www.fresh-partners.org
A coalition of UN agencies, networks, donors and global organizations
Core components of school-based and school-linked approaches
Promoting educational success, health and development
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The FRESH Framework and Partnership

FRESH, an inter-sectoral framework and global partnership for promoting the educational success, health, and development of school-age children and adolescents through schools, was launched by UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank during the World Education Forum, Dakar in April 2000. Since its launch, these four UN agencies have been joined by other agencies and several global non-governmental organizations, networks and donors which have endorsed the common approach and agreed to collaborate within the partnership.

This web site provides a brief overview of the FRESH framework and the FRESH partnership, along with updates on its and other global activities. We invite readers to follow the links to our partners and other web sites where more extensive information and resources are available.
Images Depicting Multi-Component Approaches to
Promoting Educational Success, Health & Development

Announcements & Updates
  • The second of a series of webinars on topics related to Monitoring, Reporting, Evaluating and Improving (MREI) policies and programs was held September 7th, 2021. This session discussed the use of education data systems (EMIS). The previous session on June 1st, 2021 learned about different methods (school accreditation and surveys) to monitor and report on the status of policies and programs. A list of MREI topics has been developed and will be subjects of several FRESH webinars in 2021-22. See the FRESH Webinars page for details. 
  • Several FRESH Partners are cooperating in a global Fact-Finding Survey and Policy/Curriculum Document Analysis. A FRESH open web meeting on July 6th reviewed several related efforts to review and renew global approaches to promoting educational success, health and development through schools. These include the Global Education Monitoring report on Inclusion, finalization of the indicators for the education goal (#4) of the UN SDGs, the WHO survey on Maternal, child & adolescent health and others. See the FRESH Webinars page for details. 
  • A commissioner and staff member from the UNESCO Futures of Education Commission joined FRESH Partners in April 2021 to invite input in that review of schooling post-Covid and leading into 2050. Subsequently, FRESH partners have asked several global organizations representing teachers, principals, school district administrators, senior school leaders, guidance counsellors and school psychologists to prepare a consensus statement. The process is being led by FRESH Partner, the Global Network of Deans of Education.  
  • FRESH Partners and others discussed Health & Life Skills education at its last open web meeting on 02 February 2021. Shared concern was focused on the UN agency apparent reluctance to monitor H&LS as part of Target 4.7 of the UN 2030 Goals. See the meeting recording and documents on the FRESH webinars page.
  • Several organizations and experts will be organizing a series of webinars and other activities to support the recommendations of the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report on Inclusion. See updates on this Inclusion Working Group page.
See more items in our Archive of Announcements & Updates
The FRESH Framework

The acronym FRESH originally referred to Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH), which identified a set of four essential components or pillars selected from a list of valuable approaches and programs used by UN agencies and global organizations for their work within and with education systems. It  promotes collaboration across several sectors to achieve all 17 of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Framework has evolved over the years in recognition of emerging trends and needs. Similar to the cooperation across multiple sectors needed to achieve the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the framework adopted by FRESH Partners retains a broad view of the many facets of health while engaging other sectors working on different aspects of human development such as sanitation & hygiene, safety from violence & crime, equity, inclusion, relief & development aid, social and sustainable development.
As the partnership continues its work, the focus on access to schooling, attendance and educational attainment has increased and become central to our discussions. We also emphasize that schools, other agencies and ministries need to address the needs of the whole child through a holistic core curriculum and broad range of learning opportunities. This salutogenic view of the child should also guide the delivery of health, social and other services, program funding, research grants and donor programs to enable practitioners/agencies to address specific issues holistically. Consequently, the FRESH partners often use the phrase "promoting educational success, health and development" and the multi-coloured FRESH icon as a way to reflect the shared goals of many multi-component approaches such as health promoting schools, child-friendly schools, wash in schools, school-health & nutrition, community schools, safe schools, education in emergencies and many others. There is considerable research, experience, program evaluations and data from surveys documenting the effectiveness of these approaches and their topic-focused multi-intervention programs.

