The world is full of them. Abbreviations. Maybe they were once meant to simplify our lives. By now they have created a jungle of thorny word bushes, efficiently closing the door to anyone not skilful enough to decipher the cryptic letter-combinations. But don’t worry, Adult Education and Development is here to help you with a Survival Guide to the World of Education and Development Abbreviations, or SGWEDA for short.
Agenda for the Future – The action plan approved at CONFITEA V in Hamburg, Germany 1997.
Belém framework for Action – The action plan approved at CONFITEA VI in Belém, Brazil 2009.
CONFINTEA – The UNESCO World Conference on Adult Education, held every 12 years.
GMR – Global Monitoring Report, Annual World Bank-IMF reports on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
GRALE – The Global Report on Adult Learning and Education. The first-ever GRALE was published in 2009 and was based on 154 National Reports submitted by UNESCO Member States on the state of adult learning and education, five Regional Synthesis Reports and secondary literature. The latest GRALE report was published in 2013.
ICAE World Assembly – The assembly of the members of the International Council for Adult Education, held every 4 years.
PIAAC – An OECD study in 25 countries looking at adult competences. PIAAC stands for Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. PIAAC was launched in October 2013.
PISA – PISA is an international study that was launched by the OECD in 1997. It aims to evaluate education systems worldwide every three years by assessing the competencies of 15-year-olds in the key subjects: reading, mathematics and science. To date over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA.
The Delors Report – The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, chaired by former European Commission President Jacques Delors, proposed in Learning: The Treasure Within that, building on the four pillars that are the foundations of education – learning to be, learning to know, learning to do, and learning to live together – all societies aim to move towards a necessary Utopia in which none of the talents hidden like buried treasure in every person are left untapped.
ALE – Abbreviation for Adult Learning and Education (UNESCO-approved terminology).
EFA – Education for All was a result of 1,500 participants of the 2000 World Education Forum in Dakar in the year 2000 agreeing on six goals covering early childhood, primary education, youth and skills, adult literacy and continuing education, gender equality, and improving quality.
ESD – Education for Sustainable Development
INGO Accountability Charter – The INGO Accountability Charter is an initiative of international NGOs demonstrating their commitment to accountability and transparency. It is now the world’s most widely used cross-sectoral accountability framework for INGOs, covering all major areas of work and being compatible with and complementary to existing codes.
LDCs – Least Developed Countries
LLL – Lifelong Learning
MDG – The Millennium Development Goals were a result of 193 member states meeting at the 2000 Millennium Summit of the United Nations in New York, agreeing to achieve eight goals set towards reducing poverty, child mortality, HIV/AIDS, and improving primary education, gender equality, maternal health, environmental sustainability and partner ship for development.
NGO/CSO – Non-Governmental Organisation/Civil Society Organisation
PPP – Public Private Partnerships
Rio+20 – United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD)
RTE – Right to Education
SCP – Sustainable Consumption and Production
SDG – A proposed name for the UN goals after the MDG expire in 2015 is Sustainable Development Goals, SDG.
SIDS – Small Island Developing States
SME – Small and Medium Enterprises
TVET – Technical Vocational Education and Training
UNGA – United Nations General Assembly
QAE – Quality Adult Education
10YFP – Ten Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production.
ActionAid – International organisation combatting poverty. Founded 1972 in England.
ANCEFA – African Network Campaign for Education for All. ANCEFA is a regional network consisting of independent coalitions or networks in 23 countries of Anglophone and Francophone Africa. ANCEFA exists to promote, enable and build capacity of African civil society to advocate and campaign for access to free quality education for all.
ASPBAE – The Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, the umbrella for non-formal Adult Education in Asia, and a regional member of ICAE.
CEAAL – Consejo de Educación de Adultos de América Latina is the umbrella for non-formal Adult Education in Latin America, and a regional member of ICAE.
DVV International – Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V., DVV), cooperating with more than 200 partners in over 35 countries, Publisher of AED.
EAEA – The European Association for the Education of Adults is the umbrella for non-formal Adult Education in Europe, and a regional member of ICAE.
ECOSOC – United Nations Economic and Social Council
HLPF – High-level political forum
HLP UN – High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
ICAE – The International Council for Adult Education, the global non-formal Adult Education umbrella organisation.
IMF – The international Monetary Fund
OECD – The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Oxfam – International confederation of 17 organisations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.
UIL – UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany.
UNESCO – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the UN Charter.
WB – The World Bank
DVV International operates worldwide with more than 200 partners in over 30 countries.
To interactive world map