Here: “We Promote Girls’ Education – Ensuring That They Complete Primary Education As a Minimum – Because It Benefits All Children, Both Girls and Boys

LIMUN HS 2017

25TH – 26TH NOVEMBER 2017

UNICEF STUDY GUIDE ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR GIRLS

CONTENTS

Introduction to the Chairs ...... 1 Introduction to the Committee ...... 0 Topic A: ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR GIRLS ...... 1 Introduction ...... 1 History of the Topic ...... 0 The Beijing Platform (1995) ...... 0 The Millennium Development Goals (2000) ...... 0 Malala Yousafzai’s Story ...... 0 The Sustainable Development Goals (2015) ...... 0 Key Actors ...... 0 UNICEF’s Work ...... 0 Other UN Bodies ...... 0 Government Action ...... 0 UK’s Department For International Development ...... 0 US’ Let Girls Learn Initiative ...... 0 Non-governmental Organisations ...... 1 Plan International ...... 1 The Malala Fund ...... 1 Discussion Of The Topic ...... 1 Barriers To Girls’ Education And Solutions ...... 1 Poverty And Cost ...... 2 Child Marriage And Early Pregnancy ...... 2 Child Labour And Domestic Duties ...... 2 Disabilities And Health ...... 3 Conflict And Humanitarian Crises ...... 4 Bloc Positions ...... 4 EU ...... 4 Arab League ...... 5 China and Allies ...... 5 Points a Resolution Must Address ...... 5 Further Reading ...... 6 Bibliography ...... 6

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAIRS

Sarthak Kumar - Director

Hi! My name is Sarthak - if you can't pronounce it, don't worry, we'll get plenty of practice over three days! Just started my 3rd year in Computing at Imperial, but more importantly this is my third year in MUN and even more importantly this is my third conference as a chair!

Can't wait to meet each and every one of you amazing folks, and let's make our committee the best of LIMUN!!!

Ashvini Rae – Assistant Director

Hi, I’m Ashvini and I’m a former high school debating nerd turned university MUN-er. I’m relatively new to the world of MUN and had no clue what things like moderated caucuses were this time last year. I’ve learnt a lot about MUN in the past year and have attended five conferences, including LIMUN 2017.

I’m currently studying Politics and International Relations at the University of York (but am still a Londoner at heart). In my spare (non-MUN) time, I enjoy napping and Netflix and am currently teaching myself to play the ukulele. I also have a keen interest in international development and women’s rights. The issue of equal access to education for girls is one that I’m really passionate about so I hope you all enjoy discussing it!

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMITTEE

The UNICEF committee works to protect children all across the world to ensure that their rights and wellbeing are being protected and maintained. Their headquarters are in New York and one of the main aims of the UNICEF Committee is the promotion of girls’ education, as demonstrated here: “We promote girls’ education – ensuring that they complete primary education as a minimum – because it benefits all children, both girls and boys. Girls who are educated grow up to become better thinkers, better citizens, and better parents to their own children.”1

The UNICEF committee continues their work in this light and we hope that the delegates, regardless of their country try and act in the spirit of the UNICEF Committee.

On the topic of Girl’s Education, the committee has been working on how to deal with emergencies and how to continue teaching children in a safe manner that is effective and to a high standard. UNICEF has a very tight budget with less that 2% of GDP being spent on education. The UNICEF committee cannot force countries to adopt a policy of sanction member states, they can only compile reports and suggest possible solutions, if countries would like to be sanctioned, it requires the ratification of the Security Council.

1 "About UNICEF" 2017

TOPIC A: ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR GIRLS

INTRODUCTION

Education is vital for both the development and empowerment of children. As well as being a human right, access to education has multiple socio-economic benefits for children and the societies that they live in. However, it is estimated that there are currently 130 million girls across the world who are out of school and unable to access education.2

The situation is particularly bad in poor and developing countries. According to UN statistics, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of girls who are not enrolled in schools. (See map below).3

There are many reasons why girls and young women are unable to access education. The main economic reasons for this include poverty and a lack of funding. The main social reasons include gender norms as well as child marriage and pregnancy. In order to address this issue it is necessary to understand all of these reasons and that they might change from region to region.

