WEBVTT - Setbacks: Girls' Exclusion from Education is Solvable 0:00:15.076 --> 0:00:23.836 Pushkin, this is solvable. I'm Jacob Weisburg. The reason why 0:00:23.876 --> 0:00:27.036 girls are not a school Popoti is the culprit. You know. 0:00:27.356 --> 0:00:30.596 Popot continues to force school solutions on parents and I 0:00:30.636 --> 0:00:34.196 think that needs to be understood. Poverty can take many forms. 0:00:34.636 --> 0:00:37.516 It can mean that families can't afford school fees or 0:00:37.556 --> 0:00:42.556 basic supplies like pens, pencils and stationary or families may 0:00:42.596 --> 0:00:45.116 just need the children to help with work and childcare 0:00:45.156 --> 0:00:48.916 at home, whatever the reasons. It's estimated that there are 0:00:48.956 --> 0:00:52.716 currently more than fifty million girls who've left school before 0:00:52.716 --> 0:00:56.276 receiving their high school diplomas. Those who do manage to 0:00:56.316 --> 0:01:00.196 complete their schooling usually have more support from their families 0:01:00.196 --> 0:01:03.876 and communities. And I remember feeling very guilt and very 0:01:03.956 --> 0:01:07.316 tone that I had gotten the chance that they also 0:01:07.596 --> 0:01:10.436 you know, needed. But you know, I think some people 0:01:10.476 --> 0:01:12.676 call it survive and guilt, but it's just as the 0:01:12.716 --> 0:01:16.636 heartbreaking patrol feed. When Angelie Murramirawa was a young girl 0:01:16.676 --> 0:01:20.236 in rural Zimbabwe, she was nominated by her community to 0:01:20.316 --> 0:01:24.996 receive additional support for her education. That support proved essential 0:01:25.036 --> 0:01:28.476 for her success. She now helps to run the nonprofit 0:01:28.516 --> 0:01:32.636 that helped her. The campaign for female education. It works 0:01:32.676 --> 0:01:37.556 to keep girls in school across the African continent. Universal 0:01:37.636 --> 0:01:40.516 quality education is a human right and one of the 0:01:40.636 --> 0:01:44.756 UN's Sustainable Development goals. It's understood to be a basic 0:01:44.836 --> 0:01:48.916 requirement for any country that hopes to flourish, and it's 0:01:48.956 --> 0:01:51.716 a goal that the world's nations had been getting closer 0:01:51.716 --> 0:01:55.676 to achieving. Between the years two thousand and twenty eighteen, 0:01:56.116 --> 0:02:00.316 primary school completion rates rose from seventy percent to eighty 0:02:00.316 --> 0:02:04.316 four percent globally, and before the pandemic arrived, it was 0:02:04.356 --> 0:02:07.876 expected that nearly ninety percent of all school aged children 0:02:08.076 --> 0:02:10.916 would be able to complete primary school by the year 0:02:10.996 --> 0:02:16.356 twenty thirty. As part of Solvable Setback series, we're talking 0:02:16.356 --> 0:02:19.756 with leaders around the world about the pandemic and how 0:02:19.796 --> 0:02:24.236 to get goals like universal education back on track. COVID 0:02:24.356 --> 0:02:28.356 has been very, very brutal, but Mura Mirwa sees COVID 0:02:28.436 --> 0:02:32.956 nineteen not only as a setback, but also as an opportunity. 0:02:32.996 --> 0:02:36.036 If we have land, we should actually be able to 0:02:36.036 --> 0:02:39.396 expedite our solutions to the crisis that we face. This 0:02:39.556 --> 0:02:43.396 should actually move us a head faster because we have land. 0:02:44.716 --> 0:02:51.476 My name is Angeline Angie. I'm the executive director for Comfort. 0:02:52.236 --> 0:02:55.876 Our work as Comfort solves the problem of girls exclusion 0:02:56.236 --> 0:03:02.716 from education. Angie, thanks so much for joining us today. 