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Tener agua cerca significa ir al colegio

El Pais España

Por: El país

La instalación de 212 grifos y un tanque en la zona del Alto Nilo de Sudán del Sur evita que las niñas pasen cuatro horas de camino al río

Ellas son lo primero. Nyanbol, de 14 años, y Acha, de 13, han sido liberadas. Ya no les atormentará más la tarea de la que se han encargado generaciones de mujeres en Sudán del Sur. ¿De qué estamos hablando? Del trabajo diario de andar hasta el río, unas cuatro horas a través de un terreno hostil, que obligaba a las niñas a dejar el colegio y perder el resto de su infancia. El miedo que las mujeres sentían por lo que pudiera haber escondido en los arbustos a lo largo del camino, el terror a ser violadas, o incluso el pánico a los hipopótamos o cocodrilos que podían atacarlas mientras cogían agua sucia con sus cubos, ha acabado. Por primera vez en sus vidas, más de 23.000 personas que huyeron del conflicto en el estado del Alto Nilo de Sudán del Sur están recibiendo agua potable de grifos de la comunidad cerca de las puertas de su casa. Un hecho que nunca habían imaginado.

Nyadhiang Athiei Deng no sabría decir qué edad tiene con exactitud, pero su cabello gris, su espalda encorvada y el recuerdo de los acontecimientos del pasado lejano sugieren que está cerca de sus 80 años. Señala unas marcas en la parte superior de su cabeza, «del agua» y explica que durante toda su vida, ha traído agua del río en dos contenedores de 40 kilos y los ha transportado balanceándolos sobre su cabeza. Sus hijas sentadas a su lado, de entre 30 y 40 años, tienen sentimientos similares. En esta comunidad, ir a buscar agua es una responsabilidad totalmente femenina. Sin embargo, la próxima generación no tendrá que pasar por esto. «Ahora, sabemos que nuestras hijas podrán ir a la escuela y continuar estudiando en el futuro porque no tienen que irse lejos para obtener agua», dice Abeuk, una madre de 30 años con cinco hijos y una de las nueras de Nyadhiang. «No he recibido educación debido a esas responsabilidades que tenía en el pasado. No puedo comparar las vidas de mis hijas con la mía, ellas estarán mucho mejor», dice con la esperanza reflejada en sus ojos.

Nyadhiang Athiei, a sus 80 años, tiene marcas en la parte superior de su cabeza de acarrear el agua

Hace tres años, la vida se vino abajo para Nyadhiang, sus hijas y nietos. El hogar que conocían, aquel en el que habían vivido durante generaciones, fue atacado y las casas incendiadas; su pueblo, Baliet, quedó atrapado en el conflicto dentro de Sudán del Sur. «Todos corrieron», dice Nyadhiang. «Me quedé sola», dice. Nyadhiang cojeaba, preocupada. No podía moverse rápido. Dudaba de que pudiera llegar a los campos de los que había oído hablar (una zona segura para las personas desplazadas por el conflicto), que estaba a una semana de distancia. «Conocí a personas que me ayudaron y vine con ellos», añade. «Después de que todos nos dispersáramos, nos encontramos aquí de nuevo». Pero no todos estaban allí. El hijo de Nyadhiang fue asesinado en el conflicto. Otra nuera murió en la fuga. Esos campos seguros son ahora una aldea improvisada, hogares para 13.700 personas que escaparon inicialmente del conflicto.

Obtener agua potable era uno de los principales desafíos: «Cuando llegamos, bebíamos agua directamente del río. Los niños y ancianos tuvieron diarrea, la gente a menudo enfermaba», dice Malech Thon, de 43 años, hija de Nyadhiang. «Sin embargo, si no hubiéramos cogido agua de allí, la gente habría muerto de sed», agrega Abeuk. Para las agencias humanitarias que respondieron al aumento de la llegada de refugiados, proporcionar agua potable a las personas se convirtió en una prioridad. Se estableció un servicio de agua de emergencia gracias a los donantes, se desplegaron enormes piscinas de goma inflables, se bombearon 20.000 litros de agua de río y el agua se trató con sulfato de aluminio y cloro. Los especialistas de World Vision controlaban rutinariamente el agua para asegurarse de que fuera segura para el consumo humano.