Access to education can have multiple benefits for girls and their families, as well as their communities and their countries. There are both social and economic benefits to opening up access to education. According to the Malala Fund, for example, educating girls could boost the economies of low and middle income countries would be boosted by up to $92 billion per year. (3) The social benefits include the reduction in child deaths and the reduction in child marriages that better education could lead to. Ensuring quality education for girls and young women is, therefore, an important issue and must be addressed by UNICEF.

2 "Girls' Education Overview" 2017. 3 "UIS Tellmaps" 2017.

HISTORY OF THE TOPIC

Unequal access to education for girls and young women has often been identified as a substantial barrier to achieving both gender equality and sustainable development. This section of the Study Guide will consider various efforts of the UN and other international bodies to make education more inclusive and equal.

THE BEIJING PLATFORM (1995)

The 1995 Beijing Platform, which came out of the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women, is seen as a very significant document in the UN’s efforts towards gender equality. The Platform acknowledged the need to ensure girls and young women have equal access to education. It identified several actions that should be taken by governments and set the (ambitious) goal of achieving gender equality in education by 2005.

THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (2000)

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established the goal of achieving universal primary school education by 2015. This goal took into account gender disparities in education and aimed to eliminate these equalities. It also led to the founding of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) in 2000, a body dedicated to increasing female participation in education.

The UN made progress towards MDG 2 between the years of 2000 and 2015. Primary school enrolment in developing countries increased from 83% in 2000 to 91% in 2015. More specifically, the rate of primary school enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 8% between the years of 1990 and 2000 to 20% between the years of 2000 and 2015.4 However, it failed to ensure universal access to education by 2015. It also failed to eliminate gender inequalities in education.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI’S STORY

Malala became a high-profile activist after protesting the Taliban’s ban on female education in her hometown in Pakistan. In 2012, she was targeted by the Taliban and shot multiple times and suffered critical injuries. Since her recovery, she has continued to advocate for girls’ education and, along with her father, started the Malala Fund, which is working to ensure education is made more inclusive and accessible, in 2013.

Malala’s efforts have been recognised by the international community. For instance, she became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. Her story has also highlighted the true severity of the situation and the need to address it.

4 "United Nations Millennium Development Goals" 2017.

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (2015)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) served as the UN’s follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). SDG 4 is the aim of ensuring universal education by 2030, while SDG 5 refers directly to ensuring gender equality. While this shows a commitment to ensuring universal education, one must consider how achievable this goal is. After all, if MDG 2 (universal education) had been achieved by 2015, there would be no need for SDG 4.

KEY ACTORS

There are several bodies, both international and national, that work to make education more gender inclusive.

UNICEF’S WORK

Universal access to education is a key part of UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan. UNICEF works with governments to reduce barriers to education on a national level. It is also committed to protecting access to education during humanitarian crises through working with national governments. UNICEF also works with the Global Partnership for Education as well as the UNGEI to prevent gender-based violence in schools.

OTHER UN BODIES

Access to education for girls is a topic that is addressed by several UN bodies. UN Women, for instance, focuses on access to education as a key way to empower girls and women. The United Nations Development Programme focuses on educating girls and women as a way of achieving sustainable economic development.

GOVERNMENT ACTION

UK’S DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Many governments are taking action to ensure girls and young women have better access to education. For instance, Justine Greening, the then UK Secretary of State for International Development (DfID), recently pledged a donation of £100 million to the Girls’ Education Challenge in order to help widen access to education in developing countries.5

US’ LET GIRLS LEARN INITIATIVE

5 "Britain To Help 175,000 Girls In World’S Poorest Countries Get An Education - GOV.UK" 2017

Spearheaded by Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, the Let Girls Learn initiative was a concerted effort by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department and other US government departments to reduce the barriers to education that many girls across the world face. Its methods include supporting grassroots campaigns as well as global advocacy.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS

PLAN INTERNATIONAL

Plan International is just one of many girls’ rights charities and is a high-profile advocate of giving girls access to education. It works with schools across the world to ensure girls are provided with an adequate standard of education.

THE MALALA FUND

As mentioned earlier, the Malala Fund advocates for more gender inclusive education provisions across the world. It also supports the work of other education activists through its recent Gulmakai Network initiative, which puts an emphasis on grassroots solutions.

