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Dear All,
I’m writing to you on my return from an exciting meeting of civil society from across the Arab region taking place in Yemen this week. Campaigners have travelled here to share their experience on Education for All and campaign activities and it is clear that there is much energy and experience in civil society movements throughout the Arabic states. Several countries ran Global Action Week activities for the first time this year.
After long discussions running through the night the meeting decided to set up a regional coalition called the Arab Campaign for Education for All (ACAE). ACEA will be setting up a secretariat in Yemen. The secretariat will help build civil society relationships throughout the region, support national coalitions, coordinate communications and lead the way in ensuring the Arab perspective and concerns are included in the international education dialogue. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from ACEA in the coming months. Thanks to everyone from the region to making this meeting such a success,
Best Wishes
Imad Sabi
(Board Member of GCE)
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CONTENTS
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| GCE NEWS |
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GCE’s Action Week: the Big Read |
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 Close to 13 million people took part in GCE’s Action Week activity: the Big Read! The campaign brought in participation in new countries especially in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. A few of the highlights include an amazing 1.2 million people taking part in the Big Read in Palestine, the attendance of the Prime Minister in Denmark, and new campaigns coming on board in Djibouti and Burkina Faso. In Brazil the highlight event took place in the National Congress involving the President of the National Congress – who was delivered a giant letter demanding literacy for all. Close to a million people took part in the UK, an amazing 4.5 million in Bangladesh and a general festive mood and celebration and demand for literacy across the globe.
Queen Rania led the way as the Honorary Chair of Global Action Week, taking part in Big Read events in Johannesburg and Washington. In DC she met with young campaigners the Honorable Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Representative of New York, Gayle Smith, Senior Director for Relief, Development and Stabilization and Senior Advisor to the President, National Security Council, Gene Sperling, Counselor to the US Secretary of the Treasury for a roundtable discussion entitled "A Smart Response to Challenging Times: Education Our Way to a Better Future for All”. Besides the selection of leading figures in the Big Read, Angelique Kidjo and Ishmael Beah also lent their voices to the campaign on an international media call on adult literacy and lifelong learning.
The 2009 Big Book is already being prepared, please remember to email stories, photos, footage and policy commitments made during the week to
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Read more about Action Week around the world here, and view pictures of Action Week Activities here.
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2010 1-GOAL: Education for All |
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 2010 is the year of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, a moment that promises to generate much international excitement, and also leave a legacy for Africa. GCE is preparing a high level exciting international campaign ‘1-GOAL: Education for All’ that will use the World Cup as a platform to engage footballers across the world in campaigning for education. The 1-GOAL website will be launched by the 10th of June, and the campaign officially launched in August this year.
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2010 Global Action Week |
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 Planning for the 2010 Global Action Week has taken place earlier than ever before, and the theme decided as Financing for Education. The date has been set for 25th April – 2nd May 2010. The Action Week activities will play a central role in the 1-GOAL: Education for All campaign and will draw on the energy generated in the run up to the next football World Cup. The first planning pack for the Action Week 2010 with more details of the action will be ready by the end of July.
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G8
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 Education is scheduled for the second day of the G8, in Italy in July, which will include the G5 countries in the discussions. Whilst the G8 communiqué looks likely to reaffirm aid commitments and the right to education, GCE is lobbying to try and ensure that specific financing to education commitments are made. Lobbying letters are being sent and GCE coalitions have been meeting with the G8 sherpas in the USA, UK and Italy. In a number of countries, coalitions will be doing send off moments, in the form of the delivery of the Big Read, for example in the USA on the 16th June. GCE will also be working to ensure that education messaging is represented in the media response from the media tent at the G8.
GCE will also be producing the next annual School Report for OECD countries in time for the G8 the draft copy will be circulated to the relevant coalitions to check in mid-June.
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New GCE sub-group on Inclusion |
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Following concerns that inclusion in education is not being significantly addressed, in particular children with disabilities (despite making up a third of the children out of school) a new thematic group is being set up on inclusion. This group is open to all interested; to join the group please email
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Report: Education on the Brink
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 GCE’s new policy report examines the continuing impact of IMF (International Monetary Fund) policy advice on education, particularly in the context of the global recession on education. This is especially timely and relevant given the G20's re- empowering of the IMF at the London Summit in April. The report was launched at a panel discussion on April 25 at World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC. GCE's IFI Policy Officer and representatives from member organizations VSO, ActionAid and Ghana National Association of Teachers, as well as the EFA Fast Track Initiative presented detailed analysis of the interaction of aid flows and macroeconomic policies which is undermining reliable financing for teachers' salaries as a key aspect of achieving EFA and advocacy opportunities for change.
