Foreword

The biennium 2012-2013 has become a period of significant transformation of the INRULED’s programmes and activities, demonstrated by the outcomes and products in  terms of research and advocacy, capacity development, Africa priority, information and networking as well as INRULED’s institutional development.

During 2012-2013, several research projects themed on skills development, gender equality and women leadership, teacher education as well as ICT for rural education have been launched, with fruitful products of publications and reports with a broad dissemination internationally, coming as Education and Training for Rural Transformation: Skills, Jobs, Food and Green Future to Combat Poverty, E-learning in China, Women and Leadership in Education, Developing Support System for Rural Teachers’ Continuing Development, 2011 China EFA Monitoring Report, Attracting Quality Teachers for Schools in Rural Areas, Policy and Experiences of China, etc. to share with relevant stakeholders and serve for the implementation of EFA across the globe.

INRULED’s capacity building activities are based on the training modules or materials developed from the researches carried out by different programme groups. Further to the Africa targeted trainings organized before moving to Beijing and the two study tours organized in 2009, INRULED organized the Seminar on Education and Rural Development (21 days) in 2013, with 19 participants from 10 African states. And this will be an annual event in the coming years. Also, INRULED plans to support IICBA’s Advanced Programme on Teacher Policy Development and cooperate with China- ASEAN Centre for capacity building in education.

In order to support UNESCO’s Africa priority, INRULED has put Africa programmes on a top priority in its working agenda. With this in mind, INRULED enhanced its cooperation with IICBA in the light of a new Memorandum of Cooperation. Two round- table events on China-Africa Cooperation in Education were organized. INRULED also organized delegations to attend the eLearning Africa Conference in 2012 and 2013, and visited many organizations in Ethiopia, Benin, Kenya, Burkino Faso, Namibia, South Africa, which has helped enhance INRULED’s work in and for Africa.

During this biennium, INRULED participated actively in UNESCO Bangkok’s programmes and activities and enhanced its cooperation with UNESCO Institutes and Centres, such as UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC), International Insitute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) and INRULED is playing an active role in the network of category 2 centres in Education Sector of UNESCO. In addition, IRNULED strengthened its institutional capacity building through a wide range of ways to better match its mandate.

In 2012 and 2013, INRULED welcomed the visits of honorable guests, Dr. Qian Tang, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms. Lalla Aïcha Ben-Barka, Assistant Director General for African Department, and Mr. Olabiyi Babalola Joseph, Ambassador Permanent Delegate of Benin to UNESCO and others, encouraging INRULED to better serve the member states under the guidance of UNESCO’s plan and priorities.

INRULED’s running and its programmes in this biennium have received support from many institutions and individuals, especially the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Commerce of China as well as the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO. I would like to take this opportunity to express my great gratitude to all those organizations and individuals who have contributed to the development of INRULED.

In 2014, INRULED is going to move to the new office building located at the campus of Beijing Normal University (BNU) and celebrate its 20th anniversary, which is a milestone for the development of INRULED. Also, INRULED will formulate its medium-term strategic plan (2014-2017) in the light of UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy (2014-2021). We are expecting to better fulfill our missions in collaboration with our partners and relevant stakeholders in the coming years.

Mr. Dong Qi

Director, UNESCO INRULED