The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has said its medium-term programme of cooperation with Guinea-Bissau’s government will write a ‘new chapter’ for children in the country.
The UN agency, in a recent statement, said that the programme, which is expected to run from 2022 to 2026, will build a social protection system and give a fresh ‘impetus’ to child learning and education in the country.
UNICEF’s move is in line with number four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aims to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
According to the Borgen Project, only 30 percent of children in Guinea-Bissau begin school at the specified age of six.
The Borgen Project also noted that low enrolment rates, limited financial support and gender inequality are some of the other factors militating against child education in the country.
Similarly, Educate a Child listed the main barriers to education in the country to include poverty, lack of inclusive educational settings, discrimination and lack of schools and sanitation facilities.
The UNICEF programme is expected to recalibrate child education in the country and work on other equally important aspects of child development including child protection and social inclusion.
‘The new programme sets out an ambitious agenda for Guinea-Bissau’s children, including building a social protection system that cushions against shocks, a fresh impetus on immunisation, learning and the realisation of child rights’, UNICEF tweeted.
Data from UNICEF shows that 52 percent of children under the age of 18 experienced at least three deprivations simultaneously in Guinea-Bissau.
The UN agency also noted that the child protection system is characterised by limited institutional capacity and a weak continuum of services for the prevention, identification, referral and case management of children affected by violence.
‘The programme will promote community-level integrated services for child survival, development and protection to inform national policy dialogue and social sector financing, thereby taking successful proof of concept initiatives to scale’, UNICEF’s programme of cooperation read.
‘The approach will help to mitigate the effects of longstanding political instability on the provision of social services exacerbated by the [Covid-19] pandemic. Support to disadvantaged and vulnerable communities will be reinforced, as will individual and institutional capacities for improved engagement in the provision and demand for quality services’.
In its response to basic education challenges, Guinea-Bissau’s government developed an interim plan that supported universal six-year primary education cycle for all the country’s children by 2020.
The government had also signalled its support for universal primary education through budgetary allocations. Between 2011 and 2013, public expenditure on primary education and education overall markedly increased by 13 and 5.6 percent respectively.
Photo source: UNICEF