0:03:02.716 --> 0:03:06.396 Just to get started, could you describe the gap in 0:03:06.796 --> 0:03:11.556 women's in girls' education in Africa? Well, the figures that 0:03:11.756 --> 0:03:15.356 we have got that our official so far and from UNESCO, 0:03:15.716 --> 0:03:19.796 is that before COVID we had over fifty two million 0:03:19.916 --> 0:03:23.716 girls were out of school in Subside and Africa. We're 0:03:23.796 --> 0:03:27.556 very focused right now on the question of problems that 0:03:27.636 --> 0:03:31.916 we're getting better and that have gone into reverse because 0:03:31.956 --> 0:03:36.476 of the global pandemic. And I wonder what impact COVID 0:03:36.636 --> 0:03:40.636 nineteen has had on girls education. I know that in 0:03:40.676 --> 0:03:44.436 Africa in many countries the numbers are much better than 0:03:44.476 --> 0:03:47.476 they've been in many places in the development world. But 0:03:47.556 --> 0:03:50.596 I assume that there are also different kinds of second 0:03:50.716 --> 0:03:54.996 order effects. So what impact has the pandemic had. COVID 0:03:55.076 --> 0:03:58.436 has been very, very brutal. And yes, it's true that 0:03:58.556 --> 0:04:01.476 you know in Africa we had dead improvements in terms 0:04:01.556 --> 0:04:06.036 of access to primary education for most children. But what 0:04:06.276 --> 0:04:10.076 is COVID done is started eroding the gains that have 0:04:10.196 --> 0:04:13.876 been met in that space as family started losing income. 0:04:14.596 --> 0:04:17.156 We're not even talking about you know, the school closure, 0:04:17.196 --> 0:04:20.876 the prolonged school closure. So as much as our online 0:04:20.916 --> 0:04:25.036 learning was introduced as a response by most governments, it 0:04:25.116 --> 0:04:29.276 was amazing and awesome for the children that could access 0:04:29.316 --> 0:04:32.236 it and afforded, but it also meant that for the 0:04:32.276 --> 0:04:34.836 majority of the children that we work with as an 0:04:34.916 --> 0:04:38.116 organization were in the hardest to rich communities, they did 0:04:38.116 --> 0:04:41.676 not get support with online learning. So as a result 0:04:41.716 --> 0:04:43.716 of it, I know, Prefect that you know, our alumni 0:04:43.796 --> 0:04:47.916 network are supported with printed out materials. They were doing 0:04:48.036 --> 0:04:51.196 social distance study groups and all that. But you know, 0:04:51.396 --> 0:04:53.876 it is the duty of the government to also ensure 0:04:53.956 --> 0:04:56.716 that our quality education is provided to every child. But 0:04:56.836 --> 0:05:01.476 COVID actually exposed that we have issues of equity, you know, 0:05:01.556 --> 0:05:05.636 informed by technology, you know, access for various sermitis. So yes, 0:05:05.716 --> 0:05:10.076 just to say that unfortunately COVID is exacerbated the inequality 0:05:10.156 --> 0:05:14.476 in Africa, particularly in education on boys and girls, but 0:05:14.596 --> 0:05:17.196 also on those that could afford it and those that can't. 0:05:17.516 --> 0:05:21.556 Also on urban and rural Have schools been closed in 0:05:21.956 --> 0:05:24.396 many countries in Africa? What does the picture look like? 0:05:24.476 --> 0:05:27.996 They're with actually the basic question of whether children are 0:05:27.996 --> 0:05:33.156 going to school. The majority of African countries closed schools 0:05:33.196 --> 0:05:36.156 at the onset of COVID. That was last year and 0:05:36.516 --> 0:05:39.716 right now schools are opened at least another for effect 0:05:39.836 --> 0:05:45.556 across five African countries and Babo, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Ghana. 0:05:45.756 --> 0:05:50.356 But then it's heartbreaking to see what COVID has done. 0:05:50.556 --> 0:05:54.996 We have a situations where we've seen most girls, particularly 0:05:55.356 --> 0:05:58.356 now having to take up more household shoes than they 0:05:58.356 --> 0:06:01.716 were doing before the pandemic. But we've also seen a 0:06:01.716 --> 0:06:05.036 lot of children actually take up work in order to 0:06:05.036 --> 0:06:07.796 sustain their families. And will say work, we're talking about 0:06:07.876 --> 0:06:12.236 working in other people's working in cultural labor because you know, 0:06:12.436 --> 0:06:16.236 because of restrictions, markets were closed, family income fail, so 0:06:16.276 --> 0:06:19.876 we had children stepping in to sustain families or bassets. 