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Photo: ICT Education, Rwanda (c)UNESCO

Message of the Director

Dear Colleagues and Partners,

Last week on 18 July, Nelson Mandela Day was celebrated around the world. With his actions, he set an example of courage, hope and freedom that we all need to strive to achieve in our lives. He sacrificed his life for the people of his country, South Africa, and he put an end to apartheid. He wanted equality for all, dignity and justice for all people, and he achieved it, with sacrifices but paving the way for fairer world. In the UN Compound of Kenya, 350 children from public primary schools in Nairobi were invited to the United Nations in participating in the 100 years anniversary celebrations, with diplomatic corps in Kenya and the representative of

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South Africa.

A network meeting on the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) Harnessing Open Educational Resources (OER Project) took place in Hammamet, Tunisia, where the importance of spreading the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers around the world was emphasized. The East African region was represented by Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar and Rwanda, where these countries shared their implementation strategies and successful roll-out of ICT in Education. The workshop was also an opportunity to set up south-south cooperation action plans with possible cooperation with the Philippines and South Africa.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development also organized the Second Member States’ Education Expert Meeting on the Implementation of the Djibouti Declaration and Plan of Action on Refugee Education, on 17 and 18 July 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. UNESCO was invited to provide input on the situational analysis of education in the region and procedures and processes in developing a regional qualifications framework (RQF). The contribution of UNESCO was highly appreciated in defining the road map for a RQF.

Next week the Open University of Tanzania will host a Regional Capacity building workshop on alignment between curriculum, teacher training and learning assessments, from 25 to 27 July 2018 in Dar es Salaam- Tanzania, addressing the issue of poor education quality from a system alignment perspective. The workshop is organized by TALENT, the Teaching and Learning Educators’ Network for Transformation, a coordination platform of stakeholders engaged in regional programmes to address the learning crisis.

Finally, I wish to thank and congratulate the staff across the East Africa Region for a successful preparation and presentation on the progress review of the second quarter of all the sectors. Keep up the good work!

I wish you a productive week ahead! Ann Therese Ndong Jatta

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Announcements

Vacancy National Associate Project officer- Education Sector- Kampala, Deadline for submission: 17 August 2018, click here for more information & application.

Skills in Action Photo Competition 2018 On the occasion of World Youth Skills Day, UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre challenges you to send in photos showing the positive impact of TVET for people, their families and their local communities. Capture the moments when skills are in action, showing how vocational (TVET) and skills development are contributing to: encouraging youth employment and entrepreneurship; promoting equity and gender equality; facilitating transition to sustainable economies and societies. Deadline for submission: 31 July 2018, click here for further information.

Are you the Voice of Refugees in Education? The Global Education Monitoring Report is launching a call for refugee students and their teachers to share their stories and photos about education. To write and share it, follow the link for instructions here

African Union Kwame Nkrumah Awards for Scientific Excellence (AUKNASE): Continental & Regional Awards 2018 Edition The AUKNASE programme targets young researchers, women scientists and all scientists in Africa. The Award aims at recognizing outstanding African scientists for their achievements and discoveries in science, technology and innovation, thus promoting scientific development in Africa and highlighting the importance of research in Science, Technology and Innovation. Rules of procedures, in EN and FR. Deadline for submission: 10 November 2018. Consult the website for additional information here.

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Rising from the Depths Calls for Innovative Projects on marine cultural heritage

UNESCO partners with the Rising from the Depths Network will identify ways in which marine cultural heritage can directly benefit coastal communities in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar. Despite its richness marine cultural heritage is one of the most unknown, underappreciated and under-exploited cultural resources in East Africa. Critically, this heritage is under threat from natural forces and climate driven coastal change as well as recent intensification in coastal and offshore development. Calls for Project is open until 14 September 2018, to apply with your innovative project, click here

New UNESCO Team members

Rachael Nakeno Electronic Media graduate with a passion for film. Living for camera work and writing, Rachael joins the UNESCO family in Eastern Africa as a volunteer. She will work in IOC, and she will also support the sector of Social and Human Sciences, and Africa. With her communication background, camera and writing, she hopes to utilize her skills to learn, explore and further the objectives of the sector, as well as of UNESCO.

