Action Blog: Africa

Nobel-Laureate winning economist Michael Kremer discussed his research and its implications in Washington, DC on February 3, 2020.

Leave No Child Behind: Invest in the Early Years Report Summary by Light for the World, Open Society Foundations, International Disability and Development Consortium, Early Childhood Development Action Network, Global Campaign for Education, and Global Campaign for Education-US.

The report begins by highlighting the Sustainable Development Goals where inclusive early childhood education is at the root. Key findings and policy recommendations reflected on funding are discussed globally and with a specific focus on Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Continuous learning is essential to realizing the potential of education but remains challenging in a protracted crisis like Somalia, where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Returnees typically experience disrupted education due to constant flux and unpredictable evictions from their camp homes.

On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, Oxfam International and GCE-US co-hosted an event on Education as the Great Equalizer during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Little Ripples is an early childhood education program that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to deliver child-centered, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children ages three to five. Little Ripples is designed to be refugee- and community-led in order to build long-term capacity and address the unique needs of children and communities affected by trauma, violence, displacement, and uncertainty.

The global indicator for SDG 4.2.1, the goal focused on early childhood, is the “percentage of children under 5 years of age who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being.”The most recent SDG 4 Data Digest from UNESCO evaluates progress against creating the right measures for this and clearly identifies that we “need a definition of developmentally on track.”

HakiElimu, a Tanzanian CSO working since 2001 to see an open, just, and democratic Tanzania, where all people enjoy the right to education that promotes equity, creativity, and critical thinking, is directing research-based advocacy to support girls’ education. Through the Right to Education Index (RTEI) (www.rtei.org), HakiElimu found that girls’ expulsion from school because of pregnancy is not only legal but also commonplace in Tanzania. 

The #MeToo movement, which took the world by storm last year gave women a platform to discuss the abuse or injustices that they have experienced in their lives.  For many young women and girls it has been an opportunity to speak out and demand change.  But which voices are still silent and who do we still need to listen to?

Please call on your Members of Congress to support the Global Partnership for Education and promote continued US investment in education for the world’s most marginalized children.  

The truth is that a highly qualified teacher in a positive school culture can support students to leapfrog grade levels and provide relational and social support. These teachers are invaluable and must be invested in, so that they will continue to grow and will themselves invest in thousands of children throughout their careers.