October 27, 2013  Nigeria: Cycle of Violence in Northeast http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/nig1310.php
    The cycle of violence in northeastern Nigeria, confirm two new Amnesty International reports this month, is fueled by indiscriminate killings both by Boko Haram and by the Nigerian military's Joint Task Force (JTF). More than 950 people are reported to have died while in detention by the JTF in the first six months of 2013, while Boko Haram has continued deadly attacks on schoolchildren and teachers.

Sep 21, 2010  Africa: Primary Education Pays Off http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/educ1009.php
    "Simply getting all children into school has a direct positive impact on economic growth. Then once children are in school, ensuring that the education they receive is good quality multiplies the impact ... A recently completed study from 50 countries established that every extra year of schooling provided to the whole population can increase average annual GDP growth by 0.37%. Where the education is good quality, the improvement of cognitive skills increases the impact to 1%." - Global Campaign for Education

Jul 20, 2010  Africa: Multilingual Education Pays Off http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/educ1007.php
    "Africa is the only continent where the majority of children start school using a foreign language. Across Africa the idea persists that the international languages of wider communication (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish) are the only means for upward economic mobility. .. [But] New research findings are increasingly pointing to the negative consequences of these policies ... We recommend that policy and practice in Africa nurture multilingualism; primarily a mother-tongue-based one with an appropriate and required space for international languages of wider communication." - Adama Ouane, Director, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning

Feb 28, 2010  Africa: Education for All? http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/educ1002.php
    "Many more girls are in school and enrolment rates are on the rise, due to higher-quality aid and to political commitment in developing countries. However, these achievements could be derailed by the global economic crisis ... With 72 million children still out of school, the world's poorest countries urgently need a global financing initiative that can deliver the resources to scale up to Education For All." - Oxfam

Sep 22, 2009  Africa: Reading for All http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/rfa0909.php
    Shortly after sending out yesterday's AfricaFocus Bulletin on the Global Fund for Education, I received an e-mail from a reader alerting me to reports from the recent 6th Pan African Reading for All Conference, held in Dar es Salaam in August. The conference attracted over 500 delegates from 34 countries, and featured two keynote addresses by Kenyan author and activist Ngugi wa Thiong'o, in addition to sharing of research and experience in more than 200 sessions.

Sep 21, 2009  Africa: Global Fund for Education http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/educ0909.php
    "A Global Fund for Education holds the key to delivering on the world's commitment to education for all by 2015. Evolving current mechanisms into a more independent, inclusive, and accountable institution can catalyze the resources and performance needed to achieve universal education. [Because of the strong effects of education on other development goals] this would make a major contribution to reducing global poverty, empowering women, and promoting economic growth in low-income countries around the world." - Center for Universal Education

Jun 8, 2009  Africa: Innovative Global Financing http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/tax0906.php
    "Innovative financing ... is no longer in the experimental stage. It has already produced over $2 billion dollars in three years. But there is still an enormous need for financing: to ensure primary education for all, improve maternal health, combat hunger and the great pandemics, guarantee environmentally-friendly development, etc. We know that $175 billion is needed every year at the global level to finance climate mitigation policy. We all know that $35 billion is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the health sector alone." - Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, France

Apr 29, 2009  Africa: Education on the Brink http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/ed0904.php
    "Investments in education and training were signaled in the G20 Communique as a priority to stimulate the economy - and as a key strategy to get out of the global recession. However, these warm words about education were focused on the G20 countries themselves -- and most of the children out of school around the world are in low income countries (LICs)." - Global Campaign for Education

May 29, 2007  Africa: eLearning Africa http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/el0705.php
    Over 1200 eLearning enthusiasts from 85 countries are attending the annual eLearning Africa conference in Nairobi this week. The countries with the largest participation are the host, Kenya, followed by Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.

May 7, 2007  USA/Africa: More than Just a Mvule Tree http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/kibo0705.php
    "Mrs. Mead's 4th grade class at Pecan Creek Elementary in Denton, Texas is writing, publishing and selling a book titled "More Than Just A Mvule Tree" for $5 per copy. All monies will be used to purchase Mvule trees to be planted in Uganda and maintained by Ugandan children to fund education thru the Kibo Group (http://www.kibogroup.org)"

Sep 23, 2006  Africa: Girl Power http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/educ0609.php
    "Girls who complete secondary school are up to five time less likely to contract HIV than girls with no education," according to a new ActionAid review of over 600 research studies. But in Africa, an estimated 22 million girls have never been to primary school.

Apr 27, 2004  Africa: Learning to Survive http://www.africafocus.org/docs04/educ0404.php
    Universal primary education is "the single most effective preventive weapon against HIV/AIDS," says a new report by Oxfam International. But donor countries are failing to come up with even the minimal funds they have pledged to support African countries under an optimistically named "Fast Track Initiative" to expand education funding.