{"id":9750,"date":"2022-10-14T20:37:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T18:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-sahel.org\/press\/next-events\/leducation-au-sahel-passer-de-lintention-aux-impacts\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T10:52:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T08:52:02","slug":"education-sahel-from-intentions-to-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-sahel.org\/en\/actualites\/education-sahel-from-intentions-to-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Education in the Sahel: moving from intention to impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A meeting focusing on education in the Sahel was held on October 13 as part of the World Bank Group’s annual meetings, under the aegis of the Sahel Alliance. The discussion took place between government representatives from Sahel countries and Sahel Alliance members as well as key partners. The objective? To take stock of progress, to provide a platform for countries to share their strategies and priorities for international support in order to achieve their goals, and to get feedback from partner agencies based on the issues highlighted by Sahelian governments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the past 15 years, access to education in the Sahel has improved<\/strong>: primary school enrolment has almost doubled, while the numbers have tripled in secondary school. Nevertheless, the multiple crises facing the Sahel countries are accentuating the challenges and jeopardising the gains <\/strong>made in terms of schooling for children and young people, especially girls. The meeting of October 13th follows the signing of the Nouakchott Declaration<\/a> \u2013 a political declaration of Sahelian heads of state approved in December 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carmen Magari\u00f1os Casal, Representative of the Presidency of the Sahel Alliance\u2019s General Assembly, stressed in her introductory speech that “In a context of deteriorating security, we want to support the strengthening of the State\u2019s presence as well as the provision of basic services, such as education,<\/strong> which is a fundamental right. In such a volatile context, we must not forget the students who have dropped out of education and have not returned to school. Second-chance programmes must be promoted to provide these young people with the basic literacy skills needed for employment.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Magari\u00f1os Casal also recalled that “The Nouakchott Declaration<\/a> demonstrated a strong commitment by Sahelian governments to address the challenges of education in the region<\/strong>. The Sahel Alliance and its members wanted to follow up on this commitment at the 3rd Assembly of the Sahel Alliance in Madrid in April 2022. They adopted a declaration on education and youth<\/a> to support the recommendations of the White Paper on Education in the Sahel<\/a> and made a strong appeal to allocate more resources to education<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introducing the meeting, Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank\u2019s Vice President for West and Central Africa and Chair of the Sahel Alliance\u2019s Operational Steering Committee, recalled the achievements and rich history of the region: “The Sahel is a land of intermingling and encounters, a window opened to the wider world<\/strong>. When we talk about intermingling, we are obviously talking about communication, and communication means literature and writing. The Sahel is also a land of trade, and trade means computation. The fundamentals of any education system are the following three things: writing, reading and arithmetic.<\/strong>\u00a0Today there is reason to wonder about a situation where education has become a matter of concern. The context has significantly changed and we need to arm ourselves with courage and political will and strengthen partnerships so that we can place the importance of education for the Sahel countries back on the agenda.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ousmane Diagana mentioned 3 key elements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n