«Ese primer día que dimos agua a la gente, 3.000 personas se reunieron e hicieron cola. Estaban visiblemente felices de tener agua potable cerca de sus hogares», dice Jimmy Warren, gerente de Agua, Saneamiento e Higiene de World Vision en Melut. En los meses siguientes, World Vision amplió a cuatro el número de sistemas de tratamiento de aguas superficiales, instaló una planta de tratamiento en la ciudad cercana para que la comunidad anfitriona evitara futuros conflictos por el agua, construyó un tanque elevado de 72.000 litros e instaló 212 grifos en todo el asentamiento de refugiados y la comunidad cercana. Hoy en día World Vision continúa brindando agua a 28.153 personas todos los días. Para las mujeres y niñas, los grifos han cambiado sus vidas. Dene, de 11 años, dice que en el pasado solía sentir miedo cuando acompañaba a su madre al río: «Ahora está bien, ya no tenemos miedo”.

Fuente: https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/03/21/africa_no_es_un_pais/1521631482_312251.html

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South Africa: GroundUp. Equal Education in court against Motshekga over broken schools

Noticias

South Africa/ March 20, 2018/Source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za

Learners and members of Equal Education (EE) gathered outside the Bhisho High Court on Wednesday with banners that read: “No more broken promises”. They were demanding infrastructure plans to prioritise the Eastern Cape’s “forgotten schools”. A huge plastic doll satirised the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, listing broken promises to fix schools.

The court case is part of Equal Education’s #FixOurSchools campaign.

The Department of Basic Education set out regulations for norms and standards for school infrastructure on 29 November 2013. These regulations set a deadline of 29 November 2016 for the replacement of schools made of inappropriate and often unsafe structures, and the provision of basic levels of water, sanitation and electricity in schools. EE had campaigned for these regulations and welcomed them: “For the first time, South Africa had a piece of law which said that a school must have decent toilets, electricity, water, fencing, classroom numbers, libraries, laboratories and sports fields.”

Photo: A huge plastic doll satirised the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, listing broken promises to fix schools. Photo: Leanne Jansen-Thomas

But the department did not meet the deadline. EE says the regulations are now being used to avoid responsibility. It wants the court to address four problems:

  • An escape clause in the regulations says the education department “is only responsible for the fixing of schools to the extent that other parts of the state (such as Eskom or Public Works) co-operate and make resources available”. EE wants this set aside.
  • The wording of the regulations apparently means that the department is only obliged to fix schools made entirely out of mud, wood, zinc, or asbestos. “This means that if an otherwise entirely inappropriate school has even one structure made of proper building materials, a brick toilet block, for example, government may ignore its duty. The law needs to be tightened so that these schools are fixed urgently,” explained an EE statement.
  • The regulations do not allow for sufficient accountability, including making regular reports available to the public.
  • Some schools, already scheduled to be built, were excluded from the regulations.

Advocate Geoff Budlender for EE began with testimonials from teachers and students from various schools describing dilapidated classrooms and appalling conditions under which children are expected to learn.

“If a child does not get basic education today, that is a breach of the Constitution,” said Budlender. He said the right to basic education includes the provision of furniture in school, transport to and from school. And if learners could not access services at school like toilets or water, then that undermined the importance of basic education.

“We make the obvious submission that there is one national government. The Minister bears a constitutional obligation as minister and also a representative of the national government to fix the norms and fulfil Section 29 of the Constitution,” he said.

Advocate Nikki Stein for SECTION27 representing Basic Education for All, which has been admitted as a friend of the court, told the court that there were thousands of schools across the country with infrastructure that is unsafe and inadequate. “This case is not about the individual circumstances of each of these schools per se. It’s about the regulations that the minister has passed.”

