 |
Mozambique: Escolas Amigas da Criança
01 January 2006
Country coordinator: Anabela Mabota, RHVP Mozambique Country Co-ordinator
According to current estimates, about 40.3 million people live with HIV/AIDS, of which 25.8 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a UNICEF report presented at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in August, there are approximately 12 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa as result of HIV/AIDS, and this number may increase to 18 million by 2010. In Mozambique there are regions where the number of cases of HIV/AIDS and orphans are increasing rapidly, causing even greater vulnerability to hunger.
Mozambique has been quite conscious about the case of orphans and elderly people taking care of orphans. A seminar organised by NGOs that work with an initiative called Escolas Amigas da Criança (Child Friendly Schools) was held in Maputo from 21-24 August 2006. The initiative involves Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Organisations from other invited countries including Swaziland, Zambia and Tanzania also attended. The initiative aims to improve the basic level and quality of education targeting groups where there are recognised low levels of school attendance, such as girls and orphans. The main focus of Child Friendly Schools (CFS) is to guarantee a minimum quality of education through a provision of a basic package with the following components: education, nutrition and health, and child protection.
In Mozambique the CFS approach is multi-sectoral and integrates different ministries. Education and Culture is the coordinating ministry. Other participating ministries are Health, Women and Social Action, Public Works and the Social Communication Institute all at central, provincial and district levels.
To pilot this initiative the district of Maganja da Costa in Zambezia province (central Mozambique) was selected. The challenge is to ensure that all children have access to school with basic quality and in this context the future plans will include scaling up in 2007 to districts of the Manica and Sofala provinces, in 2008 to Tete and Gaza provinces, and in 2009 in Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces. The target districts will be defined with the local authorities. The CFS initiative is accompanied by a knowledge management system for documentation of lesson learning to advocate for equitable policy, planning and budgeting processes.
Eric Miller, 2002
|
|
|
|
