UNESCO in the 2000s: EFA Coordination, GMR Production and Organizational Legitimacy

With the deadline of Dakar Framework for EFA approaching and the new set of post-2015 education goals and targets proposed, there has been much reflection on what EFA has meant and achieved. However, there has been very... [ view full abstract ]

With the deadline of Dakar Framework for EFA approaching and the new set of post-2015 education goals and targets proposed, there has been much reflection on what EFA has meant and achieved.

However, there has been very little research which has turned the gaze back on the major multilateral institutions such as UNESCO that committed to the fulfilment of the EFA goals. Against this background, this paper investigates the way in which UNESCO used its position as the coordinator of the post-Dakar Action Framework to help this institution regain some of the legitimacy that it had lost in the preceding decades. It does so through a rigorous analysis of relevant documents and interviews with key actors inside and outside UNESCO. More specifically, the paper focuses on the role of both the EFA follow-up unit and the production of the Global Monitoring Reports (GMRs) during the 2000s because they were at the forefront of UNESCO’s efforts to re-brand and re-position itself in the education for development field.

Thus, we not only look back at a recent and key period—2000-2014—in the history of UNESCO, but we do so in order to understand better the way that EFA coordination and GMR production may have helped address a crisis of organizational legitimacy in the context of multilateralism. In so doing, this paper intends to offer useful insights into the debate on the conference sub-theme of “international support and co-operation” in the field of education for sustainable future.