Welcoming remarks by the Minister of International Development, Ms. Hilde F. Johnson

Education for All Fast Track Initiative

Partnership Meeting, Oslo, 20 November 2003

Friends,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to this important two-day Oslo stop on the Education for All Fast Track Initiative Partnership. A particular welcome to our partners from the first 10 Fast Track countries. We urgently need your guidance on how we can most effectively support your determined drive to reach the goal of Education for All. I also want to extend a particular welcome to the representatives from civil society. We urgently need your enthusiasm as well as your critical scrutiny and your impatience to keep us on track and moving fast.

Providing education for all is a key battle in the larger campaign to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals. If we win the battle on education, we stand a much better chance of winning the war on poverty. We are here to join that battle.

Yes, you may have heard this before. It is not as if the current international commitment and initiatives in the area of education are fundamentally new. Fifty-five years ago the nations and leaders of the world agreed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not only that "Everyone has the right to education", but also that "Elementary education shall be compulsory". Now, 55 years later, we are unfortunately forced to conclude that we have failed to deliver.

But we are not doomed to repeat the failures of the past. We have learned important lessons. We have made important progress.

Today we have a better understanding of the implications of education as a human right. That every individual has the right to education. That no one must be denied access to education because he or she is poor. That access is necessary, but not sufficient. That the right to education is meaningless unless a person has the right to complete his or her education.

Today we also have a better understanding of the need to focus on quality, not just quantity. We must focus on curricula. On the quality of teaching and the training of teachers. On the quality of textbooks and teaching material. The ultimate test of any system of education is whether it contributes to the empowerment of people. Poor parents must be able to see the point of sending their children to school. They must see education as a way out of poverty and insecurity.

Today we know - from countless, well documented studies - that investment in education is the best investment we can make in development and poverty reduction. That investment in girls’ education is particularly productive. Today we know not only what is the right thing to do. We also know how to do it right.

Yet, we are behind schedule, both on Dakar and on the MDGs. And our partnership has been neither fast, nor always on track.

But I remain confident that we will prove those who have questioned the added value of the Fast Track Initiative to be wrong. Because we have established a common framework at the country level for identifying and resolving issues related to scaling up Education for All. Because we have created a foundation for working together in new partnerships. Because we have strengthened our focus on outcomes and results and become more specific in benchmarking indicators.

I remain confident because we have a shared understanding that a fragmented or a stand-alone effort will not succeed. That we must all align our efforts around national poverty reduction strategies and budget processes. That we need to strengthen educational systems andinstitutional capacity building. That we need sector-wide approaches. That we need local ownership. That we are beginning, but only just, to come up with the additional resources needed for scaling up our efforts, so that we can deliver on our promises from Monterrey and elsewhere.

Yes, we have built a foundation. But now we must deliver. Now we must fulfil the expectations we have created. Now we must walk the talk.

The most important efforts will be those made by the developing countries themselves. But we must not let the rich countries use this as an excuse not to deliver on their promises. We must focus above all on what we have to do ourselves, on our own responsibilities.

The Norwegian Government strongly supports the Fast Track Initiative. For a country like mine, which has bilateral programmes in a small number of countries, the Fast Track Initiative is of particular importance. We are willing to explore new ways of co-operating with other donors and multilateral institutions to reach the poorest countries with the greatest financing needs. We are ready to put our money where our mouth is.

The government’s Action Plan for Combating Poverty in the South towards 2015 identifies education as a major weapon in the fight against poverty. And in my government’s education strategy, which was launched in Tanzania earlier this year, we have designated education as "Job number 1". We are scaling up our efforts to support the goal of "education for all" by the year 2015.

The Norwegian Government plans to increase ODA to 1 per cent of GNI by 2005, from the current level of 0.93 per cent. During the same period the share earmarked for education will increase from about 10 to 15 per cent. In real terms this will mean a doubling of our support to education to approximately USD 200 million from 2002 to 2005. The main channels for this substantial increase will be our bilateral programmes, the World Bank and UNICEF.

Over the last six years we have established a strong partnership with the World Bank through our Norwegian Education Trust Fund. We believe this fund has functioned as an analytical trust fund for African countries and been instrumental in preparing many of them for the Fast Track. We have recently decided to replenish the trust fund with an additional NOK 60 million, which is roughly equivalent to USD 8 million. In addition we have decided to join our Dutch, Belgian and Italian partners in contributing NOK 40 million, or close to USD 5.5 million, to the newly established Catalytic Multidonor Fund. In keeping with the purpose of the fund, the contribution is not earmarked. The funds will be transferred to countries where the financing gap is greatest.

Norway will do its part and more. But the bulk of external financing for the FTI must come from the largest donors. We therefore welcome the strong commitment by the G-8 countries to Education for All and look forward to their continued leadership in the implementation of the FTI.

In many ways the FTI is a test of how we as donors can change our practices. How we can put into practice our agenda on co-ordination, simplification, and harmonisation.

The Fast Track Initiative is an excellent framework. We will continue to improve it on the basis of the lessons we learn and the mistakes we make. But it must now begin to live up to its name. It can no longer be the up-town local. So let’s hurry up and get ready to board. This is a short stop on a long ride.

Education is every child’s primary resource and most important capital. We must make sure that no child leaves home without it. Three years have already passed since Dakar. We must not fall further behind. We need action - and we need it now.

Now because our partner countries expect it. They have worked very hard to deliver on their part of the bargain. Now because we said we would, and because we are only as good as our word.

Thank you for your attention, and good luck with your work.