Caribbean Conference on Education for Rural People: Poverty Reduction, Food Security, Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainable Livelihoods Saint Lucia, 18 and 19 May 2006

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Caribbean Conference on Education for Rural
People Poverty Reduction, Food Security,
Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainable
Livelihoods
Saint Lucia, 18 and 19 May 2006

• Conference Rationale, Objectives and the Programme

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Rationale

• The First 50 Years . . .
• FAO and Agricultural Education
• Focus on strengthening agricultural technical and
  vocational schools, colleges and universities

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Major shift toward basic education . . .

• Strong evidence of links between weak or
  non-existent basic education and extreme poverty
  and hunger
• Major study commissioned by FAO in collaboration
  with IIEP, Paris
• Major finding
• Education for people living in rural communities
  is a key to sustainable development, food
  security and poverty reduction

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2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD)

• In Johannesburg, South Africa . . .
• the Director General of FAO and the Director
  General of UNESCO together launched the 9th
  Education For All Flagship (EFA) called
• Education for Rural People

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Strategies . . .

• At the national level
• Technical support to countries willing to address
  the basic educational needs of rural people by
  formulating specific plans of action as part of
  the national plans on EFA and rural development.
• At the international level
• Support the exchange of good practices and
  knowledge on Education for Rural People.
• Advocate and mobilize partnerships for ERP by
  concentrating on strategic global, regional and
  international events, and encouraging the same
  within countries.

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Strategies . . .

• As part of the global strategy for carrying
  forward the ERP initiative, FAO, along with
  partners, organized major capacity building
  regional seminars, conferences and workshops
• November 2003 - Bangkok, Thailand
• August 2004 - Santiago, Chile
• September 2005 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• And now . . .
• Caribbean Conference on Education for Rural
  People Poverty Reduction, Food Security,
  Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainable
  Livelihoods
• May 2006 - Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia

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Overall Conference Objective

• Bring together individuals and senior officials
  from
• ministries of agriculture
• ministries of education
• non-government organizations
• the private sector
• universities
• international development agencies and
• donor organizations

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ERP initiative focus on basic education and
skills training . . .

• including a whole range of educational and
  training activities that take place in different
  settings and that aim to meet basic learning
  needs including
• early childhood education
• primary education
• sometimes lower secondary formal schooling
• youth development
• adult education
• community-based learning
• literacy programmes
• agricultural extension education
• life-long learning
• any manner of short courses and other structured
  non-formal education and training opportunities.

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Overall Conference Objective

• To discuss how to foster education and training
  for people living in rural communities to
  increase employment and enhance livelihoods, and
  . . .
• to come up with recommendations for specific
  action to be carried out by interested
  stakeholders

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Conference Output . . .

• Draft Communiqué on Education for Rural People in
  the Caribbean

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Other objectives

• Facilitate knowledge sharing
• Foster national capacity to plan and implement
  ERP strategies
• Build awareness of importance of ERP in achieving
  MDGs
• Explore possibilities for follow-up activities
  among the various stakeholders

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ERP in the Caribbean . . .

• Are the issues, needs and strategies under the
  framework of Education for Rural People different
  for the Caribbean than in many other parts of the
  developing world?

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ERP in the Caribbean . . .

• For example, as ERP in Asia, Africa and Latin
  America focus on dramatic rural-urban
  discrepancies concerning access to and quality of
  education as a way to reduce extreme poverty . .
  .
• do the key issues for the Caribbean relate
  more to quality and relevance of education for
  rural populations?

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Key areas of discussion

• The role of education and training in support of
  . . .
• Poverty alleviation
• Employment
• Food security
• Agricultural competitiveness
• Sustainable livelihoods

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Which are some of the key cross-cutting issues,
possibly to be considered during the
deliberations, of particular interest to the
Caribbean?

• HIV/AIDS
• Gender
• Agriculture tourism links
• Emergency preparedness and risk reduction
• SIDS
• Avian Influenza
• Information communication technologies (ICTs)
• Youth in agriculture
• And more..

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Remember Agriculture for FAO . . .

• Also means fisheries and forestry

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Conference Programme

• Opening ceremony
• Introductory presentations
• Setting the Stage for Joint Action
• ERP in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Rurality and Sustainable Livelihoods in the
  Caribbean
• Agricultural Competitiveness and Food Security in
  the Caribbean
• Agricultural Research and Development in Support
  of ERP

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Conference Programme

• Small Group Discussion
• Elaborating the issues
• Current status of poverty (MDG 1), food security,
  agricultural competitiveness and sustainable
  livelihoods in the Caribbean implications for
  education and training ( including MDG 2) (three
  groups A1, A2, and A3)
• Current status of access, quality and capacity
  issues related to ERP (MDG2) in the Caribbean
  (three groups B1, B2 and B3) and impact on
  poverty reduction and food security (MDG1)

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Conference Programme

• Examples of good practice and lessons learned . .
  .
• IICAs Experience Education and Training for
  Rural People in the Caribbean
• FAOs Caribbean Integrated School Gardening
  Initiative
• Skills Training through Adult Education
  Association of Guyana and Capacity Building among
  HIV/AIDS Communities in Guyana

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Conference Programme

• Examples of good practice and lessons learned . .
  .
• UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development and
  Education for Rural People in the Caribbean
• Skill Enhancement for the New Workforce with
  Implications for Rural Populations in the
  Caribbean
• Youth and Agriculture

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Conference Programme

• National Strategies Country-Specific Group
  Work
• National strategies and commitments for
  strengthening ERP in each participant country
• Country-based working groups to discuss and
  produce written resolutions and recommendations
  for action in individual countries

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Conference Programme

• Plenary presentation of the . . .
• Draft Communiqué on ERP
  in the Caribbean
• Closing Ceremony

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• Caribbean Conference on Education for
• Rural People
• Poverty Reduction, Food Security, Agricultural
  Competitiveness and Sustainable Livelihoods
• May 18 and 19
• Saint Lucia, West Indies