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Friday, April 19, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Education
Turning Trash into Education: Lagos Children Benefit from Plastic Waste School
Ijora Badia, a slum in Lagos, was swimming in plastic waste. Now children pay their school fees in plastic bottles, and these are used to build classrooms. 
The Frogs Are Drying Up! Let’s Explore What We Can Do!
Have you ever seen a dried frog? We have, and it’s making us rethink our impact on the environment. Frogs are incredibly sensitive to dry conditions, and they are facing the threat of extinction due to global warming. Amphibians, like frogs, make up a significant portion of endangered species, with 41 percent vulnerable compared to only 25 percent for mammals like polar bears.
To End Child Marriage in Southern & East Africa, Governments Need to Strengthen Laws & Implementation
Almost one third (32%) of women aged 20 to 24 in Eastern and Southern Africa - around 50 million – were married before 18 years old. To address this pervasive problem, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum has adopted the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage, a legal framework providing a comprehensive, integrated approach to ending child marriage and protecting children already married.
Afghan Women Speak Out About Life and Resistance Two Years After the Taliban Takeover
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 has devastated millions of Afghans. But women and girls have been particularly affected by progressively restrictive decrees that have created a virtual system of gender apartheid.
Our Teachers, Our Heroes
We are in a race to deliver on our global promise of education for all by 2030 – especially for the 224 million girls and boys impacted by armed conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises who so urgently need our support. At the frontlines of this movement are the inspiring, caring, brilliant teachers who work tirelessly to educate future generations.
Wanted: Teachers For Change!
Once a year, on October 5, we celebrate World Teachers’ Day. Why is it so important to have a closer look on the teaching profession? What is so special about being a teacher nowadays?
With Hope and Courage, They Inspire Us
“My dream is to become a teacher,” says 13-year-old Alia. A small glimmer of hope can be traced in her beautiful, almond-shaped, brown eyes. Together with her mother, siblings and aunt, Alia has fled the conflict in Sudan to Chad. With extraordinary courage to survive, she made the harrowing journey at night across checkpoints, threatened by guns and militia roaming around in the dark. While her eyes are still hollow from the flight, I see that sparkle for a split second: she still has hope.
The Taliban Can Reverse the Unacceptable Ban on Girls’ Education
Today, we mark the second anniversary of the ban on secondary school girls’ education in Afghanistan and join the world in calling for it to be lifted now.
The Case for Afghan Women and Girls: How an International Criminal Court Investigation Could Expand Human Rights
Two years have passed since the Taliban re-assumed power in Afghanistan, and women and girls have yet to return to work or school. Can the international justice system now come to their defense? Experts say a case for Afghan women and girls has the potential to change the way the legal community thinks about human rights abuses. Will it?
We Must Act to Bridge the Gap Between Words and Deeds
In today's increasingly interconnected world, marked by grave economic, environmental, and security crises that transcend global boundaries, it's abundantly clear that our interdependence is an undeniable reality.
Multilingual #AfghanGirlsVoices Campaign to Return Millions Back to School
A Taliban edict is rolling back time in Afghanistan after access to education for all Afghan girls over the age of 12 was indefinitely suspended on September 18, 2021. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are forbidden from attending school beyond the primary level, leaving more than 1.1 million girls and young women without access to formal education.
The Vast Potential of the Human Spirit
With hope and courage, we must rise to the challenges before us. We must rise to the challenge of a world set afire by climate change, forced displacement, armed conflicts and human rights abuses. We must rise to the challenge of girls being denied their right to an education in Afghanistan. We must rise to the challenge of a global refugee crisis that is disrupting development gains the world over. We must rise to the challenge of brutal and unconscionable wars in places like Sudan and Ukraine that are putting millions of children at risk every day.
Human Trafficking: Women Lured by Promise of Jobs, Sold as Brides
It has been over a decade since 32-year-old Rafiqa (not her real name) was sold to a villager after being lured by the promise that she would be employed in the handicrafts industry of Indian-administered Kashmir.
