Nov 03, 2011

The closing plenary session of the 2011 Summit looked forward to the year ahead. 

The session began with a panel discussion between Mr. Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, Prof. Dr. Fasli Jalal, former Vice-Minister of National Education of Indonesia, Michele Pierre-Louis, President, Fokal Foundation; former Prime Minister of Haiti; and Sara Buhmaid from Learners’ Voice. 

The panel discussion was followed by a speech from the first WISE Prize Laureate Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairperson, BRAC, Bangladesh.

In closing, the assembled WISE community was addressed by His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, PhD as he announced plans for next year: ‘WISE is about actions and outcomes. I am pleased that I can announce some important decisions which we intend to enact in the course of the coming year’.


WISE Award for universal primary education

At a special session of the Summit focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser announced that from next year, one of the 6 annual WISE Awards would specifically recognize achievements helping to advance the realization of MDG 2 which calls for universal primary education. 


Learners’ Voice to become a full year program 

Learners’ Voice, launched at the WISE 2010 Summit to inspire and empower young learners, will become a full year program, making youth fully recognized advocates of education progress.


Haiti Taskforce to become a catalyst for action 

The WISE Haiti Taskforce, created at WISE 2010 to help re-build the education system in Haiti, will now become a catalyst for action, creating synergies between existing local initiatives and international best practices. 


New WISE publication

WISE will commission a new publication, following the release of ‘Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers around the world’ by Charles Leadbeater, continuing the exploration and promotion of best practices in innovation in education on a global scale. 


Development of the online WISE community

The WISE web platform will be further developed through 2012 with increased collaborative content and a year round forum to facilitate communication and continuing building the WISE community.