August 04, 2024
Education Above All: Transforming Lives through Education
Education Above All (EAA) works to ensure equal access to education and to harness the power of quality education for positive, sustainable, and inclusive change. EAA is the brainchild of our founder Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the former First Lady of the State of Qatar, and a long-time advocate for education.
VISION
A world where every individual has equal access to quality education.
MISSION
Transforming lives through education, empowering the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
The right to education was established in 1948 by the United Nations, yet millions of children are still denied this right today. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser had a simple yet powerful vision, to enrol 10 million OOSC through a strong partnership network. Ten years on, having exceeded this goal, Her Highness’s vision has surpassed expectations, the story does not end here.
Only by working together could we turn this vision into a reality. Today, this vision continues to inspire EAA every day and informs its work and partnerships. Our mission is grounded in a simple truth: education is a universal right, and learning is the best gateway tool for human, social, and economic progress. Every child must have access to learning and grow to become a leader, irrespective of their race, gender, or religion.
In achieving this mission, six principles guide our everyday work and longer-term strategic efforts.
- Right to Education
- Equality
- Collaboration
- Transparency
- Innovation
- Diversity
OUR PROMISE
Access to quality education means equal opportunity for a better life for every child. Yet, those who need education the most have the least access to it. New UNESCO data shows that the global number of out-of-school children has risen by 6 million since 2021 and now totals 250 million children and youth (UNESCO, Sep 2023) who are out of school, 69.9 million are children (UNESCO, Sep 2023) of primary school age.
Every day, EAA is changing and challenging this reality. Beyond education, we want to shape children and youth into global leaders and agents of positive, sustainable change.
The UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have provided EAA with the platform and baseline to do just that, converging capital, infrastructure, information, and environment for a better world with a brighter future. The UN’s declaration of September 9 as an International Day to Protect Education from Attack, a global resolution the EAA proudly joined in May 2020, is one of our many breakthroughs in this direction.
Across all our programmes and projects, we’ve gone beyond education for education’s sake. We’ve harnessed the power of education towards poverty and hunger alleviation, health and wellbeing, climate action, environmental protection, and peacebuilding efforts – all focal areas under the 2030 SDGs.
