Leveraging the role of the media in promoting inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning for African girls and women through the #AfricaEducatesHer campaign is key to achieving the AU Agenda 20263, the UN Sustainable Development Goal and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA), according to the African Union CIEFFA. To this end, the African Union CIEFFA organized a Media Capacity Workshop from 26-28 September 2024 to train and upgrade media professionals in reporting on gender equality in education.
In Emphasizing the role of the media in conveying messages and advocating for policies and programmes to promote girls’ education at local, regional and international levels, the African Union’s CIEFFA, a specialized body of the AUC Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, in line with its objectives to materialize Outcome 7 of the Roadmap for the Education-focused Year of the African Union 2024, organized from 26 to 28 September 2024 a media capacity workshop to raise the profile of the #AfricaEducateHer Campaign.
“We expect media experts to be the voice of the African Union CIEFFA on the continent as well as the voice of women and girls who cannot access school, who cannot stay or be kept in school for various reasons, we also learn from these journalists”.
Simone Yankey-Ouattara, Acting Coordinator of AU CIEFFA – Côte d’Ivoire
During the Covid-19 pandemic, 250 million students on the African continent were out of school, including more than 133 million girls and women. On this note, media and communication professionals on the African continent express their determination to raise awareness on girls and women’s education for sustainable development.
“It’s going to be a game changer for me to go back to my own country where the education of girls has been really affected and make sure I push for their inclusion”.
Danhatu Njodzeka, Journalist – Cameroon
‘This is an issue we still need to talk about and understand that we need to look for the right data to tell the stories. I am very interested in using platforms such as social media and the media to tell stories about African women. This reinforces my interest in using this platform to talk about girls’ education and to create advocacy around this issue”.
Omoye Oriaghan, Communicator – Nigeria
Gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially in education, are essential to achieving sustainable development, the Continental Strategy for Education in Africa 2016-2025 (CESA) and the AU Agenda 20263. In this regard, the AU CIEFFA calls on the media to redouble their efforts to promote inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning for African girls and women in order to achieve the Africa we want.
