[Title] Learning Strategy for Peace and Growth: Achieving Quality Education through Mutual Learning

Education is a fundamental human right to be equally enjoyed by everyone, which not only enables individuals to enhance their potential and capacities through acquiring necessary knowledge and skills for carving out one's own future, but also plays a significant role in realizing each country's pursuit of sustainable development. In addition, education lays the foundation for peace by fostering understanding towards other people and different cultures. This year marks the 70th year after the foundation of the United Nations as well as the 70th year after the end of the WWII; and for over 60 years, Japan has been engaging in international contribution through official development assistance (ODA). Japan has been prioritizing education cooperation as one of the essential sectors for achieving human security, and has been providing cooperation in education based on its own experiences of modernization and the post-war economic growth as well as overcoming various challenges. Furthermore, in February this year, Japan launched its new Development Cooperation Charter*1* on the basis of current issues that exist in the international community; and announced that Japan will promote development cooperation with an eye towards making more active contribution to peace, stability, and prosperity of the international community.

As this year marks the deadline set for achieving the Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the year where the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted, we are facing a turning point in the history of development cooperation. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which sets international goals for development until 2030 clearly states that the Agenda is universal and people-centred. Under the Development Cooperation Charter and on the basis of the notion of human security, Japan has decided to place particular emphasis on quality growth and poverty eradication through such growth. In the education sector, there is also a growing demand for developing policies in order to respond to emerging trends and new development challenges.

Based on these recognitions and from a perspective of advancing proactive contribution to peace, guided by the he Development Cooperation Charter, Japan has set out the new education policy Learning Strategy for Peace and Growth so as to make further contribution to the international community in the education sector and make more proactive contribution to promoting peace, stability, and prosperity of the international community.

1. The Role of Japan's Cooperation in Education

(1) Japan's Contribution to International Goals and Remaining Challenges

Accelerating Education for All

In 2000 and 2001 the international community adopted two sets of important development agenda, Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aiming to provide basic education for everyone, and has worked together to achieve these goals by 2015. According to the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015 prepared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)*2*, the number of children and youths who were out of school has fallen by almost half since 2000; and the number of children who became able to go to school after the formulation of the Dakar Framework for Action*3* is estimated to have increased by 43 million. In addition, there has been considerable progress in terms of eliminating gender disparity, so much so that the gender equality goal has been almost achieved in the primary gross enrollment ratio. However, 58 million children worldwide are still out of school and about 781 million adults do not have basic literacy skills. In addition, the disparities in education have increased, and the world's poorest children are five times more likely not to complete primary education compared to the world's richest children; in other words, one out of six children in low to middle income countries, or approximately 100 million children, are in a situation where it is impossible for them to complete primary education. As of 2015, only a third of countries have been able to achieve all measurable EFA goals.

To improve this situation, Japan has been making efforts to achieve the internationally set goals of EFA and MDGs. We consider it our responsibility to further strengthen our cooperation in education on the basis of the achievements made so far as well as on the reflections on our past efforts, and pursue the achievement of the new education goals by 2030.

Cooperation with Holistic Vision of Education

With an expansion of EFA, as more children enrolled in and progressed through primary education, demand for post-primary education has been growing. In addition, lack of adult education and technical education and vocational training (TVET) opportunities for youths have become pressing issues, given that, as of 2013, some 225 million adolescents worldwide (approximately 20% of the youths in developing countries) are not in education, employment or training (NEET).*4* Furthermore, providing support for higher education institutions and students in developing countries is also of critical importance for the development of human resources who will carry the torch for economic growth in a globalized knowledge-based society. In order to respond to the diverse needs of developing countries, the international community needs to support holistically to solve the diverse issues in the education sector. Towards the achievement of the 2030 international goals and beyond, with a holistic vision of education, Japan needs to provide assistance in response to the needs of the developing countries. In other words, Japan needs to provide development assistance in a comprehensive manner, covering basic education, secondary education, higher education, technical education and vocational training (TVET), lifelong learning, and human resource development that contributes to nation-building and economic growth including human resource development for industrial, science and technology and international students in Japan.

