Last Friday, in a highly anticipated appearance, Malala Yousafzai, the global girl leader from Pakistan spoke at the United Nations. In doing so, she commemorated her 16th birthday, her first trip to the United States, and perhaps most significantly, Malala Day. As youth converged on the General Assembly in an unprecedented call for action, Malala spoke to bring attention to the global education emergency of 57 million girls and boys who do not have access to education. Malala was shot by the Taliban last fall for attending school.
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| Malala Yousafzai |
Achieving universal primary education is a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and is now central to the post-2015 development agenda as well. In a two-part series, The InterDependent will look at how education and gender equality are factoring into post-2015 planning, along with the importance of Malala’s speech. In Part 1, The InterDependent interviewed Amina Mohammed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special advisor on post-2015 development planning.
Mohammed is a member of the UN High-Level Panel (HLP), the recent report of which is shaping the successors to the MDGs. In this interview, Mohammed discussed Malala’s significance and achieving MDG targets on education, as well as education and gender equality beyond 2015.
The ID: What does Malala Yousafzai mean to the international community?
Mohammed: Malala Yousafzai is a symbol of courage and determination in the fight against discrimination in education. She has sent a powerful message of hope and given a voice to the voiceless. Millions of young people are standing up with her for the right to education.
Her story has brought light to a silent but global education emergency. She has reminded the international community that 57 million children around the world are still out of school. Half of them live in conflict-affected countries. And about two-thirds are girls. The right to education is universal regardless of gender, income, origin or religious belief. Yet students, teachers and education facilities are the victims of repeated attacks.
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| Amina Muhammad |
Last Friday, in a highly anticipated appearance, Malala Yousafzai, the global girl leader from Pakistan spoke at the United Nations. In doing so, she commemorated her 16th birthday, her first trip to the United States, and perhaps most significantly, Malala Day. As youth converged on the General Assembly in an unprecedented call for action, Malala spoke to bring attention to the global education emergency of 57 million girls and boys who do not have access to education. Malala was shot by the Taliban last fall for attending school.
Achieving universal primary education is a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and is now central to the post-2015 development agenda as well. In a two-part series, The InterDependent will look at how education and gender equality are factoring into post-2015 planning, along with the importance of Malala’s speech. In Part 1, The InterDependent interviewed Amina Mohammed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special advisor on post-2015 development planning.
Mohammed is a member of the UN High-Level Panel (HLP), the recent report of which is shaping the successors to the MDGs. In this interview, Mohammed discussed Malala’s significance and achieving MDG targets on education, as well as education and gender equality beyond 2015.
The ID: What does Malala Yousafzai mean to the international community?
Mohammed: Malala Yousafzai is a symbol of courage and determination in the fight against discrimination in education. She has sent a powerful message of hope and given a voice to the voiceless. Millions of young people are standing up with her for the right to education.
Her story has brought light to a silent but global education emergency. She has reminded the international community that 57 million children around the world are still out of school. Half of them live in conflict-affected countries. And about two-thirds are girls. The right to education is universal regardless of gender, income, origin or religious belief. Yet students, teachers and education facilities are the victims of repeated attacks.
Beyond access to education, the world is facing a major skills deficit, both in developing and developed countries. Nearly 250 million children of primary school age cannot read or write. Most of them leave the education system without the skills they need to find a job and fully participate in their society. These facts and figures are daunting, but remain a stark reality for too many children and young people worldwide.
Today’s youth generation is the greatest our world has ever known. Malala has inspired them to speak up. Their demand is legitimate—they want to, and have the right to, go to school, learn and thrive. The international community must be attentive and meet their demands. We cannot afford the cost of a lost generation. We have the responsibility of providing the building blocks for the future THEY want.
The ID: With 57 million girls and boys lacking access to education, how can the Global Education First Initiative and the UN build momentum for achieving the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by the end of 2015?
Mohammed: Last September, the United Nations Secretary-General launched his Global Education First Initiative to make a final push to the achievement of international education targets by 2015.
Despite significant advances over the past decade, the international community is falling short of its promises. Since 2005, the rate of progress in education has waned considerably. For example, the number of out of school children in sub-Saharan Africa has stalled at about 30 million for the past five years. Even more worryingly, international support to education is now slipping at a time when greater acceleration efforts are needed. Between 2010 and 2011, aid to basic education decreased for the first time in a decade.
