Member States were encouraged to form a national coordination mechanism that will bring, first and foremost, all education stakeholders from all levels and fields to the same policy dialogue table to unpack and localize SDG4-Education 2030. The national coordination mechanism could make use of existing education sector coordination platforms, such as the education-sector working group, LEGs, etc., as relevant in order to avoid duplication of efforts. In respect of the principle of inclusion, the national coordination mechanism should be inclusive of all stakeholders, from government, civil society to the private sector.
The holistic coverage of education targets also implies the need for engagement with sectors and institutions that may have not been involved in education. The national coordination mechanism for SDG4-Education 2030 should be the platform to ensure cross-sectoral coordination and integration of policies and strategies for implementation and monitoring. Learning from the successful experience of the National EFA Coordinator system during the EFA period, Member States had appointed an SDG4 National Coordinator at a senior policy level who essentially could lead or chair the national coordination mechanism.
Where a higher-level coordination mechanism/forum for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has been created in a country, the national coordination mechanism for SDG4-Education is ideally an integral part of such a national forum or it should be closely linked.
The Asia and the Pacific Regional Network of National Coordinators for SDG 4- Education2030 was officiated at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 (APMED2030), held in November 2016. Following this meeting, the network’s Terms of Reference (ToR) was further developed and finalized. The National Coordinators for SDG4-Education 2030 play a critical role in facilitating key SDG4-Education 2030 processes within their respective countries, including the implementation, monitoring and progress reporting of SDG4-Education 2030.
The regional network met for the first time at the 3rd APMED2030 in which they discussed their roles and responsibilities in support of the achievement of SDG4-Education 2030, reviewed and endorsed the Asia-Pacific SDG4 implementation roadmap during the meeting. The network had agreed on the next steps to take as national coordinator of SDG4-Education 2030 in connection to the actions outlined in the regional implementation roadmap.
