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	Tony Blair accepts the message from 5 million children around the world.   Young GCE activists with Nelson Mandela at Trafalgar Square   85 year old Kimani Ng'ang'a-the world's oldest school pupil-accompanies the buddies on their final journey through New York City to the UN.
	Past Issues - September 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. UN MILLENNIUM SUMMIT DELIVERS RHETORIC WITHOUT COMMITMENT Background Following the G8 Summit, GCE campaigners turned their attention to the Millennium +5 World Summit in New York . It was originally conceived as an opportunity for Heads of State to review progress in meeting the Millennium Declaration of 2000, strengthen the UN and commit countries to peace-building measures. During 2005 the Summit became a major campaigning moment for anti-poverty activists, especially the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, demanding that governments of rich and poor countries deliver on past promises to end the scandal of global poverty. Following hard on the heels of the G8 Summit, hopes were originally high that it would be an opportunity for world leaders to spell out real action on aid, trade, debt and poverty reduction strategies. Sadly, these aspirations were dashed as Summit negotiations descended into farce following a last-minute intervention by the US . Just three weeks before the Summit , John Bolton, controversial new appointee to the post of US Ambassador the UN, asked for drastic changes to the Outcome Document throwing the negotiations into disarray. The proposal ate up valuable time and immediately put other countries on the defensive, making agreement on strong language toward firm commitments next to impossible. After a strong backlash, the U.S. backtracked on some of these proposed changes, but considerable damage was done to the original mission of the Summit . GCE advocacy GCE members engaged in a number of advocacy activities in the run-up to the Summit , including: lobbying delegations at country level; submissions on the drafts of the outcome document; sending of 'friends' to strategic embassies and missions; letters and emails to missions. In an unprecedented collaboration, UNESCO signed a joint public statement to the media with GCE and the Global Movement for Children expressing grave concern about the missed 2005 target. On the eve of the Summit , 100,000 'friends' made by GCE campaigners were sent off on a journey round Manhattan with speeches by Rasheda Choudhury and Kumi Naidoo. The 'friends' were loaded onto a New York City School Bus, and were accompanied on their journey round 10 city landmarks by Kimani Ng'anga - an elderly Kenyan gentleman who has made history by enrolling at primary school at the age of 84. At each point on the journey, including the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building , and the UN Dag Hammerskjold Plaza . Mr Kimani released 10 balloons - each one representing a million children out of school. In Central Park , members of the public and the media were invited to play 'Girls Education - Snakes and Ladders', a giant board game that illustrates factors helping and hindering girls to go school. The journey ended at the Plaza, where Mr Kimani was joined by Kailash Satyarthi, President of GCE, and Suman, Rebecca and David, three liberated child labourers who had earlier given powerful testimony of the links between education and elimination of child labour at a speaker meeting organised by Global March on Child Labour. Together with US GCE campaigners, they presented Nane Annan, wife of UNSG Kofi Annan, with 'friends' from around the world. A large amount of media interest was generated, with reports on CNN, the BBC, SABC, Reuters and AP as well as dozens of news outlets in Kenya , India and the US among others. The event was supported by ActionAid International, the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, Global March on Child Labour, and the UN Millennium Campaign. GCE's lobbying and campaigning called for: Acknowledgement of the failure to achieve the 2005 MDG target of achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education, and implementation of an urgent action plan to get the world back on track to achieve gender equality in education Expansion of the FTI, and translating the endorsement contained in the G8 communique into firm financial commitments Commitment by Southern governments to implement specific policy changes that are a precondition to achieving Education For All A briefing paper prepared by GCE setting out our positions for Summit in full can be found at www.sendmyfriend.org/docs/NYeducatetoendpovertypaper.pdf GCE is also a member of GCAP and fully supported its key messages for the Summit , which can be found at www.whiteband.org/specialIssues/UNP5/unp54/gcapnews.2005-08-24.1670436362/en The outcome Five years ago, the UN Millennium Summit set just one goal for achievement in 2005: gender parity in primary and secondary education. All the other MDGs were framed for achievement in 2015 but girls' education was seen as such an important catalyst for change that it was prioritised for urgent action. It is shocking