Advocate Chris Erasmus for the state said Motshekga should not be second-guessed and that provinces had budgetary limitations.

He said it was “common cause” that the duty to implement the norms and standards was “subject to the resources and cooperation of other government agencies and entities responsible for infrastructure”.

Erasmus said Motshekga could not speak for other departments or ministers; these included the Minister of Public Works being responsible for infrastructure of the state in general, the Minister of Water and Sanitation being responsible for infrastructure relating to water and sanitation, and the Minister of Energy being responsible for the provision of electrical infrastructure.

“None of these entities have been cited as respondents, despite a list of other respondents having been identified as necessary parties,” said Erasmus.

The case continued on Thursday. DM

Main Photo: Learners and members of Equal Education picketed outside the Bhisho High Court on Wednesday in a case over minimum standards for schools. Photo: Leanne Jansen-Thomas

Source:

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-03-15-groundup-equal-education-in-court-against-motshekga-over-broken-schools/#.WqsjO-jOXIU

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Nuevos tiempos: un nuevo tipo de educación

Leonardo Boff

Por: Leonardo Boff

La realidad en las últimas décadas ha cambiado tanto que ha afectado también a nuestro estilo de educación. Cito algunos de estos cambios:

―Hemos construido el principio de nuestra autodestrucción con armas nucleares, químicas y biológicas. Nada es absolutamente seguro y un accidente cualquiera puede destruir nuestra civilización.

―El calentamiento global crece día a día. Si no hacemos nada, como la comunidad científica norteamericana ha advertido, podemos conocer dentro de algunos años un calentamiento abrupto de hasta 4-6 grados Celsius. Con eso, la mayoría de los seres vivos conocidos no resistirán y desaparecerán. Y parte de la humanidad también.

―La escasez de agua potable (sólo el 0,3% es accesible a los seres humanos y a los animales) puede provocar guerras letales para garantizar el acceso a fuentes de agua dulce. O también alianzas de cooperación.

―La planetización es un hecho nuevo en la historia de la Tierra y de la Humanidad. Salimos un día de África, donde estuvimos durante 4-5 millones de años y por eso somos todos africanos, y después nos esparcimos por los continentes; ahora estamos volviendo y encontrándonos en un solo lugar: la Casa Común, la Tierra.

―La crisis ecológica afecta directamente al sistema-vida y al sistema-Tierra. Estamos destruyendo las bases físico-químicas que sostienen la vida. De continuar la sobrexplotación de la Tierra, ella no aguantará y nuestra civilización estará amenazada.

―Existe el peligro de que superbacterias que perdieron su hábitat por la deforestación puedan invadir ciudades y diezmar a miles de personas, sin que sepamos cómo enfrentarlas con potentes antibióticos.

Estos son datos, no fantasías. La gran mayoría de las personas no tiene conciencia de los peligros que corre. Es como en tiempos de Noé: todos se divertían y se reían del anciano, y vino el diluvio. Sólo que hoy es diferente: no tenemos un Arca de Noé que pueda salvar a algunos y dejar perecer a los otros. Todos podemos perecer.

Todo esto nos obliga a pensar sobre el futuro común de nuestra especie y de la Casa Común. Todo debe comenzar con una sensibilización general. En casa y en la escuela es donde tal nueva conciencia debe surgir.

