In remarks following the bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, the President praised Qatar as "a center of innovation" and said the country has shown enormous progress ranging from education to health care under the Amir's leadership.

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And the record will be even stronger if Mrs Gregoire makes the progress she hopes on education reform, health-care costs and government accountability.

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It will explore mechanisms for setting benchmarks and targets, for overcoming obstacles that hinder development of early childhood care and education services and for monitoring progress towards service delivery.

UNESCO: Education

In such places, a lack of transport, education and health care all conspire against progress.

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Ministers expressed concern about persistent education inequities among and within countries, and lack of progress on specific EFA goals, in particular education quality, early childhood care and education, skills development and adult literacy.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

However, progress towards the other goals has been much slower, notably early childhood care and education, youth and adult learning, vocational education and training, gender equality and literacy, as well as the quality of education.

UNESCO: Education Ministers commit to achieve Education for All

There is no denying the progress that the Afghan people have made in recent years -- in education, in health care and economic development, as I saw in the lights across Kabul when I landed -- lights that would not have been visible just a few years earlier.

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One fast-growing grassroots organisation is Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO which links union members and non-union workers to campaign for better jobs, higher standards in education and, above all, health-care reform. (Any progress on this front under the Obama administration will be claimed as a success by both AFL-CIO and the breakaway coalition led by Mr Stern.) Moreover, grassroots union activism in several swing states helped Mr Obama to victory.

ECONOMIST: Unions