that the outcome document of the UN Summit in New York , despite our lobbying, does not even acknowledge the fact that over 90 countries have failed to meet this first target. This is not only a tragedy for those left behind, but a signal of the poor health of the MDG project in general As Rasheda Choudhury put it at the launch of the GCE event in New York . "If world leaders won't even wake up to the failure to meet this target, what hope is there for all the other MDGs?" Lobbying and campaigning yielded some benefits, however. Early drafts of the outcome document made no reference at all to education. Following sustained pressure the final version at least includes a couple of paragraphs, reaffirming the Dakar Framework for Action and the importance of Education For All . There is an explicit commitment to "free and compulsory primary education of good quality" - despite attempts by the US to remove references to "free" education. There is also a commitment to mobilise "enhanced resources of all types through the Education For All Fast Track Initiative" . In the section on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women there is a pledge to "eliminate gender inequalities in primary and secondary education by the earliest possible date and at all educational levels by 2015" . While weak, this was an improvement on earlier drafts, which did not even refer to gender inequality in education. This is reinforced by the section on "quick impact initiatives" which commits countries to take action for the "expansion of local school meal programmes using home-grown foods where possible and the elimination of user fees for primary education" . Hopefully the large number of countries that charge children to go to school will heed this important commitment, as it will have a particularly beneficial effect on girls' ability to start and stay at school. However, even these modest steps forward are seriously undermined by the failure to move forward on aid, debt and trade at the Summit . Without serious commitment by rich countries to change the nature of their relationship with poorer nations, there is a shaky future for the MDG project. Of particular concern is the fact that conditionalities and macro-economic policies imposed on poor countries undermine investment in education. The seriousness of these issues for education are addressed in ActionAid's new report "Contradicting Commitments: How the IMF undermines achievement of EFA", which has been endorsed by GCE. Next steps So, after a year of hard campaigning, a mixed picture has emerged. While the milestone events of 2005 have not lived up to our expectations, they have nevertheless coaxed some concessions out of rich countries. And although we remain far away from realising the whole Education For All package, the importance of education, and especially girls' education, has been recognised as never before. Indeed, at the recent World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, President Paul Wolfowitz said 'One of the encouraging signs I saw on my trip to South Asia is the premium Pakistan and India are now placing on girls' education... Through the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, the Bank plans to join other donors to double the enrolment of girls in 60 countries over the next five years. We have a plan. Now we need the resources. We will need to raise at least $2.5 billion per year to fulfill the dreams of thousands of school children eager for a brighter future.' There are growing signs that donors such as the UK , France and Canada are considering dramatic increases in aid to education. It's therefore crucial that GCE lobbying and campaigning continues to thrust education into the minds of the policy-makers. We must ensure that warm words become real cash commitments. We must ensure that new aid does not dissipate or divert to politically expedient destinations. And we must galvanise leaders in the South to plan ambitiously, to invest appropriately, and to demand that rich countries keep their promises that 'no country with a viable plan for achieving EFA will be thwarted for lack of resources.' Our demands: Rich countries must Increase overseas development assistance to 0.7% of GNI and ensure full cancellation of the unpayable debts of all low-income countries; deliver trade justice at the WTO Ministerial in December Increase aid to basic education in low-income countries from the current level of about $1.7bn per year to at least $3bn in 2006, $5bn in 2007 and $7bn in 2008. Countries that qualify to join the FTI should receive priority for these funds. Expand the FTI to include a total of 51 poor countries by the end of 2006, utilising and building on the additional aid commitments agreed at the G8 Summit to provide significant external financing for education; In order to extend universal access to lower secondary level and meet the needs of hundreds of millions of illiterate youth and adults, continue to increase allocations to basic education in order to reach at least $10bn a year by 2010, or about 20% of the total $48 billion promised increase. This is in line with the Africa Commission recommendations, and fully justifiable in terms