ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 30, 2015/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
On the margins of the First Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STC-EST), the African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, H.E Dr. Martial De-Paul Ikounga and the ADEA Executive Secretary, Ms. Oley Dibba-Wadda, signed an Addendum to the current Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission of the African Union (AUC) and ADEA, on Thursday, 28th October 2015. The addendum sets out a framework within which the African union Commission will host the ADEA working group on Communication for Education and Development (COMED).
This partnership comes at a time when the implementation of the Agenda 2063-linked Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) is about to take off. Communication and information dissemination are identified as a key element of the implementation platform for CESA 16-25. Hosting of COMED at the AUC will further strengthen the strategic partnership between the AUC and ADEA. The AUC considers ADEA as key technical partner and implementing agency that will play an even greater role in the coalition of partnerships for the implementation of CESA 16-25. With COMED hosted at the AU headquarters in the department of Human Resources, science and technology, it will be easier to ensure more visibility of the excellent work carried out by ADEA and the AUC, thus enabling Member States and stakeholders to have the necessary information and knowledge to be able to own their continental policies and frameworks, and participate in intra-African and global discussions.
Acting as a broker of ideas and a forum for knowledge sharing among diverse education stakeholders, COMED will focus not only on promoting dialogue and consensus on education programmes and policies but also on developing and implementing a communications strategy for the post-2015 African education agenda that links seamlessly with the global SDGs framework. COMED has successfully developed a network that consists of more than 1,200 journalists and communication experts from all the 54 member states of the African Union.
It is the strong conviction of both H.E Dr. Ikounga and Ms. Dibba Wadda that this hosting, will further strengthen the existing co-operation between the Commission and the Association in areas pertaining to the promotion of communication in education as well as facilitating knowledge sharing and sustaining public debate across Africa and beyond.
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa is a forum for policy dialogue. It acts as a catalyst for reforms and promising policies and practices through the pooling of expertise, ideas, experience, lessons learned and knowledge. The Bureau of the AU STC in Education, science and technology also acts as the bureau for ADEA, hence the seamless partnership between ADEA and the AUC.
