The approach to advocacy takes lobbying key decision makers in education and politicians, Membership participation in education national dialogue, round table negotiations as well as public campaigns. Global Week of Action that is commemorated in April every year is the most conspicuous campaign activity we engage in. Advocacy is the core on the mandate of the Coalition. All the above projects are meant to enhance the quality of our advocacy. That is, capacity building, decentralization, and research together increase skills, numbers and sense of evidence for high quality advocacy and lobbying through round table talks and dialogues. We have already engaged in campaigns, dialogues and talks with the Ministry of Education and Training and other various education institutions. We have hosted the popular Global Week of Action which featured a seminar, radio and television show, essay writing on education as a human right by the school children, press conference, and demonstration march to petition the parliament and Ministry of Education and Training to provide more resources and legal framework for the achievement of EFA. Another important tool for our advocacy is the development and production of this website and newsletter respectively which will be launched in August 2007. The newsletter will be the means by which we reveal and interrogate trends in the education sphere.
Membership Campaign
A key focus under this activity will be on expansion of Coalition membership at national and district levels in order to increase advocacy voice on Education for All matters. Currently, the Coalition has a membership of 16 organizations spread around the country. The Coalition membership is mainly concentrated in Maseru , there is also need to attract organizations in other districts as well. In this regard the Coalition would like to increase its membership from current 16 to 60 by the end of this project in 2008. The Coalition would also like to establish more districts networks in other districts with the purpose of increasing the number of districts. The plan is to establish at least three district networks annually. Some activities will be linked to advertising the Coalition's activities in the press through press releases, production of jingles on radio and television as well as increasing having regular publications of the Coalition such as the newsletter, the website, Education Directory and maintaining the brochure of the Coalition.
The increase in membership within the Coalition will pose challenges for effective coordination of activities and sharing of advocacy information. Therefore, through this project the Coalition will initiate activities to coordinate members at national and district levels. This will be done through several activities that include community campaigns and meetings of executive committees, sub committees and staff that will be done on a regular basis. Through these activities the members of the Coalition will be able to discuss key issues affecting the implementation of EFA and come up with collective actions to deal with the issues. The district and national secretariat will become focal points of the communication.
§Capacity Building
This is meant to strengthen both the institutional and skills capacity of our membership. We provide skills training in the thematic areas such as proposal writing, project management, education budget analysis, advocacy and communication. Our capacity building project is geared towards providing skills building training on the following areas; Advocacy and Policy Analysis, Budget Monitoring, Project Management and Coalition Building. Although we have already conducted a number of training workshops for our members on advocacy and proposal writing, we have engaged a consultant to develop a skills building training manual on the areas stated above. This has been necessitated by the assessment of capacity within civil society in general done by Lesotho Council of Non Governmental Organizations (LCN); which indicates poor capacity in many areas including those stated above. The manual will be validated by selected members of the Coalition at a manual validation workshop that will be held for that purpose in July 2007. This will be followed by a series of trainings for Coalition members across the country.
Skills Building for Coalition Members and Networks
Having more numbers without adequate skills will compromise the quality of advocacy voice for the civil society. An assessment of capacity for within the Coalition and civil society in general done by LCN indicates poor capacity in many areas such as advocacy, policy analysis, communication, coalition building, and project management. In this regard, the Coalition intends to equip its affiliates as well as new ones with adequate skills to be able to effectively and efficiently carry out advocacy campaign activities and influence policy implementation. The kind of skills that will be required for the Coalition to deliver the goods include project management skills, policy analysis skills, advocacy skills, budget monitoring, communication skills, and coalition building skills. Several steps will be taken to equip the Coalition with skills for advocacy. The Coalition will engage a consultant to develop a skills building training manual an advocacy and policy analysis. The manual will be validated by selected members of the Coalition at a manual validated by selected members of the Coalition at a manual validation workshop that will be held for that purpose. This will be followed by a series of trainings for Coalition members and district networks.
The main purpose for engaging in research work is to propagate and cultivate the importance of evidence. Our stance should always be a product of research to influence policy changes. CEF Forum believes in the power of information and knowledge, these however should be a product of research. The rationale for engaging in research is basically to use findings and evidence to influence changes in education policies and practices. To illustrate, CEF Forum in partnership with Commonwealth Education Fund commissioned a survey to assess the levels of understanding and participation of civil society in education budget process. The survey was led by Lesotho Education Research Association (LERA). This initiative marked the preliminary stage into the tracking of Ministry of Education and Training budget to ensure that ministry resources are allocated and distributed equitably to address the schooling needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of the society. On a similar note, CEF Forum and OSISA have signed a memorandum of understanding to undertake a research study to explore the quality of education in Lesotho ; the study will highlight challenges and suggestions from relevant players in education towards improving the quality of education. The study will look at all aspects of quality education such as teachers training, pupil-teacher ratio, the curriculum, infrastructure etc. The activity will complement government‘s efforts of improving quality of education of Lesotho. The study is however, intended for January 2008.
Research on Quality Education
CEF- Forum intends to undertake a research study to explore the quality of education in Lesotho ; highlight challenges and solicit suggestions from relevant players in education towards improving the quality of education. The study will look at all important aspects of education towards quality education such as teachers training, pupil teacher ratio etc. Quality education is at the heart of EFA goals developed in Dakar, EFA goal number 6 is more forceful, it states that, improving all aspects of quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that, recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all. Seen in this light, the delay in addressing the quality of education will undermine all the efforts made towards achieving EFA goals in 2015. The activity will complement government's efforts of improving quality of education in Lesotho, the government renewed strategic plan for Lesotho has focused on consolidating areas in the education sector that require refinement, allowing for growth in student numbers for further education, as well as a reduction in pupil/teacher with the aspiration of addressing access remaining valid. The target is ultimately to achieve universal primary education and to improve access to early secondary education, at the same time securing high quality and performance standards.