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News of the Week

PRESS RELEASE: How to tackle the Learning Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: aligning teaching and learning components to achieve better learning outcomes

African Pastoralists and Meteorologists need each other to tackle Climate Change

Last week's events

Mid term Strategic Review UNESCO Eastern Africa 18 July 2018

The purpose of the Mid-Term Review was to strategically evaluate the outcomes and results of the projects, government influence, policy advancement and ratification/implementation process of the UNESCO Conventions in the 13 countries covered by UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, in all five sectors.The meeting gave UNESCO Team members the chance to critically and strategically review progress on results, based on PIPs. The aim, quoting Director Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, was to strategically engage governments and partners. Moreover, it was an opportunity to share knowledge among all sectors, to better promote the intersectionality of UNESCO, and the links for collaboration among UNESCO programmes. Finally, it was highlighted the importance of knowing the UN wide Reform, and the work ethics- in-across sectors and with HQ.

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Network Meeting: ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) Harnessing OER Project 17 to 19 July 2018 Hammamet, Tunisia

Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar and Rwanda participated in the network meeting on the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers. The countries showcased their good practices in making use of the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers and shared their practices in localizing the framework and using it to enhance teaching and learning in their countries. Madagascar also showcased its OER Strategy as an important prerequisite to develop OER’s at a national level. The Project ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) was launched in 2013 to support ICT in Education teacher training, through the contextualization of the ICT CFT, the development of OER-based teacher training materials, and the implementation of teacher training exercises with these materials.

Second Member States’ Education Expert Meeting on the Implementation of the Djibouti Declaration and Plan of Action on Refugee Education (organized by IGAD) 17 to 18 July 2018 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

UNESCO participated in the second of three meetings planned by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for 2018. This Second Meeting brought together Experts from seven IGAD Member States to work on a joint action plan in preparation of the third meeting which is to bring together Ministers of Education from all 8 countries in December 2018. While Eritrea’s absence was felt by the seven participating countries, it is envisaged that Eritrea will be a

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UNESCOs presentation comprised of a Situational Analysis of the Qualifications Framework in the region, and the need for certain pre-requisites to be fulfilled before Member States can embark on a Regional Qualifications Framework (RQF), which is an important part of the Djibouti Declaration on Refugee education and its accompanying Action Plan. The IGAD Member States plan to formally agree to develop a RQF at the IGAD Ministers of Education Meeting in December.

UNESCOs participation included the Director of the UNESCO Liaison office in Addis, Director of IICBA in Addis, and Programme specialists from IIEP Paris, and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa.

Missions

Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta Regional Capacity building workshop on alignment between curriculum, teacher training and learning assessments 25 to 28 July 2018 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Lamin Abdul Rahman Hargeysa International Book Fair 20 to 25 July 2018 Hargeisa, Somalia

Karalyn Monteil Advocacy Workshop for National Authorities, experts in the field of culture and directors of cultural institutions on the benefits of ratification of the UNESCO Conventions in the field of Culture. The workshop is part of an EU Project UNESCO is collaborating on entitled “Promoting a Culture of Inclusion in Somalia” 26 July 2018 Mogadishu, Somalia

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Upcoming events

Farewell of Lydiah Gachungi and celebrations of birthdays April-May-June 2018 UNESCO Regional office for Eastern Africa afternoon of 24 July 2018

Regional Capacity Building on workshop on alignment between curriculum, teacher training and learning assessments 25 to 27 July 2018 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Official presentation of the third issue of the magazine "Trandraka, investigative media" July 27, 2018 Antaninarenina, Madagascar

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Publications

The UNESCO Courier July-September 2018: The UNESCO Magazine presents the investigation and research on technology, cutting across computer science, engineering, ethics and philosophy.

UNESCO Green Citizens: This platform highlights outstanding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) stories to raise awareness for sustainable development and to empower and inspire us to change the way we think and act.

SDG4 Set of Education Indicators for Reporting and Monitoring: The SDG4 Data Explorer displays data by country, region or year; by data source; and by sex, location and wealth. It allows users to explore the measures of equality that are crucial for the achievement of SDG 4

Why should I read?: a cross-cultural investigation into adolescents' reading socialisation and reading attitudes

World Heritage papers:Human origin sites and the World Heritage Convention in Africa

Diversity, Dialogue and Sharing: Online Resources for a more resourceful world

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Tweet of the week

Tweet of the Week of @UNESCOEast: The Hargeisa International Book Fait is taking place now in #Hargeisa, #Somalia , follow #HIBF2018

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