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	Mandela demands action from the G8 leaders this July   Young GCE activists with Nelson Mandela at Trafalgar Square   Kids show their "Friends" to the crowd - symbolising over 100 million girls and boys who don't go to school
	Past Issues - January 2005 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. AFRICAN UNION: NGO'S SLAM AFRICAN LEADERS FOR UNKEPT PROMISES ON HEALTH, EDUCATION Poorly financed and collapsing public health services across the continent can only be described as a public health emergency, according to a declaration by 11 African networks and international organisations ahead of the AU summit focusing on health issues. The groups called on African leaders to deliver on the AU's unkept promise to increase health spending to 15% of national budgets and to provide free, universal and compulsory education as a frontline weapon against HIV-AIDS. Download a copy of the statement in full 31 January 2005 Back to Top LULA LAUNCHES MASSIVE MOVEMENT AGAINST POVERTY AT WSF More than 12,000 people crowded into a sports stadium in Porto Alegre to witness President Lula of Brazil launch the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, a massive mobilisation involving dozens of major global networks including GCE. Coumba Toure of the Africa Network Campaign on Education For All, a GCE member organisation, tied a white band - the symbol of the Global Call to Action - around his wrist. Lula then lifted his arm to cheering crowds. The Global Call to Action against Poverty(GCAP) wants world leaders to take action in 2005 to end poverty, illiteracy, and disease. The coalition is demanding more aid, fair trade and cancellation of debt. President Lula said developing countries must join together to make sure that the voices of people living in poverty are heard, and promised that Southern leaders would also speak up louder this year to demand that rich countries tackle the root causes of poverty. The overwhelming message of the launch was one of hope and belief that GCAP will make a huge impact in the fight against poverty this year. Coumba Toure said '...you can buy a bird for 50 cents and if you free the bird it will bring fortune to your life. I realised that you had to catch the bird before freeing it. GCAP is not about buying freedom - it's about breaking the cage.' Find out how GCE's Global Action Week links to GCAP Read more about GCAP at www.whiteband.org 27 January 2005 Back to Top NEPAL: ACTION WEEK TO FEATURE NATIONAL BACK-TO-SCHOOL DRIVE The recently-formed GCE Nepal coalition has been asked by government to coordinate a massive school enrollment campaign throughout the 75 districts of Nepal during the Global Action Week (April 24-30). Last year the coalition managed to enroll thousands of rural children in schools during the Action Week but after the campaign, they stopped going to school because there was lack of classrooms, teacher, school infrastructure, books and so on. This year, with the full collaboration of the Ministry of Education, immediate follow-up will be ensured and an Emergency Core Group has already been formed to tackle such problems without the need to go through the usual drawn-out bureaucratic procedures. For more information please contact Priti on info@globalmarchsouthasia.org Tel - +977 1 4278064 / 4282255 29 January 2005 Back to Top EDUCATION RANKS HIGH AS PRESSING GLOBAL ISSUE AT DAVOS Davos: Education is among the most important issues facing the world today, according to about 750 business and political leaders who voted on top priorities for the World Economic Forum's agenda on Wednesday. The leaders chose poverty, equitable globalisation and climate change as the top three issues, but voted education into next place because, they said, it is key to beating poverty and sustainable development. Education outpolled the Middle East crisis, trade, and six other global concerns to become one of the top priorities for the annual business summit, which attracted heads of state, CEOs and celebrities. As one of the six top-scoring issues, education will now become a major focus of the WEF's work during the coming year. A WEF report launched at Davos slammed rich countries for providing only a fraction of the aid needed to deliver universal education, and slated the private sector for its apathetic response to the global education crisis. The report raised serious concern that the 2005 goal for gender parity in education will be comprehensively missed, and called on the G8 to act decisively on education this year. Read the WEF's progress report on the Millennium Development Goals, including education http://www.weforum.org/pdf/ggi2005_low.pdf 28 January 2005 Back to Top CHILDREN DENIED ENTRANCE TO HIGH SCHOOL Thousands of impoverished Kenyan children who graduate from non-formal schools are being arbitrarily denied entrance to government high schools, says the Elimu Yetu Coalition, a GCE member. EYC says that the 18 NFE pupils who passed the primary certificate exam with qualifying marks should gain immediate admisson, and government should give a comprehensive statement on the plight of more than 2,500 NFE pupils whose names were never entered into the computer system that allocates high school places. "Government must come out and demonstrate that it is not deliberately turning National schools into exclusive clubs for the rich," said Wambua Nzioka, EYC coordinator. Download EYC's briefing papers on the issue: Are National High Schools a Preserve for the Rich? Education is a Constitutional Right 27 January 2005 Back to Top UK ANNOUNCES DOWN PAYMENT ON $10bn-a-year PLAN FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION The UK's development minister pledged today to invest GBP 1.4bn over the next 3 