KOICA Signs Agreement with the Educate Above All Foundation to Support Out of School Children
Mr. Yun Byung-se, Foreign Affairs Minister’s Republic of Korea, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All, attended and witnessed the signing between the partners. This agreement took place on the sidelines of World Education Forum, a major event which convenes representatives from the education community across the world to agree the post-2015global education agenda.
The purpose of this agreement is to provide a strategic framework within which KOICA and Educate A Child (EAC), a global programme of EAA will support the implementation of education projects around the world. These will aim to accelerate the enrollment and retention of out of school children in quality primary education. In particular the projects will focus on enabling refugees and internally displaced children to realize their right to a quality primary education. Joint efforts will include designing and implementing joint advocacy and communications activities, in order to raise awareness of the urgency to provide access to education to the 58 million children who remain out of school.
Through the 3 years agreement signed today, KOICA and EAA target to allocate US$ 20,000,000 (Twenty Million United States Dollars) for collaboration projects, which the partners have committed to share in equal measure.
Commenting on the agreement with EAA, Young-mok Kim, President of KOICA, said:
“Education is a fundamental human right and the importance of education for development is confirmed again at the World Education Forum 2015 today. Despite the remarkable progress since 2000, still one hundred thirty million children still struggle to read, write or do basic math while fifty eight million out-of-school children remain deprived of educational opportunities. KOICA works in more than 70 countries to achieve inclusive growth through quality education. The collaboration with Education Above All Foundation agreed today is particularly meaningful in our strenuous efforts to make education every person's right and to help create a virtuous cycle of inclusive growth.”
Commenting on the agreement with KOICA, Marcio Barbosa, CEO, Education Above All Foundation, said: “This week marks a decisive moment for the global education community, as policy makers, government and UN officials gather at the World Education Forum in Incheon to discuss the education agenda for the next 15 years. EAA advocates for the 58 million out of school children to remain an item of priority in the next education goal, which can be reached through innovative and committed partnerships between all stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, the private sector and private philanthropists. Today’s agreement with KOICA represents a key collaboration towards providing quality primary education to out of school children for about 200,000 children.”