Veamos qué tareas nuevas se presentan a los maestros y qué nueva percepción deben desarrollar en los educandos. Lógicamente la escuela debe llevar adelante su tarea básica, como la enunció la UNESCO:

(1) Aprender a conocer todo lo que el pasado nos legó. Como escribió Montaigne (1533-1592) en sus Ensayos: «el educador debe tener la cabeza sobre todo bien montada, más que bien llena». Es decir, saber la situación real de la Tierra y trasmitirla a los estudiantes;

(2) Aprender a pensar, sabemos mucho y todo está en Google, pero no pensamos lo que sabemos. El saber es un poder que puede construir una bomba atómica o un antibiótico. El saber no es neutro. Pensar es detectar a quién sirve el saber y quiénes son los dueños del saber;

(3) Aprender a vivir, que es crear un carácter recto, amante de la verdad, es ser un buen ciudadano participativo con un proyecto solidario de vida;

(4) Aprender a convivir, pues hoy vivimos en medio de las mayores diferencias de raza, religión, ideas, opciones sexuales; no permitir que la diferencia se transforme en desigualdad; todos tienen derecho de vivir su modo de ser; importa estar abierto en las redes sociales al destino de los pueblos, muchas veces trágico como ahora en Siria; interesarse por el sufrimiento de los más pobres y excluidos;

(5) Aprender a cuidar. Esto es nuevo pues sabemos que el cuidado es la ley básica de todos los seres vivos y también del universo; si no cuidamos del agua, la basura, de nosotros mismos y de las relaciones sociales, podemos dar espacio a la degradación; todo lo que amamos, lo cuidamos, y todo lo que cuidamos, lo amamos;

(6) Aprender a tener una ética y una espiritualidad. La religión puede ayudar pero no necesariamente, pues muchas hacen guerra y matan; ser ético es orientarse hacia el bien, asumir las consecuencias de nuestros actos, buenos o malos; optar por el bien común, por la verdad contra toda corrupción.

La espiritualidad es una dimensión antropológica, como lo es la razón, la voluntad y la libido; somos espirituales cuando planteamos preguntas últimas: ¿por qué estoy aquí, cuál es el sentido del universo, de la vida y de mi propia existencia…? Ser espiritual es desarrollar lo que neurólogos y neurolingüistas llaman el “punto Dios en el cerebro”:siempre que abordamos aspectos de lo sagrado y del sentido último de la vida hay una aceleración de nuestras neuronas; es el “punto Dios”, que nos permite intuir que por detrás de todas las cosas hay una Realidad amorosa y poderosa que sustenta todo, las estrellas y también nuestras vidas. El “punto Dios” está hecho de amor, de compasión, de solidaridad y de devoción; nos hace más sensibles a los otros, y más humanos; cultivar el “punto Dios” es superar el materialismo actual y nutrir la esperanza sobre el fin bueno de todo.

Los educadores deben imbuirse de estos nuevos desafíos y enseñárselos a sus educandos. Sólo así estaremos a la altura de los graves peligros que se nos presentan.

Fuente: http://efectococuyo.com/opinion/nuevos-tiempos-un-nuevo-tipo-de-educacion

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VIDEO FORUM | Documental: el valor de la educación

Documentos

Tanzania / Autor: Proyecto Juntos / Fuente: Eduteca

‘El valor de la Educación’, un documental de la ONG Proyecto Juntos, sobre la cruda pero a la vez esperanzadora realidad de los niños de la ciudad de Moshi (Tanzania) para acceder a la escuela. Allí, los que pueden ir al colegio se sienten afortunados y creen sinceramente que con todo lo que aprenden en las aulas pueden ayudar a los demás y salvar a sus familias de la pobreza. ‘El valor de la Educación’ reivindica además el derecho a la enseñanza de todos los menores del mundo, no solo de Tanzania, si no de los niños de todo el planeta. Más de 250 millones de niños en el mundo, según la Unesco, no saben hoy en día ni leer ni escribir. Juntos podemos cambiar esta realidad.

Fuente de la Reseña:

http://laeduteca.blogspot.mx/2018/03/video-forum-documental-el-valor-de-la.html

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Of investment in education: is Nigeria still Africa’s giant?

Adekunle Adebajo

By Adekunle Adebajo

For as far as most Nigerians can remember, this country has been proudlyreferred to astheGiant of Africa. This title was earned by virtue of her intimidating economy, her huge population and her big brother role during the years immediately following her independence from British rule. However, the country is fast losing the respect accorded to her in the past, not only in Africa but across the globe. The factors responsible for this are not far-fetched: poor supply of electricity, poor state of infrastructure, notoriousness for internet fraud, corruption, an inferior quality of education among others.