DISCUSSION OF THE TOPIC

BARRIERS TO GIRLS’ EDUCATION AND SOLUTIONS

POVERTY AND COST

Poverty remains one of the main reasons that millions of girls are out of education. According to the World Bank, for instance, only 4% of poor young women in the North Western Nigeria can read, whereas with 99% of rich young women in the South East can.6 High schooling costs prevent many girls across the world from attending school. For instance, when forced to decide between educating their sons and their daughters, many parents choose to educate their sons. It is also a cause of other factors, such as child marriage and child labour.

Investment in education across the world has been shown as an effective way to counter this. For instance, the Punjab Education Sector Projects, which were supported by the World Bank Group, have provided tuition vouchers to 150,000 girls in Punjab as well as stipends for 400,000 girls to attend school. These efforts have led to a 9% increase in high school enrolment in the region.5 Therefore, investing in education for girls can have an impact.

CHILD MARRIAGE AND EARLY PREGNANCY

Poverty can force girls into child marriage, which parents might see as a more worthwhile option for their daughters than education. According to Girls Not Brides, an estimated 15 million girls under the age of 18 are married per year.7

Marriage often forces girls to drop out of school. They might, for instance, be forced to perform domestic duties for their husbands or become pregnant at a young age, meaning they are unable to stay in school. This is detrimental to a girl’s development and education.

An inability to access education and child marriage are linked together. Education is one of the best ways to counter child marriage, while child marriage often leads to a lack of education. In fact, the more educated a girl is, the less likely she is to marry before the age of 18.6 Therefore, efforts to keep girls in school and to prevent child marriage, such as those made by UNICEF and other organisations, such as Girls Not Brides, have long-lasting effects.

CHILD LABOUR AND DOMESTIC DUTIES

6 "Girls' Education Overview" 2017. 7 “Girls, Not Brides”, 2017.

Another barrier preventing girls from accessing education is child labour. According to UNGEI, there are currently 90 million girls who are in child labour and, thus, are unable to attend school.8

As well as this, parents might choose to keep their daughters at home to perform domestic, so-called “feminine” duties such as fetching water and looking after younger siblings, instead of sending them to school.

While UNICEF already works towards the eradication of child labour, it still remains a large problem and one that still keeps girls out of schools. Attempts to get more girls into school, therefore, must address the financial pressure put on many girls and their families. Whether through public education campaigns or incentive schemes, such as the World Bank Group’s projects earlier, parents must believe that educating their daughters is more valuable than sending them to work would be.

DISABILITIES AND HEALTH

It is necessary to take an intersectional approach to this issue and recognise that some girls are more susceptible to being excluded from education than others. Girls in developing countries with disabilities, for instance, are especially excluded.

For instance, according to Leonard Cheshire Disability, only 1% of women worldwide with disabilities are literate. In addition to this, their findings show that, while 50.6% of disabled boys living in Kenya complete primary school, only 41.7% of disabled girls do.9 As well as social stigma, children with disabilities face other issues with the educational system, such as a lack of adequate support and also more practical barriers, such as a lack of physical accessibility to school.

Any attempts made by UNICEF to increase access to education for girls must consider the needs of disabled girls. Leonard Cheshire Disability, for instance, has worked to make schools in Kenya more accessible to pupils with disabilities and supported disabled girls when attending school.

Another health-related issues that is keeping girls out of school is a lack of access to toilets and sanitary hygiene products at school. According to ActionAid, many girls in Rwanda miss up to 50 days of school because of their period and are forced to stay at home during their

8 "Girls' Education Overview" 2017. 9 Education and Disability 2017.

period.10 Better provision of toilets and sanitary products, therefore, is an easy but effective way of tackling what remains a large barrier to education for many girls.

CONFLICT AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES

Access to education for girls can also be restricted due to conflict. According to the Malala Fund, young women living in regions affected by conflict are 90% less likely to attend secondary school than young women living in more peaceful regions.11 Furthermore, UN statistics show that the three countries with the highest rates of girls out of school are South Sudan, Afghanistan and Chad.12

There are particular barriers to inclusive education during times of crisis. During humanitarian crises, immediate needs (such as access to water and food) become a priority. Education, however, often ceases to be a priority. Due to this, there is often a lack of schools and educational infrastructure in conflict zones. For instance, Syrian schools have been affected by airstrikes in recent years, meaning children do not have anywhere to learn. It is also thought that access to education is the best way to help countries recover post-conflict.

In order to address this, UNICEF is working with is working with national government to ensure education is still accessible during times of humanitarian crisis. However, the UN must do more if it is to meet its goal of universal education by 2030, especially given the unprecedented number of crises and conflicts currently happening.