Education in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Education is one of the 17 goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)*5* and it is stipulated as "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." Its associated targets include areas we need further efforts: promotion of free primary and secondary education; equal education opportunities for all women and men, equal access to quality technical education and vocational training (TVET) and tertiary education including university; consideration for the vulnerable populations including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations; improvement of literacy and numeracy skills; promotion of education for sustainable development; improvement of learning environment; expansion of scholarship programs; and improvement of the quality of teachers. It is important that Japan provides assistance based on these priority areas while recognizing that education requires cross-sector approaches

(2) The Future of International Cooperation in Education

As a result of the rise of emerging countries and formation of international and regional governance, the architecture of international cooperation in education has shifted from a vertical form where donors provide aid to developing countries to a more horizontal form which facilitates cooperation and collaboration among all stakeholders to tackle common issues. In addition, although governmental organizations used to play a foremost role in education cooperation, now there are more diversified actors including the private sector, NGOs, and academic/research institutions. Furthermore, in terms of the roles and interventions required for educational cooperation, there is an increasing need to respond to diversified situations beyond the scope of primary, secondary and higher education such as early childhood care and education, technical vocational education and training, environment and disaster risk reduction education, and health and hygiene education. As a result, the importance of improving the quality of education and strengthening cross-sector efforts increases. Furthermore, in the area of higher education, following the expansion of international economic activities as a result of globalization and rapid progress of technological innovation and increased movement of services and people from one country to another, it became mandatory to have advanced human resource development programs that would lay the foundation for development in both developing countries and developed countries. As stated in the Development Cooperation Charter, further expansion of a cooperative relationship with the international community including emerging countries and developing countries and absorbing their energy also has critical importance to Japan's own sustainable development. While development has progressed in many countries, particularly in emerging countries, many countries face such challenges as internal inequality, sustainability issues, issue of the "middle income trap," and other challenges related to vulnerability caused by climate or other natural conditions, etc. To develop human resources capable of tackling such diversified development challenges, it is imperative to take a multi-faceted and multi-strata approach as detailed below based on the recognition that education itself will contribute to the enhancement of the sustainability and resilience of society.

2. Vision and Guiding Principles

Japan will implement education cooperation on the basis of the following vision and guiding principles.

Vision

Realize quality education through mutual learning: Learning for All, All for Learning

- Based on the concept of human security, achieve "quality education for all" and promote sustainable development.

- Through educational cooperation, promote human resource development which lays the foundation for nation building and growth.

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Through a global and regional framework, realize "Learning improvement" and build necessary systems; and by doing so, actively contribute to the growth and innovation of the international community, and furthermore, to peace and stability of the region and international community.

Guiding principles

(1) Educational cooperation to achieve inclusive, equitable and quality learning

Based on the concept of human security which focuses on the protection and capacity development of the individuals, Japan will continue to assist the education sector in developing countries with providing quality education through dialogue and collaboration in the field based on Japanese approach which respects partner countries' ownership and support their self-help efforts. In addition, Japan will provide assistance in education responding to the needs of the marginalized populations who are deprived of opportunities to receive quality education due to various factors, in particular, people in vulnerable situations including women, children in conflict-affected countries or poor regions, and people with disabilities.

(2) Educational cooperation for industrial, science and technology human resource development and sustainable socio-economic development

Recognizing the vital role of education in the global growth and innovation as well as in the regional and global peace and stability, Japan will provide educational cooperation which leads to the employment and industrial development as the foundation of socio-economic development. Our support includes areas where Japan has experiences and expertise accumulated through a long period of international cooperation such as mathematics and science education, engineering education, disaster risk reduction education and environmental education.