In this context, the Global Education First Initiative seeks to provide a critical breakthrough in education and to build stronger momentum. Under the leadership of the United Nations Secretary-General, the initiative is galvanizing stronger political and financial support for education with the aim of 1) putting every child in school; 2) improving the quality of learning; and 3) fostering global citizenship. The escalation of violence and repeated attacks against young people, especially girls, have demonstrated the urgency to protect and put education first. Education is a pathway to build more equitable, tolerant and peaceful societies.
In less than a year, the Global Education First Initiative has raised the profile of education on the global political and development agenda and rallied a broad coalition of partners worldwide. Ten heads of state and government have joined the group of champion countries for the initiative. Young people are raising their voices through a Youth Advocacy Group, while several business and civil society organizations have announced increased commitments in support of the initiative. We hope more will follow suit to put education back on track.
The ID: What steps are being taken to guarantee gender equality in education in the post-2015 development agenda? How can we ensure that all girls are enabled to become educated, productive citizens?
Mohammed: A number of unequivocal messages have emerged from the broad consultations held over the past year on the post-2015 development agenda. These include calls for an acceleration of the MDGs’ progress, continuation of unfinished business and a seamless transition to the post-2015 development agenda.
Thanks largely to MDGs 2 and 3, the number of out-of-school primary school age children has been halved and steady progress has been made in equal access of girls and boys to primary education. Secondary education enrolment has doubled, and the gender parity index in the developing world as a whole was 0.96 in 2010. Yet MDG targets seem beyond reach by 2015.
It is also important to recall that the MDGs did not adequately address all the priorities in education and that the global average masks large differences and reverse gender disparities between regions. Despite the widely acknowledged high returns and benefits of investing in girls’ education, their right to basic education is still being denied in about one-third of developing countries, while early childhood care and education remains one of the most neglected areas in educational development.
The majority of those being denied access to education are girls. But in some countries, boys and young men are at a greater disadvantage (for example, in Latin America and the Caribbean). While in others, girls are not only confronted with gender discrimination, but also face other multiple forms of inequalities as a result of their age, ethnicity, religion or disability.
Therefore, context-appropriate national policies as well as adequately and timely resourced plans, supported by solid disaggregated data (which targets barriers faced by specific groups of learners who are not accessing educational opportunities) are critical. While we aim for a single and universal agenda applicable to and relevant to all countries, we have to be mindful that implementation must be backed by relevant, timely and coherent policies and plans at the national level.
The ID: How do you perceive the UN General Assembly will respond this September to the recommendations from the HLP report regarding education and gender equality?
Mohammed: On September 25, 2013, the United Nations will hold a special event on the MDGs. Member states will discuss the Secretary-General’s report on “Accelerating progress towards the MDGs and advancing the UN development agenda beyond 2015” in order to reaffirm their commitment to achieving the MDGs and to provide the broad contours for the post-2015 process.
The High Level Panel (HLP) report has been a key input to the Secretary-General’s report, which also takes into account the other post-2015 related reports submitted by the UN Global Compact, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the United Nations Task Team and the UN Regional Commissions.
Inasmuch as the aim of the HLP report is to inspire and build further ambition and momentum for a much-needed policy debate within the international community on the future development agenda, my expectation is that the recommendations will continue to be discussed by member states within the framework of post-2015 and post Rio+20 intergovernmental processes.
The HLP report, as well as those of the Global Compact and the SDSN, has emphasized the imperative of continued focus and investment in expanding access to education, achieving gender equality as well as empowering girls and women. The reports also provide a cogent and compelling narrative as to why the post-2015 development agenda must not lose sight of the impact these issues can have on the other development priorities, such as economic growth, inequality, employment, health, infant mortality, social inclusion, human rights and demographics.
I am confident that member states will take heed of the recommendations to maintain education expansion and gender equality among the development priorities to be addressed in the post-2015 development agenda. The challenge ahead of us will be in fine-tuning the aspirations and priorities of the member states in order to translate them into one set of universal goals with simple yet powerful targets that respond to local realities. More
