Towards enhanced harmonisation of Development Cooperation efforts
Development cooperation has always been a priority for Education International (EI). Since its founding Congress in Stockholm in 1993 EI member organisations have been promoting programmes and activities to strengthen teacher unions worldwide.
An EI DC policy - ’For a Transparent and Constructive Partnership’ - came into existence in 1997. In 1998, the second EI World Congress passed a Resolution on Development Cooperation (DC) which gave status to the 1997 policy, reiterated support for DC work, emphasised transparency, effectiveness and clarity, established EI’s coordinating role and called on EI and member organisations to meet the 0.7% income allocation to DC work, as per UN targets.
In 2007, at the annual EI Development Cooperation meeting, the EI cooperating partners decided to re-examine its existing policy document and to update it to reflect the new global context and meet the challenges with which teacher unions worldwide are confronted. Consultations over the last two years involving DC partners and EI regional and head quarters’ staff resulted in fruitful dialogue and in early 2010 a drafting group was formed to produce a policy document which captures the collective commitment of the diverse partners. The draft policy will be fine-tuned after a further consultation when the document is circulated in the course of June to all DC partners. It is envisaged that the new EI DC policy will be submitted to the EI Executive Board in October 2010 for adoption. It will then guide EI and DC partners in their future DC efforts.
For more information on the EI DC policy drafting process, please contact Nicolás Richards ([email protected])