years to improve education opportunities in poor countries, particularly for girls, who comprise the majority of the more than 100 million children out of school worldwide. The GCE welcomed the announcement, saying it represents an important down payment on the UK government plan outlined by Gordon Brown in Nairobi last week, to get every child into school by mobilising US$10bn a year for education through the International Finance Facility. However, the GCE warned that the plan was unlikely to develop further unless the UK took the lead in forging a new global compact, bringing together all major donors to education as well as all poor countries seriously committed to universal schooling. DFID's funds should be used to spearhead a major expansion of the Fast Track Initiative, a partnership that promises increased aid to poor countries with credible plans to provide free, good quality education to all, said the GCE. The FTI is the only coordinated global effort to achieve the Millennium Goals on education, but currently has enough funds to cover only 12 countries. "Real progress on universal education, of the kind that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have rightly committed themselves to, won't happen until we get both donors and developing countries to back the UK's vision," said Kailash Satyarthi, GCE President. "The best way for the UK to do this is to put its money as well as its leadership firmly behind an expansion of the Fast Track Initiative." The GCE called on DFID to invest at least half of the new UK aid in countries endorsed by the Fast Track Initiative. The pressure group said this was also the best way to ensure that UK funds reach the countries facing the greatest girls' education challenges - at least 20 of which are countries where the UK's Department for International Development does not work. The first Millennium Development Goal - calling for gender parity in school enrolments by 2005 - has already been missed, at a cost of 1 million unnecessary child deaths this year alone, according to the World Bank. "It's not only necessary but incredibly urgent for the UK to lead the way towards a successful global compact for education," Satyarthi added. Click here to read more about DFID's new education strategy http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/education/education-strategy.asp 26 January 2004 Back to Top ACTION AID ADVERTISES TWO EDUCATION POSTS ActionAid International seeks: a senior education policy analyst/research coordinator based in London (ref no 0501-01[i]) an education campaign/advocacy coordinator preferably based in Johannesburg (ref no 0501-01[ii]) Write to jobs@actionaid.org.uk quoting the appropriate reference number for an application form and role profile/job description. Email David Archer (david.archer@actionaid.org) for more information. Closing date for both posts 18 Feb. 24 January 2005 Back to Top AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM CONFRONTS CRITICAL ISSUES FOR THE CONTINENT By Console Tleane, African Flame Newsletter, African Social Forum The opening session of the third African Social Forum meeting held in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka , was very much reflective of the continent that is Africa . Held under the broad rallying theme “Another Africa is Possible”, the meeting brought together delegates from almost all corners of the continent. The opening was a mixture of fierce political speeches, from the South African delegation whose representative spoke of the daily struggles being waged against “corporate neo-liberalism”, to the announcement by the Malawi Social Forum that the Malawian Chapter has the full backing of the Malawian government. Read the full report at www.africansocialforum.org/doc/English%20Version%20number%201.pdf Source: African Flame Newsletter, African Social Forum reprinted in e-CIVICUS no 235. 17 January 2005 Back to Top CIVIL SOCIETY EXPRESSES OUTRAGE AT PASSING OF ZIMBABWE'S NGO ACT The enactment on 9 December 2004 of a new law which bans foreign human rights organisations from working in Zimbabwe is an outrageous attack on human rights and could be used to close down local human rights groups, says Amnesty International. "The law is a direct attack on human rights in Zimbabwe and should be immediately repealed," urged Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme on International Human Rights Day. The Non-governmental Organisations Act (NGO Act) specifically targets organisations that "promote and protect human rights". The Act also gives the government sweeping powers to interfere with the operations of any NGO in Zimbabwe through a government-appointed NGO Council. Under the Act, Zimbabwean NGOs are prohibited from receiving any foreign funding to engage in human rights work. Read more at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR460392004?open&of=ENG-ZWE Source: e-CIVICUS no 235 17 January 2005 Back to Top AFGHAN EDUCATOR WINS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S RIGHTS PRIZE Sakena Yacoobi, founder and president of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), is the 2004 winner of the Global Fund for Women's prestigious International Women's Rights Prize. Yacoobi earned the prize for her courageous vision and leadership in implementing quality education, human rights training and safe healthcare for women and children in Afghanistan. For further information see www.globalfundforwomen.org/4news/news/pressreleases/sakena-yacoobi.html Source: e-CIVICUS no 235 17 January 2005 Back to Top KENYA: TIME TO END TEACHER FREEZE AND LIFT DONOR CONDITIONALITIES, SAYS COALITION What Kenya needs most in order to deliver universal education is more realistic funding, said the Elimu Yetu Coalition (a GCE member) in a