A model of good practice for institutional and technical cooperation: UIL and UNESCO/BREDA join forces for RAMAA project

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (UNESCO/BREDA) are joining forces to give African countries a measurement system for the monitoring and evaluation of non-formal education. From 18–20 July 2011 they ran a second technical workshop in Rabat (Morocco) to validate skill descriptions and develop frameworks for the creation of measurement tools. This meeting, which took place at the halfway point in the process of developing measurement tools for action research on measuring literacy programme participants’ learning outcomes (RAMAA), a project launched at the initiative of the UIL, also afforded an opportunity for the new Director of the UIL, Mr. Arne Carlsen, to meet the country teams, find out about the project and the progress made so far, and take the steps necessary for its success.

Among the participants invited to the workshop were Mr. Youssef Belqasmi,  the Secretary-General of the Moroccan Ministry of National Education; Mrs. Touria Majdouline, the Secretary-General of the Morocco National Commission for UNESCO in Rabat; Mr. El Mostafa Hddigui, Head of the Office of the Minister of National Education; Mrs. Fatiha Karème, Delegate-General from the World Committee for Lifelong Learning; and Mr. Philippe Quéau, the Director of the UNESCO Office in Rabat, as well as representatives of the country teams selected for the pilot phase, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, Niger and Senegal.

The ultimate aim of RAMAA is to develop and test measurement tools in order to provide fact-based arguments for advocacy of literacy and boost South-South cooperation and capacity-building in Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, Niger and Senegal. RAMAA was also borne out of a desire to provide evaluation leading to certification, which would allow participants to access lifelong learning opportunities. A series of workshops held between June 2008 and February 2011 focused on the launch of RAMAA, the meeting of national coordinators and the development of frameworks of reference for literacy skills.

Regarding the coordination of the project, the Director of the UIL underlined the need to enhance coordination between UNESCO/BREDA and the UIL given the project’s relevance to efforts to achieve the objectives of the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) and the recommendations arising out of the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in the African region. The outcomes of RAMAA, he stated, will be presented in the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) and the follow-up of CONFINTEA VI for the African region. The RAMAA project should also help to incorporate newly developed tools into national and international programmes for the training of literacy and non-formal education specialists, such as the Développement et éducation des adultes (DEDA) course at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the Institut de formation en alphabétisation et en éducation non formelle (IFAENF, formerly the Centre de formation des cadres de l’alphabétisation, CFCA) in Niger.