Homing in on the last, it has been discovered that the state of the country’s schools can be easily explained financially. Comparing the budgetary behaviour of Nigeria and some other countries across Africa reveals that Nigeria’s giant status is not found where it matters the most, particularly in the level of attention paid to the education sector. While other African countries seem to have recognised the potency of education as a midwife to development, a better economy, a safer society and a more prosperous population, Nigeria’s priorities are still found in sustaining an excessively expensive system of governance and in national security, the funds for which often reflect better in foreign bank accounts rather than local battlefields. Rather than set the pace in implementing global standards, Nigeria evidently has a lot to learn from smaller and younger countries across the continent.

Kenya
Kenya’s education sector has traditionally received the lion’s share of the country’s national budget to take care of teachers’ salaries, and primary and secondary school subsidies; and this tradition was upheld in the 2015 budget.In April 2016, the Kenyan government tabled its 2016/17 national budget estimates before the National Assembly. The Budget Policy Statement (BPS) ceilings in all the sectors summed up to 1,498 Kenyan shillings; but the Gross Expenditure Estimates, after the increase by the Treasury, amounted to 1.667 trillion Kenyan shillings. Based on the BPS, education received a total of 346.6 Ksh, which in other words is 23.1% of the entire budget. This figure is topped only by the allocation to Energy, Infrastructure and ICT, some of the projects under which are also academic in nature, for instance the laptop project gulping Ksh 17.58 billion.

South Africa
In the 2016/17 budgetary year in South Africa, the country spent R213.7 billion on basic education, which is about 15% of the total budget; and, according to the National Treasury, the allocation is projected to rise an average of 7.4% annually over the following three fiscal years. In terms of percentage, this allocation, according to data from the United Nations, trumps those of the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. As projected, more recent figures are even more education-friendly. According to aUnited Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) document titled, “Education Budget, South Africa, 2017/2018”, the budget for school children is presently 17% of total government expenditure.

Ghana
Ghana has also established herself as one of Africa’s big spenders on education. In 2013, she committed a whopping 31% of her budget to education as against Nigeria’s 8% in the same year. The following year, the figure dropped to 20.5%; and it declined even more in 2015 to 17.8% and in 2016 to 13.5%. In 2017, however, the Ministry of Education’s budget experienced a 20.7% increase from the previous year’s figure; that is from 7.55 billion Ghanaian cedes to 9.12 billion Ghanaian cedes. And in 2018, the allocation has increased by another 11.6% as the government proposed last year to spend GHS 10.18 billion on the Ministry. This amounts to 16.42% of the total budget of GHS 62 billion.

Egypt
As for Egypt, one country whose universities alwaysstand out on the continental ranking, the government proposed to spend EGP 104 billion on education in the 2016/2017 fiscal year, which amounted to 11.1% of government spending in that year. This is an improvement on the allocation of EGP 99.3 billion the previous year. The increment in the allocation is partly attributable to the Egyptian Constitution. According to the document, the government is required to spend at least 3 per cent of the Gross National Product (GNP) on healthcare and at least 4 per cent on education every year. It is noteworthy that the global average education budget in relation to GDP stands at 5%.

Lesotho
This country is renowned to spend most part of its GDP on education. According to the budget speech to the parliament for the 2017/2018 fiscal year presented by Dr.MoeketsiMajoro, the Minister of Finance, the government proposed to spend a total of M2.423 billion on education and training in 2018. This, to put it differently, is 19.2% of the entire budget. The previous year, the government had spent 20.7% on

the same sector.