press conference today, following the visit by UK Chancellor Gordon Brown to a Nairobi school on Wednesday. EYC demanded an end to social sector spending caps imposed by donors. Decisive intervention is due and donor politics and incongruous conditionalities must be kept out of this," said Wambua Nzioka, EYC Coordinator. Nzioka pointed out that due to a hiring freeze, the number of teachers remains the same as in 1998 despite the fact that Free Primary Education has brought 1.7 million more pupils into the system. EYC also called for a more equitable secondary school selection process. "It makes a mockery of the education system for a child in some rural public school that survives on bare minimum facilities to be put on the same scale with a child from a private school with all the facilities. We are calling upon the government to forthwith accord different weights to schools of different categories." Download EYC press briefing in full 14 January, 2005 Back to Top GORDON BROWN EDUCATION PROPOSALS COULD TRANSFORM AFRICA'S FUTURE, SAYS CAMPAIGN GROUP Proposals announced by Gordon Brown in Nairobi yesterday, to invest $10 billion a year in education, could put up to 40 million more African children into school and save 7 million young people from HIV/AIDS, said the Global Campaign for Education - an pressure group of NGOs and teachers' unions active in more than 150 countries. 'This proposal means that the UK's commitment to 'education, education, education' has finally gone global. We welcome the Chancellor's efforts to mobilise new aid and to cancel debt. 2005 must become the year in which the world says goodbye to the scourge of ignorance and illiteracy,' said Kailash Satyarthi, GCE President. Satyarthi described the UK education aid plan as "absolutely critical to Africa's future - and literally a matter of life and death for tens of millions of children." GCE research shows that young people with a complete primary education are less than half to become infected with HIV/AIDS as those with little or no education. Ten billion dollars a year is less than 4 days of global military spending, the GCE said, yet it would guarantee every girl and boy a good quality primary education and dramatically expand access to secondary education, adult literacy and early childhood programmes as well. The plan could be funded through innovative mechanisms such as the International Finance Facility proposed by the UK, and global taxes for development which have been proposed by France. Debt cancellation would also free up much needed resources for health and education. The GCE called on the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations to make new financing mechanisms and debt cancellation a reality at their July 2005 summit. Visiting schools in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam yesterday and today, Brown said basic education was "one of the best investments we could ever make." Children told him how free primary education has transformed their lives - and pleaded for extra resources to hire more teachers, improve the quality of schooling and open up opportunities to attend secondary school. "I have completed primary education and done well," Selemani, a 16 year old boy told Mr Brown in Tungi Village, just outside Dar es Salaam, "but we do not have the money to afford secondary education". In Tanzania less than 1 in 10 of secondary school aged children are in school. "A free quality education is not only the birthright of every African, it is also one of the most easily achievable steps towards Africa's renaissance," said Charles Abani, deputy regional director for Actionaid Africa. "As the Chancellor saw for himself at the school he visited here in Nairobi, the pent-up demand for education on this continent is astonishing." "After abolishing school fees recently, Tanzania and Kenya saw millions of children enroll in school almost overnight, and within a few years they have reached nearly 100% primary enrolment," Abani added. "But now they face desperately overcrowded classrooms and poor learning conditions because they can't afford enough teachers, classrooms and books to meet the demand for education. Deeper debt relief and long-term, predictable aid are urgently needed to keep these education success stories on track - and to enable more countries to follow their example." Kenya has not been able to expand its teaching force since 1998, despite the fact that 1.7 million more children are going to school now that fees have been lifted. -ENDS- Editor's Notes Education is a matter of life and death: The GCE report "Learning to Survive" (2004), endorsed by the World Bank and UNAIDS, shows that 7 million cases of HIV/AIDS could be prevented over a decade if every child got a complete primary education. Children born to mothers with no education are twice as likely to die before the age of five as children of educated mothers, according to UNICEF. Women's education is the single most important factor behind falling levels of hunger and malnutrition in the developing world over the past 30 years, according to a prestigious US research institute on food and nutrition. Education is critical to Africa's economic development: Every year of schooling raises women's incomes by an average of 10%. Currently, one in two children in Africa never gets to finish primary school. According to UNICEF some 120 million children around the world never attend school at all. On current trends Africa will not achieve universal completion of primary education until 2130. African countries are committed to education despite a lack of resources: Following Tanzania's introduction of free and compulsory education in January 2002, 1.6 million children signed up to primary school for the first time. In 2003, 6.6 