Terms of Reference for Internship at UNESCO-IICBA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Communication and Research Assistant 2010

1.Background

Established in 1999, the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) is one of six UNESCO Institutes and Centers under the direction of the UNESCO Secretariat. The only UNESCO Institute in Africa, it is mandated to build up and reinforce capacities for educational development and reform of its 53 Member States, and promote international cooperation for the development of education through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU). The Institute derives its distinct comparative advantage within the UNESCO family from the following attributes:

UNESCO-IICBA à l’intention d’organiser une évaluation de ces politiques et programmes de formation des enseignants dans certains pays d'Afrique de l’Ouest en mettant l’accent sur le genre. Pour ce faire, l’Institut est à la recherche de chercheurs qui conduiront l'évaluation avec l'appui du personnel du siège de IICBA, à Addis-Abeba, Éthiopie. Cet appel vise, par conséquent, à demander aux chercheurs intéressés d’envoyer leurs CV et lettres de motivation à IICBA. Le plan détaillé de l'évaluation est présenté ci-dessous.

From September 14th to 18th 2009, IICBA held the first workshop addressed to PALOP countries and Equatorial Guinea (PALOP’s associate member). The topic of the workshop was “Management of Teacher Training Institutions”.

The Workshop took place in Praia, Cape Verde. We received 26 participants coming from 4 of the 5 PALOP (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique) countries and Equatorial Guinea.

The main objective of the workshop was to improve the skills of heads/deputy heads of institutions of teacher education and deans and senior managers of faculties of education of universities of Sub-Saharan Africa and the senior officials dealing with teacher education policies of the Ministries of Education of PALOP countries and create a space for exchange of experiences in the formulation of policies in the field.

To achieve these objectives, IICBA prepared four modules on Management of TEI, which were translated into Portuguese and distributed to the participants with the following topics:

1. Management of Institutions of Teacher Education (TEI) : General Aspects

2. Financial Management in TEI

3. Academic Staff Management in TEI

4. Space Management

The modules presented the current trends and problems in the relevant areas and selected planning and management concepts and techniques aimed at better utilization of existing resources. They provided a range of international experiences as specific examples of management problems and solutions and identified strategies for improved management in the institution as a whole and in the key areas of financial, academic staff and space management. The workshop opened up issues and suggested policy options for the management of TEI institutions. Each country team was also asked to prepare the outline of a project for improvement of TEI management in their specific contexts. They also made field trips to two TEI institutions in Cape Verde: one public (Universidade de Cabo Verde) and one private (Universidade Jean Piaget)

The evaluation of the workshop showed that participants appreciated the topic of the Workshop, principally financial and staff management modules and also the methodology, which gave them time to share experiences. The educational authorities of the host country have expressed their deep appreciation of the workshop and of the tools provided to improve the management of teacher education institutions. These would facilitate the achievement of EFA goals and MDGs they added.

Dr. Sanyal, Vice-Chairman of IICBA Governing Board and former Senior Adviser of International Institute for Educational Planning of UNESCO, and Mr. Barry (Responsible of IICBA’s Dakar Node) acted as resource persons for the workshop. They were assisted by Mar’ia Pilar Ponce Velasco Associate Expert of IICBA and responsible for PALOP countries.

The Ministry of Education of Cape Verde and its National Commission for UNESCO, IICBA’s Dakar Node in Dakar and IICBA’s HQ collaborated actively in the organization of the workshop.

The workshop was opened by H.E Secretary of State of Education, Mr. Octávio Tavares and Dr. Bikas C. Sanyal. H.E. Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Vera Duarte Lobo de Pina closed the workshop.

IICBA’s Governing Board met at the UNECA Conference Centre in Addis Ababa on 26 - 27 February 2010. The meeting discussed the implementation of program activities in 2009, and the financial report of the year. It also examined in details the proposed activities and budget for 2010.

The Board has also been presented with the draft IICBA 2010-2015 Strategic Plan and discussed some of the important points in the draft with the consultants who are working on it and IICBA's staff.

IICBA's Governing Board has 12 members and is chaired by Mr. Duncan Hindle, Director of Education, South Africa. Also in attendance were the representative of the DG of UNESCO, Mr Qian Tang, ADG/ED a.i., Ms. Ann-Therese Ndong-Jatta, Director BREDA, Mr. Jean Pierre Ezin (Commissioner, Human Resource, Science and Technology (HRST), African Union Commission (AUC), Ms. Vera Brenda Ngosi (Director, HRST, AUC), Mr Edem Adubra (Chief, HED/TE), Mr. Lizhong Yu (East China Normal University), Prof. Youqun Ren (East China Normal University), and Prof. Zhou Nanzhao (Co-Director, INRULED, P. R. China).