Convening under the theme “Education and Sustainability”, this year’s CIES Annual Conference will be held in San Francisco from April 14 to 18. In addition to participating in several panel discussions, GPE will also present its technical and country-level work.

Below is a compilation of panels convened by the Global Partnership for Education at this year’s conference. Please check the program to confirm timings and locations, as these may change, and to see panelists.

MONDAY, APRIL 15

How to generate and use knowledge and evidence for education policy reform: Perspectives on the potential of GPE's new financing mechanisms
8:00 to 9:30 am, Hyatt Regency, Pacific Concourse (Level -1), Pacific N

GPE will describe the goals and architecture of two new GPE funding mechanisms – the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) and the Advocacy and Social Accountability (ASA). The session will explain why these were created and how they work.

This session will also discuss the development of the Analysis of National Learning Assessment Systems (ANLAS) tool, which is being developed under GPE’s Assessment for Learning (A4L) pilot work under KIX.  A representative of the Ethiopia national ANLAS team will present on the country’s experience in piloting this tool.

Lastly, The People Action for Learning network (PAL network) will present on the impact of citizen-led learning assessments in generating important evidence about children’s education outcomes, while shaping the policy dialogue on quality education.

Strengthening early childhood education planning: Introducing a new MOOC for ECE stakeholders
1:30 to 3:00 pm, Hyatt Regency, Street (Level 0), Regency B

A new massive open online course (MOOC), launching in September 2019, aims to highlight some of the core issues and evidence affecting early childhood education provision. It will demonstrate how ministries of education and their partners can support strengthening the ECE sub-sector by ensuring that it is a core component of the general sector planning process. It is the hope that through this course, ministry officials and their partners who are less familiar with ECE and its integration into the plan preparation process will gain insights into how ECE can more effectively be integrated into policies and plans. 

This MOOC differs from other MOOC’s covering ECE, as it is particularly focused on the process of planning, and how ECE can be integrated into the regular planning process.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16

Saving education system from collapse in complex emergencies – The case of GPE support to Yemen
8:00 to 9:30 am, Hyatt Regency, Bay (Level 1), Bayview B

Sector planning is the process through which countries develop their national education plan or transitional education plan – a multi-year sector-wide document that formulates education policies, by providing a long-term vision and objectives for the education sector, as well as outlining the strategies and activities required to reach objectives, accompanied by an operational plan.

Since the start of the conflict in Yemen in March 2015, the GPE Secretariat has facilitated the organization of seven meetings of Yemeni local education group outside of Yemen. These meetings played a critical role in supporting partners to effectively focus their support to Yemen’s education sector in the midst of the crisis.

The panel discussion will allow participants to discuss ways the government, development partners and GPE worked together since the start of the conflict and facilitated the functioning of the education system. Panelist will also include in their discussion challenges faced in the development of the transitional education plan, especially related to the availability of reliable data.

Strengthening data for better education systems
3:15 to 4:45 pm, Hyatt Regency, Pacific Concourse (Level -1), Pacific L

The development of national education systems in developing countries over the past decades has been accompanied by an increased need for information and data. This data underpins the development and implementation of robust national sector policies and plans, appropriate levels of sector management, and monitoring and evaluation. 

This panel will engage a range of stakeholders to discuss the key challenges identified by GPE partner developing countries and how development partners can best collaborate and coordinate to address these challenges.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17

This session will explore how gender-responsive education sector planning (GRESP) has a high potential for bringing about systemic change in a sustainable way. GPE and UNGEI have been working together with Plan International, UNESCO IIEP and other key partners to help developing country partners catalyze this change at the systems level, and grapple with some of the contextual, institutional and political dimensions of gender equality that facilitate or constrain change. The presentations will make the case for a more coordinated, systems approach to accelerating sustainable education results for girls at scale, as part of a holistic approach to achieving gender equality in and through education.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18

This session will share lessons from an assessment of the use of results-based financing (RBF) in education. A panel of development practitioners will discuss RBF experiences in various countries with a focus on issues of sustainability. The panel is organized around a new report from the World Bank outlines the impact of RBF on teachers, students and families, schools, and governments. Panelists will present real-life RBF interventions and approaches with a focus on highlighting how and when the financing modality has been effective. 

Follow #CIES2019 and #ED4SUSTAINABILITY for more highlights.