Education Above All (EAA) and its programme have concluded a successful week at the 5th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha. As well as taking part in a variety of panel discussions on everything from gender equality to online universities and youth climate action, the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed four MoUs with the Republic of Senegal, the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the Republic of Liberia and Burkina Faso.

The Education Above All Foundation is committed to giving 709,060 out-of-school children access to quality education. The total budget for these projects is USD 53 million with the support of the Qatar Fund for Development, the Asian Development Bank and more than 6 partners.

The projects will address the need for clean water, food for students and teachers, and proper sanitation. It will also offer awareness campaigns for parents and teach them the importance of education and its links to combating problems such as child labour and dropout rates. Project leaders will work with local communities and influential personalities and will try and address issues such as student registration systems and solving overcrowded classrooms.

Another big success of the LDC5 conference, was a co-signing between EAA and UNESCO. It was agreed upon to a joint advocacy for implementing the UNESCO Qualifications Passport programme at the regional, MENA and international levels. The UQP aims to address persistent challenges and constraints for forcibly displaced populations trying to access higher education.

EAA's panel discussions were attended by global leaders and ministers from Africa and Asia throughout the week. Ministers of Education from Bangladesh and Pakistan attended EAA's discussion on gender and equality, hosted along with its programme Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC).

EAA along with its programme Educate A Child discussed ways to improve teaching in Burkina Faso, while eight countries participated in a ministerial roundtable on out-of-school-children sharing information from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan and the State of Palestine.

EAA also included youth voices across all of its panel discussions, especially through its Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) event on how "green skills" can combat climate change challenges and youth unemployment.

Speaking on the final day of the event CEO of Education Above All Foundation Fahad Al Sulaiti said:

"We are proud of our achievements at the LDC5 conference, but there is still a lot of work to do. We must now turn these conversations into concrete plans and solutions and continue our commitment to our sustainability goal, which is quality education for everyone."

Source and cover image credit: QNA

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Tracy Quirino

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