The IMF responded to the panel insisting that the IMF is promoting fiscal stimulus in its crisis-response lending, despite the fact that GCE’s analysis of loans since September 2008 reveals otherwise. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan later claimed that in 1/3 of current IMF programs, spending for health and education is protected. GCE will continue to monitor the IMF and waits for documentation in support of these claims.
Benjamin Osei, of GNAT also met with FTI administrators and Steering Committee members to update them on Ghana's teachers earning $1-2/day, working without a collective bargaining agreement for the last three years and GNAT being excluded from in-country FTI proceedings.
Download the full Education on the Brink report here
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Recruitment |
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Communications Officer: GCE is currently recruiting a Communications Officer post to be based in the GCE secretariat in Johannesburg. A full job description and application details can be found on the website here. The deadline for application is the 5th June
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| CAMPAIGN NEWS |
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ANCEFA: Vacancies |
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 Six new posts have been created to work on the new Civil Society Education Fund in Africa to be based in the ANCEFA office in Dakar. The posts are: Accounts Assistant, Admin Assistant, Campaigns and Communications Officer, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, Policy Research Documentation Officer, and Programme Officer. The deadline for applying is the 12th June.
Click here to download the job description and application details.
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Global March Against Child Labour: Kailash Satyarthi bestowed with ‘Defender of Democracy Award’ |
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 GCE’s President Kailash Satyarthi, and Founder/Chair of the Global March Against Child Labor, and Ch. Aitzaz Ahsan of Pakistan, Barrister-at-Law, Senior Advocate Supreme will be presented with the 2009 Defender of Democracy Awards by the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in Washington D.C. later this year. Mr Satyarthi received the award for his distinguished life-long work and commitment to end child labour and promote education rights for children in India and across the world.
Read the full article here
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Rasheda Choudhury returns to CAMPE, Bangladesh |
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 Ms Rasheda K Choudhury served as Adviser (Minister) in charge of Ministries of Primary & Mass Education, Women and Children Affairs and Cultural Affairs in the Caretaker Government which conducted a free and fair election and handed over power to a democratically elected government on 6 January 2009. Rasheda Choudhury has returned to her former role as Executive Director of CAMPE since 11th May 2009.
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CLADE: Camilla Croso writes on the Durban Review |
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 The Durban Review Conference, held from 20 to 24 April 2009, is an achievement worth commemorating. It is a result, to a great extent, of the pressure put and the efforts undertaken by the civil society along these past eight years. The Durban Review Outcome Document, reaffirms the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) and is particularly important within an increasingly tense global context in which old and new forms of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance converge. The boycott of ten Member States however proved their lack of commitment and political will towards the DDPA principles to overcome racism, as well as a refusal to engage in the dialogue and multilateral debate promoted by the United Nations…
Read the full article here
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Colombia: launch of right to free education Campaign |
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 Moving forward in the actions against the charge of school fees for primary education, the Colombian Campaign for the Right to Education is calling to join the launch of the Campaign for the Exigibility of Free Education in Colombia that will take place on April 20. Colombia is the only country in Latin America where the national Constitution and legislation sanction school fees – a contradiction, given that the country signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the San Salvador Declaration, as well as other international agreements.
Read more about the campaign and the proposal launched here
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| EDUCATION NEWS |
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EFA-FTI Report : Sounds from the Classroom |
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 A recent EFA-FTI communications briefing ‘Sounds from the Classroom’ illustrates progress made by the Fast Track Initiative and the $1.2 billion needed to meet the FTI commitments. 37 low-income countries are endorsed by the EFA – FTI and most of them are counting on financial support for education so more children can go to school. Another 10 countries hope to join the partnership before the end of 2010 and send millions of out-of-school children to primary school.
Read the full report here
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World Bank report in favour of education privatization |
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 In the latest edition of a series of attacks on the vision of education as a public service, entitled “The role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education”, the World Bank once again actively promotes its preferred model of public service deregulation and private sector contracting of education services … with government providing the financing.
The first lines of the foreword by WB Education Director, Elizabeth King, clearly set the tone of this publication by stating that the “responsibility (for providing and financing education) is a large and complex one for any government to meet adequately”. Some of the introductory highlights in favor of increasing the private sector’s role in education include:
- “PPPS can create competition in the education market” which gives “the public sector an incentive to react to this competition by increasing the quality of the education that it provides.” This in total contradiction with the findings of the latest GMR read more here page 153
- Explicit anti-labor advantages: “flexibility in teacher contracting as one of the primary motivations for PPPs,” and allowing governments “to overcome operating restrictions such as inflexible salary scales and work rules that may prevail in the public sector”.
