Striving for equitable education and decent work – DVV International and ASPBAE join forces in lobbying at the HLPF
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 remains a challenge. This applies to the education goal (SDG 4) as well. With the Covid-19 pandemic shifting political foci it is all the more important to measure the progress towards the 17 goals on a regular basis. This is done annually at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).
Side event on equitable education for the marginalized
In 2019, DVV International organized a physical side event at the HLPF in New York involving high-ranking panellists from different project regions. During the pandemic the HLPF, and especially its side events, took place online. The theme of this year’s HLPF was “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.” The Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), a longstanding partner of DVV International for many decades, held an online side event with UN Women and the Azad Foundation on 8 July 2021 with the title “Making equitable education and decent jobs work for the marginalized – Pathway to a gender-just recovery.” DVV International was also involved in this event.
The side event was met with great attention. Its objective was to discuss how equitable access to skills, using the pedagogy of lifelong learning and alternative education, vocational skills facilitated by market-linked access to economic opportunities, and sustainable infrastructure can lead to an inclusive recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. ASPBAE, UN Women and the Azad Foundation successfully managed to elucidate the links between economic justice and inclusive growth (SDG 8), which are fuelled by access to formal and non-formal education (SDG 4) and their corresponding impact on gender justice (SDG 5).
Analysis on progress in adult education
The event started with an ASPBAE presentation on the analysis of the Voluntary National Reviews through an adult education lens. These reviews are prepared by all UN member countries every couple of years. They allow for a closer look into the progress made by the respective countries in various SDGs in the years covered. ASPBAE presented an analysis that focused on the achievements that were made in terms of adult education. It became evident that more policy attention needs to be paid to equitable education and vocational services for the marginalized and its impact on inclusive economic growth.
DVV International’s Director for Southeast Asia then presented results from a study on the barriers to non-formal education of women in Lao PDR, which had been carried out under the auspices of DVV International at the end of 2020. The aim of the study was to pave the way for the development of new project approaches in the following years. He called for more concrete action from national governments and the international community to address obstacles by providing concrete solutions such as the provision of more target-oriented educational opportunities and the eradication of gender-based discrimination in the education sector.
The Azad Foundation, UN Women and ASPBAE then widened the view by linking the needs addressed to concrete promising examples from the labour market, thereby demonstrating how trainings and education of various kinds can substantially support the integration of marginalized women into the job market. This included, for example, the Azad Foundation’s approach to a “Gender-Just Recovery” from the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims at raising the participation of women in India’s labour force by redistributing household and care work in the families, by ensuring greater community recognition of the role of women beyond the reproductive and care economy, and by involving them in transformative skills programmes.
The role of education in fighting the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic
Because this year the HLPF had a particular focus on strategies to fight the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, all panellists also emphasized the role of education in this regard. ASPBAE put it very clearly in its call for equitable, resilient and transformative education. At the HLPF they stated that there is “the need to increase the scale, scope, and quality of education financing and improve governance. This entails protecting public education budgets and including education as a priority and essential component of stimulus and recovery packages, with plans to ensure that the learning of all is not de-prioritised. It is also imperative to provide increased and well-targeted public provisioning for education and lifelong learning opportunities and to institutionalise civil society participation in education governance and in all SDG processes.”
With these aspects in mind, DVV International and ASPBAE, together with many other national, regional and international actors, will strive for concerted lobbying for the sake of adult education within the 2030 Agenda and beyond.
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