Now to Nigeria
In the acclaimed giant of Africa and home to the largest black population on earth, regard for education appears to be an anathema to all forms of government, whether led by a military dictator or a democratically elected individual, a Northerner or a Southerner, a Major General or a Ph.D. holder. An assessment of the trend from 1999 shows that the lowest allocation, 4.46%, to education was in 1999, and the highest, 11.44%, was in 2015. The average allocation in all 16 years of democratic rule is 9.14%. In the pre-1999 years of military rule, the sector did not fare any better as a study has shown that the average allocation to education between the years of 1981 and 1998 was a meagre 4.18%.

The situation has in fact worsened under the present administration. The first budget presented by President MuhammaduBuhari in December 2015 for the 2016 fiscal year was in stark contrast to the double digits legacy left by his predecessor. Education received ₦369.6 billion, which was 6.07% of the entire budget. In the 2017 budget proposals, N448.01billion was allocated to education, representing about 6% of the ₦7.30 trillion budget. And in the 2018 Appropriation Bill, the government proposed an allocation of ₦435.01 billion to education, which is just 7.04% of the total budgeted amount of ₦8.612 trillion.

Nigeria against the world
Across Africa, most countries are spending more and more on education by the year. As a matter of fact, government expenditure on education in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from US$12 billion in 2000 to US$67 billion in 2013 representing over 450% growth. This trend has resulted in higher literacy rates, lesser numbers of out-of-school children, improved quality of learning, and more foreign investments as well as greater industrialisation owing to greater availability of skilled labour. It has also led to a gradual increase in GDP for many of these countries as educated citizens naturally earn more than those who do benefit from formal learning.

Nigeria, on the other hand, especially under the presidency of MuhammaduBuhari, has yet to board the train of progress, despite cries from various corners. For this country, it has become an unending cycle of budgetary disregard for education, and complaints from stakeholders, accompaniedby silence from the government. The same pattern is repeated year in year out. This habit has affected us greatly, because not only are our schools not reckoned with on the international stage, the culture of academic tourism has seen our economy shed weight to the benefit of such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom and even Ghana.

In 2012, the Chairman of Exam Ethics International, Ike Onyechere, said Nigerians spend over ₦1.5 trillion annually on students studying abroad. ₦160 billion out of this goes to Ghana, while ₦80 billion goes to the United Kingdom. Likewise, in 2016, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institution and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Senator BintaMasi, said Nigeria spends over $2 billion annually as capital flight on education abroad. With this figure alone, Nigeria can build one or two world-class universities every year, considering the fact that Pakistan planned to spend $750 million for each of its new universities of engineering, science and technology and Qatar’s Cornell University spent the same amount establishing its School of Medicine in 2002.

The country’s lacklustre attitude towards education equally reflects in the ranking of universities across the globe and in Africa. According to the 2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, there is only one Nigerian university in the top 15 ranking in Africa, and that university, the University of Ibadan, is number 14 on the list. On the same list, we have six universities from South Africa, three from Egypt, two from Morocco, one from Uganda (ranked fourth), one from the Ghana (ranked seventh), and one from Kenya (ranked eighth). A similar pattern recurred in the 2018 ranking.

Finally
It is high time the Nigerian government recognised that recognising the good in education is for the good of the country. We do not have to go as far as the extreme West or the far East to get examples of countries reaping bountifully from great investments in education. Right here in Africa, there are more than sufficient instances. The Nigerian National Assembly should adopt the Egyptian legislative model by incorporating, into the constitution, a benchmark for budgetary allocations to the education sector. This preferably must not fall below 5% of the nation’s GDP or 20% of government’s annual spending.

Our schools are ailing; and it is not by scrapping Post UTME or quelling industrial actions that they will get better. We must make conscious, radical efforts by investing all we can to turn things around for good. Before we complain that our graduates are unemployable, we must ask first if our schools are habitable and if our facilities are universally acceptable. But beyond just dumping huge sums of money into the sector in theory, the government has to also ensure a balance in recurrent and capital expenditures as well as an effective implementation of whatever plans are laid out on paper. If we can do this, then the return of the giant to her rightful place is not only inevitable but will happen before long, before our very eyes.

