HIGH LEVEL CONFERENCE ACCRA 2024
High level Conference on Tackling the Out of School Challenge in West Africa: Research Evidence to Drive Action and Investment
On 11th and 12th June 2024, Associates for Change (AfC), Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and Dalan Development Consultants in collaboration with Complementary Education Agency organized a two-day High level Conference on Tackling the Out of School Challenge in West Africa.
The conference brought together stakeholders from across the West Africa region to share best practices, present research findings, and explore synergies related to Accelerated Education Programmes (AEPs). It aimed to foster dialogue, collaboration, and mutual learning among governments, NGOs, education researchers, and development partners.
Specifically, the objectives of the high-level conference were to:
- Foster full investment, ownership and enhanced partnerships for AEP integration. The high-level meeting aims to cultivate complete investment and ownership among stakeholders to fully integrate Accelerated Education Programmes (AEPs) into existing basic education systems across participating countries. This endeavour is crucial for ensuring that out-of-school children (OOSC) are not only reached but are also provided with quality educational opportunities that align with national education standards and goals.
- The sharing of key evidence on the growing numbers of out of school children, lack of sustained investment and the cost of solving the OOSC challenge in West Africa along with the cost of not addressing the problem will be explored.
- Countries will share legislative instruments, policies and curricula developed to support AEP programming across West Africa: The high-level meeting seeks to create a dynamic platform for the exchange of innovative curricula, effective policies, and strategic approaches from across West Africa. This collaborative effort is designed to enhance learning and adoption of best practices in addressing the challenges faced by OOSC, promoting regional coherence in educational interventions. Government’s will have a platform to share how they have engaged civil society and led the way in implementation in some contexts including lessons from Burkina Faso and Mali.