BACKGROUND
The
Third Meeting of Ministers of Education, in the framework of CIDI, was
held in the city of Mexico, on August 11 -13, 2003. The meeting was
held in compliance with: the mandates received from the Heads of State
and Government through the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the
Americas; Resolution CEPCIDI/RES.84 (LXXXVII-O/03), which convokes the
Meeting; General Assembly Resolution AG/RES1859 (XXXII- O/02), which
requests that the Department of Education, Culture, Science and
Technology (DECST), in coordination
with the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), supports
the meetings as Technical Secretariat and provides follow-up on the
Summit mandates in education.
The following activities were carried out in preparation for the Meeting:
The
Preparatory
Meeting for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education in the framework
of CIDI, held on April 9-11 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Delegations
from 24 member states participated in the meeting, as well as representatives
from international organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to
analyze the progress made and the pending challenges of the actions
taken in compliance with the Summit of the Americas mandates. The schedule
and declaration of the Third Ministerial Meeting were discussed. The
Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Committee on Education, approved
through resolution CEPCIDI/RES.81 (LXXXVI-O/02) in November 2002, were
also discussed. The delegations proposed a change in the Rules of procedure,
with regards to the creation of an Executive Committee. The delegation
agreed on the elaboration of three hemispheric projects focused on teacher
education, equity and quality, and secondary education.
The inauguration of an On-line Forum.
The Unit for Social Development and Education, in its capacity as Technical
Secretariat of the Meeting of Ministers of Education, opened an on-line
forum to follow-up on the commitments reached at the Preparatory Meeting
for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education and to draft the three
Hemispheric Projects.
The Hemispheric Dialogues on Equity and Quality, Teacher Education and
Secondary Education. Three Videoconferences
were implemented in cooperation with the Secretary for Public Education
of Mexico and the World Bank Institute. The purpose of the videoconferences
was to deepen the discussion on the Hemispheric Projects. The ministers
of education, of the coordinating countries of these projects, shared
their analysis and presented the specific challenges faced in each sub-region
of the Hemisphere.
The
Civil
Society Meeting. The Ministry of Education of Colombia, with the
support of the Summit Process Secretariat and the Unit for Social Development
and Education, convoked a meeting on "Participation of Civil Society
in Education", which has held in Bogotá on July 28 - 29,
2003. The goal was to receive feedback from civil society on the activities
developed through the OAS, with special reference to the themes of the
three Hemispheric Projects.
The
Inter-Agency
Meeting. This meeting was held on July 18-19, 2003, at the facilities
of the Americas' Institute for Advanced Studies (INEAM) in Miami, Florida.
Its main objective was to provide an opportunity for international organizations
to add contributions to the countries efforts in drafting the Hemispheric
Projects. All the contributions from the Agencies were placed within
an Inter-Agency Matrix for each project.
The seminar on Bilingual
Intercultural Education (Web Page only in Spanish), held in Mexico
City between December 4-13, 2003. Governmental representatives, leaders
from indigenous groups, and researchers from countries with higher numbers
of indigenous populations were convoked. The result of the seminar was
the drafting of the Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples to be presented
at the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education.
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