Source:

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/263557/of-investment-in-education-is-nigeria-still-africas-giant.html

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África: Matrimonio infantil, un problema que persiste

Noticias

África/19 de Marzo de 2018/Extra

No se trata de una problemática del pasado. El matrimonio infantil continúa existiendo en pleno siglo XXI. Según la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco) —que trabaja para disminuir los casos— el matrimonioinfantil “viola los derechos humanos”. Agrega que se trata de una forma generalizada de abuso sexual y explotación de las niños. Esta problemática también puede terminar en trabajos forzados, esclavitud, prostitución y violencia. El desenlace puede ser la muerte.

En el caso de las niñas adolescentes, la probabilidad de muerte es mayor. Las complicaciones médicas por el embarazo y el parto colocan a las menores en riesgo.

En gran parte del continente africano se registra un elevado porcentaje de matrimonios infantiles. Un ejemplo es el conjunto de países que conforman África Subsahariana, ahí el 38 por ciento de mujeres se ha casado durante su infancia.

Los motivos para la incidencia de este fenómeno en África y Asia Meridional están relacionados con presiones económicas, sociales y culturales.

Un paso al frente

Las cifras parecen esperanzadoras. En la última década los índices de menores de edad que contrajeron matrimonio disminuyeron un 15 % a nivel mundial. Sin embargo, esto significa que aproximadamente 1 de cada 5 menores se siguen casando.

Según los datos de la Unesco con esta reducción se han evitado 25 millones de casamientos. La meta para la erradicación total está fijada para 2030, pero el ritmo debe acelerarse. La organización señala que si las medidas no se ajustan, en 12 años más de 150 millones de niños se casarán antes de los 18 años.

En Ecuador

En el país también se registran casos de matrimonio infantil, aunque en un contexto diferente. Según el Estudio sobre prácticas nocivas: matrimonio infantil y uniones precoces en Ecuador—publicado en diciembre de 2016 por el colectivo Coalición Nacional de Mujeres del Ecuador— “el matrimonio infantil precoz (en el país) es consecuencia de la discriminación por sexo, género, grupo de edad, prácticas sociales y creencias culturales que derivan en acciones que afectan los derechos humanos de las niñas”.

Según datos del estudio, entre 2009 y 2014, se registró el matrimonio de 6.740 mujeres menores de edad.

Fuente: Estudio sobre prácticas nocivas: matrimonio infantil y uniones precoces en Ecuador.

La desigualdad de género sale a relucir en los grupos menos favorecidos, especialmente indígenas, afroecuatorianos, y en los contextos rurales. A esto se le suman los estereotipos y el embarazo adolescente.

Las consecuencias de un matrimonio a corta edad son:

– Exclusión del sistema educativo

– Problemas de salud (complicaciones en el embarazo)

– Pobreza

– Violencia de género

Fuente: http://www.extra.ec/actualidad/matrimoniosinfantiles-indices-mundiales-unesco-derechoshumanos-EG2080237

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Education in South Sudan

Noticias

South Sudan/March 19, 2018/International Policy Digest

Resumen: La mayoría de las discusiones sobre el desarrollo en Sudán del Sur giran exclusivamente en torno a la seguridad, la inversión extranjera y la ayuda. Los esfuerzos a gran escala, como la infraestructura, el cuidado de la salud y el comercio, deberán dirigirse a nivel nacional con el respaldo de inversiones de socios internacionales. Sin embargo, hay muchos desafíos de capacidad institucional y humana que se abordan mejor a nivel local. Focalizar la inversión en esfuerzos locales de pequeña escala puede hacer crecer economías que sean más sostenibles y que estén en mejores condiciones para adaptarse a futuros grandes planes de desarrollo.