0:06:20.236 --> 0:06:23.196 This is even where so child headed families where you've 0:06:23.236 --> 0:06:26.236 got often the older child taking care of the rest 0:06:26.236 --> 0:06:29.316 of the family, or where there are grandparents he headed 0:06:29.396 --> 0:06:32.716 our families where the grandparents are too all themselves to 0:06:32.796 --> 0:06:35.836 fend for the children. So you have children we've had 0:06:35.916 --> 0:06:39.916 to work to be able to sustain themselves. Unfortunately, that 0:06:40.076 --> 0:06:43.756 also goals with issues of you know, transactional sets or 0:06:43.796 --> 0:06:46.756 you know like girls being taken advantage of in exchange 0:06:46.756 --> 0:06:49.036 for food and all that. So those have been there. 0:06:49.116 --> 0:06:51.716 You know, some of the exacerbated crisis are due to 0:06:51.796 --> 0:06:54.916 COVID and this is mainly because of the response to 0:06:54.956 --> 0:06:59.556 COVID where restrictions were put to care the spread. Discrimination 0:06:59.596 --> 0:07:03.036 against girls takes different forms obviously in different parts of 0:07:03.076 --> 0:07:07.916 Africa and North Africa versus West Africa, Central Africa. The 0:07:08.196 --> 0:07:15.076 opposite of school for girls in Africa is often increased poverty, 0:07:16.356 --> 0:07:20.396 full time work and child marriage. That's another way to 0:07:20.436 --> 0:07:23.796 look at the statistics about what's happening. Where is the 0:07:23.916 --> 0:07:27.756 problem the worst and where are you seeing the greatest progress? 0:07:28.876 --> 0:07:32.836 If you know, the issue of girls exclusion, like you said, 0:07:32.836 --> 0:07:37.076 it takes so many forms. There's exclusion from education totally, 0:07:37.156 --> 0:07:38.956 you know, like where girls not in school, but there's 0:07:38.996 --> 0:07:43.516 also exclusion within the system where girls do not have 0:07:43.716 --> 0:07:47.036 the academic self esteem to participate, where girls do not 0:07:47.196 --> 0:07:49.756 have the confidence to be able to participate. So from 0:07:49.756 --> 0:07:54.196 our stities as an organization, academic self esteem is the 0:07:54.276 --> 0:07:58.076 second highest after poverty in terms of girls participation in school. 0:07:58.276 --> 0:08:00.916 And I think you know that Africa there's huge challenges 0:08:00.956 --> 0:08:03.916 of child marriage. But we actually you know discovered that 0:08:03.996 --> 0:08:06.316 actually child marriage is not the reason why girls are 0:08:06.316 --> 0:08:09.316 not in school. It's actually every sort of girls not 0:08:09.436 --> 0:08:12.196 being in school. So when girls are in school, they 0:08:12.196 --> 0:08:16.236 are least likely to be married because they are in school, 0:08:16.316 --> 0:08:20.196 and also it addresses issues of adolescent pregnancy. The statistics 0:08:20.196 --> 0:08:24.116 have continued to show that that education actually protects girls. 0:08:24.356 --> 0:08:25.916 So I just want to be able to point out 0:08:25.996 --> 0:08:28.956 that it is important for us to continue to be 0:08:29.156 --> 0:08:34.076 newest and responsive to children in each context, rather than 0:08:34.596 --> 0:08:38.436 probably over generalizing, because like you rightly say, they are 0:08:38.596 --> 0:08:43.716 varying levels and magnitude of the problem in each context 0:08:43.796 --> 0:08:47.316 and from each country. That's the tragedy of it. Camp 0:08:47.316 --> 0:08:51.716 FED is the campaign for Female Education your organization. Can 0:08:51.756 --> 0:08:53.756 you tell me a little bit about how camp FED 0:08:53.796 --> 0:08:59.236 works and what it does. I love comfort, and just 0:08:59.236 --> 0:09:01.876 just to say that I'm actually one of the very 0:09:01.956 --> 0:09:06.436 first girls supported by Camford through school and Comfort supported 0:09:06.476 --> 0:09:08.556 me at a time in my life when I was 0:09:08.716 --> 0:09:11.676 about to drop out of school. I was transitioning from 0:09:11.676 --> 0:09:15.116 primary to secondary school. So I know comfored quite intimately. 