Apia Office Office for the Pacific States Monthly NEWSLETTER February 2013; Issue 3 Inside this issue: Editorial Education: 2—3 Literacy & Numeracy New Year greetings to everyone from the UNESCO Apia team. The end of the year turned out Kiribati Education not to be quite as we had hoped for in Apia and Suva, but all staff and families survived safe Improvement Program and well in the aftermath of Cyclone Evan. A short report is included within the newsletter. CapEFA Pacific Region Much of our effort for January went into the Cyclone Evan response but work has returned to Parenting Education normal for February. Teacher Training Policy, Planning & We welcome a number of new faces to the office: Ms Catherine Rua has commenced as Na- Monioring & Evaluation tional Program Officer HIV Education based in Port Moresby; Mr Yusuke Nii is a United Nations Non-formal Education Volunteer who will be working on UNESCO’s Education program; Ms Emma Arasi is a social HIV & AIDS studies student from the University of the South Pacific completing her work placement with Inter-Sectoral Program: 3 UNESCO by supporting the HIV Education program; Ms Mira Lumbye is a volunteer working on Climate Change World Heritage nomination of the Pulemelei site and Mr Rory Walshe is a volunteer working on Education the community perceptions of climate change intersectoral project. National ESD Pilots Arts Education We also have the commencement of the process for the Barbados Program of Action (BPOA) for Small Island Development States (SIDS) +20 meeting in Samoa in 2014 as well as the Sciences: 4 & 5 launching of the new Pacific UNDAF. Disaster Risk Preparedness & Mitigation The SIDS meeting will be the first global meeting of this kind held in the Pacific, and possibly Traditional Knowledge the biggest event ever held. The Government of Samoa as host country is working with UN Climate Change agencies and other partners to ensure the smooth functioning of the event, while each country EU ECHO Proposal will soon commence preparations for their reporting on progress in the implementation of the Pacific Science Policy BPOA. Combined with this the countries will include consultations on the 2015 dialogue on a UNESCO –IOC new suite of global sustainable development goals. Key areas for UNESCO’s input include Management 5 & 7 quality education, culture, youth, climate change and disaster risk reduction. UINDAF National Commissions The 2013-2017 Pacific UNDAF commenced from 1 January. Final work on country plans is still Partnerships underway and the UN will have an implementation planning meeting during the first week of Fundraising March. Key areas will be the identification of joint activities with other agencies, to maximise Cyclone Evan collaboration and reduce transaction costs for Member States. Significant joint action is already in the pipeline for education and culture. Culture: 6 Diversity of Cultural Wishing a productive and peaceful to 2013 to all our partners in the Pacific. Expressions Intangible Cultural Heritage World Heritage Dr Susan Vize Cyclone Evan Officer-In-Charge Communication & 7 Information: IPDC Media Development Pacific Member States: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau (Associate), Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu Apia Office Monthly Page 2 NEWSLETTER Education Literacy & Numeracy cific needs of Tuvalu. The workshop was organised by the Minis- try of Education in Tuvalu and facilitated by SPBEA and an inde- Literacy survey for the adult population in Madang province in pendent consultation with support from UNESCO. Papua New Guinea: ASPBAE/PEAN completed data collection in Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati are due to begin their CapEFA in- Madang province. They are in the process of data analysis and volvement in 2013. Vanuatu Ministry of Education had a school drafting a report. It is expected that the draft report will become based management professional development workshop in late available in the middle of February 2013. The role of the National January and it is expected that this will focus more attention on Literacy and Awareness Secretariat (NLAS) was to work closely the development of professional standards for school principals with ASPBEA/PEAN to monitor the progress of the survey. and a date will be forthcoming for their first workshop. Kiribati Education Improvement Program (KEIP) Parenting Education in Samoa UNESCO has received funds of USD 261,723 from AusAID for The video on parenting education has been completed and the UNESCO proposed activities in 2013 in the framework of the books have been printed. We are currently awaiting a date for Kiribati Education Improvement Program (KEIP) Phase II. They the formal launching