Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif
Statement on Africa Day 2024
NEW
YORK, May 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Africa is an amazingly beautiful continent
with a powerful young generation who have the inherent right to an
inclusive and continued quality education. Yet – and especially in
Sub-Saharan Africa – they have been left furthest behind for far
too long. Now is the time to right the wrongs.
As we celebrate Africa Day, we call on all leaders in
Africa – and all world leaders
globally – to support the African Union's Call to Educate an Africa
Fit for the 21st century and make good on the global promises of
universal education as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
More than 60 years ago, African leaders gathered in Ghana for the First Congress of African
States. Five years later, on 25 May
1963 – with nearly two-thirds of the continent achieving
their longed-for independence – leaders met again in Ethiopia to form the Organization of African
Unity. From these early days, the African Union was born in 2002
with the noble vision to create "an integrated, prosperous and
peaceful Africa, driven by its own
citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena."
While progress has been made over the past two decades in
delivering on these goals, Africa
continues to fall behind in meeting many of the targets outlined in
the 2030 Agenda. Think about this: "In 1990, 14% of the world's
poor lived in Africa; by 2019,
this number jumped to 57%," according to the World Bank.
Economic interests and a sense of scarcity – in spite of a
continent rich in resources – these diametrically opposed positions
tend to lead to conflict and human rights abuses. The brunt of this
is born by children, families, teachers and communities in
countries like Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, South
Sudan and Sudan.
Schools, children and teachers are being increasingly targeted.
"The number of violent incidents affecting education in Africa
Union countries rose by 20% in 2023 with 411 reports of violent
incidents," according to Save the Children.
Furthermore, climate change is compounding these painful
realities putting even more girls and boys in harm's way. According
to Education Cannot Wait's recent analysis on the impacts of
climate change on education: "Over the last decade, more than 91
million school-aged children impacted by crises have faced climate
shocks amplified by climate change worldwide. The effects have been
particularly pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa, affecting 42 million
children. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where climate-related crises are
prevalent, internally displaced children are 1.7 times more likely
to be out of primary school compared to their non-displaced peers.
Girls are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate
change, with a higher likelihood of dropping out of school and
being forced into early marriages."
While the challenges before us are enormous, there is hope if we
take collective, responsible and global action to right the wrongs
now.
It starts with embracing the values and commitments outlined in
the UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the
African Charter on Human and People's Rights. The people of
Africa deserve no less. Their
rights must be guaranteed with an emphasis on their right to an
inclusive, equitable, quality education, as the very foundation for
all other rights.
Together with our strategic donor partners, and through ECW's
investments in partnerships and joint programming (ECW Multi-Year
Resilience Programmes) in Africa,
we work closely with Ministries of Education and connect a wide
array of local and international partners, governments, non-profits
and the private sector to deliver unified programming that breaks
down silos and delivers quality with impact.
These programmes provide holistic education – the kind of
education that the Global North enjoys, such as mental health and
psychosocial support, academic learning, school feeding programmes,
teacher training and incentives, back-to-school programmes and
catch-up classes, vocational training, early childhood education
and more – to ensure that African children and adolescents can
access true, quality education.
However, we must urgently increase funding for education.
Nowhere is this more true than in Africa's forgotten crises in places like the
Central African Republic,
Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South
Sudan and Sudan. According
to ECW's strategic partner Educo: "In Mali, all regions of the
country have been affected by attacks on schools by armed groups
throughout 2023 forcing their closure. In all, 1,170 schools have
closed, affecting more than half a million children and 10,260
teachers. Despite this growing and deteriorating context, the
education sector has received the least amount of funding, so that
only 16% of the identified students have been reached. In 2023,
only 7.4% of the US$96 million appeal
has been covered."
If Africa is to deliver on the
promises envisaged 60 years ago for "an integrated, prosperous and
peaceful Africa," it must enjoy
the rights and resources to focus on educating every girl and boy.
A continent that has produced global personalities like
Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel and
Desmond Tutu among so many other profoundly educated leaders is a
continent with great promises for all of us. With a quality
education, many more young people will step out of the shadows in
Africa and bring the kind of
humanity we so desperately need in the world today.
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SOURCE Education Cannot Wait