0:09:15.556 --> 0:09:19.236 So what comfort does is it supposed families without their 0:09:19.236 --> 0:09:23.156 financial means to support their children through school. So we 0:09:23.196 --> 0:09:26.036 meet our old school going course we're talking about it 0:09:26.236 --> 0:09:31.476 is a stationary pencils pans, sanitarywhere and where children have 0:09:31.516 --> 0:09:33.956 to travel long distances. We also support them with that. 0:09:34.556 --> 0:09:36.236 But the most important thing that I want to be 0:09:36.276 --> 0:09:39.636 able to share here is that comfort response to each 0:09:39.636 --> 0:09:42.956 and every individual child's barriers to education and works with 0:09:43.036 --> 0:09:45.436 the community to be able to add raise that. So 0:09:45.476 --> 0:09:49.036 today CONFID is supported over four point eight million children 0:09:49.076 --> 0:09:51.916 to go to school across Africa. So tell me a 0:09:51.916 --> 0:09:53.836 little more about your story. You said when you were 0:09:53.876 --> 0:09:57.796 finishing primary school it wasn't given that you were going 0:09:57.836 --> 0:09:59.716 to stay in school. Is that right? And was that 0:09:59.796 --> 0:10:04.116 when Camford began to support you? Sure? So okay, let 0:10:04.116 --> 0:10:05.836 me just give you a bit of background on me. 0:10:05.996 --> 0:10:08.556 I went on the first born in a family of 0:10:09.116 --> 0:10:13.116 you know, five children, So I went through Zimbabwe. I'm sorry, 0:10:13.156 --> 0:10:16.556 just to start even further back, yes, yeah, I'll start 0:10:16.596 --> 0:10:19.476 from there. So I was born in I grew up 0:10:19.516 --> 0:10:21.876 in a grew of village in Zimbabwe Court then theres 0:10:22.356 --> 0:10:25.676 the southeast part of a which is the capital city. 0:10:25.956 --> 0:10:30.076 As I went through primary school, I had to work 0:10:30.516 --> 0:10:33.436 you know, in other people's seals. But also I remember 0:10:33.956 --> 0:10:37.756 really watching people's dishes, so such basic things as pencils 0:10:37.756 --> 0:10:41.716 and exercise books. And when I received my primary school 0:10:41.756 --> 0:10:45.836 leaving certificate, I had the best possible results in the country. 0:10:45.996 --> 0:10:47.796 But as young as I was at that time, I 0:10:47.916 --> 0:10:51.796 knew that there was no way my parents could afford 0:10:51.876 --> 0:10:54.716 the cost of secondary school because come on, you're starting 0:10:54.796 --> 0:10:58.356 from just doing four subjects at primary. At secondary school 0:10:58.356 --> 0:11:00.996 were doing like over nine subjects. You needed more books, 0:11:01.356 --> 0:11:03.876 more pens to write in, you needed more discent clothes. 0:11:03.876 --> 0:11:06.836 And I was getting older as well. So that's that's 0:11:07.036 --> 0:11:09.436 at the point when I knew that I there was 0:11:09.476 --> 0:11:12.476 no way mine reselves, We're just not enough to get 0:11:12.516 --> 0:11:14.996 me to secondary school. So that's when CANFID was also 0:11:14.996 --> 0:11:18.236 starting to wake in my community and I was selected 0:11:18.276 --> 0:11:20.876 for support and CONFID started supporting me at that time 0:11:21.196 --> 0:11:24.756 to secondary school. And what did that support consist of? 0:11:24.756 --> 0:11:28.756 What else did they provide? I got decent clothes for 0:11:28.876 --> 0:11:31.916 the first time, imired at a school uniform, which meant 0:11:31.956 --> 0:11:35.516 that I looked like any other child who was in school. 0:11:35.556 --> 0:11:39.316 I had not want any new parents of shoes at all. 0:11:39.436 --> 0:11:42.596 So when we were about to go for shoes sitting, 0:11:42.676 --> 0:11:45.516 everybody was saying size six, so come on. I also 0:11:45.556 --> 0:11:47.956 didn't want to embarrass myself, so I just said size six. 0:11:48.316 --> 0:11:51.716 Turns out that I was size eight. So those are 0:11:51.716 --> 0:11:55.076 some of the descent clothes that we talk about about, 0:11:55.076 --> 0:11:57.516 the showing that even children that are coming from the 0:11:57.556 --> 0:12:02.756 most disadvantaged families can also participate confidently with them such 0:12:02.796 --> 0:12:06.356 systems as well. For the first time, I was not 0:12:06.796 --> 0:12:10.436 worried about being as get to leave the classroom because 0:12:10.476 --> 0:12:12.396 I had not paid school fees to go home and 0:12:12.476 --> 0:12:15.036 collect it, because that's the practice if you have not 0:12:15.116 --> 0:12:17.356 paid your ask it to go home and collected. I 0:12:17.436 --> 0:12:20.076 knew that she wasn't never there, so for the first time, 0:12:20.196 --> 0:12:23.516 I learned without