monitoring Report gives ample evidence of this.

I would now like turn to the challenge immediately ahead of us:

It is important that our discussions are creative, but at the same time they must be to the point – and the point is action and results. The task we have been entrusted with is to agree on a set of conclusions and recommendations to be included in the final communiqué. As in the earlier sessions, we have a rapporteur, Ms Ruth Kagia, who will ensure that this is done. The communiqué must be a result-oriented document - and a reference document for concrete action. I see it as my duty as facilitator to make sure that this session produces that result, a result that meets the needs of the poor and disadvantaged.

Before I open the floor to discussion, I would like to single out a few concrete areas that I suggest we should focus on.

These are:

Education For All as a political challenge:

• How can we keep education at the top of the global political agenda?
• What should be the role of the High Level Group as an institution and the Monitoring Report as a common reference document?

Education For All as a financial challenge:

• How can we mobilise the necessary financial resources from donors for the fulfilment of education for all? In fast track countries as well as those not on the list?
• What kind of financing channels should be used?
• How can local resource mobilisation be increased in parallel with donor funding?

Education For All as an institutional challenge:

• How can institutional capacity for education be strengthened on a large scale?
• How can we make better use of the comparative advantages of major players like UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank? And how can we at the same time secure more strategic collaboration between them?

I hope that we will have a lively and rewarding discussion while at the same time staying with the programme - and the programme is action and results.

Providing education for all is a battle in a larger war. If we win the battle on education, we stand a much better chance of winning the war on poverty. We who are here today can make a difference. At this very conference - at this very session - we can strengthen our joint efforts to do exactly that.

Now is the time to deliver.

Thank you.