of the direct and dramatic contribution that education makes to health, productivity, democratic consolidation and women's empowerment; Improve the responsiveness of international aid mechanisms, including the EFA-FTI, to encourage the development of gendered Education For All strategies with specific interventions to increase gender equality in schools; Take immediate measures to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, as promised in ILO convention 182 in 1999; Ensure that IMF policies do not in any way discourage poor nations from aggressively seeking universal basic education or fairly compensating teachers. Poor countries Increase government spending on basic education to at least 3% of GDP by 2006; Abolish fees and charges for primary education in 2006, making education free and compulsory for at least 6 years; Establish time-bound plans to expand to free and compulsory education to at least 9 years; Introduce comprehensive national programmes to provide extra support to girls and the poorest children by 2007; Ensure by 2008 that every girl has access to a safe and welcoming place to learn, and is taught in an appropriately gender-sensitive way, so as to promote and improve women's participation in all aspects of national life; Ensure 100% net enrolment in year 1 intakes by 2009 at the latest; Promote an open national debate about the trade offs between greater investments in education and adherence to the fiscal prescriptions promoted by the IMF. Click here to read the article in French or Spanish 30 September 2005 Back to Top BUDDIES HAND-IN TO THE UN On the eve of the UN World Summit, September 13, the Global Campaign for Education, with support from ActionAid International, put on a large campaign stunt that brought unprecedented media attention to the global need to provide education for all. Throughout 2005, 5 million people around the world have showed their support for GCE by making 'friends' or 'buddies' - paper cut-out representations of children who are being denied an education. Throughout the year 'buddies' have met with Nelson Mandela, celebrities, and heads of state, including the G8 leaders. It was time for them to make it to the UN. 100,000 'friends' traveled from all corners of the world to journey through the streets of Manhattan before arriving at the UN. With the Statue of Liberty in the background, Rasheda Choudhury (GCE Board Member) and Kumi Naidoo (Global Call for Action Against Poverty) saw the buddies on their way. After speeches 'buddies' were loaded into a yellow School Bus. They were accompanied by Kimani Ng'ang'a - an Kenyan gentleman who made history when he enrolled at primary school aged 84. He took the first opportunity to receive an education, when school fees were dropped by the Kenyan government. The school 'buddy' bus toured Manhattan's iconic sites, including the Empire State Building, Times Square and Central Park. Throughout the day Mr Kimani released 100 balloons - each representing a million children out of school. In Central Park, members of the public and the media were invited to play 'Girls Education - Snakes and Ladders', a giant board game that illustrates factors that help and hinder girls to go school. The journey ended at the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, where Mr Kimani was joined by Kailash Satyarthi and Suman, Rebecca and David, three liberated child labourers. These children had earlier given powerful testimony of the links between education and elimination of child labour at a speaker meeting organised by Global March on Child Labour. Together with US GCE campaigners, these children presented Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, with 'friends' from around the world. The day received unprecedented media attention. Articles have appearded in over 100 papers around the world. TV and radio coverage includes broadcasts in Kenya, Italy, Japan and South Africa. Reuters, BBC and CNN all featured the 'buddies' journey with Mr Kimani, the world's oldest primary school student. The Global Campaign for Education gives special thanks to ActionAid International who backed the event with substantial human and financial resources. We also thank UNAIDS, the UN Millennium Campaign, and the Global March on Child Labour for their collaboration and support in bringing together many elements of the day. As a result, there are now thousands more people in the US, not to mention the rest of the world, who now know there are 100 million children out of school - and that it's a global responsibility to put this right. Click to view pictures of the Buddies handover to the UN 23 September 2005 Back to Top MUCH WORSE THAN PREDICTED: NEW FIGURES SHOW TARGET TO GET GIRLS INTO SCHOOL MISSED BY MILES At the start of the United Nations World Summit in New York, the Global Campaign for Education, the Global Movement for Children and UNESCO highlights new data that shows 94 countries have missed the gender parity target rather than the 71 countries predicted in the last EFA Global Monitoring Report. The new data, to be published in the 2006 Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report, is released early in a joint statement on the future