Today, people across the globe mark a tragic milestone for human rights, children’s rights and girls' rights: 1,000 days since girls were banned from attending secondary school in Afghanistan. To commemorate and reflect on this unacceptable milestone, Education Cannot Wait (
ECW), as global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, is launching the second phase of its compelling
#AfghanGirlsVoices campaign.
Few will disagree with the nearly universal concern that we – the human family – are once more faced with an era of darkness. An era whose burdens are mainly carried on the tiny shoulders of crises-affected children and adolescents, their teachers and families, all left furthest behind.
Ecosystems are being threatened all over the world.
From forests to drylands.
From farmlands to lakes.
Bruno Maes is the UNICEF Representative in Haiti. He officially took office in August 2020. A Belgian national, Mr. Maes previously served as UNICEF Representative in Madagascar from 2007 to 2012, in Chad from 2012 to 2015, and recently in Egypt from September 2015 to 2020.
In the lead up to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’
Summit of the Future, taking place on 22-23 September 2024, Education Cannot Wait is supporting the global
#ActNow Campaign with an urgent call to increase funding for the +226 million crisis-impacted children worldwide urgently in need of an education through ECW’s global
#ShareTheirVoices campaign.
The world is going through an unprecedented environmental emergency which poses an existential threat to this and future generations.
Journalism is in crisis - again.
The challenges to press freedom are enormous and multi-faceted.
Amy Clarke is Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer of the multi award-winning
Tribe Impact Capital, a dedicated impact wealth manager and B Corps, based in London. She has over 29 years of experience in sustainability, both leading in-house teams (Microsoft and Bank of America) and as a management consultant specialising in climate and sustainability (PwC and EY). Amy serves as a Trustee to B Lab UK and is also an Advisor to fellow B Corps, Greenheart Consulting and Black Seed Ventures. She sits on the Global Steering Group of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and the Investment Committee of The Blue Cross (having previously served as a Trustee). Amy has both BSc and MSc degrees in environmental studies. In her spare time, she serves as Head of Catering and Entertainment for her three-legged rescue Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
The conflict in Sudan is one of the worst in the world today, and millions of children and adolescents bear the brunt within and across the border from Sudan.
There is a fork in the road before us. We have to choose who we are as human beings and as a human family. Do we break humanity or do we make it?
Professor Mohammed Belhocine is an Algerian national. Former Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, he held various positions in Algeria, at the Faculty of Medicine and the Ministry of Health, before joining the international civil service in 1997. Former Director of the Division of Non-Communicable Diseases at the WHO Regional Office for Africa (in Harare, then in Brazzaville), he was also WHO Representative in Nigeria and Tanzania. He ended his career as UN System Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tunisia from 2009 to 2013. From June 2015 to February 2016, at the request of the WHO Regional Director, he returned to duty as WHO Representative in Guinea, playing an active role in providing technical support and expertise to the country's response to the Ebola epidemic. In October 2021, supported by his country, he was elected to the position of Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation within the African Union. Professor Belhocine is the father of three children and has six grandchildren.
At the tenth session of the IPBES Plenary, held in Bonn, Germany from 28 August - 2 September 2023, the IPBES Thematic Assessment of Invasive Alien Species and their Control was accepted and its summary for policymakers was approved. The Report is the result of four years of work by 86 experts from 49 countries, and synthesizes information from over 13,000 references into a comprehensive scientific assessment and concise summary document for policy makers.
As we lead into the
Africa Year of Education, and under the leadership of Africa, world leaders have an opportunity to solidify commitments to ‘Educate an Africa Fit for the 21st Century’. That means to empower Africa to deliver on the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Paris Agreement and Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to invest in an end to inequity through the power of quality education and lifelong learning.
At the United Nations headquarters in New York City, on the third floor, a solemn statue of St. Agnes, holding her namesake lamb, stands as a disturbing reminder of nuclear destruction.
Counsel Hope
Yasmine Sherif is the Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW). A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has over 30 years of experience with the United Nations and international NGOs.