ActionAid International Annual Report 2006

Progress towards our strategic objectives

The Right to Education

ActionAid runs education projects in all our country programmes. We are fighting for the right of every child in the world to go to school and receive a good education, and for adults to gain the literacy skills that they missed out on in childhood.

Story of Change in India:

Making a stand against child labour means children get an education and adults are paid properly for their work

Child labour used to be a normal part of life in Ranga Reddy District. Poor parents saw it as inevitable, communities tolerated it and the government implicitly endorsed it. It is now socially unacceptable for any child in the area to do anything but attend classes during school hours.

ActionAid’s partner, the MV Foundation (MVF), started working on child labour issues 16 years ago, mobilising young people to reach out to sympathetic teachers, community leaders and government officials to eliminate child labour. In one action, MVF challenged the government to close down the 25,000 non-formal night schools on the grounds that they allowed children to continue working during the day. The campaign led the government to re-assess its policy, close all the night-schools and to bring the children into formal education.

MVF has shown that even the poorest families can adjust to sending all their children to school. It has also shown that one of the unexpected side effects of this change is that adult labourers now earn more because there are fewer workers.

Getting the most excluded children into schools

The good news is that the number of children out of school fell from 100 million to 77 million between 1999 and 2004. This means that, given population growth, around 40 million more children are now enjoying their right to education. We are proud of our continued role in the Global Campaign for Education, whose energy and commitment has kept governments talking and acting to get excluded children into school.

ActionAid and our partners continued to work in both international policy arenas and local communities to ensure that no child is left out of formal education. In Northern Nigeria, we have been working with partners to inform and mobilise community members to get involved in school management and promote female role models. As a result, half of school management committees have banned girls from selling or collecting water during school hours, removing any incentive for parents to keep them out of school.

Getting more teachers into schools

At least 18 million new teachers are needed to achieve global education targets. In 2006, ActionAid sought to address this need through building alliances with teachers and their unions, helping to mobilise people’s organisations, influencing policies and holding government and donors to account.

In April 2006, we were involved in mobilising over five million people in 115 countries, including over 1000 ministers and members of parliament, for the Global Campaign for Education’s Week of Action. The demand for 2006 was “every child needs a teacher”. In Uganda, an outcome of the Global Week of Action was that the government committed to increasing teachers’ pay in the 2006-07 budget. In the same month, the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown pledged that $15 billion would be allocated to basic education. In May, African Finance Ministers from 20 countries committed themselves to develop ambitious long-term education plans.

In 2006, we continued to lobby around the impact of the conditions and policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), particularly wage bill caps in the public sector. These caps are part of the IMF’s loan agreements with nine of the world’s poorest countries, limiting what those governments can spend on wages and severely restricting them from increasing their spending on education. We have managed to build support amongst donors to remove these constraints to achieving education for all.

Story of Change in Burundi:

Education helps women find the confidence to be leaders

A significant number of women who have been elected into political positions in Burundi have participated in ActionAid supported activities such as Reflect.

Pascaline Barahebana, a Reflect graduate and a local leader, says ‘I am always using GAKUBA (Reflect) to solve social problems in my community. Now I can say I am a reference for any other development agent in the community mainly due to training provided by ActionAid. I think it has opened my mind. Reflect is guiding us beyond what we thought we could do.’

Promoting adult literacy through Reflect

Reflect is a way of working with adults to build their literacy and communication skills, while also providing them with space to reflect and act on local issues. It has been a central part of our education work since 1996, and has enjoyed a period of growth in 2006, with new initiatives in India, Nigeria, Kenya and the UK.

An important success was in The Gambia, where women Reflect participants successfully negotiated their right to land in Banni Village. Adama Camara, a member of a Reflect circle, reported that not only did this increase her income fourfold, but also affected her role in family decision-making. ‘We now sit and discuss with our husbands how we should use our household income as we, the women, provide the largest share,’ she said.

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Story of Change in India: Making a stand against child labour means children get an education and adults are paid properly for their work Child labour used to be a normal part of life in Ranga Reddy District. Poor parents saw it as inevitable, communities tolerated it and the government implicitly endorsed it. It is now socially unacceptable for any child in the area to do anything but attend classes during school hours. ActionAid’s partner, the MV Foundation (MVF), started working on child labour issues 16 years ago, mobilising young people to reach out to sympathetic teachers, community leaders and government officials to eliminate child labour. In one action, MVF challenged the government to close down the 25,000 non-formal night schools on the grounds that they allowed children to continue working during the day. The campaign led the government to re-assess its policy, close all the night-schools and to bring the children into formal education. MVF has shown that even the poorest families can adjust to sending all their children to school. It has also shown that one of the unexpected side effects of this change is that adult labourers now earn more because there are fewer workers. Getting the most excluded children into schools The good news is that the number of children out of school fell from 100 million to 77 million between 1999 and 2004. This means that, given population growth, around 40 million more children are now enjoying their right to education. We are proud of our continued role in the Global Campaign for Education, whose energy and commitment has kept governments talking and acting to get excluded children into school. ActionAid and our partners continued to work in both international policy arenas and local communities to ensure that no child is left out of formal education. In Northern Nigeria, we have been working with partners to inform and mobilise community members to get involved in school management and promote female role models. As a result, half of school management committees have banned girls from selling or collecting water during school hours, removing any incentive for parents to keep them out of school. Getting more teachers into schools At least 18 million new teachers are needed to achieve global education targets. In 2006, ActionAid sought to address this need through building alliances with teachers and their unions, helping to mobilise people’s organisations, influencing policies and holding government and donors to account. In April 2006, we were involved in mobilising over five million people in 115 countries, including over 1000 ministers and members of parliament, for the Global Campaign for Education’s Week of Action. The demand for 2006 was “every child needs a teacher”. In Uganda, an outcome of the Global Week of Action was that the government committed to increasing teachers’ pay in the 2006-07 budget. In the same month, the UK Chancellor Gordon Brown pledged that $15 billion would be allocated to basic education. In May, African Finance Ministers from 20 countries committed themselves to develop ambitious long-term education plans. In 2006, we continued to lobby around the impact of the conditions and policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), particularly wage bill caps in the public sector. These caps are part of the IMF’s loan agreements with nine of the world’s poorest countries, limiting what those governments can spend on wages and severely restricting them from increasing their spending on education. We have managed to build support amongst donors to remove these constraints to achieving education for all. Story of Change in Burundi: Education helps women find the confidence to be leaders A significant number of women who have been elected into political positions in Burundi have participated in ActionAid supported activities such as Reflect. Pascaline Barahebana, a Reflect graduate and a local leader, says ‘I am always using GAKUBA (Reflect) to solve social problems in my community. Now I can say I am a reference for any other development agent in the community mainly due to training provided by ActionAid. I think it has opened my mind. Reflect is guiding us beyond what we thought we could do.’ Promoting adult literacy through Reflect Reflect is a way of working with adults to build their literacy and communication skills, while also providing them with space to reflect and act on local issues. It has been a central part of our education work since 1996, and has enjoyed a period of growth in 2006, with new initiatives in India, Nigeria, Kenya and the UK. An important success was in The Gambia, where women Reflect participants successfully negotiated their right to land in Banni Village. Adama Camara, a member of a Reflect circle, reported that not only did this increase her income fourfold, but also affected her role in family decision-making. ‘We now sit and discuss with our husbands how we should use our household income as we, the women, provide the largest share,’ she said.


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