ANCEFA COALITION BUILDING INITIATIVE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

A PRESENTATION BY LIMBANI NSAPATOTHE GRACE HOTEL, ROSEBANK, RSA

TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2011

Web: www.ancefa.org or www.limbaninsapato.webs.com Email: limbani@ancefa.org or lnsapato@gmail.com

OUTLINE

• EFA Challenge in Africa

• ANCEFA Strategic Areas: 2011-2014

• Basic for Coalition Building Work

• Interventions in 2010/ Focus for 2011

• Challenges

EFA CHALLENGE IN AFRICA• 2011 UNESCO EFA GMR:

– World wide796 million adults lack basic literacy skills– 67 million children are out of school. Current trends and efforts

will still leave over 56 million out of school by 2015. – 43% of the worlds out of school children (around 28.8 million)

are in Sub Saharan Africa and over 60% are girls. – The number of illiterate adults is over 160 million in Africa. – Over 70% of Young People lack opportunities to develop their

skills and access sustainable livelihoods. – Many countries fail to allocate a minimum of 20% of their

national budget to education, 50% of which for basic education– Inadequate infrastructures, shortage of qualified teachers, and

teaching and learning materials are characterising many education institutions in Africa.

– Neglected Goals: Early Childhood Development, Primary Education, Adult Literacy and Out of school youth education.

EFA CHALLENGE IN AFRICA

• Inadequate accountability for resources– few going to schools

• Donor dependency for budget support• Negative influence of IMF/World Bank policies

on national financing• Political governance matters: electoral matters

(eg Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast), disrespect for policies/constitutions/court rulings,

• GOVT-CSO strained relationships: Crackdown on CSOs (Malawi recent example).

ANCEFA STRATEGIC AREAS: 2011-2014• Campaigning for enhanced financing of Quality Education

– Campaign for increased budget allocations at sector and sub sector level more especially for neglected goals: ECD, Adult Literacy, Youth Education

– Tracking of budget expenditures & fighting corruption

– Work with other partners to address negative international policies- e.g. IMF/WB Conditionalities

• Ensuring national accountability– Coalition/movement building

– Policy dialogue with govt ministries/organs & Parliament

– Support involvement of grassroots in policy monitoring and school management

– Strategically engaging African union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities: egSADC

• Promoting quality teaching and learning– Studies on teaching/learning outcomes, living conditions,

– Work with partners eg OSISA on new approaches for curriculum development-Critical thinking

• Institutional Capacity Strengthening – Skills building for ANCEFA staff and Coalition’s staff

– Facilitate policy think tank at regional sub regional, national levels

– Resource mobilisation for ANCEFA/Coalition functioning

– Organisational Development/Strategic Planning processes (Theory of Change)

THE EFA FRAMEWORK: BASIS OF COALITION BUILDING WORK

• In 2000, the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, concluded with the declaration of the Dakar Framework for Action as a key strategy to accelerate progress on Education for All (EFA) in the post Jomtien era

• The Framework challenged countries to achieve six EFA goals by 2015

• This Framework has been the basis for ANCEFA Coalition building initiative.

• Coalitions have been established and mobilised as Social Movements to push for the EFA agenda in Africa.

EFA FRAMEWORK & CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION

• In the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action, participants pledged to “ensure the engagement and participation of Civil Society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for Educational development.”

• This is a very significant shift, moving beyond seeing NGOs as partners in implementing projects to recognizing their contribution to both policy dialogue (in the formulation of plans) and independent monitoring of plans (acting as watchdogs, tracking budgets etc).

• ANCEFA drew its mandate from this pledge

CONCEPT OF COALITIONS• Coalitions can be defined as groups of people or organizations working together to

pursue a single goal. Coalitions often have a more formalized structure with the members making a long-term commitment to share responsibilities and resources. Their permanence often gives clout and leverage. Whenever possible, organizations should seek to build or join a coalition to strengthen the impact of their advocacy.

• Coalitions are related to Networks and Alliances. • Networks consist of individuals or organizations that share information, ideas and

resources to accomplish individual or group goals. Networking is a process of acquiring resources and building power by using or creating linkages between two or more individuals, groups, or organizations. Networks tend to be loose, flexible associations of people and groups brought together by a common interest or concern to share information and ideas.

• Alliances generally involve short term relationships among members and are focused on a specific objective. Being limited in time and goal, alliances tend to be less demanding on members.

ADVANTAGES OF COALITIONS

• Coalitions are formed around a common interest or problem for the purpose of uniting resources to be used toward a common goal. Coalition building is a powerful tool to create healthy, supportive groups and environments for Education Advocacy.

