In September 2000, Pakistan became a
signatory of the Dakar Declaration
thereby renewing its previous commitment
to Education for All (EFA). In line with
the Dakar Framework of Action, the
Ministry of Education (MOE) set up the
National EFA unit which coordinated the
activities of all government,
non-government organizations, UNESCO,
multilateral and bilateral partners of
the EFA venture. This case study
specifically looks at the role of
UNESCO, the lead coordinating agency for
EFA, and the support it extended to the
MOE and other Development Partners (DPs)
towards the realization of EFA agenda.
The
study breaks down UNESCO’s functions in
six key areas and then evaluates its
exact role; constraints faced,
strategies employed and impact in each.
The areas the study assesses include
UNESCO’s role in the development of EFA
National Action Plan(EFA- NPA) and its
reflection in the Education Sector
Reform (ESR), Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (PRSP) and Mid term Development
Framework (MTDF), building EFA coalition
domestically and regionally, national
mobilization and buy-in for EFA plans
and follow-up, technical assistance and
capacity building in the follow-up to
the EFA NPA, role in development of a
Management Information System for data
collection and monitoring and finally
the indirect support provided by
UNESCO’s internal organization and
governance system to EFA planning and
follow up. Further, it highlights
UNESCO’s success in EFA-NPA and lists
factors such as insufficient funding to
limitations in implementation capacity
at district level and governance issues
as some of the prominent obstacles in
attaining greater impact. The study
concedes that an important lesson
learned is that it is unlikely for
Pakistan to achieve the 6 Dakar goals by
2015 and it concludes by delivering a
host of recommendations, which if
followed, ensure that EFA goals will
become a reality for Pakistan in the not
so distant future.
