The seminar is arranged by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Bank and the Norwegian NETF reference group, in cooperation with Norad and LINS (Centre for International Education at Oslo University College), in connection with the annual consultation on the Norwegian Education Trust Fund for Africa in the World Bank (NETF).

The seminar is free of charge, and open to all. Travel and accommodation expenses are not covered.

Registration deadline for the seminar: October 3rd. To register, send a mail with your name, institution, address, and date of arrival/ departure to the Seminar secretary, Ms. Marit Bustø, at Marit.Busto@lu.hio.no . The secretariat will assist in making hotel reservations.

For updated information on the seminar, visit the seminar web site.

About the Seminar:

It is clear that building capacity in African national institutions to develop and manage their own education programs is crucial if African countries are to reach the Education for All goals. Conscious of the limited impact of its capacity building support in the face of Africa’s still-weak public sectors, the donor’s have broadened their support to include the strengthening of public institutions, with emphasis on public financial management, decentralization, and governance.

In the past capacity building has often not been treated as a core goal in its own right, and it has not developed as an area of development practise with an established body of knowledge about what works in meeting different needs under different country and sector conditions.

The aim of the seminar is to contribute to such knowledge by focusing on different aspects of capacity building in the education sector in African countries.

We have chosen to bring in stakeholders with different perspectives from Africa, international professionals, representatives from bilateral and multilateral donors and others. The approach will be dynamic, most of the sessions are programmed as panel discussion open to discussion and comments from the audience. Hopefully this will lead to recommendations that will be relevant in terms of The Fast Track Initiative – The Education Program Development Fund (EPDF), supporting capacity building in our partner countries.

For more see the Draft Program (155 KB)