Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 14th December 2015: The workshop on the capacity building on education and gender opened today Monday 14th December 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The three-day workshop, which brings together education experts from African Union Member States, aims at identifying effective strategies that will pave the way for a gender-sensitive educational system on the Continent.

The event is organized by the International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa (AU/CIEFFA), a specialized institution of the African Union which has as one of its objectives to build the operational capacities of Member States on girls and women’s education issues. The Institution is at the forefront in materializing aspiration 6 of the Africa’s Agenda 2063 aimed, among others, to take advantage of the potential of the African women and girls by ensuring that their access to education is guaranteed in African countries. Indeed, statistics show that out of 75% of girls starting schools, only 8% finish in the African continent. In the same vein, the Education For All (EFA) Global monitoring report for 2013-2014 underlines that in sub-Saharan Africa, only 23% of poor girls will have completed primary education by the end of 2020.

Addressing the participants of the workshop, Ambassador Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, Deputy Chief of Staff at the African Union Commission pointed to the fact that the gender approach and education are key priorities of Agenda 2063, the fifty-year continental development framework. She also said that the promotion of gender equality is at the center of attention of the African Union leadership. It is in that spirit that 2015 was declared “Year of women empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

In addition, the Deputy Chief of Staff also highlighted the fact that addressing the gender socialization issue in our schools will provide a better education system that will significantly contribute to unlock Africa’s development potential.

On behalf of Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo, Acting Director for the Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology at the African Union Commission, Dr. Rita Bissoonauth, Coordinator of the AU/CIEFFA, recalled that the mandate of the AU/CIEFFA is to promote and advocate girls and women’s education in Africa. She also underlined that the objectives of this workshop included an understanding of the impact of gender in the knowledge construction, outlining the students’ construction of gender influence, as well as identifying equitable strategies that prepare teachers to be sensitive to issues of gender equity.

Dr. Rita Bissoonauth further explained that the aim of the workshop was to come up with recommendations on gender education which need to be implemented in each Member States. “The AU/CIEFFA will coordinate the monitoring and evaluation of the recommendations.” Concluded the AU/CIEFFA Coordinator.

The meeting will be facilitated by Mrs. Florence Migeon, program specialist, United Nations education, science and culture organization (UNESCO), and Dr. Hamidou Boukary, international expert on education issues.

It should also be noted that AU/CIEFFA is a UNESCO category 2 institute.

JL

For any inquiry, please contact:

Dr. Rita Bissoonauth | Coordinator | AU/CIEFFA | Tel: +251115517700 | Email: BissoonauthR@africa-union.org

Media contact: Jerry Laurence Lemogo | Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | Tel: +251911361185 | E-mail: jlemogo@yahoo.fr

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Website: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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Tel: +251-11-5517700 | Fax: | E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org | Web:www.au.int

Addis Ababa | Ethiopia