The EFA High Level Meeting opened on December 16, 2008 in Oslo, Norway. Held annually, the meeting aims at reinforcing political will in order to accelerate progress towards Education for All. ADEA, which is attending the conference, organized a meeting just before the opening of the conference, bringing together African Ministers of Education and development partners. Moderated by the Chair of the COMEDAF Bureau of Ministers Naledi Pandor, also Alternate Chair of ADEA and Minsiter of Education of South Africa, the meeting called upon partners to strengthen their support to both the achievement of quality education for all and implementation of the African Union's Second Decade for Education in Africa, for which ADEA plays a key role.

Presentations were made by Ahlin Byll-Cataria, Executive Secretary of ADEA and Rita Bissonauth from the Education Division of the African Union Commission. They were followed by numerous interventions by African Ministers and partners supporting the development of education in Africa.

Some forty participants attending the EFA High Level Meeting attended the meeting, including the Ministers of Education from Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo Brazzaville, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal and South Africa; the Assistant Director General for Education of UNESCO, Nicholas Burnett, as well as several Directors of UNESCO; representatives of various multilateral and bilateral cooperation development agencies including UNICEF, CIDA (Canada), NORAD (Norway), USAID, France, Germany, Spain and Autralia.