Archbishop Desmond Tutu

NEW YORK, USA, 18 December 2008 – This week the Government of Norway is hosting the Education For All High-Level Group Meeting in Oslo to discuss progress made and challenges faced in providing quality education for all children.

For the first time, the annual meeting is being held in a donor country, sending a message to the international community on the urgent need for more sustained and effective support to basic education at the midway point to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Two girls choose crayons from a large bowl in a kindergarten class at St. Teresa Catholic School in the Mamba Point neighbourhood of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
©UNICEF/HQ07-2225/Pirozzi

NEW YORK, USA, 28 October 2008 – High-level talks about progress towards the Millennium Development Goals took place last month during the United Nations General Assembly. Special attention was paid to commitments and progress in some of the poorest African nations, particularly in the area of education.

Young people comprise over half of Rwanda’s population, but poverty, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS and the lingering effects of genocide continue to threaten children's welfare and dev.
© UNICEF/ HQ07-1367/Pirozzi

By Gabrielle Galanek

NEW YORK, USA, 8 May 2008 – Exactly one month ago, Rwanda commemorated the 14th anniversary of its genocide. By this time in 1994, half a million Rwandans had already been killed in an ethnic-cleansing campaign.

Liberian Minister of Gender H.E. Vabah Gayflor (left) and World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda take part in a UNICEF Radio discussion on gender equality in education.
© UNICEF/2008/Kamimura

By Gabrielle Galanek

NEW YORK, USA, 29 April 2008 – At the 52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women last month, global leaders met to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing women and girls today. The theme this year was financing for gender equality and empowerment of women.

© UNICEF/2007/Galanek
Podcast moderator Amy Costello hosts a UNICEF Radio discussion with 13-year-old Duhabo Goleecha of Kenya (left) and other guests.

NEW YORK, USA, 19 December 2007 – Providing education to children in regions and societies affected by conflict – or emerging from it – is a major challenge. Yet communities in conflict-affected areas consistently rank education as a high priority. And they demonstrate astounding resourcefulness and resilience in seeking out and providing schooling for their children.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2007-1537/Susan Markisz
Former child soldier Ishmael Beah Ishmael Beah of Sierra Leone.

In countries emerging from conflict, getting children into school is the first and most critical challenge for international development agencies, governments and communities.