Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor and Executive Director of the Nelson Mandlela Institute for Rural Education Kim Porteus welcome Macharia Kamau and Per Engebak to Mandela House.
(Image: Nelson Mandela Foundation)May 16, 2008 – Every third child in sub-Saharan Africa is denied the basic right to go to school and learn
This statistic, from the United Nations Children’s Fund, is one that the Nelson Mandela Foundation, UNICEF and the Hamburg Society are trying to change with their Schools for Africa campaign.
A memorandum of understanding to consolidate this tri-party partnership was signed at Mandela House in Houghton, South Africa.
Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Achmat Dangor said the challenges facing the campaign were numerous, but added: “One way to tackle challenges is to start at the fundamentals, which is to ensure that every child in Africa has access to the type of education that will transform their lives.”
The memorandum was signed by Dangor, Per Engebak, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, and Macharia Kamau, the representative of UNICEF’s South African office.
The Schools for Africa campaign was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2004, and has since managed to raise $30-million to provide safe learning environments and quality education to children in Africa. Since its launch, Schools for Africa has benefited 3-million children through interventions such as teacher training, school rehabilitation, sanitation and furnishing.
The next phase of the campaign aims to raise funds for over 4-million children in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Kamau said that the partnership was built on the organisations’ common belief that education is a critical foundation of a child’s future.
Macharia Kamau.
“Getting children into school is an imperative that we can’t walk away from. Schools for Africa is now a global programme, and we’re proud of that.”
Engebak said he was “thrilled” at the consolidation of the partnership. He said that the campaign had achieved more than he could have imagined. “We’ve built a strategic partnership and mobilised enormous resources. Our goal was to raise $50-million in three years, but I think we’ll reach that by the end of this year.”
The campaign hopes to assist with achieving the second United Nations Millennium Development Goal by 2015: education for every child.
Achmat Dangor and UNICEF Regional Director of East and Southern Africa, Per Engebak, sign the memorandum of understanding for the Schools for Africa partnership.
(Image: Nelson Mandela Foundation)Said Engebak: “Mr Mandela is the moral beacon of this continent and the moral voice for those children who are deprived.
“The Nelson Mandela Foundation lends its credibility and commitment to the shared agenda of achieving this Millennium Development Goal.”
Kim Porteus, Executive Director of the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, was present at the signing. She described the Schools for Africa campaign as profound, as it focuses on access to education, as well as quality.
“This partnership is particularly profound for the Institute because it supports the work we do in schools in rural areas in South Africa. It will also link us with colleagues and partners across Africa who are engaged in trying to change education sectors.”