The inaugural conference of the Education and Solidarity Network was held in Paris on 14 May 2009. 120 organisations from 60 countries took part in the creation of this Network.

We set ourselves the following objectives:

Through the mobilisation of education professionals:

• To develop and promote solidarity-based social protection systems for education professionals themselves and for the wider population
• To develop strategies for education and training in solidarity-based social protection.

Since then, thanks to mobilisation and the partnership dynamics set in train in Paris, the Network has become a player with a growing role on the education scene.

Now that the Network has been in operation for one year,  we feel it is important to tell you what we have done to translate our plans into action.

1. The Network has 14 projects, 3 of which have already been successfully completed.

These projects cover five areas:

• The creation of mutual societies: 3 current projects in Africa, Asia and Europe,
• Education and training : 3 current or completed projects, including the creation of an international university training platform on the governance of mutual societies and on managing healthcare establishments, with Romanian, French, Moroccan and Argentinian partners
• Technical cooperation and the twinning of establishments and/or mutual societies: 2 projects, in Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire
• The establishment a mechanism for financial solidarity between education professionals from the North and the South: the « 1 € solidaire » Advocacy: 2 campaigns now being launched in Europe and internationally, in synergy with the education world.

 The Network is part of the international drive to extend and promote solidarity-based social protection

The Network works in close cooperation with the ILO and other agencies within the United Nations system, supporting the Social Protection Floor initiative, and participating in the work of the International Alliance for the Extension of Social Protection.

The Network has also developed partnerships with NGOs and government agencies in order to participate in joint actions on health education and the creation of mutual societies.  To take a concrete example, in Africa and in South Asia, the Network works with the French NGO, SOLIDARITE LAIQUE within the framework of the programmes it runs with local partners.

3. The Network has established the first items in its “toolbox” which will be available to its members and partners

The aim is to share, to pool, experiences, knowledge, human and financial resources, in order to support members’ and partners’ projects. A five-step process for creating mutual societies was established and is being used in the projects now being developed. Similarly, the international training platform will provide an “e-learning” tool, the basic elements of which are currently being developed, for education professionals on all five continents.  Just as important is the survey of awareness-raising and education campaigns and tools for healthcare and social protection that will enable teachers in every country to set up their own programmes, drawing on the experience and ideas of other members of the Network.

4. The Network has a structure and is up and running

Since 14 May 2009, the Executive Board has met, in December of the same year, to finalise the strategies traced out at the conference and the Constituent Assembly of 15 May.  The activities of the Network are monitored by the Bureau which meets every month.  The Network team has been bolstered by the appointment of a Managing Director.

To keep you informed of the Network’s activities and to share resources and ideas, there is now a monthly newsletter, and the website has been completely redesigned to turn it into a tool for members and partners and a platform for knowledge management.

The achievement of these first building blocks gives us the will to continue, because we still have high hopes, interesting prospects and an exciting project.  But this project will not reach its full potential until all actors in the education world and their mutual society partners have joined the network, as some thirty organisations in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe have already done.

Jean-Philippe HUCHET

President