Basic education and gender equality

Links

UN related links

Education for All UNICEF is one of the six convening members of the Education for All Movement, working with the international community towards the achievement of Education for All children by the year 2015, and gender parity by 2005. This site contains detailed information on the follow up to the World Education Forum, held in Dakar, Senegal in 2000.

The World Bank Education Website details the bank's activities in this area and provides a range of valuable resources, news and links.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/Civil Society Organizations (CSOs):

Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity - CREATE is a five-year DFiD-funded consortia around access to basic education. CREATE seeks to encourage the application of knowledge and insights to improve access to basic education for 5-15 year-olds in equitable and pro-poor ways in poor countries, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the education MDGs. The CREATE Gateway provides access to key information resources for research, policy and practice on access to education in line with EFA and the MDGs, including an online searchable, bibliographic database, key publications developed by CREATE and links pages which aim to provide a comprehensive guide to resources related to access issues in education.

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) The Global Campaign for Education seeks to ensure that the governments who promised Education for all by 2015 and gender equity by 2005 follow through with these commitments. Founded in October 1999, the GCE is a network of diverse organizations, all having their own members, which unite and campaign in unison for education for all. It serves as a meeting point of civil society organizations (NGO's, Community Based Organizations, Trade, unions, federations, church groups, etc) to conduct a common campaign. The founding idea was to join forces with like-minded organizations to conduct common campaign activities globally. The site contains information from working papers to member lists.

CAMFED International is dedicated to extending girls' access to education in poor rural communities in Africa. CAMFED's vital work to improve educational opportunities for girls in some of the world's poorest countries has received international recognition with an invitation to co-chair the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI) in 2006.
 
Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE): FAWE, together with its partners will work at continental, national and local levels, to create positive societal attitudes to reinforce policies and practices that promote equity for girls in terms of access, retention, performance and quality, by influencing the transformation of educational systems in Africa. The site includes the following categories: Vision, Membership, Publications, National Chapters, FAWE Newsletters and the FAWE Diary.

Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Established following the World Education Forum in 2000.  It is a network of NGOs, research institutions and international organizations with the following objectives: "Share knowledge and experience; Promote greater donor understanding of education in emergencies; Advocate for education to be included in emergency response; Make teaching and learning resources available as widely as possible; Ensure attention to gender issues in emergency education initiatives; Document and disseminate best practices in the field; Move towards consensual guidelines on education in emergencies." 
 
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international three year survey that was jointly developed by participating countries and administered to 15-year-olds in schools.  The survey was implemented in 43 countries in the 1st assessment in 2000, in 41 countries in the 2nd assessment in 2003, in 57 countries in the 3rd assessment in 2006 and 62 countries have signed up to participate in the 4th assessment in 2009. Tests are typically administered to between 4,500 and 10,000 students in each country.  PISA assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society. In all cycles, the domains of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy are covered not merely in terms of mastery of the school curriculum, but in terms of important knowledge and skills needed in adult life.

University/Research Institutions:

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) The IEA is an independent, international cooperative of national research institutions and governmental research agencies. Its primary purpose is to conduct large-scale comparative studies of educational achievement, with the aim of gaining a more in-depth understanding of the effects of policies and practices within and across systems of education. Since its inception in 1958, the IEA has conducted about 20 research studies of cross-national achievement. The regular cycle of studies encompasses learning in basic school subjects. Examples are the Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS), the International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Studies (PIRLS).