Implementing and Financing Education for All

Abstract

The report summarises the presentations and debates of the participants during the “International Seminar on Financing and Implementing National Education Plans”. Held in the Republic of Korea, from 17 to 21 September 2003, this seminar was organized by UNESCO in collaboration with Sun Moon University, the National Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development of the Republic of Korea. Given the theme’s interest, both for political decision makers as well as for education specialists, UNESCO decided to publish the proceedings for widespread dissemination. At a time when education, particularly basic education, is seen as a fundamental human right, the Education for All goals proposed at the Dakar World Education Forum are still far from being achieved in all countries. A major challenge remains the lack of sufficient resources to achieve these goals. However, over and above the identifiable, material issues, the wide variety of national policy formulation, planning and implementation processes makes it difficult to identify a single or general linear approach to attaining the required goals. A review of national education policy and strategy frameworks will help us to better understand the relevance of the implementation processes to local socio-economic and cultural contexts.