(3) Establishment and expansion of global and regional networks for educational cooperation Japan will endeavor to realize the "Learning improvement" and create necessary systems through international and regional frameworks by promoting cooperation among a variety of actors and diversifying partners, including strengthening the network and collaboration with the civil society. In addition, Japan will engage in cooperation under the framework of global partnership towards the realization of sustainable development.

Realize quality education through mutual learning: Learning for All, All for Learning

- Based on the concept of human security, achieve "quality education for all" and promote sustainable development

- Through educational cooperation, promote human resource development to build a foundation for nation building and growth

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3. Priority Areas and Approaches to Maximize Effectiveness of Japan's Cooperation

In order to ensure smooth and effective implementation of cooperation in the education sector, Japan will focus on the following priority areas.

(1) Educational cooperation to achieve inclusive, equitable and quality learning

(A) Cooperation for realizing human security and supporting self-help efforts based on field-oriented approach

As Japan's development cooperation focuses on supporting self-help efforts of the partner countries in achieving self-reliant development in the future, Japan will continue to take this approach. Taking advantage of Japan's experience and knowledge and in line with the development policies and educational system of the partner countries, Japan will center its cooperation in education focusing on their proactive and collaborative efforts towards self-reliant development of partner countries while further advancing the dialogue and collaboration in the field. In addition, under the principle of human security, Japan will provide support for individuals to acquire capabilities and skills that are necessary for them to enhance their potential and carve out their own future.

(B) Cooperation to ensure quality of education (Learning improvement)

Although access to primary education has improved rapidly thanks to the MDGs initiative, ensuring the quality of education remains a challenge. In light of Japan's strengths in its education system, Japan has been providing support to improve partner countries' quality of education in such areas as mathematics and science education and school based management. In basic education, since 2011, Japan in collaboration with various development partners has been supporting to improve comprehensive learning environments with a support model named School for All where the local governments, schools, and the local communities work together to provide quality learning environment comprehensively. Building on this support model, Japan aims to achieve "Learning for All, All for Learning" to realize quality education through mutual learning with a more intensified focus on learning improvement. Specifically, Japan will focus on the following five areas to provide support for the diverse needs of each partner country covering not only formal education but also non-formal education and lifelong learning: 1) quality education, 2) safe learning environment, 3) school-based management, 4) community participation and 5) inclusive education. Japan will also actively support teacher professional development through trainings including a peer-to-peer learning approach for teachers called Lesson Study to continuously ensure quality of education.

In addition, Japan will support international assessment framework to ensure quality education by cooperating with the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) of the World Bank, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) which conduct regional learning assessments used for international education studies.

(C) Cooperation for girls' education (addressing gender disparities in education)

Education is a catalyst for sustainable development. Therefore ensuring opportunities for all women and girls to get quality education enables to improve the quality of living not only for themselves, but also for their families and the community, making it possible to strengthen social functions. For instance, improvement of literacy is extremely important in building a sustainable society, in that it not only improves access to proper knowledge about public hygiene and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS as well as adequate knowledge concerning prevention, but also becomes a foothold for appropriate family planning. In addition, providing start-ups and employment supports for women through vocational training, which promotes social advancement of women including those who used to have difficulty in working in public sphere, for example, will also lead to the facilitation of economic empowerment of women. Inadequate installation of separate toilets for girls at schools in developing countries is one of the factors that not only cause deprivation of educational opportunity from girls, but also expose them to the danger of sexual violence and kidnapping. Therefor improvement of educational environment including installation of separate toilets for women at schools and public facilities is also an urgent issue. Toward realization of "a society in which women shine," a vision Japan has been promoting since 2013, Japan will focus its efforts on the improvement of enrolment/completion ratio for girls at every stage of education, linkage to employment, and education in the area of public hygiene, maternal and child health, and so on. Further, in 2015, Japan announced its will cooperation with the United States to promote girls' education in the world. Japan will continue to engage in educational cooperation, including such initiatives as mentioned above, in consideration of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