fear. But I just also want to 0:12:23.516 --> 0:12:26.836 point out that there was a point during that phase 0:12:26.876 --> 0:12:28.716 in my life where there was a lot of guilt 0:12:28.876 --> 0:12:31.996 because when I was selected for support, I was one 0:12:32.036 --> 0:12:33.996 of the girls from my school, so it supported its 0:12:33.996 --> 0:12:37.196 twenty one inter secondary school from various schools. But I had, 0:12:37.356 --> 0:12:39.916 you know, failure colleagues from primary school that did not 0:12:39.996 --> 0:12:42.996 get the same chance, and I remember feeling very guilt 0:12:43.076 --> 0:12:46.116 and very tone that I had gotten the chance that 0:12:46.276 --> 0:12:49.716 they also you know, needed. But you know, I think 0:12:49.716 --> 0:12:52.236 some people call it Survivor Guild. But it's just as 0:12:52.276 --> 0:12:55.396 the heart breaking part of fate that when resources are 0:12:55.436 --> 0:12:58.556 limited and the first you have to select, and which 0:12:58.596 --> 0:13:00.956 is the crisis that we were facing with COVID right now, 0:13:01.076 --> 0:13:04.596 that there's just so much need. It's heart breaking. But 0:13:04.636 --> 0:13:05.756 I just want to be able to say that the 0:13:06.436 --> 0:13:11.116 community selected me, and yeah I am. I not only 0:13:11.396 --> 0:13:14.716 know what it means to be excluded at one point, 0:13:14.796 --> 0:13:19.396 but I also understand personally and intimately the potential that 0:13:19.476 --> 0:13:21.356 comes with that and just how much more you can 0:13:21.436 --> 0:13:24.556 do as an individual and as a collective. What kind 0:13:24.556 --> 0:13:27.236 of impact has CAMPED had on a village like the 0:13:27.276 --> 0:13:31.436 one you grew up in Zimbabwe? Has it supported other 0:13:31.556 --> 0:13:34.516 girls going to school from that same village and what 0:13:34.996 --> 0:13:37.476 other sort of effects does that have? So what it 0:13:37.556 --> 0:13:40.276 is meant is that you know, as we graduate through school, 0:13:40.676 --> 0:13:45.596 we also are very much anchored and inspired to do 0:13:45.716 --> 0:13:47.996 something within our community. So as I speak to you 0:13:48.116 --> 0:13:50.956 right now, as the first group of young women supported 0:13:50.956 --> 0:13:53.116 through school by CAMPED, we started what we call the 0:13:53.636 --> 0:13:57.356 Camford Association, which is a network of young women leaders 0:13:57.396 --> 0:14:00.036 that are paying it forward literally, So we one hundred 0:14:00.116 --> 0:14:04.236 seventy eight thousand members now and counting, and each of us, 0:14:04.236 --> 0:14:07.196 on average suppose three more girls to go to school. 0:14:07.396 --> 0:14:10.156 So you ask what has been the impact. The major 0:14:10.196 --> 0:14:13.876 impact has been, you know, the sustainability through the commitment 0:14:14.276 --> 0:14:17.356 by former beneficiaries or clients of Comfort to be able 0:14:17.356 --> 0:14:21.236 to support the next generation of children. So by one graduating, 0:14:21.356 --> 0:14:25.156 three more are graduating. So that's the phenomenal impact. And 0:14:25.676 --> 0:14:29.076 you you mentioned this feeling of survivor's guilt, which is 0:14:29.116 --> 0:14:32.756 quite understandable being someone who was supported in this way 0:14:32.796 --> 0:14:36.916 and a community where most people don't and most women, 0:14:36.996 --> 0:14:41.316 most girls don't have that opportunity. I wonder how people 0:14:41.316 --> 0:14:45.196 in the community do treat someone in your position, people 0:14:45.236 --> 0:14:47.476 in your family, people in the place you grew up. 0:14:47.956 --> 0:14:52.836 Was their envy, pride? What's the reaction to the girls 0:14:52.836 --> 0:14:55.396 who get this support and prosper and the way you 0:14:55.476 --> 0:14:59.036 have The beauty of the Comfort model is that it's 0:14:59.236 --> 0:15:02.156 very thought through. So just to say from from my part, 0:15:02.236 --> 0:15:05.796 the fact that the community itself identified me for support 0:15:06.596 --> 0:15:09.636 meant that there was the sense of ownership and the 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:13.036 saints of pride that this is what we have enabled, 0:15:13.316 --> 0:15:16.796 and that means that girls are celebrated in the community. 