million children were in primary school, compared with 4.8 million in 2001. The targets for enrolment set out in Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy have been exceeded, with a Gross Enrolment Rate of over 100% and a Net Enrolment Rate over nearly 90%. In Kenya, the introduction of Free Primary Education in 2003 increased the number of children in schools by over 1.7 million children. Due to lack of resources the government has had to cap teacher numbers at 1998 levels. On average HIPC countries in Africa still spend 15% of their revenue on debt servicing. In 2002/3 for example, Tanzania spent $170 million on primary education and $100 million on debt service. The rich world gives relatively little to basic education: Rich countries pledged in 2000 at the Dakar World Education Forum that "no country seriously committed to Education for All will be allowed to fail for lack of resources." Current bilateral and multilateral aid to basic education totals some US$1.5bn per year. Rich countries need to commit an additional US$5.6bn per year just to ensure universal completion of primary education - one of the eight Millennium Development Goals. An extra $3bn per year would help at least 50% of children go on to secondary school, which delivers additional economic and health benefits. The International Financing Facility proposed by the UK government could mobilise an extra $50 billion a year in development assistance to the poorest countries. 13 January, 2005 Back to Top COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN - HAVE YOUR SAY WomenWatch, UNICEF and UNESCO invite you to join their online discussion forum on girls' and women's education ahead of the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Your views and analyses will be summarized in a report which will be submitted to the 49th session of the CSW. To subscribe go to: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/forums/review/education/index.html You can also subscribe via e-mail by sending a message to reviewforum-register@un.org, providing the following information: Online discussion: "Education" Name, e-mail address, Organization name, Organization type [NGO, UN entity, government, academia or other], country/region that you represent, areas of interest, sex [woman/man] 10 January, 2004 Back to Top ZAMBIA: NEW MOE AIDS POLICY ADDRESSES STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION EI reports: Zambian teachers' unions were formally invited to attend a workshop on HIV/AIDS Policy development for the Education sector, organised by the Zambian Ministry of Education. In his closing speech the Minister of Education emphasised the tremendously negative impact of the pandemic on individuals, organisations and civil society and particularly outlined the impact of the pandemic on the education sector. The Minister of Education commented on how disheartening it is to be faced with a pandemic that has a direct impact both on supply and on demand. He also reminded participants of the fact that the Ministry of Education is the largest employer in Zambia. The Minister of Education recognised the importance of having all stakeholders including teachers' unions involved in developing HIV/AIDS policy. Based on the discussions and on the outcome of the work done during the workshop, a policy document was finally drawn-up aiming to address the following areas: Creating a working environment free of stigma and discrimination Embracing prevention, mitigation, care and support Promoting job security to the infected and affected Enhancing the creation of support groups on HIV/AIDS within the workplace. For further information, please contact: hivaids@ei-ie.org 11 January 2004 Back to Top GUINEA: OVER 50% OF TEACHERS RECEIVE HIV/AIDS TRAINING EI reports: By February 2005, the Guinea teachers' unions FSPE and SLECG expect to have reached over 17,000 teachers working in 2160 schools - more than half the country's total teaching force - with training on HIV/AIDS issues. The two unions have been participating since 2002 in the joint EI/WHO HIV prevention programme for teachers. The Ministries of Education and Health have been very supportive of the project and the unions have recently requested a more tangible cooperation from the two ministries. For 2005, FSPE/SLECG is also envisaging the development of a stronger collaboration with the National Council against HIV/AIDS as well as with other organisations such as WHO or UNAIDS. Through the cascade model, the work of FSPE/SLECG is steadily gaining further ground. 11 January 2004 Back to Top KENYA: TEACHERS'UNIONS FOCUS ON AIDS EI reports: The 47th annual conference of Kenya National Union of Teachers, KNUT took place in Nairobi from 7-9 December 2004. The theme of the conference, which was attended by 2500 teacher leaders from KNUT's 70 branches all over the country, was: "Developing trade union responses to HIV/AIDS in southern Africa". On the first day, KNUT reaffirmed the significant role of trade unions in tackling the HIV/AIDS crisis and in beating the pandemic. KNUT praised the excellent work already initiated by teachers' unions in the country but also insisted on the need to continue mobilising the trade union movement on HIV/AIDS and related issues. Participants were then invited to take part in a series of workshops in order to provide an in-depth practical look at how to run some key trade union HIV/AIDS activities. 11 January 2004 Back to Top ©2004 GCE You are welcome to reproduce items from the GCE E-News for any non-profit use, as long as you credit GCE together with any original source mentioned in the article. IN THIS SECTION News Headlines News in Full Past Issues Sign up to receive News Upcoming Events
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