which was delayed due to the impact of cover (i) integration of (a) climate change and disaster risk man- Cyclone Evan on Samoa agement education, (b) HIV and AIDS education and (c) arts education into the curriculum, (ii) assessment for learning, (iii) Teacher Training review of the Teacher Service Standards, and (iv) monitoring the progress of the Education Sector Strategic Plan, using the M&E Yap State Department of Education, FSM, has re-confirmed the framework. dates for the 2nd workshop on teacher competencies (25-28 Feb- ruary 2013). Contractual arrangements with SPBEA and a con- The Ministry of Education submitted acquittal reports for three sultant have been made to prepare and facilitate the workshop in contracts in December 2012. The acquittal reports are not yet collaboration with Yap State DOE. fully complete. Policy, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation in PNG Consultation with the Policy and Planning Division of the Depart- ment of Education (DoE) is underway to organize a capacity building workshop for DoE staff (and Provincial DOE staff) on monitoring the progress of the education sector in PNG. UNICEF was also consulted about the proposal for the activity. The draft contract was shared with DoE for their final review. The tentative dates for the workshop are 18-28 March 2013. Two facilitators will facilitate and deliver the workshop for 12 participants. EDUCATION Non-Formal Education in Samoa The proposed activities by MESC for the consultations on the non-formal education were not completed in time, in part due to the advent of cyclone Evan in Samoa. A revised list of activities Kiribati Policy & Planning Workshop and a revised budget have been proposed and a new contract has been issued. CapEFA Pacific Region A contract has been issued to the Solomon Islands for the first of two teacher in-service training programmes to be conducted in two provinces. These workshops were to have been delivered by staff of the School of Education (SOE) at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) in December/January 2013 but this has been delayed for several reasons including teachers on holiday and then on strike. The first capacity development workshop in Tuvalu to plan pro- fessional Standards for School Principals took place from 15-22 January 2013 where standards were developed to meet the spe- Apia Office Monthly Page 3 NEWSLETTER Education (con’t) HIV & AIDS Upcoming Events Regional Meeting of National EFA Coordinators: The Big Push 26 INTER HIV and AIDS Education: Recruitment of Ms. Catharine Rua is -27 February 2013, Bangkok, Thailand underway and it is expected that NPO will start to work in the middle of February 2013 in UNAIDS PNG Office. Eight Pacific Island Countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Is- lands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and UNESCO - Attitudinal Survey Findings Vanuatu) are invited to the regional EFA meeting and seven The survey report is being prepared for publication and it will be countries, except for PNG, have confirmed their participation in distributed to countries once it is finished. the meeting. - Inter-Sectoral Programme SECTORAL PROGRAMME Climate Change Education Niue and Palau contracts for ESD projects in 2013 were final- ised in December. Niue will work towards progressing one of UNESCO, SPC-GIZ and SPREP worked with the Kiribati Teach- their two ESD national priorities on the integration of Niuean ers College and Ministry of Education to host a climate change language and culture within the curriculum. Palau will start with and disaster risk reduction workshop for teacher trainers in De- a stocktake and consultation before determining their priority cember 2012. Workshop participants came from the Kiribati areas for ESD. Teachers’ College, primary and secondary schools from across Kiribati, and some church schools. Key focus areas included the Arts Education state of knowledge about climate change and disasters in Kiribati The Kiribati arts education project is on-going and final reports and the Pacific, responses in Kiribati and elsewhere, as well as should soon be submitted by University of Waikato and Tama- teaching tools and exercises that can be used in the classroom roa Business Advisory Services. and the environment. Participants then focused on developing priorities for climate change learning in the different curriculum Emily Qoroya completed the youth creative industries show areas: languages, science and mathematics, social science, arts case proposal in cooperation with the Kiribati Ministry for Inter- and sports. The recommendations from the workshop partici- nal and Social Development Youth Affairs Division. The recom- pants will be utilised to guide