0:15:16.876 --> 0:15:20.356 I can give you multiple examples where community members they 0:15:20.356 --> 0:15:23.996 have stepped up and assisted my mother in various ways 0:15:23.996 --> 0:15:26.556 to be able to make sure that I stayed in school, 0:15:26.676 --> 0:15:28.636 even with comfort support. Because one of the the things that 0:15:28.636 --> 0:15:31.396 we've learned as an organization is that it's not just 0:15:31.476 --> 0:15:35.036 about the financial means, it's also about the psychosocial support 0:15:35.396 --> 0:15:37.676 that children need to be able to stay in school. 0:15:38.116 --> 0:15:40.996 I was crying. I was weeping most of the time. 0:15:41.076 --> 0:15:44.596 I was really not in the classroom. And then I 0:15:44.676 --> 0:15:47.556 learned later that you need to decide how you use 0:15:47.636 --> 0:15:51.676 every opportunity you get. I started looking at this as 0:15:51.756 --> 0:15:54.756 an opportunity to do better by me and for the 0:15:54.756 --> 0:15:58.476 community that it trusted me, rather than feeling like, you know, 0:15:58.516 --> 0:16:00.876 it's okay for all of us to wallow in poverty 0:16:00.956 --> 0:16:03.916 and end like that. And the fact that these young 0:16:03.956 --> 0:16:06.716 women are coming back and supporting one average three other 0:16:06.796 --> 0:16:12.076 children were not even their relatives, continues to increase communal 0:16:12.156 --> 0:16:15.036 support for supporting more and more girls to go through this, 0:16:15.356 --> 0:16:18.476 because it's more like confidence become the gift that continues 0:16:18.516 --> 0:16:22.916 to give through what's enabled within every community. I'm wondering 0:16:22.916 --> 0:16:26.156 how much it costs to support a girl in school 0:16:26.636 --> 0:16:30.516 via camp fed. In Africa, it's actually basically just one 0:16:30.556 --> 0:16:33.636 hundred and fifty dollars per year for one year of 0:16:34.036 --> 0:16:36.796 supporting a girl through secondary school. That's the average cost 0:16:36.836 --> 0:16:39.916 for a year. So in the United States that sounds 0:16:39.916 --> 0:16:44.916 like nothing. And you've said you've supported nearly five million 0:16:45.516 --> 0:16:49.876 girls through school. What's the scale that you think the 0:16:49.996 --> 0:16:53.236 organization can achieve and what's the what's the ultimate goal 0:16:53.356 --> 0:16:57.196 is a parody between girls and boys. Our vision as 0:16:57.236 --> 0:17:01.076 an organization has always been a world in which each 0:17:01.116 --> 0:17:06.956 and every child is educated, protected, respected, valued, and girls 0:17:07.036 --> 0:17:10.116 up to ten the tide of poverty every child. And 0:17:10.556 --> 0:17:13.276 our strategic plan over the next five years is to 0:17:13.356 --> 0:17:17.796 support five million more girls through school. And I think 0:17:17.796 --> 0:17:20.036 you realize that. You know, we've supported close to five 0:17:20.076 --> 0:17:22.276 millions since nine to three, and we're going to support 0:17:22.276 --> 0:17:25.556 five millions in five years. That's ambitious. But we're also 0:17:25.636 --> 0:17:29.596 counting on the support of our Comfort Association with we're 0:17:29.596 --> 0:17:32.156 actually traveling the support that you know we're providing as 0:17:32.156 --> 0:17:36.036 an organization at the moment. So looking at forward to 0:17:36.076 --> 0:17:38.476 the end of the pandemic, do you think there is 0:17:38.516 --> 0:17:41.596 going to be a lasting deficit from that or do 0:17:41.636 --> 0:17:44.396 you think we will quickly get back to where we 0:17:44.396 --> 0:17:49.316 were before the pandemic. In relation to girls education in Africa, 0:17:49.516 --> 0:17:52.276 we need to pull up our songs in a very 0:17:52.316 --> 0:17:57.756 big way because the pandemic exposed, like I said earlier 0:17:57.796 --> 0:18:02.196 on the disparities and the system that we already knew existed, 0:18:02.756 --> 0:18:07.276 but they just exacerbated them. Do you think COVID sets 0:18:07.356 --> 0:18:11.196 back your call of girls education in Africa for a 