5,000,000 Canadian children will head back to school this week to well-trained teachers, a holistic curriculum, the latest technology and new friends. But almost 100,000,000 sub-Saharan children will not be stepping foot inside a school this year. They face innumerable challenges to access a quality education such as early marriage, conflict situations, and gender norms. Watch this slide show from the Global Partnership for Education to learn more about the many barriers children and young people around the world face this September when trying to access a quality education.
The G20 Leaders' Declaration in Hamburg, Germany on July 8th included a commitment to step up and improve education financing. Now, all that is needed is commitment, innovative thinking, and leadership to deliver. A first step for Canada is to commit $260 million to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) replenishment (2018-2020) scheduled for the beginning of 2018.
Summer is a good time to meet up with your MP to celebrate the G20 promise and to chat about how Canada will help deliver this promise.
To read more about this historic recognition of education at the G20, read Julia Gillard’s statement here.
In his column in the National Post on June 14, Terry Glavin writes about Canada’s new Feminist International Assistance Policy. Glavin says, “It's easy to dismiss Trudeau's 'feminist foreign aid' plan as virtue signalling. Easy, but wrong,” He goes on to say, “What the Trudeau government is proposing is not frivolous. Two years ago, the McKinsey Global Institute produced a ground-breaking study reckoning that $12 trillion could be added to the world’s GDP by advancing the cause of women’s equality. The McKinsey study built on the work of numerous scholars that shows how women’s equality is the most significant predictor of a country’s stability.”
To read Glavin’s full column, click here.
To read Global Affairs Canada’s backgrounder on the new feminist policy, click here.
And you can find further information about the McKinsey study, by clicking here.
Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announces Canada's first feminist International Assistance Policy, with a focus on gender equality and women's rights, support for local women’s organizations, and a commitment to a minimum of 50% of bilateral aid directed to Sub-Saharan African countries by 2021-22. A bold new vision and approach. GRAN applauds this new vision and looks forward to seeing new resources to match this ambitious plan.
“This is an important first big step towards changing the way Canada’s delivers aid—from treating women as beneficiaries of aid to partners for change,” said Nobel Women’s Initiative’s Acting Executive Director, Rachel Vincent, “Canada is showing the world that investing in women and gender equality is an essential to bring about peace and security around the globe—and that benefits everyone, including Canadians.”
Click here to read more positive reaction to Canada's global leadership from the Nobel Women's Initiative.
To help spread the good news, you can find sample Facebook/Instagram and Twitter posts here.
Great news! Belgium, has become the first country to make a commitment of funds to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) third replenishment campaign. Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), says the global education crisis needs to be at the front of the minds of all world leaders. "Prime ministers and presidents need to see education as a necessary investment, akin to the investments they make in national infrastructure and defense."
Canada too, will soon make a commitment of desperately needed funds to the GPE for the next three years. We reminded Mr. Trudeau that Education is the foundation of economic growth and stability, and a pathway out of poverty and aid dependency. Now is the time for Canada to step up with a commitment that makes us all feel proud to be Canadians. Let’s show the world that working together we can have all children in school.
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May 18, 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, an opportunity to recognize the many volunteers, health professionals, and scientists who are working together to find a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HIV. It was also a day to educate communities about the importance of HIV vaccine research.
In the following article, the author discusses the current biomedical and behavioral prevention options currently available to achieving the UNAIDS goal of Zero new infections and the factors hindering our ability to stop new HIV infections entirely. We are reminded that although scientists have been searching for an HIV vaccine for 30 years, this is not a long time when compared to the time taken for the discovery of vaccines for other diseases. To read Click here
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grandmothersadvocacy@gmail.com
GRAN agrees with AIDS-Free World when it says, "Child marriage is not merely a harmful traditional practice: it is a crime, it is child labour in its worst form, and it is a complete violation of a girl’s human rights." AIDS-Free World is pushing the International Labour Organization (ILO) to classify girls who are forced into marriages as child labourers. http://childmarriageischildla
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grandmothersadvocacy@gmail.com
64 million more children are attending primary school in 2014 compared to 2002, only one of the many ways the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is making a difference. This week the GPE launched a new funding drive that will ask governments, development organizations and philanthropists to increase their financial commitments to education. “The Case for Investment” is the theme for the GPE's third replenishment drive and this theme describes why investing in education is crucial to achieving not just the education global goal but also prosperity and security for the world. GPE's ambitious goal is to deliver better learning and equity outcomes for 870 million children and youth in 89 countries by 2030. Have a look at the “Case for Investment” to learn more and to read about the stories of some of the GPE’s success stories in sub Saharan Africa.
http://www.globalpartnership.org/content/gpe-replenishment-2020-case-investment
April 25th is World Malaria Day - a day to celebrate the strides made, but more importantly to contemplate what still must be done in order to eradicate this killer disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Read here a statement issued by the Commissioner of Social Affairs for the African Union Commission.
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