- The following advice is also given to neutralise anticipated opposition by teachers who might fear losing their jobs, or trade unions objectiing to the dismantling of labor agreements: “it may be useful for policymakers to recruit leading figures in the politics and business communities who understand the potential benefits of PPPs and can use their influence to help to overcome any resistance”.
Read the World Bank Report here
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Champions of Quality Education in Africa |
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 The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Ashoka’s Changemakers have partnered to launch an online challenge entitled “Champions of Quality Education in Africa” to identify the most innovative educators and educational organizations in Africa. Citizens and organisations working to improve education in Africa are invited to submit their innovations. Entrants will have the opportunity to receive feedback; connect with the global community and win US $5000 toward their initiatives.
Enter or nominate someone on the website www.changemakers.net/educationafrica by the 3rd June 2009
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Sheila McKechnie and International Young Campgner Awards |
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 These two awards aim to provide bespoke support to new or emerging campaigners. The young campaigning award (sponsored by Plan UK) is for campaigners aged 24 and younger, working on issues relevant to girls and young women. The international campaigning award has no age limit. Campaigners should be based in a selection of developing countries (more details can be found on the Sheila McKechnie website here)
The deadline for application submission is Tuesday 30th June.
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Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
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The work of the Special Rapporteur this year has concentrated on the right to education of persons in detention. Learning in prison through educational programmes is generally considered to have an impact on recidivism, reintegration and, more specifically, employment outcomes upon release. Education is however much more than a tool for change; it is an imperative in its own right. However, prisoners face significant educational challenges owing to a range of environmental, social, organisational and individual factors.
The Special Rapporteur aims to inform and assist Governments and interested parties in their efforts to address these factors and develop best practices so as to ensure the currently unfulfilled right to education for persons in detention.
Read the full report here
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ABOUT THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION (GCE):
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE)is a movement to end the worldwide crisis in education. Thousands of development charities, trade unions and child rights groups make up the national coalitions in over 100 countries. Together we campaign and lobby governments to make sure they act now to deliver the right of every girl, boy, woman and man to a free, quality education.
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GCE’S MEMBERS:
Regional & International Organisations: ActionAid International, ANCEFA, ASPBAE, CAMFED, CARE, CEAAL, CLADE, Comic Relief, Early Childhood Care & Development, Education International, FAPE, FAWE, Fe y Alegria, Fundacion Ayuda en Accion, Global March Against Child Labour, Ibis, IDAY, Inclusion International, Leonard Cheshire Global Alliance, Light of the World: Christoffel Development Organisation, NetAid, OEB/CEDEAO, Oxfam International, Plan International, Public Services International, REPEM, Save the Children Alliance, SightSavers International, VSO, World Alliance of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Vision International
National Civil Society Coalitions: Albania: ACCE, Argentina: CAPDE, Armenia: ACRPC, Bangladesh: CAMPE, Benin: CBO-EPT, Bolivia: FEB, Brazil: CDE, Burkina Faso: CCEB, Cambodia: NGO Education Partnership, Cameroon: EFA Network, Canada: Canadian Global Campaign for Education, Chile: FECPT, Costa Rica: MERCC, El Salvador: CIAZO, France: Solidarite-Laique, Gabon: SENA, Gambia: GEFA, Germany: GCE, Ghana: GNECC, Guatemala: CETT, India: NCE, Indonesia: E-Net for Justice, Ireland: GCE Coalition, Japan: JNNE, Kenya: Elimu Yetu Coalition, Lesotho: LEFA, Liberia: LETCOM, Malawi: CSCQBE, Mauritius: DCI, Mexico: ICE, Mozambique: MEPT, Nepal: GCE, Nicaragua: Foro Net, Niger: ROSEN, Nigeria: CSACEFA, Norway: Union of Education, Pakistan: PCE, Peru: MPDEP, Philippines: E-Net, Romania: GCE, Senegal: CONGAD, Sierra Leone: EFA Network, Solomon Islands: COESI, Spain: GCE Coalition, Sri Lanka: CED, Sweden: EFA Forum, Tanzania: TEN/MET, The Netherlands: GCE, Togo: CNT/CME, Uganda: FENU, UK: GCE-UK, Vietnam: GCE, Zambia: ZANEC, Zimbabwe: Teachers Association.
To apply for membership please contact
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Find out more about GCE on our website www.campaignforeducation.org
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