The Framework lists key components or "pillars" that are common to all of these approaches, These common components are:
  • over-arching government, ministry/agency/school policies adopting/requiring multi-component approaches and multi-intervention programs
  • classroom instruction and other forms of co-curricular and non-formal education promoting healthy & life skills,
  • a defined set school-based or school-linked health, social, food & other student services,
  • defined minimum conditions for a safe, healthy physical environment and a positive psycho-social environment that includes student, parent & community involvement.
As well, the Framework includes several topic/problem based themes or multi-intervention programs (MIPs) that can be used to respond to the needs of students in different contexts. These include water/ sanitation & hygiene programs, violence prevention, reducing risk from disasters, nutrition and many others. Practical and realistic indicators to assess progress have been developed for the original 15 themes and more are being developed for new topics such as mental health, child abuse/ exploitation, bullying and family violence. The Framework also lists essential cross-cutting themes such as intersectoral partnerships, country ownership, child rights and participation, contextualization of programs/strategies and community participation.These FRESH components, cross-cutting and topic-based themes promote several of universally accepted essential knowledge, skills and values that should be acquired by young people, in part through their schooling. These include global citizenship, life skills, resilience, social responsibility, youth assets/development and social/emotional intelligence.

It is critically important that countries, agencies and schools focus their resources clearly on the basic, urgent or important needs of their students, building from the strengths of their communities and using the four FRESH pillars as an infrastructure to select and deliver effective and sustainable programs within the approaches and strategies deemed to be more relevant to their local situation.

The Framework positions the school as a hub within the community to serve students and families. However, outreach activities beyond the school to support parents, engage with community organizations are also important and a part of regional or national strategies. Research and experience has taught us that school-level initiatives or single-focus programs are insufficient and unsustainable without the full involvement of local/regional authorities, ministries and political leadership in several sectors. As well, long-term, capacity-building, systems-based, continuous improvement strategies and actions that are integrated within the core mandates, constraints and concerns of education systems are vitally important.  

The FRESH Partnership

The FRESH Partnership is comprised of an extensive number of UN agencies, donor organizations and global non-governmental/ civil society organizations concerned with promoting basic education, health, safety, equity and various types of economic, social, sustainable and human development through, with and within schools, agencies and systems. The FRESH Partners see their approaches reflected in the core components/pillars of the FRESH framework, and its problem-based and cross-cutting themes. Our partnership actions and activities at the global level, indeed any such international initiatives, must inform, motivate, support and help to frame the work being done at the regional, national/state and local levels around the world.

The FRESH Partnership acts as an advisor through international exchanges of knowledge and information, by creating consensus among its partners and by undertaking other activities at the international level that do not duplicate the activities of its members.  Further, the FRESH Partnership, as a group, does not undertake actions at the regional or national levels nor does its membership include regional, national, private or university-based centres. It is the individual FRESH  partners or other organizations that take such regional/national actions or engage regional, national organizations and research/knowledge centres through their respective constituencies, memberships, communications channels and global activities. Nevertheless, the FRESH Framework and our collaboration at the global level often encourages similar partnerships within countries and regions.

The informal, minimal organizational structure of the FRESH Partnership includes a Coordinating Committee of over 40 representatives and several designated Working Groups/Individual Advisors which have been assigned specific tasks or roles. As well, the Partnership communicates regularly with an defined list of Corresponding or Affiliated Organizations and Networks. Our activities include exchanging information and knowledge, creating consensus or providing advice on global issues/initiatives and organizing selected global, intersectoral workshops.

The well-accepted goal of an “Education for All” means ensuring that all children have access to a basic education of good quality that serves the needs and aspirations of the whole child. This implies building or rebuilding schools and education systems, creating an environment in schools and in core education programs in which children are both able and enabled to learn. Such an environment must be friendly and welcoming, promote health, ensure safety, protect children from exploitation, engage students, involve parents and respect teachers. The development of such learning environments is an essential part of the overall efforts by countries around the world to increase access to, and improve the quality, of their schools. The FRESH Partners have agreed to work together towards this common goal for all children and their schooling by encouraging the use of the FRESH framework to promote the educational success, health and development of all school-age children.

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