0:18:11.276 --> 0:18:13.156 year or two and then we get back to where 0:18:13.196 --> 0:18:15.836 we were or is this something that sets us back 0:18:15.876 --> 0:18:21.116 a generation? Over ninety seven point four percent of our children, 0:18:21.196 --> 0:18:23.236 like of the girls that we're supporting, came back to school, 0:18:23.236 --> 0:18:26.156 returned to school. That's not true for the majority of 0:18:26.156 --> 0:18:28.836 other children who didn't have the same social support. So 0:18:29.196 --> 0:18:31.116 that's an area that we need to work on. We 0:18:31.156 --> 0:18:33.996 also need to address issues around, of course, teacher training, 0:18:34.356 --> 0:18:38.156 issues around ensuring that we continue to recognize that girl's 0:18:38.236 --> 0:18:42.476 exclusion is still an issue even after the pandemic. For me, 0:18:42.516 --> 0:18:45.036 it's you know, for us as an organization, it's continuous 0:18:45.036 --> 0:18:48.196 an ensuring that there's this pipeline of young people that 0:18:48.276 --> 0:18:50.836 continues to be supported and support the next generation too. 0:18:51.156 --> 0:18:54.876 You know, having fifty two million girls out of school 0:18:54.876 --> 0:18:58.356 in subsid and Africa is nowhere where we want to go. 0:18:58.796 --> 0:19:01.556 But I acknowledge the fact that this really set us 0:19:01.556 --> 0:19:04.516 back in terms of the progress that we've met. But 0:19:04.956 --> 0:19:08.956 then lessons that come from tragedy means that if we 0:19:09.116 --> 0:19:11.556 we have learned, and when I say we are then 0:19:12.076 --> 0:19:15.716 not just civil society and then the government, everybody who 0:19:15.796 --> 0:19:19.436 was working in education or in rise in climate every day. 0:19:19.436 --> 0:19:22.396 If we have learned, we should actually be able to 0:19:22.436 --> 0:19:25.556 expect diet our solutions to the crisis that we face. 0:19:25.716 --> 0:19:29.276 This should actually move us a head faster because we 0:19:29.316 --> 0:19:33.876 have learned that these are not hypothetical realities around things 0:19:33.876 --> 0:19:36.156 could get worse. They did get worse in a way 0:19:36.156 --> 0:19:38.716 that we all didn't think it would. We saw a 0:19:38.796 --> 0:19:44.316 lot of flight of people that basically just been planted 0:19:44.316 --> 0:19:46.636 into communities to be able to work with communities. Well 0:19:46.716 --> 0:19:50.316 COVID here people started leaving and local communities said to 0:19:50.316 --> 0:19:53.276 find their own foots. So if we've invest and built 0:19:53.356 --> 0:19:57.356 on our license around local engagement, local ownership of issues, 0:19:57.436 --> 0:20:00.556 local capacity building, but we also built on the opportunities 0:20:00.556 --> 0:20:02.956 that are through technology, I don't see a reason why 0:20:03.076 --> 0:20:06.196 we shouldn't be able to gallop further faster than we've 0:20:06.196 --> 0:20:09.796 done over the past few years. As you say, educating 0:20:09.796 --> 0:20:13.076 girls has so many positive effects on other problems. I 0:20:13.116 --> 0:20:16.676 think part of the reason you've camped has attracted so 0:20:16.796 --> 0:20:21.076 much high profile support. I note that Megan and Harry 0:20:21.156 --> 0:20:24.756 listed it as one of the charities they were supporting. 0:20:24.916 --> 0:20:28.196 Rihanna has been a supporter of yours. Nick Christoph, the 0:20:28.236 --> 0:20:31.116 New York Times columnist, at the end of the year 0:20:31.276 --> 0:20:34.996 make suggestions if what charities people should support, and a 0:20:35.116 --> 0:20:37.636 camp fed was at the top of his list this year. 0:20:38.396 --> 0:20:43.036 What you're doing is getting noticed. What else has to 0:20:43.076 --> 0:20:47.756 happen for your organization to be able to do as 0:20:47.876 --> 0:20:52.916 much as it's capable of doing, to scale its response. Yeah, 0:20:52.956 --> 0:20:54.956 I'll say to you what I said to a lot 0:20:54.996 --> 0:20:58.196 of people over the past year, particularly the work of 0:20:58.356 --> 0:21:03.476 COVID and everything. Continue to invest in girls education. You 0:21:03.596 --> 0:21:06.476 support me, I support three more. You