ECW’s New Report Shows Successful Education Funding Model for Crises-Impacted Children
In a world set on fire by climate change and brutal conflict, millions of children in emergencies and protracted crises need educational support. Children in 48 out of 49 African countries are at high or extremely high risk of the impacts of climate change, particularly in the Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Guinea, Somalia, and Guinea Bissau.
Education Cannot Wait Interviews High-Level Steering Group Youth Representative Mutesi Hadijah and Executive Committee Youth Representative Hector Ulloa
Youth offer a powerful voice in ECW’s global movement to ensure crisis-impacted children worldwide are offered the safety, hope and opportunity of a quality education. As a global multilateral fund, ECW offers a rare opportunity for youth to participate in its governance structure. In this sweeping two-part interview, ECW connects with Mutesi Hadijah and Hector Ulloa who were recently elected to represent the youth constituency on ECW’s High-Level Steering Group and Executive Committee, respectively.
El Salvador Is Making Little Effort to Eradicate Illiteracy
El Salvador's efforts to improve the educational level in the country seem to be falling short, with rundown schools, especially in rural areas, and little progress in overcoming illiteracy.
Two Years after the Taliban Took over, More Should Be Done to Rescue Afghanistan
His name is Matiullah Wesa, a girls education campaigner who now symbolises the “war” waged by the Taliban against the education and empowerment of women and girls. Exactly two years since the Taliban took over, Afghanistan is on a downward trajectory and unfortunately, global attention that was drawn by families chasing planes to flee a few days after the Taliban assumed control of the government has waned over the last two years.
Kenya’s Population Growth Decreases as More Women Embrace Modern Family Planning
According to a family planning brief, more than 370 million women in middle and low-income countries were finally embracing modern contraception to help curb unintended pregnancies. This statistic suggests that one in every three women from middle and low-income countries use contraceptives today.
Qur’an Burning: Rage, Ignorance and Prejudice
Qur’an burning has become a symbol of intolerance and “Islamophobia”, especially in some Western countries. Following the public burning of a Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on June 28 during the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival, a copy of the Qur’an was set on fire in the Danish capital on 24 July. Naturally, these events provoked protests from Muslims all over the world, including in Sweden and Denmark. The Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is “extremely worried” that such protests could result in more burning of the Quran – thus creating a vicious circle – as the Swedish police received a large number of applications for anti-Islam protests.
Women Study More in Brazil, but Make Little Progress in the Exact Sciences
"I thought of studying journalism, because of the example of Gloria Maria," a famous black TV journalist who died of cancer in February 2023, said mathematician Luciana Elias, while discussing the scarce female participation in exact sciences research in Brazil.
Moving From Trauma to Healing: Practicing Self-Care in Refugee Camps
A Rohingya woman tells a forum of peer counselors the story of her divorce. A survivor of domestic abuse, she has started a new life alone with her daughter. She has weathered a storm of neighbors telling her she was the problem. Now, she provides the support she didn’t have to other women like her.« Previous Page — Next Page »
While more than 1 billion children worldwide go to school, the statistic belies the stark reality that many of the world’s children learn – untrained teachers, makeshift facilities and substandard sanitation. Those ‘lucky’ enough to be enrolled in schools are often hungry – and in these circumstances, this most basic human right to education is flawed.
Then there are the estimated 75 million children living protracted crises – war, famine, disasters. Many other social and cultural interfaces impact children: gender inequities, child and early marriages, child labour, and disability.
All these circumstances were present before the COVID-19 pandemic – where protocols to prevent the spread of the disease, including lockdowns in many countries, further exacerbated the situation. UNICEF says the pandemic caused such widespread disruptions that digital learning should become an essential service – which means connecting every child and young person – some 3.5 billion – to world-class digital solutions by 2030.
Through compelling storytelling and hard-hitting opinion writing, IPS tell the story of education – highlighting the issues and successes of the many organizations like UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait that specialize in this field.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