(D) Cooperation responding to the needs of marginalized populations who are deprived of access to quality education due to various factors such as conflicts, poverty and disabilities As there still remain many children out of school and adults without literacy skills in the world, ensuring access to quality education for all including those who are placed in the most vulnerable and disadvantageous positions is an urgent issue. Based on "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" with keeping in mind one of its message, "ensures that no one is left behind," Japan will provide support for developing literacy and other skills necessary to live independently, focusing not only on formal education, but also on non-formal education with a particular emphasis on children, people with disabilities, women, refugees, Internally displaced persons, ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, who tend to find themselves in the most vulnerable positions.

Japan ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2014. Based on the convention, Japan will further strengthen its efforts to provide education support which open for everyone to ensure people with disabilities enjoying human rights and basic freedom and promote respect for the inherent dignity of people with disabilities.

With respect to educational support in the conflict-affected regions and countries, Japan will provide support at the emergency response stage as well as at the recovery stage in the education sector collaborating with international organizations and NGOs. Japan is aiming to promote early reconstruction of their social functions by providing education support including mental care for children in early stage. In addition, Japan will provide supports that are required for reconstruction, such as vocational training which leads to social reintegration and livelihood improvement, education for disaster risk reduction, and mine risk education.

(2) Educational cooperation for industrial, science and technology human resource development and sustainable socio- economic development

(A) Educational support for securing decent work, industrial development, and betterment of livelihood

For healthy and sustainable socio- and economic development, it is essential for individuals to acquire skills that will lead to improve one's livelihood and secure employment. With this recognition, Japan will ensure seamless educational support from primary education to secondary and higher education, and provide assistance for comprehensive technical and vocational education and training including enhancing collaboration with business sector including Japanese enterprises and providing supports to acquire broadly applicable skills such as work ethics and teamwork while focusing on education and vocational training which lead to employment and foster entrepreneurship. In addition, Japan will focus on technical and vocational education and training support with an aim to improve livelihoods of the socially vulnerable people.

(B) Support for advanced human resource development

For the purpose of developing practical human resources such as those highly creative human resources that are capable of adapting themselves to the ever-changing global society and create a new industry, Japan will focus on capacity development for core human resources who will contribute national-building in the area of administration, economy, law and development and for government officials. Japan will also focus on capacity development for establishment of a platform for promoting science and technology. In addition, Japan will promote acceptance of foreign students and provide quality education in which Japan has its comparative advantage through enhancing the collaboration with long-term training programs such as "African Business Education Initiative for Youth): ABE Initiative," a human resource development program which combines experience internship at Japanese enterprises and study at master's courses in Japanese universities and Technical Intern Training Program. Japan will also expand bilateral exchanges of highly skilled professionals who are active at the international level.

(C) Support focused on mathematics and science education and engineering education

For the purpose of promoting development of human resources with scientific knowledge and technical expertise required for industrial development, Japan will provide assistance in mathematics and science education and engineering education, where Japan has a competitive advantage. In particular, Japan will seek to provide quality education in the partner country by way of such support as collaboration with Science and Technology Diplomacy, improvement of educational and research capability at the engineering education hubs, and assistance which makes use of the knowhow and networks of Japanese universities and colleges of technology, as well as through building and promoting an education quality assurance system. In order to provide such assistance, Japan will also focus on teacher training.

(D) Support for promotion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) including disaster risk reduction education and environment education

Education not only lays the foundation for socio-economic development, but also has a role in enhancing the resilience of society. As various global issues such as poverty, conflict, climate change, natural disasters, and environmental issues are becoming more and more serious; it is our responsibility to the future generations to develop human resources that are capable to grasp the gist of these issues and take necessary actions.

