27 August 2012: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other UN partners and NGOs will launch a six-month “global conversation” with leading education stakeholders, to contribute to reviewing progress towards the Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and discuss how they can be achieved. The initiative is part of the UN Development Group’s (UNDG) national and thematic consultations on the post-2015 agenda.

Participants in the global conversation, to be launched in September 2012, will include representatives of governments and local authorities, international and regional organizations, the private sector, technical and vocational education and training institutions, NGOs, civil society and community-based organizations.

According to UNESCO, the consultation will be carried out through an interactive web platform, internet-based talks and face-to-face meetings, and will have four main components: regional meetings to analyze the relevant themes; a global consultation of education NGOs during a Collective Consultation NGO meeting, from 24-26 October 2012, in Paris, France; two global online consultations to engage youth/children and experts, academics, development partners and NGOs; and a global meeting of ministers, officials, representatives, civil society, NGO coalitions, UN partners, and the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, to discuss key themes.

The UNDG – which consists of the 32 UN funds, programmes, agencies, departments, and offices that work on development, and is one of the three pillars of the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) – is leading efforts to catalyze a “global conversation” on post-2015 through 50 national consultations and nine global thematic consultations by March 2013. The outcomes of the consultation on education will be published in a report to UNDG, and will contribute to the shaping of the post-2015 development agenda. [UNESCO Press Release]