(2) pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2008, Official Report, columns 1167-8W, on Africa: females, what steps his Department is taking to support access to education of girls and women in Africa in 2008-09.
The Department for International Development's (DFID) work in the education sector in Africa is guided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which call for the achievement of universal primary education and for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. We plan to spend some £214 million bilaterally on education in Africa this year (2008-09). In addition, DFID provides core funding to a range of multilateral organisations who work to develop education in Africa. A large proportion of our bilateral support is routed through national budgets, notably in Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda. This is in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness which calls for 50 per cent. of bilateral assistance to be channelled through country systems by means of long-term general budget or sector support. There is a particular emphasis throughout our education sector programmes on increasing school attendance, and a key part of this is getting more girls into school.
During the visit of President Sarkozy earlier this year, we agreed to work jointly with France to help get 16 million more children into school in Africa by 2010. We have also committed £150 million to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative for 2006-8 to help countries speed up the implementation of their education plans. The Fast Track Initiative is supporting education work in 18 Africa countries.
There is still a long way to go to achieve these MDGs in Africa, but there has been some worthwhile progress. Free primary education has brought millions of children into school: in Zambia and Tanzania, over 97 per cent. of children are now enrolled, with equal number of girls. In Lesotho, Rwanda, Uganda and Malawi gender parity rates have reached 98 per cent. or more. In Ethiopia, our support helped one million more children to enter school in 2006. In Malawi, providing better toilet facilities in schools and support to teenage mothers has improved school attendance by girls.
Our current work in the education sector across Africa is set out in the following table.
Project Title Country Commitment (£000) Supporting improved delivery of Education Burundi 6,000 Secondary School Access for Returning Refugees 1,020 Primary Education, North Sankuru (Catholic Relief Services) Democratic Republic of Congo 400 Access to Primary Education 10,410 Education Innovatory Fund Ethiopia 300 Pooled Operation Fund 995 Protection of Basic Services Secretariat 250 General Education quality improvement programme 150 Basic Education Support for Poverty Reduction The Gambia 3,500 Support to Education Strategic Plan Ghana 100,000 Support to Education Strategic Plan 5,000 Support to Kenya Education Sector Support Programme Kenya 50,000 Support to Kenya Education Sector Development Programme 5,000 Malawi Poverty reduction Budget Support 2007-08 Malawi 22,000 Infrastructure Support 7,800 Education Sector Wide Approach Technical Assistance 750 Education Sector Support II Mozambique 45,000 Education Sector Support 1,000 Niger: Support to Girls Education Niger 7,105 Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria Nigeria 105,910 Joint Education Sector Support Programme Rwanda 13,000 10th Anniversary of Genocide - support to education 961 Capacity Building Technical Assistance for Joint Education Sector Support 300 Support to Teacher Census Sierra Leone 750 Sierra Leone 10 year Education plan 15 Save the Children (UK): Education, Hiran Somali Democratic Rep 1,408 UNESCO / UNICEF Agreement 6,000 Africa Education Trust: Formal Assessment and Certification on Somalia and Somaliland Project 1,000 UNICEF Emergency Education 2008 320 Scholarship Programme for Sudanese Students Sudan 410 Training Scheme Phase II 1,400 Reflect Literacy Programme (GOAL) 421 UNICEF Southern Sudan Go-to-School 1,777 UNICEF Education Project Abyei 2,000 Research on Poverty Alleviation Tanzania 900 Support to Hakielmu (NGO) 1,100 Education Sector Technical Assistance Support 180 Zambia Education Sector Wide Approach Zambia 19,000 Education Expertise SADC1 300 Mapping of Higher Education 240 Association of African Universities: Revitalising Education Africa Regional 3,500 Association for Development of Education in Africa: Books Working Group 220 Financing for Development 100 African Virtual University Board Participation 25 1 SADC: Southern Africa Development Coordination Committee
By the end of 2007, the Government of South Sudan and UNICEF’s ‘Go To School’ campaign produced an increase in school enrolment to 1.3 million children up from 850,000 when the campaign began two and a half years ago. The Government of South Sudan and UNICEF aim to increase this figure to 1.6 million enrolled by the end of 2008, 1.9 million by the end of 2009, and 2.5 million by 2012.
In March 2008, the Department for International Development (DFID) donated £1.2 million to purchase school materials in support of this important initiative.