For this reason, promotion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is important, as ESD contributes to the improvement of the quality of education in a significant manner. As a country which advocated the "United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD)," Japan held "the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development" in Aichi-Nagoya, and Okayama in November 2014, the last year of UNDESD. Following the achievement made at this Conference, Japan will continue to promote ESD towards concrete implementation of the "Global Action Program (GAP)," a program positioned as a follow-up program of the UNDESD in cooperation with UNESCO and international community by making contributions such as contribution to the UNESCO Trust Fund and active participation in international discussion on ESD.

Furthermore, based on "Sendai Cooperation Initiative for Disaster Risk Reduction", in order to build sustainable and resilient society against various disasters together with international society, Japan as a country with a long history of disaster risk reduction, sharing its knowledge and technology with the world, will provide assistance in the area of legislation and system building including human resource development and technology transfer for formation of policies on disaster reduction and emergency disaster assistance and training for the promotion of women's leadership in disaster reduction. Japan will also provide technical cooperation and capacity building for system building for disaster risk reduction.

(3) Establishment and expansion of international and regional networks for educational cooperation

To achieve the above-mentioned (1) educational cooperation to achieve inclusive, equitable and quality learning and (2) educational cooperation for industrial, science and technology human resource development and sustainable Scio-economic development, Japan will focus on the following efforts:

(A) Establishment of broad networks

South-South Cooperation which promotes developing countries' cooperation within the region as well as across the regions and Trilateral Cooperation in which developed countries support South-South Cooperation are effective approaches to tackle cross-border challenges while sharing one's knowledge and experience to others. Japan will promote international and regional mutual learning through establishment of a broad network including South-South Cooperation and Trilateral Cooperation; and strengthen the capability to deal with common challenges in the region as well as promote cooperation in the education sector through our efforts such as science and math education, Lesson Studies，School Based Management and education for children with disabilities.

In particular, in the Asian region, Japan will contribute to regional higher education cooperation through the Working Group on Mobility of Higher Education and Ensuring Quality Assurance of Higher Education among ASEAN Plus Three Countries, the AIMS program (ASEAN International Mobility for Students Programme) of SEAMEO-RIHED (the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre specializing in regional higher education development), establishment of platform for brain circulation in the this region on the basis of ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net), and student exchange based on the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP). In addition, based on Japan's comparative advantage which built on its past achievements of assistance for improvements in literacy rate and improvements of quality of teacher in the Asia Pacific region through UNESCO, Japan will continue to engage in cooperation in education sector in the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, Japan will not only disseminate achievements of its educational cooperation in the international community in collaboration with the partner countries, but also proactively participate in the discussions on effective fund mobilization and implementation of education cooperation at the United Nations, United Nations special agencies such as UNESCO, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and other international frameworks so that Japan's initiatives can be sufficiently reflected upon in the formation process of the principles and trends of international education cooperation.

(B) Enhance collaboration with international organizations

It has become more and more important for various development partners to collaborate and cooperate with each other in providing assistance to achieve "The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". Japan will enhance the collaboration with international organizations and regional organizations that play a central role in the education sector such as GPE, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and UNESCO and make the collaboration with such international organizations effectively in such a manner that assistance through international organizations could form a mutually complementary assistance with bilateral one. In addition, Japan will promote contribution by utilizing field-oriented knowledge and experiences. Furthermore, Japan will seek to achieve greater outcomes by reflecting the field-oriented experiences on to its policies through applying the methods and approaches that have been established through bilateral assistance to the collaboration with international organizations where applicable.

