1st Arab States Meeting on Education 2030 (ARMED I)
‘Towards Collective Action in Achieving Education 2030 Goal in the Arab Region’
15-16 December 2014 Cairo, Egypt
ARMED I Background
The high level officials of Governments in the Arab Region, United Nations co-convenors, civil
society organizations, professional unions as well as technical and development partners, gathered at the
First Arab Regional Meeting on Education 2030 on 15 and 16 December 2015 in Cairo, Egypt, organized by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with the support of partners
under the auspices of His Excellency Dr El-Helaly El-Sherbiny, Minister of Education and Technical Education,
Arab Egypt Republic.
Commitment to achieving SDG4
Having actively taken part in Education 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 4) agenda setting and
consensus building processes at national, regional and international levels, we reaffirm the centrality of
education in sustainable development and the critical need for innovative domestic and international
resource mobilization, allocation and utilization.
As such, we have adopted the Education 2030 Framework for Action and declare our commitment to it as
our binding framework to collectively work towards achieving the Goal: Ensure inclusive and equitable
quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Having had two days of fruitful, forward-looking interactions and discussions from the perspectives
of Member States as well as those of participating organizations, we declare the launch of a new era in the
Arab region by adopting a collective, participatory Roadmap that aims at achieving quality education and
lifelong learning for all by 2030.
Concretely, we, Member States and Partners,seek to adopt a set of following
immediate actions to be undertaken in 2016 in order to operationalize the Education 2030 Agenda in our
region, with particular attention to the needs of crisis-affected countries
Arab Member States:
- Initiate sensitization and awareness raising activities about Education 2030 (SDG 4) and its
interconnectedness with the SDG agenda for national and sub-national education officials,
stakeholders, partners and communities (timeline: January 2016 and throughout the year 2016); - Put in place national education coordination and partnership mechanism through forming a broad-based national team, inclusive of all relevant sectors, civil society and private sector (timeline: by 31
March 2016); - Map policies and programmes needed and identify strategic options, including on governance and
financing, that contribute to SDG 4 implementation (timeline: by 30 September 2016); - Review education sector monitoring mechanisms including availability of evidence needed for
monitoring and to develop mechanisms needed to measure and monitor the Targets (timeline: by
30 September 2016); - Identify capacity development needs among all relevant line Ministries and education personnel at
all levels to implement the Agenda and to develop a plan to achieve the target (timeline: 30
September 2016) - Continue to actively participate in intra- and inter-regional forum on Education 2030 (timeline:
throughout the year 2016). - Promote knowledge production, information sharing in the Arabic language common to the Arab
Member States to enhance regional cooperation (timeline: throughout the year 2016) - Develop regional initiatives in coordination and cooperation with education institutions and
organizations to promote innovation and excellence in education (timeline: throughout the year
2016)
Partners (coordinated by UNESCO):
Establish Education 2030 Regional Technical Support Group (timeline: 31 March 2016)
Undertake technical consultations on further discussion and development of approaches and type of data for monitoring Target 4.71 in consultation with Member States (timeline: 30 June 2016)
Develop advocacy and communication tools and strategy (timeline: 30 June 2016)
Map available data and data sources for SDG 4 indicators, including administrative data, household surveys, learning assessments and data collected by civil society, as well as capacity needs in data management, reporting and use (timeline: 30 September 2016)
Develop and disseminate technical guidelines for monitoring SDG 4, including definitions of the indicators, data sources, and methods of data collection and analysis, In consultation with Member States and regional partners (timeline:30 September 2016)
Develop capacity development programme on the basis of above action point 2,4,5 and 8 (timeline:30 September 2016)
Put in place a regional monitoring plan in consultation with Member States and regional partners (timeline: 31 December 2016)
Work towards developing financing strategies to provide the needed support to countries in crisis as well as those affected by iit, in consultation with Member States (timeline: throughout the year 2016)
Support Member States to implement the roadmap (timeline: throughout the year 2016)
