CONFINTEA
The International Conference on Adult Education ( CONFINTEA ; [ kɔnfɪntea ]; the acronym comes from the French " Conf erence Int ernationale sur l ' E ducation of A dultes") is an international / intergovernmental conference on adult education. It is organized by UNESCO every twelve to thirteen years.
The conference provides the platform for the UNESCO member countries to show the worldwide developments in the field of adult education and to develop guidelines for their further promotion. The participants are representatives of UNESCO member states, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations as well as civil society, research institutions and the private sector.
history
The series of these international conferences has been organized by UNESCO since the late 1940s:
- I. Helsingør (Denmark) - 1949
- II. Montreal (Canada) - 1960
- III. Tokyo (Japan) - 1972
- IV. Paris (France) - 1985
- V. Hamburg (Germany) - 1997
- VI. Belém (Brazil) - 2009
CONFINTEA V (Hamburg, Germany - 1997)
The conference took place from July 14th to 18th, 1997.
Motto: "Adult Learning: A Key for the Twenty-First Century" ("Adult Learning: A Key to the Twenty-First Century").
At CONFINTEA V, which was organized by the UNESCO Institute for Education, 1,500 delegates from 160 countries adopted two fundamental documents: the Hamburg Declaration and the Agenda for the Future. Both documents are considered to be groundbreaking in the field of adult education. In particular, attention is drawn to the great importance of adult education and non-formal education in the context of lifelong learning, which in turn is a central tool for addressing the challenges of the 21st century in terms of democracy, peace, human rights, conflict resolution and economic and ecological sustainability to manage something.
One result of the conference is the ALADIN network (Adult Learning Documentation and Information Network), which promotes cooperation and communication between international documentation centers for adult education.
CONFINTEA VI (Belém, Brazil - 2009)
The conference was originally scheduled for May 19-22, 2009, but was postponed due to the spread of "swine flu" . December 1st to 4th, 2009, was agreed between the Brazilian government and UNESCO as a new date.
Motto: "Living and Learning for a Viable Future: The Power of Adult Learning" ("Living and Learning for a Future Worth Living: The Power of Adult Education").
The holistic understanding of adult education and non-formal education established as a result of CONFINTEA V represents the starting point of the sixth conference. The worldwide recognition of these as elements of lifelong learning is to be consolidated and expanded. In addition, the extent to which the goals formulated in 1997 were achieved will be assessed. In order to ensure the practical implementation of past and future resolutions on adult education, appropriate implementation measures and assessment criteria are to be developed within the framework of CONFINTEA VI.
Adult education, lifelong learning and literacy are key issues insofar as they are prerequisites for dealing with new technologies in the information age and play a prominent role in solving global problems such as poverty, exclusion, migration, environmental pollution, climate change, food shortages, insufficient resources and HIV / Represent AIDS and other epidemics.
The preparatory process includes regional conferences in all five world regions, at which final documents were agreed upon, on the basis of which the cross-regional discussion should be conducted. The individual UNESCO member states prepared national reports for this purpose, which are taken into account in the development of the regional presentation on adult education and ultimately form the basis for the Global Report of Adult Education - GRALE (Worldwide Report on Adult Education).
Preparatory conferences (chronological)
- For Latin America and the Caribbean: 10. – 13. September 2008 in Mexico City (Mexico)
- For Asia and the Pacific: 6. – 8. October 2008 in Seoul (South Korea)
- For Africa: 5. – 7. November 2008 in Nairobi (Kenya)
- For Europe, North America and Israel: 3. – 5. December 2008 in Budapest (Hungary)
- For the Arab States: 5. – 7. January 2009 in Tunis (Tunisia)
aims
The core objective of the sixth international conference on adult education is the approach of adult education and non-formal education to existing international development programs and education (eg. Education for all / Education for All - EFA, the World Literacy Decade - UNLD, the World Decade " Education for Sustainable Development ” - DESD, Literacy Initiative for Empowerment - LIFE, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals - MDGs) as well as in the integration of adult and non-formal education into national development strategies. Future viability / sustainable development in the thematic context should also be considered as an important element.
The following goals are to be achieved:
- Promote the recognition of adult education as a fundamental element of lifelong learning - the basis of which is literacy;
- To underline the central role of adult education in the realization of international education and development initiatives (education for all, decade of global literacy, millennium goals);
- To renew the political commitment and to develop effective instruments for political implementation in order to stimulate concrete educational policy action.
organization
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) coordinates the preparatory process for CONFINTEA VI in close cooperation with the UNESCO headquarters and the UNESCO Brasilia Office as well as the Ministry of Education of the host country Brazil.
The UIL is supported in developing the content concept by an advisory committee consisting of experts in adult and non-formal education.