(C) Promote cooperation participated by a wide range of actors and diverse partners

In order to effectively deal with education challenges in the developing countries, which are becoming more and more complicated, it is essential that Japan mobilizes and compiles all knowledge and expertise available within the country by enhancing collaboration between relevant ministries and government agencies as well as public-private partnerships. In addition, in order to strengthen public-private partnerships, it is important that the government plays a coordination role connecting all parties and link with knowledge and expertise of private sector, NGOs and academic institutions including universities which can have effective policies and wider range of information with respect to the change and diversification of needs in the field. With an aim to promote cooperation by a wide range of actors and diversify partners, Japan will build a public-private partnership platform for educational cooperation and provide multi-layer cooperation. The Government of Japan will exchange views with its partners to establish and strengthen networks with diverse partners. In addition, Japan will enhance its collaboration with the civil society, private sector local communities and local universities in an attempt to introduce knowledge which accumulated in local areas to international community, promote revitalization of the region, and further, to improve the image of Japan and foster Japan experts through multicultural youth exchange.

(D) Enhance mutual collaboration with other development sectors

As education is a sector closely related to other development sectors, it is important to have a good grasp of Japanese and other donors' efforts in other development sectors and enhance the collaboration with other development sectors. For example, collaboration between the health sector and the education sector is getting more interested, including collaboration in the area of assistance for prevention of infections. For this reason, positioning education in the whole structure of development cooperation, Japan will enhance collaboration with other development sectors such as health, disaster risk reduction, environment, science and technology, employment and industry promotion, and infrastructure and make an effort to implement more effective support.

(E) Strengthen the linkage between policy, implementation, and outcome

Japan will focus on the following viewpoints for the purpose of implementing its education support in a smooth manner and, in particular, strengthening the linkage between policy, implementation, and outcome.

- In order to implement effective cooperation in accordance with the needs and levels of development of partner countries, consider strategic implementation of an appropriate scheme (loan aid, grant aid and technical assistance) as well as flexible and organic operation; in addition, seek to expand the aid resources including the use of loans in the education sector.

- With a particular focus on policy formation that makes use of field-oriented knowledge and practical experiences, promote the application of such knowledge and experiences in policy making and effective implementation.

- Seek to fundamentally strengthen the framework, such as "Japan International Education Cooperation Groups" meetings and establishment of a platform for public-private collaboration on education cooperation, which allows active participation of various players.

4. Monitoring, evaluation, and communication

(1) Monitoring and evaluation

Progress and outcomes of this strategy will be monitored at three levels as shown below. In implementing monitoring and evaluation, Japan will strengthen result-based approaches.

Project level

- Conduct monitoring and evaluation of the targets set at the planning stage for bilateral assistance.

- Review the outcomes of assistance through multilateral organizations based on the progress or final reports.

Country level

- Actively participate in the monitoring and evaluation process to assess the progress and achievements of the education sector programs in the countries where education is prioritized in the Country Assistance Policy of the Japanese assistance and the government together with donors jointly conduct monitoring and evaluation of the education sector plans.

Global level

- Monitor financial input disaggregated by sub-sectors and regions using DAC data.

(2) Review and evaluation of implementation status of the strategy

- Periodically review progress on the implementation of this strategy at Japan International Education Cooperation Groups meetings and others.

- Conduct a third-party evaluation of this strategy at an appropriate time and reflect the results in developing future education cooperation policies as well as in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of projects.

(3) Communications and Public Relations

Ensure communication and public relations on the outcomes of this strategy and evaluations to fulfil accountability to the Japanese citizens, disseminate importance of educational cooperation, and provide necessary information about the outcomes of this strategy and international evaluation to ensure transparency to the international community.

{*1* Development Cooperation Charter (Cabinet decision, February 2015): http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/files/000067688.pdf}

{*2* The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), "EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015": http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232205e.pdf}

{*3* The Dakar Framework for Action (complete text): http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/en-conf/dakframeng.shtm A framework for action adopted at the "World Education Forum" held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000; setting the following six goals towards the attainment of "Education for All (EFA)": (1) Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, (2) Ensuring that by 2015 all children have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality, (3) Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met, (4) Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults, (5) Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, (6) Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.}

{*4* UN Youth, Youth and Education: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-education.pdf}

{*5* Sustainable development goals (SDGs) Open Working Group Report (A/68/970): https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1579SDGs%20Proposal.pdf }