of the Millennium Development Goals on education and the progress, or lack of it, in getting the 100 million children, 57 per cent of whom are girls, currently not in school, into school by 2015. The statement highlights that the first target, to get as many girls as boys into school by 2005 has been missed. The latest draft outcome document issued ahead of the 2005 World Summit makes no reference to the fact that the target of eliminating gender disparities in education by 2005 has been missed The statement represents a novel partnership between major educational civil society organisations and a United Nations agency coming together to highlight the lack of progress on a key UN goal. Click here to download statement 14 September 2005 Back to Top GCE 'FRIENDS' JOURNEY THROUGH NEW YORK BEFORE BEING HANDED TO THE UN At 9am on Tuesday 13 th September 100,000 'friends' or 'buddies' will start their journey at the Statue of Liberty. They will journey through New York on a yellow school bus and a pick up truck. The press are invited to Battery Park for 10am to take photos of the buddies on their way, where GCE board member Rasheda Choudhury will announce the significance of the 'friends' and the world's lack of progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals: universal primary education for every child by 2015 and an equal number of girls and boys in schools by 2005. The buddy school bus will stop at 10 iconic New York City locations, including the Empire State Building, Times Square and the Guggenheim Museum. Throughout New York City, 100 hot air balloons will be released to represent the more than 100 million children out of school. At Central Park the bus will pass a Giant Snakes and Ladders game which maps out real life 'snakes' that keep girls out of school. The buddies will finish their journey at 4pm at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, beside the UN. Here young GCE campaigners will hand the buddies over to officials from the UN and Mrs Nane Annan, wife of Kofi Annan. Back to Top 2006's GLOBAL ACTION WEEK PLANNING IS UNDERWAY Many thanks to GCE's members for making this year's Send My Friend to School campaign such a success. We're currently compiling a Big Book that will include stories and pictures from more than 100 countries around the world that were involved in this year's campaign. Of course it does not stop there. GCE is now planning for next year's Global Action Week and looking for ways to make the global campaigning activity bigger and better than ever. The action week is expected to take place in April next year, but we will be sure to give you a date soon to put in your diaries. Back to Top GCE'S NEW STAFF AND OFFICE GCE is moving the International Secretariat office in Johannesburg the new address will be on the website shortly. There have been changes to the small team. Please visit: http://www.campaignforeducation.org/contact for details of who to contact with enquiries. Back to Top EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN EMERGENIES: TIME TO END THE NEGLECT Armed conflict and natural disasters tear communities apart. Lives are lost, families are displaced and separated, and support systems break down. Opportunities for education often diminish or disappear in environments where they may have already been scarce - over half of the more than 200 million children and young people who have not completed primary school, live in regions devastated by armed conflict. The impact on adolescents and youth is uniquely devastating. http://www.id21.org/education/index.html Back to Top UNICEF EXCEXCUTIVE DIRECTOR STRESSES GIRLS' EDUCATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT BEIJING, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said that improving girls' education is fundamental to the achievement and sustainability of poverty reduction and the 2000 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She said educating girls provides both short- and long-term benefits, "including reduced child mortality, increased productivity and income, better-educated children and gains for women's and girls' social status and empowerment". Veneman also noted how gender disparities contributed to a greater risk of women contracting HIV, with the situation further exacerbated by sexual exploitation and the trafficking of women and children. http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=152862 Back to Top EDUCATION THE WAY TO PROMOTE TOLERANCE New Straits Times (Malaysia)   August 19, 2005: Malaysia is sending a strong message to other Asean countries to use education as a tool to promote peace and tolerance in the region. Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told attendees of the two-day meeting of Asean Ministers of Education in Bangkok, Thailand, that: "Malaysia strongly believes that the only way to prevent, combat and eradicate terrorism is through education. The task of education is to devise ways to make it possible to avoid conflicts or resolve them peacefully by respecting others, their culture and spiritual values. