Central Asian Education Cooperation Network

The regional Central Asian Education Cooperation Network (CA ECN) seeks to enhance the education reform processes through improved cooperation among countries in the region. ESP has built co-funding partnership with the Asian Development Bank for the project.

CA ECN is a new, emerging complex network. Although such an organizational form is increasingly common internationally, there are only few examples in the Central Asia region. The CA ECN has drawn on the experiences of and established contacts with the South East Europe Education Cooperation Network (SEE ECN). The CA-ECN builds upon existing achievements of the OSI network programs and Soros foundation programs by strengthening collaborative links among individuals, groups, and education institutions in the region. Rather than establishing a new structure, the initiative supports the development of a regional network of affiliated national focal points mainly linked through an internet interface that will lead subsequently to collaborative projects.

The main purpose of the CA ECN is to establish a network of education stakeholders in four Central Asian nations (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), interacting primarily through an Internet interface, with a view to sharing information on education reforms. Such information will include policy statements, project documents, legislative acts and regulations, statistics, analytical reports, research papers, successful education practices, textbooks, methodology guides, database of experts and consultants, etc.

The CA ECN aims to:

systematically assemble and share up to date comparative information about the actual situation in education systems within Central Asia;
develop capacity of local education professionals for educational policy research, analysis, comparative analysis, reporting, monitoring, and advocacy;
open education reform processes to a variety of stakeholder groups, including civil society bodies; and
develop technical cooperation between countries of the region by using the existing pool of resources.

For more information, contact melnikov_eugene@mail.ru or melnikov-yevgeniy@hotmail.com, or see www.educasia.net.