Sikander Sabeer: Asia-Pacific Regional Thematic Consultation on Education in the post 2015 development agenda

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Asia-Pacific Regional Thematic Consultation on Education in the post 2015 development agenda

Background

In the run up to 2015, UN organizations and international, regional and national stakeholders across the globe have commenced consultations regarding the effectiveness of the Millennium Development Goals and reflections on the post-2015 development agenda as a global commitment towards human development and poverty reduction. The UN has started the processes and consultations to foster broad based, open and inclusive dialogues with stakeholders, including civil society partners, on helping to define the post-2015 agenda. One of these processes is global thematic consultations around 11 themes, one of which is education. This thematic consultation is co-led by UNESCO and UNICEF which have set up a regional Task Team to ensure that the voices of the Asia-Pacific region are included in the global process.

Regional Thematic Consultation on Education

Within the framework of the thematic consultation on education in the post-2015 agenda, UNESCO Bangkok (Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education), UNICEF Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific (EAPRO), and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA), in partnership with interested non-governmental and civil society organizations (e.g. VSO) and the private sector will organize a regional thematic consultation on education on 28th February – 1st March 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. The consultation will be held back-to-back with the regional EFA (Education For All) coordinators’ meeting, which is planned to be held on 26th - 27th February 2013 in Bangkok. The consultation will also build on two high-level expert meetings which were organized by UNESCO Bangkok in May and November 2012 around the themes education for the future and post 2015.

Aims of Regional Consultation

As many diverse consultations and discussions are taking place, our aim is to bring together various stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region, including government representatives, civil society organizations, regional networks and young people to provide a platform for sharing and discussing their ideas and opinions on education in the post-2015 development agenda and to come up with a collective voice from the region.
The aims of the regional consultation are to:

1) Take stock of and exchange information on regional and national processes of consultation and dialogue on education in the post-2015 agenda;

2) Identify areas of key importance for education and learning for the future in the region;

3) Discuss how to best articulate and position education as a critical part of the post-2015 development agenda; and

4) Formulate recommendations on education for the future as well as in the post-2015 development framework.

Outcomes of the Consultation

The outcomes and recommendations from this Asia-Pacific consultation will feed into the Global Thematic Consultation on Education which is planned to take place in March 2013 in Dakar, Senegal and will also be reflected in the ESCAP Regional Post-2015 Report. Ultimately, it will feed into the global UN report on the post-2015 agenda.

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About Me

Sikander Sabeer is a product of Isipathana College and holding a first class with distinction Bachelors of Science (BSc) degree on Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Microbiology from Spectrum Institute of Science and Technology (Sri Lanka), an outreach campus of University of Mysore (India). Presently reading for his Masters of Science (MSc) on Business Management at National School of Business Management (Sri Lanka), an outreach post-graduate institute of University of Dublin (Ireland).

Sikanders’ development work can be categorized into three avenues, namely community service and community development; youth empowerment and professional development; climate change and sustainable development. Meanwhile his development work is two phased, firstly action oriented, secondly strategic and advocacy. In the action oriented phase, he gets in to the field and implements his ideas. He works very closely with multi-stakeholders such as children, school students, youth, corporates & business firms, UN agencies, non-governmental and government organizations on diversified projects at different levels and on different capacities. With his strong grass-root level initiatives and experience, he invests equal time on advocacy, mentorship and youth policy framework, which is a unique, and a strategic bottom up approach.

Sikanders’ voluntary action oriented initiatives and his strategic thinking has given him numerous opportunities to be a guest speaker and youth facilitator; to share his experiences, best practices to motivate and inspire youth at number of National and International youth conferences. He has represented his country and fellow youth (1/4th of Sri Lankan population) at high profile youth conferences and high level UN summits/conferences, at some of the UN meetings I have served as an ‘Official Youth Delegate’ of the National Delegation team headed by HE president. Half of the world’s population is made up of young people and as a youth representative and a major stakeholder he had made several interventions on behalf of Global Youth and Sri Lankan youth at some of the UN conferences.

He has held several key positions in organizing several national and international events/programmes and he is one of the co-creators of the YOUTH is the word –Guinness World Record, where 1500 Sri Lankan youth stood to gather to form the largest human mosaic in the world.

His local, national and international initiatives on youth led community development, Climate Change; youth empowerment and youth advocacy led him to earn the most prestigious “Commonwealth Youth Awards (CYA)” for Excellence in Development Work (2012), The CYA’s celebrate and recognize extraordinary young people among one billion audiences from 54 member states of Commonwealth who are making a positive difference to the lives of others through development initiatives ranging from poverty alleviation to education and protection of the environment. This is awarded by Commonwealth Secretariat (CYP) headed by HM Queen Elizabeth II. He earned the "Global Changemaker" title of British Council Youth Empowerment Programme on 2010 for outstanding contribution for Voluntary Activities. He serves as a Youth Ambassadorial role for climate change and serves as a Youth Facilitator for climate sustainability under British Council International Climate Champion program. Apart from these major recognitions his team earned U.S. Department of States Federal Assistant Award Grant for “Green the Home” project and Global Changemakers Community Action Project (CAP) and Regional Action Project (RAP) grants for Youth Empowerment Initiatives.

Presently Sikander is serving as an Assistant Manager for Business Development and Project Officer for recycling solutions for Neptune Recyclers (Neptune Papers [Pvt.] Ltd) in Sri Lanka, a member of multinational corporate Expolanka Holdings PLC. He works very closely with multi- stakeholders, especially with school students, Industries and Corporates on recycling solutions which create an additional income from the trash while minimizing the environmental pollution.

"Do as much as voluntary activities, because volunteers Inspire in Action, they make a real change in their community, they talk less and work a lot, but never expect any personal benefits from their action, Indeed one day they will earn the rewards, that’s confirmed; Install this in your mind “I will do the best I can”

-Sikander Sabeer-