• Building successful coalitions requires deliberate and intentional processes to engage a broad array of people, ideas, relationships and actions to support educational development. In early stages of coalition formation, ANCEFA recommends thorough mapping of stakeholders, consensus building, as well as mechanisms for coordination, communication, fundraising, and legal framework (Constitution/Registration). During consensus building apart for agreeing on advocacy issues, and advocacy/lobbying strategies, members agree on issues for capacity building and coordination.

• The following are some advantages of coalitions

– Increased access to decision makers and other contacts– Improved credibility and visibility– Opportunities to broaden public support– Opportunity to strengthen civil society on the whole

COALITION BUILDING INTERVENTIONS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

• 2010 Interventions

•2011 Focus

KEY PROJECTS

1) COALITION BUILDING PROJECT (SUPPORTED BY OSISA)

2) CSEF PROJECT (SUPPORTED BY EPDF/FTI & MANAGED BY GCE)

3) COALITION SUPPORT PROJECT (SUPPORTED BY WELLSPRING ADVISORS)

2010 COUNTRY INTERVENTIONS

• Coalition establishment & Strengthening

• Support to EFA Campaigns

• Partnership Development

COALITION ESTABLISHMENT & STRENGTHEN ING

– SOUTH AFRICA: A process initiated to start establishment of a Coalition in South Africa

• Mapping of NGOs/Partners

• Setting up of a Taskforce

• Development of a plan of action (constitution, focal point for coordination, membership mobilization, launching of coalition)

– Coalition strengthening technical support visits to 5 Countries: Angola, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe & Botswana

• Membership Mobilization

• Secretariat Set Up

• Board Development/Expansion

• Development of Campaign Action Plans

• Development of Fundraising Strategies

SUPPORT TO COALITION CAMPAIGNS

• Coordinated development of proposals and financial support to CSEF eligible countries: Monitoring of CSEF project implementation done in 4 countries (Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe)

• Coordinated a CSEF Review meeting in Nairobi and Dakar: Sharing of action Plans, project experiences and coalition challenges.

• Financial and technical support to Coalition ion Zambia for Education Watch Project and EFA Gender Assessment Project.

• Coordinated an African Pre GCE World Assembly , in Nairobi.• Real World Strategies (Coalition building and policy campaigning

Project ): Case studies: Malawi, Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. • Coordination of EFA Awareness Campaigns : AFCON 2010 Angola,

and 1 Goal 2010 World Cup(with GCE).

PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

• Held partnership meetings with 5 South Africa based institutions : OSISA, GCE, OXFAM, IDASA & NEPAD ;

• Potential for resource mobilization for coalition building established.

• Potential for engaging SADC and African Union established.

• OSISA support to upcoming Coalitions/Nascent Coalition secured for 2011: Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland.

2011 FOCUS

• Implementation of CSEF: Continuation/closure• Supporting Consensus building and Launching of the Coalition in

South Africa. • More technical and financial support for emerging coalitions:

Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland• Justiciability on right to education: Focused on Revised Education

Act & Compulsory Education• EFA Review: Up to Date Data Collection (special focus: financing,

neglected goals e.g. ECD, Youth, Adult Literacy Goals apart from issues around inclusion, quality and equality in education)

• Development for Guidelines & Manuals for coalition governance • Communication strategy: includes website development & Better

coordination for Lusophone countries (Recruiting a Portuguese speaking Officer)

KEY CHALLENGES FOR COALITIONS• Governance Challenges: Weak governance can bring down the Coalition. Moist challenges

include lack of accountability, lack of a binding constitution, confusion of roles between Board, Secretariat and members, incompetence of those in Management, Greed, and lack of communication. Recent governance problems in Angola, Lesotho have led to suspension of CSEF funding in 2010.

• Capacity: Inadequate capacity in competence areas like policy analysis and advocacy, research, coordination, reporting and M & E can cause the Coalition to lose focus and become ineffective in the EFA advocacy agenda.

• Lack of up to date data on education indicators: NER, GER, Out of school, youth, % allocation to education, gender, disability etc..

• Funding: Inadequate funds make it difficult for Coalitions to operate. Most Coalitions are suffering from donor dependency syndrome. There is need to explore various fundraising mechanisms and secure core funding.

• Broad-based Participation of NGOs: Coalitions end up being driven by few individuals/NGOs. This leads to questions of their mandate and credibility.

– ANCEFA recommends National Coalitions to include and involve a variety of stakeholders like National Teachers Union, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Academia (Institutions of Higher Learning-Universities, research Institutes etc), Child/Human Rights Activists, The media, and Youth Organizations.

– Coalitions are also encouraged to facilitate formation of district level coalitions (like in Malawi, Zambia) to enhance participation of grassroots organizations and community structures like PTAs/SMCs. This is key to strengthening social movement building at national and local levels.

 

Lets’ Do something for these Children!