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Dutch donates over $3 million for girls' education in Ethiopia

"Educating girls benefits every member of Ethiopian society," said UNICEF Representative Bjorn Ljungqvist at a signing ceremony today at the Dutch Embassy. "They are the ones who will grow up to be responsible for vaccinating their children, protecting them from HIV/AIDS and making sure their families have clean water to drink. By educating girls today, we can make sure that Ethiopian families have a healthier and better quality of life in the future."

The money will be used in Oromiya, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) where there are the widest gender gaps and the lowest girls' enrolment. More than four million children, 2.7 million girls and 1.4 million boys, are not getting an education in these five regions, representing 80.5 per cent of the out-of-school children in the whole country.

Tigray was also added because its nine woredas show wide gender gaps ranging from 10 per cent in Naedier Adiet to 32 per cent in Erob.

"The Government of the Netherlands is dedicated to closing the gender gap in Ethiopia's schools and ensuring that all children have access to a good quality education," said Dutch Ambassador Rob Vermaas at the ceremony, which was also attended by the Head of Development Cooperation, Antoinette Gosses, and First Secretary of Education, Mieke Vogels. "Promoting girls' education is an essential component to achieve Ethiopia's long-term development goals."

The Government of the Netherlands has pledged that by the year 2007, 15 per cent of its Official Development Aid will be used to improve basic education in developing countries.

UNICEF's Girls' Education programme has developed a multi-pronged approach to addressing the key factors that limit girls attending school in Ethiopia. Factors include harmful traditional practices (HTPs), like early marriage, the dowry system, abduction, female genital mutilation (FGM) and rape, which affect girls' access to quality education. In addition, the learning environment for girls may not be conducive at school facilities, like a lack of female teachers or learning that does not address their specific needs. Extreme poverty is also a major barrier to girls' access to education in Ethiopia. 

To address these issues, UNICEF is advocating social mobilisation on the importance of girls' education for all segments of society as well as educating the public on the negative psychological impact HTPs have on young women.

Girl friendly schools also are being promoted by directly supporting school systems and strengthening the capacity of teachers and education officials at regional and woreda levels on gender related issues.

Importantly, a multi-sectoral approach is being used to attract and keep girls in the classroom. These include providing a safe water supply at schools, separate latrines for girls, first aid kits, communication materials on HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention and school feeding programmes to create a favourable environment to increase enrolment and retention in primary schools.