Culture, Poverty and Organizations

Emtinan AlqurashiElif Gokbel

OverviewThe role of UN institutions and organizations:

- UNICEF

- UNESCO

UNICEFestablished in 1946- every child—regardless of gender,

ethnicity or circumstances—has access to a quality education.

- education changes lives and breaks the cycle of poverty

https://youtu.be/ZceIZk1tKxs

Priorities

- Early childhood education- Equal access to education- Quality of education- Girls’ education © UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1770/Pirozzi

A teacher assists Julian Goaheh, 6, in a classroom at the UNICEF-supported Ganta Public School in Ganta Town, Nimba County, Liberia.

Early childhood education- early childhood programmes lead to higher levels

of primary school enrolment and educational performance.

- children who start school late are more likely to fall behind or drop out, and maintain in the cycle of poverty.

- UNICEF & Child-to-Child Trust developed “Getting Ready for School: A child-to-child approach”.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1696/Pirozzi

Children participate in various learning exercises at Preschool No. 11, a UNICEF-supported child-friendly school, in Gijduvan District in Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan. Teachers focus on children’s educational growth as well as their health and safety in the class.

Equitable accessMany initiatives, e.g. “Let Us Learn”- reached over 895,000 children.- ensured access to basic education for over 9,000

out-of-school children in Afghanistan, 80% are girls.

- provided support to 40,000 out-of-school children and adolescents from Bangladesh.

- 80% of students enrolled in Liberia’s, increased their core subject pass rates by 25%.

- awarded over 4,000 scholarships to girls in Madagascar.

- over 8,000 out-of-school adolescent girls have enrolled in non-formal classes in Nepal.

©UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0798/DorminoA girl looks up from writing on a chalkboard, in a tent classroom at Ecole Joyeux Lutins in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Quality of education - 1 b. children go to school daily.

- difficult conditions, e.g. missing or lacking teaching materials or sanitation facilities, living with discrimination, harassment and even violence.

- comprehensive educational model – Child Friendly Schools –

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1119/Kate HoltChildren attend a hygiene education class that is part of a UNICEF-supported water, sanitation and hygiene programme in a primary school in Naros Village, near the town of Lodwar, Rift Valley Province, Kenya.

Girls’ education Some of their work:- Girls’ re-entry policy in South Africa and Zambia that allows

girls to return to school after childbirth.

- Girl friendly schools, providing feminine hygiene for adolescent girls in Ethiopia and Uganda.

- Improving participation and outcomes in STEM for girls in secondary schooling through TechnoGirls, a career mentorship programme in South Africa.

UNESCOestablished in 1945build networks among nations that enable moral and intellectual solidarity:

• Mobilizing for education• Building intercultural understanding• Pursuing scientific cooperation• Protecting freedom of expression

UNESCO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJ0CYP8oNY

PrioritiesGlobal Priorities● Africa● Gender equality

Priority groups:● Youth● Small island

developing states● Least-developed

countries

LDCs● “poorest and weakest segment” of the

international community

● currently 48 Least Developed Countries:

Africa (33 countries) Asia and the Pacific (15 countries)Latin America and Caribbean (1 country)

Targeted assistance to LDCs● The ten-year Brussels Programme for

Action (2001-2010) ○ Contributing to poverty eradication and

sustainable development in LDCs through ● education,● culture, and ● communication and information

technology

Education as the most basic insurance against poverty

● Education represents opportunity.● Education is also a means to access

broader social, economic, political and cultural benefits.● Education contributes to building

more just societies through reducingpoverty and inequalities.

Women’s education helps avert child marriageThe case of Leza Souley – Maradi, Niger

I was not ready for marriage – “I got married a polygamous husband when I was 17. I married We are currently two wives in the household. I am sure if I’d gone to school I would not have got married so young. When I was child I didn’t regret not going to school as much as I do now. As a mother any time in my life I see or think of a situation linked to my not going to school I feel bad. I wish I had gone to school because in the world today if you don’t know how to read and write it is difficult for you to educate well your children. And now in the village, to have a position of responsibility, you need to have gone to school. Moreover a woman will better understand the explanation given to her by the nurse if she goes for maternal consultations. And this is useful for any mother for her children’s fate. I hope my children’s lives won’t be like mine”.

The case of Elizabeth Auru – Kenya

I refused early marriage – “Being an educated mother I can cope with so many things in life. I can take my children to school without any problem because I can pay their school fees ; the very moment they fall sick, I’m in a position to take them to the hospital. I can also make them a comfortable house. My luck came because of my mother. She wasn’t educated, but she knew that education could really change my life. And as a child I really listened to what my mother was telling me. That is why I refused marriage early, I said ‘I will put my education first’. My mother told me I have to put God first and get educated. And right now sincerely I have to appreciate her because of what she told me.”

Technology increases illiterate women’s interest in learning

e.g., PAJEF literacy project in Senegal:

● Digitalized classroom● Use of mobile phones and TV in the

classroom● Online classes● Literacy training through television

shows

Thank you

Referenceshttp://www.unicef.org/

http://en.unesco.org/

https://efareport.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/womens-education-helps-avert-child-marriage/