Jakarta, 1 August 2022 – The G20 Education Working Group (EdWG) recently held its third meeting on 27-28 July 2022 online, discussing the third and fourth priority agendas of the education sector, namely, Solidarity and Partnership, and the Future of Work Post-COVID-19 aimed to achieve a global-scale gotong royong in preparing students with relevant skills needed in the future.
On this occasion, the G20 EdWG Host or the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT) invited Civil 20 (C20) and Think 20 (T20) as part of the official Engagement Groups; international organisations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, and OECD; and the G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) or the Indonesian Ministry of Employment.
The C20 Education, Digitalization and Civic Space Working Group (EDCSWG) appreciates the invitation from the G20 EdWG to participate in the working group’s 2nd and 3rd meetings, and to share findings as well as experiences related to Solidarity and Partnership as part of reimagining, rebuilding, and recovering the education sector. The C20 EDCSWG also values various examples and best practices implemented by multiple stakeholders at all levels from public to private in many countries with different backgrounds, systems, and needs, with one common purpose; to give their very best in responding to recovery.
During the 3-minute intervention, presented by the C20 Coordinator for EDCSWG, Imelda Usnadibrata, stated that the presence 3Cs (COVID-19, Conflicts, Climate Change Crisis) emphasised the need for a Resilient Education System, which could be achieved through Multi-Stakeholders Involvement. These stakeholders include families, communities, healthcare and social protection agencies, the private sector, education authorities, and educational institutions such as schools and colleges, whose collaboration can be enhanced with the use of technology. In such involvement, the role of civil society is undeniable. In fact, civil society organisations (CSOs) are amongst those at the frontline of COVID-19 and other humanitarian responses and recovery.
The C20 EDCSWG also pointed out numerous ways CSOs around the world had contributed to the education sector during the COVID-19 crisis, such as (1) supporting local and national governments in designing and implementing equity strategies; (2) initiating collective movement through alliances and other education networks, from early childhood to higher education levels to serve stronger support in improving access and quality of education for students and other school-aged children and youth; (3) contributing as volunteers with their own resources, from travelling by any means of transport to distribute learning materials, establishing reading camps in villages, implementing learning hours commitments with parents and village leaders, to facilitating home visits programmes; and (4) promoting and supporting capacity building of safe schools for mitigating disaster risks and child-friendly schools for children preventing violence against children.
With all those experiences marked by the spirit of Solidarity and Partnership, the C20 EDCSWG presented two recommendations:
The role of CSOs needs to be strengthened as partners, given their field experiences and resource mobilisation capacities, thus, the ability to inclusively reach larger geographical areas and more stakeholders as well as beneficiaries.
Governments should provide larger room to create an equal partnership with all education stakeholders. Thus, sharing and scaling up best practices can be leveraged to prepare children/youths facing current and future challenges as well as opportunities.
Overall, the recommendations given by the C20 correspond to the agendas formulated by the G20 EdWG. The C20 EDCSWG is looking forward to future engagement and cooperation with the G20 EdWG for a stronger post-pandemic recovery.
#RecoverTogetherRecoverStronger #C20forG20 #YouAreHeard
About C20:
C20 is one of the official engagement groups of the G20. It provides a platform for civil society organisations around the world to voice people’s aspirations with world leaders in the G20. The C20 engages more than 800 civil society representatives and networks from various countries beyond the G20 member countries.