know, that's the 0:21:06.516 --> 0:21:10.436 wealthy investment, right, That's the most important thing. Talk to 0:21:10.476 --> 0:21:15.116 your friends, talk to your colleagues and everything. The problem 0:21:15.356 --> 0:21:18.956 is real, but so is the solution. It's so simple 0:21:18.996 --> 0:21:22.156 and so straightforward. You live to tell a different narrative, 0:21:22.276 --> 0:21:24.636 and I look forward to that does your model have 0:21:24.716 --> 0:21:29.036 application beyond Africa or is the situation just too different 0:21:29.076 --> 0:21:33.116 in different parts of the world. My better World, which 0:21:33.156 --> 0:21:35.556 is the you know, the curriculum that have been used 0:21:35.596 --> 0:21:38.316 across the spectrum. They have been huge demand for it 0:21:38.356 --> 0:21:41.756 to be used beyond Africa because at the center of 0:21:41.836 --> 0:21:45.356 it is the principal accountability to the child, to the 0:21:45.436 --> 0:21:48.236 child's needs, to the child's reality, to the child's priority. 0:21:48.476 --> 0:21:51.796 How do we make the child the non negotiable component 0:21:51.876 --> 0:21:55.716 of our intervention? And I believe that's universally acceptable everywhere, 0:21:55.836 --> 0:21:59.076 but it's also messuring that this is done in total 0:21:59.236 --> 0:22:02.676 engagement and liaison of the community of the parents as 0:22:02.676 --> 0:22:06.276 equal partners, not just as mere recipients of aid. So 0:22:06.356 --> 0:22:09.676 I believe that this is applicable across the spectrum and 0:22:09.756 --> 0:22:13.036 it's replication a close Africa actually with speed and is 0:22:13.116 --> 0:22:15.916 it is also proved that Yeah, And you, as an educator, 0:22:15.956 --> 0:22:18.236 I know you think about what kinds of tools are 0:22:18.276 --> 0:22:22.236 going to get people to really understand the problem, not 0:22:22.316 --> 0:22:25.636 just past the test by knowing the facts, but really 0:22:25.796 --> 0:22:28.716 relate to it. And I wonder if they're books or 0:22:28.836 --> 0:22:32.396 movies or things that you would recommend to our listeners 0:22:32.396 --> 0:22:35.076 who want to really understand better what you're talking about. 0:22:35.476 --> 0:22:39.516 I have a phenomenal resources that I could share. There 0:22:39.636 --> 0:22:43.036 is a film done quite recently by Iden like Why 0:22:43.276 --> 0:22:48.236 Ida m It was Hidden Pride for Education Development, which 0:22:48.396 --> 0:22:52.316 is revolutionizing how girls education is delivered. You can listen 0:22:52.356 --> 0:22:56.396 to that. It covers myself and Michaelague Lucy like as 0:22:56.396 --> 0:22:58.236 we talk about our work as well. That's something that 0:22:58.276 --> 0:23:03.836 we're listening to. There's Nick Christoph and Cherio's book Half 0:23:03.836 --> 0:23:07.716 the Sky, Turning Oppression into Opportunity for women worldwide. There's 0:23:07.756 --> 0:23:09.996 a chapter also that types of about my life and 0:23:10.036 --> 0:23:13.116 we're started from. But more than that, it also talks about, 0:23:13.676 --> 0:23:18.236 you know the fact that actually talent is universal opportunities not, 0:23:18.356 --> 0:23:20.476 so how do we make a difference. So I think 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:23.836 that's that's really good. I also have a book that 0:23:25.316 --> 0:23:29.676 I really like that he helped me and my fellow sisters, 0:23:29.716 --> 0:23:33.396 like you know, the Confidate Association members, to understand our 0:23:33.476 --> 0:23:37.036 reality as we graduated from school. And it's a book 0:23:37.036 --> 0:23:41.316 by A Machia Sam Development as Freedom, because it talks 0:23:41.436 --> 0:23:46.116 about just you know, just that you know, development um 0:23:46.796 --> 0:23:51.036 is freedom. That's that's less that I never really perceived 0:23:51.116 --> 0:23:53.516 my life through and that's you know, that's what he 0:23:53.596 --> 0:23:56.276 helped us structure camera in a big way when we're 0:23:56.276 --> 0:23:58.916 just starting the Confidate Association in a big way, when 0:23:58.916 --> 0:24:00.916 we're just starting to look at ourselves as you know, 0:24:00.956 --> 0:24:05.556