The Lumine News

Tag: #UNESCO

  • Prioritising Second Chance Education (SCE) Teachers: A Panacea For Ending Gender Based Violence (GBV) BY KEBE IKPI

    Prioritising Second Chance Education (SCE) Teachers: A Panacea For Ending Gender Based Violence (GBV) BY KEBE IKPI

     

    5th of October every year is marked as World Teachers’ Day (WTD). WTD marks the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers. UNESCO adopted October 5th as WTD in 1994. Prior to this time, 5th September was celebrated in India as National Teachers’ Day. The students of the second Indian President, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, had approached him to inform him of their plans to celebrate his birthday (5th September), instead, he requested that the date be celebrated as National Teachers Day in India. WTD is an opportunity to celebrate teachers for their contribution and commitment to nation-building in general and the impact they have on their learners in particular.

    This year, the theme of the celebration is “Transformation of education begins with the teachers”. This theme calls attention to the important role that teachers play in educational transformation which in turn transforms individual and society at large. The future of any nation can be mirrored through its education (and their teachers). Communities that have poor educational facilities, low and discriminatory (enrolling more boys than girls) enrolment into school have turned out to be low on the human development index. This is why we must take the welfare of teachers seriously. Education and human development are Siemens twins; one cannot be achieved without the other. As important as education is, more important is the teacher, through whom lessons are delivered. According to this year’s theme, the “transformation” of the teacher is at the centre of educational transformation. This is the case of building the capacity of teachers so they can deliver quality lessons. This is were Second Chance Education (SCE) Teachers also called Facilitators come in.

    There is currently a global drive to end Gender Based Violence (GBV) against Women and Girls under the Spotlight Initiative. This initiate is a partnership between The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). In Cross River State, UNESCO, one of the UN agencies implementing Spotlight, is supporting Second Chance Education through Education Today for Sustainable Development Initiative (ETSDI). ETSDI, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has a mandate to reach 2,000 marginalised women and girls in Obubra and Obanliku Local Government Areas of Cross River State. This intervention is aimed at empowering women and girls from hard-to-reach communities, who did not have an opportunity to go to school or dropped out as a result of all types of GBV. As commendable as this initiative is, it is time bound and has limited resources for implementation. Hence, the need for government to factor in SCE facilitators when planning for the 2023 budget.

    What ETSDI is doing with the support of UNESCO is not enough. Government can replicate and expand on this by studying the NGO’s model of intervention. The NGO in partnership with the Agency for Adult and Non-final Education (AANE), and Ministry of Women Affairs (MOWA) recently trained 40 Facilitators to support SCE and 10 Vocational Skills Facilitators to train women and girls in different skills. The SCE Facilitators should be co-opted into the administration, given more training and paid Montoya stipen to continue offering this service to our remote communities after the six months period that ETSDI’s intervention will last.

    Partners on the Spotlight Initiative programme have a consensus that if Goal 5 (Gender Equality) is met, all other goals would have been met. One of the ways to get this done is through exposing women and girls to their rights, what constitutes GBV, helping them build life skills, giving them livelihood support and empowering them to manage their finances. All of these and more happens through the SCE. Facilitators (teachers) will be driving this process. My appeal is for Government to commit to sustaining this very important non-formal education when ETSDI’s intervention ends in six (6) months. If we must meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must take teachers serious especially, Second Chance Education Teachers.

    Kebe Ikpi Writes from Calabar
    Please follow Kebe on Twitter: @KebeIkpi

  • UN, CRSG Signs 2021/2022 United Nations ‘Delivery As One’ Work Plan

    UN, CRSG Signs 2021/2022 United Nations ‘Delivery As One’ Work Plan

    By Elijah Ugani

    The United Nations and the Cross River State government has jointly signed the 2021/2022 Work Plan.

    The Country Rep of the United Nations Population Agency UNFPA, Ms Ulla Elisabeth Mueller thanked Governor Ben Ayade for the opportunity and time created for the signing of the work plan and commended the collaboration from the Cross River State Government for the development of the work plan.

    Mueller noted that “Cross River State is one of the leading states in the implementation of the Delivery as One project in Nigeria. It has been an interesting journey working with Cross River State in the past years.

    “Cross River State has dynamic youths who want to contribute to the building of this country despite the challenges confronting them.

    “The UN has moved to support you to overcome these seemingly myriad of challenges. During implementation, your team and the UN team will prioritize and ensure that every body gets the services that will be rendered”

    On his part, Governor Ben Ayade commended the UN for the passion shown to Nigeria, particularly the challenges of Covid19 and the security within the Niger Delta region.

    Ayade noted that “the choice of Cross River State for implementing all of these programs is not a surprise to us. Our concern is that we need to find time to sit on a table to share our concerns and find a sustainable way to addressing these concerns.

    “I am particularly grateful because you are here to assist me deliver on my core mandate as Governor because your areas of delivery speaks to my core mandate. Our youths come out of school without job placement and that is why we line up industries to address unemployment in the state as well as expanded government to accommodate the interest of the youths.

    “We started the Welding and Fabrication Academy, we will graduate our first batch in a couple of weeks from now, let’s see how we can incorporate them into this plan and see how we can provide basic start up kits for them.

    “While I commend your dexterity to assist our state, I hope to see the change that will be associated with this humanitarian intervention”

    The Governor seized the opportunity to commend the Commissioner, Ministry of International Development Cooperation MIDC, Dr Inyang Asibong for her resilience and commitment to ensuring the coordination of UN activities in the State.

    Earlier, the Commissioner, MIDC, Dr Inyang Asibong commended efforts made by the UN Agencies working in Cross River State with UNFPA as the lead agency for the various interventions under the Delivery as One.

    Asibong mentioned key result areas for the intervention to include:
    a) Governance, Human Right, Peace and Security
    b) Equitable Quality Basic Services and
    c) Sustainable and Inclusive Growth and Development.

    The Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr Tanko Ashang signed the work plan on behalf of the Cross River State Government while the UNFPA Country Rep, Mrs Ulla Elisabeth Mueller signed for the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon.

    The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Martins Orim led other government functionaries to witness the signing, while the Head of Calabar Office of UNFPA, Dr Aliyu Yakubu led other UN agencies in Cross River State.