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/20050820084340/ Article/indexb_html Back to Top DELHI CHIEF MINISTER BOOST TO GIRLS EDUCATION: PAY NO FEES New Delhi, August 15: In a major initiative to increase enrollment of girls in government schools, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today announced that free education, uniforms and books would be provided to all girl students irrespective of their parents' income. The universalisation of the scheme will encourage parents to send their girls to school, Dikshit said in her Independence Day speech after unfurling the tricolour at the Chatrasaal stadium. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=144057 Back to Top PAKISTAN: NEED FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION FELT BUT SCHOOLS ARE MISSING Inter Press News Service, August 22, 2005: As the country prepares for a new school year this month, getting more girls to attend school is very much on the agenda and a national campaign to boost primary school enrolment is being launched. However, the lack of middle and secondary schools or the fact that existing schools are too distant from communities have proven to be a deterrent for parents in sending their daughters to primary schools. According to the 2003-04 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, 7.85 million primary-school age children were out of school in Pakistan while UNICEF says that 13 million school-age children are not enrolled in primary schools. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29974 Back to Top UGANDA: SCHOOL EDUCATION HURT BY NORTHERN CONFLICT KAMPALA, 12 August (IRIN) - An estimated 25 percent of children of primary school age in war-affected northern Uganda are out of school despite the government's free primary education policy, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has said. "Sixty percent of the approximately 1,200 primary schools in [the northern] Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Lira and Apac districts have been displaced due to insecurity," the agency said. View full report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48565&SelectRegion=East _Africa&SelectCountry=UGANDA Back to Top ZIMBABWE: STRONG OPPOSITION TO NEW EDUCATION BILL JOHANNESBURG, 12 August (IRIN) - Stakeholders and trade unions in Zimbabwe's education sector say proposals in the new Education Amendment Bill will cause a decline in standards, and signal the end of private schools. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48569&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa &SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE Back to Top UNICEF Calls for Help to Keep Zimbabwean Children in School The Guardian (UK), August 26, 2005: Zimbabweans were making "great sacrifices" so their children could continue going to school in the face of a declining economy, high unemployment, food shortages and an increasing number of orphans, caused in part by the rise of HIV and AIDS cases. Zimbabwe now has the world's fourth highest rate of infection. Despite the country's unstable domestic situation, school enrolment rates have actually risen over the past five years, and UNICEF said it was keen to ensure this trend continued. http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1557075,00.html?gusrc=rss Back to Top FOREIGN AID AT WORK: FIGHTING POVERTY THROUGH EDUCATION IN EGYPT The village of El Taboot is among more than 50 communities in Egypt working with CARE and its partners to widen access to education, especially for girls. As part of the New School Project, the community has contributed land and labor to build a school that will house seven classrooms with room for 40 students each. CARE has provided the materials and training for teachers and facilitators. Members of the community education team have been going door-to-door to raise awareness about the importance of education. http://www.careusa.org/newsroom/featurestories/2002/may/05222002_egypt.asp Back to Top INTERNATIONAL AND MULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS: Improving Schools in Mexico's Poor and Isolated Regions Each year about 5 million Mexican children benefit from the Basic Education Development Project. Begun in 1991, the World Bank program supports schools in the poorest and most isolated regions of the country, with additional funding for infrastructure, school materials and incentives for teachers. The project now covers about 32 percent of all those enrolled in elementary schools in Mexico. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20627490 ~menuPK:34457~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html Back to Top PUBLICATIONS: Educating Young People in Emergencies: Time to End the Neglect Where armed conflict or natural disasters have torn communities apart, opportunities for education are lost--to devastating effect, according to a report focusing on education in emergency situations published by id21/Institute for Development Studies. Over half of the more than 200 million children and young people who have not completed primary school live in regions ravaged by armed conflict. http://www.id21.org/insights/insights-ed04/insights_edn_4.pdf Back to Top ©2005 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. 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