Regional Coordinating Group | Education in Asia-Pacific

The Regional Thematic Working Group(TWG) Education 2030+ serves as the regional coordination mechanism and Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030(APMED2030) will serve as the regional consultation platform for the exchange of knowledge, best practices and support to countries in all aspects of the implementation and monitoring of SDG4-Education 2030.

The regional coordination mechanism also brings together the following sub-regional organizations: South East Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Pacific Island Forum (PIF). Each of these has its own education sector strategies aligned with SDG4-Education 2030 and they also participate in broader regional level efforts. Given the huge geographical spread of the Asia-Pacific, the sub-regional organizations play a significant role in the efficient coordination of regional-level actions and they contribute to the implementation of the three thematic areas of the regional roadmap, i.e. advocacy, capacity building, and monitoring, within their respective sub-regional contexts. UNESCO Bangkok, as the secretariat of the regional TWG-Education2030+, represents the Asia-Pacific region and ensures regular communication and information exchange with the global coordination mechanism guided by the SDG Education 2030 Global Steering Committee.

The Government of Japan, through its Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT), has been supporting the educational projects in the region as well as the Secretariat since the Education for All (EFA) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continuously. The current support provided seeks to enhance the regional mechanism's coordination, advocacy, and monitoring of the SDG 4 in Asia-Pacific.

Leading Education 2030 in Asia-Pacific

UNESCO Bangkok and UNICEF serve as Co-Chairs, and act as the joint secretariat to the TWG-Education2030+.

Main Functions of the regional network

The regional network of SDG4 national coordinators will serve as a regional platform for national coordinators to share knowledge and experiences on implementing and monitoring SDG4-Education 2030:

Building partnerships and networks around SDG4-Education 2030 to stimulating and guiding a holistic vision of education as per SDG4, including the responses to emerging challenges;
Providing synergy between education and other sectors in support of the broader SDG framework;
Facilitating mutual learning among the Member States to effectively implement the SDG4-Education 2030 agenda at national and sub-national levels;
Fostering South-South-North cooperation across the various thematic areas of SDG4;
Facilitating country-level participation in regional and sub-regional level monitoring exercises on SDG4-Education 2030;
Organizing high-level joint advocacy and awareness-raising;
Ensuring regular communication between regional and global level coordination (through the Global SC representatives)
Exploring opportunities to generate and mobilize resources for effective implementation of SDG4 within the country.

Main Activities

Organization of regional SDG4-Education 2030 meetings, including APMED;
Organization of periodic regional monitoring exercises;
Development of joint communique and/or advocacy messaging, communication materials;
In partnership with the RTWG, conducting cross-national studies on key common issues in implementing the SDG4-Education 2030 agenda.

Timeframe

The regional network has been initiated at the second Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 (18 November 2016). It should remain in place until 2030. An evaluation of its effectiveness should be undertaken by the end of 2020 and thereafter at regular intervals to ensure that the mechanism remains relevant to emerging needs.