Most discussions about development in South Sudan revolve exclusively around security, foreign investment and aid. Large-scale endeavors such as infrastructure, health-care, and trade will have to be directed at the national level supported by investments from international partners. However, there are many institutional and human capacity challenges that are better addressed at the local level. Targeting investment into small-scale local efforts can grow economies that are more sustainable and better able to adapt to future large development plans.

The African Development Bank, in “Infrastructure Action Plan in South Sudan: A Program for Sustained Strong Economic Growth,” identifies four broad areas where developing countries need to focus attention to grow into a successful middle-income country: well-functioning public and private institutions; well developed basic infrastructure; a stable macroeconomic framework; and a healthy and literate labor force.

On a macro-level, terms like well-functioning, developed, healthy, and stable are not used to describe any aspect of the Republic of South Sudan’s economy or government. However, at the local, micro-level, there are glimpses of civil society taking responsibility for local needs.

The most debilitating problem facing the new republic is its lack of internal security. The ongoing civil war atrocities undermine the economy & make a stable nation impossible.

Only after peace is secured can large-scale infrastructure programs commence. With the exception of China, other countries do not feel secure in investing their resources in South Sudan. Until the country can germinate its own industries, it will need to foster relationships with outside investors to build its economy and train its labor force. Diversification will be the foundation on which this economy will stabilize, not one dependent on oil. South Sudan will need to refocus its public expenditures on developing a strong education system to assure that the workforce can sustain domestic civil engineering projects, agriculture, healthcare, and technology sectors.

Even if the national government could redistribute its expenditures immediately, developing a new country from scratch is an immense endeavor. Development cannot be only top-down, but also must emerge from regional and local populations. Institutional and human capacity building will be most sustainable if it originates at the local level.

Across South Sudan, local communities are mobilizing themselves to provide universal education, suspend child marriage, enact gun control and develop businesses. In one of South Sudan’s largest cities, Rumbek, local residents, churches, and NGOs are working with the Rumbek and Lakes government to find creative ways to address contentious cultural issues and provide for the basic needs of the people.

(Abukloi Enterprises)

Motivated by UN Peace Conferences, schools are creating “Peace Clubs” and using classroom time to discuss conflict resolution techniques. Students participate in local and regional debates about political and cultural issues. They use their education to challenge long-standing cultural practices and empower their families to engage in new practices for everyday living.

Rumbek’s Abukloi Secondary School has developed innovative ways to build local capacity to solve problems. Abukloi is tackling food insecurity by using its school grounds as an agricultural training center. Students implement their science curriculum knowledge in the school gardens. Produce from the garden is sold at market and used to sustain the school project, thus exposing the students to the entire business cycle.

They then encourage one another to share and implement these ideas at home. With the help of funding from an American NGO, the school sponsors a women’s community garden that not only teaches sustainable agriculture practices, but also teaches the young women how to market their produce and manage their business and personal funds.

Business training goes beyond agriculture. Abukloi has developed a sewing program and internet café. Both projects employ community business people to train students, teaching them tangible skills they can expand upon to create businesses for themselves. Furthermore, their curriculum has students work in teams to develop business plans.

The most promising plans are loaned start-up funds by the NGO so not only will students have a job upon graduation, but they will also be able to employ others in their community.

The beneficial returns on this educational model are exponential. First, young women are encouraged to stay in school and participate in every aspect of the school’s programs. Educating women changes the cultural norm, encourages the older generation to take time to learn new skills and passes the value of education on to the next generation.

They are also addressing food insecurity without the direct aid of government or multinational organizations. This empowers the local population to demand the resources they need from the regional or national government deepening political participation and expanding political consciousness.

By teaching basic business skills, students also expand their creativity and problem-solving skills. By creating businesses, the community is literally creating its own economy: generating demand for goods and services that others will be inspired to provide.

The focus of economic and social development should not rest solely in the hands of NGOs. Investing in local communities throughout South Sudan can empower the people to understand and solve basic needs. It can create a new vision for how to confront difficult issues, provide a fair and stable government, and be the foundation for a lasting peace among all South Sudanese.

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