The United Nations International Children and Education Fund (UNICEF) has been working in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the early 1980's. Early childhood development, primary education, non-formal education and health have been the main focus. Recently the program was granted a larger mandate headed by Dr. Gamini Abeysekera.
UNICEF's mandate is children, i.e., increasing their survival, protection, development and participation opportunities. Education certainly fits into that. Our key target group is children below 15 years, but pre-primary is also an important target group. Since the United Nations adopted the Jomtien Conference (1) declaration of Education for All our focus has been redirected towards 'basic education' including primary education, early childhood development, informal and adult education and women's education. We consider education not only as schooling, but as opportunities for learning and preparation for life.
We tend to pursue a 'disparity reduction' strategy; if we see certain areas lagging behind in terms of service, it is our duty to bring it to the attention of the authority and to see what we can do together. We want to make sure we go into areas where assistance is most needed with the knowledge and understanding of our cooperative partners. Thus, in the past, we mainly provided organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip responsible for delivery of education services with support services; we did not have an education program as such. We strongly believe that development is a partnership; something in which all parties concerned, including the beneficiary, should be an active participant. Working exclusively with governments or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's)may result in unnecessary misunderstanding and friction. We discuss cooperation with governments on the understanding that some assistance will be channeled through NGO's, as they have expertise, resources and skills that the government or the UN agency may not have.
One of UNICEF's basic strengths is at the field level (2). Our strength as well as our credibility is, to a great extent, based on how well we conduct our affairs to make a difference to the life of the people. At the same time UNICEF cannot be a service provider, or substitute governments or an international NGO at the community level, because there is a limit to stretching our staff time, resources and mandate. Instead we try to show that certain cost-effective community based strategies can make a difference and work as a catalyst. The field consists of two levels, the level of the government on the one hand, and the NGO's and the community level on the other hand. We are trying to reconcile the community, field-based approach that we followed in the West Bank and Gaza with the emerging authority. I consider this a transition stage, in which our office has also been given 'early empowerment.' Hitherto this was a project office operating under the guidance and administration of the Amman area office; we are now in the process of setting up a full fledged UNICEF office. We are looking at our internal management and resource capacity to meet the challenges of the future. The need is certainly there; it's a question of how to mobilize adequate resources and utilize them effectively. This is where you need a good programming approach with a good analytical and monitoring system.
I consider the present stage of our operations as a watershed in UNICEF's Program of Cooperation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At present we are working at the national level, in policy formulation, and program and strategy development for the social sector as a whole, because that is imperative in a nation building process. The role of the UN as a whole, and UNICEF in particular, should not be so much to bring in tangible resources and financial support; that is a very narrow view of looking at UN cooperation. It is more important to influence the thinking of the planners, to prioritize their activities and use of their resources, not only for urgent needs, but also for sustainable human development. We need to restructure our own budgets and thinking line with certain global goals like Health for All, Education for All, The Rights of the Child, and the Empowerment of Women. This is the thrust of a National Program of Action for Children which we have embarked on with the Palestinian Authorities.
At this stage we may not have a clear policy of assistance; that's why we are in dialogue with the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to cover the areas of responsibilities and ensure complementarity while staying within the nationally determine objectives. Discussions showed the need for a two-tier input: to address the immediate needs of an emerging education system, and the institutionalization of the MoE. We consider such assistance temporary and emergency-oriented, not typical of UNICEF assistance but needed because of the circumstances. From there we address the question of how to get from this stage to medium- and long-term planning and support. For the immediate needs we identified, in consultation with the MoE, the need to equip properly its educational planning arm and the development of a database and an Educational Management Information System. We pledged support through consultation by technically qualified people. This does not mean importing a mission of foreign experts but harnessing qualified available resources in the country (and the region) who know the culture and the system but whom the MoE may not be able to afford or to mobilize.
The second need we identified is support with school supplies, teacher training, and other services to fill gaps due to financial or human resource constraints. We assist with 'software,' bring in certain educational materials and extra-curricular activities. We agreed with the Ministry to provide a very intensive crash training program covering as many as 8000 teachers within a short period. We also have a project in learning achievements in subjects such as mathematics and science.
The third level is the informal level, for which the authorities do not have the program or the resources. Together with the NGO's and community organizations we develop informal education, girls' and women's education and the like. We have also assisted NGO's UNRWA schools and some community based organizations in developing new materials for children, educational toys and arts materials. A final activity is to prioritize youth, which is not very typical of a UNICEF program. But I think we can make a very strong case here that today's youth are the children who lost their childhood yesterday. We owe it to them to compensate them, not only through education, but also through sports, recreation, art and music. At this stage youth deserves as much priority as children. They are the leaders of the future.
UNICEF funding comes in a variety of ways. UNICEF can become the manager of fund of a particular government, contributed to us as supplementary funding. We have our so-called seed capital, of about one million dollars per year for the West Bank and Gaza, which ensures minimum levels of activity. We use that to generate more activities and show implementation capacity to prospective donors through a 'sales-book approach,' in which we send projects around the prospective donor community to raise supplementary funds.
We also have an advocacy role by putting policies right to ensure that benefits will accrue to the vulnerable groups. It is important to look at various alternative strategies using the limited resources a country or an organization has. This re-orientation in thinking, towards cost-effective, do-able, small scale community based projects which have a direct, immediate impact is very important for an emerging nation. UNICEF-supported projects are mostly cost-effective, using innovative strategies with community participation, so that with the same level of resources more can be done than with gigantic development projects which are not sustainable. Another example of advocacy is what is called 'the 20-20 vision.' That means that the government budget, in its resource allocation, reflects a minimum of 20% to the social sector, and the donor community matches this with a minimum of 20% of their development assistance. Regarding advocacy in the case of the PNA, we are talking to the Ministries concerned with planning, education, health, social welfare and youth to remind them to look at the promise of the world leaders, signed by Chairman Arafat, to implement the goals of the World Summit for Children (3) through an integral national planning document for Palestinian children. We hope to organize sectoral workshops culminating in a 'National Program of Action' endorsed by the PNA to become part and parcel of a national development plan reflecting the needs of women and children.
In the Middle East, one of the key challenges UNICEF faces is to ensure the girl child focus. In prioritization of family resources as well as institutional resources, in particular in education, you find inadequate emphasis placed on the girl child. We have to really understand that there should not be gender disparity in development. Education is a human right.
Education should be seen as something valued by society, not necessarily for employment, but as a basic human right, the life skills approach. Sri Lanka, the country where I was born, is a relatively poor, low income country, but literacy rates are around 90% and enrollment rates are high. The second country I worked in, Nigeria, also has a very strong educational tradition and is a resource pool for expertise in various fields. In Sudan, where I served before I came here, the efforts and resources the community contributed to keep education going even in times of conflict and war were amazing. This show us that nay country, however poor it may be, can re-align its policies in favor of education, can develop social and cultural values that give education top priority and appreciate the value of education as a life skill. There's nothing wrong with getting a degree but education should not be viewed as a passport to a job only. The criteria should be learning. Schooling does not guarantee learning, a diploma does not mean that you are prepared for life. Tolerance and peace education do not come through textbooks, but through the ability to interact, listen, express, and agree and disagree. This is the empowerment process the community should be enabled to equip themselves to face different circumstances with courage and confidence.
Elaine Clark
Educational Network, POB 66, Ramallah, West Bank
tel: 02 995 6230/fax: 02 995 6231 e-mail: eclark@ednet.birzeit.edu