World Conference on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs - Final Report (UNICEF - UNDP - UNESCO - WB - WCEFA, 1990, 129 p.): 5. Education for All: Call to Action - Summary of Closing Plenary Session: Commited Partnerships

World Conference on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs - Final Report (UNICEF - UNDP - UNESCO - WB - WCEFA, 1990, 129 p.)

5. Education for All: Call to Action - Summary of Closing Plenary Session

		Commited Partnerships
		Calls to Action
		Guidelines for the Future
		A Beginning, Not an End
		We Are on our Way

Commited Partnerships

The Co-Rapporteur-General, in her final report, drew attention to the sense of commitment prevalent throughout the Conference:

There has clearly been an interest in concrete achievement of goals in the face of the apparent temptation to merely state the obvious, or to shrink from the sheer size of the task, (an interest in) making the task doable by the application of creativity and innovation.

She drew attention to the breadth of intersectoral representation achieved at the conference, which was not a matter of educators speaking to educators, but of educators speaking to the world:

We observe the successful mobilization of officials from sectors other than education... This begins to address one of the biggest challenges of the perception of education: that of placing education, and therefore the human being, at the centre of development policy.

Commenting on the active and effective participation of NGO delegations, the speaker stated that:

It will not be possible after this week for anyone to consider having a major educational conference or meeting without the participation of these important groups.

After outlining some of the most significant issues that had recurred in discussions and presentations, the Co-Rapporteur-General presented for adoption the World Declaration and the Framework for Action.

The Declaration and Framework were adopted together by acclamation.

Also endorsed was a statement presented by the Executive Secretary on Follow-up to the WCEFA, which read in part:

Opportunities should be provided within existing structures, for a process of consultation among countries in regional or sub-regional settings to share mutual concerns and to discuss how multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organisations can best assist them.
Whatever follow-up mechanisms are established at the international level, they should serve national follow-up action and support it effectively.
Action at the international level should seek to continue the spirit of cooperation which has been the hall-mark of the World Conference.

We, the participants in the World Conference on Education for All, reaffirm the right of all people to education. This is the foundation of our determination, singly and together, to ensure education for all.

We commit ourselves to act cooperatively through our own spheres of responsibility, taking all necessary steps to achieve the goals of education for all. Together, we call on governments, concerned organizations and individuals to join in this urgent task.

We adopt, therefore, this World Declaration on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs and agree on the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs, to achieve the goals set forth in this Declaration.

Excerpt from the World Declaration read in unison by all participants on the adoption of the Declaration and Framework

The four sponsoring agencies would continue to coordinate their activities in the educational field. UNESCO offered to provide appropriate services to facilitate follow-up action.