Policy dialogue at local and national levels to protect children’s right to education

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Protecting and advocating for the right to education and rights through education

Proposal

Objective: To examine methodologies and strategies used by selected education projects for policy and administrative legal changes to ensure the right to education for all children.

The right to education remains on paper for many children who are born into extreme poverty or situations of displacement or migration, those with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. Various stakeholders have been championing the need to enforce and protect the rights enshrined in the various instruments at the international, regional, national, and local levels. Educate a Child works with partners to enforce and protect the right to education through domesticated legal and policy frameworks.

SDG 16 aims to provide a legal identity for all by 2030 including birth registration without which in many countries children cannot enter the formal education system or access health care or protection services. Yet according to Plan Canada approximately 51 million babies are not registered at birth . Many of these children may never obtain a birth certificate due to the high cost, prohibitive policies, or other restrictions around birth registration…

EAC works with PASS+ project in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The project uses policy dialogue at local and district levels to push for simplified, free or reduced cost birth registration. In Cambodia Aide et Action, worked with 47 communes to support the issuing of birth certificates so that the children can enroll. In India, for a child to enrol in school, their parents must have the Unique Identification Number (Aadhar Card). The Educate Girls’ project shares information and helps parents in the rural areas and some nomadic communities to obtain the Aadhar cards thus enabling the children to access education.

SDG 10 calls for equal opportunities and reduction of inequalities of outcome, including eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard. . The Girl Child Network in Kenya has worked closely with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, to develop a Policy on Inclusive Education. In West Africa, Humanity and Inclusion (HI) works across ten countries to bring children with disabilities to quality education. One of HI key strategies is to work with policy makers and legislators in dialogue to develop policies and laws for the equitable and inclusive education of children with disabilities and non-discrimination against people with disabilities.

The paper uses an analytical analysis of the various strategies used by EAC partners for engaging in policy dialogue and the importance of policy change in the protection and guarantee of children’s right to education.

This paper presents case studies of education projects in Africa and Asia supported by Educate A Child that contribute to SDGs 4, 10 and 16 by protecting children’s right to education through policy dialogue and advocacy for legal changes as well as practical direct interventions.

Author

• David Mumo, Education Above All-Educate A Child