BLOC POSITIONS

The EU has a 3 main policy focuses in terms of their policy implementation. On a national level the EU is currently trying to encourage member states to draft inclusive policies to incentivise all people regardless of background to participate in education. Equal Education is a right for all people and this is something the EU has been keen to promote and have continued to

10 "Periods And Girls' Education", 2017. 11 “Malala Fund –Girls’ Education”, 2017. 12 "UN News - Girls Worst Affected As Conflict Keeps More Than 25 Million Children Out Of School - UNICEF", 2017.

develop the Erasmus Scheme to ensure that people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to gain a wider exposure to different cultures and gain a full, enriching education. This is because the EU believes that through education people can effectively contribute to the society and thus it helps increase the quality of legislatures and the insight in policy.

Furthermore the EU is supporting the Global Partnership for Education, which aims to ensure that education in fragile countries is maintained and protected to allow all children, regardless of gender can attend. This is done through the promotion of the value of education so that parents understand the need to it and become more predisposing to sending their children to school.

The EU is also engaging in programmes to train female teachers in impoverished countries to try and allow for girls to have more role models in their education system and as well as funding the transport for these teachers to help them reach the largest number of people.

ARAB LEAGUE

The have collaborated with ALECSO (The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization) and have tried to work with governments to build sustainable policies in the education system. An example of a project they have initiated is that they have promoted E- Education for Syrian Refugees in camps to ensure that they do not lose on years of development due to the current civil war. In addition they have sought to work the UNHCR to grant scholarships for children to go to school to ensure that money does not become a mitigating factor regarding a child’s ability to go to school. There have been many criticisms leveed again Arab Countries regarding the execution of policies to equal opportunities.

CHINA AND ALLIES

China and its allies are working hard to reduce child illiteracy and my providing education for free as well as exploring efforts to rebalance the imbalance between boys and girls in education; In addition, they are trying to upgrade the quality of teachers in schools. Furthermore they have collaborated with UNICEF and UNESCO to ensure that education is of a high standard.

POINTS A RESOLUTION MUST ADDRESS

The 5 main issues that need to be addressed are as follows: • What access should equal access be available to • How will you make this universal • What have been the shortcomings in previous resolutions • How will countries be incentivised to provide education • What timeline should be implemented to ensure that this aim is met

FURTHER READING https://www.unicef.org/education/bege_70640.html - For the current work of the commiteee http://www.globalpartnership.org/ - this is important to understand the work that is being done, as this is the largest collaborative effort to help give girls the education they deserve. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002107/210798e.pdf - this is important to understand the problems with women’s education in the Arab World. http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/china.html - China’s position on Education

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"About UNICEF". 2017. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_introduction.html. Brides, Girls. 2017. "Education - Girls Not Brides". Girls Not Brides. http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/themes/education/. "Britain To Help 175,000 Girls In World’S Poorest Countries Get An Education - GOV.UK". 2017. Gov.Uk. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-to-help-175000-girls-in- worlds-poorest-countries-get-an-education. "Education - International Cooperation And Development - European Commission". 2017. International Cooperation And Development. https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sectors/human-development/education_en. "Girls' Education Challenge Project", 2017. Leonardcheshire.Org. https://www.leonardcheshire.org/international/inclusive-education/kenya/girlseducation-challenge-project. "Girls' Education | Malala Fund", 2017. Malala.Org. https://www.malala.org/girlseducation. "Girls' Education Overview". 2017. Worldbank.Org. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/girlseducation#1. "Periods And Girls' Education". 2017. Actionaid UK. https://www.actionaid.org.uk/about- us/periods-and-menstrual-hygiene/periods-and-girls-education. "Promoting Girls’ Education By Tackling Child Labour". 2017. UNGEI. http://blog.ungei.org/promoting-girls%E2%80%99-education-by-tackling-child-labour. "UIS Tellmaps". 2017. Tellmaps.Com. http://tellmaps.com/uis/gender/#!/tellmap/- 1195952519.

"UN News - Girls Worst Affected As Conflict Keeps More Than 25 Million Children Out Of School - UNICEF". 2017. UN News Service Section. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56610#.WY8ZHFGGPIU. "United Nations Millennium Development Goals". 2017. Un.Org. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml.