Civil society and the right to education: Looking at the future

This meeting raised by Spanish coalition advocacy for the Global Campaign for Education (composed of Action Aid, Education without borders and Entreculturas) and supported by AECID addressed issues such as the role of civil society in achieving Education for all (EPT) and the overview of the right to education beyond 2015, the target date to fulfill the goals of EPT.

 

 

 

In the words of Salange Akpo, member of African Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA), "In Africa there is a gap of 30 million children which are outside the education system. This is a disappointing picture." The Global Campaign for Education works to reverse this situation and so that all people have access to a quality education. In 2010 African governments committed themselves to use 9% of the GDP to education. The average is around 4%.

Working with governments and monitoring public policy is essential within the Global Campaign for Education. "The strengthening of civil society and building better citizenship to let people know how to defend their rights is essential , and to achieve the objective of Education for all," according to Bernie Lovegrove, member of Asia South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPABAE).

All the interventions agreed on the importance of the exercise of the right to education, as a point of access to other rights. Camila Croso, president of the Global Campaign for education, discusses the need for going any further from merely education focus and work in partnership with all the parties involved.

During this meeting it discussed the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals and the need to work beyond its maturing throughout 2015, but "without forgetting there is still three years to its fulfillment, we should still do as much as possible to progress in proposed targets to eradicating poverty" according to Camila Croso.

These and other initiatives were discussed in these meetings which also benefited from the presence of lich León (Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education, Hellen Gudmandsen (Denmark), Amalia Navarro (Millennium Campaign), Luis Arancibia (Spain), Laura López de Cerain y Carmen Rodriguez Arteaga (AECID), Muleya Mwananyanda (International Secretariat), Agustín Alonso (Entreculturas), Alberto Casado (Action Aid) y Olga García (Education Without Borders).