Culture, Poverty and

Organizations
Emtinan Alqurashi
Elif Gokbel

Overview
The role of UN institutions and organizations:
- UNICEF
- UNESCO

UNICEF
established in 1946
- every childregardless of gender, ethnicity
or circumstanceshas access to a quality
education.
- education changes lives and breaks the cycle
of poverty

https://youtu.be/ZceIZk1tKxs

Priorities
-

Early childhood education

Equal access to education
Quality of education
Girls education

UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1770/Pirozzi
A teacher assists Julian Goaheh, 6, in a
classroom at the UNICEF-supported
Ganta Public School in Ganta Town,
Nimba County, Liberia.

Early childhood education

-

early childhood programmes lead to higher levels of

primary school enrolment and educational performance.

children who start school late are more likely to fall

behind or drop out, and maintain in the cycle of poverty.

UNICEF & Child-to-Child Trust developed Getting

Ready for School: A child-to-child approach.

UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1696/Pirozzi

Children participate in various

learning exercises at Preschool No.
11, a UNICEF-supported childfriendly school, in Gijduvan District
in Bukhara Region, Uzbekistan.
Teachers focus on childrens
educational growth as well as their
health and safety in the class.

Equitable access
Many initiatives, e.g. Let Us Learn
-

reached over 895,000 children.

ensured access to basic education for over 9,000 out-ofschool children in Afghanistan, 80% are girls.
provided support to 40,000 out-of-school children and
adolescents from Bangladesh.
80% of students enrolled in Liberias, increased their
core subject pass rates by 25%.
awarded over 4,000 scholarships to girls in Madagascar.
over 8,000 out-of-school adolescent girls have enrolled
in non-formal classes in Nepal.

UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0798/Dormino
A girl looks up from writing on a
chalkboard, in a tent classroom at Ecole
Joyeux Lutins in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Quality of education
-

1 b. children go to school daily.

difficult conditions, e.g. missing or lacking teaching

materials or sanitation facilities, living with
discrimination, harassment and even violence.

comprehensive educational model

Child Friendly Schools

UNICEF/NYHQ2011-1119/Kate Holt
Children attend a hygiene education
class that is part of a UNICEFsupported water, sanitation and hygiene
programme in a primary school in Naros
Village, near the town of Lodwar, Rift
Valley Province, Kenya.

Girls education
Some of their work:
-

Girls re-entry policy in South Africa and Zambia that allows girls to return
to school after childbirth.

Girl friendly schools, providing feminine hygiene for adolescent girls in

Ethiopia and Uganda.

Improving participation and outcomes in STEM for girls in secondary

schooling through TechnoGirls, a career mentorship programme in South
Africa.

UNESCO
established in 1945
build networks among nations that enable moral and
intellectual solidarity:

Mobilizing for education

Building intercultural understanding
Pursuing scientific cooperation
Protecting freedom of expression

UNESCO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJ0CYP8oNY

Priorities
Global Priorities

Priority groups:

Africa
Gender equality

Youth
Small island developing
states
Least-developed
countries

LDCs
poorest and weakest segment of the
international community

currently 48 Least Developed Countries:

Africa (33 countries)
Asia and the Pacific (15 countries)
Latin America and Caribbean (1 country)

Targeted assistance to LDCs

The ten-year Brussels Programme for Action
(2001-2010)

Contributing to poverty eradication and sustainable

development in LDCs through
education,
culture, and
communication and information technology

Education as the most basic insurance against poverty

Education represents opportunity.

Education is also a means to access
broader social, economic, political and
cultural benefits.
Education contributes to building
more just societies through reducing
poverty and inequalities.

Womens education helps avert child marriage

The case of Leza Souley Maradi, Niger

I was not ready for marriage I got married a

polygamous husband when I was 17. I married We are
currently two wives in the household. I am sure if Id
gone to school I would not have got married so young.
When I was child I didnt regret not going to school as
much as I do now. As a mother any time in my life I see or
think of a situation linked to my not going to school I feel
bad. I wish I had gone to school because in the world
today if you dont know how to read and write it is
difficult for you to educate well your children. And now in
the village, to have a position of responsibility, you need
to have gone to school. Moreover a woman will better
understand the explanation given to her by the nurse if
she goes for maternal consultations. And this is useful
for any mother for her childrens fate. I hope my
childrens lives wont be like mine.

The case of Elizabeth Auru Kenya

I refused early marriage Being an educated
mother I can cope with so many things in life. I
can take my children to school without any
problem because I can pay their school fees ; the
very moment they fall sick, Im in a position to take
them to the hospital. I can also make them a
comfortable house. My luck came because of my
mother. She wasnt educated, but she knew that
education could really change my life. And as a
child I really listened to what my mother was
telling me. That is why I refused marriage early, I
said I will put my education first. My mother told
me I have to put God first and get educated. And
right now sincerely I have to appreciate her
because of what she told me.

Technology increases illiterate womens interest in learning

e.g., PAJEF literacy project in Senegal:

Digitalized classroom
Use of mobile phones and TV in the
classroom
Online classes
Literacy training through television shows

Thank you

References
http://www.unicef.org/
http://en.unesco.org/
https://efareport.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/womens-education-helps-avert-child-marriage/