Radical new UK plan to invest half of all bilateral education spending in the developing world in fragile and conflict-affected countries
03 March 2010
DFID is today launching a wide-ranging new education strategy to secure a better schooling for the millions of children across the world who live countries affected by conflict, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced.
It is part of the UK’s ongoing effort to help towards the international drive to secure an education for the 72 million children currently out of school.
As well as investing half of all bilateral spending on education in fragile and conflict-affected states, the new plan will also boost the quality of education in schools and provide skills and training for young people.
The plan comes ahead of a major international conference of development experts and practioners, organised by DFID, to look at how to get the Millennium Development Goals on track. The goals - agreed by developed countries ten years ago - include one to ensure that all children receive at least a primary education by 2015.
The action plan outlined in DFID’s new Education Strategy, ‘Learning For All’, today will:
Also today DFID announced £100 million for the Fast-Track Initiative, a partnership of donors and NGOs which pushes for more children in schools, which will support an additional 1.6 million children in school over a year.
Douglas Alexander said:
“This new strategy marks a ground-breaking moment for the UK’s effort to ensure every child goes to school. “But it goes far beyond just getting children into school. It sets out how we will help provide a good, well-rounded education to millions of children and young people, securing their future employment and helping them to be better off than their parents. “Countries affected by conflict and fragility are also those with some of the worst rates of poverty. We cannot help make significant breakthroughs in education unless we start helping those in some of the most difficult to reach places.”
“This new strategy marks a ground-breaking moment for the UK’s effort to ensure every child goes to school.
“But it goes far beyond just getting children into school. It sets out how we will help provide a good, well-rounded education to millions of children and young people, securing their future employment and helping them to be better off than their parents.
“Countries affected by conflict and fragility are also those with some of the worst rates of poverty. We cannot help make significant breakthroughs in education unless we start helping those in some of the most difficult to reach places.”
Key action points in the plan are:
Fragile and conflict-affected states
DFID will work much more closely in fragile states and conflict-affected countries such as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where large numbers of children are still out of school. Our strategy will include raising spending in these countries to 50% of all our bilateral spending on education.
DFID support to fragile and conflict-affected states will explore how development agencies can bridge the gap between a country emerging from conflict, and using education as an aid to a country’s recovery.
Skills and training for young people
DFID will support the skills and training of young people across developing countries, to help build up the skills base and help poorer countries develop and prosper.
We will also support over 200 universities a year, and provide over 500 scholarships a year from students in the developing world to finish their education as part of the Commonwealth Scholarship Fellowship Programme.
DFID is already helping 7.5 million people benefit from jobs and economic opportunities in five key fragile states – Yemen, Nepal, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan
Quality of Education
Ensuring not just that every child is in school, but that they are getting a good quality education.
DFID will work with other donors and NGOs to increase the ratio of children able to read after two years of schooling from one in ten, to half by 2015.
This will include more teachers and better-equipped classrooms.
Education for girls
DFID is also encouraging the training of more female teachers
We are providing better water and sanitation facilities at schools, the lack of which has traditionally has been a big barrier to getting girls into education, and supporting the provision of textbooks and school materials which are more suitable for girls.
Studies show educating girls is one of the best investments a society can make – and yet there are more than 41 million girls out of school across the world.
A girl who has been educated is 50% more likely to have her child immunised, and her children are more than twice as likely to live until the age of five.
DFID will focus on ensuring that once girls are in school they receive equal treatment to boys, and go on to equal opportunities in the workplace.
Read the full press release
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Girls being taught in Dosti School in Lashkar Gar, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
