Reports and updates
1. ESP publishes "Education and Open Society" memorandum
The Education Support Program presented the Open Society Institute (OSI) National Foundations' Education Meeting from February 29 to March 1, 2008 in Hammamet, Tunisia. Representatives of OSI national foundations involved in educational fields and other network programs participated. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the OSI mission in education and the role of education in creating and sustaining open societies. ESP invited national foundation boards to contemplate the relevance of these considerations:
- educational justice;
- the relevance of a rights framework for education;
- the potential for an EFA-plus campaign;
- policy advocacy and social advocacy;
- using global frameworks and the network of networks.
In ESP's view, each of these five streams can offer practical ways in which foundations can utilize opportunities in international education development to strengthen their national efforts to achieve and sustain an open society.
The outcome of the meeting was the Tunisia Memorandum, "Education and Open Society", which summarizes the ESP's approach and incorporates the opinions of and feedback from the participants. The presentations and discussions of the meeting were reported by a professional journalist, Barbara Frye. Both the Tunisia memorandum and the conference report are available here: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/esp/events/foundations_20080229
2. Caucasus NGOs to present educational initiatives in Vienna
The Education Support Program, the Interkulturelles Zentrum (IZ) Austria, OSI national foundations in the South Caucasus and the New Eurasia Foundation are jointly carrying out an education initiative in the Caucasus which will fund up local projects for up to two years.
The purpose of the initiative is twofold: to promote identified national priorities for education change, and to explore the potential for cooperation and mutual learning between countries and communities in the Caucasus. The initiative operates on a vision for cooperation in education that aspires to include local communities in Russia, separatist provinces in Georgia, both Armenia and Azerbaijan and potentially Turkey. In line with the ESP mission, the initiative promotes education justice, which places priority on access to quality education for excluded and vulnerable children.
The relevant OSI national foundations and the New Eurasia Foundation, Russia began the pre-selection process of project proposals started in early 2008.
On May 30-31 2008, ESP in cooperation with the Austrian government will hold a workshop in Vienna where education representatives from Russia and the North and South Caucasus will come together to discuss cooperation opportunities in the region. Representatives from education NGOs will showcase education initiatives they plan to implement. Donor representatives interested in potential co-funding of these initiatives will also attend.
For more information, please contact Natalia Shablya at nshablya@osi.hu or the following Foundation representatives responsible for the Caucasus Initiative:
Azerbaijan: Parviz Bagirov, pbagirov@osi-az.org
Georgia: Giga Zedania, giga@osgf.ge
Armenia: Armenuhi Tadevosyan, armenuhi@osi.am
Russia: Yelena Golovko, EGOLOVKO@neweurasia.ru
3. Book on the contributions to education of the Open Society Institute and its network
In March, Kumarian Press published How NGOs React: Globalization and Education Reform in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Mongolia.
The book documents Open Society Institute (OSI) contributions to education change in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia under the auspices of a project conceived by the Open Society Institute/Soros Foundation and spin-off NGOs from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The project has been administered by the International Institute for Education Policy, Planning and Management (EPPM) and supported by the Open Society Institute with the contribution of the Education Support Program of OSI Budapest.
During the important, early years of post-socialist transformation in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia, the Open Society Institute/Soros Foundation was arguably the largest and most influential network in the region. How NGOs React follows the Soros Foundation's educational reform programs there and raises larger questions about the role of NGOs in a centralist government, their relationships with international donors and development banks, and strategies NGOs use to interpret global reforms locally. A unique combination of perspectives from Western as well as Eastern scholars based in the region makes this collection an essential retrospective on key processes involved in transforming educational systems since the collapse of the socialist bloc.
The book was edited by Iveta Silova (Assistant Professor of Transcultural, Comparative, and International Education at the College of Education, Lehigh University) and Gita Steiner-Khamsi (Professor of Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York).
The book can be ordered online at any major bookstore or from the Kumarian Press at kpbooks@kpbooks.com or www.kpbooks.com
4. Call for participation in NEPC Summer School on education research, policy and practice
Network of Education Policy Centers (NEPC) announces a call for participation in the NEPC Summer School: Linking education research, policy and practice, to be held at Hotel Plesnik, Logarska dolina, Slovenia on July 21-25, 2008.
The program will include lectures, discussions, workshops, tutorials, and group work as well as real example policy discussion delivered by leading authorities in the fields of education policy and planning.
Applications are invited from:
- enthusiastic and ambitious policy makers and implementers at local, national and regional level from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, former Soviet Union, Turkey and Mongolia
- graduate students in education policy from around the globe
More info at: http://ceps.pef.uni-lj.si/nepcsummerschool2008/
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