Combined Federal Campaign #9956

Education

Vision and Mission

The Education Working Group's vision is of an Africa that consistently provides quality Education for All.

Towards this goal, the Working Group's activities will focus on providing human and material support for Africa's efforts in education for self-reliance and sustainable development on the continent, and extending the efforts to the Diaspora. The Education Working Group believes that this can be achieved through the following objectives:

Increase Literacy in African Language

Curriculum Development

• The Africanization of the curriculum to ensure appropriate emphasis on African history, values and culture, including the African Diaspora.
• The Establishment of an African Curriculum Council
• Gender equity in the curriculum.
• Internationalization of the curriculum
• Emphasis on multi-lingual education to increase level of literacy in Africa's official European languages.
• Support for CASAS' work on harmonizing African languages and orthographies.

Technology Exchange and Capacity Building

Africans in the Diaspora can facilitate the transfer of books, computers and other resources needed for technical and vocational training.

Expanding Educational Opportunities

• Enabling professionals from Diaspora that wish to participate in the expansion of education in Africa to do so, including supporting efforts by the IOM and similar organizations.
• Establishing Centres of Excellence for graduate and professional education to stem the brain drain and promote inter-African cooperation, including support for the Association of African Universities efforts.
• To promote distance Learning, Diaspora institutions with access to technology would be encouraged to collaborate in distance learning programs with African partners.
• In Basic Education, to promote the establishment of 'Adopt-A-School' programs whereby schools in the Diaspora will partner with schools in Africa.
• Supporting Adult and Continuing Education programs.

Inter-University Collaboration

Promoting closer ties between African higher education institutions, the Association of African Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States, the Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Institutes (UNICA) and other institutions of higher education in the Diaspora.

Funding

Implementing these objectives requires funding beyond what governments can provide. Africans in the can assist by establishing a Diaspora Endowment Fund for African Education, while multinational corporations doing business in Africa can also contribute to an Education Development fund. Both would be managed by the AU as Trustees.