Our Work

We work with international organisations, international civil society and regional bodies all of which are committed to education across the Commonwealth to support Ministries of Education in:

• Advocating for 2015 to be the year that children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
• Affirming the importance of eliminating gender disparities in education by 2015
• Utilising the technology, facilities and efficiencies afforded by open and distance learning to overcome barriers and combating the digital divide in education.
• Improving quality in education through signalling the importance of the role played by teachers, addressing their status, retention and mobility whilst at the same time advancing the importance of the management, training and development of this critical resource in education.
• Supporting the assurance of education in difficult circumstances through addressing the challenges of education delivery during situations of crisis, conflict, post-conflict and natural disasters and providing guidelines to improve preparedness for emergencies.
• Mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems by way of establishing the role and importance of education as a “social vaccine” against HIV/AIDS through professorial chairs for research and advocacy and dissemination of good practices in countries which address head-long the challenge of the pandemic in their populations

Who this work affects

Our work affects everyone involved in the Education sector in Commonwealth countries; working towards achieving the two Education related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): achieving Universal Primary Education and reducing Gender Disparities in primary and secondary education.

Working with other organisations

We are an active member of a number of key global and regional networks including:

• the UNESCO led ‘Education for All Monitoring Network’,
  
• the International Working Group on Education,
  
• Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE),
  
• the United Nations Girls Education Initiative,
• the Inter-agency network on Education in Emergencies (INEE); and
  
• the International Organization for Migration.

Our work in addressing the mobility, recruitment, retention and protection of teachers has been recognized and endorsed by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO), Education International, the Organization of American States, the African Union and our own Commonwealth Heads of Government.

We have worked with Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) to develop comprehensive teaching manuals that support teachers in primary and secondary education. These manuals, which have also been translated into French, were distributed within Africa and also, at the request of governments, within the Pacific.

We work in partnership with a range of stakeholders in education, sister Commonwealth organisations such as:

• Commonwealth Consortium of Education (CCE),
  
• Council of Education in the Commonwealth (CEC),
  
• The Commonwealth Foundation,

as well as private sector partners and civil society organisations.

We also work closely with national governments, national, regional and International NGOS, UN agencies such as UNICEF, The World Bank, Global Education Network.